These are the UK Official Indie Chart number-one hits of the 1980s, as compiled by MRIB. [1]
Date first reached number one | Song | Artist | Label | Duration [2] |
---|---|---|---|---|
19 January | "Where's Captain Kirk?" | Spizzenergi | Rough Trade | 7 weeks |
8 March | "Food for Thought" / King | UB40 | Graduate | 12 weeks |
31 May | "Bloody Revolutions" | Crass | Crass | 5 weeks |
5 July | "Love Will Tear Us Apart" | Joy Division | Factory | 10* weeks |
30 August | "Paranoid" | Black Sabbath | NEMS | 5* weeks |
13 September | Can't Cheat Karma (EP) | Zounds | Crass | 2 weeks |
18 October | "Requiem" | Killing Joke | E.G. | 1 week |
25 October | "Atmosphere" | Joy Division | Factory | 2 weeks |
8 November | "Kill the Poor" | Dead Kennedys | Cherry Red | 1 week |
15 November | "The Earth Dies Screaming" / "Dream a Lie" | UB40 | Graduate | 5* weeks |
6 December | Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers (EP) | Motörhead | Big Beat | 1 week |
27 December | "Cartrouble" | Adam and the Ants | Do It | 7* weeks |
Date first reached number one | Song | Artist | Label | Duration [2] |
---|---|---|---|---|
24 January | "Zerox" | Adam and the Ants | Do It | 3 weeks |
7 March | "Nagasaki Nightmare" | Crass | Crass | 2 weeks |
21 March | "Ceremony" | New Order | Factory | 3 weeks |
11 April | Four from Toyah (EP) | Toyah | Safari | 3 weeks |
2 May | "Dreaming of Me" | Depeche Mode | Mute | 1 week |
9 May | Why (EP) | Discharge | Clay | 2 weeks |
23 May | "I Want To Be Free" | Toyah | Safari | 1 week |
30 May | "Don't Let It Pass You By" / "Don't Slow Down" | UB40 | DEP International | 1 week |
6 June | "Too Drunk to Fuck" | Dead Kennedys | Cherry Red | 5 weeks |
11 July | "New Life" | Depeche Mode | Mute | 7 weeks |
29 August | "One in Ten" | UB40 | DEP International | 4 weeks |
26 September | "Just Can't Get Enough" | Depeche Mode | Mute | 2 weeks |
10 October | "Procession" | New Order | Factory | 3 weeks |
31 October | "Thunder in the Mountains" | Toyah | Safari | 4 weeks |
28 November | "Six Guns" | Anti-Pasti | Rondelet | 1 week |
5 December | Four More From Toyah (EP) | Toyah | Safari | 5* weeks |
19 December | "Don't Let 'Em Grind You Down" | The Exploited & Anti-Pasti | Exploited | 1 week |
Date first reached number one | Song | Artist | Label | Duration [2] |
---|---|---|---|---|
16 January | "Streets of London" | Anti-Nowhere League | WXYZ | 2 weeks |
30 January | "Do You Believe in the Westworld?" | Theatre of Hate | Burning Rome | 2 weeks |
13 February | "See You" | Depeche Mode | Mute | 7 weeks |
3 April | "I Hate People" | Anti-Nowhere League | WXYZ | 2 weeks |
17 April | "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" | Pigbag | Y | 4 weeks |
15 May | "Only You" | Yazoo | Mute | 5 weeks |
19 June | "Temptation" | New Order | Factory | 3 weeks |
10 July | "Woman" | Anti-Nowhere League | WXYZ | 2 weeks |
24 July | "Don't Go" | Yazoo | Mute | 8 weeks |
18 September | "Leave in Silence" | Depeche Mode | Mute | 6 weeks |
30 October | "Shipbuilding" | Robert Wyatt | Rough Trade | 3* weeks |
6 November | "How Does It Feel to Be the Mother of 1000 Dead?" | Crass | Crass | 3 weeks |
27 November | "The Other Side of Love" | Yazoo | Mute | 4 weeks |
25 December | "Save Your Love" | Renée and Renato | Hollywood | 3 weeks |
Date first reached number one | Song | Artist | Label | Duration [2] |
---|---|---|---|---|
15 January | "Fat Man" | Southern Death Cult | Situation Two | 2 weeks |
29 January | "Heartache Avenue" | The Maisonettes | Ready Steady Go! | 3 weeks |
19 February | "Oblivious" | Aztec Camera | Rough Trade | 2 weeks |
12 March | "Get the Balance Right!" | Depeche Mode | Mute Records | 2 weeks |
26 March | "Blue Monday" | New Order | Factory | 13* weeks |
11 June | "Nobody's Diary" | Yazoo | Mute | 1 week |
18 June | "Pills and Soap" | The Imposter (Elvis Costello) | F-Beat | 2 weeks |
2 July | "Sheep Farming in the Falklands" | Crass | Crass | 2 weeks |
