On 22/06/2026 at 11:04, Popchartfreak said:

Paul's cover of the mini-classic reggae hit was nicely very different and the contribution of the Fabulous Wealthy Tarts on TOTP should not be under-estimated 9/10. Synchronicity II not remotely commercial and their first lower-chartin single, but still excellent though not heard it in years and years, my memory is "exciting": 8/10. Right By Your Side was unusually upbeat for Eurythmics, but not one of my faves from them 7/10.

Thats just reminded me, Eurythmics for 'There Must Be An Angel' kinda copied the Fabulous Wealthy Tarts 'high pitched angel' singing in the middle of the song in 'Come Back and Stay'!

Edited June 23Jun 23 by TheSnake

I have saved my 3rd 10 until late this year and so can give it to this magnificent classic. Funnily both “This Charming Man” and “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” had shockingly low peaks. However both will be Top 10 eventually, the first as a direct 1990s re-release and the second as a 2000s remix.

10	The Smiths	This Charming Man	1st hit for this UK band to peak higher on re-release: a wonderful track with a jangly riff and melancholy lyrics
9	Yes	Owner Of A Lonely Heart	Their last Top 40 but a US #1, and a marvelllous Horn produced track with some experimental electronic parts
8	Thompson Twins	Hold Me Now	Their 1st Top 5 with higher peaks to come, and a gorgeous and tender track with interesting instrumentation
8	Howard Jones	What Is Love?	His highest peaking hit eclipsing "New Song": a great track and I really like the philosophical nature of the lyrics
8	Genesis	That's All	A very different track from "Mama" with a more straightforwardly infectious tune, but it's also very compelling
7	Ozzy Osbourne	Bark At The Moon	His 1st solo Top 40, and a very rousing rock number infused with some synth elements: it's a very strong song
7	Tom Robinson	Listen To The Radio - Atmospherics	His last Top 40, co-written by Peter Gabriel, and a lovely moody song that will be covered by the Pukka Orchestra
7	Simple Minds	Waterfront	The chugging one note basslline gives this an urgent energy: otherwise it's a very warm and atmospheric track
6	The Flying Pickets	Only You	529th #1: the vocals aren't the finest, but the reimaginiation of this as an a capella group number works very well
6	Abba	Thank You For The Music	Their last new hit for 38 years, that isn't a highllight but has become something of a classic showtune style song
6	Tina Turner	Let's Stay Together	There is some very good '80s production on this Al Green cover, but the smooth soulful original is still preferable
5	Slade	My Oh My	Their 13th Top 5 hit coming a long time after the others: it's good with an anthemic quality, but a little repetitive
5	Kenny Rogers And Dolly Parton	Islands In The Stream	I have to give this some credit for the huge classic it is and it is a rousing number, albeit a little basic and cloying
4	Tracey Ullman	Move Over Darling	Her 3rd Top 10 of the year, again with a '60s cover: there's some nice production but I can take or leave this one
3	Wham!	Club Fantastic Megamix	Their last single before leaving the label and they didn't like it: no new material but the track blend sounds OK
2	Cliff Richard	Please Don't Fall In Love	Written by Mike Batt who also wrote the excellent "A Winter's Tale", but this one is rather soppy and plodding
2	Roland Rat Superstar!	Rat Rapping (Brilliant Isn't It)	Not even a 1 hit wonder: the spoken parts are quite grating, but the track itself isn't so bad which saves it from a 1

