'The Winner Takes It All' is one of ABBAs best, 'Upside Down' by Diana Ross is very catchy. the Dexys song is quite good.

Babooshka is good but is the one song that is often not really taken seriously in her discography.

 

This #13 hit at the time has become iconic certainly.

 

 

This sounds better than nearly everything in the top 10 at that time, sounds like it could have been made 20 years later and yet the general public still loved disco which sounds very if it’s time!

Why did Abba not enter the chart in the top 5 by this stage? Surely a new single by then would be hugely anticipated following previous output?

Why did Abba not enter the chart in the top 5 by this stage? Surely a new single by then would be hugely anticipated following previous output?

Well I would say the fact it went straight into the top 10 proves that in terms of 1980. If you consider how rare it was then I think it's only happened a times in 1980 (from memory) with the Jam, Blondie, and Gary Numan so far pulling it off. Both the Jam and Numan were fanbase acts who galvanised their fans to buy their singles in the first few weeks so tended to debut high and of course Blondie were on a roll with their own purple patch of 4 number one hits in a year by this point. I think also Abba by 1980 had started to look very dated, indeed for the remainder of the decade they remained uncool until reappraised in the 90s.

 

Also as I note, only 1 Abba song had debuted higher than this one in their whole career.

I bought OMD's Messages, fab record should have been bigger than 13, and then as my Uni days drew to a close, exams over, I bought Xanadu (the film was bad but the music was great) as I said bye to all my friends and headed off to 2 years of unemployment and grimness, just the music scene to keep me going. Xanadu is still a great record.

 

Two Pints was funny, Jump To The Beat a top dance tune, Bob Marley back with a banger and we had no idea he was seriously ill. babooshka was a talking point with the video, Kate still beating her own unique path, and Waterfalls is just gorgeous, wistful and atmospheric. Not the usual Macca sound at all.

 

Diana Ross' Chic-tastic smash was her best record since Love Hangover and a goodbye to Motown and quality control of some sorts after this as she seises the comeback album moment to sign to Capitol for cash and years of musical meh bar 2 or 3 notable exceptions. Joy Division did better in 1983, in 1980 it was ahead of the time - into the early 80's times were grim, and when times get grim people want to feel like they can party to forget not wallow in misery (see Lockdown and Dua Lipa).

 

I was back in Mansfield and applying for jobs as ABBA dropped me a sad gift in The Winner Takes It All. The video got showed on telly, and obv I bought it. My dad was considering buying a new-fangled expensive Phillips 2000 video recorder, the tapes alone cost £20 for 2 hours (hugely expensive) - so I encouraged him so I could tape top Star Trek episodes and my fave videos off Top Of The Pops when it started up again shortly (a few weeks from now after Abba drop off the top spot).

'The Winner Takes It All' I absolutely loved for decades and decades. Like many other songs on Abba Gold, I find them suffer from overplay and now I prefer their more obscure singles like 'The Day Before You Came', 'Head over Heels', 'Summer Night City' etc but no denying it's power and poignancy.

9TH AUGUST

 

 

It's taken two and a half years and six releases to do it but finally ABBA are back at the No 1 spot in the UK and on sales of 71,000 . It's also their 8th No 1 single placing them joint 4th on the all time list of acts with the most chart toppers which now reads:

 

17- The Beatles, Elvis Presley

12 The Shadows

10- Cliff Richard

8- Rolling Stones

8- ABBA.

 

 

 

But they left it VERY late indeed, leading the way all week was Diana Ross with "Upside Down" which looked an odds on favourite to top the charts even as Friday dawned but in the end she lost out by 9,000 copies, but even a sale of 62,000 would have seen her No 1 at some points over the last 2 months.

 

 

 

Ever dreamed of being a popstar? Certainly Sheena Orr did, she of course had the benefit of a BBC show "The Big Time" to help her achieve the feat, a name change to Sheena Easton and the additional promo (which was too late to save her debut single "Modern Girl" from being a flop and halting at No 56 -it gets a re-issue this week so we'll wait and see how it does), means the follow up is doing rather better. "9 to 5" rockets 20-5 (45,000) and seems to have placed her on the way to stardom.

 

 

 

Taking rather longer to finally make it in the world of pop, The Gap Band have been releasing singles for 7 years without scoring a hit but they finally remedy that with "Ooops Upside Your Head" which has developed its own dance in the clubs of the land, a fact which is no doubt helping with sales as it soars 18-7 (38,000)

 

 

 

A second release from the No 1 album "Flesh & Blood" becomes a second UK top 10 single for Roxy Music as "Oh Yeah" climbs 30-9 in just its second week selling 37,000 copies in the process. The first release "Over You" made the top 5 earlier this year and sold a none too shabby 311,000 copies when the dust had settled.

 

 

 

And rounding off the new entries to the top 10 is George Benson, initially known as a Jazz artist since the 60s- he has hooked up with pop royalty Quincy Jones who recently helmed Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" and came up with his new album "Give Me The Night" and the title track which rises 22-10 (35,000) his first top 20 hit here. it's written by Roger Temperton who returns to the big 10 as a writer after helping on Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" single earlier this year.

 

 

Former No 1 "Use It Up Wear It Out" dives 1-3 (51,000), Leo Sayer retreats 2-4 (48,000), Kate Bush takes a one place tumble 5-6 (43,000) and Bob Marley dips 6-8 (38,000).

 

TOTP returns to our screens this Thursday so we'll see how much the public has missed it next week!

