Pet Shop Boys Community

On the 5th January 1986 ‘West End Girls’ ascended to the top of the U.K. singles charts, giving Pet Shop Boys their first number one.

That song changed my life. It sparked a lifelong love of music and of their music in particular that no other record had. Four decades on and it still sounds fresh and still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I hear the intro. It’s my favourite record of all time.

Special day. A fantastic song.
It's what got me into PSB as well.

I love that GTA V contextualised the song, "call the police there's a mad man around, running down, underground to a dive bar in a west end town" is accurate to the type of gameplay featured. The song plays in the strip clubs by the way, as well as the radio while you're driving of course.

Great song and I love this cover art from the 7".

There’s other sources stating this happened January 11. Can please someone sort this out? Thank you.

m+

Alright, so it’s January 11 when it finally claimed #1 in the UK.

https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/pe ... end-girls/

m+

5th January 1986: https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/s ... 0105/7501/

minimal wrote: Mon 05 Jan 2026, 7:41 pm Alright, so it’s January 11 when it finally claimed #1 in the UK.

https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/pe ... end-girls/

m+

you're reading it wrong...

that is referring to the week that it was one..

the actual week and date is on the 5th.

later
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ne gative 1

The UK singles chart announcement dates have changed over the years.

IIRC in 1986 the official chart would have been announced on a Tuesday (I assume from sales the Monday to Sunday prior)

It shifted to Sundays later, presumably because data collected that week became easier.

Happy to be corrected but that's my impression as to the confusion.

There really is no need for any confusion.

The Tuesday would have been the 30th December 1985. The two hour chart rundown on Radio 1 when the number one record was announced used to be broadcast on a Sunday. Neil has stated that a Christmas record was number one* and that 'West End Girls' drifted up to the top after that. The first Sunday in 1986 was the 5th. The official charts page that I have already linked to twice shows that Sunday 5th January 1986 was the first of 'West End Girls' two weeks at number one in the UK.

* 'Merry Christmas Everyone' by Shakin' Stevens.

My source cited above shows that it spent two weeks at #1. Strange.

m+

minimal wrote: Mon 05 Jan 2026, 9:06 pm My source cited above shows that it spent two weeks at #1. Strange.

m+

Sorry, that's correct. For some reason I misread the last week chart position 3 as weeks at number one! I've edited my post accordingly.

Thanks for the explanation of the date when it reached #1!

m+

PSB are saying it was Tuesday, January 7, 1986, so we can celebrate again today!

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/pet-texts ... nd-girls-2

Someone should tell them that it had already been number one for two days by then!

TallThinMan wrote: Wed 07 Jan 2026, 12:17 pm Someone should tell them that it had already been number one for two days by then!

That's not really right either though. The chart is based upon total sales for a whole week (which in this case was 5th - 11th January). We don't know whether it was number one on a specific day as the measurement is for the week as a whole.

So in my view, it is correct to say:
- They were number 1 for the first time for the week of 5th to 11th January
- Or, they were number 1 on 11th January, i.e. the date at which it was confirmed that they had sold the most in the prior week (this is traditionally how charting dates have been described in the UK)
- Or, they were number 1 on Tuesday 14th January, which is the date that chart will have been announced in the 80s.

Either way, PSB are incorrect to claim today as the anniversary.

I'll stop being so bloody pedantic now and go and listen to the masterpiece that it is!