Top 100 songs for October 17, 1981
This weekly snapshot follows the songs and artists competing across the Billboard Hot 100. Open any entry for its full chart history, or explore 1981 and the 1980s.
This week’s No. 1 is “Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)” by Christopher Cross. Meanwhile, “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross rises from No. 85 to No. 65. 9 songs are listed in their first chart week.
See debuts and biggest movers
This week’s chart highlights
Biggest climbers
- Never Too Much — Luther Vandrossup 20 places, No. 85 → No. 65
- The Old Songs — Barry Manilowup 19 places, No. 57 → No. 38
- Waiting For A Girl Like You — Foreignerup 17 places, No. 42 → No. 25
New to this week’s Top 10
- Hard To Say — Dan FogelbergNo. 9
- The Night Owls — Little River BandNo. 10
New to this week’s Top 40
- Waiting For A Girl Like You — ForeignerNo. 25
- Physical — Olivia Newton-JohnNo. 31
- Sausalito Summernight — DieselNo. 37
- The Old Songs — Barry ManilowNo. 38
- In The Dark — Billy SquierNo. 39
First-week entries
- Why Do Fools Fall In Love — Diana RossNo. 56
- Young Turks — Rod StewartNo. 61
- Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It) — Kool & The GangNo. 67
- Poor Man's Son — SurvivorNo. 78
- The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known) — Juice NewtonNo. 79
- Harden My Heart — QuarterflashNo. 80
- Snake Eyes — The Alan Parsons ProjectNo. 86
- Slip Away — Pablo CruiseNo. 88
- I Surrender — Arlan DayNo. 90
First-week entries have one recorded chart week. Climbs and Top 10/Top 40 arrivals use recorded previous positions for consecutive chart weeks; returning songs without a previous position are not classified as debuts.