I checked the billboard charts at about.com for what charted what year and got the popularity of hair metal and new wave from 1983 to 1990. The numbers listed represent the # songs on the Top 100 of each year that I recognized to be of the genre (I don't know all the bands, but my standards I used to made the indexes are more or less consistent) Here it is:

New Wave in 1983:
46
Hair Metal in 1983:
5
New Wave in 1984:
26
Hair Metal in 1984:
6
New Wave in 1985:
25
Hair Metal in 1985:
2
New Wave in 1986:
25
Hair Metal in 1986:
1
New Wave in 1987:
13
Hair Metal in 1987:
4
New Wave in 1988:
4 (8 counting INXS, count 6)
Hair Metal in 1988:
9
New Wave in 1989:
9
New Wave in 1990:
5
Hair Metal in 1989:
14
Hair Metal in 1990:
7

My results imply Hair Metal reached its peak in 1989, surpassing New Wave sometime in 1987 and dropping steeply in 1990 to 1987 levels, with the lowest point in '85 and '86. In '83 and '84 it was a bit more popular with Van Halen.
From 1983 (and probably earlier) to 1986 New Wave got WAY more top 100 singles than hair metal ever did. In 1987 there was a big dropoff, but in 1989 there was a bit of a revival.  1990 was a single below 1988 because of INXS, who I only vaguely consider part of the Wave.

New Wave WAS 1983 music. 46 singles! 46%!

Sounds like you had some fun researching.

Can you link to the charts you used, if I may ask?  I wouldn't mind seeing what other genres were bouncing around, take a look and see when bands I'd at least consider college/alt rock or even grunge started hitting, and so forth.

From what I do remember and all I've heard about since, that does sound pretty accurate.

I think 1979-1983 were the peak years of New Wave (probably 1982 was its biggest year. Late '82 or early '83 it was definitely on top). Even by '84 it seemed to be falling off the chart a little. I don't know if they considered Duran Duran & Culture Club in the list, but they were the only huge superstars with hits that year (though there were more one hit wonders, like "Hold me Now" from the Thompson Twins).

INXS did seem like they revived it a little in '87, although I always considered them more alternative or pop/rock. Maybe they tried to market themselves that way since by '87 calling themselves new wave would've been uncool?

Hair metal is another story. I would've figured more like 1987 is when it peaked - although I guess it depends what artists they considered to be in the genre. I know Bon Jovi, Def Leppard & Whitesnake peaked with huge albums in 1986/87 (which were tons better and more original than the hordes of copycat bands a few years later!).

However, the big "power ballad" year was probably 1989 or '90 - and that did cross it over to the pop audience more.

From what I do remember and all I've heard about since, that does sound pretty accurate.

I think 1979-1983 were the peak years of New Wave (probably 1982 was its biggest year. Late '82 or early '83 it was definitely on top). Even by '84 it seemed to be falling off the chart a little. I don't know if they considered Duran Duran & Culture Club in the list, but they were the only huge superstars with hits that year (though there were more one hit wonders, like "Hold me Now" from the Thompson Twins).

INXS did seem like they revived it a little in '87, although I always considered them more alternative or pop/rock. Maybe they tried to market themselves that way since by '87 calling themselves new wave would've been uncool?

Hair metal is another story. I would've figured more like 1987 is when it peaked - although I guess it depends what artists they considered to be in the genre. I know Bon Jovi, Def Leppard & Whitesnake peaked with huge albums in 1986/87 (which were tons better and more original than the hordes of copycat bands a few years later!).

However, the big "power ballad" year was probably 1989 or '90 - and that did cross it over to the pop audience more.


Yeah, these charts are pop-biased.  Hair metal was mostly only a few huge bands anyway.  In 1983 about half the songs on the charts were New Wave singles. Arvig, go to top40.about.com to get em :)

Anywho, according to my research I'd say 80s music finished off in 1991.  New Wave wasn't much bigger in the late 80s then in 90-91 and hair bands peaked in '87-89 and were similarily popular, at least in a mainstream sense, in 1990-91.  Also the pop was still more 80s: there's only 7 songs on the 1990 chart I'd really call absolutely 90s and a lot of those are Mariah Carey hits (the glaring exception to 1990 music still being pretty late 80ish).

The peak of 80s music was definitely 1983 and 1984.  70s music finished off in 1981.

I would agree with the research to a large extent.  When it came to top 40 radio, new wave dominated the airwaves, second only to the pop sound (Madonna, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, etc.) in the 80s. 

To throw a wrench in the clockwork, I wonder how album sales compared?  Bands like Guns n' Roses, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Poison, Def Leppard, Van Halen, ACDC, etc. sold millions of albums in the 80s and got tons of airplay on AOR (Album-oriented rock) stations in the 80s.  Now you rarely heard ACDC on Top 40 radio, but they sold out tons of shows, sold millions of albums, and everybody recognizes their logo.  Now I'm not taking sides, because I really don't like ACDC, but their success can't be argued. 

On the other hand, concerts by new wave bands were mostly in smaller venues, while the above bands were selling out stadiums.  There were no new wave bands selling out stadiums, whatsoever.  Probably the biggest commercial successes were Adam Ant, Culture Club, and Duran Duran.  I saw Adam Ant at the height of his popularity in an arena that seats about 5,000 and it was about 90% full.  I saw Bon Jovi in an outdoor venue that seated 50,000 and it was packed. 

I also wouldn't call INXS new wave, either.  They along with U2, The Cult, The Alarm, etc. I would consider more alternative or progressive, rather than new wave. 

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm not siding with any particular genre of music.  I like both types.  I would actually lean very slightly to the new wave sound.  But overall success shouldn't be measured merely on Billboard's Hot 100 charts.  I merely threw my comments in there for the sake of discussion.

I would agree with the research to a large extent.  When it came to top 40 radio, new wave dominated the airwaves, second only to the pop sound (Madonna, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, etc.) in the 80s. 

To throw a wrench in the clockwork, I wonder how album sales compared?  Bands like Guns n' Roses, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Poison, Def Leppard, Van Halen, ACDC, etc. sold millions of albums in the 80s and got tons of airplay on AOR (Album-oriented rock) stations in the 80s.  Now you rarely heard ACDC on Top 40 radio, but they sold out tons of shows, sold millions of albums, and everybody recognizes their logo.  Now I'm not taking sides, because I really don't like ACDC, but their success can't be argued. 

On the other hand, concerts by new wave bands were mostly in smaller venues, while the above bands were selling out stadiums.  There were no new wave bands selling out stadiums, whatsoever.  Probably the biggest commercial successes were Adam Ant, Culture Club, and Duran Duran.  I saw Adam Ant at the height of his popularity in an arena that seats about 5,000 and it was about 90% full.  I saw Bon Jovi in an outdoor venue that seated 50,000 and it was packed. 

I also wouldn't call INXS new wave, either.  They along with U2, The Cult, The Alarm, etc. I would consider more alternative or progressive, rather than new wave. 

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm not siding with any particular genre of music.  I like both types.  I would actually lean very slightly to the new wave sound.  But overall success shouldn't be measured merely on Billboard's Hot 100 charts.  I merely threw my comments in there for the sake of discussion.


Hair bands seemed to have more obsessive fans, wheares Wave fans more like a few choice bands and some singles like me.

The only New Wave artists I'd buy albums from are Devo, a-ha, and Depeche Mode.

Depeche Mode rules! :)