If Stevie Nicks hadn't signed a restrictive contract with Motown, "Call Me" might never have been written. Blondie was commissioned by "American Gigolo" score composer/soundtrack producer Giorgio Moroder to write the movie's theme song after Nicks turned him down. From Moroder's rough sketches came the sassy song, which spent six weeks atop the Hot 100 in the spring of 1980. The song was also a huge hit in the United Kingdom, culminating in a starring role in a British Telecom ad. Blondie had one previous No. 1 song, "Heart of Glass," and went on to hit the top spot twice more, with "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture." --Cortney Harding

The battle for the No. 1 song of 1981 was a photo finish between two dramatically disparate hits that both spent nine weeks at the top of the Hot 100. Lionel Richie and Diana Ross teamed for the creamy love theme to the film "Endless Love," while Kim Carnes released the synth-driven new wave-pop "Bette Davis Eyes." Written by Jackie DeShannon-who had top 10 hits with "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"-and Donna Weiss, the original version of "Bette" was arranged as a honky-tonk song. Carnes' synth player Bill Cuomo refashioned the track to the version we know today, which ultimately topped the 1981 year-end Hot 100, with "Endless Love" taking the runner-up position. "Bette Davis Eyes" also achieved a hallowed one-two punch at the Grammys, winning record and song of the year. --Chuck Taylor

Life imitates art. After Olivia Newton-John took the character Sandy from virginal to vamp in the 1978 film "Grease," the longtime girl-next-door singer rattled pop culture with her 1982 single "Physical"-which was loaded with sexual innuendo (sample lyric: "There's nothing left to talk about unless it's horizontally." Oh, my!) On a more innocent front, the song also became a staple of the ubiquitous aerobics movement of the day. In all, the song spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, following previous chart-toppers "I Honestly Love You," "Have You Never Been Mellow," "You're the One That I Want" and "Magic," amid a top 40 run that garnered 27 hits from 1971 to 1985. Grammy voters awarded "Physical" video of the year. --Chuck Taylor

A review in the May 28, 1983, issue described the new Police single, "Every Breath You Take," as "pop distilled to its barest essentials" and "compelling." Fans certainly agreed, driving the haunting and beautiful song to No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the week ending July 9, 1983, and reigning for eight frames. It was the first and only chart-topping Hot 100 hit for the Police, who had reached the top five only once before with "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," a No. 3 hit in 1981. "Breath" was memorably sampled in "I'll Be Missing You," the 1997 multi-artist tribute to slain rapper the Notorious B.I.G, itself a No. 1 for 11 weeks by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans, featuring 112. --Thom Duffy

Prince reigned on pop radio in the summer of 1984. "When Doves Cry" entered the Hot 100 in June and rose to No. 1 just five weeks later in July, topping the chart for five weeks (holding Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" at No. 2 for three of those weeks). "Doves" was the centerpiece of the masterful "Purple Rain" album, which topped the Billboard 200 for a remarkable 24 weeks. "'When Doves Cry' may have been the most influential single record of the '80s, establishing a new ground of rhythm and structure for contemporary hits," critic Dave Marsh wrote in his book "The Heart of Rock & Soul." --Thom Duffy

While George Michael would earn the album of the year Grammy for his first solo album, "Faith," in 1988, his earlier days with partner Andrew Ridgeley in Wham! were equally fruitful. First hit "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" topped the Hot 100 in 1984, followed by "Careless Whisper"-credited overseas as a solo single, but with the duo's rising stateside profile, here it was tagged to Wham! "featuring George Michael." Follow-up "Everything She Wants" also topped the Hot 100 in 1985, making Wham! the first chart duo or group since the Bee Gees to achieve three No. 1 singles from one album. --Chuck Taylor

In Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick certainly had "Friends" in high places, and together they wound up in the highest place of all on the 1986 Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart. The song debuted Nov. 9, 1985, and peaked at No. 1 Jan. 18, 1986 (spending a total of four weeks in the top spot) during its 23-week run on the Hot 100. Written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and originally recorded by Rod Stewart, the song became the second No. 1 each for Warwick and Knight, the 10th for Wonder and the seventh for John. Among the all-star collaborators, only John has returned to the pole position, posting two additional No. 1s in 1992 and 1997. Proceeds for "Friends" were donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research. --Gary Trust

While the Bangles' 1984 debut album, "All Over the Place," garnered critical acclaim, their 1986 follow-up, "Different Light," sent them to the chart stratosphere. The "Different Light" single "Walk Like an Egyptian" debuted Sept. 27, 1986, peaked Dec. 20 and spent a total of four weeks at No. 1 during the course of its 23 weeks on the Hot 100. The set produced four top 40 hits, including the Prince-written No. 2 "Manic Monday" and this song, the band's first of two career No. 1s; "Eternal Flame" would follow in 1989. After breaking up in 1990, the Bangles reunited earlier this decade and returned to the Billboard charts in 2003 when "Something That You Said" hit the Adult Top 40 and Adult Contemporary lists. Last year, KT Tunstall released a cover version of "Egyptian," available as a B-side on her single "If Only." --Gary Trust

Although "Faith" stands the test of time as a pop song, the video for the track provides some of the most enduring images of George Michael and the pop culture decade he helped create: the '80s. In 1988, it was impossible to turn on MTV without seeing Michael's shades, leather jacket and denim-clad behind emblazoned on the screen; the video even prompted heated debates about whether the former Wham! frontman had utilized a "stunt butt." One thing is certain, though: "Faith" was the smash that aided in cementing Michael as a solo artist. The song spent four weeks at the peak position of the Hot 100 and marked the second of seven times Michael would appear as a solo artist at the top of the charts, from 1987's "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" with Aretha Franklin through 1992's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." Michael continued to score top 10 Hot 100 hits throughout the '90s. --Cortney Harding

One of the most prolific hitmaking groups of the '70s, Chicago was enjoying a resurgence in the '80s when Peter Cetera, lead vocalist on almost all the band's biggest hits, departed the group in 1985 for a solo career. With new lead singer Jason Scheff, Chicago had a solid showing with its 1986 album "Chicago 18," which generated two top 20 Hot 100 singles, including the No. 3-peaking "Will You Still Love Me?" The band would return to the top of the Hot 100 for the final time two years later when power ballad "Look Away," voiced by longtime band member Bill Champlin, led the list for two weeks after reaching No. 1 on Dec. 10, 1988. The title would go on to become the No. 1 song of 1989. (Billboard's chart year has traditionally covered the December-November calendar months.) It was the only time Chicago has topped the annual list and the only time in Hot 100 history that the top song of the year did not reside at its peak position in the calendar year in which it was honored. --Silvio Pietroluongo