1983 Group 21:

#1251	26/11/1983	Blancmange	That's Love, That It Is	33	43-38-{33}-40-52-52-58-72->8
#1252	03/12/1983	Tears For Fears	The Way You Are	24	40-31-29-29-29-28-{24}-42->8
#1253	10/12/1983	Culture Club	Victims	3	11-4-{3}-3-4-7-22-38-61-75->10
#1254	10/12/1983	Billy Joel	Tell Her About It	4	22-8-7-7-6-{4}-8-18-34-49->10
#1255	26/11/1983	The Pretenders	2000 Miles	15	53-44-35-23-{15}-15-16-25-56->9
#1256	10/12/1983	Status Quo	Marguerita Time	3	36-25-5-5-5-{3}-7-15-28-45-61->11
#1257	10/12/1983	UB40	Many Rivers To Cross	16	38-24-{16}-16-17-20-32-52->8
#1258	10/12/1983	Barry Manilow	Read 'Em And Weep	17	40-20-{17}-17-23-34-58->7
#1259	10/12/1983	Kool And The Gang	Straight Ahead	15	49-30-19-19-19-{15}-19-23-36-63->10
#1260	10/12/1983	Elton John	Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year)	33	58-37-{33}-33-41-63->6
#1261	17/12/1983	Paul McCartney	Pipes Of Peace	1	54-22-22-9-{1}-1-2-7-18-42-51-69->12
#1262	17/12/1983	Dennis Waterman And George Cole	What Are We Gonna Get 'Er Indoors	21	52-26-26-{21}-44->5
#1263	10/12/1983	Rod Stewart	Sweet Surrender	23	70-46-32-32-32-{23}-26-44-74->9
#1264	24/12/1983	Frank Kelly	Christmas Countdown	26	34-34-{26}-51-54R(50)->5
#1265	03/12/1983	Elvis Presley	I Can Help	30	72-48-42-36-36-33-{30}-38-58->9
#1266	17/12/1983	Jingle Belles	Christmas Spectre	37	48-{37}-37-38->4
#1267	10/12/1983	Santa Claus And The Christmas Trees	Singalong-A-Santa Again	39	63-43-{39}-39-47->5

Some fantastic songs here. I agree This Charming Man was a brilliant statement song by The Smiths, possibly my favourite of their initial singles.

As regards to Owner Of A Lonely Heart I’ll just say again that Trevor Horn is a genius! And I’ll be saying it much more in ‘84 of course.

Hold Me Now is indeed beautiful, more pop leaning than some of their early singles.

What Is Love and That’s All are both great but I don’t quite love them as much as their predecessors.

My other favourites would be Waterfront with its propulsive rhythm, and the lovely country balladry of Islands In The Stream

'This Charming Man' is a fantastic debut hit, worthy of achieving The Smiths' highest peak, albeit belatedly in 1992 when a greatest hits promotion took it to #8. It's probably my favourite of their songs these days too, although it's main competition for me won't even appear until 1992. Johnny Marr's guitar work is fabulous.

'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' is great too with ahead of its time production. I'd also rate 'Islands In The Stream' higher, a country classic that can hardly be held responsible for the UK chart-topping Comic Relief version, or 'Ghetto Supastar' before that.

It's a shame that the only time a Vince Clarke composition topped the chart came when he wasn't on the record, but the Flying Pickets' cover is nice and festive in flavour.

'What Is Love' by Howard Jones is great and my favourite track there. Have liked it for a long time. It even has a Nero dubstep sounding bit.

The Thompson Twins 'Hold Me Now' in contrast is a bit MOR and dreary for me.

'My Oh My' is very Rod Stewart ballad sounding, not really my sort of thing.

'This Charming Man' is a good upbeat song. 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' likewise and the highlight is that hip hop/rave anticipating breakbeat bit before the guitar solo.

This Charming Man has aged like a fine wine, it sounded good at the time and even better decades later 10/10. Owner Of A Lonely Heart, ditto, and annoying it was such a minor UK hit along with the great follow-up Leave It, Trevor Horn has the golden touch, and Yes hadnt been this interesting before, and not this good since Wondrous Stories. 9/10. Hold Me Now was a step-up on previous singles from Thompson Twins, the gospel vibes soon to be a thing for them and a great song 9/10.

What Is Love is a fab track, better than New Song, and showcasing Howard could bung out very different singles successfully. 9/10. That's All is decent Genesis but nothing out-of-the-expectation like Mama 7/10. Bark At The Moon may be Ozzy's best solo record, but there's not a lot of competition 6/10. Tom Robinson's was nice enough 7/10.

Waterfront the sign of things to come, the percussion is amazing 8/10. My dad loved Only You, and the band, and they did an interesting version of the original Yazoo that should have been a number one 7/10. Thank You For The Music would have topped the charts had it been paired with Eagle in the summer of 78, both tracks are cornerstones of the ABBA Voyage show. Eagle is the 11/10 classic but Thank You For The Music is the one everyone can sing, it's basically an old-fashioned singalong that sounds like it has always existed and Vera Lynn sung it 30 years earlier. 9/10.

