80's UK Chart Sales and Info

[Tentenlad]

80’s sales and chart info for Pet Shop Boys

1985
‘West End Girls’
The 68th best-selling single of 1985.
228,701 copies sold.
The top 13 selling singles sold over 500, 000 copies in 1985. By comparison, in 1987 (Pet Shop boys ‘imperial phase’?) only the top 7 singles managed those kinds of sales.

1986
‘West End Girls’
The 65th best-selling single of 1986.
205,972 copies sold (total combined sales of 434, 673 between 85/86)
If all the sales for West End girls had been in 1985, it would have been the 24th best selling single of 85 (but still not the lowest selling no1 which was USA for Africa ‘We Are the World’) West End girls would have been the 15th best-selling single of 1986.

‘Suburbia’
The 80th best-selling single of 1986.
166,549 copies sold.
The 79th best-selling single was ‘Hunting high and Low’ by a-ha, which sold 400 more copies.

‘Opportunities (Let’s make lots of money)’
The 150th best-selling single of 1986.
106,114 copies sold.
‘Panic’ by The Smiths also reached no11 and outsold Opportunities by over 2,000 copies. The biggest selling no11 song that year was by OMD. ‘Forever (Live and Die)’ was unlucky to miss out on a top ten placing with 140,148 sales, 109th for 1986.

‘Love Comes Quickly’
The 165th best-selling single of 1986.
97,342 copies sold.
Sales were almost exactly the same amount as ‘Rent’ the following year. Love comes quickly outsold Shakin Steven’s ‘Because I love you’ by 25 copies. However, it was pipped to 164th place by It's 'Orrible Being In Love (When You're 8½) By Claire and Friends with sales of 97,767

1987
‘It’s A Sin’
The 8th best-selling single of 1987.
448,647 copies sold.
This song replaced the questionable ‘Star Trekin’ to the no1 spot. Their sales were very similar with It's a sin outselling the novelty song by 1,224 copies.

‘Always On My Mind’
The 14th best-selling single of 1987.
393,737 copies sold.
Despite sales of the single being split between 87/88 Always on my mind managed a respectable place in the end of year sales. Madonna was also in her ‘imperial phase’ at this time, though her best-selling single of 1987 only reached 17th place. ‘La Isla Bonita’ sold 353,073.

‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’
The 42nd best-selling single of 1987.
251,022 copies sold.
What have I done to deserve this? was held off the top spot by the biggest single of the year ‘Never Gonna Give you up’ by Rick Astley. But it was never really close. During their two-week stint at positions 1 and 2, NGGYU was outselling What have I done to deserve this? by 2 to 1. The biggest selling no2 record that year was actually Bruce Willis cover of ‘Under the Boardwalk’ with a whopping 407,439 sales.

‘Rent’
The 165th best-selling single of 1987.
97,631 copies sold.
PSB returned the favour to a-ha, beating their single ‘Manhattan Skyline’ to 165th place, with 1,654 more sales.


1988
‘Heart’
26th best-selling single of 1988.
266,033 copies sold.
The charts were dominated by new acts, SAW songs and overall sales were falling. Only the top 4 songs sold over 500,000 copies. Despite being the 4th single from ‘Actually’. Heart reached no1 for 3 weeks. Bros were the big new act of the year, sharing a manager with PSB. Despite ‘Brosmania’, their best-selling single and only no1, ‘I Owe You Nothing’ peaked just one position ahead of ‘Heart’ as the 25th single of 1988 with 268,294 sales.

‘Domino Dancing’
88th best-selling single of 1988.
147,475 copies sold.
The end of the ‘imperial phase’ according to Neil. Domino Dancing entered the charts at no9, missing out on the no8 spot by just a few copies (beaten by Inner City with ‘Big Fun’) Domino dancing reached its peak position of no7 the following week but it’s sales were well behind the higher placed songs in the top ten that week.

‘Left To My Own Devices’
104th best-selling single of 1988.
131,410 copies sold (total combined sales of 146, 710 between 88/89)
PSB also wrote the 80th best-selling single of this year - ‘I’m Not Scared’ for Eighth Wonder, which sold 155,584 copies. PSB also had the 785th best-selling single 1988. Despite being released in June 1987 ‘It’s A Sin’ managed to sell a further 7,650 copies.

‘Always On My Mind’
126th best-selling single of 1988.
115,056 copies sold (combined total sales of 508,793 from 87/88)
If all the sales of Always on my mind had occurred in 1987 it would have ended up as the 7th biggest single of the year. It would have been placed as the 5th best selling single of 1988.

1989
‘It’s Alright’
108th best-selling single of 1989.
143,344 copies sold.
A few hundred copies less than ‘On the Inside’ (Theme from Prisoner Cell Block H) in 107th place (!)
More however, than Liza Minelli ‘Losing My Mind’, the 121st best-selling single with 124,814 copies sold which the boys produced.
Other songs written by PSB that year were performed by Dusty Springfield. ‘In Private’ was 159th with 93,381 and ‘Nothing Has Been Proved’ 173rd with 85,663 copies sold.
Liza Minnelli’s other singles faired less well. ‘Don’t Drop Bombs’ reached no46 when released and was the 487th selling single with 19,805 sales. ‘So Sorry, I said’ reached no62 and was 679th with 11,543 sales. Her last single produced by PSB was actually released in 1990 and performed slightly better, ‘Love Pains’ reached no41 and was 501st in 1990 with 21,182 sales.

