Over a roughly three-year period from the beginning of 1989 through the beginning of 1992, Paula Abdul hit number 1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart six times and had two additional Top 10 hits. That run began exactly 25 years ago, as Abdul hit number one for the first of three weeks with “Straight Up.”
Though “Straight Up” was Abdul’s first single to garner Top 40 success, it wasn’t her first single to hit the Hot 100 charts, and it was actually the third release from her debut album, Forever Your Girl. In 1988, Abdul hit number 41 with “Knocked Out” and then number 88 with “(It’s Just) The Way That You Love Me.” If you recognize the second of those songs as having been a bigger hit, you’re correct, but it only became a big hit — peaking at number 3 — when it was rereleased in the fall of 1989.
