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Top 20 UK best-selling singles of the 80's (Songs: 20-16)
Remember the 1980s?The decade of big hair, neon-bright clothing and consumerism. A new television network called Music Television, or MTV, launched early in the decade and gave rise to the popularity of music videos. By the end of the 1980s, global politics would change forever as the Berlin Wall fell. The 80's was a decade of invention, too.
Disposable cameras, compact discs, camcorders, mobile phones, the space shuttle, IBM and Macintosh computers, DNA and the artificial heart all saw daylight during this decade.
Musically, we saw the rise of New Wave, Disco and Post-Punk.
The following is a countdown of the 20 best-selling singles in the United Kingdom during that era:
"Ride On Time" became a massive hit in Italy and then worldwide, after legal rights were obtained in all territories. The song spent six weeks at No. 1 in the United Kingdom, ultimately becoming the biggest selling single of the year. It fared less well in the United States, where it failed to chart as a pop record, although it did reach No. 39 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. It was the first high-profile example of an Italo house record.
Although "Uptown Girl" was not as successful in the U.S. as previous single "Tell Her About It", it was still a big hit. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one in the United Kingdom, staying at that position for five weeks; it was the second biggest-selling single of 1983 in the United Kingdom behind only Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon", which Joel had knocked off the number one position on November 1, 1983.
"Ghostbusters" was the spectacular hit-song that has been credited with projecting the film of the same name to worldwide fame. It hit the top 10 in 18 territories and the number one spot in Belgium, Canada, France, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was nominated at the 57th Academy Awards for Best Original Song, but lost to Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You".
"Fame" rose to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1980. It also reached number one on the Billboard dance chart for one week. The song was re-released in the United Kingdom in 1982 following the airing of the Fame television series. It hit number one in the UK Singles Chart for three weeks. It has sold 1.05 million copies in the UK as of June 2013. The song also reached number one in Flanders, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand, and number three in Australia and Sweden.
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight", also known as "Wimoweh", "Wimba Way" or "Awimbawe", is a song written and recorded originally by Solomon Linda with the Evening Birds for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939, under the title "Mbube". Composed in Zulu, it was adapted and covered internationally by many 1950s pop and folk revival artists. Perhaps, the best known version is from 1980's one-hit-wonder band Tight Fit. It went on to sell over 1 million copies in the United Kingdom.
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