This week in 1957 Elvis Presley’s (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear hit number 1 in America. The song, written for the soundtrack of his second motion picture, Loving You, stayed in the top spot for seven weeks.
This week in 1984 When Doves Cry, from his upcoming movie Purple Rain, gave “Prince” his first number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. According to Billboard it was the top song of 1984 in the USA. It also topped the charts in Australia and Canada. The music video was directed by Prince himself and was released on MTV in June 1984 and sparked controversy among network executives, who thought that its sexual nature was too explicit for television.
This week in 1967 Pink Floyd appeared on the British TV show “Top Of The Pops” for the first time, playing their second single, See Emily Play. The song was written by Syd Barrett who was one of the band’s original members. His band mates kicked him out in 1968 after he had become increasingly unpredictable, doing a lot of Acid and, at times, refusing to play at shows. Barrett claimed “Emily” was a girl he saw when he woke up one night after sleeping in the woods after a gig. It is unclear if she was a real person or a drug-induced hallucination.
See Emily Play was a Top 10 hit in the UK.
| TW | LW | Artist | Title |
| 10 | 8 | Chris Janson ft Dolly Parton & Slash | 21 Forever |
| 9 | New | The Defiants | 19 Summertime |
| 8 | 10 | Matchbox Twenty | Don’t Get Me Wrong |
| 7 | New | Michael Thompson Band | The Love Goes On |
| 6 | 4 | McFly | Where Did All The Guitars Go |
| 5 | 3 | Texas | After All |
| 4 | 6 | Crazy Loop | Love Maria |
| 3 | 5 | Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds | Dead To The World |
| 2 | 2 | DMA’s | Forever |
| 1 | 1 | Shinedown | A Symptom of Being Human |
Watch this week’s Top 10 by clicking the play button below.
Steel Bars is a new compilation of covers paying tribute to Michael Bolton who became well known for his pop rock ballads in the nineties. Steel Bars focuses a lot on Bolton’s early career when he was a hard rock singer and features both older and newer artists from the hard rock genre
Nevena Brankovic and Ana Nikolic are the two vocalists for Serbian rock band “The Big Deal” who have featured on RadiJohan in the past year with tracks from their debut album, First Bite. Their version of Michael Bolton’s Wait On Love is new this week on RadiJohan.
This week in 1984 the album Sports, the third album by American rock band “Huey Lewis and the News,” claimed a week at Number 1 in the USA. Sports spent just over three years on the US album chart and spawned four top-ten hits, with Heart and Soul and The Heart of Rock & Roll earning Grammy Award nominations. Sports also did very well internationally, with most of its singles charting in the top 40 in multiple countries. It’s one of just five albums to top the US album chart in 1984, the others being Thriller, Purple Rain, Born in the U.S.A., and the Footloose soundtrack.
Stockholm based Swedish pop-folk duo “Smith & Thell” are back with a brand-new release. Their latest, and first new single in 2023, is a slight change in pace, with the duo delivering a ballad inspired by profound and enduring love, and with Victor (Thell) taking the lead throughout the song. Unchanged however, is their trademark skill for telling a story and inviting us right into it. Reflecting on the inspiration behind the single, Victor Thell shares:
“The song draws from the story of my grandparents, who shared a marriage that spanned 65 years. Our grandparents grew up in an era where it was less common to openly express emotions, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t feel deeply. After my grandfather’s passing, I could see in my grandmother’s eyes just how much she missed him. This prompted us to write about the unspoken words and emotions we wish we could have expressed while our loved ones were still with us. ‘We Were In Love’ is our interpretation of my grandmother’s love for my grandfather—the words she never had a chance to say.”
We Were In Love by Smith & Thell is new this week on RadiJohan.
The B-52’s are an American band formed in 1976. This week in 1989 they released Cosmic Thing, their mainstream breakthrough and their first album following the death of guitarist and band co-founder Ricky Wilson. The second single released from the album, Love Shack, is considered the band’s signature song and has been a concert staple since its release. Commercially, the single topped the charts in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand, reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. Rolling Stone magazine named Love Shack the best single of 1989.
This week in 1990 “Nelson” released their debut album After the Rain, which sold over 2 million copies in the USA thanks to their number 1 single (Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection. The band was founded by twins Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. Their Father, Ricky Nelson, was an actor who also had a long and successful recording career, with hits including Hello Mary Lou (1961) and Garden Party (1972), before he died in a plane crash in 1985.
Robert Jon & the Wreck is an American five-piece blues rock band formed in 2011. In 2021 the title track from their most recent studio album, Shine a light on Me Brother, spent three weeks at number one in the RadiJohan Top 10. The band has recently announced a new album is on its way. Ride Into The Light, their seventh studio album, will be released in August.
To celebrate the announcement, Robert Jon & The Wreck have released the album’s newest single, West Coast Eyes, which is new this week on RadiJohan.