16 July | "War Baby" | Tom Robinson | Panic | 3 weeks |
6 August | "Everything Counts" | Depeche Mode | Mute | 5 weeks |
10 September | "Confusion" | New Order | Factory | 4 weeks |
5 November | "Temple of Love" | The Sisters of Mercy | Merciful Release | 1 week |
26 November | "This Charming Man" | The Smiths | Rough Trade | 7* weeks |
3 December | "Never Never" | The Assembly | Mute | 2 weeks |
Date first reached number one | Song | Artist | Label | Duration [2] |
---|---|---|---|---|
3 January | "Into the Groove(y)" | Ciccone Youth | Blast First | 1 week |
10 January | "Kiss" | Age of Chance | FON | 3 weeks |
31 January | "Shoplifters of the World Unite" | The Smiths | Rough Trade | 4 weeks |
28 February | "It Doesn't Have to Be" | Erasure | Mute | 8 weeks |
25 April | "Sheila Take a Bow" | The Smiths | Rough Trade | 3 weeks |
16 May | "Nosedive Karma" | Gaye Bykers on Acid | In Tape | 3 weeks |
6 June | "Victim of Love" | Erasure | Mute | 2 weeks |
20 June | "Can't Take No More" | The Soup Dragons | Raw TV | 4 weeks |
18 July | "Flowers in Our Hair" | All About Eve | Eden | 2 weeks |
1 August | "True Faith" | New Order | Factory | 3 weeks |
22 August | "Girlfriend in a Coma" | The Smiths | Rough Trade | 2 weeks |
5 September | "Pump Up the Volume" | M/A/R/R/S | 4AD | 7 weeks |
24 October | "Blue Water" | Fields of the Nephilim | Situation Two | 2 weeks |
7 November | "My Baby Just Cares for Me" | Nina Simone | Charly | 5 weeks |
12 December | "Touched by the Hand of God" | New Order | Factory | 6 weeks |
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent record labels, by the 1990s it became more widely associated with the music such bands produced.
"Come On Eileen" is a song by the English group Dexys Midnight Runners, released in the United Kingdom in June 1982 as a single from their second studio album Too-Rye-Ay. It reached number one in the United States and was their second number one hit in the UK, following 1980's "Geno". The song was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley and was initially claimed to be written by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, although Rowland later stated that the essence of the tune should be attributed to Kevin Archer.
Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1980s built on the post-punk and new wave movements, incorporating different sources of inspiration from subgenres and what is now classed as world music in the shape of Jamaican and Indian music. It also explored the consequences of new technology and social change in the electronic music of synthpop. In the early years of the decade, while subgenres like heavy metal music continued to develop separately, there was a considerable crossover between rock and more commercial popular music, with a large number of more "serious" bands, like The Police and UB40, enjoying considerable single chart success.
Alternative Airplay is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played songs on alternative and modern rock radio stations. Introduced as Modern Rock Tracks, the chart served as a companion to the Mainstream Rock chart, and its creation was prompted by the explosion of alternative music on American radio in the late 1980s. During the first several years of the chart, it regularly featured music that did not receive commercial radio airplay anywhere but on a few modern rock and college rock radio stations. This included many electronic and post-punk artists. Gradually, as alternative rock became more mainstream, alternative and mainstream rock radio stations began playing many of the same songs. By the late 2000s, the genres became more fully differentiated with only limited crossover. The Alternative Airplay chart features more alternative rock, indie pop, and pop punk artists while the Mainstream Rock chart leans towards more guitar-tinged blues rock, hard rock, and heavy metal.
