Pet Shop Boys Community

Thank you very much Tentenlad

Madonna 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘Into The Groove’ 717,774
‘Like A Virgin’ 678,810
‘Papa Don’t Preach’ 522,291
‘Holiday’ 482,766
‘Crazy For You’ 472,396
‘True Blue’ 450,449
‘Like A Prayer’ 406,861
‘La Isla Bonita’ 351,832
‘Who’s That Girl?’ 326,502
‘Material Girl’ 278,919
‘Borderline’ 259,352
‘Gambler’ 239,258
‘Live To Tell’ 220,609
‘Dress You Up’ 215,934
‘Open Your Heart’ 214,693
‘Angel’ 208,998
‘Causing A Commotion’ 186,507
‘Express Yourself’ 162,435
‘Cherish’ 160,463
‘Dear Jessie’ 153,884
‘The Look Of Love’ 111,010
‘Lucky Star’ 102,544

Never dipped below 100k...incredible.

OakeyDokey wrote: Thu 27 Mar 2025, 2:30 pm Never dipped below 100k...incredible.

And I imagine picked up again from 90 with Vogue

Tentenlad wrote: Thu 27 Mar 2025, 11:08 am Howard Jones 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘New Song’ 395,726
‘What Is Love’ 375, 445
‘Like To Get To Know You Well’ 337,042
‘Things Can Only Get Better’ 195,874
‘Hide and Seek’ 185,640
‘Pearl In The Shell’ 170,306
‘Look Mama’ 112,319
‘Life In One Day’ 84,898
‘No One Is To Blame’ 73,950
‘All I Want’ 32,164
‘You Know I Love You... Don't You?’ 16,966
‘Everlasting Love’ 13,719
‘Little Bit Of Snow’ 7,735

I’m a massive HoJo fan but even I knew in 1987 that Little Bit Of Snow was a career suicide.

tottenhammattspurs wrote: Thu 27 Mar 2025, 4:03 pm

Tentenlad wrote: Thu 27 Mar 2025, 11:08 am Howard Jones 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘New Song’ 395,726
‘What Is Love’ 375, 445
‘Like To Get To Know You Well’ 337,042
‘Things Can Only Get Better’ 195,874
‘Hide and Seek’ 185,640
‘Pearl In The Shell’ 170,306
‘Look Mama’ 112,319
‘Life In One Day’ 84,898
‘No One Is To Blame’ 73,950
‘All I Want’ 32,164
‘You Know I Love You... Don't You?’ 16,966
‘Everlasting Love’ 13,719
‘Little Bit Of Snow’ 7,735

I’m a massive HoJo fan but even I knew in 1987 that Little Bit Of Snow was a career suicide.

I think the career decline started with 'All i Want'. Rather like Nik Kershaw, their third albums flopped. Though they both had some success later (HJ in USA and NK as a songwriter)

Tina Turner 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘What's Love Got To Do With It’ 405,297
‘Let's Stay Together’ 332,316
‘We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)’ 294,916
‘The Best’ 250,087
‘I Don’t Wanna Lose You’ 184,076
‘Private Dancer’ 85,765
‘What You See Is What You Get’ 44,370
‘It’s Only Love’ (with Bryan Adams) 41,973
‘Help!’ 39,355
‘Better Be Good To Me’ 32,606
‘Break Every Rule’ 22,984
‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’ 19,720
‘Tearing Us Apart’ 16,558
‘One Of The Living’ 16,371
‘Addicted To Love’ 8,636

Tentenlad wrote: Thu 27 Mar 2025, 1:05 pm Madonna 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘Into The Groove’ 717,774
‘Like A Virgin’ 678,810
‘Papa Don’t Preach’ 522,291
‘Holiday’ 482,766
‘Crazy For You’ 472,396
‘True Blue’ 450,449
‘Like A Prayer’ 406,861
‘La Isla Bonita’ 351,832
‘Who’s That Girl?’ 326,502
‘Material Girl’ 278,919
‘Borderline’ 259,352
‘Gambler’ 239,258
‘Live To Tell’ 220,609
‘Dress You Up’ 215,934
‘Open Your Heart’ 214,693
‘Angel’ 208,998
‘Causing A Commotion’ 186,507
‘Express Yourself’ 162,435
‘Cherish’ 160,463
‘Dear Jessie’ 153,884
‘The Look Of Love’ 111,010
‘Lucky Star’ 102,544

Wow, even Dear Jessie sold respectably. Did MJ beat these numbers I wonder?