 

 

 

1- THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL- Abba (71,000)

2- UPSIDE DOWN- Diana Ross (62,000)

3- USE IT UP, WEAR IT OUT- Odyssey (51,000)

4- MORE THAN I CAN SAY- Leo Sayer (48,000)

5- 9 TO 5- Sheena Easton (45,000)

6- BABOOSHKA- Kate Bush (43,000)

7- OOOPS UPSIDE YOUR HEAD- Gap Band (38,000)

8- COULD YOU BE LOVED- Bob Marley & The Wailers (38,000)

9- OH YEAH- Roxy Music (37,000)

10- GIVE ME THE NIGHT- George Benson (35,000)

 

Give Me The Night is a great addition, didn't know that it made the top 10 over here. One of my favourite soul singles of the 80s *.*

'Oh Yeah(On the Radio)' is probably my favourite Roxy single so glad it was a top 10.

 

'9 to 5' or 'Morning Train' is cheesy but catchy as hell and sef one if my favourite guilty pleasures of the year. Sheens generally got worse after her first two singles.

 

Gap Band 'Oooops Upside Your Head' is a great early 1980s disco classic but very difficult to separate in my mind from the Snap cover from 1990 which I heard first as a child!

 

George Benson is very strong and stands the test of time.

A chart close to my heart :wub: 'The Winner Takes It All' #1, 'Upside Down' #2 and AC/DC - Back In Black the #1 album, doesn't get much better than that!

 

ABBA gave us yet another classic 1980 #1 - the emotion is all there in Agnetha's delivery, almost choking on the words with the story clearly so close to home, but facing up gamely to the relentless chorus.

Edited April 22, 20241 yr by jimwatts

Would have preferred Diana Ross to cling on and take the #1 there tbh.

That Roxy song is very MOR

 

9-5 Morning Train I know well, its less dated sounding than her later hit 'For Your Eyes Only'

 

The George Benson track is one of the better disco songs of the year.

 

'Oops Upside Your Head' is good but yeah I prefer the Snap cover - what's in the bowl, b*tch!?

Edited April 22, 20241 yr by TheSnake

For Your Eyes Only is not dated, it's your typical James Bond theme with the typical Bond production

 

also wish Diana Ross had climbed to #2 rather than Abba

not a bad top 10, decent newbies though none is a huge huge fav

16TH AUGUST

 

 

After beating Diana Ross to the top by just 9,000 copies last week, the past 7 days have produced a much easier victory for the Swedes as they sell a very impressive 105,000 copies, the first time in 20 weeks that the No 1 tripped into six figures and naturally benefitted from the return of TOTP to our screens. The effect was noticeable too in the remainder of the top 3 which saw Diana Ross hold at No 2 with sales up to 87,000 (itself a 13 week high for the position) and Sheena Easton leaping 5-3 with 76,000 sales- enough for No 1 last week. Total sales of "The Winner Takes It All" now stand at 208,000 after three weeks and should be spurred on by a special gatefold release of the single this week.

 

 

 

Next week it may not be Diana who is the main worry for ABBA but David Bowie who debuts at No 4 (the fifth track to debut in the top 10 this year) and in the process becomes his highest debuting single ever and biggest hit since "Sound & Vision" three years ago. Thematically it continues to use the character of Major Tom which Bowie first invented for his "Space Oddity" which remains his only UK No 1 single, perhaps he's seeing if good luck can strike twice? It's also the first release from his forthcoming album "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" which is due next month, "Ashes To Ashes" sold 63,000 copies last week the highest tally for a No 4 record since April, had it been released three weeks ago and sold the same it would have debuted at No 1!

 

 

 

The only other new entry to the top 10 comes from Tom Browne whose ode to his neighbourhood "Funkin For Jamaica" rises 16-10 (33,000) it's the first hit for the US Funk/ Jazz artist and the first release from his second album "Love Approach".

 

 

 

Roxy Music rejoice as "Oh Yeah" climbs 9-5 (63,000) which joins in the sales bonanza to mark another high, their album is similarly moving units 4-2, and the Gap Band power 7-6 on 57,000 sales, George Benson accelerates 10-7 (57,000), the sales highs could be attributed to the return of TOTP and a number of current singles from high demand acts not available on albums at present.

 

All of which is bad news for Odyssey 3-9 (34,000) and Leo Sayer 4-8 (35,000) who tail off badly and are seemingly spent.

 

 

 

1- THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL- Abba (105,000)

2- UPSIDE DOWN- Diana Ross (87,000)

3- 9 TO 5- Sheena Easton (76,000)

4- ASHES TO ASHES- David Bowie (63,000)

5- OH YEAH- Roxy Music (63,000)

6- OOPS UPSIDE YOUR HEAD- Gap Band (57,000)

7- GIVE ME THE NIGHT- George Benson (57,000)

8- MORE THAN I CAN SAY- Leo Sayer (35,000)

9- USE IT UP, WEAR IT OUT- Odyssey (34,000)

10- FUNKIN FOR JAMAICA- Tom Browne (33,000)

 

Great sales for ABBA at #1, Diana at #2 and 'Ashes To Ashes' on its first week! Could that be yet another classic 1980 #1 on the way?

 

And yeah it's kind of a shame that Diana and ABBA couldn't get a week at #1 each.

'Ashes to Ashes' is very good, its supposed to be very influential on the New Romantics and the rest of the early 80s, I can hear it with the use of the Brit-funk bass guitar sound.

Ashes to Ashes :wub: One of my favourites from the 80s, a real classic for me

Ashes To Ashes :wub:

 

What a classic!

Im the opposite, Ashes does nothing to me

And prefer many other of his singles

The video sold Ashes To Ashes immediately, it was the arrival of New Romantics (with Steve Strange in the video), was on TV a lot and I recorded it off Top Of The Pops and played it loads - as well as buying the single. It sounded like nothing before it, genuinely fresh and exciting and set up the album for bigger sales in a way that had generally eluded him since Aladdin Sane/Ziggy era.