WBillboard magazine each year releases a Year-End chart of the most popular songs across all genres called the Hot 100 songs of the year. This is the year-end Hot 100 songs of 1986.
WAdult Contemporary is a chart published by Billboard ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. In 1986, 25 songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Adult Contemporary, based on playlists submitted by radio stations.
WHot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1986, 52 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles, based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores. No song managed more than a single week at number one during the year.
WRPM was a Canadian magazine that published the best-performing singles of Canada from 1964 to 2000. In 1986, forty-one songs peaked at number one on the magazine's chart. Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me" was the first chart-topper of the year while Bruce Hornsby and the Range stayed at number one into 1987 with "The Way It Is". Only twelve musical acts had peaked at number one in Canada before this year: Lionel Richie, Corey Hart, Billy Ocean, Mr. Mister, Starship, Madonna, George Michael, Huey Lewis and the News, Cyndi Lauper, The Human League, and Elton John and Stevie Wonder.
WTop Country Albums is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music albums in the United States, published by Billboard. In 1986, 22 different albums topped the chart, based on sales reports submitted by a representative sample of stores nationwide.
WThe UK Singles Chart is one of many music charts compiled by the Official Charts Company that calculates the best-selling singles of the week in the United Kingdom. Before 2004, the chart was only based on the sales of physical singles. This list shows singles that peaked in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart during 1986, as well as singles which peaked in 1985 and 1987 but were in the top 10 in 1986. The entry date is when the single appeared in the top 10 for the first time.
WThis is a list of the U.S. Billboard magazine Hot 100 number-one singles of 1986. The longest running number-one singles of 1986 are "That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne and Friends and "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles, which each logged four weeks at number-one. "Walk Like an Egyptian" logged two weeks at number-one in 1986 and two more weeks at number-one in 1987, summing up to four weeks at the top. "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie concluded another four week run that began in 1985. 1986 is the year with the third largest number of number-one songs, with 30 songs reaching the #1 spot.