23. BANANARAMA (3,310,000)

16 TOP 40 HITS

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

 

Without doubt the biggest girl group of the decade, they had the fortune of using the most successful producers of the decade (at first Jolly & Swain, then Stock Aitken & Waterman) to help them remain successful.  In 1988 they entered the Guinness book of records for most chart entries by an all female group and rounded off the decade with a Platinum Greatest Hits album.

22. KYLIE MINOGUE (3,337,500)

8 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: ESPECIALLY FOR YOU (844,000)

BEST SELLING SINGLES ACT OF 1988

 

Of course she’s here and only on the strength of 8 singles (only one act is higher is on fewer hits), yes Kylie was unstoppable in 88-89 outselling even Madonna for the period.  She was the best selling singles of 88 and topped it with another 1.2 million the year after, that opened the way for other Neighbours stars to make the transition to popstars.  Three No 1 hits plus 4 No 2 hits formed part of her opening tally of 11 straight top 5 hits, in 1988 she sold over 2 million singles in the UK, one of only 6 acts to reach that level in any particular year in the decade but the first on this list.

21. THE HUMAN LEAGUE (3,381,100)

11 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: DON’T YOU WANT ME (737,000)

 

Just missing out on the top 20 are these guys who were early pioneers of synth pop before breaking through in 1981 and even cracking the US with a couple of chart toppers.   The promo for “Don’t You Want Me” is credited for heralding the second invasion of the US charts for British acts thanks to being an early MTV favourite and is of course considered a synth pop classic now, they sold over a million in both 1981 and 1982.

Recap 21-50

50. LEVEL 42 (2,105,700)

49. PAUL YOUNG (2,112,700)

48. A-HA (2,118,400)

47. BAD MANNERS (2,170,500)

46. ROD STEWART (2,214,600)

45. JASON DONOVAN (2,261,500)

44. SIMPLE MINDS (2,271,800)

43. ABBA (2,297,500)

42. WHITNEY HOUSTON (2,368,700)

41. TEARS FOR FEARS (2,554,500)

 

40. ELTON JOHN (2,558,000)

39. PRINCE (2,622,100)

38. BAND AID (2,671,600)

37. JOHN LENNON (2,674,800)

36. ULTRAVOX (2,702,200)

35. DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS (2,735,500)

34. SOFT CELL (2,764,100)

33. ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK (2,765,100)

32. GEORGE MICHAEL (2,804,100)

31. DEPECHE MODE (2,837,100)

 

30. PET SHOP BOYS (2,849,000)

29. KIM WILDE (2,894,200)

28. EURYTHMICS (2,932,000)

27. LIONEL RICHIE (2,962,000)

26. THE POLICE (3,080,900)

25. BUCKS FIZZ (3,277,500)

24. STATUS QUO (3,293,600)

23. BANANARAMA (3,310,000)

22. KYLIE MINOGUE (3,337,500)

21. THE HUMAN LEAGUE (3,381,100)

oh I thought In the Army Now was Status Quo signature song!

3 great acts that all 3 deserved top 20, especially Bananarama

loved Bananarama and one of my 1st albums I bought as a kid was Bananarama-Wow, which houses 3 of their best songs ever,

I heard a rumour, Love in the first degree and I want you back. Her early 80s singles were also great, Cruel Summer, Robert de Niro, and also love thir take on Venus. After Wow, I don't think I liked anything anymore sadly.

crazy how high Kylie considering she did it in 2 years

don't know Human League that much. Don't you Want me is of course a classic of clasics but their other singles have never clicked, like them but not love them.

Bananarama were always entertaining in their own way. Unfortunately, by the late 80s they got the SAW treatment, some really good pop songs neutered by cynical and characterless production but the girls' personalities just about shone through. Robert De Niro is one of those songs that hides a really dark subject matter in glossy pop, and I am a sucker for that.

Kylie Minogue's 80s material is horrific to my ears.

Human League started the decade well with Travelogue and the mega selling Dare - an era defining album - but the follow ups Hysteria and Crash saw the magic had gone and they've never really got back on track since.

20. DIANA ROSS (3,395,500)

11 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: CHAIN REACTION (606,000)

 

The second highest placed female on our list is naturally an icon, Ross had been a chart star since the 60s with the Supremes and in 1980 found herself working with Chic gave her a new sound and renewed chart favour almost returning to No 1 with “Upside Down”. After being with Motown since her first Supremes release, she left the label in 1981 and signed for RCA in a deal which was the most expensive ever at that point at $20 million (roughly £60 million now)- the hits continued with her sole UK chart topper of the decade “Chain Reaction” before she returned to Motown at the decade end.

