1981 in British music explained

This is a summary of 1981 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

Events

• 9 February – Phil Collins releases his first solo album, although he would not leave the band Genesis until 1995.
• 14 February – Billy Idol leaves Generation X to begin a solo career.
• 26 February – The Symphony No. 2 by Peter Maxwell Davies commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in celebration of its centenary, receives its world premiere at Symphony Hall, Boston, with Seiji Ozawa conducting.
• 4 April – Bucks Fizz win the Eurovision Song Contest with "Making Your Mind Up".
• 7 April – Former Who manager Kit Lambert dies after falling down a flight of stairs in his mother's home in London.
• 17 April – Eric Clapton is released from St. Paul's Hospital in Minnesota following a month-long treatment for bleeding ulcers.
• 18 April – Yes announce that they are breaking up. They would, however, reunite frequently in the future.
• 25 April – Paul McCartney's band, Wings, officially breaks up.
• 2 May – Working as a local wedding singer 12 months previously, Scottish vocalist Sheena Easton hits number one in the US with "Morning Train (9 to 5)"
• 11 May – The musical Cats begins its 8,949-performance run on London's West End.
• August – The success of Stars on 45 leads to a short-lived medley craze. The most successful imitator of the Stars on 45 format is, rather unexpectedly, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, whose "Hooked on Classics (Parts 1 & 2)" reaches number two in the charts.
• 17 June – Pink Floyd perform their last full concert with Roger Waters, as part of The Wall Tour, at Earls Court in London. Waters would not perform with the band again until a one-off performance for Live 8 in 2005.
• 14 September – Emma Kirkby and Gothic Voices record the album A Feather on the Breath of God in St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London.

Charts

Number-one singles

Issue Date	Song	Artist(s)
3 January	"There's No One Quite Like Grandma"	St Winifred's School Choir
10 January	"Imagine"	John Lennon
17 January
24 January
31 January
7 February	"Woman"
14 February
21 February	"Shaddap You Face"	Joe Dolce Music Theatre
28 February
7 March
14 March	"Jealous Guy"	Roxy Music
21 March
28 March	"This Ole House"	Shakin' Stevens
4 April
11 April
18 April	"Making Your Mind Up"	Bucks Fizz
25 April
2 May
9 May	"Stand and Deliver"	Adam and the Ants
16 May
23 May
30 May
6 June
13 June	"Being with You"	Smokey Robinson
20 June
27 June	"One Day in Your Life"	Michael Jackson
4 July
11 July	"Ghost Town"	The Specials
18 July
25 July
1 August	"Green Door"	Shakin' Stevens
8 August
15 August
22 August
29 August	"Japanese Boy"	Aneka
5 September	"Tainted Love"	Soft Cell
12 September
19 September	"Prince Charming"	Adam and the Ants
26 September
3 October
10 October
17 October	"It's My Party"	Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin
24 October
31 October
7 November
14 November	"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"	The Police
21 November	"Under Pressure"	Queen and David Bowie
28 November
5 December	"Begin the Beguine"	Julio Iglesias
12 December	"Don't You Want Me"	The Human League
19 December
26 December

Number-one albums

Issue Date	Title	Artist(s)
3 January	Super Trouper	ABBA
10 January
17 January
24 January	Kings of the Wild Frontier	Adam and the Ants
31 January
7 February	Double Fantasy	John Lennon and Yoko Ono
14 February
21 February	Face Value	Phil Collins
28 February
7 March
14 March	Kings of the Wild Frontier	Adam and the Ants
21 March
28 March
4 April
11 April
18 April
25 April
2 May
9 May
16 May
23 May	Stars on 45	Starsound
30 May
6 June
13 June
20 June
27 June	No Sleep 'til Hammersmith	Motörhead
4 July	Disco Daze and Disco Nites	Various Artists
11 July	Love Songs	Cliff Richard
18 July
25 July
1 August
8 August
15 August	The Official BBC Album of the Royal Wedding	Various Artists
22 August
29 August	Time	Electric Light Orchestra
5 September
12 September	Dead Ringer	Meat Loaf
19 September
26 September	Abacab	Genesis
3 October
10 October	Ghost in the Machine	The Police
17 October
24 October
31 October	Dare	The Human League
7 November	Shaky	Shakin' Stevens
14 November	Greatest Hits	Queen
21 November
28 November
5 December
12 December	Chart Hits '81	Various Artists
19 December	The Visitors	ABBA
26 December

Year-end charts

The tables below include sales between 1 January and 31 December 1981: the year-end charts reproduced in the issue of Music Week dated 26 December 1981 and played on Radio 1 on 3 January 1982 only include sales figures up until 12 December 1981.

