Well the charts throw up a genuine shock this week as leading all week and right up to the death Paul Young is narrowly defeated at the eleventh hour by the Flying Pickets who fly (apologies) past him to nab a surprise No 1 single with their cover of Yazoo's "Only You". The Song powers 9-1 on a sale of just 83,000 thanks in the main to a TOTP performance which certainly caused comment in the press and saw demand for the single explode- could it hang on for Christmas? well the answer will come in just 3 weeks. Commiserations then to Paul Young who can feel rightly robbed losing out by under 1,000 copies and must curse how the weeks fell as with a TOTP performance of his own he would doubtless be sitting at the top today, in the end his sales slipped just 13% but in the end it was a fatal slide.
No strangers to the festive No 1 spot themselves Slade make another surprise resurgence to score their 15th top 10 single and the first one in over 2 years. "My Oh My" surges 15-5 (45,000) just in time to pose a threat to the top spot for the big day and has just the anthemic feel that proves especially popular in the Christmas market, they of course had the Christmas chart topper ten years ago with "Merry Xmas Everybody" which has been a constant seller in December's since thanks to regular re-issues and 1983 is no exception with the song debuting at No 72 this week, it should do even better this year given "My Oh My"'s success.
Rounding off an excellent 1983 Tracey Ullman's festive offering is a cover of the Doris Day track "Move Over Darling" which made No 8 in 1964, it's taken from her debut LP "You Broke My Heart In 17 Places" which it's fair to say hasn't overly impressed at retail as it moves 50-37 this week to a new peak. She has of course released it at a very competitive time of year but hopefully the single will add some additional sales as it climbs 21-8 ( 39,000) in just its second week.
Cliff is celebrating 25 years in the business this year and his latest album "Silver" is his thank you to his fans containing his last single "Never Say Die" which peaked at No 15 in September and his current release "Please Don't Fall In Love" which this week floats 20-9 (36,000) to become his 50th top 10 single, a record that puts him just 6 top 10 hits (not counting the re-issue of "Hound Dog/Heartbreak Hotel" in 1971) behind the current record holder Elvis Presley- but that should just be a matter of time before Cliff overtakes.
Thompson Twins continue to move nearer the summit 5-4 (59,000), Tina Turner also improves 7-6 (41,000). It's all over for Billy Joel as he slides 1-3 (78,000) and was never in with a shot at retaining the top slot as his sales swell to 782,000 to become the 2nd biggest selling single of the year behind "Karma Chameleon", also falling are Marilyn 4-7 (39,000) and Assembly dip 6-10 (35,000).
01 01 12 All Night Long (All Night) Lionel Richie
EIGHTH WEEK AT NUMBER ONE
04 03 04 Love Of The Common People Paul Young 
03 01 13 Karma Chameleon Culture Club
