Part three in this series of posts on artists with an abundance of Top 10 hits, but for whom the very top of the charts has proven elusive. Up next…
Janet Jackson – 16 Top 10 hits between 1986 and 2002
Given that she is one of the most succesful female pop stars of all time, I can’t say I’m very familiar with Janet Jackson’s discography. There’s ‘Together’ Again’, which during my first year of high school you couldn’t turn on the radio for more than five minutes without hearing, and ‘Scream’, the duet with her brother Michael, and the most expensive music video ever (at the time). Neither of these make this list…
In my head I put it down to her simply being bigger in the US than in Britain. Which is true; but which is also completely disbunked by the fact she’s featuring here as the second most succesful non-number-one-getter of all time. Why isn’t she mentioned in the same breath as Madonna, or Whitney Houston? Has her music dated more than theirs? Has she been dwarfed by her brother’s fame (and infamy)? Or is it because her right breast slipped out at a Superbowl half-time show? I’m not attempting to choose a reason here (though, sadly, it’s probably the latter), yet it is worth pondering as we count down her three biggest UK hits.
‘What Have You Done for Me Lately’ – reached #3 in 1986
Miss Jacko has several #3 hits to choose from, but I’ll go for her breakthrough smash. From the wonderfully over-acted intro, to the pounding synths and drums, it is so mid-eighties it hurts. But it also has an energy, and an aggressive beat, that pretty much drags you to the dancefloor. Not a relaxing listen, but one that ‘slaps’, as the kids might say. Interestingly, given her famous family, it took three albums and four years of flops for Janet to establish herself as a solo star with this sassy tune.
‘The Best Things in Life Are Free’ (with Luther Vandross) – reached #2 in 1992
Janet Jackson’s joint-biggest UK hit is this perfectly pleasant, if fairly forgettable, slice of mid-tempo nineties pop, with a hint of R&B. It was from the soundtrack for the movie ‘Mo’ Money’, and neither Janet nor Luther feature in the video. Instead the film’s stars Damon Wayans and Stacey Dash lip-synch along gamely.
‘That’s the Way Love Goes’ – reached #2 in 1993
From the sounds of this, Janet went down the same ultra-slick route as her big brother in the ’90s. At least she is singing, rather than clicking and squeaking her way through the song, but still. I’m trying to find something to grab on to here, but it’s all just too polished and bland. Apparently it was a shockingly sexy change of pace for her, and this record ended up with 8 (eight!) weeks at #1 in the US. I can’t see it, myself.
Much more interesting is the video, with the ginormous home sound system (I pity her neighbours) and actual J-Lo (!), back when she was plain old Jennifer Lopez. Anyway this ended up as Jackson’s (joint) biggest UK hit, but it hasn’t given me much of an urge to do a deep-dive into her discography.
Tomorrow, we’ll wrap this series up by featuring the biggest band never to make number one. Yes, we are significantly more than halfway there…
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Knowing that none of them had a number one single, I’m shocked that Tina Turner, Bob Marley, the Who and Guns &Roses aren’t in this list. All far more influential than Depeche Mode or Janet Jackson
This time last year (I think) I did posts on Tina Turner and Bob Marley, and the year before The Who. I chose them more on influence than on how many non-number one hits they’d had. Not sure about Marley and Turner, but The Who can’t be far off this list, given how many hits they’ve had… (just checked, and they’re on 13, so one off Depeche Mode)
She is not in my wheelhouse but…I do like one of her songs…Together Again.
Hard to believe she didn’t have a #1… plus she was very good on the tv show Good Times when she was a kid.
Janet was so cute on Good Times.
Yes she was…a very cute kid
‘Together Again’ was everywhere at that time. That’s the one I think of first when it comes to JJ. I think it’s her best-selling UK hit, but not the highest-charting.
That one…for some reason I just connected to although it wasn’t my style…I really liked it. So see…I can like some things lol.
