5TH NOVEMBER

 

 

Culture Club continue to reign supreme in the album charts for a third week depriving Lionel Richie of a No 1 album with "Can't Slow Down" but it's all over on the singles front as "Karma Chameleon" slides 1-4 (77,520) but is now officially the biggest selling single of the 80s to date with sales of 1,103,368 so they will hardly be disappointed. Duran Duran's challenge however was in the end pretty non existent as "Union Of The Snake" rises 4-3 but sells an almost identical to last week 79,747.

 

The real challenge was between Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" and Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" with Joel leading for much of the week by a slim margin but Richie fought back thanks to TOTP and almost overhauled Joel at the death with just 493 copies separating the pair in the end 109,446 to 108,953 by some way the closest race for the top spot this year. Joel's album "An Innocent Man" enters the top 20 for the first time in response to the single's success, the era is a major return to form for Joel whose US success had never really translated to these shores in the same way, but its arrival must be a disappointment for Richie who now plays second best on both charts here.

 

 

 

Adam Ant proves he's far from yesterday's pop star, his last single "Desperate But Not Serious" surprised many when it only made No 33 at the end of last year with some predicting his days in the limelight were over. He's roped in Phil Collins on the drums of his new single "Puss N Boots" and this week sees the response as the single progresses 21-9 (45,135), it's a typically theatrical affair from the dandy highwayman proving the adage that if it ain't broke.....parent album "Strip" is out in a fortnight.

 

 

 

UB40 are back and the hunt for a second chart topper, though it looks like it might be a tough call as "Please Don't Make Me Cry" only moves 12-10 (36,975) it is however the first time they have managed back to back top 10 hits since 1980 so that's something at least. Naturally as it comes from their album "Labour Of Love", it is a cover, this time of an old Winston Groovy track from 1970 which didn't do anything on the charts here but was obviously not overlooked by Reggae enthusiasts.

 

 

The other sole climber this week are Men Without Hats who rise 8-6 (52,683) but heading south are Tracey Ullman (3-5, 57,885), Howard Jones (5-7, 51,323) and Rocksteady Crew (6-8, 47,634)

 

 

1- UPTOWN GIRL- Billy Joel (109,446)

2- ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT)- Lionel Richie (108,953)

3- UNION OF THE SNAKE- Duran Duran (79,747)

4- KARMA CHAMELEON- Culture Club (77,520)

5- THEY DON’T KNOW- Tracey Ullman (57,885)

6- SAFETY DANCE- Men Without Hats (52,683)

7- NEW SONG- Howard Jones (51,323)

8- (HEY YOU) ROCKSTEADY CREW- Rocksteady Crew (47,634)

9- PUSS N BOOTS- Adam Ant (45,135)

10- PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME CRY- UB40 (36,975)

 

Culture Club's success was really quite extraordinary compared to everything else we've seen in the thread for this year, still selling over 90K in it's sixth week at the top and even now falling to #4 on a sale that would have easily been #1 for many weeks in the year. It seems to have hugely outperformed the market for the time.

 

 

Wow @ how close it was at the top :o

Was Thahiti the final top 10 for David Essex?

Kinda annoying that ‘All Night Long’ didn’t reach no1 probably due to the 12 inch issue it’s probably as famous now as Karma Cameleon and Uptown Girl, some major classics in the top 10 tho!

Love 'Union of the Snake' and especially 'Safety Dance' from these recent posts :wub: the sales are fascinating to see!

Glad people, other than me, find old sales stuff really interesting!

Woah at how close those sales were at the top :o

Men Without Hats' 'Safety Dance' evidently influenced by baroque music/medieval folk - the group sound more English than Canadian. The singer sounds very bored but I guess that's just the typical indie 80s vocal style! Its a good song but not one of my favourite 80s new wave tracks.

 

Uptown Girl has been WAY overplayed and I am very bored with it! -_- All Night Long has been overplayed too but I prefer it of the two.

 

'Union of the Snake' is OK but lacks the big chorus we are used to from Duran, I can understand why it has been relatively forgotten compared to many of their other tracks.

 

Good move to get Phil Collins in for the drums on 'Puss n Boots' but the rest of the song isn't as catchy or memorable as most of Adam Ant's other hits.

Edited April 5, 20232 yr by TheSnake

Fascinating sales, I can't imagine there were many times the top 2 both sold over 100k and were separated by less than 500 copies! Especially when the #2 song ended up peaking there.

 

Safety Dance will definitely be one for my #6s shortlist!

Yeah that's a very close gap at the top for two 100k+ sellers. :o

 

Also 45k for a #9 that week!! :o

Woah at how close those sales were at the top :o

 

I love the trajectory of the hits as well. I always wonder how long they had been released and when they first got radio support for them to only seemingly take 3-4 weeks max to hit 100k sales!

12TH NOVEMBER

 

 

"Uptown Girl" only just defeated Lionel Richie last week but there's no competition this week as the track accelerates away from the rest of the field selling a cool 147,254 copies as parent album "Innocent Man" moves 20-12. All of which leaves Richie a distant second on a still respectable sale of 88,638 copies but does at least top the album charts this week with "Can't Slow Down" something that he never did with the Commodores.

