Every Friday, I’m publishing my top ten songs from a single year and this week it’s the turn of 1988.

For previous top ten tunes, please click on the year: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

In 1988, the first Red Nose Day occurs, a concert takes place at Wembley Stadium in honour of Nelson Mandela, three gay rights activists invade the BBC studios during the BBC news, new licensing allows British pubs to stay open all day, Princess Beatrice is born, the Olympics take place in Seoul, South Korea, Edwina Currie claims that all British eggs have salmonella, 35 people are killed in the Clapham Junction train crash, Pan Am flight 103 explodes over the town of Lockerbie killing all 259 people on board the flight and 11 people on the ground, several British soldiers are murdered by the IRA, Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first ever female leader of a Muslim country and the film Big was released. Oh and I turn 12 years old.

This week for only the second time, the same artist features twice. Also, you have no idea how hard I had to resist adding our George again this week (with Father Figure), but I figured you might be getting sick of him by now and he is reappearing again in a couple weeks. So, on we go with 1988…

1)I Should Be So Lucky by Kylie Minogue

2) Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry

3)  The Only Way is Up by Yazz

4) Crash by the Primitives

5) Orange Crush by R.E.M.

6) China Doll by Julian Cope

7) Twist in My Sobriety by Tanita Tikaram

8) A Little Respect by Erasure

9) Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

10) Especially For You by Kylie & Jason

I can almost smell the 90s from here, it’s fast approaching gang. Now then, Kylie comes a very, very, very, very, VERY close second, but Erasure is my absolute favourite this week. It is one of my all time favourites after all. Please let me know which is your favourite below.

Talk About Pop Music have also done a brilliant extended playlist from 1988 and you can check it out here See you next week for our final week from the 80s- 1989