Cashbox Black Contemporary Top 30 – Final Week Of 1981

To end the year I want to present you a Cashbox list, instead of one from its main competitor Billboard, for a change. Enjoy America's best 30 soul singles in the last week of 1981! A big thank you to all my listeners in the past year and I hope to see you all in 2024.

What is striking about this list is that a large number of songs sound like they come from the mid-1970s instead of the early 1980s. It would take another year or two before electronic instruments would dominate the soul sound. In 1981 English synthesizer bands like Soft Cell and the Human League had already become very popular in the pop charts, but the electronic revolution had not reached the soul charts entirely yet.

Surprisingly enough Daryl Hall filed a lawsuit and restraining order against John Oates last month, according to British newspaper the Guardian. It concerned a dispute over Oates’s reported plan to sell his share of the pair’s publishing to Primary Wave Music, the company that has acquired numerous song catalogues in recent years by artists including Prince, Stevie Nicks, Burt Bacharach and many more. In a declaration filed at a Nashville court, Hall laid out his accusations against Oates, saying the planned sale was a “completely clandestine and bad faith move”, that was in “blatant violation” of longstanding business agreements between the pair. 

The tragedy of The Jones Girls was that they made quality disco in an era when the popularity of the genre was fading fast. Their biggest hit was You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else, their first single on Philadelphia International, after a string of unsuccessful releases on other labels. The song went to #38 on the Billboard pop chart in May 1979. It was also a Top 5 R&B hit. The three Jones sisters never recaptured the moment they had at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. Shirley Jones, who was the first of the trio to record solo, with an entire album for Philadelphia International, continued to have a separate career. Valerie died in 2001 and Brenda was hit by several cars and killed while attempting to cross the street in 2017.

Next up is a new part of Sunshine Radio!

Tracklist:

Stevie Woods – Steal The Night
Booker T. – I Want You
Jermaine Jackson – I'm Just Too Shy
The Jones Girls – (I Found) That Man Of Mine
Curtis Mayfield – Toot An'Toot An'Toot
Shalamar – Sweeter As The Days Go By
Gayle Adams – Love Fever
Gwen McCrae – Funky Sensation
The Isley Brothers – Inside You
The Time – Cool [Part 1]
One Way – Pull Fancy Dancer / Pull
Roger – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Gladys Knight & The Pips – I Will Fight
Luther Vandross – Never Too Much
Rufus With Chaka – We Got The Way [B-Side]
Teddy Pendergrass – You're My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration
Slave – Snap Shot
Chocolate Milk – Blue Jeans
L.T.D. – Kickin’ Back
Skyy – Call Me
Central Line – Walking Into Sunshine
Peabo Bryson – Move Your Body [B-Side]
Bar-Kays – Hit And Run
Commodores – Oh No
Daryl Hall & John Oates – I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)
Diana Ross – Why Do Fools Fall In Love?
Prince – Controversy
Kool & The Gang – Take My Heart
George Benson – Turn Your Love Around
Earth, Wind & Fire – Let's Groove