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Biggest Artists 1979

The UK's Top 20 best-performing artists in 1979 are listed below. It was a two horse race this year with ABBA's five Top 10 hits (including an unofficial No. 1) edging out Blondie. Had Union City Blue done a little better, the US group would have secured the No. 1 spot. The Sex Pistols had their best year - and achieved the highest placing of any punk group in our yearly charts. The Police enter for the first time - and will end up as one of the biggest artists of the Golden Years (1977-85).

Artists are ranked by their Chart-Measured Performance (CHAMP) totals for the year. Singles are listed per artist in chronological order (from left to right) with a symbol denoting peak position. Key to icons: ★No. 1 ●Top Ten ○Top 40 (all on official chart) ☆Unofficial No. 1 (i.e. No. 1 only on NME Chart)
WKS: total weeks spent on the official Top 40

WKS CHAMP
1 ABBA☆Chiquitita  ●Does Your Mother Know  ●Angel Eyes/Voulez-Vous  ●Gimme Gimme Gimme  ●I Have A Dream 40 4,071
2 BLONDIE★Heart Of Glass  ★Sunday Girl  ●Dreaming  ○Union City Blue 36 3,935
3 THE POLICE○Roxanne  ●Can't Stand Losing You  ★Message In A Bottle  ★Walking On The Moon 31 3,373
4 GARY NUMAN★Are 'Friends' Electric?1  ★Cars  ●Complex 27 3,154
5 EARTH WIND AND FIRE●September  ●Boogie Wonderland2  ●After The Love Has Gone  ●Star 25 3,122
6 VILLAGE PEOPLE★YMCA  ☆In The Navy  ○Go West 27 3,020
7 ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA●Shine A Little Love  ●The Diary Of Horace Wimp  ●Don’t Bring Me Down  ●Last Train To London/Confusion 31 2,424
8 RACEY●Lay Your Love On Me  ●Some Girls  ○Boy Oh Boy 27 2,344
9 SEX PISTOLS●Something Else  ●Silly Thing  ●C’Mon Everybody  ○The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle 29 2,236
10 THE THREE DEGREES●Women In Love  ●My Simple Heart  ●The Runner 26 2,129
11 ROXY MUSIC○Trash  ☆Dance Away  ●Angel Eyes 21 2,061
12 SQUEEZE●Cool For Cats  ●Up The Junction  ○Slap And Tickle 23 2,055
13 ART GARFUNKEL★Bright Eyes 14 1,860
14 CHIC●I Want Your Love  ●Good Times  ○My Forbidden Lover 23 1,847
15 THE BOOMTOWN RATS★I Don’t Like Mondays  ○Diamond Smiles 17 1,830
16 CLIFF RICHARD★We Don’t Talk Anymore 14 1,725
17 BONEY M●Painter Man  ●Hooray Hooray It’s A Holi- Holiday  ○Gotta Go Home 22 1,698
18 DR HOOK★When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman 14 1,691
19 QUEEN●Don’t Stop Me Now  ●Crazy Little Thing Called Love 22 1,661
20 GLORIA GAYNOR★I Will Survive  ○Let Me Know (I Have A Right) 15 1,641

Chart © Wow Vinyl 2024

★No. 1 ●Top Ten ○Top 40 (all on official chart) ☆Unofficial No. 1 (i.e. No. 1 only on NME Chart)

TOP 40: total weeks spent on the official Top 40

1 Credited as Tubeway Army
2 With The Emotions

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