What Are the 5 Biggest U.S. Hits by Pat Benatar?

Pat Benatar carved out her own niche as a female artist during her heyday in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Neither a singer/songwriter nor strictly a pop singer, she managed to compete with arena rock bands when it came to her crossover singles.

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Benatar combined her sharp ear for winning material with her own estimable performing chops to carve out one of the most impressive catalogs of her era. Here are the five songs of hers that did the best on the U.S. charts.

5. “Shadows of the Night” (No. 13 in 1982)

This song made the rounds before Benatar made it her own. It was first composed for a movie by a writer named D.L. Byron, only to have the filmmakers decide against including it. A few artists recorded it in 1981, including Rachel Sweet, who altered the lyrics just a bit (and as such gets a credit on Benatar’s version). You can kind of hear the cinematic intentions of the song in the hit recording of it made by Benatar. Give credit to her for being able to rise to its scope and do it proper justice.

4. “Invincible” (No. 10 in 1985)

Here’s Benatar with another movie song, only this one actually made it into the film (The Legend of Billie Jean) for which it was intended. It was written by Holly Knight and Clymie Fisher. (Spoiler alert: Knight’s name is going to pop up again on this list before it’s through). By this time, Benatar was more than comfortable going into a danceable vein without losing her innate toughness. She was also very good at projecting defiance in her vocals, which makes her the perfect interpreter for this track about rising against the odds.

3. “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” (No. 9 in 1980)

Benatar has taken this song out of her set list in recent years, despite it being one of her most popular songs. You can understand her thought process, as people might misunderstand the meaning because of the title. “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” actually referred to someone challenging the power structure of a relationship and is not as an actual reference to physical contact. Eddie Schwartz, the song’s writer, eventually penned hits for a wide variety of artists later in the decade. The song put Benatar on the map for a lot to listeners, as it was her first Top-10 hit.

2. “We Belong” (No. 5 in 1984)

In the first bloom of her chart success, Benatar mostly stuck to hard-rocking, in-your-face songs. Who could blame her, considering her obvious ease with that type of material. But for the lead single from her 1984 album Tropico, she decided to go with a ballad. “We Belong” was written by the songwriting team of David Lowen and Dan Navarro, a duo who earned a lot of industry respect for their work, even as this was their lone big chart success. It’s a lovely song, and Benatar delivered a moving vocal that showed another weapon in her artistic arsenal.

1. “Love Is a Battlefield” (No. 5 in 1983)

Benatar released a concert album (Live From Earth) in 1983, but decided to spice up the package by recording a couple of new songs in the studio. One of them was written by the ace songwriting team of Holly Knight and Mike Chapman. They handed “Love Is a Battlefield” over to Benatar, thinking it was more a mid-tempo song. But she and producer Neil Giraldo turbocharged it with a thunderous beat and scorching guitars. Benatar rides out in front of it all, leading all the other doomed romantics into battle with a piercing war cry.

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