This Week in Billboard Chart History: In 2005, Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Gone’ Went to No. 1
"Since U Been Gone" began a seven-week command on the Pop Songs chart. Plus, remembering feats by Paul Simon, Evanescence and the Bangles.
Your weekly recap celebrating significant milestones from more than seven decades of Billboard chart history.
March 28, 1987
After it had originally peaked at No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 in fall 1986, Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” re-entered at No. 92. The song returned after parent album “Graceland” won album of the year honors at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. It would peak at No. 23 in May.
March 29, 2003
Evanescence‘s debut hit “Bring Me to Life” (featuring Paul McCoy) reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Alternative Songs chart. Parent breakthrough album Fallen reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, while the band has since scored two No. 1s: 2006’s The Open Door and 2011’s self-titled set. Meanwhile, Chris Daughtry has remade “Life” on the new soundtrack to The Passion.
March 30, 1991
Gloria Estefan‘s inspirational “Coming Out of the Dark” becomes her third and most recent Billboard Hot 100 No. 1. The ballad followed Estefan suffering a broken vertebra after her tour bus crashed in 1990. As she was being transported for surgery, she later told Billboard, “My husband [Emilio] had been in one of the helicopters traveling from one hospital to the other. It was really dark and gray. He got this ray of light that hit him in the face and he got the idea for ‘Coming Out of the Dark.’ ”
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March 31, 1984
Kenny Loggins began a three-week reign atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Footloose,” the title track from the classic Kevin Bacon blockbuster.
April 1, 1989
After scoring a string of uptempo hits like “Manic Monday,” “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Hazy Shade of Winter,” the Bangles proved their way around a ballad, too, as “Eternal Flame” hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
April 2, 2005
As American Idol heads toward its April 7 finale, a look back at one of the biggest hits generated from the show: original champ Kelly Clarkson began her longest reign at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Pop Songs chart, as “Since U Been Gone” spent its first of seven weeks at No. 1.
April 3, 2004
Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker‘s party anthem “When the Sun Goes Down” logs its first of five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart.