Gen X 80s Top 20 Countdown
Rewind the greatest decade in music!Join us weekly on Gen X 80s Top 20 Countdown as we relive the hits, share trivia, and celebrate the unforgettable sounds of the 80s
Episodes
By mid-July 1988, summer had fully taken over. The days felt wider, the nights arrived faster, and the radio carried everything from glossy pop confidence to late-night reflection. This week’s chart captures that moment when the season stops building anticipation and starts delivering on it, one song at a time.
From dancefloor energy and power ballads to crossover hits and songs that slowed the world just enough to breathe, this cou...
This week, the Gen X 80s Top 20 Countdown takes a brief pause from the chart to sit with the season itself.
Instead of a numbered countdown, this episode offers a Christmas message rooted in memory, music, and gratitude. It’s a few minutes of late-night radio warmth, the kind that once drifted through living rooms with the lights turned low and the world finally quiet. Reflections on how Christmas sounded then, how it feels now, and...
This week we open a special holiday event as we begin counting down the Top 50 Christmas songs of the 80s and 90s. The season always carried its own soundtrack, and the 80s side of the list brought everything from alternative sparkle to soul, soft rock, and the kind of warm winter melodies that lived on family stereos long after the lights came down. This episode covers numbers fifty through twenty-six, capturing the glow, the chao...
New Wave reshaped the early 80s with style, color, and a sound that felt like the decade waking up to something bold and completely new. This Five-Shot drops into the heart of that moment when synths lit up dance floors, videos sparked imaginations, and every track carried a hint of the future humming underneath.
In this quick burst between full episodes, we revisit five songs that defined the mood of the era and the spirit of the k...
This week, we step back into early November 1988, a time when the nights felt longer, the music felt bigger, and every chart carried its own slice of the decade’s energy. From polished pop to bold dance records to the voices that defined the era, this countdown brings the full range of what made the late 80s unforgettable.
And beginning with this episode, the show opens its new listener feature: The Dedication Line. If you would lik...
Early November of 1988 carried a charge of its own. The cold settled in, holiday lights started creeping into storefronts, and the radio felt bigger and brighter with every turn of the dial. It was a season shaped by ambition, attitude, and songs that wrapped themselves around everyday life.
This week we rewind to a chart full of late-decade confidence, the kind of lineup that drifted through classrooms, warmed up mall afternoons, a...
The 80s treated movie soundtracks like emotional lightning, turning ordinary scenes into moments that still echo through our lives. This Gen X Five-Shot rewinds to the songs that followed us out of the theater and settled into our headphones, our bedrooms, and every late-night car ride that needed a perfect mood.
Five tracks. Five stories. One quick hit of pure 80s nostalgia.
Step back into the decade when music and movies shaped the...
In the final stretch of 1987, Britain was finding its rhythm again. The Great Storm had passed, the Christmas lights were beginning to appear, and the charts were alive with the sounds of reinvention and resilience. This week’s countdown captures a country standing tall amid transformation, blending dance, rock, pop, and soul into a soundtrack that still feels powerful decades later.
From the triumphant return of The Bee Gees to Geo...
By the fall of 1987, pop had muscle, rock had polish, and everything on the radio felt bigger than life. The mall was buzzing with Tiffany’s voice, MTV flickered in every living room, and the mixtape had become a declaration of identity. From neon-lit romance to full-volume rebellion, this week’s countdown captures a moment when we were all growing louder, bolder, and just a little more certain of who we were becoming.
Pull on that ...
July 1985 was a golden month on Australian radio, an irresistible mix of home-grown pop, British attitude, and the biggest names on the planet. These were the songs blaring from cassette decks, corner pubs, and Saturday-night TV, when every hook seemed bigger than life and every chorus felt like summer.
This Five-Shot rewinds to that moment in time when the Australian charts were pure color and motion, five tracks, five stories, all...
The summer of 1985 delivered one of the most eclectic charts of the decade. On this week’s Gen X 80s Top 20 Countdown UK, we dive into the full Top 25 from July 5, 1985; a line-up that blended novelty satire with heartfelt soul, cinematic ballads with punk-turned-goth, and synth-driven anthems with charity singles that carried a nation’s grief.
From Bruce Springsteen’s double-sided power to Madonna’s tender balladry, from Marillion’...
The summer of 1985 hit its stride in mid-July. Movie theaters buzzed with Back to the Future, Walkmans spun endlessly on long car rides, and the radio gave us the songs that kept the heat alive. These weren’t just hits, they were the soundtrack of how we lived, from school dances and campfires to mall hangouts and Friday nights with nothing but time.
This week’s countdown rewinds to July 13, when 25 tracks carried us through the haz...
Gen X Five-Shot brings you short, zippy bursts of nostalgia in between the big countdowns. For our very first 80s edition, we’re rewinding to the cartoons that defined Saturday mornings. From ducks to gadgets, robots to mutant turtles, these are the theme songs that turned cereal bowls into arenas and living rooms into adventure zones. Five tracks, five memories, pure 80s magic.
Check out the merch store HERE!
This week we launch a new chapter: the Gen X 80s Top 20 Countdown UK expands to a Top 25. And what a chart to start with; May 6, 1988 delivered a line-up that captured Britain in transition. Comedy and novelty brushed up against smooth R&B, remixes pulled classics back into the spotlight, and rising stars like George Michael and Fairground Attraction shared space with legends like James Brown and Fleetwood Mac. At number one, S...
Late May of 1988 carried a certain electricity. School was winding down, finals still loomed, and the promise of summer freedom sat just within reach. MTV dictated the trends, cassette singles rattled in glove boxes, and even a slice of pizza with those red plastic cups felt like part of the soundtrack.
This week’s countdown rewinds to May 28, when pop, rock, and R&B collided in equal measure and every hook seemed to match the s...
July 1986 found Britain in the thick of summer. Schools were winding down, arcades and high streets pulsed with colour, and the charts brimmed with energy; from novelty singles and bold pop statements to dancefloor anthems and one of Madonna’s most talked-about hits. This week’s countdown captures the sound and feel of a season that seemed endless, a moment when the UK was awash in music, style, and spectacle.
And don’t miss the big...
The summer of ’86 burned bright, with movie themes taking over the airwaves, rock riffs sharing space with sleek synths, and ballads carrying all the weight of teenage heartbreak. It was a season of cassette singles in the glove box, MTV on every screen, and songs that seemed to soundtrack every move we made.
This week’s countdown rewinds to the middle of July, when the radio stitched together our daily lives; poolside afternoons, l...
The Gen X podcasts are growing and evolving. Starting September 17th, all three shows will move to a weekly rotation, and each countdown will expand to the Top 25. Here’s everything you need to know about the change, and why it means even more music and more stories each week.
Autumn 1980 found Britain adjusting to rising costs, chilly evenings, and a changing political mood. Yet on the charts, the sounds were anything but muted. Ska anthems, soul ballads, disco delights, and rock mainstays all shared the Top 20, capturing a nation caught between resilience and release. Step back into the everyday life of October 1980, when the music on radios, jukeboxes, and cassette tapes carried the colour that the se...
October 1980 brings cool air, warm speakers, and a dial that refuses to sit still. Post-disco grooves tighten up, soft rock shines clean, jazz-trained finesse slips onto pop playlists, and country takes the on-ramp without slowing. Arcades hum, Pac-Man tees show up at school, the VCR blinks 12:00, and roller rinks find their stride under colored lights while DJs nail the post and cassettes wait for the perfect chorus.
This week’s ri...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.
"SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!