Near-Miss Hits: ‘80s Edition

<p>The 1980s yielded a bumper crop of near-miss hits—songs that stalled out at No. 2, No. 11, or No. 41 during their original Billboard runs but were vindicated in the streaming era. The song that lent its title to a Molly Ringwald movie missed the Top 40—twice. Stevie Nicks missed the Top 10 with what is now her most beloved solo song. And Bruce Springsteen missed his only chance at a No. 1 song thanks to another ’80s icon.</p> <p>Today on Hit Parade: Chris Molanphy flashes back to the Reagan era to tally the greatest near-misses from Def Leppard, Huey Lewis, the Cars, Madonna, the Cure, Paula Abdul, Eddie Murphy, Prince and others.</p> <p>For more about near-miss hits, listen to Hit Parade’s episode on the <u><a href="https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2026/05/near-misses-hit-songs-that-stalled-on-the-pop-charts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">near misses of the 1970s</a></u>.</p> <p>Pssst! Do you love Hit Parade? Support what we do and help us <em>absolutely crush it</em> during Slate’s podcast pledge drive! For a limited time, you can join Slate Plus for 50 percent off and get bonus episodes of &quot;The Bridge,&quot; ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts, and unlimited reading on Slate.com. Visit <u><a href="https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=plus_pod&amp;utm_content=Hit_Parade&amp;utm_source=episode_summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slate.com/hitparadeplus</a></u> and use the promo code HIT50 to receive the discount AND get access wherever you listen.</p><p>Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our <a href="https://slate.com/podcastfaqs#plusbenefits" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">FAQ</a> at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>