The eighties give you the biggest choruses in the book, and a trap. The songs are enormously singable in memory and frequently brutal in practice, because the decade's defining vocalists had ranges ordinary people do not, and nobody wrote down for the rest of us.
The result is a category where the gap between how a song feels to listen to and how it feels to sing is wider than anywhere else. Several of the most attempted karaoke songs ever recorded come from this decade, and several of them defeat almost everyone who tries.
This is the page where the transpose button earns its keep. Three semitones down turns a lot of these from an ordeal into a genuinely good night, and the crowd, who are here for the chorus rather than your key, will not notice.
- 1 Don't Stop Believin'Group The verses are low and conversational and lull you completely. Then the title line arrives at the very top of the song, in the last thirty seconds, when you have stopped concentrating. 4:11
- 2 Livin' on a PrayerGroup A perfect karaoke song for four minutes and an ambush in the last one. Everyone knows the chorus; almost nobody survives where it goes at the end. 4:09
- 3 AfricaGroup The chorus is layered on the record, so the backing does half the work. The verses are lower and easier than the song's reputation suggests. 4:56
- 4 Total Eclipse of the HeartGroup Enormous, absurd and much harder than anyone expects. Its saving grace is that the whole room wants it to be ridiculous, so going too far is the correct approach. 4:27
- 5 9 to 5 Bright, fast and relentlessly upbeat, with a chorus that everyone in the room over thirty knows by reflex. 2:42
- 6 Islands in the StreamDuet The most reliably successful duet in the book. Both parts sit low, and the chorus puts you in unison, which hides everything. 4:09
- 7 Endless LoveDuet Slow and exposed, which makes it the least forgiving duet here, but the parts weave closely so you're rarely alone. 4:27
- 8 Under PressureDuet Two very different voices doing very different things, which means you genuinely need to decide who is doing what before the track starts. 4:08
- 9 (I've Had) The Time of My LifeDuet A big finish and a room that expects the lift, which is either a gift or a problem depending on your nerve. 4:18
- 10 I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) Far more forgiving than her ballads. It's fast, bright, and the crowd sings the hook with you. 4:53
- 11 If I Could Turn Back Time Low, growling verses and a chorus that opens up. The contrast does most of the work for you. 2:27
- 12 Girls Just Want to Have FunGroup Pure celebration with a chorus the entire room sings. Higher than it feels, but nobody is listening that closely. 3:58
- 13 Time After Time Gentle, slow and comfortably in the middle of most voices. One of the kinder ballads in the book. 4:01
- 14 Like a Prayer The gospel choir on the record does half the work, and the chorus is built for a crowd to join. 5:41
- 15 Material Girl Light, bright and slightly arch, and the delivery matters far more than the notes. 4:01
- 16 What's Love Got to Do with It Rough, low verses and a chorus that opens up without ever going out of reach. 3:47
- 17 Sweet Child O' Mine The guitar is what everyone came for, which is fortunate, because the vocal is one of the hardest here. 5:55
- 18 Wanted Dead or Alive Slower and much lower than the rest of the Bon Jovi catalogue, which makes it the safe choice of the two. 5:09
- 19 Summer of '69GroupTalk-sing Rasped rather than sung, at a pitch that suits ordinary voices, with a chorus the whole room shouts. 3:36
- 20 Every Breath You Take Quiet, controlled and very steady. It never reaches, but it also never lets you hide. 4:14
- 21 Purple Rain Slow and enormous, with a long instrumental stretch to recover in. The falsetto at the end is optional and most people should treat it that way. 8:41
- 22 Kiss Almost the entire song is in falsetto. Extraordinary to listen to and close to impossible to copy. 3:46
- 23 Billie Jean The groove is unmistakable and the room is with you from the first bar, but the vocal sits high and stays there. 4:53
- 24 Beat It Urgent and fast, and pitched for a voice that was genuinely exceptional. 4:18
- 25 Man in the Mirror Starts gently and finishes enormous, with a choir behind you for the last two minutes. 5:19
- 26 Careless Whisper The saxophone gets the applause and you get a slow, low, comfortable melody. An unusually good deal. 5:00
- 27 FaithTalk-sing Rhythmic, light and mostly delivered on the beat rather than on the note. 3:16
- 28 Uptown Girl Relentlessly fast and much higher than anyone remembers. Enormous fun if you can keep up. 3:18
- 29 Free Fallin'GroupTalk-sing Three chords, ten semitones and a chorus the room sings. Petty barely sang it himself. 4:16
- 30 Dancing in the Dark Driving and repetitive in the best way, with a chorus that arrives often enough to learn as you go. 4:01
- 31 Come On EileenGroup Chaotic, joyful and impossible to perform seriously. The tempo change at the end is the whole point. 4:47
- 32 I Love Rock 'N RollGroupTalk-sing Growled rather than sung, low and slow, with a chorus built for a room to shout. 2:55
- 33 Take On MeGroup Everyone attempts the falsetto. Almost nobody reaches it. The attempt is, at this point, part of the tradition. 3:45
- 34 Never Gonna Give You Up A famously incongruous voice and a chorus the entire internet knows. The joke is doing most of the work. 3:34
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80s karaoke songs: your questions answered
What are the best 80s karaoke songs?
Livin' on a Prayer, Don't Stop Believin' and Total Eclipse of the Heart top most karaoke charts. All three have choruses a room will sing for you.
Why are 80s songs so hard to sing at karaoke?
They were written for exceptional voices in high keys, and the arrangements leave the vocal very exposed. Transposing down solves most of it.
Keep looking
plays a 30 second preview from Apple, and the video button opens a karaoke version with the words on screen. Range shows where the melody sits across roughly two octaves and how far it travels. It's an estimate, and the quickest way to tell whether a karaoke song suits your voice. Difficulty is our own 1 to 5 rating.
Key, tempo and release data come from MusicBrainz and TheAudioDB. Difficulty, vocal range and the note against each song are ours. We don't reproduce lyrics.
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