#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: December 27, 1980 through January 24, 1981.
#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: December 27, 1980 through January 24, 1981.
#1 on the U.K. Chart: The week of December 20, 1980.I have noted before that it is somewhat rare for songs to reach the number one position on all three of the charts I'm using for the 1980s Project, but the fact that this song achieved that triple peak position seems almost like a foregone conclusion. By the time this song was released, John Lennon was an almost legendary figure - his membership in the Beatles made him an icon in the musical world, but his high-profile activism and cultural presence in the pos-Beatles era elevated him to a nigh-mythic stature.
This song was released on the album Double Fantasy, which represented Lennon's return to pop music after a layoff of five years as Lennon had retired from public life in 1975 to raise his son, an absence that had only served to elevate his mythic stature. So when he released this album in 1980, it was an almost foregone conclusion that several of its songs would achieve top status.
The album did have the expected success, but there was tragedy here as well. By the time (Just Like) Starting Over was a number one hit, John Lennon was dead, having been assassinated on the front steps of his apartment building on December 8th, 1980. This song is about optimism, and new beginnings, sung by someone full of hope for the future, but by the time this song reached number one, Lennon's future was gone. Listening to this song, you can hear the life and renewed ambition embodied within it, and those of us left behind can only wonder at what Lennon might have created had his life not been cut short.
Previous Musical Monday: Master Blaster (Jammin') by Stevie Wonder
Subsequent Musical Monday: There's No One Quite Like Grandma by St. Winifred's School Choir
Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Lady by Kenny Rogers
Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: The Tide Is High by Blondie
Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Master Blaster (Jammin') by Stevie Wonder
Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: The Tide Is High by Blondie
Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: Super Trouper by ABBA
Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: There's No One Quite Like Grandma by St. Winifred's School Choir
List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989
John Lennon 1980s Project Musical Monday Home
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