List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1986

Dionne Warwick (pictured with Pat Nixon) aged 45 earned her second Hot 100 number-one single with "That's What Friends Are For", which stayed at the top position for four straight weeks.

This is a list of the U.S. Billboard magazine Hot 100 number-one singles of 1986. The longest running number-one singles of 1986 are "That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne and Friends and "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles, which each logged four weeks at number-one. "Walk Like an Egyptian" logged two weeks at number-one in 1986 and two more weeks at number-one in 1987, summing up to four weeks at the top. "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie concluded another four week run that began in 1985. 1986 is the year with the third largest number of number-one songs, with 30 songs reaching the #1 spot.

That year, 20 acts earned their first number one song, such as Heart, Falco, Robert Palmer, Pet Shop Boys, Simply Red, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Steve Winwood, Bananarama, Berlin, Janet Jackson, Boston, Bon Jovi, Amy Grant, Bruce Hornsby & the Range, and The Bangles. Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Michael McDonald, and Peter Cetera, already having hit number one with Gladys Knight & the Pips, Labelle, The Doobie Brothers, and Chicago, respectively, also earn their first number one songs as solo acts. Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Peter Cetera were the only acts to earn more than one number one song, with each of them hitting the top twice.

Chart history

Key

Template:Dagger

Indicates best-performing single of 1986

An asterisk (*) by a date indicates an unpublished, "frozen" week, due to the special double issues that Billboard published in print at the end of the year for their year-end charts.

Template:Abbr	Issue date<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	Song	Artist(s)	Template:Abbr
587	Template:Dts*	"Say You, Say Me"	Lionel Richie	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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588	Template:Dts	"That's What Friends Are For"Template:Dagger	Dionne and Friends	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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589	Template:Dts	"How Will I Know"	Whitney Houston	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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590	Template:Dts	"Kyrie"	Mr. Mister	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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591	Template:Dts	"Sara"	Starship	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
592	Template:Dts	"These Dreams"	Heart	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
593	Template:Dts	"Rock Me Amadeus"	Falco	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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594	Template:Dts	"Kiss"	Prince and the Revolution	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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595	Template:Dts	"Addicted to Love"	Robert Palmer	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
596	Template:Dts	"West End Girls"	Pet Shop Boys	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
597	Template:Dts	"Greatest Love of All"	Whitney Houston	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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598	Template:Dts	"Live to Tell"	Madonna	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
599	Template:Dts	"On My Own"	Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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600	Template:Dts	"There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)"	Billy Ocean	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
601	Template:Dts	"Holding Back the Years"	Simply Red	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
602	Template:Dts	"Invisible Touch"	Genesis	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
603	Template:Dts	"Sledgehammer"	Peter Gabriel	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
604	Template:Dts	"Glory of Love"	Peter Cetera	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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605	Template:Dts	"Papa Don't Preach"	Madonna	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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606	Template:Dts	"Higher Love"	Steve Winwood	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
607	Template:Dts	"Venus"	Bananarama	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
608	Template:Dts	"Take My Breath Away"	Berlin	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
609	Template:Dts	"Stuck with You"	Huey Lewis and the News	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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610	Template:Dts	"When I Think of You"	Janet Jackson	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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611	Template:Dts	"True Colors"	Cyndi Lauper	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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612	Template:Dts	"Amanda"	Boston	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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613	Template:Dts	"Human"	The Human League	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
614	Template:Dts	"You Give Love a Bad Name"	Bon Jovi	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
615	Template:Dts	"The Next Time I Fall"	Peter Cetera and Amy Grant	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
616	Template:Dts	"The Way It Is"	Bruce Hornsby & the Range	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
617	Template:Dts	"Walk Like an Egyptian"	The Bangles	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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Number-one artists

List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one

Position	Artist	Weeks at No. 1
1	Whitney Houston	5
2	Dionne Warwick	4
	Elton John
	Stevie Wonder
	Gladys Knight
6	Falco	3
	Madonna
	Patti Labelle
	Michael McDonald
	Huey Lewis and the News
	Peter Cetera
12	Lionel Richie	2
	Mr. Mister
	Prince and the Revolution
	Janet Jackson
	Cyndi Lauper
	Boston
	The Bangles
19	Starship	1
	Heart
	Robert Palmer
	Pet Shop Boys
	Billy Ocean
	Simply Red
	Genesis
	Peter Gabriel
	Steve Winwood
	Bananarama
	Berlin
	The Human League
	Bon Jovi
	Amy Grant
	Bruce Hornsby & the Range

See also

• 1986 in music
• List of Billboard number-one singles
• Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1986
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 1980s

Additional sources

• Fred Bronson's Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, 5th Edition (Template:ISBN)
• Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2008, 12 Edition (Template:ISBN)
• Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Eighties (Template:ISBN)
• Additional information obtained can be verified within BillboardTemplate:'s online archive services and print editions of the magazine.