Let's Stay Together is the big Tina Turner comeback, courtesy of Heaven 17's team and The Tube TV show. This set up Private Danvcer and everything else, but it's not as timeless as Al Green's original, but great to have the song back 8/10. My Oh My is a christmas singalong comeback anthem for Slade, something they'd never really managed first-time round, and it's a great song with a Celtic vibe to it - it sounds like a traditional folk song 10/10.

Islands In The Stream yet again showing that The Bee Gees might have stopped having hits as an act due to stupid media backlashes but they can still bung out hit songs at the drop of a hat (Dionne, Diana, this) while Robin had gone full on synth pop with European smashes like Juliet. The UK and USA hadnt yet got the memo though. Karaoke classic obv here 8/10.

Tracey's cover of Doris Day's warm, lovely movie theme song (fab movie too) was OK, but not a patch on the original which would hit again in 1987 7/10. Club Megamix was released without band agreement and not promoted in any way, bit of a mish-mash, 5/10. Mike Batt can always knock off a decent melody, soppy or otherwise, and Cliff's is quite nice if nothing groundbreaking 7/10. Roland Rat, annoying kids TV puppet with a cult-ish habit of getting away with slagging off quips, the record was drivel and I had to suffer through it so I'm going there with that 1/10 even if it prob is better than that. 😇

I like that 'Only You' cover. Think i heard that version before Yazoo's but both are great. 'My Oh My' is up there with Slade's very best for me. Probably even my favourite of theirs. It's better than the overplayed 'Merry Christmas Everybody' too. 'Bark At The Moon' is great from Ozzy.

Fab stuff from the likes of MJ, Culture Club, Paul Young, Lionel Richie, The Cure and Tracey - 'They Don't Know'. Also enjoy 'Safety Dance' and 'Uptown Girl' as well.

Silly season has surpassed itself in silliness this year, but despite that there is one genuinely wonderful Christmas hit. I also love the rather understated “Victims” much more than the best known Culture Club songs.

9	The Pretenders	2000 Miles	A beautiful wintry song with a lilting 12/8 time signature and a criminally low peak, that still sounds just as fresh
9	Culture Club	Victims	My favourite song of theirs: it isn't instant but a grower that develops incredibly well over the course of 5 minutes
8	Blancmange	That's Love, That It Is	A small hit but another effortlessly great song of theirs with punchy, pleading vocals over a jangly synth production
7	Tears For Fears	The Way You Are	A much smaller hit after 3 Top 5s and it doesn't quite grab attention like its predecessors but is still very enjoyable
6	Status Quo	Marguerita Time	One of their better and more distinctive sounding songs as well as one of their biggest hits: it has a nice flow to it
6	Elvis Presley	I Can Help	A Billy Swan 1974 song, and this cover was recorded the following year: it's a very good song that suits Elvis well
5	Paul McCartney	Pipes Of Peace	530th #1: this is sweet and certainly far better than "Ebony And Ivory", but doesn't really get beyond 2nd gear
5	Elton John	Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year)	Unlike his Christmas song from 10 years before this understandably hasn't become a classic, though it is nice
5	Billy Joel	Tell Her About It	A US #1 that's well written as his stuff is generally and has a Motown feel, but isn't one of his more exciting songs
4	Frank Kelly	Christmas Countdown	A good sketch that I've heard done as a Christmas reading sometimes: preferable to the other novelty stuff here
4	Kool And The Gang	Straight Ahead	One that I'll struggle to remember: it's fine but a slightly different version of what we've heard many times before
3	Barry Manilow	Read 'Em And Weep	A Meat Loaf cover: it's a more exciting song than much of Barry's material but he still takes the spice out of it
3	UB40	Many Rivers To Cross	A 1969 Jimmy Cliff song: unlike with "Red Red Wine" I don't find they bring much to this and the result is boring
2	Rod Stewart	Sweet Surrender	This one from Rod doesn't really do anything for me at all: I find it very flaccid and lacking any drama or intensity
2	Jingle Belles	Christmas Spectre	At least the original tracks in this mash up of Phil Spector tunes are good, but this single serves no real purpose
1	Dennis Waterman And George Cole	What Are We Gonna Get 'Er Indoors	The Christmas single from the "Minder" comedy duo: I can't say I find it very listenable but it's a time capsule
1	Santa Claus And The Christmas Trees	Singalong-A-Santa Again	A follow up to last year's medley with a terribly tedious six minute karaoke style mash up of Christmas songs

Blancmange - That's Love That It Is reminds me a lot of Dead or Alive in sound/production.

