Once Upon a Time in the Top Spot: Debbie Gibson, “Lost in Your Eyes”

28 years ago today, the first single from Debbie Gibson’s second album became the singer’s second song to top the Billboard Hot 100.

Composed by Gibson herself, “Lost In Your Eyes” effectively dismissed any concerns that Electric Youth, the aforementioned sophomore album, would be doing any sort of slumping. Given the dedication of her audiences, it doubtlessly didn’t hurt the song’s success that it had been performed during Gibson’s Out of the Blue tour, but the song was clearly destined to be a hit from the get-go.

“From the opening two bars of the piano intro, it elicited screams from the audience,” Gibson told Billboard in 2014. “It had yet to be recorded or played on the radio, but it was already a hit. That’s not ego talking. It’s just true of any artst and any song that has that feeling of being familiar yet new. My acting teacher, Howard Fine, said that phrase to me in relation to what is a hit, be it a hit piece of theater or a hit song. It’s so true. It’s like an old friend. You predict that the melody is going to go in a satisfying way.”

Given the response from audiences, it’s no surprise that Atlantic Records, Gibson’s label, didn’t hesitate to agree with her choice for the albums’ first single.

“I don’t remember exact conversations, but it was no contest,” she told Billboard. “Obviously, dance songs can stand the test of time, but nothing penetrates and spans all age groups, all ethnicities or all genders like a ballad. One of my favorite things, to this day, is that many people come up to me and tell me that they learned how to play the piano from that song and from that sheet music, which is such an honor to me. I curse my younger self, though, every time I go to belt the high D at the end live!”