Best-selling singles

At the end of 1981, the official year-end charts provided by the UK's chart provider, the British Market Research Bureau, stated that the best-selling single of the year was "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell.^{[1] [2]} However, in March 2021, the Official Charts Company announced that new research had shown that "Don't You Want Me" by the Human League, previously thought to be the year's 21st-biggest seller, was in fact the biggest-selling single of 1981 with over one million sales, and the year-end charts were adjusted accordingly.^[3]

scope=col		scope=col	Title	scope=col	Artist	scope=col	Peak position
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1	"Don't You Want Me"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2	"Tainted Love"	Soft Cell	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	3	"Stand and Deliver"	Adam and the Ants	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	4	"Prince Charming"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	5	"This Ole House"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	6	"Vienna"	Ultravox	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	7	"One Day in Your Life"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	8	"Making Your Mind Up"	Bucks Fizz	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	9	"Shaddup You Face"	Music Theatre	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	10	"The Birdie Song (Birdie Dance)"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	11	"You Drive Me Crazy"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	12	"Ghost Town"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	13	"It's My Party"	with Barbara Gaskin	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	14	"Being with You"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	15	"Happy Birthday"	Altered Images	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	16	"Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)"	Ottawan	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	17	"Woman"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	18	"Stars on 45"	Starsound	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	19	"Begin the Beguine (Volver a Empezar)"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	20	"Green Door"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	21	"Imagine"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	22	"Jealous Guy"	Roxy Music	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	23	"Kids in America"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	24	"Japanese Boy"	Aneka	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	25	"Daddy's Home"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	26	"Chi Mai"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	27	"Hooked on Classics"	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Louis Clark	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	28	"Souvenir"	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	29	"Can Can"	Bad Manners	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	30	"Antmusic"	Adam and the Ants	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	31	"(Do) The Hucklebuck"	Coast to Coast	5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	32	"Hold On Tight"	ELO	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	33	"More Than in Love"	and Beyond	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	34	"Love Action (I Believe in Love)"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	35	"Body Talk"	Imagination	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	36	"Stars on 45 (Volume 2)"	Starsound	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	37	"Lately"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	38	"In the Air Tonight"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	39	"Under Pressure"	Queen and David Bowie	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	40	"Going Back to My Roots"	Odyssey	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	41	"Under Your Thumb"	Godley and Creme	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	42	"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	43	"Happy Birthday"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	44	"Kings of the Wild Frontier"	Adam and the Ants	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	45	"I Surrender"	Rainbow	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	46	"Pretend"		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	47	"How 'Bout Us"	Champaign	5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	48	"Endless Love"	and Lionel Richie	7
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	49	Four from Toyah (EP)	Toyah	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	50	"Let's Groove"	Earth, Wind & Fire	3

