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WOW's Top 20 Singles from 1983

THE GOLDEN YEARS

Featured Year...

Indulge in a little nostalgia. Rewind to 1977 and relive the music and events that defined the year.

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Biggest Singles 1980

The UK's Top 40 best-performing singles in 1980 are listed below. They are ordered by their Chart Measured Performance (CHAMP) scores. A single's peak position and the month it peaked are also provided. ABBA head the year-end Top 40 for the only time during the Golden Years (1977-85). The Police's Don't Stand So Close To Me has a relatively short chart run and only makes No. 15 - by far the lowest position of any year's best selling single. The hit-making machine called Madness have their highest CHAMP score with Baggy Trousers (No. 25). John Lennon's murder sees his first single in five years reach No. 2 on our year-end chart - he will go one better in 1981.

– ➈ NME peak position (if different from official chart)

Peak Month Peak CHAMP
1 SUPER TROUPERABBA November 1 1,413
2 (JUST LIKE) STARTING OVERJohn Lennon December 1 1,365
3 CRYINGDon Mclean June 1 1,349
4 WOMAN IN LOVEBarbra Streisand October 1 1,330
5 FUNKYTOWNLipps Inc June 2 1,250
6 USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUTOdyssey July 1 1,209
7 THE TIDE IS HIGHBlondie November 1 1,205
8 FEELS LIKE I'M IN LOVEKelly Marie September 1 1,196
9 GENODexy's Midnight Runners May 1 1,194
10 9 TO 5Sheena Easton August 3 1,182
11 NO DOUBT ABOUT ITHot Chocolate May 2 1,174
12 THEME FROM M*A*S*H (SUICIDE IS PAINLESS)Mash May 1 1,172
13 WORKING MY WAY BACK TO YOUDetroit Spinners April 1 1,165
14 D.I.S.C.O.Ottawan October 2 1,152
15 DON'T STAND SO CLOSE TO METhe Police September 1 1,149
16 XANADUOlivia Newton-john And Electric Light Orchestra July 1 1,135
17 TOGETHER WE ARE BEAUTIFULFern Kinney March 1 1,128
18 COWARD OF THE COUNTYKenny Rogers February 1 1,120
19 BRASS IN POCKETThe Pretenders January 1 1,111
20 DANCE YOURSELF DIZZYLiquid Gold April 2 1,105
21 ASHES TO ASHES David Bowie August 1 1,095
22 UPSIDE DOWNDiana Ross August 2 1,090
23 STOP THE CAVALRYJona Lewie December 3 1,075
24 GOING UNDERGROUND / DREAMS OF CHILDRENThe Jam March1 1 1,035
25 BAGGY TROUSERSMadness October 3 1,029
26 EMBARRASSMENTMadness October 4 989
27 THE WINNER TAKES IT ALLABBA August 1 987
28 ATOMICBlondie March 1 974
29 STARTThe Jam September 1 942
30 MASTERBLASTER (JAMMIN')Stevie Wonder October 2 942
31 JUMP TO THE BEATStacy Lattisaw October 2 928
32 WHAT'S ANOTHER YEARJohnny Logan May 1 922
33 THERE'S NO ONE QUITE LIKE GRANDMASt Winifred's School Choir December 1 919
34 I'M IN THE MOOD FOR DANCINGThe Nolans February 3 918
35 WHAT YOU'RE PROPOSINGStatus Quo November 2 914
36 TAKE THAT LOOK OFF YOUR FACEMarti Webb August 3 912
37 TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG (THE SPECIAL AKA LIVE!) EPThe Specials February 1 907
38 MORE THAN I CAN SAYLeo Sayer August 2 907
39 BACK TOGETHER AGAINRoberta Flack And Donny Hathaway June 3 907
40 BANANA REPUBLICThe Boomtown Rats December 3 889

Chart © Wow Vinyl 2023

– ➈ NME peak position (if different from official chart)

Part of the chart run was in 1979 or 1981, which has been included in calculating the CHAMP score

1 CHAMP score includes re-release in January 1983

Tie-breaker: singles with equal CHAMP scores are ordered by better performance in the official chart

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