Pet Shop Boys Community

I always thought Electricity was their best record but it completely bombed.
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Electricity was their first single (in 1979) and was actually released again in 1979 and then again in 1980 but never got into the top 75.

Level 42 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

Lessons In Love 332,503
Something About You 281,418
The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up) 201,484
Running In The Family 193,171
It’s Over 116,569
Leaving Me Now 110,738
Hot Water 103,309
To Be With You Again 89,012
The Chinese Way 86,054
Heaven In My Hands 62,220
Children Say 59,449
Love Games 56,628
Tracie 44,982
Are You Hearing (What I Hear)? 44,908
Turn It Out 41,016
Starchild 40,656
Weave Your Spell 36,087
Micro Kid 35,139
Love Meeting Love 33,700
The Chant Has Begun 28,747
Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind 28,203
Take A Look 27,982
Take Care Of Yourself 20,689

Tentenlad wrote: Mon 21 Apr 2025, 4:47 pm Spandau Ballet 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

True 615,383
Chant No1 341,448
To Cut A Long Story Short 317,665
Gold 291,414
Lifeline 255,450
Instinction 244,122
Musclebound 195,108
Only When You Leave 187,833
I’ll Fly For You 170,561
Through The Barricades 152,847
Communication 152,796
The Freeze 144,432
Round And Round 118,133
Fight For Ourselves 79,322
Highly Strung 72,777
Paint me Down 72,612
She Loved Like Diamond 38,571
Be Free With Your Love 29,818
Raw 17,697

Surprised that GOLD (GOLD) is only number four.

U2 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

Pride (In The Name of love) 348,925
With Or Without You 246,755
Desire 200,447
New Year’s Day 156,128
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 154,938
The Unforgettable Fire 140,522
Where The Streets Have No Name 132,328
All I Want Is You 121,346
Angel Of Harlem 109,242
When Love Comes To Town (with BB King) 97,852
Two Hearts Beat As One 70,941
Fire 70,692
A Celebration 36,375
Gloria 28,164
In God’s Country (Import) 24,106

Tentenlad wrote: Thu 24 Apr 2025, 7:53 am U2 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

Pride (In The Name of love) 348,925
With Or Without You 246,755
Desire 200,447
New Year’s Day 156,128
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For 154,938
The Unforgettable Fire 140,522
Where The Streets Have No Name 132,328
All I Want Is You 121,346
Angel Of Harlem 109,242
When Love Comes To Town (with BB King) 97,852
Two Hearts Beat As One 70,941
Fire 70,692
A Celebration 36,375
Gloria 28,164
In God’s Country (Import) 24,106

Suprised to see With or Without You sales was so low. It is among my top twenty songs ever and it rocked the USA.

Their overall sales is too low compared to other giants of their times, given how big they are.

Suprised to see With or Without You sales was so low. It is among my top twenty songs ever and it rocked the USA.

Their overall sales is too low compared to other giants of their times, given how big they are.
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‘With or without you’ only reached no:6 in the UK but was no:1 in the US. They made up for the moderate single sales with big album sales.

Whitney Houston 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) 597,788
Saving All My Love For You 564,332
One Moment In Time 326,009
How Will I Know 217,855
So Emotional 180,999
Greatest Love Of All 150,756
Didn't We Almost Have It All 95,897
Where Do Broken Hearts Go 94,316
Love Will Save The Day 58,412
It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be (with Aretha Franklin) 40,392
Hold Me (with Teddy Pendergrass) 25,670

Kylie 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

Especially For You (with Jason Donovan) 844,050
I Should Be So Lucky 616,233
Hand On Your Heart 421,396
The Loco-Motion 373,932
Wouldn't Change A Thing 321,028
Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi 294,865
Got To Be Certain 281,979
Never Too Late 177,463

Jason Donovan 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

Especially For You (with Kylie) 844,050
Too Many Broken Hearts 449,905
When You Come Back To Me 349,265
Sealed With A Kiss 295,154
Nothing Can Divide Us 241,179
Every Day (I Love You More) 158,389

Rick Astley 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

Never Gonna Give You Up 774,146
Whenever You Need Somebody 311,253
When I Fall In Love / My Arms Keep Missing You 278,715
Together Forever 191,930
She Wants To Dance With Me 185,317
Take Me To Your Heart 171,105
Hold Me In Your Arms 117,215

Bros 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

I Owe You Nothing 268,294
Drop The Boy 234,974
When Will I Be Famous? 244,188
Cat Among The Pigeons / Silent Night 224,859
Too Much 176,851
I Quit 127,058
Chocolate Box 91,715
Sister 76,347
I Owe You Nothing (87 release) 10,336

So Never Gonna Give You Up stopped What have I done to deserve this?? from getting to number one. At the time you’d have thought it was close but NGGYU sold THREE TIMES the amount that What have I done to deserve this?? did!

Wow!

I am surprised Never Gonna's sales figure is merely 700,000 + units. It was everywhere and I mean it literally. It was like every Uk citizen had to buy it by the force of law.

By the way, I hate that song (and all SAW tracks- they are so awful that they are not even popular atn those boring and obligatory back to 80s parties) and I remember that my hate doubled and tripled when the Boys could not get to number one because of it.

PSBForTheMasses wrote: Fri 25 Apr 2025, 12:48 pm I am surprised Never Gonna's sales figure is merely 700,000 + units. It was everywhere and I mean it literally. It was like every Uk citizen had to buy it by the force of law.

By the way, I hate that song (and all SAW tracks- they are so awful that they are not even popular atn those boring and obligatory back to 80s parties) and I remember that my hate doubled and tripled when the Boys could not get to number one because of it.

From the mid 1980's record sales - particularly singles - decreased. Was that due to less people buying records or a drop in quality of what was available?

Tentenlad wrote: Fri 25 Apr 2025, 3:17 pm

PSBForTheMasses wrote: Fri 25 Apr 2025, 12:48 pm I am surprised Never Gonna's sales figure is merely 700,000 + units. It was everywhere and I mean it literally. It was like every Uk citizen had to buy it by the force of law.

By the way, I hate that song (and all SAW tracks- they are so awful that they are not even popular atn those boring and obligatory back to 80s parties) and I remember that my hate doubled and tripled when the Boys could not get to number one because of it.

From the mid 1980's record sales - particularly singles - decreased. Was that due to less people buying records or a drop in quality of what was available?

Maybe compliation albums took over sales, at least I started looking for where to get all the latest hits in one place. When the compact disc took over cd singles became more a promotional tool.