 

 

 

1983 has been a quite year by normal Shakin' Stevens standards, his only single so far "It's Late" narrowly missed the top 10 but he's got a new album out later this month ("The Bop Don't Stop") and it will also feature his current single which has no problem in becoming his 9th top 10 single. "Cry Just A Little Bit" is written by Bob Heatlie who of course wrote Aneka's "Japanese Boy" which topped the charts back in 1981 and this week his new composition becomes Shaky's first top 5 hit in almost a year as it rockets 19-4 (47,770).

 

 

 

Shaky has still some way to go to be the act with the most top 10 hits in the decade, Madness are the current leaders and are continuing to chalk up the hits, "The Sun And The Rain" becomes their 15th top 10 hit from 17 releases- an impressive tally by any acts standards. The single's cover incidentally is 'The Storm' by Narcisse Virgile Diaz De la Pena (in case you wondered), and the band have already announced that this will be a stand alone single (an increasing trend from them) but it seems their fans are still snapping up their every release as this flies 21-9 (36,635).

 

 

 

Formed all the way back in 1976 The Cure's initial releases failing to crack the charts in the late 70s with "A Forest" coming their first hit when it made No 31 back in 1980. Their last single "The Walk" was their first to hit the top 20 (a No 12 smash) but they go even better with "Love Cats" which leaps 12-10 (35,003) to become their biggest hit, it's taken from the album "Japanese Whispers" a kind of "Best Of" covering the last year of the band's life and is a nice recap for newer fans.

 

 

Elsewhere Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney are back with "Say Say Say" which returns to the top 10 moving 14-3 (49,878). It's full chart history so far is 25-10-13-14-3, the reason for its surprise about face? Well it now comes with a promo video which was heavily aired over the week including TOTP, unusual as it was dropping down the charts but it does the trick, McCartney's album "Pipes Of Peace" from which the track comes debuts at No 4 this week.

 

Adam Ant continues his revival jumping 9-5 (45,611) but losing ground are Duran Duran 3-6 (43,792) and Men Without Hats slip 6-7 (41,106) whilst Culture Club are down and out falling 4-8 (39,610).

 

1- UPTOWN GIRL- Billy Joel (147,254)

2- ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT)- Lionel Richie (88,638)

3- SAY SAY SAY- Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney (49,878)

4- CRY JUST A LITTLE BIT- Shakin Stevens (47,770)

5- PUSS N BOOTS- Adam Ant (45,611)

6- UNION OF THE SNAKE- Duran Duran (43,792)

7- SAFETY DANCE- Men Without Hats (41,106)

8- KARMA CHAMELEON- Culture Club (39,610)

9- THE SUN AND THE RAIN- Madness (36,635)

10- LOVE CATS- The Cure (35,003)

 

'The Love Cats' *.* although justice for the also mentioned 'A Forest' which deserved way more than #31 -_-

Adam Ant, eh? What a great 80s pop star... though Puss in Boots (which my God goes on a lot at the end) wasn't close to Goody Two Shoes.

19TH NOVEMBER

 

 

"Uptown Girl" continues to lead the field effortlessly for a third week though it appears to have peaked sales wise selling a further 127,993 copies this week to bring its overall haul to 456,909. The album powers 12-4 this week to become his highest placed LP of his 12 year long career, the single is also the 16th chart topper of 1983 which is on course to become a slow year for number one singles, the record lowest for the 80s is currently the 19 chart toppers of 1981.

 

 

 

The Vince Clarke success story continues, after steering Depeche Mode to the top 10 he left the group to form Yazoo to produce three top 10 singles and two top 3 albums before calling it a day on that group earlier this year. He's now joined up with long time producer and friend Eric Radcliffe to form The Assembly, a project which it is envisaged will have a different "hired" frontman for each song they make, the first fruits from the new group is fronted by former Undertones lead singer Feargal Sharkey who sings "Never Never" which grabs another top 10 single for Clarke's third outfit as it rises 36-10 (25,177) and is certainly one to look out for given that it is only in its second week.

 

 

The Assembly are the only new entry in the big 10 this week after the gluttony of last week which gives some time for other singles to improve their position. Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson rise 3-2 but sell only 68,102 copies, Shaky follows them 4-3 (64,651), Madness (9-5, 43,180) and the Cure (10-7, 32,819) also see a rich return this week. Four tracks are the move down, Lionel Richie 2-4 (61,285), Adam Ant (5-6, 42,772), Men Without Hats (7-8, 29,801) and Culture Club 8-9 (25,840) but they will top the 1.2 million mark in the next few weeks-a truly phenomenal record!

