Can you name the artists who recorded the ten best selling singles in the UK for each year of the 1980s? by Alstair

1980
Don't Stand So Close To Me
Woman In Love
Feels Like I'm In Love
Super Trouper
D.I.S.C.O.
The Tide Is High
Geno
Coward Of the County
Together We Are Beautiful
(Just Like) Starting Over

1981
Don't You Want Me
Tainted Love
Stand and Deliver
Prince Charming
This Ole House
Vienna
Making Your Mind Up
One Day In Your Life
Shaddap You Face
Birdie Song

1982
Come On Eileen
Fame
Eye Of the Tiger
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Pass the Dutchie
I Don't Wanna Dance
Seven Tears
Ebony & Ivory
Town Called Malice

1983
Karma Chameleon
Uptown Girl
Red Red Wine
Let's Dance
Total Eclipse Of the Heart
Down Under
Billie Jean
True
All Night Long (All Night)
You Can't Hurry Love

1984
Do They Know It's Christmas?
I Just Called To Say I Love You
Relax
Two Tribes
Careless Whisper
Last Christmas
Hello
Agadoo
Freedom
Ghostbusters

1985
The Power Of Love
I Know Him So Well
Into the Groove
19
Frankie
Dancing In the Street
Move Closer
Take On Me
A Good Heart
I Want To Know What Love Is

1986
Don't Leave Me This Way
Every Loser Wins
I Want To Wake Up With You
Living Doll
Chain Reaction
Lady In Red
When the Going Gets Tough
Take My Breath Away
Papa Don't Preach
So Macho / Cruising

1987
Never Gonna Give You Up
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
I Wanna Dance With Somebody
You Win Again
China In Your Hand
Respectable
Stand By Me
It's A Sin
Pump Up the Volume
Star Trekkin'

1988
Mistletoe and Wine
The Only Way Is Up
I Should Be So Lucky
Especially For You
I Think We're Alone Now
Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You
A Groovy Kind Of Love
With A Little Help From My Friends
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
Teardrops

1989
Ride On Time
Swing the Mood
Eternal Flame
Too Many Broken Hearts
Back To Life
Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart
That's What I Like
Pump Up the Jam
Do They Know It's Christmas?
Like A Prayer

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There are 23 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

Britain's Biggest Singles Of the 1980s Quiz

by Alstair

Created Nov 9, 2012 in Music
Game Plays 1,762

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	Fruitbat:	Nov 9th, 2012 at 19:37 GMT		2 points
	Great piece of nostalgia. To be a bit picky, the 1986 version of Livin' Doll was by "Cliff Richard and The Young Ones". (To be really picky, it was also "Featuring Hank Marvin").

	Trotbot:	Nov 10th, 2012 at 01:00 GMT		4 points
	A wonderful mix of great songs, and utter rubbish. What were we thinking of, dancing to the Birdie Song? The great relief is that camera phones didn't exist, or else there would be a lot of teenage kids who would have reason never to talk to their parents again.

	Cryptus:	Nov 10th, 2012 at 23:42 GMT		1 point
	The Official Charts company disagrees that Tainted Love was the biggest selling single of 1981, they say it was actually Don't You Want Me, by The Human League.

	Alstair:	Nov 12th, 2012 at 08:32 GMT		1 point
	There seems to be a little conflict on this point; some of the sources I've seen say it was "Tainted Love" while others say it was the Human League. However, since the OCC says it's the latter, I suppose I ought to change it.

	alabamapaladin:	Nov 13th, 2012 at 02:28 GMT		5 points
	My American upbringing sure didn't help me on the #1 song in 1985 - I was puzzled at why several various permutations of "Huey Lewis & the News" weren't working!

	Triffid:	Nov 13th, 2012 at 11:11 GMT		-1 points
	I'm very surprised that 'Tainted Love' isn't in there. Anyway. I didn't quite get to the end, might have got a few more if I hadn't had to keep scrolling. And I am not embarrassed that I failed to remember the name of the people who did 'Birdie Song'. (although I did get the Agadoo one right.)

