80s Top 10 Sales- Week By Week- 1984-1985

[gezza76]

6TH APRIL

The nation continues to hold its breath for a record breaking chart feat from Frankie Goes To Hollywood but for now at least that will have to wait. Phil Collins and Philip Bailey put up the necessary resistance and romped home to an easy victory though their sales are on the slide to 85,000 to bring the tracks total to 346,000 in five weeks as it spends a third week at the top as it moves to ninth place on the YTD lists, here’s how they all stand at the end of the first quarter:

1. I KNOW HIM SO WELL- Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson 781,000
2. LOVE AND PRIDE- King 564,000
3. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS- Foreigner 554,000
4. SOLID- Ashford & Simpson 481,000
5. YOU SPIN ME ROUND (LIKE A RECORD)- Dead Or Alive 452,000
6. LITTLE RED CORVETTE/ 1999- Prince 394,000
7. DANCING IN THE DARK- Bruce Springsteen 379,000
8. DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS- Band Aid 348,000
9. EASY LOVER- Phil Collins & Philip Bailey 346,000
10. NIGHTSHIFT- The Commodores 313,000



Frankie Goes To Hollywood power 5-2 (67,000) to nab the runner spot from Sarah Brightman and Paul Miles Kingston who were running ahead of the frankie’s all week and ended up just 1,000 behind them at the close of play. You’ll of course recall that Gerry & The Pacemakers are currently the only act in chart history to hit the top slot with their first three releases, their fourth “I’m The One” peaked at No 2, and so it looks at present that the Frankie’s will only be able to match this feat- we’ll see what next week brings.

Tears For Fears are having a great 1985 so far, their last single “Shout” sold 432,000 copies and their second album “Songs From The Big Chair” spent a fortnight at No 2 last month unable to dislodge Phil Collins. The second single from it “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” debuted at No 16 last week (their best debut yet) and now soars to No 5 (50,000) and becomes their fifth top 5 single though they are still looking for that elusive No 1.



Another couple of climbers, Go West prove their strength moving 8-6 (49,000) and Nik Kershaw notches 10-9 (37,000) which is better than the remaining tracks can do. Alison Moyet slips 2-4 (52,000), Paul Young tumbles 4-7 (39,000) though he does enter at No 1 on the album charts, Jermaine Jackson moves 6-8 (37,000) and Stephen “Tin Tin” Duffy drops 9-10 (31,000)

Top 10 in pics

 

[Eric Generic]

Hangin' On A String is a bonafide classic. Amazing how great records like this used to miss the Top 10. Even at the time it was widely acknowledged as being a brilliant single.

Nik Kershaw's singles run in the Riddle era was a strange one; I personally couldn't hear another big hit beyond the title track, so when Wide Boy debuted so high I was quite surprised. He was still in the same boat as Hojo in early 1985; whatever he released it just had enough support to briefly hit the Top 10 (see: Look Mama). Even so, it was hard to imagine that by the year's end, neither of them would ever have a major hit again.

 

[Hairycub1969]

Tears For Fears were on an amazing run of singles at this stage. I loved "Shout" and it's five month run in the UK chart, then we had the excellent "Everybody wants to rule the world" - as soon as that opening note starts, I am transported to early spring 1985 - great memories - I was drinking a lot of Quatro around this time too!

 

[Hairycub1969]

W/e 06th April 1985 has a lot of records peaking outside the top ten:

At number 16 we find Bruce Springsteen and "Cover me" on it's second release:

 

[Eric Generic]

Talk about a turnaround in fortunes for Tears For Fears; after Way You Are flopped, they didn't really know where to turn next. In the end, we got the amazing but brutal "Frankie meets a garage band" Mothers Talk, which did okay (#14) but commercially they were still on shaky ground. Shout got off to a worryingly slow start (something like 45-35-32-32?) before exploding, and then everything fell into place really quickly again for them. The album got great reviews (deservedly so, it was obviously a classic straight away), and hit #2 without the need for a single immediately before it - Shout's length chart legacy had carried enough momentum to last into February.