The Pretenders - 2000 Miles is gorgeous, not usually a fan of jangle pop though!

For Billy Joel, Tell Her About It is a nice song, following the Style Council with the Motown revival.

Edited Saturday at 15:203 days by TheSnake

We’re definitely scraping the barrel now at the end of the year, I don’t envy you having to listen to some of those again Julian.

And yet in the midst of it all, as you say, there’s a genuinely great Christmas song in 2000 Miles.

Victims is gorgeous, one of Culture Club’s best. I’ve also got a real soft spot for Pipes of Peace, a typically positive lovely ‘Paul’ type song.

Edited Saturday at 19:133 days by Jaz13music

'2000 Miles' is my favourite of the last batch. Love the Jimmy Cliff original of 'Many Rivers To Cross' but agree the UB40 cover is quite bland.

My top 40 of 1983 would look something like this:

1 New Order - Blue Monday

2 The Smiths - This Charming Man

3 Yazoo - Nobody's Diary

4 Depeche Mode - Everything Counts

5 Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

6 Irene Cara - Flashdance... What A Feeling

7 Heaven 17 - Temptation

8 Billy Joel - Uptown Girl

9 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

10 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

11 Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

12 The Cure - The Lovecats

13 Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding

14 Depeche Mode - Get The Balance Right

15 The Assembly - Never Never

16 Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know

17 Prince - 1999

18 The Cure - The Walk

19 New Order - Confusion

20 The Police - Every Breath You Take

21 Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

22 Freeez - I.O.U.

23 Bob Marley And The Wailers - Buffalo Soldier

24 The Lotus Eaters - The First Picture Of You

25 Oliver Cheatham - Get Down Saturday Night

26 Echo And The Bunnymen - Never Stop

27 Gary Byrd And The GB Experience - The Crown

28 U2 - New Year's Day

29 Toto - Africa

30 Kenny Rogers And Dolly Parton - Islands In The Stream

31 The Flying Pickets - Only You

32 Tracey Ullman - Breakaway

33 Altered Images - Don't Talk To Me About Love

34 The Alarm - 68 Guns

35 The Pretenders - 2000 Miles

36 Kissing The Pink - Last Film

37 Kraftwerk - Tour De France

38 Thompson Twins - Love On Your Side

39 Carmel - Bad Day

40 Ryan Paris - Dolce Vita

Well done for another completed year of reviews Julian!

2000 Miles is an under-rated Christmas song - just one year if we could have an entire Christmas chart of over-looked oldies classics they might get more of a chance to make a permanent dent into the Usual Suspects. Maybe a SCR year for any christmas song that hasnt gone top 40 every bloody year for a decade! 9/10. Victims is a 10/10 for me, George could do dark ballads beautifully back in the day, and this carried through into his solo work. His voice always convinced, before it went. 10/10.

Blancmange, great production but I was less convinced by the song 8/10. Tears For Fears ditto 7/10. Marguerita Time is Quo's last great party hit, still a fun tune and a rare shining traditional Quo song in a post-1980 cloud of mostly ho-hum-ness. 8/10. Elvis' cover of I Can Help isnt a patch on the original, but for that Elvis 1975 period it was one of his better efforts 7/10.

