83. GARY NUMAN (1,602,700)

18 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: WE ARE GLASS (234,000)

 

Maybe not where electronic music began but certainly an early pioneer Numan entered the 80s as one of the biggest stars of 1979, he acquired a reputation for being rather dire and robotic on stage which made him a bit of a marmite act even by the early 80s. A declaration that he was retire from touring came early in 1981 but didn’t last.  He teamed up with Bill Sharpe (of Shakatak) to produce hits in the mid 80s but he never regained the magic of 79-80

Ooh... Dollar!

The Dollar Album was great, with Mirror Mirror, Videotheque and my fave Hand Held In Black and White.

David Van Day is a prize prick though.

And Nik Kershaw.

Wouldn't it be Good is one of my favourite ever songs, but glad you chose to include his largely forgotten follow-up Dancing Girls which was a lot better than it's chart peak suggests

Dollar, The Stranglers and Gary Numan all had some great singles and I bought Nik Kershaw's albums well beyond his brief period of success. He continues to be a good songwriter.

Gary Numan 🖤

I'm most fond of his 1979 work, with The Pleasure Principle and second Tubeway Army album, but he still had plenty of good singles in the 80s and more recently I enjoyed his song 'Intruder', from 2021. Basement Jaxx and Sugababes did a great job sampling his stuff too.

Toyah had # 1 single with "Echo Beach" in my chart.

Edited June 3Jun 3 by Last Dreamer

82. TIGHT FIT (1,610,800)

4 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT (795,000)

 

Really a vehicle of Ken Gold who was a producer and wanted to get in on the medley craze of the early 80s, he was rewarded with a top 5 hit “Back To The 60s”.  He hired actors and models to promote the track but a follow up missed the top 20, fast forward a year and a cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was again done by session singers and once again different actors/models were hired to promote the track and hit No 1.  And so it was that an entirely different set of people turned up to TOTP to “sing” the song.  No-one appeared to mind.

81. FUN BOY THREE (1,621,800)

7 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: IT AIN’T WHAT YOU DO IT’S THE WAY THAT YOU DO IT (399,000)

 

After they broke away from the Specials Hall, Staple, and Golding formed the Fun Boy Three and proved that the hits could continue.  They helped a struggling Bananarama along by duetting on two singles in early 1982 but by 1983 the group had split.  Spoiler alert- this won’t be the last we hear from these boys!

80. GEORGE BENSON (1,623,500)

9 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: GIVE ME THE NIGHT (273,000)

 

Often overlooked in the cannon of 80s artists, Benson was a child prodigy starting to play in nighclubs when just 8 years old, he was a big name in Jazz circles by the 60s but a gradual move into MOR/Pop in the mid 70s really started to pay off here in 1980.  He was the original recorder of both “Greatest Love Of All” and “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” which went on to become major hits for Whitney Houston and Glenn Medeiros later on in the decade.  As you can see he sold more than his fair share of records himself.

Doesn't get much better than the Banshees for me. A stronger sets of quality singles for the decade is hard to find.

The Boss of course was brilliant but not a singles artist at all, despite Born in the USA boasting some solid hits

Kate too is pretty much an album artist but there's some brilliant singles and she's untouchable to be honest.

Big love for The Stranglers too - a band far too often overlooked in their prime, due to their contemporaries being Punk's biggest names, and their later work has many gems to find if you care to look.

Edited June 3Jun 3 by Severin

It took me forever to know that Steve didn't sing Lion Sleeps... 😂

As a Pop Boy they were another fave of mine in the early 80s

Some great song choices to showcase with the youtubes Gezza - these are my favourites so far:

SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES - Happy House

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Tougher Than The Rest

IRENE CARA - Flashdance... What A Feeling

KATE BUSH - Hounds Of Love

FUN BOY THREE - The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum

Fantasy Island is a masterpiece. Missed Eurovision song from Netherlands.

Didnt know Fun Boy Three came from The specials! The collabs withBananarama were a tad too silly

If Benson had released, we wouldnt have had to suffer Glenn Medeiros 😆

79. ABC (1,624,200)

10 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: THE LOOK OF LOVE (428,000)

 

One of the big stars of the New Romantic movement (more through timing than visual appearance) the Sheffield band produced a trio of big hits in 1982 which saw their debut album “The Lexicon Of Love” come to be regarded as one of the quintessential albums of the decade.  They were helped by eye catching promo’s and the production hand of Trevor Horn (who was on fire the first half of the 80s).  Follow up era’s followed up the principle of diminishing returns as they jettisoned Horn in favour of other producers though 1987’s “When Smokey Sings” did almost return them to the top 10 and was a top 5 US hit.

78. THE BEAT (1,641,600)

7 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM (270,000)

 

Coming to the fore in the 2Tone craze of the late 70s/early 80s, this band were called “English Beat” in the US & Canada and “British Beat” in Australia due to the name already being in use in those countries. It contained two members who went on to form 2/3 of Fine Young Cannibals once the group disbanded in 1983.

77. THE PRETENDERS (1,651,900)

7 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: BRASS IN POCKET (401,000)

 

Chrissie Hynde survived Punk and set up The Pretenders in 1978, the following year the hits started and “Brass In Pocket” became the first new chart topper of the decade.  The band survived the death of two of its members in the early 80s although by the late 80s Hynde was effectively the only member of the band the others having left or been fired.

oh really like the last 3

love Pretenders, I came quite late to like them but in 94 I was obsessed with I'll Stand By You

and that kinda made me go and look at all their back catalog. It's a pity their only big hit was Brass in Pocket.

The Beat I love too, didn't know about their alt names or that they went to form FYC. The sound is very different.

First thing I heard from ABC was When Smokey Sings so thats a big favourite, but I like them rather than love them. Forgot Smokey had been so big in the US. Crazy it's their biggest hit there.

ABC were an act I thought I should like, but never really got into.

When they ended up with the woman and bald guy in the band, it all started to feel a bit silly.

They have the best lyric though with

"Can't complain, mustn't grumble, help yourself to another piece of apple crumble."

the US discography of ABC is weird,

their big UK hits The look of love (#18) and Poison Arrow (#25) didn't go top 10

but Be Near Me peaked at #9, which I've never heard before

and When Smokey Sings peaked at #5, their highest ever

76. DIRE STRAITS (1,660,649)

9 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: PRIVATE INVESTIGATIONS (360,000)

 

Undoubtedly featuring considerably higher on any album version of this list Dire Straits miss the top 75 here.  In truth apart from the “Brothers In Arms” era they rarely produced more than an occasional single but as the album became the biggest selling album of the 80s in the UK it was clear to see that the singles had done their work.  “Money For Nothing” was not only the first video to be played on MTV Europe when it was launched but was also a US chart topper and top 5 here.