Thank God for Bill Ocean, Boris Gardiner and The Communards. Without them, we’d have seen Su Pollard’s Starting Together, Sinitta’s So Macho, and Jermaine Stewart’s poor We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off as number 1 records. Don’t believe me? It’s all here in the table.
You could probably say the same in regard of a-ha and the sterling job they did in preventing Nana Mouskouri from having a number 1 with Only Love.
| Song at Number 2 | Week Ending | Song at Number 1 |
| Dire Straits – Walk Of Life | 25 Jan 1986 | a-ha – The Sun Always Shines On TV |
| Nana Mouskouri – Only Love | 1 Feb 1986 | |
| Madonna – Borderline | 15 Feb 1986 | Billy Ocean – When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going |
| Su Pollard – Starting Together | 22 Feb 1986 | |
| Bangles – Manic Monday | 15 Mar 1986 | Diana Ross – Chain Reaction |
| David Bowie – Absolute Beginners | 22 Mar 1986 | |
| Sam Cooke – Wonderful World (re-issue) | 5 Apr 1986 | Cliff Richard & The Young Ones – Living Doll |
| Madonna – Live To Tell | 10 May 1986 | Falco – Rock Me Amadeus |
| Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald – On My Own | 17 May 1986 | Spitting Image – The Chicken Song |
| 24 May 1986 | ||
| 31 May 1986 | ||
| Simply Red – Holding Back The Years | 7 Jun 1986 | Dr & The Medics – Spirit In The Sky |
| 14 Jun 1986 | ||
| Nu Shooz – I Can’t Wait | 28 Jun 1986 | Wham! – The Edge Of Heaven / Where Did Your Heart Go |
| Rod Stewart – Every Beat Of My Heart | 19 Jul 1986 | Madonna – Papa Don’t Preach |
| Sinitta – So Macho / Cruising | 23 Aug 1986 | Boris Gardiner – I Want To Wake Up With You |
| Jermaine Stewart – We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off | 20 Sep 1986 | The Communards – Don’t Leave Me This Way |
| 27 Sep 1986 | ||
| Five Star – Rain Or Shine | 4 Oct 1986 | |
| 11 Oct 1986 | Madonna – True Blue | |
| Status Quo – In The Army Now | 1 Nov 1986 | Nick Berry – Every Loser Wins |
| Kim Wilde – You Keep Me Hangin’ On | 15 Nov 1986 | Berlin – Take My Breath Away |
| 22 Nov 1986 | ||
| Erasure – Sometimes | 13 Dec 1986 | Europe – The Final Countdown |