Who were the UK’s best-selling acts in 1981?

1981 was a banner year for music births, quite frankly. An astonishing number of the most influential artists of our time were born that fair year. Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Danny Brown, Justin Vernon, and, comprehensively dwarfing them all in terms of sheer musical might, Pitbull.

Perhaps some higher power’s way of balancing the scales after giving the world so many amazing musicians was to make the actual music released that year… a little less than stellar. To be absolutely clear, it’s not that the music was bad. Not by a long shot.

Because it’s the year that saw Grace Jones’ Nightclubbing, Black Flag’s Damaged, and The Beat’s Wha’ppen? is a total write-off. I mean, The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’ came out in 1981, and I don’t want to consider a world without that song. However, looking at the best-selling albums and singles of that year makes for some alarming conclusions, especially in the UK.

In amongst the Michael Jacksons and the Ultravoxs are some truly heinous bollocks like ‘The Birdie Song’ by The Tweets, ‘Shaddap You Face’ by Joe Dolce, and multiple Shakin’ Stevens mistakes. Shockingly enough, though, the two songs battling it out for the top spot are timeless bangers that no one in their right mind would argue with. What’s more, there was intrigue around who got the said top spot as well.

Who had the biggest-selling single of 1981?

At the end of 1981, the British Market Research Bureau declared that Soft Cell had the biggest-selling single of the year, with their cover of Gloria Jones’ ‘Tainted Love’. This was the accepted wisdom for the next four decades. However, new research unearthed by the Official Charts Company and revealed (bafflingly enough) by a Channel 5 series about Britain’s Favourite 1980s Songs showed otherwise.

It turned out that the whole time, The Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’ sold a cool 100,000 more copies than the Soft Cell classic and was the biggest-selling single of the year. It wasn’t close either. Neither single was enough to make The League or Cell the biggest-selling singles act on the UK charts that year.

Ironically enough, that honour went to an act that is probably more of an ‘80s relic than either of them. Adam and the Ants not only had the biggest-selling album of 1981 with their second record, the previous year’s Kings of the Wild Frontier, but also occupied four slots on the list of the 50 best-selling singles of the year—more than any other act.

Considering that the list included Queen, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder and Phil Collins, that’s no mean feat. As another sign of just how massive the Dandy Highwayman was at his peak, the group sat at the number three and four spots on the chart with ‘Stand & Deliver’ in third and ‘Prince Charming’ coming in at fourth. His other spots on the list were ‘Antmusic’ at number 30 and ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier’ at 44.

A pressing reminder that what’s successful at the moment doesn’t always translate into a lasting legacy and influence. After all, The Ants’ record might have been the best-selling album that year, but the one that came in second, Queen’s Greatest Hits, has since become the UK’s best-selling album of all time by one of the most recognisable acts in the world. Funny how time works, isn’t it?

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