1988 was the totally tubular birthyear of many enduring trends, from Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan to reports of a growing computer network called “the internet.” In music, teen pop sensations like Debbie Gibson and Tiffany were all the rage, too, but the five most popular songs of 1988 came from a diverse group of male artists. Only one, in fact, was an American.
To calculate the biggest songs of each year, Top40Weekly.com applies its Nolan Method to each tune’s performance, using “an inverse point-based system that rewards songs’ longevity and impactful debuts — giving a more complete picture of what songs actually dominated the charts.” So, even if songs spent the same number of weeks on the chart, other factors are calculated, including how high they ranked during those weeks.
Sadly, the top 100 song list for 1988 reveals that among the singers who belted out the biggest songs, three of the top five artists are no longer alive in 2026. Here’s the list, and details on what happened to each vocalist.
5. Axl Rose on Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses
The hard rocking members of Guns N’ Roses released their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, in 1987, but didn’t become superstars until the next year, when their third single — Sweet Child O’ Mine — began climbing the charts, with frontman Axl Rose‘s soaring vocals taking the U.S. by storm.
In September 1988, Sweet Child O’ Mine became the American band’s first and only single to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, and it spent 24 weeks on the chart that year. According to UDiscover Music, the tune has had serious staying power, even hitting No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart in 2022, thanks to its inclusion in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder.
Speaking of staying power, Rose, now 64, is on a world tour with Guns N’ Roses, which still includes core members Slash and Duff McKagan.
4. Rick Astley on Never Gonna Give You Up
Rick Astley staged a British invasion in 1988, soaring to the top of Billboard‘s Hot 100 with his debut U.S. single, Never Gonna Give You Up, in March of that year. First, the song topped the charts in England and across Europe, before making him a massive star in the U.S., with teens glued to MTV to catch glimpses of the 22-year-old, redheaded Brit with the deep, rich voice.
Like Sweet Child O’ Mine, the song spent 24 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100. Astley told Billboard in 2016, “It was amazing to turn up in a country that I knew nothing about. I was No. 1 and everybody knew me.” The song has had serious staying power, reaching the rare achievement of one billion Spotify streams in 2025.
Astley gained another claim to fame as the amusing online trend of “Rickrolling” took off in the mid-2000s. The premise is that people send a link to a friend, setting them up to expect to land at a certain site or resource, only to be led unknowingly to a video of Astley belting out his 1988 hit.
Astley, now 60, is alive and well. After taking time off from his music career at 27 to be with his family, he is back to touring and recording music.
3. George Harrison on Got My Mind Set On You
George Harrison was no stranger to releasing huge hits, having been one-fourth of The Beatles. A cover of a 1962 tune by James Ray, and with fellow Beatle Ringo Starr playing the drums, Harrison’s song began climbing the charts in 1987, and reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 in mid-January of 1988, one week before The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Got My Mind Set On You was the last Billboard No. 1 song by a member of the Beatles. It spent 22 weeks on the Hot 100 chart, with 15 of those in the Top 10, contributing to him leap-frogging over Axl Rose and Rick Astley into the No. 3 spot for the year.
Sadly, Harrison is one of the chart-toppers who’s since passed away. He died on November 29, 2001, at age 58 due to complications from lung cancer.
2. Michael Hutchence on Need You Tonight by INXS
Australian band INXS was another foreign import that hit it big in America in 1988. Starring lead singer Michael Hutchence, whom StudioGum described as a “new wave Jim Morrison,” the band hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in late January after weeks of climbing the chart. They quickly became one of MTV’s biggest draws, too, winning five 1988 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year for Need You Tonight.
Less than a decade later, in 1997, fans were shocked when Hutchence was found dead in his hotel room in Sydney, Australia. His death was ruled a suicide, per TIME, with police reporting that he was found hanging by his neck and naked. Many argued that it couldn’t possibly be a suicide, since he was a new dad at 37, seemed happy, and was about to head out on a world tour with INXS.
He left a legacy of music and meaning in his wake. Need You Tonight was the debut single from INXS’ album Kick, which went on to be named Billboard’s No. 4 biggest album of 1988, behind the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Def Leppard’s Hysteria, and the No. 1 album, which also gave us the year’s No. 1 single…
1. George Michael on Faith
George Michael‘s 1988 smash hit, Faith, was the top single of the year in the U.S. Released in late 1987, it was a follow-up to the Brit’s too-hot-to-handle song I Want Your Sex, which was banned by many radio stations in the U.S. and UK — yet still became a huge hit.
But Faith did even better, with StereoGum calling it “the song that truly turned George Michael into a Michael Jackson-level star.” The tune topped the U.S. charts for four weeks, and Billboard named it the No. 1 single of 1988. The album it was on, also called Faith, became a “full-on cultural phenomenon, with double-diamond sales and a big stack of Grammys,” the outlet reported.
Michael’s death at 53 also shocked fans. According to the BBC, he died on Christmas Day 2016 of natural causes from heart and liver disease. Michael was posthumously inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, with a tribute from Andrew Ridgeley, his childhood friend and former bandmate in Wham!