On this week in 1985, another new song hit Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”. At the end of of Part 10 in this series, I asked about this week’s song, “Will I remember that one?” Well…
40 years ago this week, “Sussudio” (video up top) by the English singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was Number One for one week. The song was on his third solo studio album album, No Jacket Required. It was the lead single in the UK, and the second single in the USA following "One More Night", which I talked about in Part 4 of this series.
To answer the question I posed at the end of Part 10, yes, I do remember the song: I couldn’t miss it at the time. However, I didn’t like it: To me, it sounded like nonsense, and it turns out I was right: “Sussudio” was originally a nonsense word Collins used as a placeholder, and it stuck. He said the song is about a schoolboy's crush on a girl at school—not that I’d know because I actively tried to ignore the song every time it popped up on the radio or on TV as a music video.
Nowadays, having mellowed with age and time, my reaction to the song is far less visceral, if still generally negative, though perhaps tinged with a kind of nostalgia that only time—decades?—can permit for something once disliked. So, that’s something, I guess.
“Sussudio” reached Number 8 in Australia, Number 10 in Canada, Number 27 in New Zealand (Gold), Number 12 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard, as well as Number 30 on their “Adult Contemporary” chart, Number 4 on their “Dance Club Songs” chart, Number 8 on their “Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs” chart, and Number 10 on their “Mainstream Rock Songs” chart. The song was Certified Gold in the USA.
The album No Jacket Required reached Number One in Australia (Platinum), Canada (Diamond), New Zealand (Platinum), the UK (6x Platinum) as well as Number One on the Billboard 200” (12x Platinum).
This series will return next week, July 13, with another brand new Number One single for that week. We'll see what that one was about.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
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