Faith

Exactly 25 years ago, George Michael rose to the number one slot on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart with the title track to his first solo album, “Faith.”   Michael preceded “Faith” the previous summer with “I Want Your Sex,” which hit number 2 in conjunction with its appearance on the soundtrack to Beverly Hills Cop II before its inclusion on Faith, but it was “Faith” that really launched Michael into a year of domination on the Hot 100.  Michael followed “Faith” with three more number one hits through 1988, including two weeks at the top with “Father Figure,” three weeks at number one with “One More Try,” and two weeks at number one with “Monkey.”  He would finish that year with “Kissing a Fool” hitting number 5 in late November.  Still, in addition to kicking off that tremendously successful year for Michael, “Faith” was the biggest of all of Michael’s hits, as it spent four weeks atop the Hot 100 and was named by Billboard at the end of 1988 as the number one song of that year.