I love Pipes Of Peace, or as The Tube's resident Scottish presenter opined at the time, Pipes Of Piss. The WW1 video made a point nicely, and the song will remain relevant until the end of the human race. Plus the tune is fab, peak Macca with a hint of Let 'Em In. Sentimental optimism is fine by me :) 9/10. Cold As Christmas was an odd choice from the rather good album, as it's not really a Xmas song. Crystal was the stand-out non-single and that could have been big. 5/10

Tell Her About It never one of my fave Joel songs, though I like the retro vibes 5/10. Frank Kelly has been struck from my brain cells. No idea. Kool & The Gang, actually the hook for this one has stayed with me, and one of their better efforts 7/10. Read 'Em And Weep is one of Bazza's best singles, Jim Steinman suits his OTT slushy ballad style more than his usual drivel 8/10.

Jimmy Cliff's original of Many Rivers To Cross is heart-wrenching and fab, and UB40 gave a semi-obscure classic a platform with a decent version, so an 8/10 from me, much rather hear this than Red Red Wine yet again. Sweet Surrender I recall as a dull ballad 4/10. Christmas Spectre I dont recall either, but a fan of the originals so it's bound to be a 5/10. The Minder duet I hated, got on my nerves very quickly 2/10. Ditto singing Santa.

Great work, always enjoyable, thanks Julian!

My top 40 (with one song per artist)

1. Billie Jean — Michael Jackson

2. Blue Monday — New Order

3. Rip It Up — Orange Juice

4. Club Tropicana — Wham!

5. This Charming Man — The Smiths

6. Love on Your Side — Thompson Twins

7. Our Lips Are Sealed — Fun Boy Three

8. Dear Prudence — Siouxsie & The Banshees

9. Double Dutch — Malcolm McLaren

10. The Story of the Blues (Part 1) — Pete Wylie & The Mighty WAH!

11. Give It Up — KC and the Sunshine Band

12. The Lovecats — The Cure

13. Every Breath You Take — The Police

14. Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) — Eurythmics

15. Total Eclipse of the Heart — Bonnie Tyler

16. Nobody's Diary — Yazoo

17. Down Under — Men At Work

18. Never Never — The Assembly

19. Long Hot Summer — The Style Council

20. Wings of a Dove — Madness

21. Karma Chameleon — Culture Club

22. Oblivious — Aztec Camera

23. Change — Tears for Fears

24. 1999 — Prince

25. Shipbuilding — Robert Wyatt

26. The Crown (Part 1) — Gary Byrd & The G.B. Experience

27. The Cutter — Echo & The Bunnymen

28. The Last Film — Kissing the Pink

29. Mama — Genesis

30. Owner of a Lonely Heart — Yes

31. Waterfront — Simple Minds

32. 2000 Miles — Pretenders

33. Too Shy — Kajagoogoo

34. Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) — Paul Young

35. Pipes of Peace — Paul McCartney

36. Let's Dance — David Bowie

37. Everything Counts — Depeche Mode

38. Red Red Wine — UB40

39. Islands In The Stream — Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers

40. Uptown Girl — Billy Joel

Some more great songs since I last commented. I was instantly taken in by 'This Charming Man' after coming across the rather iconic TOTP performance with Morrissey waving the gladioli about. A worthy 10! I first came across Max Graham's 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' dance makeover before the Yes original. I missed it in the 2000s and instead found it via Radio 1's One Hit Wonders of the Millennium show a little over a decade ago. I enjoyed it but switched over to the original after discovering that later on! Shocking that it peaked so low here. At least they got it all the way to #1 in the USA. 'Hold Me Now' is right up my street sonically and wonderfully layered. Impressive that it charted a place higher on the Billboard Hot 100 despite its British charms. Finally, '2000 Miles' would top the latest group for me too - every component from the instrumental, to the vocals, to the lyrics are an evocative gut punch. Beautiful.

Thank you for walking us through 1983, Julian! This was a pleasure to follow as ever.