19. KOOL & THE GANG (3,401,300)

17 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: CHERISH (440,000)

 

Consistency wins again as we reach No 19, Kool & The Gang never had a chart topper in the 80s, nor did they sell more than 700,000 in any particular year but they made it this high!  They rode the disco bandwagon into the charts in the late 70s before flipping to ballads and light RNB influenced pop which we lapped up until the late 80s when they fell out of favour.

My mum was a huge fan of the Human League's classic Dare album at the time so was delighted when I got it for my own vinyl collection decades later I've since listened to Travelogue and enjoyed that album a lot too.

I'm another who doesn't care for '80s Kylie, although 'Better The Devil You Know' also with SAW but now into the '90s has grown on me a lot over time

My favourites from Bananarama are 'Cruel Summer', 'Robert De Niro's Waiting' and the Fun Boy Three collabs

Oh lots of great artists lately but

those last 2 I don't care at all

Give me the Supremes over Diana any day, but to be fair Upside Down and I'm Comig Out are pretty great. Really didn't like Chain Reaction at the time as it screams the Bee Gees very loudly but my attitude to it has mellowed over the almost 40 years of hearing it. Almost like it now. But not quite there yet.

Kool and the Gang I never liked and doubt I ever will.

Nice result for Kylie in her highlight years.

18. SPANDAU BALLET (3,567,200)

17 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: TRUE (615,000)

 

By the mid 80s Britain had what was called “the big 4” groups, Spandau are the lowest of the four on the  list despite being the first to release a single and have a hit.  Emerging from the New Romantic Scene in 1980 they switched to soul influenced Pop by 1983 scoring their only No 1 “True”.  Post 1986 the hits got smaller and they split in 1990 (for almost 20 years) with the Kemp brothers moving into acting with considerable success.

17. QUEEN (3,693,300)

22 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: UNDER PRESSURE (426,000)

 

It’s the 80s so naturally Queen are high on the list!  Interestingly of all the acts in the top 20 none had a best seller which was sold so little as Queen do.  Nevertheless they remained very popular throughout the decade though they only managed to hit No 1 in collaboration, they packed out stadiums on tour stealing the show (it is popularly thought) at Live Aid and produced a stream of classics like “A Kind Of Magic” “Radio Gaga” and “Another One Bites The Dust” in the 80s.

The Police could do no wrong from 1979 to 1983 and then it imploded badly cos, let's be honest, Sting was the songwriter extraordinaire, and the pin-up, but he was never as good solo as when Andy & Stewart were giving the music some edge. Should be higher in the list were it not for losing out on big 1979 sales. Best track: Invisible Sun or Every Breath You Take, but they had 6 chart-toppers on my charts and I saw them in their prime in Leeds in 1983. I'm enjoying Sting's recent drift back to reggae with his Shaggy collaborations.

Bucks Fizz totally justified being this high, they had a long string of classy pop to take over as ABBA vacated the throne, courtesy of ex King-Crimson chappie and the other one - Hill/Sinfield were a great writing/production team and moved on to Celine, Cher and others as the Fizz hits got smaller. Saw them 3 times in concert, topped my charts 5 times in the 80's and once last decade as The Fizz, still good (minus Bobby G). Someone should do a documentary or drama about their career, it has a bit of everything!

Quo's longevity was amazing, they were there in the 60's when I was a kid, and they were still there in the 90's as I pushed 40. They had some great singles along the way, but from 1981 onwards they became more of a Quo tribute act, just with new songs/new old songs, bar the odd departure from the formula - most of all the fabulous In The Army Now. Not surprising they are so high, but a bit flattered to say the least. Great fun in concert though, and that I suspect is the reason for the longevity.

Bananarama are another act I've seen 3 times, always put on a fabulous show, and they are have quite the ongoing back catalogue, though they never actually topped my charts in the 80's - but have done since then. Cruel Summer, Venus & I Heard A Rumour are my faves of the 80's and Soibhan's You're History was great too after she jumped ship mid-flow.

Kylie's slot was always going to be top end, despite just 2 years of sales, so she should also be higher career-wise, though she didnt top my charts till the 90's when she matured, got smart, took musical risks, and became one of the most unexpected pop disco diva icons of the last 35 years. Nobody would have taken a bet she would have lasted and been top quality. Seen her many times, topped my charts regularly over the last 32 years, and as good now as she has ever been, one of my charts all-time greats as she never really takes much of break, a workaholic!

