Once again, it is the anniversary of the U.S. Olympic hockey team's victory over the Russian team that led to Al Michaels' question heard around the world: "Do you believe in miracles?" Last year, I commemorated the event by presenting a music video essay featuring songs from Billboard's year-end Top Ten charts (1951-2015) that included variant forms of the word miracle. This year, I expand the essay to songs from Billboard's year-end Top Thirty (1951-2016) that include the same target forms, but present only those songs that didn't make it into the blog last year. Without further fanfare, in chronological order:

Charted no. 9 in 1961 in the US

Roger Hodgson (Supertramp lead singer & songwriter) wrote this hit when he was still in his teens, before he even met Rick and co-founded Supertramp. This classic is just as relevant today as it was when it was released.

Many people believe that this is a love song when in fact that isn't true. I read on Kenny Loggins website that while this song did begin as a love song, after visiting his sick Father in the hospital, he transformed this record into an inspiration song to encourage his father.

Billy Ocean's official music video for 'Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car'. Click to listen to Billy Ocean on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/BilOceSpotify?IQid=BilOceGOMD As featured on The Very Best Of Billy Ocean.

Music video by Roxette performing The Look.

And a tune by Michael Jackson that I've been thoroughly enjoying (finally) the last few weeks:

Michael Jackson's "Black Or White" was the first of nine short films from 1991's Dangerous. Directed by John Landis, "Black Or White" features groundbreaking special effects and electrifying dance sequences. The original full-length short film premiered simultaneously in 28 countries for a record-breaking global audience of 500 million!

A song that takes as its title a construction in pop music that I posted about several weeks ago:

Vanessa Williams & Brian Mcknight - Love Is

Moonshine Jungle Tour 2014 tickets and more info: http://www.brunomars.com/moonshinejungletour Directed by Cameron Duddy & Bruno Mars German fans watch the video here: http://bit.ly/SWgExJ Connect with Bruno: http://www.brunomars.com http://www.twitter.com/brunomars http://www.facebook.com/brunomars http://www.instagram.com/brunomars Get 'Unorthodox Jukebox' on iTunes http://smarturl.it/unorthodoxjukebox Follow Bruno on Spotify http://bit.ly/1gDnkxr © 2012 WMG.

Also, a tune that was in the year-end Top Ten, but for 2016, and thus was not part of the collection last year:

Collage EP OUT NOW: http://smarturl.it/TCSCollage Urban Outfitters White Vinyl: http://smarturl.it/CollageVinyl Amazon Physical: http://smarturl.it/CollageAmz The Chainsmokers- Don't Let Me Down (Official Video) ft.

Finally, as a bonus, a couple of tunes that do not include the word miracle, but do appear in the year-end Top Thirty charts and performed BY "The MIracles" (the first with and the second with the legendary Smoky Robinson):

Here is a pioneering Tamla Motown record from 1960: 'Shop Around'by The Miracles. It is notable as being the label's first #1 hit on the Billboard magazine R&B singles chart, and also hit #2 on the Hot 100 (#1 pop, Cashbox).

With Billy Griffin this line-up sounded great and the pink suits were so camp! Love both songs, they should have had more hits.

Donate