Musical Monday - Physical by Olivia Newton-John

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: November 21, 1981 through January 23, 1982.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: November 21, 1981 through January 9, 1982.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.

Here it is. The top hit of the 1980s. Already. In 1981. The decade in music was all downhill from here.

Okay, not really, but Physical really was the top hit of the entire decade, staying at number one on the charts for longer than any other song in the 1980s. The song was the biggest hit of Newton-John's career as well, selling two million copies almost as soon as it was released in the United States. The song also served to change the singer's image from the clean-cut girl next door image with a sexier, sultrier, and more adult one.

The song wasn't really considered to be a natural match for Newton-John. The songwriters apparently originally intended to offer the song to Rod Stewart, and actually did offer it to Tina Turner, but instead it found its way to Olivia. The video was pretty much transformative for Newton-John, although this seems to have been a mixed blessing. She released her Greatest Hits, Volume 2 album in 1983, and had a few relatively strong hits, but after that her career basically crashed and burned. Having four or five substantial hits over the course of two three years doesn't sound like such a bad run, but squeaky clean Olivia had been a top selling artist since 1974, a span of seven years, while sexy bad girl Olivia only had a run of a little more than two.

My dominant memory of this song related to aerobics classes. This hit the airwaves about the same time my mother was really getting into aerobics, and when she transitioned to aerobics instructor when we moved to Zaire, this song was a regular feature of her classes. I remember this song being played over and over again as my mother worked out the aerobics routine she would teach to it, the repetition droning on and on during lazy afternoons in central Africa as I did my best to ignore it and play games on the Atari or paint miniatures.

Previous Musical Monday: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by the Police

Subsequent Musical Monday: Begin the Beguine (Volver a Empezar) by Julio Iglesias

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Private Eyes by Hall and Oates

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) by Hall and Oates

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Private Eyes by Hall and Oates

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) by Hall and Oates

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

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