1985: The Year of The Soundtrack?

Picture sleeve from "Separate Lives" single; it hit #1 on 11/30/1985

Twenty-six different songs topped the Billboard Hot 100 during the year of 1985, including multiple songs from Phil Collins, Wham!, and Tears For Fears.  But the fact that stands out among these 26 tunes is that no fewer than 9 of them were featured in popular movies or TV shows.

1. "Crazy For You" by Madonna (VisionQuest)
2. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds (Breakfast Club)
3. "Heaven" by Bryan Adams (A Night In Heaven)
4. "A View To A Kill" by Duran Duran (A View To A Kill)
5. "The Power Of Love" by Huey Lewis & The News (Back To The Future)
6. "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" by John Parr (St. Elmo's Fire)
7. "Miami Vice Theme" by Jan Hammer (Miami Vice - TV Show)
8. "Separate Lives" by Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin (White Nights)
9. "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie (White Nights) (song was featured in the film, but was not included on the soundtrack)

For Phil Collins, "Separate Lives" was his second #1 from a film soundtrack -- "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)" (from the film Against All Odds) had reached the top in 1984.  Collins would take two additional movie songs to the top later in the decade:  "Groovy Kind Of Love" and "Two Hearts" were featured in the movie Buster (which Collins starred in), and hit #1 in 1988 and 1989, respectively.