At which point they unleashed the most obvious, brilliantly catchy record of their career, and one of the best singles of 1985...and of the whole decade. Despite being "based" upon Waterfont by Simple Minds, ahem!

 

[Hairycub1969]

At number 21 it's the return of The Damned and "Grimly Fiendish"

 

[Eric Generic]

Wayhey, Grimly Fiendish, the best Madness single-that-never-was.

 

[Hairycub1969]

Peaking at number 22 is a classic by Third World - here on a 1985 remix: "Now that we've found love":

 

[Hairycub1969]

Peaking at a disappointing number 24 is the follow up to "Love and Pride":

King and "Won't you hold my hand now" - another re-release:

 

[Hairycub1969]

At Number 26 we find The Smiths peaking with "Shakespeare's sister"
That would make a great name for a band (someone from Bananarama was taking note)

 

[Hairycub1969]

Peaking at number 35 is Bryan Adams and "Somebody"

 

[Eric Generic]

Shakespeare's Sister (the person in charge of typography at London records misspelled it for Siobhan's project and it stuck) was the first Smiths single I didn't like that much. There was a feeling they were on a downward slide, after the rather slight William It Was Really Nothing and then the How Soon Is Now fiasco. Meat Is Murder wasn't universally adored on its release, either, unlike the debut. Somehow they turned it around and were bigger than ever by the summer of 1986.

 

[gezza76]

13TH APRIL

Given a level field it’s entirely possible that Frankie Goes To Hollywood would be celebrating their fourth chart topper today, their track “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” was neck and neck with “Easy Lover” for the first part of the week but TOTP once again proved the catalyst. It gave air time to the Phil Collins & Philip Bailey track whilst not playing FGTH as so it is that “Easy Lover” runs out a relatively easy winner on a reduced sale of 74,000 vs 65,000 for FGTH. With the Frankie’s now on a European tour and unavailable for the show you have to suspect the moment has gone especially given what’s going on with the highest new entry this week.

Blazing a trail into the charts at No 7 this week is the US version of Band Aid called USA for Africa. The concept for the group was the idea of Ken Kragen and Harry Belefonte who enlisted the help of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie to pen “We Are The World” and they’ve managed to get some A List celebs to help out including Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross. The track is already No 1 stateside after just three weeks and debuts here at No 7 on a sale of 37,000, a rather more modest start than “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”. It was of course played by an estimated 5,000 radio stations at 4.00pm BST last Friday which assisted no doubt in its promotion.

Already in its eighth week on the charts Phyllis Nelson’s “Move Closer” is making climbing in the charts look a hard task. She’s better known for her disco output in the early 80s but she’s switched to balladry for her new track which flopped here when released back in April 84, but after BBC Radio London started to play the track it has lifted off finally and this week completes its climb to the top 10 14-8 (31,000).

Returning with his second album, former Linx member David Grant has teamed up with Jaki Graham to give us a cover of the 1972 Detroit Spinners track “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love”. It’s the first release from his new album “Hopes and Dreams” out next month but it gives a nice profile boost to newcomer Graham who hails from Birmingham. It inches 12-10 (26,000) this week.



Tears For Fears barely get any sales boost but manage to move 5-3 (57,000) thanks to other records losing speed above it including Sarah Brightman & Paul “Miles” Kingston 3-4 (53,000) and Alison Moyet 4-6 (41,000), Paul Young completes the fallers as he tumbles 7-9 (28,000). Go West continue to surprise chart observers by climbing again 6-5 (48,000) but they lost sales to do so and must be fancied to fall back in 7 days time.

Top 10 in pics

 

[Hairycub1969]

A cracking top ten. There's lots of singles climbing outside the top ten…including this brilliant single by ABC which peaks at number 26 this week which is a real shame as it's such a great single. It did make the US Top 10 in November 1985 though:

Abc - Be near me:

 

[Eric Generic]

Be Near Me was one of those singles I really disliked upon release, it felt like a sop to commercial demands after the failure of the amazing How To Be A Millionaire and, obviously, the Beauty Stab era. When I heard it, my first reaction was what the hell is this rubbish? Trying to rehash Lexicon but with a tin of beige paint. Worse was to come with the dreadful, tune-free Vanity Kills, before redemption came with the Zillionaire album and the gorgeous Ocean Blue.