Best-selling albums

^{[4] [5]}

scope=col		scope=col	Title	scope=col	Artist	scope=col	Peak position
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1	Kings of the Wild Frontier	Adam and the Ants	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2	Greatest Hits	Queen	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	3	Dare		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	4	Face Value		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	5	Shaky		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	6	Ghost in the Machine		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	7	Love Songs		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	8	Chart Hits '81	Various Artists	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	9	Prince Charming	Adam and the Ants	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	10	Double Fantasy	and Yoko Ono	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	11	The Jazz Singer		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	12	Making Movies	Dire Straits	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	13	Stars on 45	Starsound	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	14	Hotter than July		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	15	Vienna	Ultravox	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	16	Secret Combination		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	17	The Visitors	ABBA	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	18	The Best of Blondie	Blondie	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	19	Bat Out of Hell	Meat Loaf	9
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	20	Manilow Magic: The Best of Barry Manilow		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	21	Time	Electric Light Orchestra	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	22	Pearls		5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	23	Dead Ringer	Meat Loaf	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	24	Anthem	Toyah	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	25	Hooked on Classics	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	26	Guilty		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	27	Duran Duran	Duran Duran	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	28	Present Arms	UB40	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	29	Super Hits 1 & 2	Various Artists	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	30	This Ole House		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	31	Wired for Sound		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	32	Abacab	Genesis	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	33	Disco Daze/Disco Nites	Various Artists	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	34	Architecture and Morality	Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	35	Tattoo You		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	36		Simon & Garfunkel	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	37	Hi Infidelity	REO Speedwagon	6
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	38	If I Should Love Again		5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	39	The Best of Bowie		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	40	Super Trouper	ABBA	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	41	No Sleep 'til Hammersmith	Motörhead	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	42	The Official BBC Album of the Royal Wedding	Various Artists	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	43	Christopher Cross		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	44	7	Madness	5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	45	The River		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	46	Tonight I'm Yours		8
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	47	Greatest Hits	Dr. Hook	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	48	Difficult to Cure		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	49	Barry		5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	50	Signing Off	UB40	2

Notes:

Classical music: new works

• Peter Maxwell Davies – Piano Sonata
• George Lloyd – Symphony No 10, November Journeys (for brass)
• Adrian Williams – String Quartet No. 2

Opera

• Iain Hamilton – Anna Karenina^[6]

Musical theatre

• 11 May – Cats, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, opens in London's West End.
• 16 December – Alan Ayckbourn's Making Tracks, with music by Paul Todd, opens at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.

Musical films

• Concert for Kampuchea
• Dance Craze
• Urgh! A Music War

Births

• 11 January
  • Jamelia, singer
  • Tom Meighan, lead singer of Kasabian
• 22 January – Sarah Davies, bassist (Hepburn)
• 19 January – Thaila Zucchi, singer (allSTARS*) and actress
• 24 February – Gwilym Simcock, pianist and composer
• 11 March – Russell Lissack, guitarist with Bloc Party
• 13 March – Ivo Neame, jazz pianist and saxophonist
• 20 March – Declan Bennett, singer (Point Break)
• 26 March – Jay Sean, singer
• 1 April – Hannah Spearritt, actress and singer (S Club 7)
• 2 April – Linzi Martin, singer (Girl Thing)
• 10 April – Liz McClarnon, singer (Atomic Kitten)
• 21 April – Mike Christie, baritone (G4)
• 26 April – Ms Dynamite, singer
• 4 May – Ryan Elliott, singer (Ultimate Kaos)
• 5 May – Craig David, singer
• 20 May – Sean Conlon, musician (5ive)
• 22 May – Su-Elise Nash, singer (Mis-Teeq)
• 23 May – Gwenno Saunders, singer
• 5 June – Anika Bostelaar, Dutch-born singer (Girl Thing)
• 22 June – Chris Urbanowicz, guitarist (Editors)
• 23 June – Antony Costa, singer (Blue)
• 27 June – Colin and Joe O'Halloran, Irish singers (Reel)
• 6 July – Vicky Palmer, singer (Boom!)
• 12 July – Rebecca Hunter, singer (allSTARS*)
• 19 July – Didz Hammond, singer and bass player (Dirty Pretty Things and The Cooper Temple Clause)
• 24 July – Lisa Lister, guitarist (Hepburn)
• 8 August – Bradley McIntosh, singer (S Club 7)
• 11 August – Sandi Thom, singer-songwriter
• 21 August – Jenilca Giusti, Puerto Rican-born singer (Solid HarmoniE)
• 29 September – Suzanne Shaw, singer (Hear'Say) and actress
• 6 October – Sarah Keating, Irish singer (Six)
• 10 October – Una Healy, Irish singer (The Saturdays)
• 13 October – Kele Okereke, singer (Bloc Party)
• 31 October – Liam McKenna, Northern Irish singer (Six)
• 17 November – Sarah Harding, singer (Girls Aloud)
• 20 November – Kimberley Walsh, singer (Girls Aloud)
• 22 November – Ben Adams, singer (A1)
• 26 November – Natasha Bedingfield, singer^[7]
• 19 December – Sam Bloom, singer (allSTARS*)