 

 

 

1- UPTOWN GIRL- Billy Joel (127,993)

2- SAY SAY SAY- Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney (68,102)

3- CRY JUST A LITTLE BIT- Shakin Stevens (64,651)

4- ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT)- Lionel Richie (61,285)

5- THE SUN AND THE RAIN- Madness (43,180)

6- PUSS N BOOTS- Adam Ant (42,772)

7- LOVE CATS- The Cure (35,819)

8- SAFETY DANCE- Men Without Hats (29,801)

9- KARMA CHAMELEON- Culture Club (25,840)

10 –NEVER NEVER- The Assembly (25,177)

 

I'd say Never Never is a bit of a "forgotten" Top 10 song.

Until I just started playing it I couldn't have said how it went, but as soon as I did I remembered it well.

 

Great song.

'The Love Cats' certainly continues the prominence of funky bass guitar in the early 80s. I do prefer 'The Walk' though which I have already compared to New Order's Blue Monday.

26TH NOVEMBER

 

 

Topping the charts for a fourth week "Uptown Girl" starts to hemorrhage sales, 32% in fact to 86,088 which takes its total to 542,997 well on course to be one of the biggest selling singles of the year with a mere 6 weeks left of it, it places No 8 on the YTD at present. All of which means we can take a brief look at the contenders for the Christmas No 1 slot:

 

VICTIMS- Culture Club- Current favourite at the bookies, the follow up to "Karma Chameleon" is of course hotly tipped to retrace that tracks progress up the charts and become the groups third No 1 in just 14 months.

 

MOVE OVER DARLING- Tracey Ullman- Another Cover from Ullman she almost went all the way with her last track "They Don't Know" and is looking good to go one better with her Doris Day remake.

 

RAT RAPPING- Roland Rat- If you fancy an outside punt then the self styled "saviour" of TV-AM is about to unleash his brand of humour on the charts and combined with the silly season in the top 40 he could just do it!

 

COLD AS CHRISTMAS- Elton John- Something more festive? Well Elton's had a great year with three top 20 hits and is back with a bang- who's to say he can't have a return to the top?

 

TELL HER ABOUT IT- Billy Joel, When it was originally released back in September it flopped but in light of his current No 1 nothing seems impossible for Joel and of course it's already topped the charts in the US!

 

 

 

With sales of "Uptown Girl" continuing to dip coupled with the four weeks the song has already spent at the top, speculation is rife as to what will be the 17th No 1 of 1983. The current money is on Paul Young's cover of "Love Of The Common People" which rages 17-5 (36,550) and is another cut from his "No Parlez" album, it's been covered by many acts but the only version to be a UK hit was by Nicky Thomas who made No 9 in 1970 with the song. It was originally released earlier this year but was ignored by the record buying public, Young clearly knows when something is a hit!

 

 

 

Long a familiar face on London's club scene and a member of the New Romantic movement as well as Boy George affiliate, Marilyn may already be familiar to the pop world after his appearance in the Eurythmics video "Who's That Girl" (his real name is Peter Robinson incidentally) but now he has a hit in his own right with "Calling Your Name". The singer took his name from his Marilyn Monroe image and whilst some cynical music spectators have suggested his record contract owes a lot to Boy George and to the music industry's desire to find the next "gender bender" it seems that the song is genuinely popular rising 21-9 (28,118).

 

 

 

"Thriller" is the biggest selling album of 1983 by some stretch with over 1.3 million sold so far and now Michael Jackson plucks his 5th single from the album and it becomes his 5th top 10 hit. In addition it is also his fifth top 10 hit of the year and in doing so he becomes the first act to achieve that since 1961 when Elvis turned the trick, this single comes with 14 minute epic music video directed by John Landis who famously directed "An American Werewolf In London" which helps to explain the special effects in the promo, The album has now spent 32 weeks in the top 10 this year with 7 of those weeks at No 1, impressive but nowhere near the success the album has had in the US where it has been at no 1 for 20 weeks so far this year and has propelled the star into the biggest popstar on the planet over the last year! The song jumps 24-10 (27,727) this week.

 

 

Talking of Jackson he remains at the No 2 position in conjunction with Paul McCartney on a sale of 66,861 whilst Shaky holds at No 3 with 59,381 copies sold but both should be overtaken by The Assembly next week as they leap 10-4 (49,028) and could threaten Billy Joel next week if Paul Young fails to do so. Moving down are Lionel Richie 4-6 (34,068), Madness 5-7 (33,949) and the Cure 7-8 (30,175)

 

 

 

1- UPTOWN GIRL- Billy Joel (86,088)

2- SAY SAY SAY- Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney (66,861)

3- CRY JUST A LITTLE BIT- Shakin Stevens (59,381)

4- NEVER NEVER- The Assembly (49,028)

5- LOVE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE- Paul Young (36,550)

6- ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT)- Lionel Richie (34,068)

7- THE SUN AND THE RAIN- Madness (33,949)

8- LOVE CATS- The Cure (30,175)

9- CALLING YOUR NAME- Marilyn (28,118)

10- THRILLER- Michael Jackson (27,727)

 

I used to really like that Paul Young song as a child. Don’t think I quite remember it from release as I’d have only been about 4 so I assume my parents used to still play No Parlez later in the 80s