Casey Kasem's American Top 40—February 27, 1988

This week, we travel back to a time when the “M” in MTV stood for Music; a time of 24/7 music video programming; a time when 16-year-olds made hit songs instead of reality shows about being pregnant.

In February of 1988, Teenage girls flexed their buying power, catapulting Debbie Gibson and Tiffany onto the charts. VJs pushed artists like Terence Trent D’arby, The Bangles and INXS into the mainstream. Boomer icons like George Harrison, Fleetwood Mac, and Cher found ways to survive and even thrive in the digital age.

All of this, along with a George Michael chart-topper, history’s first Rickroll, and a mega-dose of Dirty Dancing. This countdown is crazy with Swayze.