Amid a disco-dominated Billboard Hot 100, Bonnie Tyler made her chart debut, introducing a sound that would forge a strong presence into the next decade and beyond.
On the Hot 100 dated March 25, 1978, Tyler’s “It’s a Heartache” entered at No. 78. Atop the chart, the Bee Gees boasted two classics: “Night Fever” at No. 1 and “Stayin’ Alive” at No. 2, both from the monster Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. (The album continued atop the Billboard 200, extending a reign that began that January and would last into July.)
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Still, Tyler’s rocky rasp broke through, and “It’s a Heartache” rose to a No. 3 Hot 100 peak that June. The same month, it reached No. 10 on both Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary, while its parent album of the same name climbed to No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on Top Country Albums.
Despite the song’s success, Tyler told Fred Bronson for The Billboard Book of Number One Hits that she “didn’t have any control” creatively over her music at that point, and she changed management in 1981.
Having chosen to work next with Jim Steinman, Tyler sent “Total Eclipse of the Heart” to a four-week Hot 100 command in October 1983. The song, which Steinman solely wrote and produced, also hit No. 7 on Adult Contemporary and the top 25 on Mainstream Rock Airplay, with the album from which it was released, Faster Than the Speed of Night, flying to No. 4 on the Billboard 200.
Of the smash, Tyler told Bronson that Steinman pitched it on a grand piano. “When he plays,” she marveled, “he practically knocks it through the floor! He’s incredible.” The E Street Band’s Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg played on Tyler’s recording, along with guitarist Rick Derringer and Rory Dodd, who provided the song’s trademark “turn around …” vocals.
In 1984, Tyler scored another signature hit, as “Holding Out for a Hero,” from the Footloose soundtrack, hit No. 34 on the Hot 100.
The totals for Tyler, who died July 9 at age 75: three top 40 Hot 100 hits among six overall entries and two top 40 titles on the Billboard 200 among five placements. As previously reported, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” made Tyler the only Welsh-born artist ever to have topped the Hot 100. To date, the song has drawn 2.3 billion in radio airplay audience, 897 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 1.9 million in download sales, according to Luminate.
Tyler’s last Hot 100 hit has also spun off a notable legacy, despite a modest chart run. “If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)” peaked at No. 77 in May 1986. Written by Desmond Child, it was reworked as Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name,” which ruled the Hot 100 that December, as well as Ava Max’s “Kings & Queens,” a top 15 hit in 2020.
Meanwhile, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” became a smash a second time, for Nicki French, with her hi-NRG version hitting No. 2 on the Hot 100 in 1995. It also topped Pop Airplay for a week. The song is one of nine to have hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 via one version and No. 2 over another. Here’s a rundown:
- “Can’t Help Falling in Love”: No. 2 for Elvis Presley with The Jordanaires in 1962 and No. 1 for UB40 in 1993
- “Groovy Kind of Love”: No. 2 for The Mindbenders in 1966 and No. 1 for Phil Collins in 1988
- “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”: No. 2 for Gladys Knight and The Pips in 1967 and No. 1 for Marvin Gaye in 1968
- “MacArthur Park”: No. 2 for Richard Harris in 1968 and No. 1 for Donna Summer in 1978
- “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”: No. 2 for Elton John in 1974 and No. 1 for George Michael and John in 1992
- “Endless Love”: No. 1 for Diana Ross and Lionel Richie in 1981 and No. 2 for Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey in 1994
- “Total Eclipse of the Heart”: No. 1 for Bonnie Tyler in 1983 and No. 2 for Nicki French in 1995
- “Inside Your Heaven”: No. 1 for Carrie Underwood and No. 2 for Bo Bice in 2005
- “We Are the World”: No. 1 for USA for Africa in 1985 and No. 2, as “We Are the World 25: For Haiti,” for Artists for Haiti in 2010
(Ten other compositions have hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 by two artists each, most recently “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink in 2001, after LaBelle led with the original in 1975.)
In 2024, Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” shone again, given its title: Following the solar eclipse seen across parts of North America that April 8, it burned to a 634% sales surge, while French’s version was up 830%.
