September 3Sep 3 So is Take A Chance On Me the best selling ABBA song? Or maybe Super Trouper or Winner Takes It All from the 80s?
September 3Sep 3 Author 1 hour ago, Jaz13music said:So is Take A Chance On Me the best selling ABBA song? Or maybe Super Trouper or Winner Takes It All from the 80s?Are you talking now or "at the time"- i.e circa 1983
September 3Sep 3 Take a chance on me is better than Dancing Queen but they still have better Ooh Tiger feet is an anthemIf you leave me now 😍😍
September 3Sep 3 9 minutes ago, Gezza said:Are you talking now or "at the time"- i.e circa 1983I suppose true ‘sales’ at the time? Has it changed much since then? Edited September 3Sep 3 by Jaz13music
September 3Sep 3 Author 6 minutes ago, Jaz13music said:I suppose true ‘sales’ at the time? Has it changed much since then?Yes pre downloads "Take A Chance" was their biggest seller marginally thenSuper TrouperDancing QueenKnowing MeFernando.The OCC gave their version in 2021 where the top 5 were now1DANCING QUEEN119762SUPER TROUPER119803KNOWING ME KNOWING YOU119774TAKE A CHANCE ON ME119785FERNANDO11976
September 3Sep 3 7 minutes ago, Gezza said:Yes pre downloads "Take A Chance" was their biggest seller marginally thenSuper TrouperDancing QueenKnowing MeFernando.The OCC gave their version in 2021 where the top 5 were now1DANCING QUEEN119762SUPER TROUPER119803KNOWING ME KNOWING YOU119774TAKE A CHANCE ON ME119785FERNANDO11976Really interesting, thank you!
September 4Sep 4 Three more number one classics for me too, bought them all, albeit Abba's on the album - The first ABBA single I never bought as it had a live track on the B side, so I wasnt fussed. I would have thought that I Have A Dream wasn't too far behind the top 5 pure sales too, it shadowed Pink Floyd over Xmas of 79 and think it went gold in shipments. Mud was my choice of the Sweet vs Mud battle in early 74, my brother going for Teenage Rampage. Ironically, Sweet turned down Dynamite which pushed Mud into full Glam as opposed to Tango-Glam (the first two hits) - mind you Ballroom Blitz was a better choice, so it all worked out. Chicago - their best ballad by some distance. Which is more of a comment on the quality of most of the others, bar a couple..😇
September 4Sep 4 'Take A Chance On Me' is my favourite of yesterday's trio for their at the time best seller, plus #4 in today's standings, I really haven't got bored of it at all. Interesting to look back on a time when 'Dancing Queen' wasn't the obvious front-runner of their catalogue sales-wise.'Tiger Feet' is the best of Mud's three chart toppers but not a massive favourite. I do quite like 'If You Leave Me Now' though!
September 4Sep 4 Author 44. SUNDAY GIRL- Blondie (671,900) 197913 weeks on chartPeak position: 1 The most famous song ever written about a cat going missing? Well possibly. Debbie Harry’s cat was called “Sunday Man” and when it ran away it proved just the inspiration that Chris Stein needed for this track which became Blondie’s second No 1 on the trot. It never got a US release with the label favouring “One Way Or Another” there.
September 4Sep 4 Author 43. RAT TRAP- Boomtown Rats (676,900) 197815 weeks on chartPeak position: 1 Arguably the first new wave group to hit No 1 in the UK, Geldof’s tale of being trapped in a small town knocked John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John from No1 , something the group referenced on their TOTP performance by ripping up pictures of Travolta during their performance. The musician’s union refused to let Geldof mime playing the saxophone (due to the fact that he didn’t play it on the record) at the start of the same performance, Geldof’s revenge was to use the candelabra prop as a sax instead. It may also be the only No 1 track to mention “Top Of The Pops” in its lyrics, and was an early example of the production magic of Mutt Lange. For the single release it had lyrics changed with “And pus and grime ooze from its scab crusted sores” changed to “"And blood and sweat pours down the drain and the sewer"
September 4Sep 4 Author 42. MAGGIE MAY- Rod Stewart (678,800) 197125 Weeks on chartPeak position: 1\The song that launched Rod Stewart as an international rock star and one of the stars of the decade. It started out as a b-side to “Reason To Believe” which climbed to No 19 before it was flipped to the more popular “Maggie May” which was by that time getting all the radio play and attention. Written from Stewart’s own personal experience of being 16 and being involved with an older woman it proved a massive hit hitting the top on both sides of the Atlantic.
September 4Sep 4 Author 45 minutes ago, Popchartfreak said:Three more number one classics for me too, bought them all, albeit Abba's on the album - The first ABBA single I never bought as it had a live track on the B side, so I wasnt fussed. I would have thought that I Have A Dream wasn't too far behind the top 5 pure sales too, it shadowed Pink Floyd over Xmas of 79 and think it went gold in shipments.IHAD has panel sales of 462k but that doesn't include the Christmas week so yes that's undoubtedly over 500k in reality though we don't know by how much!
September 4Sep 4 Three fantastic songs in that group! Sunday Girl is probably my favourite of Blondie’s poppier singles, love the French version too.Rat Trap the first new wave number one is great, quite unusual with its spoken lyrics and odd song structure.Maggie May is easily Rod’s best single, his vocals are excellent
September 4Sep 4 Another 3 classics and personal chart-toppers and singles I bought for Blondie (the USA was mad not having it as a single) and The Rats. They never got a US top 40 either, though Mondays teetered round the lower end Hot 100 a bit. Maggie May I wasnt much of a fan of in 1971, lodas of records I loved much more, but in the 1976 top 40 re-issue (with You Wear It Well on t'other side) I started to get nostalgic for it and started to love it, increasingly with time after that. Presume the two issues of Maggie May count in the total? (I say hopefully getting to knock into the 40😄)I must say, generally speaking record buyers in the 70's had fabulous taste by and large for the monster hits. That sounds like I'm complimenting myself!! 😇
September 4Sep 4 'If You Leave Me Now' I fondly remember from the 90s as a child as my local cafe often had it on its playlist. Lovely song.The Mandolin solo in 'Maggie May' is the highlight of the track.The Boomtown Rats 'Rat Trap' is a good song but the best of their's is 'Someone Looking at You' which is just epic. Edited September 4Sep 4 by TheSnake
September 5Sep 5 On 02/09/2026 at 20:32, Jaz13music said:Dancing Queen is one of the rare occasions where an artist’s most famous/played/successful song is also their best! I disagree. Abba have better album tracks. Try As Good As New, That's Me or Hasta Manana.
September 5Sep 5 Author 41. UNDER THE MOON OF LOVE- Showaddywaddy (681,500)* 197615 Weeks on chartPeak position; 1 If it’s true that music styles repeat every 20 years then Showaddywaddy are surely proof that 50s throwback rock n roll was back in fashion in the 70s- an impressive 10 top 10 hits between 74 and 78 yet this was their only No 1. The original was from 1961 was by Curtis Lee and was a minor US hit but this one was almost the festive chart topper for 1976 before getting bounced off the top spot by Johnny Mathis in the Christmas week. The group were formed of two local Leicester groups who decided to merge, they too found fame courtesy of TV talent shows, this time “New Faces”, their formula of remaking rock N roll classics was a trick that eventually Shakin Stevens would take to new heights in the 80s effectively ending Showaddywaddy’s chart career
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