Deaths

• • • 19 February Olive Gilbert, actress and singer, 82^[8]
  • Frank Merrick, pianist, 95^[9]
• 21 February – Ron Grainer, Australian-born electronic music pioneer and composer involved with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, 58 (spinal cancer)^[10]
• 10 March – Bill Hopkins, pianist, composer and critic, 37 (heart attack)
• 24 March – George Charles Gray, cathedral organist, 83
• 7 April – Kit Lambert, manager and producer, 45 (fall)
• 8 April – Eric Rogers, composer, 59
• 14 April – Christian Darnton, composer, 75
• 21 April – Ivor Newton, pianist and accompanist, 88
• 28 April – Steve Currie, bassist of T.Rex, 33 (car crash)^[11]
• 12 May – Frank Weir, orchestra leader and jazz musician, 70
• 17 May – Alan Gowen, keyboardist (Gilgamesh), 33 (leukaemia)
• 29 May – Sir John Dykes Bower, cathedral organist, 75
• 18 July – Janet Craxton, oboist, 52
• 5 August – Reginald Kell, clarinettist, 75
• 29 August – Guy Stevens, band manager, record producer and DJ, 38 (overdose)
• 23 September – Sam Costa, dance band singer and DJ, 71
• 29 September – Tommy Moore, former drummer of the Beatles, 50 (brain haemorrhage)
• 30 September – Boyd Neel, orchestral conductor, 76
• 15 October – Elsie Randolph, actress, dancer and singer, 77
• 9 November – Willis Grant, cathedral organist, 74
• 13 December – Cornelius Cardew, experimental music composer, 45 (hit-and-run car accident)^[12]
• 17 December – Sybil Gordon, operatic mezzo-soprano, 79
• date unknown – Albert Ernest Sims, composer, conductor and music director of The Central Band of H.M. Royal Air Force, 85^[13]

See also

• 1981 in British radio
• 1981 in British television
• 1981 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1981

Notes and References

1. Book: Peter . Scaping . BPI Year Book 1982 . The Top 200 Singles: January–December 1981 . The British Phonographic Industry Ltd . London, England . 46–49 . 5th . 1982 . 0-906154-03-0.
2. Book: Alan . Jones . Barry . Lazell . Dafydd . Rees . The Top 200 Singles (UK) . Chart File 1982 . Virgin Books . London, England . 74–77 . 1982 . 0-907080-49-9.
3. Web site: Copsey . Rob . The Official Top 50 best-selling songs of 1981 . Official Charts Company . 5 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210305233043/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-50-best-selling-songs-of-1981__32604/ . 5 March 2021 . 24 November 2021.
4. Scaping (1982). "The Top 200 LPs: January–December 1981". pp. 50–53.
5. Jones; Lazell; Rees (1982). "The Top 200 Albums (UK)". pp. 78–81.
6. Dean, Winton (1981). "Music in London: Anna Karenina". The Musical Times Vol. 122, No. 1661 (July 1981), p. 487. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
7. Book: Tracie Ratiner. Contemporary Musicians: Profiles of the People in Music. May 2010. Cengage Gale. 978-0-7876-9617-7. 16.
8. "Miss Olive Gilbert", The Times, 20 February 1981, p. 16, col. G
9. Book: Gerald Norris. A Musical Gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland. 1981. David & Charles. 978-0-7153-7845-8. 94.
10. Book: Lone Eagle Publishing Co. Film Composers Directory. 2000. Lone Eagle. 199.
11. Book: Nick Talevski. The Encyclopedia of Rock Obituaries. 1999. Omnibus. 978-0-7119-7548-4. 90.
12. Tilbury, John. Cornelius Cardew: A Life Unfinished Harlow: Copula, an imprint of Matchless Recordings and Publishing, 2008.
13. Bierley, Paul E; Rehrig, William H (1991). The heritage encyclopedia of band music : composers and their music. Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press. .