What Was Bon Jovi’s Last US Top 40 Hit?

Bon Jovi pretty much left the bulk of the hard rock/hair metal pack behind with their incredible longevity. That translated to their ability to cross over onto the pop charts. It’s a skill that they flashed throughout three different decades. But all runs have to end, and Bon Jovi last cracked the US Top 40 in 2007. Oddly enough, the song that managed that feat featured the band trying their hand at a different genre from what they usually played.

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Jersey Juggernauts

Bon Jovi’s very first single, “Runaway”, crawled into the Top 40 back in 1984. At the time, Jon Bon Jovi was positioned as a solo artist. He soon assembled a band behind him, one which included his longtime songwriting partner/harmony vocalist Richie Sambora.

That outfit struck gold in the latter half of the 80s with the one-two punch of Slippery When Wet and New Jersey. Those albums spun out an incredible eight Top 10 hits between them. They made these Jersey boys the biggest band in America during that stretch.

Like most of the artists that were big in the 80s, Bon Jovi needed to adjust when the onslaught of grunge came rolling through the 90s. While they didn’t quite reside at the top of the heap anymore, they still managed five more Top 40 hits in that decade. Many likely predicted that would be the end of their singles chart success. But Jon and the band still had some tricks up their sleeve as the new millennium dawned.

Country Comfort

“It’s My Life” gave them a nice jump start to the new decade, as the crunching anthem hit the Top 25 in 2000. However, their 2002 album Bounce performed poorly relative to their previous releases. In 2005, Have A Nice Day gained some traction with the title track. But it was their third single from that record, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”, that provided a big boost.

“Who Says You Can’t Go Home” was released in two versions. Jon Bon Jovi did all the vocals on one. On the other, he duetted with Jennifer Nettles of the country duo Sugarland. The duet gained a lot of attention, put the song in the Top 25, and convinced the band to make their next album in Nashville.

The original idea was to write with some of the most prominent country writers. But Bon Jovi and Sambora struggled to find the right fit. They ended up only using a few co-writers with folks outside the band’s extended creative group (which included producer John Shanks and longtime co-writer Desmond Child). In fact, the trio of Bon Jovi, Sambora, and Child delivered lead single “(You Want To) Make A Memory”.

“Memory” Play

Like “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” before it, “(You Want To) Make A Memory” was released in two different versions. In this case, Jon Bon Jovi sang lead on both. But one version leaned a little bit more into a country influence.

The band didn’t usually choose slow-building ballads for lead singles on their albums. But “(You Want To) Make A Memory”, a touching song about two former lovers deciding whether or not to reconnect for a night, struck the perfect chord. It landed at no. 27 on the charts in 2007.

Bon Jovi hasn’t been able to reach the Top 40 again, even as they’ve released many fan favorites in the years since then. Maybe “(You Want To) Make A Memory” is the ideal song to be their last big hit. After all, it managed to give their fans one more memory of their former chart dominance.

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