This is a list of the number one hits in the UK Albums Chart, from its inception in 1956 to the present. The sources are the Record Mirror chart from 1956 to the end of 1958, the Melody Maker chart from November 1958 to March 1960, the Record Retailer chart from March 1960 to March 1972 and the Music Week chart from then onwards. In January 1989 the compilation album chart started, and compilation albums were excluded from the main chart.
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" is a song by English rock band Joy Division, released in June 1980 as a non-album single. Its lyrics were inspired by lead singer Ian Curtis's marital problems and struggles with epilepsy. The single was released the month after his suicide.
The Official Albums Chart, previously the UK Albums Chart, is a list of albums ranked by sales and audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on Fridays. It is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and found on the OCC website as a Top 100 or on UKChartsPlus as a Top 200, with positions continuing until all sales have been tracked in data only available to industry insiders. However, even though number 100 was classed as a hit album in the 1980s until January 1989, since the compilations were removed, this definition was changed to Top 75 with follow-up books such as The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums book only including this data. As of 2021, the OCC still only tracks how many UK Top 75s album hits and how many weeks in Top 75 albums chart each artist has achieved.
UKChartsPlus is an independent weekly newsletter about the UK music charts. It was first published in September 2001 as ChartsPlus in order to authoritatively record the official music chart information in the UK, as compiled by the Official Charts Company. It began after Hit Music, a sister publication of Music Week, ceased publication in May 2001. The new newsletter was established totally independent of Music Week, licensing the chart data directly from Official Charts Company and other chart providers.
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-selling singles in the United Kingdom, based upon physical sales, paid-for downloads and streaming. The Official Chart, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and MTV, is the UK music industry's recognised official measure of singles and albums popularity because it is the most comprehensive research panel of its kind, today surveying over 15,000 retailers and digital services daily, capturing 99.9% of all singles consumed in Britain across the week, and over 98% of albums. To be eligible for the chart, a single is currently defined by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as either a 'single bundle' having no more than four tracks and not lasting longer than 25 minutes or one digital audio track not longer than 15 minutes with a minimum sale price of 40 pence. The rules have changed many times as technology has developed, the most notable being the inclusion of digital downloads in 2005 and streaming in July 2014.
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the relevance of the chart dwindled in the 1990s as major-label ownership blurred the boundary between independent and major labels.
The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The two charts are compiled by the OCC from digital downloads, physical record sales and audio streams in UK retail outlets. The charts have been published on the official OCC website since 1994. Previously, the UK Rock Singles chart, sometimes called the Metal Singles chart, that was compiled by CIN, which later became OCC, was published in Hit Music from September 1992 intermittently to February 1997 and interchangeably with the Rock and Metal Albums chart and also with the Indie Chart.
British pop music is popular music, produced commercially in the United Kingdom. It emerged in the mid-to late 1950s as a softer alternative to American rock 'n' roll. Like American pop music it has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, as well as that of the Singles Chart usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs. While these basic elements of the genre have remained fairly constant, pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, particularly borrowing from the development of rock music, and utilising key technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes. From the British Invasion in the 1960s, led by The Beatles, British pop music has alternated between acts and genres with national appeal and those with international success that have had a considerable impact on the development of the wider genre and on popular music in general
The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, which was based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Singles Chart were faring in Scotland, has not been published since 20 November 2020.
This is a list of the number-one singles of the UK Indie Chart.
The UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart and the UK Independent Album Breakers Chart are music charts based on UK sales of singles and albums released on independent record labels by musical artists who have never made the UK top 40. It is compiled weekly by the Official Charts Company (OCC), and is first published on their official website on Friday evenings. The chart was first launched on 29 June 2009, and, according to Martin Talbot, managing director of the OCC, would have benefited acts such as Friendly Fires and Grizzly Bear.
An independent record label is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented by trade associations in their country or region, which in turn are represented by the international trade body, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).