40 Years Ago Today: One of Lionel Richie’s Greatest Hits Fell Short of No. 1

Forty years ago today, Lionel Richie discovered that even a party on the ceiling could run into a roof. “Dancing on the Ceiling” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated September 13, 1986—but Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away,” the blockbuster love theme from Top Gun, owned the top spot.

That answers the anniversary’s irresistible question: Richie’s hit did not lose to a forgotten novelty. It collided with another defining piece of 1986 pop culture, then stopped one rung below No. 1.

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The Chart Showdown Was Pure 1986

Billboard’s archive shows Richie jumping from No. 4 to No. 2 in his ninth chart week. Berlin climbed from No. 3 to No. 1, while Huey Lewis and the News moved to No. 3 with “Stuck With You.” That is a formidable snapshot of mid-’80s radio.

The near miss hardly diminished Richie’s run. Apple Music dates the nine-track Dancing on the Ceiling album to August 5, 1986, and uDiscoverMusic ranks the title track No. 13 among Richie’s best songs. Its writers offered the wonderfully breathless verdict: “Lionel Richie is so hot to trot that the floor is not enough for him!”

Not everyone heard triumph. AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine detected “a sense of swagger” but ultimately called the album a “solid, enjoyable affair.”

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The Video Made No. 2 Feel Larger Than Life

The song’s afterlife owes plenty to its gravity-defying video. Richie recruited Stanley Donen, director of the 1951 Fred Astaire musical Royal Wedding, to revisit the rotating-room illusion. Michael Peters, whose credits included Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Thriller,” handled the choreography. Richie’s official site still features the clip.

The elaborate party also delivered celebrity cameos from Cheech Marin and Rodney Dangerfield. Dangerfield closed it with the punch line, “I shouldn’t have eaten that upside-down cake!”

That exuberance fits Richie’s broader philosophy. Reflecting on his music for the Library of Congress, he said: “What I like the most is I can walk into any room anywhere in the world, and the room starts smiling. They tell me stories about how I touched them. Now, is that a pretty good way to do your life? I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

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