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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 1982

The UK's Top 40 best-performing singles in 1982 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. Come On Eileen is both the best-performing chart single and the best-seller of the year. Boosted by the small and big screen respectively, Fame and Eye Of The Tiger complete the top three. Appearing for the only time on our year-end chart are long-lived punks The Stranglers with their biggest hit - their pop song Golden Brown (No. 13) is about heroin. Five Years after it was recorded, The Model (No. 12) is one of the biggest chart hits of the year.

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

Peak Month Peak CHAMP
1 COME ON EILEENDexy's Midnight Runners August 1 1,659
2 FAMEIrene Cara July 1 1,566
3 EYE OF THE TIGERSurvivor September 1 1,539
4 SAVE YOUR LOVERenee And Renato December 1 1,508
5 THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHTTight Fit March 1 1,404
6 THE LAND OF MAKE BELIEVEBucks Fizz January 1 1,376
7 DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT MECulture Club October 1 1,362
8 I DON'T WANNA DANCEEddy Grant November 1 1,244
9 GOODY TWO SHOESAdam Ant June 1 1,244
10 SEVEN TEARSGoombay Dance Band March 1 1,150
11 EBONY AND IVORYPaul McCartney And Stevie Wonder April 1 1,113
12 THE MODEL / COMPUTER LOVE Kraftwerk February 1 1,101
13 GOLDEN BROWN The Stranglers February 2 1,095
14 TIME (CLOCK OF THE HEART)Culture Club December 3 1,081
15 LOVE PLUS ONEHaircut 100 March 3 1,061
16 MIRROR MANThe Human League November 2 1,048
17 PASS THE DUTCHIEMusical Youth October 1 1,006
18 ABRACADABRAThe Steve Miller Band July 2 1,000
19 OH JULIEShakin' Stevens May 1 990
20 YOUNG GUNS (GO FOR IT)Wham! December 3 967
21 HEARTBREAKERDionne Warwick November 2 965
22 TOWN CALLED MALICE The Jam February 1 961
23 ZOOMFat Larry's Band October 2 957
24 STARMAKERThe Kids From Fame October 3 957
25 DON'T GOYazoo July 3 943
26 BEAT SURRENDERThe Jam December 1 938
27 I WON'T LET YOU DOWNPhD May 3 937
28 OUR HOUSEMadness December 5 937
29 HOUSE OF FUNMadness May 1 930
30 IT STARTED WITH A KISSHot Chocolate August 5 927
31 MAD WORLDTears For Fears November 3 926
32 I'VE NEVER BEEN TO MECharlene June 1 925
33 MICKEYToni Basil March 2 925
34 IT MUST BE LOVEMadness January 4 924
35 MIRROR MIRROR (MON AMOUR)Dollar July 4 907
36 ONLY YOUYazoo May 2 898
37 WALKING ON SUNSHINERocker's Revenge Featuring Donnie Calvin September 4 893
38 JUST AN ILLUSIONImagination April 2 890
39 TORCHSoft Cell June 2 883
40 INSIDE OUTOdyssey July 3 880

Chart © Wow Vinyl 2023

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

Part of the chart run was in 1981 or 1983, which has been included in calculating the CHAMP score

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

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