Michael Jackson 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘One Day in Your Life’ 686,437
‘Billie Jean’ 557,396
‘Say, Say, Say’ (with Paul McCartney) 423,028
‘Thriller’ 320,348
‘Beat It’ 302,549
‘She’s Out Of My Life’ 291,263
‘I Just Can't Stop Loving You’ (with Siedah Garrett) 282,659
‘Rock With You 262,013
‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ 252,586
‘Leave Me Alone’ 235,178
‘Bad’ 223,244
‘Farewell My Summer Love’ 203,626
‘The Girl Is Mine’ (with Paul McCartney) 200,429
‘Smooth Criminal’ 178,398
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'’ 128,010
‘Dirty Diana’ 127,857
‘P.Y.T’ 102,850
‘Another Part Of Me’ 76,534
‘Liberian Girl’ 64,702
‘Off The Wall’ 48,500 (released 1979)
‘Girlfriend’ 46,988
‘Girl You’re So Together’ 46,784 (re-release)
‘We're Almost There’ 35,328 (re-release)
‘Get it’ (with Stevie Wonder) 21,522

Pet Shop Boys collaborations 1980’s sales

Eighth Wonder
‘I’m Not Scared’ 155,584

Dusty Springfield
‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’ 251,022
‘In Private’ 93,381
‘Nothing Has Been Proved’ 85,663

Electronic
‘Getting Away With It’ 123,352 (89/90)

Liza Minelli
‘Losing My Mind’ 124,814
‘Love Pains’ 21,182 (1990)
‘Don’t Drop Bombs’ 19,805
‘So Sorry I Said’ 11,543

Abba 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘Super Trouper’ 629,665
‘The Winner Takes It All’ 475,775
‘One Of Us’ 412,670
‘I Have A Dream’ 186,138 (released in 1979)
‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ 178,248
‘Head Over Heels’ 132,664
‘The Day Before You Came’ 88,861
‘Under Attack’ 79,340
‘Thank You For The Music’ 44,064

Tentenlad wrote: Thu 27 Mar 2025, 5:07 pm

tottenhammattspurs wrote: Thu 27 Mar 2025, 4:03 pm

Tentenlad wrote: Thu 27 Mar 2025, 11:08 am Howard Jones 1980’s singles ranked by UK sales

‘New Song’ 395,726
‘What Is Love’ 375, 445
‘Like To Get To Know You Well’ 337,042
‘Things Can Only Get Better’ 195,874
‘Hide and Seek’ 185,640
‘Pearl In The Shell’ 170,306
‘Look Mama’ 112,319
‘Life In One Day’ 84,898
‘No One Is To Blame’ 73,950
‘All I Want’ 32,164
‘You Know I Love You... Don't You?’ 16,966
‘Everlasting Love’ 13,719
‘Little Bit Of Snow’ 7,735

I’m a massive HoJo fan but even I knew in 1987 that Little Bit Of Snow was a career suicide.

I think the career decline started with 'All i Want'. Rather like Nik Kershaw, their third albums flopped. Though they both had some success later (HJ in USA and NK as a songwriter)

As we all know Nik and Howard are a gestalt entity, appearing side by side on Now compilations and even in this thread. Their period of top 10 success likewise is more-or-less in tandem although HoJo's bookends Kershaw's with New Song and No One Is To Blame.

That's what happens when you get "experimental". Nothing wrong with following it for the sake of personal growth and artistry, but I think PSB are definitely more in tune with "pop" - when they want to get arty, that's a side project, not their raison d'etre.

PSB have 6 songs (I suppose Go West did that too) with more than 200.000, only really big one artists could do it better.

New Song and What Is Love sold more than Thriller and Billie Jean? Wow!