George Harrison, ‘Got My Mind Set on You’: Chart Rewind, 1988

Mar 10, 2023

On the Billboard Hot 100 dated Jan. 16, 1988, George Harrison notched his third solo No. 1, as "Got My Mind Set on You," from his album Cloud Nine, rose from the runner-up spot.

Harrison had previously topped the Hot 100 outside The Beatles with "Give Me Love – (Give Me Peace on Earth)," for a week in June 1973, and the double-sided single "My Sweet Lord"/"Isn't It a Pity," for four frames starting in December 1970.

The Beatles, with Harrison as a member, ran up a record 20 Hot 100 No. 1s, in 1964-70 – while their members went on to notch a combined 16 as soloists. Harrison became the first to lead on his own and, thanks to "Got My Mind Set on You," remains the most recent. Ringo Starr (who guests on drums on the song) reigned with two titles in 1973-74; John Lennon, with two in 1974-81; and Paul McCartney, including his work with Wings, with nine in 1971-84.

Harrison would go on to further chart success in 1988, as follow-up single "When We Was Fab" hit No. 23 on the Hot 100. Cloud Nine peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 albums chart the same week that "Got My Mind Set on You" crowned the Hot 100, and Harrison fared even better on the former ranking with an album released later that year: Traveling Wilburys’ first collection, which reached No. 3 in January 1989. The supergroup comprised Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, formed when the legends worked up "Handle With Care" as a potential Cloud Nine B-side; deemed too good to remain that obscure, it was released as the band's introductory single and hit No. 2 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

How did the Hot 100's top 10 stack up the week that Harrison hit No. 1 on the Jan. 16, 1988, chart? Count down the tally's top tier that week below.

The rock ballad fell from No. 4 to No. 10 after reaching No. 2 in December 1987. The group's fellow hair-metal classic "Here I Go Again" led for a week that October. (Per the photo above, such ’dos were central among the dos, not do-nots, of the genre at the time.) The songs encompass the band's two career Hot 100 top 10s.

The title cut from Michael's first solo album after his run in duo Wham! dipped 3-9 following its four-week reign. It went on to earn top honors as the No. 1 song on the year-end Hot 100 for 1988. It also marked the first of four leaders from Faith on the weekly list, followed by "Father Figure," "One More Try" and "Monkey." "You need integrity of an artist and strength of the music," an industry executive mused to Billboard in a 2015 story on the ’80s boom of elite albums with multiple top 10s and No. 1s.

Dayne's debut dance/pop anthem rose 9-8 on its way to a No. 7 peak. It began a streak of seven straight career-opening Hot 100 top 10s for the singer through 1990, including the No. 1 ballad "Love Will Lead You Back," written by Diane Warren, that April.

The live recording jumped 11-7, toward its No. 6 peak, to become John's 22nd Hot 100 top 10. The ode to Marilyn Monroe was first released as a studio album cut in 1973. The composition added renewed prominence as a tribute to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, as "Candle in the Wind 1997," paired with "Something About the Way You Look Tonight," reigned for 14 weeks in 1997-98.

Also new to the top 10 on the Jan. 16, Hot 100, the jangly song jingled 12-6, ahead of reaching No. 2. It became the group's second of four top 10s – and became a top 10 hit after Simon & Garfunkel's original reached No. 13 in 1966. The Bangles have tallied two No. 1s: "Walk Like an Egyptian," which became the top song on the 1987 year-end Hot 100, and "Eternal Flame," in 1989.

The other hit making its first appearance in the top 10 on the Jan. 16 Hot 100 soared 14-5. The lost-love song spent two weeks at No. 1 that February, giving the then-16-year-old back-to-back leaders to start her career, after "I Think We’re Alone Now" also led for two weeks in November 1987. Tiffany's eponymous debut album likewise topped the Billboard 200, making her the first teen female artist ever to reign, and the first teen since Stevie Wonder in 1963. "I mentor a lot of artists," Tiffany told Billboard in 2017. "I’m like, ‘Look: understand that you’ll never understand everything about the music industry. Keep an open mind. Know in your heart what you want to do, because it does start from you. But, listen to the people around you. They’ve achieved their success and their positions for a reason. And, if you get even a chance to be on a chart at all … be grateful. Be really, really grateful.’ "

The track pushed 6-4, becoming the group's lone Hot 100 leader. The band first hit the top 10 with the No. 5-peaking "What You Need" in 1986, and "Need You Tonight" began a streak of six more top 10s in 1988-90, with four from the album Kick and two from follow-up X.

The single climbed 5-3 a week before becoming the third Hot 100 No. 1 from Jackson's Bad album, following "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," featuring Siedah Garrett, and the title song. "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana" subsequently dominated, as the set became the first to spin off five leaders, a feat matched since only by Katy Perry's Teenage Dream in 2010-11.

The song fell to No. 2 after becoming Houston's sixth Hot 100 champ. Her next single, "Where Do Broken Hearts Go," led in April 1988, granting Houston a record-breaking seven consecutive No. 1 entries on the survey, a run that started in 1985. (When Houston added her seventh straight No. 1, Paul Grein wrote in that week's "Chart Beat" column: "We’ll note that Houston is one of the most inquisitive artists in pop history. The titles of three of her seven No. 1 hits have posed questions. Here's a quick medley: ‘How Will Broken Hearts Almost Have It All?’ ")

"So I came to America in 1963 – before The Beatles," Harrison told Timothy White for Musician magazine, as recounted in Fred Bronson's The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. "I bought that James Ray album that had ‘If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody’ [a No. 22 Hot 100 hit in 1962]. The best three songs were written by this guy who discovered James Ray, a former mailman named Rudy Clark. Clark wrote ‘It's Been a Drag’ and ‘Got My Mind Set on You Part One/Part Two’ – although it didn't have any break in between. If you listen to the song now, it's very different from how I’ve done it. I’ve updated it and changed the chords, because I preferred it the way I heard it in my head."

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