1981 in British music
1980s in music in the UK |
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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 Genesisuntil 1995.
- 14 February – Billy Idol leaves Generation Xto 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 Ozawaconducting.
- Bucks Fizz win the Eurovision Song Contest with "Making Your Mind Up".
- 7 April – Former Who manager Kit Lambertdies 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 Minnesotafollowing a month-long treatment for bleeding ulcers.
- 18 April – Yesannounce that they are breaking up. They would, however, reunite frequently in the future.
- Wings, officially breaks up.
- Morning Train (9 to 5)"
- .
- August – The success of 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 8in 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]
Best-selling albums
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
Musical theatre
- 11 May – Cats, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, opens in London's West End.
- Making Tracks, with music by Paul Todd, opens at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.
Musical films
Births
- 11 January
- Jamelia, singer
- Tom Meighan, lead singer of Kasabian
- 22 January – Sarah Davies, bassist (Hepburn)
- allSTARS*) and actress
- 24 February – Gwilym Simcock, pianist and composer
- 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
- S Club 7)
- 2 April – Linzi Martin, singer (Girl Thing)
- 10 April – Liz McClarnon, singer (Atomic Kitten)
- 21 April – Mike Christie, baritone (G4)
- Ms Dynamite, singer
- 4 May – Ryan Elliott, singer (Ultimate Kaos)
- 5 May – Craig David, singer
- 5ive)
- 22 May – Su-Elise Nash, singer (Mis-Teeq)
- 23 May – Gwenno Saunders, singer
- 5 June – Anika Bostelaar, Dutch-born singer (Girl Thing)
- Chris Urbanowicz, guitarist (Editors)
- Blue)
- 27 June– Colin and Joe O'Halloran, Irish singers (Reel)
- 6 July – Vicky Palmer, singer (Boom!)
- allSTARS*)
- )
- 24 July – Lisa Lister, guitarist (Hepburn)
- 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)
- )
- 26 November – Natasha Bedingfield, singer[7]
- 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
- 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
References
- ISBN 0-906154-03-0.
- ISBN 0-907080-49-9.
- ^ Copsey, Rob (5 March 2021). "The Official Top 50 best-selling songs of 1981". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ^ Scaping (1982). "The Top 200 LPs: January–December 1981". pp. 50–53.
- ^ Jones; Lazell; Rees (1982). "The Top 200 Albums (UK)". pp. 78–81.
- ^ Dean, Winton (1981). "Music in London: Anna Karenina". The Musical Times Vol. 122, No. 1661 (July 1981), p. 487. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
- ISBN 978-0-7876-9617-7.
- ^ "Miss Olive Gilbert", The Times, 20 February 1981, p. 16, col. G
- ISBN 978-0-7153-7845-8.
- ^ Lone Eagle Publishing Co (2000). Film Composers Directory. Lone Eagle. p. 199.
- ISBN 978-0-7119-7548-4.
- ISBN 978-0-9525492-3-9
- ISBN 0-918048-08-7.