	Alstair:	Nov 13th, 2012 at 12:12 GMT		1 point
	"Tainted Love" was originally in the quiz based on the information included on everyHit (which was substantiated by Wikipedia when I double-checked). However, it's been brought to my attention that the Official Charts Company recently published an article (available here: http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-biggest-selling-single-of-every-year-revealed-1952-1985-1699/) which lists "Don't You Want Me" as the top single of 1981. I've yet to work out where that leaves Soft Cell.

	rockgolf:	Nov 13th, 2012 at 18:02 GMT		0 points
	@Alastair: Official Charts also recently released the list of all million-selling singles. On that list, Don't You Want Me is #24, the highest for any 1981 song. Tainted Love is #52, the second highest for any 1981 song. I've already made a quiz for the list: http://www.sporcle.com/games/rockgolf/brits-really-dislike-chains

	rockgolf:	Nov 13th, 2012 at 18:04 GMT		0 points
	One suggestion: Change this from 2 columns to 5 columns. Yes, the titles will wrap, but I think you still end up with less scrolling.

	mrdannydoodah:	Nov 13th, 2012 at 19:07 GMT		1 point
	It may not be the #1 of 1981 but Soft Cell should be there somewhere. I'm puzzled that you needed to remove Soft Cell to add in Human League, as any top 10 from that year ought to have had both in (though the human league was released at the end of the year and some year-end charts cut-off in early december to have it compiled for xmas, so that could be it).

	Alstair:	Nov 13th, 2012 at 22:36 GMT		1 point
	Thank you to everybody for your input. The quandry facing me at the moment is that the Official Charts Company lists "Don't You Want Me" as the best-selling single from 1981 but so far I've been unable to locate a corresponding year-end list published by the OCC to work out where Soft Cell should go. At the same time, several other sources online claim that "Tainted Love" was the biggest seller of 1981, but none of their lists make any mention of the Human League at all.

	rockgolf:	Nov 14th, 2012 at 11:22 GMT		0 points
	@Alstair: Don't You Want Me hit the UK charts on 5 Dec 1981, so it would not have had enough sales by year end to make that year's chart, but probably would have in 1982. As I indicated above, in the Official Charts' list of million-selling UK singles, the top two are DYWM and Tainted Love. (This list includes all sales, not just during the year of release, so it's probably a little more accurate.) Link to the Official Charts list of million-sellers: http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-million-sellers-the-uks-biggest-ever-selling-singles-revealed-1685/

	Alstair:	Nov 14th, 2012 at 12:35 GMT		1 point
	Does anybody think I should change it back to Soft Cell?

	rockgolf:	Nov 15th, 2012 at 11:30 GMT		0 points
	Insert "Tainted Love" above "Stand and Deliver" and drop "You Drive Me Crazy". Problem solved.

	barnztormre:	Nov 15th, 2012 at 13:58 GMT		4 points
	Any self-respecting fan of the Dr Demento Show knows the song "Star Trekkin'", and I am FLOORED that it actually charted anywhere other than the Funny Five.

	Alstair:	Nov 15th, 2012 at 15:15 GMT		1 point
	@rockgolf: Seems as good a compromise as any, at least until more accurate information becomes available.

	rockgolf:	Nov 15th, 2012 at 18:16 GMT		1 point
	Excellent! Now, on to solve the Gaza crisis!

	rockgolf:	Nov 15th, 2012 at 18:18 GMT		4 points
	@Barnstorme: "Self-respecting fan of the Dr Demento Show" is an oxymoron. ☺

	CrimsonE:	Nov 16th, 2012 at 01:41 GMT		3 points
	The Firm? Wasn't that a mid 80's supergroup with Paul Rogers and Jimmy Page? Hell, I would have loved to see Rogers cover Star Trekkin'. This was an interesting list, and I consider myself fortunate to have gotten about half of them correct.

	AHK:	Nov 21st, 2012 at 01:33 GMT		2 points
	maybe this is known to Brits, but i wondered why the Hollies had a hit in 1988, many years after that song was originally released. Used in a Miller Lite commercial.

	Alstair:	Nov 21st, 2012 at 11:54 GMT		2 points
	Yes, it's the same with "Stand By Me" and "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band (although it isn't featured in this quiz); the latter two were used in Levi jeans advertisements, of all things. It's one of the vagaries of the UK music industry; there's a much smaller market compared to America so it isn't unusual for novelty songs, childrens' TV theme music, songs licenced for high-profile advertisements and (back in the mid-2000s, anyway) ringtones to become hits.

	blues95:	Nov 22nd, 2012 at 01:34 GMT		4 points
	Egads! The entire year 1987 has been rickrolled.

	desh79:	Dec 30th, 2012 at 12:04 GMT		1 point
	I envy the 85% who haven't heard of Jive Bunny.