There has never been a stronger bond between cinema and the pop charts than in the 1980s. Between 1983 and 1987 alone, more than a dozen #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 came directly from feature films. Soundtracks routinely went multi-platinum. A hit movie paired with a hit title song could guarantee commercial success for both. MTV made this symbiosis even stronger — a movie's video could double as both a music promo and a film trailer.
The template was set early in the decade. Flashdance (1983) gave Irene Cara a #1 single ("What a Feeling") and Michael Sembello the "Maniac" follow-up. Footloose (1984) did it again with Kenny Loggins's title track and Deniece Williams's "Let's Hear It for the Boy." Ghostbusters (1984) made Ray Parker Jr.'s theme one of the most recognizable songs of the decade. Stevie Wonder won an Oscar for "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from The Woman in Red (1984). Phil Collins hit #1 with "Against All Odds" from the film of the same name.
The mid-80s belonged to the Brat Pack era. John Hughes's films turned Simple Minds ("Don't You (Forget About Me)," The Breakfast Club) and OMD ("If You Leave," Pretty in Pink) into American hits. St. Elmo's Fire (1985) gave John Parr and David Foster a #1 with the iconic "Man in Motion" anthem. Top Gun (1986) may have been the decade's defining music-movie crossover: Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" went to #1, Kenny Loggins's "Danger Zone" went to #2, and the soundtrack spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200.
Then came Dirty Dancing (1987), whose soundtrack spent 18 weeks at #1 and included Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes's Oscar-winning "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," along with hits "She's Like the Wind" and "Hungry Eyes." Back to the Future gave us Huey Lewis's "The Power of Love," Purple Rain made Prince a movie star, and Mannequin produced Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" — each a #1 single tied to a film release. Our 80s movie songs trivia draws from Billboard chart data, Oscar wins, and the surprising stories behind soundtrack mainstays you probably hum without realizing.
Test yourself with 15 multiple-choice questions about the biggest 80s movie songs and soundtrack hits.
1. Which Berlin song from the "Top Gun" soundtrack hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986?
A) Danger Zone
B) Take My Breath Away
C) Mighty Wings
D) Lead Me On
2. Kenny Loggins provided the title theme to which 1984 dance movie?
A) Flashdance
B) Footloose
C) Dirty Dancing
D) Fame
3. What Ray Parker Jr. song reached #1 in 1984 as the theme to a blockbuster comedy?
A) Ghostbusters
B) Jump (for My Love)
C) I Just Called to Say I Love You
D) Against All Odds
4. Which John Parr song from the 1985 Brat Pack film topped the Billboard Hot 100?
A) I Can Dream About You
B) St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)
C) Don't You (Forget About Me)
D) If You Leave
5. Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" was the theme to which John Hughes film?
A) Sixteen Candles
B) The Breakfast Club
C) Pretty in Pink
D) Ferris Bueller's Day Off
6. Which Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes duet from "Dirty Dancing" won the 1988 Oscar for Best Original Song?
A) Hungry Eyes
B) She's Like the Wind
C) (I've Had) The Time of My Life
D) Be My Baby
7. Irene Cara's "Flashdance... What a Feeling" came from the 1983 film. Who co-wrote it?
A) Giorgio Moroder
B) Jim Steinman
C) Diane Warren
D) Desmond Child
8. Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" was from which 1984 film?
A) Beverly Hills Cop
B) Romancing the Stone
C) The Woman in Red
D) Splash
9. Which Phil Collins song from the 1984 film "Against All Odds" hit #1 on the Hot 100?
A) One More Night
B) Sussudio
C) Take a Look at Me Now (Against All Odds)
D) Easy Lover
10. Huey Lewis and the News' "The Power of Love" was the theme to which 1985 blockbuster?
A) Weird Science
B) Back to the Future
C) Teen Wolf
D) The Goonies
11. Which Kenny Loggins song appeared on the "Top Gun" soundtrack?
A) I'm Alright
B) Footloose
C) Danger Zone
D) Meet Me Half Way
12. Prince wrote and performed the soundtrack for which 1984 film he also starred in?
A) Under the Cherry Moon
B) Purple Rain
C) Sign o' the Times
D) Graffiti Bridge
13. Which OMD song from "Pretty in Pink" became the band's biggest U.S. hit?
A) Enola Gay
B) If You Leave
C) Tesla Girls
D) Forever Live and Die
14. Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" was from which 1987 romantic comedy?
A) Can't Buy Me Love
B) Some Kind of Wonderful
C) Mannequin
D) Adventures in Babysitting
15. Glenn Medeiros's "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" was not a movie song, but which other Glenn Medeiros ballad appeared in Bo Derek's "Ghosts Can't Do It" (1989)? A trick — more importantly, whose 1987 Oscar-winning song was "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"?
A) Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes
B) Patrick Swayze & Wendy Fraser
C) Eric Carmen
D) Whitney Houston