This awesome songwriter failed to make it in last year’s countdown a couple of times, which was a shame because he delivered some of the biggest hits of his career during this time. Now, this artist managed to get not one but two tunes into this list. The first is a personal favorite of my wife’s and it’s just a great upbeat song all around. Our #15 song turning 40 years old this year is Tell Her About It by Billy Joel.

There are not too many songs you would call “ballads” in this 1983 countdown, but this next entry is undoubtedly a power ballad.  They had another great track released in this year but it couldn’t break through the competition the way this ballad did.  It still packs a mean punch today and time seems to stop when this song comes on.  At #16, it’s Faithfully by Journey.

Sometimes a song released 40 years ago sounds just as good and could be misperceived as a new song released today. This next 1983 track is a perfect example of this. After having 2 songs appear in the last countdown, it says a lot about how much lightning he was striking, as this powerful song still manages to make it in this countdown. The #17 song turning 40 years old this year is Pink Houses by John Mellencamp.

While the title track for his landmark album made a huge impact on music and pop culture (as well as last year’s countdown), this next song showed how prolific a songwriter this artist really was. It’s a great precursor to what would be coming soon in the following year.  It has remained one of my favorite songs from him, and hearing it live when I was 6 years old was life-changing. Our next song coming in at #18 is Little Red Corvette by Prince.

Our next 1983 song has seen a period of rebirth, thanks to a couple key motion pictures. This tune has always been one of this guy’s go-to songs in concert.  It is an awesome song about surviving whatever crap that has been thrown at you and remaining steadfast. The #19 song in this 1983 countdown is I’m Still Standing by Elton John.

We begin our Top 20 songs turning 40 years old in 2023 countdown with a song that in any other countdown would have probably been at least in the top 5.  So the fact that it’s at the bottom of this countdown speaks volumes to the kind of songs that were released in this year (again this was a tough year to review).  This song and video were my introductions to this great rock band, and became a favorite of mine when I grew up.  Beginning at #20 is Photograph by Def Leppard.