# 3 Top 40 Hits From 1986 That Every 80s Kid Still Knows by Heart Today

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/3-top-40-hits-from-1986-that-every-80s-kid-still-knows-by-heart-today/
- Published: 2026-11-09T01:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-09T01:25:19+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/3-top-40-hits-from-1986-that-every-80s-kid-still-knows-by-heart-today/
- Topics: Americas, World

## Key points

- Three 1986 hits are revisited.
- Genesis’s “In Too Deep” featured in *Mona Lisa*.
- Nicks said she recorded “I Can’t Wait” in one take.

## Summary

The article looks back at three songs released in 1986 that it says remain familiar to many people who grew up in the 1980s: Lionel Richie’s “Ballerina Girl”, Genesis’s “In Too Deep” and Stevie Nicks’s “I Can’t Wait”. It highlights their place in the artists’ careers and the albums they appeared on.

Richie wrote “Ballerina Girl” himself for *Dancing on the Ceiling*; it was his last major radio hit until 1992. Genesis’s “In Too Deep”, written by Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, appeared on *Invisible Touch* and in the film *Mona Lisa*. Nicks co-wrote “I Can’t Wait” for *Rock a Little*, following “Talk to Me”; she later said she recorded its vocal in one take and never tried to improve it in the studio.

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