'Endless Love' hits high note on top 40 duets list - Valentines Day

[jobeterob]

February 14th, 2011
09:59 AM ET

'Endless Love' hits high note on top 40 duets list

If any of you are trying to cobble together a last minute mixtape for your Valentine today, Billboard’s top 40 duets of all time may give you inspiration.

The list highlights recent hits like Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind," as well as more classic tracks like Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe." [[That one comes in at No. 35, right after Jennifer Lopez and LL Cool J's "All I Have.")

Billboard chose the top 40 duets by taking a look at songs that gave each artist equal time at the mic, and they're ordered by how well they performed on the Billboard Hot 100 since the chart’s launch in August, 1958. The more weeks a song spent at No. 1, the higher its rating.

And if you think it’d be really, really awesome if people would stop reminding you of what today is, don’t fret - some of the highest ranked duets aren't about romance.


The top 10 duets of all time are:

1. "Endless Love" - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
2. "Say, Say, Say" - Paul McCartney And Michael Jackson
3. "The Boy Is Mine" - Brandy & Monica
4. "Ebony and Ivory" - Paul McCartney And Stevie Wonder
5. "Dilemma" - Nelly & Kelly Rowland
6. "I'm Real" - Jennifer Lopez & Ja Rule
7. "My Boo" - Usher And Alicia Keys
8. "Baby Boy" - Beyonce & Sean Paul
9. "Islands in the Stream" - Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton
10. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" - Elton John & Kiki Dee

[rovereab]

I always think it is disappointing the Marvin & Tammi's You're All I Need is never included in these lists. For me the recording includes all the ingredients, written by a couple, sung by two artists that had a great chemistry and lyrics that are the essence of a relationship.

For me this is the flagship of duets in all types of music.

[Kamasu_Jr]

February 14th, 2011
09:59 AM ET

'Endless Love' hits high note on top 40 duets list

If any of you are trying to cobble together a last minute mixtape for your Valentine today, Billboard’s top 40 duets of all time may give you inspiration.

The list highlights recent hits like Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind," as well as more classic tracks like Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe." [[That one comes in at No. 35, right after Jennifer Lopez and LL Cool J's "All I Have.")

Billboard chose the top 40 duets by taking a look at songs that gave each artist equal time at the mic, and they're ordered by how well they performed on the Billboard Hot 100 since the chart’s launch in August, 1958. The more weeks a song spent at No. 1, the higher its rating.

And if you think it’d be really, really awesome if people would stop reminding you of what today is, don’t fret - some of the highest ranked duets aren't about romance.


The top 10 duets of all time are:

1. "Endless Love" - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
2. "Say, Say, Say" - Paul McCartney And Michael Jackson
3. "The Boy Is Mine" - Brandy & Monica
4. "Ebony and Ivory" - Paul McCartney And Stevie Wonder
5. "Dilemma" - Nelly & Kelly Rowland
6. "I'm Real" - Jennifer Lopez & Ja Rule
7. "My Boo" - Usher And Alicia Keys
8. "Baby Boy" - Beyonce & Sean Paul
9. "Islands in the Stream" - Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton
10. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" - Elton John & Kiki Dee

Me hate Endless Love!

[jobeterob]

Generally me too.........and also Ebony & Ivory and Say Say Say; but they were huge, mass market hits.

I never want to play Endless Love but when I hear it I am surprised how good it is; I feel the same way about Dancing in the Street.

I once read that if you didn't hear Endless Love in the summer and fall of 1981, that you were dead.

[theboyfromxtown]

Me hate Endless Love!

Me too. And I hate it when it wins another award and I have to hear it again!

I don't consider any of those duets as the cream of duets....but then they didn't ask me!

[smark21]

This list proves once again that what's really popular in its day is not necessarily good and lasting over the long run. Most of the songs on that list are drivel and outright crap.

[jobeterob]

Ironic how many of the biggest hits are the least popular with the guys that know what's "in the grooves".

[smark21]

Ironic how many of the biggest hits are the least popular with the guys that know what's "in the grooves".

I don't claim to know what's in the grooves, but PT Barnum nailed it in the 19th century that no one has gone broke underestimating the taste of the American Public. Most of the duets on that top ten list are awful. I'm not a big fan of Endless Love, but it's one of the best songs on that list, though it certainly doesn't compare in quality to one of Marvin and Tammi's duets, or Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood's "Some Velvet Morning" or "Summer Wine".