My top 40 of the year would look something like this:

01 New Order - Blue Monday

02 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

03 Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow

04 Bananarama - Cruel Summer

05 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

06 Kraftwerk - Tour de France

07 Michael Jackson - Thriller

08 The Pretenders - 2000 Miles

09 Prince - 1999

10 Depeche Mode - Everything Counts

11 Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

12 Kissing the Pink - The Last Film

13 Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart

14 Bauhaus - She's In Parties

15 Culture Club - Karma Chameleon

16 Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

17 Michael Jackson - Beat It

18 Heaven 17 - Temptation

19 Echo & the Bunnymen - The Cutter

20 The Style Council - Long Hot Summer

21 Paul McCartney - Say Say Say (feat. Michael Jackson)

22 Depeche Mode - Get the Balance Right

23 The Smiths - This Charming Man

24 The Police - Every Breath You Take

25 Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now

26 The Cure - The Lovecats

27 Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence

28 Yazoo - Nobody's Diary

29 Spandau Ballet - Gold

30 Irene Cara - Flashdance... What A Feeling

31 The Cure - The Walk

32 Men At Work - Down Under

33 Donna Summer - She Works Hard For the Money

34 Blancmange - Waves

35 Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart

36 Tears For Fears - Pale Shelter

37 The Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination

38 David Bowie - Let's Dance

39 Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Genetic Engineering

40 Wham! - Club Tropicana

These would be my top 40 from the year:

1. Genesis - Mama

2. New Order - Blue Monday

3. Depeche Mode - Everything Counts

4. The Lotus Eaters - The First Picture Of You

5. Ultravox - Visions In Blue

6. Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

7. Howard Jones - New Song

8. Robert Plant - Big Log

9. Tears For Fears - Pale Shelter

10. Wah! - The Story Of The Blues

11. Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

12. Ultravox - Hymn

13. David Sylvian & Riuichi Sakamoto - Forbidden Colours

14. Mike Oldfield and Maggie Reilly - Moonlight Shadow

15. Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

16. New Order - Confusion

17. Echo & The Bunnymen - The Cutter

18. Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Gals

19. Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding

20. Flash And The Pan - Waiting For A Train

21. Toto - Africa

22. Kissing The Pink - The Last Film

23. Blancmange - Waves

24. Bucks Fizz - When We Were Young

25. Aztec Camera - Oblivious

26. David Bowie - Let's Dance

27. OMD - Genetic Engineering

28. The Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now

29. Freeez - IOU

30. The Kinks - Come Dancing

31. ABC - That Was Then But This Is Now

32. Marillion - Garden Party

33. Yazoo - Nobody's Diary

34. Heaven 17 - Come Live With Me

35. Paul Young - Love Of The Common People

36. Heaven 17 - Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry

37. Tears For Fears - Change

38. Paul McCartney - Pipes Of Peace

39. Culture Club - Victims

40. ELO - Rock'n'Roll Is King

1983 has been comfortably the strongest year covered in any of my threads so far. I can’t imagine its average of 5.77 will be beaten by any of the 1970s years I still need to cover, or by anything from this century. The question is whether my birth year coming up here can beat it.

I only gave 3 1s in the whole year and my worst hit of the year is Kenny Everett - Snot Rap.

There were 3 10s and a whopping 33 9s given, leaving room for only 4 8s in my Top 40 of the year.

1 New Order - Blue Monday

2 The Smiths - This Charming Man

3 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

4 The Police - Every Breath You Take

5 Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart

6 Blancmange - Waves

7 The Cure - The Love Cats

8 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

9 Ultravox - Visions In Blue

10 Kissing The Pink - Last Film

11 Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter

12 The Pretenders - 2000 Miles

13 Elton John - I’m Still Standing

14 Heaven 17 - Temptation

15 Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

16 Men At Work - Down Under

17 Michael Jackson - Beat It

18 Depeche Mode - Everything Counts

19 The Lotus Eaters - The First Picture Of You

20 The Moody Blues - Blue World

21 Kraftwerk - Tour De France

22 Irene Cara - Flashdance… What A Feeling

23 Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

24 Genesis - Mama

25 Spandau Ballet - Gold

26 U2 - New Year’s Day

27 Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow

28 The Alarm - 68 Guns

29 Flash And The Pan - Waiting For A Train

30 Eurythmics - Who’s That Girl?

31 Tears For Fears - Change

32 Herbie Hancock - Rockit

33 Culture Club - Victims

34 Michael Jackson - Thriller

35 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Genetic Engineering

36 Imposter - Pills And Soap

37 Toto - Africa

38 Paul Young - Come Back And Stay

39 Carmel - Bad Day

40 The Assembly - Never Never

Not sure I've ever reviewed 1983 into a favourite list, but I do have my End Of Year "Sales" Chart as I still do 'em and with acculated "sales" from re-entry to my personal charts since they will be something like this:

