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List of Hot Adult Contemporary number ones of 1984

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In 1984, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. During the year, 18 songs topped the chart based on playlists submitted by radio stations.[1] The chart was published under the title Adult Contemporary through the issue of Billboard dated October 13 and Hot Adult Contemporary thereafter. Since 1996 it has again been published as Adult Contemporary.[1]

A bald man with a grey beard wearing a jacket and necktie, smiling broadly
Billy Joel (pictured in 1985) was a three-time chart-topper in 1984.

In the January 7 issue of Billboard the number one song was "Read 'Em and Weep" by Barry Manilow, which was in its third week at number one.[2] It held the top spot for four weeks in 1984 before being replaced by "Think of Laura" by Christopher Cross. The most successful act on the AC chart in 1984 was Lionel Richie, who had three number ones and spent a total of fifteen weeks in the top spot, three times that achieved by any other act during the year. Billy Joel also had three chart-toppers during the year but only spent a total of five weeks at number one. Richie, the lead singer of the Commodores, had launched his solo career in 1982 and quickly reached superstar status.[3] He had the two longest-running number ones of 1984 on the AC listing, spending six consecutive weeks atop the chart with "Hello" and five weeks with "Stuck on You". While "Stuck on You" was at number one, he performed at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics.[4] Richie and Joel were the only acts with more than one chart-topper in 1984.

Three songs topped both the AC listing and Billboard's pop chart, the Hot 100, in 1984, including Richie's "Hello".[5] In June, Cyndi Lauper topped both listings with "Time After Time" and later in the year Stevie Wonder reached number one on both charts with "I Just Called to Say I Love You".[5] The latter song, from the soundtrack of the film The Woman in Red, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[6] In December, the Honeydrippers, a short-lived supergroup brought together by the singer Robert Plant and featuring among others his former Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page,[7] topped the chart with their cover version of the 1950s song "Sea of Love". It was the first Billboard number-one single for Plant and Page, surpassing the best position achieved by Led Zeppelin, who had topped the magazine's albums chart six times[8] but had never reached number one on the Hot 100[5] and had never entered the AC chart at all.[9] "Sea of Love" was replaced at number one by "Do What You Do" by Jermaine Jackson, which was the final chart-topper of the year.

Chart history

A woman with long pink-tinted hair, wearing a black dress and smiling broadly
Cyndi Lauper (pictured in 1985) topped the chart with "Time After Time".
A dark-skinned man wearing dark glasses and headphones, singing into a microphone
"I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder (pictured recording the song) also topped the Hot 100 and won the musician an Academy Award.
A man with long curly blond hair, singing into a microphone
The Honeydrippers, the short-lived supergroup fronted by Robert Plant (pictured in 2025), topped the chart with "Sea of Love".
More information Issue date, Title ...
Chart history
Issue date Title Artist(s) Ref.
January 7 "Read 'Em and Weep" Barry Manilow [2]
January 14 [10]
January 21 [11]
January 28 [12]
February 4 "Think of Laura" Christopher Cross [13]
February 11 [14]
February 18 [15]
February 25 [16]
March 3 "An Innocent Man" Billy Joel [17]
March 10 "Got a Hold on Me" Christine McVie [18]
March 17 [19]
March 24 [20]
March 31 [21]
April 7 "Hello" Lionel Richie [22]
April 14 [23]
April 21 [24]
April 28 [25]
May 5 [26]
May 12 [27]
May 19 "The Longest Time" Billy Joel [28]
May 26 [29]
June 2 "Time After Time" Cyndi Lauper [30]
June 9 [31]
June 16 [32]
June 23 "Believe in Me" Dan Fogelberg [33]
June 30 "Almost Paradise" Mike Reno and Ann Wilson [34]
July 7 "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" Peabo Bryson [35]
July 14 [36]
July 21 [37]
July 28 [38]
August 4 "Stuck on You" Lionel Richie [39]
August 11 [40]
August 18 [41]
August 25 [42]
September 1 [43]
September 8 "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" Billy Joel [44]
September 15 [45]
September 22 "Drive" The Cars [46]
September 29 [47]
October 6 [48]
October 13 "I Just Called to Say I Love You" Stevie Wonder [49]
October 20 [50]
October 27 [51]
November 3 "What About Me?" Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes and James Ingram [52]
November 10 [53]
November 17 "Penny Lover" Lionel Richie [54]
November 24 [55]
December 1 [56]
December 8 [57]
December 15 "Sea of Love" The Honeydrippers [58]
December 22 "Do What You Do" Jermaine Jackson [59]
December 29 [60]
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