This Sunday, March 15, at the Academy Awards ceremony, a song topping the Billboard Hot 100 – the hit “Golden” by HUNTR/X from KPop Demon Hunters – will compete for Best Original Song. However, that pales in comparison to the 1985 Oscars, when, for the first and only time in history, all five nominees were No. 1 hits.
The lineup included two tracks from Footloose: the energetic title track by Kenny Loggins and the charming R&B/pop song “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” by Deniece Williams. Footloose was just the fourth film to generate two Best Original Song nominations, following Fame in 1981, and Flashdance and Yentl in 1984. Dean Pitchford, who wrote the screenplay for Footloose and co-wrote all the songs on the soundtrack, was nominated as a co-author on both songs. He was the only nominee in the category that year who had already won an Oscar: in 1981, for co-writing Irene Cara’s hit “Fame” from the film of the same name.
Rounding out the nominees were the heartfelt ballad “Against All Odds (Capture a Look at Me Now)” by Phil Collins from Against All Odds (El Poder y la Pasión); the catchy “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. from the film of the same name; and the warm and sentimental “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder, from The Woman in Red (La Chica de Rojo).
Two of these songs, “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” and “I Just Called To Say I Love You,” also received Grammy nominations for Song of the Year. (The Grammys didn’t introduce the category of Best Song Written for Visual Media until 1988.)
As stacked as the Best Original Song category was at the 1985 Oscars, two other film tracks reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 but didn’t receive nominations: “When Doves Cry” by Prince and “Let’s Proceed Crazy” by Prince and the Revolution, both from Purple Rain (Lluvia Púrpura). However, Prince did win an Oscar that night for Best Original Song Score.
Rewind to the 57th Academy Awards, held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on March 25, 1985 – the only ceremony where all five Best Original Song nominees were No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. This year’s nominees are hoping to recreate some of that magic.
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“Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)”
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From the film: Against All Odds (El Poder y la Pasión)
Music and Lyrics: Phil Collins
Recorded by: Phil Collins
Weeks at No. 1: Three
Performed at the Oscars by: Ann Reinking with Gary Chryst
Notes: This was Collins’ first nomination. The musician was nominated again in 1989 for “Two Hearts” from Buster (a song co-written with Motown legend Lamont Dozier). He ultimately won in 2000 with “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Tarzán.
The ceremony’s producers didn’t invite Collins to perform his romantic ballad, which was his first of seven No. 1 hits on the Hot 100. Instead, they extended the invitation to singer and dancer Ann Reinking, who was joined by dancer Gary Chryst. Four years later, when Collins was nominated for “Two Hearts,” none of the nominated songs were performed on the telecast. Fortunately, the Academy invited Collins to perform the third time he was nominated, for “You’ll Be in My Heart.”
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“Footloose”
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From the film: Footloose (Todos a Bailar)
Music and Lyrics: Kenny Loggins and Dean Pitchford
Recorded by: Kenny Loggins
Weeks at No. 1: Three
Performed at the Oscars by: Debbie Allen
Notes: This was Loggins’ first and only No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. “Footloose” cemented his identity as the go-to artist for movie songs in the 1980s, followed by “Danger Zone” from Top Gun, “Meet Me Halfway” from Over the Top (Halcón), and “Nobody’s Fool” from Caddyshack II, all of which reached the top 15.
Footloose was such an iconic film that it received a remake in 2011. Blake Shelton performed the title track in the latest version and even opened that year’s Country Music Association Awards with a performance of the song alongside Loggins. (That made up for Loggins not being invited to perform his hit at the 1985 Oscars. Debbie Allen delivered a highly choreographed version instead. The broadcast producers that year clearly weren’t tuned into the Billboard charts.)
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“Ghostbusters”
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From the film: Ghostbusters (Los Cazafantasmas)
Music and Lyrics: Ray Parker Jr.
Recorded by: Ray Parker Jr.
Weeks at No. 1: Three
Performed at the Oscars by: Ray Parker Jr.
Notes: This was Parker’s first and only No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. The film was the year’s highest-grossing movie in the United States, according to boxofficemojo.com. Among the other films nominated for Best Original Song, Footloose landed at No. 6, The Woman in Red at No. 33, and Against All Odds at No. 39.
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“I Just Called to Say I Love You”
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From the film: The Woman in Red
Music and Lyrics: Stevie Wonder
Recorded by: Stevie Wonder
Weeks at No. 1: Three
Performed at the Oscars by: Diana Ross
Notes: This was Wonder’s eighth of 10 songs to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100. Motown legend Diana Ross performed the song during the Oscar telecast. Wonder accepted the Academy Award from actor and dancer Gregory Hines. After expressing disbelief at winning (“I really can’t believe it”), he began thanking various people. “I’d like to accept this award on behalf of Nelson Mandela. I’d like to thank, first of all, Miss Dionne Warwick for giving me this opportunity. I’d like to thank Gene Wilder for thinking that I could do some songs for his movie. Thank you, Orion Pictures, and thank you, Motown Records, my family, and my team. I love you from the bottom of my heart.”
According to the essential book Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards, Wonder’s support of Mandela, the South African civil rights leader who had been imprisoned since 1964, prompted a swift response from the South African government: they banned his music.
Wonder was also the first blind person to win an Oscar.
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“Let’s Hear It for the Boy”
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From the film: Footloose
Music and Lyrics: Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford
Recorded by: Deniece Williams
Weeks at No. 1: Two
Performed at the Oscars by: Deniece Williams
Notes: This was Williams’ first and only No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. Williams performed the song at the Oscar telecast. Pitchford and Snow were nominated again in 1990 for “After All” from the romantic comedy Chances Are (Después de Todo), starring Cybill Shepherd and Robert Downey Jr.
Fun fact: When Clive Davis oversaw Whitney Houston’s debut album, he thought it needed a bold, youthful song like “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” to balance the ballads. He found it in “How Will I Know,” which, like “Let’s Hear It…,” topped the Hot 100. Pitchford later had a more direct relationship with Houston than simply inspiring her to select a song: in 1991, Houston topped the Hot 100 with “All the Man That I Need,” a passionate ballad that Pitchford co-wrote with his “Fame” collaborator, Michael Gore.