1. BILLIE-JEAN - Michael Jackson

2. LET'S DANCE - David Bowie

3. MOONLIGHT SHADOW - Mike Oldfield

4. OUR LIPS ARE SEALED - Fun Boy 3

5. I'M STILL STANDING - Elton John

6. EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE - The Police

7. SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS) - Eurythmics

8. 1999 - Prince

9. SPEAK LIKE A CHILD - The Style Council

10. TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART - Bonnie Tyler

11. THRILLER - Michael Jackson

12. BLUE MONDAY - New Order

13. (KEEP FEELIN') FASCINATION - Human League

14. MY OH MY - Slade

15. HEARTACHE AVENUE - The Maisonettes

16. CHINA GIRL - David Bowie

17. WHEN WE WERE YOUNG - Bucks Fizz

18. THE STORY OF THE BLUES - Wah!

19. KARMA CHAMELEON - Culture Club

20. VICTIMS - Culture Club

21. THEY DON'T KNOW - Tracey Ullman

22. MAMA - Genesis

23. TEMPTATION - Heaven 17

24. AFRICA - Toto

25. CLUB TROPICANA - Wham!

26. BABY JANE - Rod Stewart

27. DEAR PRUDENCE - Siouxise & The Banshees

28. WINGS OF A DOVE - Madness

29. STEPPIN' OUT - Joe Jackson

30. THE LONG HOT SUMMER - The Style Council

31. SAY SAY SAY - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson

32. MODERN LOVE - David Bowie

33. FLASHDANCE - Irene Cara

34. LITTLE RED CORVETTE - Prince

35. LOVE IS A STRANGER - Eurythmics

36. WRAPPED AROUND YOUR FINGER - The Police

37. PIPES OF PEACE - Paul McCartney

38. I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE BLUES - Elton John

39. CHURCH OF THE POISON MIND - Culture Club

40. HEART AND SOUL - Huey Lewis & The News

1984 Group 1:

#1268	26/11/1983	Frankie Goes To Hollywood	Relax	1	67-55-54-55-46-46-35-6-2-{1}-1-1-1-1-2-3-6-16-21-23-21-29-29-31-26-24-21-17-16-11-5-3-2-2-3-3-3-6-7-12-20-22-29-41-47-50-66-71-68R(17)-58-64-74->52
#1269	03/12/1983	Lionel Richie	Running With The Night	9	54-41-45-41-41-36-22-{9}-16-24-39-58->12
#1270	24/12/1983	Snowy White	Bird Of Paradise	6	47-47-40-19-{6}-7-19-22-39-53->10
#1271	07/01/1984	Shaky And Bonnie	A Rockin' Good Way	5	57-13-{5}-5-11-16-35-45-68->9
#1272	07/01/1984	Joe Fagin	That's Livin' Alright (From 'Auf Wiedershen Pet')	3	43-18-4-{3}-3-6-7-17-24-42-62->11
#1273	24/12/1983	The Icicle Works	Love Is A Wonderful Colour	15	64-64-52-28-{15}-19-31-51->8
#1274	14/01/1984	The Police	King Of Pain	17	32-{17}-21-44-72->5
#1275	14/01/1984	China Crisis	Wishful Thinking	9	36-16-{9}-15-17-37-44-75->8
#1276	24/12/1983	Gloria Gaynor	I Am What I Am	13	72-72-56-38-24-{13}-17-15-23-32-45-71->12
#1277	03/12/1983	Eartha Kitt	Where Is My Man	36	59-46-44-43-43-46-39-37-{36}-39-55->11
#1278	14/01/1984	Whitesnake	Give Me More Time	29	40-{29}-30-42->4
#1279	21/01/1984	John Lennon	Nobody Told Me	6	11-{6}-14-21-41-62->6
#1280	21/01/1984	Big Country	Wonderland	8	13-{8}-10-14-21-37-51-72->8
#1281	21/01/1984	Eurythmics	Here Comes The Rain Again	8	20-11-{8}-10-18-29-40-61->8