the march Fadness 2023 bracket & tourney field
The 2023 tournament bracket is live, friends! Games begin 3/1. You may submit your bracket anytime before the first game tips off that morning. (Click the link to the google sheet, make a copy or print or download, fill out and email to marchxness@thediagram.com; if you do google sheets, make sure you set the permissions to anyone can view.)
And thanks to Wade Pavlick, we have a Youtube Music Bracket playlist. And thanks to Debbie Parker, here’s the Spotify playlist. Thanks to Rose Pacult, here’s an Apple Music playlist.
bracket Methodology
This year, the songs are seeded purely based on highest Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 chart position. In the case of multiple songs with the same chart position (ex: 7 songs all hitting #1) the Selection Committee decided which are 1 seeds and which are 2s). Songs were picked by the 64 writers (selected by lottery in Summer 2022) from the long list of artists with one and only one Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hit (excluding songs that have appeared in previous tournaments).
The field for the 2023 March Fadness 80s tournament
Is now set as of August 2022, determined by draft lottery (we have many more folks who want to write for the tournament than the 64 slots each year, so we do a lottery every August). The writers selected from the lottery may choose any eligible song for inclusion, and the tournament field consists of the 64 songs selected by the writers.
tournament inclusion criteria
In order to qualify for the March Fadness 1980s edition tournament, a song must satisfy the following three criteria:
It is the only song by an artist to hit the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (a US chart)
It charted during the 1980s
It has not appeared in a previous tournament.
Bands/artists with March Xness rings are excluded from the tournament. So as much as we love them, we want to make sure other folks get a chance at a ring.
We’re making no value judgments about any of these songs by calling them one-hit wonders.
The culture already did that, good or bad, wrong or right, some years ago, and our job is to write and listen through the rubble of those judgments.
Many of these are fantastic songs, and some are by bands who have long and excellent careers, and who are surely not happy to be classified as a “one hit wonder.” We wouldn’t be either! And some of these songs are also very bad! Many of them are songs we’ve never heard of ourselves (and we listen to a lot of music). Some of these songs have assumed a great deal of cultural relevance and popularity independent from their appearance on the top 40 chart. And some are extremely well-known indeed.
The Selection Committee will release the 2023 bracket, which will come out in December 2022 for you to fill out and play along.
The Tournament Songs & the writers
After the Fire –•– Der Kommissar — Jendi Reiter
The Afternoon Delights –•– General Hospi-Tale — Kate Bernheimer
Philip Bailey feat Phil Collins –•– Easy Lover — Alyson Shelton
Baltimora –•– Tarzan Boy — Jeremy V. Bennett
Band Aid –•– Do They Know It’s Christmas? — Andrew Bethke
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock –•– It Takes Two — David Griffith
Toni Basil –•– Mickey — Carolyn Kellogg
Big Country –•– In a Big Country — Adam O. Davis
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians –•– What I Am — Amy Miller
Buckner & Garcia –•– Pac-Man Fever — Allison Dushane
Kate Bush –•– Running Up That Hill — Alison Stine
Larry Carlton –•– The Theme from Hill Street Blues — Chris L Keller
Roseanne Cash –•– Seven Year Ache — J. W. Bonner
Marshall Crenshaw –•– Someday, Someway — Jessica Handler
Dexys Midnight Runners –•– Come On Eileen — Em Pasek
Thomas Dolby –•– She Blinded Me with Science — Camellia-Berry Grass
E.U. –•– Da Butt — Brian Salmons
Harold Faltermeyer –•– Axel F — Seth Sawyers
The Firm –•– Radioactive — Jackie Walchuk
Force MDs –•– Tender Love — Darcy Jay Gagnon
David Foster –•– Love Theme from St. Elmo’s Fire — Amorak Huey
Frankie Goes to Hollywood –•– Relax — Bob Proehl
The Georgia Satellites –•– Keep Your Hands to Yourself — Jonathan Walsh
Terri Gibbs –•– Somebody’s Knockin’ — Nicole Walker
Godley & Creme –•– Cry — Kathleen Rooney
Grateful Dead –•– Touch of Grey — Steven Church
Emmylou Harris –•– Mister Sandman — Steven K Johnson
Jennifer Holliday –•– And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going — Terrance Flynn
Oran Juice Jones –•– The Rain — Lisa Nikolidakis
The Korgis –•– Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime — Rachel Alm
Limahl –•– The NeverEnding Story — Erin Keane
Lipps Inc. –•– Funkytown — Amy Rossi
Living in a Box –•– Living in a Box — Michael Credico
Love and Rockets –•– So Alive — Reid Dossinger
MARRS –•– Pump Up the Volume — Chelsea Biondolillo
Bobby McFerrin –•– Don’t Worry, Be Happy — Aaron Burch
Bob and Doug McKenzie –•– Take Off — Jim Kourlas
Bill Medley –•– (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life — James Charlesworth
Midnight Oil –•– Beds Are Burning — Keith Pille
Nena –•– 99 Luftballons — Janet Dale
Gary Numan –•– Cars — Elana Levin
Rainbow –•– Stone Cold — Josh Borgmann
Romeo Void –•– A Girl in Trouble (Is a Temporary Thing) — Colleen Kennedy
Rush, New World Man — Dave Singleton
Scandal –•– The Warrior — Alex Berge
Joey Scarbury –•– Theme from The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not) — Joyce Millman
Peter Schilling –•– Major Tom (Coming Home) — Heidi Czerviec
Scritti Politti –•– Perfect Way — Martin Seay
Soft Cell –•– Tainted Love — Irene Cooper
Jim Steinman –•– Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through — Mark Butler and Laura Lorson
The Sugarhill Gang –•– Rapper’s Delight — Steph Brown
Patrick Swayze featuring Wendy Fraser –•– She’s Like the Wind — Erin Vachon
Ta Mara and the Seen –•– Everybody Dance — Kay Keegan
Taco –•– Puttin’ on the Ritz — (Peaked: September 3 at # 4): Kristine Langley Mahler
Talk Talk –•– It’s My Life — Mark Wallace
Timbuk 3 –•– The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades — Sebastian Stockman
Tom Tom Club –•– Genius of Love — Scott Edward Anderson
Tracey Ullman –•– They Don’t Know — Kurt Reighley
USA for Africa –•– We Are the World — Michael Sheehan
Vangelis –•– Chariots of Fire — J. R. McConvey
When in Rome –•– The Promise — Beth Nguyen
Don Williams –•– I Believe in You — Harrow Wheless
World Party –•– Ship of Fools (Save Me from Tomorrow) — Dana Cann
Frank Zappa featuring Moon Unit Zappa –•– Valley Girl — Jaime Danehey