The silly image change didn't help! But now it sounds like a nice, if dull, ABC record.

 

[Hairycub1969]

I'll be on holiday for the next week. I'll be reading this thread but no posting - my partner won't allow it! I'm to have a complete break from everything!

 

[Scoundrel_Days]

Be Near Me was one of those singles I really disliked upon release, it felt like a sop to commercial demands after the failure of the amazing How To Be A Millionaire and, obviously, the Beauty Stab era. When I heard it, my first reaction was what the hell is this rubbish? Trying to rehash Lexicon but with a tin of beige paint. Worse was to come with the dreadful, tune-free Vanity Kills, before redemption came with the Zillionaire album and the gorgeous Ocean Blue.

The silly image change didn't help! But now it sounds like a nice, if dull, ABC record.

'Be Near Me' always sounded like a Demo to me, like they were planning on adding 'Lexicon' type strings at a later date then couldn't be arsed.

Their image during this period didn't really click with the public, did it?
Particularly the bald one who looked like the cartoon character 'BOD'.

 

[Eric Generic]

Howdy disco citizes, I'm David Yarritu....I may be tiny, but I'm strong!

Er, yes. The US seemed more willing to embrace that concept than we did. They just looked ridiculous and wrong in the UK. I can't be too harsh on Martin Fry for this period, as he was about to become seriously ill with Hodgkin's Disease.

 

[gezza76]

20TH APRIL

As expected USA For Africa power 7-1 to top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic this week, it did so on a strong sale of 86,000 to bring its tally to 127,000 after a fortnight and is also the 100th chart topper of the 80s by way of trivia. It outpaced Tears For Fears “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” which moves 3-2 (73,000) which nevertheless becomes the group’s biggest hit to date and assists the album remaining in the top 5 for seventh week

Hoping for some chart revenge Phil Collins enters arrives 27-8 (34,000), it became Collins’s second US chart topper earlier this year and was knocked off the top by USA for Africa. Whilst the UK got “Sussudio” as the first single from “No Jacket Required” the US were treated to “One More Night” which explains why it has already been a US success, he’ll be hoping he can overturn USA for Africa in the forthcoming weeks. He’s not in danger of knocking himself off the top spot as “Easy Lover” falls 1-3 (61,000) and is already the fifth best selling single of the year with 481,000 copies sold already.

Richard Anthony Hewson has already amassed an impressive array of acts that he has worked with as arranger or producer including the Beatles, The Bee Gees, and Cliff Richard, he formed his “group” Rah Band to release the single “The Crunch” which peaked at No 6 back in 1977. The group is in reality just a front for Hewson who named it after his initials although the vocals on “Clouds Across The Moon” are courtesy of his wife, and it’s the latter track that returns him to the top 10 for the first time in 8 years as it rises 18-9 (32,000)



Elsewhere good news for Phyllis Nelson as she halves her position 8-4 (53,000) and David Grant & Jaki Graham are also in the pink as they climb 10- 7 (36,000) it is now the biggest hit for either act. It’s all over for Frankie Goes To Hollywood as they scurry 2-5 (45,000), Go West go into reverse 5-6 (43,000) and Sarah Brightman & Paul Miles Kingston hurtle 4-10 (31,000).

Top 10 in pics

 

[Eric Generic]

Ha, the RAH Band TOTP performance that killed its credibility with clubsters (it had been #1 on the Record Mirror dance charts for weeks).

No surprise that I never liked We Are The World; at least Band Aid's record was something a bit different with some bite to it. USA For Africa epitomised the worst of American celebrity backslapping culture and their sachrimose tendencies. And then Michael Jackson had to go and rip himself off six years later with an even worse take on it.

1985 is already beginning to look a bit dodgy after such a good start. This is where the 80s began to go off track for me. Not by much yet, the real tipping point would come in a couple of years, but the seeds were sown.