Highlights 1980
Brass In Pocket by The Pretenders kicks off the 1980s... The Specials have a No. 1 and 2-Tone is the music genre of the year... David Bowie's sequel to Space Oddity reaches the top with the most expensive pop video to date... Blondie has a hat-trick of chart toppers... John Lennon has the first of three posthumous No. 1s after his murder...
Biggest Chart Single
SUPER TROUPER
ABBA
In a year of poor single sales, ABBA's ninth and final No. 1 was the best performing song in the UK charts. See Biggest Chart Singles
Biggest Chart Act
MADNESS
With three official Top 10 hits and an unofficial No. 1 (on the NME chart), Madness were the year's best performing chart act. See Biggest Chart Artists
NME Song of the Year
LOVE WILL TEAR US APART
Joy Division
For years, this haunting love song and indie classic was considered the best-ever single by the NME. See WOW's Top Singles for 1980
Ivor Novello for Best Pop Song
STOP THE CAVALRY
Jona Lewie
A protest song about war, and the misplaced belief that World War I would be over by Christmas, Jona Lewie's hit was never intended to be a festive favourite.
WOW's Top Single of 1980
LONDON CALLING
The Clash
A bleak portrayal of a post-cataclysmic London - complete with the SOS Morse code beeping desperately at the end - is The Clash's finest single. See WOW's Top Singles for 1980
Most Played Song on the Radio†
TOGETHER WE ARE BEAUTIFUL
Fern Kinney
This disco-inspired ballad hit No. 1 for one week in March but was one of the biggest singles of the year. See Biggest Chart Singles
† The disc received the Ivor Novello award for most performed song of 1980