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Biggest Singles 1983

The UK's Top 40 best-performing singles in 1983 are listed below. Culture Club tops the chart with the hugely successful Karma Chameleon, the only platinum seller this year, and Paul Young has two songs in the year's Top 10, reflecting his meteoric rise. New Order make the Top 3 with Blue Monday, the 12" single release that stayed in the weekly charts for countless weeks. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Phil Collins' bland cover of You Can't Hurry Love had such a chart impact. Seven of this year's biggest chart hits also make The Wall 1983

Singles are ordered by their Chart Measured Performance (CHAMP) scores. A single's peak position and the month it peaked are also provided.
– ➈ NME peak position (if different from official chart)

Peak Month Peak CHAMP
1 KARMA CHAMELEONCulture Club September 1 1,908
2 UPTOWN GIRLBilly Joel November 1 1,614
3 BLUE MONDAY New Order October 9 1,563
4 YOU CAN'T HURRY LOVEPhil Collins January 1 1,456
5 RED RED WINEUB40 September 1 1,449
6 WHEREVER I LAY MY HAT (THAT'S MY HOME)Paul Young July 1 1,455
7 LOVE OF THE COMMON PEOPLEPaul Young December 2 1,388
8 I.O.U.Freeez July 2 1,342
9 BILLIE JEAN Michael Jackson March 1 1,331
10 LET'S DANCEDavid Bowie April 1 1,313
11 EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE The Police June 1 1,304
12 ONLY YOUThe Flying Pickets December 1 1,294
13 BABY JANERod Stewart July 1 1,289
14 TRUESpandau Ballet April 1 1,270
15 DOWN UNDERMen At Work January 1 1,263
16 SAY SAY SAYPaul McCartney And Michael Jackson November 2 1,241
17 GIVE IT UPKC And The Sunshine Band August 1 1,209
18 TOO SHYKajagoogoo February 1 1,197
19 TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEARTBonnie Tyler March 1 1,185
20 FLASHDANCE....WHAT A FEELINGIrene Cara July 2 1,179
21 ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT)Lionel Richie October 2 1,154
22 BAD BOYSWham! June 2 1,127
23 HOLD ME NOW The Thompson Twins December 4 1,103
24 MOONLIGHT SHADOWMike Oldfield July 4 1,050
25 SWEET DREAMS (ARE MADE OF THIS) Eurythmics March 2 1,026
26 TEMPTATION Heaven 17 May 2 1,013
27 MY OH MYSlade December 2 1,010
28 DOUBLE DUTCHMalcolm McLaren August 3 994
29 WORDSF.R. David April 2 993
30 VICTIMSCulture Club December 3 947
31 BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVESModern Romance January 4 944
32 THRILLERMichael Jackson December 10 920
33 THEY DON'T KNOWTracey Ullman October 2 899
34 LET'S STAY TOGETHER Tina Turner December 6 896
35 SIGN OF THE TIMESThe Belle Stars February 3 895
36 GOLDSpandau Ballet August 2 886
37 IS THERE SOMETHING I SHOULD KNOW?Duran Duran March 1 885
38 CRY JUST A LITTLE BITShakin' Stevens November 3 881
39 TONIGHT I CELEBRATE MY LOVEPeabo Bryson And Roberta Flack September 3 872
40 CANDY GIRLNew Edition May 1 842

Chart © Wow Vinyl 2024

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

Part of the chart run was in 1982 or 1984, which has been included in calculating the CHAMP score

Featured on The Wall for 1983

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