#1422: Tia

80s Snapshot:

• Number of songs on Hot 100: 1
• Highest peak position: 97
• Cumulative weeks on the Hot 100: 2

For the first time on this journey, we’re going to take a closer look at one of the most prominent subsets of the Billboard charts in the 1980s, namely the way dance music was handled. Since dance music was most frequently experienced in the wild via the playlist at a club (as opposed to traditional radio airplay), Billboard took a national sample of dance club playlists to compile its Disco chart as the genre began to gain cultural traction in the mid-70s. In addition, Billboard also tracked the sales of the burgeoning maxi-single format, 12″ records that could fit longer remixes of popular songs as heard in the clubs (often twice the length of the radio/7″ single).

As disco (at least called as such) lost its luster in the U.S. in the early 80s, Billboard switched the name of the chart to Dance/Disco and the word “Disco” would fully be removed from the chart in 1987. As the maxi-single format continued to grow, Billboard in 1985 split its dance charts into two separate rankings, one for Club Play and another for 12″ singles sales. This chart and the culture it recognized served two purposes as it pertains to the Hot 100. For established artists like Madonna or Janet Jackson, club-friendly extended remixes bolstered their already-gaudy airplay and sales numbers. But the dance scene could also help push new talent to the fore in the reverse fashion, as club favorites could be shortened into commercial-friendly radio singles.

Another benefit of the club scene for up-and-coming was the somewhat-paradoxical power of anonymity in these passive listening environments. As we’ll see with today’s artist and several others along this journey, sounding like a prominent pop star of the day was a surefire way to get some spins. Sounding like Madonna in 1986 was a marketable skill, and that’s certainly at least partially why RCA signed Tia Bocker (who performed mononymously).

Tia’s first single “Boy Toy” was a dead ringer for Madonna’s signature sound (a February 1987 Billboard article written by a Sacramento DJ stated “It’s burning up the phones… A lot of people think this is Madonna; it sounds just like her.” On the strength of that sound-alike providence, “Boy Toy” debuted on the Club Play chart in November 1986 and climbed all the way to #6 on that chart in February 1987. It also made it to #23 on the corresponding 12″ Single Sales chart.

That popularity on the dance charts led “Boy Toy” to a #97 debut on the Hot 100 on the March 7, 1987 chart, where it remained for a second week before exiting the Hot 100. Tia would release a few more singles with “Baby Talk”, “Cupid” and “Sugar Baby” but all failed to reach the charts. In the decades that followed this brief dance-pop career, Tia transitioned to rock music. She has been a member of the bands BlueScream, Sinsanity and Eye Violet, the latter of which was still performing as of fall 2024.

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