PSB also had the 562nd place single. ‘Left To My Own Devices’ with 15,300 sales.

Pet Shop Boys 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales
‘Always On My Mind’ 508,793
‘It’s A Sin’ 456,297
West End Girls’ 434, 673
‘Heart’ 266,033
‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’ 251,022
‘Suburbia’ 166,549
‘Domino Dancing’ 147,475
‘Left To My Own Devices’ 146, 710
‘It’s Alright’ 143,344
‘Opportunities (Let’s make lots of money)’ 106,114
‘Rent’ 97,631
‘Love Comes Quickly’ 97,342

[Tentenlad]

A comparison...

Erasure 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales
‘Crackers International’ 473,569
‘Sometimes’ 327,437
‘A Little Respect’ 210, 834
‘Drama!’ 202,708
‘The Circus’ 172,057
‘Victim of Love’ 130,781
‘It Doesn’t Have To Be’ 118,184
‘Ship of Fools’ 116,756
‘Chains of Love’ 82,586
‘You Surround Me’ 77,962
‘Who Needs Love Like That’ 16,201
‘Oh L’ amour’ 13,498
‘Heavenly Action’ Not within top 1000 sales

[Leonidas]

Thanks for the postings. Very interesting read.

[Tentenlad]

A-ha 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales
‘Take on Me’ 578,153
‘The Sun Always Shines on TV’ 362,967
‘Hunting High and Low’ 167,943
‘The Living Daylights’ 154,785
‘Cry Wolf’ 149,022
‘Train Of Thought’ 129,727
‘I’ve Been Losing You’ 125,239
‘You Are The One’ 107,491
‘Stay On These Roads’ 98,957
‘Manhattan Skyline’ 96,067
‘Touchy!’ 94,231
‘The Blood That Moves The Body’ 28,594

[OakeyDokey]

Love this type of data. Where'd you get it?

[markus]

Can we get the rest also? Pretty please. I long time ago asked on their website what their best selling single was after Go west, but no reply. I really love this stuff.

[Undertaker]

Great info. Thanks for sharing

[Patrick Bateman]

1989
‘It’s Alright’
108th best-selling single of 1989.
143,344 copies sold.
A few hundred copies less than ‘On the Inside’ (Theme from Prisoner Cell Block H) in 107th place (!)
More however, than Liza Minelli ‘Losing My Mind’, the 121st best-selling single with 124,814 copies sold which the boys produced.
Other songs written by PSB that year were performed by Dusty Springfield. ‘In Private’ was 159th with 93,381 and ‘Nothing Has Been Proved’ 173rd with 85,663 copies sold.
Liza Minnelli’s other singles faired less well. ‘Don’t Drop Bombs’ reached no46 when released and was the 487th selling single with 19,805 sales. ‘So Sorry, I said’ reached no62 and was 679th with 11,543 sales. Her last single produced by PSB was actually released in 1990 and performed slightly better, ‘Love Pains’ reached no41 and was 501st in 1990 with 21,182 sales.

To be fair, On the Inside is an emo classic that Billie Ellish can only dream about recording.

[OakeyDokey]

But on the inside....she's a happy goth #divine

[Disco.]

And multiple with 3 to 3,5, you will get worldwide wide sales. British single sales was around 30 % that was the general norm.
Though there are exceptions. It’s A Sin sold d 2,1 million copies worldwide and Always On My Mind around 3 million. Used to work in the business.

[Tentenlad]

The 90's sales figures won't all be available until later in the year so I will compile the information and put it on here then. In the meantime will add a few other bands sales rankings from the 80's. If there is any artist anyone wants to see the figures for let me know.

[Tentenlad]

Tears For Fears 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘Mad World’ 532,738
‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ 423,708
‘Shout’ 418,863
‘Change’ 253,436
‘Pale Shelter’ 196,639
‘Sowing The Seeds Of Love’ 176,001
‘Head Over Heels’ 129,693
‘Everybody Wants to Run The World’ 125,698
‘Mothers Talk’ 100,283
‘The Way You Are' 75,888
‘Woman In Chains’ 47,175
‘I Believe’ 38,998

[Tentenlad]

New Order 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘Blue Monday’ 575,960 (total between 1983 and 1987)
‘True Faith’ 213,231
‘Blue Monday’ (’88 remix) 196,129
‘Fine Time’ 109,990
‘Confusion’ 107,117
‘Temptation’ 102,097
‘Touched By The Hand Of God’ 74,392
‘Round & Round’ 71,281
‘Thieves Like Us’ 61,880
‘Ceremony’ 56,832
‘Shellshock’ 43,520
‘Procession / Everything's Gone Green’ 40,656
‘State Of The Nation’ 26,333
‘The Perfect Kiss’ 24,667
‘Subculture’ 15,028
‘Run 2’ 12,767
‘Murder / Thieves Like Us (Instrumental)’ 11,169
‘The Peel Sessions’ 11,152
‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ 10,761

[Neilatrone]

If there is any artist anyone wants to see the figures for let me know.

Can you run - Duran Duran & Frankie Goes To Hollywood please?

[MartinWright66]

Depeche Mode?

Thank you