Everywhere you look there are numbers. Whether it’s a date, address, price, time, quantity, speed limit, phone number, age… numbers are all around us. So it’s not surprising that numbers appear in many song titles. Go ahead, start thinking of songs with numbers in the title. The list should start flowing quickly. The title of one of my all time favorite songs, “One” by U2, is simply a number. That song is from 1991, but there are quite a few from my favorite decade of the 80s which include a number in the title. Those numbers appear in many forms sometimes even replacing another word like “2” instead of “to” or “4” instead of “for”.

I have narrowed down my list to that decade, so here is OLD SCHOOL’S TOP 10 SONGS OF THE 80s WITH NUMBERS IN THE TITLE (+ Bonus 20):

30. “19” (1985) by Paul Hardcastle

29. “Five Minutes of Funk” (1984) by Whodini

28. “Two Tribes” (1984) by Frankie Goes To Hollywood

27. “’65 Love Affair” (1981) by Paul Davis

26. “With One Look (The Wildest Dream)” (1985) by Rupert Hine sung by Cy Curnin & Jamie West-Oram of the Fixx from the Better Off Dead soundtrack

25. “18 and Life” (1989) by Skid Row

24. “1-2-3? (1988) by Miami Sound Machine

23. “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” (1983) by Culture Club

22. “I Can’t Drive 55? (1984) by Sammy Hagar

21. “Two of Hearts” (1986) by Stacey Q

20. “Two To Make It Right” (1980) by Seduction

19. “Two Hearts” (1988) by Phil Collins

18. “9 to 5? (1980) by Dolly Parton

17. “Goody Two Shoes” (1982) by Adam Ant

16. “Edge of Seventeen” (1981) by Stevie Nicks

15. “99 Luftballons” (1983) by Nena

14. “Seven Bridges Road” (1980) by Eagles which is a live cover of the 1969 Steve Young song on their Eagles Live album

13. “One Heartbeat” (1987) by Smokey Robinson

12. “Another One Bites the Dust” (1980) by Queen

11. “Breaking Us In Two” (1982) by Joe Jackson

10. “One In a Million You” (1980) by Larry Graham

9. “Just The Two Of Us” (1981) by Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers

8. “I Would Die 4 U” (1984) by Prince

7. “2000 Miles” (1983) by The Pretenders

6. “Love Plus One” (1982) by Haircut 100

5. “867-5309/Jenny” (1981) by Tommy Tutone – The single was released in November of 1981 and would end up peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. There are discrepancies, but co-writer of the song, Alex Call, confirms that both the phone number and person were just made up. Just think of how many times that phone number has been called and someone has asked to speak to Jenny. Many people think that Tommy Tutone is the name of the singer, but it is just the name of the band. The lead singer’s name is Tommy, but his last name is Heath. The band’s original name was Tommy and the Tu-tones, but would later be shortened to just Tommy Tutone.

4. “One Thing Leads To Another” (1983) by The Fixx – This song was released on the London-based band’s 1983 album, Reach the Beach, and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of that year. It was produced by the great Rupert Hine and features Cy Curnin on lead vocals. The song received lots of radio airplay and the video was in heavy rotation during the early years of MTV which probably helped make it one of my favorites especially from the early part of the decade.

3. “It Takes Two” (1988) by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock – The platinum-selling single is certainly one of the most successful and popular hip-hop/rap songs of the 80s. It was produced by Teddy Riley and samples heavily from Lyn Collins’ 1972 song “Think (About It)” including a lyric sung by her and the iconic James Brown “Woo, yeah!” drum break which she originated as well. It is not uncommon to hear people be able to recite at least the entire first verse of this song. I’ll get you started, “I wanna rock right now. I’m Rob Base and I came to get down.”…

2. “1999” (1982) by Prince – The title track from the 1982 album of the same name, it remains one of Prince’s most popular songs. When first released as a single, it did not even make it into the Top 40 in the U.S., however after “Little Red Corvette” hit the Top 10, “1999” was re-promoted and this time peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The premise of the song is that the apocalypse would take place in the year 2000 which seemed so far away when the single was originally released. It certainly received a resurgence that year for millennium celebrations and continues to be popular over a decade later. Rolling Stone ranked the song #212 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

1. “Summer of ’69” (1985) by Bryan Adams – Written by Adams and Jim Vallance, it was the fourth single released from the album Reckless in June of 1985. Surprisingly, the song only peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, but continues to be a favorite for many. There are discrepancies regarding the intended meaning of “69” in the song. Adams himself has come out more recently stating, “A lot of people think it’s about the year, but actually, it’s more about making love in the summertime. It’s using ’69 as a sexual reference.” This contradicts what Adams has said previously and what co-writer Vallance has said as well. It’s one of those mysteries that may never really get solved, but either way the song will remain one of the most loved rock songs of the 80s.

There’s my list. I included the videos for the top 5, but you can surely find all of the others on YouTube. Are there any 80s songs with numbers in the title that you feel I have overlooked? If so or if you’d rank any differently, please leave them in the comments section below. The numbers “two” and “one” appeared on the list the most with nine and eight song titles respectively. If we were doing album titles instead, Van Halen would likely dominate with 1984, 5150 and OU812 all being released in the 80s. Numbers are all around us and song titles are certainly no exception. Well at least now you will remember 30 songs from the 80s that prove it.