3 Minutes, 49 Seconds

Now that we've learned about the Top 25 Yacht Rock Songs , the Top 20 Yacht Rock Albums , and the Top 16 Yacht Rock Artists , and we've discussed the phenomenon of Yacht Rock Dabblers, we can declare The Most Yacht Rock Year Ever. I looked at four major categories to figure out which year reigned supreme.  The number of YR songs, as determined by the Yacht or Nyacht guys. The average Yachtski score of those songs on the list. The number of Yacht Rock Essentials (score of 90 or higher) on the list. The number of top 20 hits on the list (according to the Billboard U.S. charts). As it turned out, the answer was pretty darn clear. One year came out ahead in three of the four categories, and virtually tied in the fourth. And that year was (drumroll)... 1982! 1982 had 211 YR songs on the list, 29 more than the next closest year (1981). Those songs had an average Yachtski score of 69.09, which was just a hair below 1983's 69.7. There are 14 Yacht Rock Essentials from 1982, double ...

Once Yacht Rock proved itself to be a commercial force in the music industry the late '70s with songs by Christopher Cross and Doobie Brothers topping the charts, the floodgates opened. Several long-established artists decided to try their hand at the genre, many even going as far as hiring YR regulars to write, produce, and play on their records. As follows is a survey of some of the most notable Yacht Rock Dabblers. First let's talk about some of the artists that were what I like to call "Tangentially Yacht Rock." They made quite a few YR songs over a span of years, but not quite enough for them to make it into the upper echelon of YR Artists : Keyboardist George Duke , with 13 songs on the Yachtski scale between 1978 and 1983. By the ratings, he would actually be #25 on the list of Top Yacht Rock Artists. But his career was just too eclectic to pigeonhole him as YR. The Pointer Sisters are in a similar situation, with 13 songs between 1978 and 1983, but a career t...

We've talked about the songs  and we've talked about the artists. Now let's talk about the albums. If a person wanted to build a killer Yacht Rock collection on vinyl, what records do they absolutely need to have? I kept this one simple. I averaged the Yachtski scores of all the songs of the album that had been rated. The albums with the highest scores made the list. Well, sort of. As with the Top 25 YR Songs list, I instituted a one-per-artist rule. Just so you know, that means you should also seek out Steely Dan's Gaucho (1980), Al Jarreau's Breakin' Away (1981), Christopher Cross's Another Page (1983), the Doobie Brothers's  One Step Closer (1980), and Robbie Dupree's Street Corner Heroes (1981). That would round you out to a nice Top 25. 20. Bill Champlin : Runaway (1981) Yachtski Average : 59.56 YR Tunes : 6 (" Runaway ", "Take It Uptown", "One Way Ticket", "Satisfaction", "Without You", ...