Until Pet Shop Boys came along, Human League filled the gap in between ABBA fading away and Chris & neil stepping in as my fave pop band, one classic album (from start to finish) in Dare, and a string of fabulous singles from 1981 through to 1986 with the odd revival after that. Like Pet Shop Boys, they have become one of the great live draws of the last 35 years, having essentially being studio-based prior to that. Well worth catching a Christmas show, always jam-packed with hits and quality, Phil is a great frontman. Best track? Everything from Dare and singles through to Human, plus the Moroder collab hit for Phil.

Diana Ross so high is a surprise, as I tend to focus on her great records of the 80's - Upside Down, Chain Reaction, My Old Piano, Missing You - and forget she chucked out loads of dross along the way. I turned from a huge, huge Supremes fan in the 60's and 70's, to a Diana solo fan up to 1973, worshipped Love Hangover in 1976, and then watched bemused as she took the move from Motown to mediocrity in 1981 until her recent joyful movie theme collab with Tame Impala, best thing she's done in 40 years.

Koole & The Gang is a shocker. They were mostly just part of the furniture with production-line inoffensive disco-pop, after morphing from a major early 70's funk outfit, when they were cool, and the gang. I never hated them, but I never especially ever got excited by anything they did. Best track? Celebrate probably.

ah, 2 more to review - my long-time concert-going mate is a Spandau fan, so I've seen them several times, the last one on high on a mountain side known as the O2 in London, sat at the back, where I might as well have been in a different continent, frightened of moving and tumbling down hundreds of steep levels and Through The Barricades. To cut a long story short, the tiny figures in the far distance could have been anyone, and after they'd got together after acrimoniously splitting just after the heyday 80's before splitting acrimoniously again. TBH I always went cos my mate is a fan, and he went to stuff I was a fan of, like Pet Shop Boys, but time has not made Spandau any more endearing to me, quite the reveres as I'm sick to death of hearing Gold and True. Set Adrift On Memory Bliss any day! Best track? Chant No. 1, far and away the Spands at their jazz-funk coolest, in between New Romantic clothes-horses and besuited gloss-pop, and Tony's often-in-ya-face vocals weren't over-powering the groove.

Queen one would expect to be right up the top end, though perhaps a little bit higher than this. Mad on 'em the gang the moment I saw them on Top Of The Pops doing Seven Seas Of Rhye, and 3 chart-toppers for me inside 18 months at the start off their career, less so into the 80's apart from Flash, Another One Bites The Dust and Under Pressure, at least until their Works comeback and the Live Aid gig. Radio Gaga is as good as anything they did, I Want To Break Free fabulous, and the addition of synths and other genres I felt rescued them a bit. Sadly, I never did get to see Queen in concert, though I tried for Live Aid tickets. I especially loved the way Queen have remained popular 35 years after they last existed properly, always fun to watch music critics eat their words.

big quality drop for me since we've entered the top 20

Spandau Ballet I hate them with a passion, number of songs from them that I like: zero, nill, nada

Queen I like a couple of songs, actually a couple of ballads that no one else likes, but their big hits I never cared much about

Spandau's best imo are their first two hit singles 'To Cut A Long Story Short' and 'The Freeze'!

Standard Ballet, all credit to them, are the only genuine Blitz nightclub band given that Visage were a studio collective fronted by Strange. They also hit the ground running and To Cut a Long Story Short is quite excellent. Sadly that was as good as they got and floundered for ideas quite quickly (although Musclebound and Chant No. 1 are ok) Then the one idea they hit on was generic yacht rock like True and Gold etc. A sad waste of potential.

Queen's best days were behind them by '81 but The Works gave them second wind and Live Aid earned them enduring adoration when they were in danger of being left behind. History doesn't look back kindly on Queen's post Live Aid material as much is forgettable but there are gems to be found and the band managed a weird crossover appeal to all tastes. I'll never forget my friends 18th birthday party in Nov 1991, full of Punks, Goths, Metallers and Grebos, turning in to an impromptu Queen night. They somehow connected with us all at some point.

6 hours ago, Gezza said:

18. SPANDAU BALLET (3,567,200)

17 TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: TRUE (615,000)

By the mid 80s Britain had what was called “the big 4” groups

I have never heard this expression for that era before (except in Thrash Metal) although I can guess the four you mean.