As you’ve likely heard by now, pop singer Donna Summer passed away today at the age of 63.  Often considered the Queen of Disco, Summer scored 14 top ten singles in the 1970s and 1980s, beginning with “Love To Love You Baby,” which peaked at number 2 in early 1976, and ending with “This Time I Know It’s For Real,” which hit number 7 in June 1989 and can be heard above.  That streak included a run of eight straight charting singles that hit the top ten from 1978 to 1980, four of which went to number one.

In honor of Donna Summer, Tunesmate is looking for Sentunes from titles of her songs.  Here’s a Donna Summer discography to help,  and here’s a sentune to get us started:  Rumour has it wasted bad girls dim all the lights on the radio.

Exactly 25 years ago today, the first top 10 hit in U2′s illustrious career hit number one as “With Or Without You” ascended to the top spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for the first week of a three-week stay.  “With Or Without You” would be U2′s first of two consecutive number one hits, as the band also hit the top in August 1987 for two weeks with “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

Though these would be U2′s only two number one hit on the pop singles chart, “With Or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” helped make The Joshua Tree into what has been repeatedly considered one of the greatest records in rock ‘n’ roll history, and they helped vault U2 in the realm of rock ‘n’ roll superstardom.

You very well may remember “Bohemian Rhapsody” from the first time it charted.  It was, after all, Queen’s first top ten hit on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 9 in April of 1976.  You may also remember it for the cult status that it and its video, which is featured above, enjoyed in the decades following that chart run.

You may also, though, remember the song for its prominent use in the film Wayne’s World in 1992.  It was on the strength of that film cameo that “Bohemian Rhapsody” re-entered the Hot 100, this time outdistancing its previous appearance when, exactly 20 years ago today, it rose to a peak position of number 2.

Exactly 30 years ago today, composer Evangelos Papathanassiou, who is more commonly known as Vangelis, hit number one on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart as “Chariots of Fire – Titles” rose to the top spot for a one-week stay.  The instrumental piece, from the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, would be Vangelis’ only single to hit the top 100, placing him among the biggest one-hit wonders of all time.

Of course, Vangelis’ status as a one-hit wonder likely says more about popular music charts than about his work, as he has built a successful career as a composer of classical music and cinema scores for over the past five decades.

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Is Walmart missing the bus or do that many people still buy CDs?

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Exactly 25 years ago today, British band Cutting Crew achieved their biggest popular music success when “(I Just) Died In Your Arms” rose to the top of Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart for the first week of a two-week stay at number one.  The band, which has been led in all of its incarnations by singer and songwriter Nick Van Eede, would score two more Top 40 hits over the next year, with “One For The Mockingbird” peaking at number 38 in July 1987 and “I’ve Been In Love Before” rising to number 9 in November 1987.

While those three songs from their album Broadcast would be the band’s only three Top 40 hits, they did score a couple more hits on adult contemporary radio with “Everything But My Pride” and “The Last Thing” from their next album, The Scattering, a couple of years later.

For more on Cutting Crew, check out their official website.

Providence-based artist John MacLean has been putting out electronica music under the name The Juan MacLean since 2005.  Lately, I can’t get enough of his piece “Deviant Device,” which can be heard above.

For more on The Juan MacLean, check out his official website.

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