Of all the female music celebrities she’s the most humble. She does not have the vocal range like Whitney, Mariah etc but she can carry a tune. I think the industry low key hates her for what she has accomplished with her vocals. They just think because she’s Michael’s sister she got lucky. I also believe her being a Black Female and the Super Bowl incident adds to her not being as influential as Madonna or Britney in the UK.
Her early work 1982-1984, barely charted, here or in the UK. 1986 was her break-thru with the album Control. She and I are close in age (May 16/her ~ Aug. 30/me…1966). We were both 19 when that album was released and it blew everyone, away, over here. It hit #1 on the Billboard 200 & in South Africa. “When I Think of You” was a #1 on Billboard 100 and five more tracks, including the album’s title song, hit #1 on the US R&B chart. I had the cassette of this album and wore it out.
Her Rhythm Nation 1814 album in 1989 also went to #1 on Billboard 200, as well as Australia. That album produced four #1s on Billboard 100, two on US R&B and two that gave her #1s in Canada.
Her “Janet” album in 1993 did even better. It was #1 on Billboard 200, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. It produced two #1 singles on Billboard 100 and got her two #1 singles in New Zealand (her first).
After all of the above, I stopped paying attention to her. I was squarely into the grunge/alt-rock movement. Once you get to 2004, she stopped charting, to any degree. Her last album was 2015 and it is unremarkable.
In 2016, we both turned 50. We are, both, approaching 57. She’s getting old (aren’t we all) and I bet she can no longer do the dance routines, comfortably…or, perhaps, even sing. When I hit my 50s, my voice dropped. I went from a Soprano II to a Contralto.
I like these special posts when you highlight other things.
Wow, thanks for the in depth reporting! She was certainly more popular/succesful in the US than the UK – the same goes four Houston, Carey, Estefan, all from around the same time – but she was surprisingly resilient on the British charts for twenty years. I’ve listened to a bit more in the past couple of days, and while a lot of her early stuff sounds very dated, I like ‘Nasty’ and ‘Black Cat’ especially.
The Superbowl fiasco definitely contributed to her ‘downfall’, which seems silly now. A storm in a teacup!
It was a shock to the audience. She was always seen as Michael’s sweet baby sister…not a sex symbol. She grew up in front of us on Good Times.
All of the above, aside, she is touring right now:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Jackson:_Together_Again
The picture on the album cover…doesn’t even look like her. She’s had work done and is starting to look like a black Kardashian.
Madonna and Whitney Houston both mustered two or three reasonable singles each that I can still remember and enjoy to an extent if I don’t hear them too often. As far as Janet was concerned, I remember one or two titles and can’t even remember what they sounded like. I was also sent one of her CDs for review and listening to it was about as much fun as watching the proverbial wallpaper dry. As ever I found your analysis very interesting, but I won’t be inspired to revisit her back catalogue either.
I was a fan of Janet and her Jam & Lewis spearheaded dance grooves, which were state of the dance art when they came out – they were also hitting big with SOS Band and Alexander O Neal and had the dancepop market sewn up – in the UK till House/Rave changed everything and in the US till Jack Swing changed everything. Her greatest records were When I Think Of You, Escapade, Again, If, Rhythm Nation, Love Will Never Do Without You and best of all her 2001 hit sample-heavy (Ventura Highway from America, bit of classical) Someone To Call Your Lover. Scream was a video to aspire to, too.
The reason she flopped singles wise in the UK from 1987 through 1991 was House. Suddenly they seemed very mid 80s even though they were monsters in the US – so they started bunging out House remixes of the singles off Rhythm Nation album which struggled in the charts because they werent very good compared to the album Jam & Lewis productions that topped the US charts. The ballads werent affected so stuff like Again just sounds gorgeous still. I think the nail in commercial coffin in the UK was cancelling her UK tour after 9/11 instead of postponing. As someone who bought her albums and singles, I never bothered again after that, and neither did most of her fans.