UK Singles Chart: 1979

Now we are into the final year of the 70s, the burning question is which acts have had a top 40 hit every year in the 70s?

Well there was just one act who managed that, Elvis Presley. He had his 99th hit this year with "It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You). This kept his run of a hit every year since 1956 going. The second longest streaks are Paul McCartney/Wings (which are treated as one entity by the British Hit Singles books) and Rod Stewart, both of whom managed a hit every year since 1971.

Cliff Richard returned to the charts this year with the number one "We Don't Talk Anymore". This brought his total to 70, a figure nobody else except Elvis has achieved at the time of writing. It also meant that Elvis and Cliff were the only acts to have number ones in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Still nobody else has managed more hits than Frank Sinatra and Lonnie Donegan in 3rd and 4th place.

Just one more 50s debutant managed a hit this year which was 1958 debutant Johnny Mathis who would have his final hit with the appropriately titled "Gone Gone Gone".

Making a return to the charts after a 12 year absence and just their third single was Pink Floyd who had the Christmas number one with "Another Brick In the Wall". We also had Booker T & the MGS and Herb Alpert both return after a ten year absence with "Green Onions" and "Rise" respectively.

From Motown, the Commodores would continue their presence on the charts this year with a couple of hits plus Diana Ross returned to the charts with a couple of hits. We also had the Billy Preston and Syreeta duet on "With You I'm Born Again" which would be the final top 40 hit for both artists.

We saw the start of Michael Jacksons post Motown career as a solo act having hits with "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" and "Off the Wall"

The are three acts who could claim to have been the biggest success story of 1979. There was Blondie who's first two hits of the year, "Heart of Glass" and "Sunday Girl", were number ones, plus they had a number two with "Dreaming", though their final hit of the year "Union City Blue" would only manage number 13.

We also had the Police debut this year with "Roxanne" reaching number 12. Their follow up "Can't Stand Losing You" fared better at number two. Then came a couple of number ones with "Message In A Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon".

The final act who could stake the claim of the biggest success story was Gary Numan. He debuted this year a part of Tubeway Army with the number one "Are Friends Electric?". He then followed up with the solo record "Cars" which also reached number one. His backing group however were the same as Tubeway Army so should in theory be treated as the same entity. Then he had a number six with "Complex". Although he didn't have a number two like the Police or Blondie, he also didn't have a single that failed to reach the top 10 like both acts.

What is certain though was the Blondie were very much the success story from the new wave world. There would however be another hugely successful new wave band making their debut this year, The Pretenders. Their debut "Stop Your Sobbing" only managed 34 and their follow up "Kid" did one better at 33. Their third single, "Brass In Pocket" was released towards the end of the year and became a number one in early 1980.

The punk and new wave music still had a strong presence in the charts in 1979, with some acts making their debut this year. Arguably the most surprising debutant this year was the Damned with "Love Song" which was followed up with "Smash It Up". It's surprising as they were one of the early punk groups who have been credited with having the first punk single, one which never made the top 40, but one would think they would have debuted before 1979. Other notable acts making their debuts were the Dickies with "Banana Splits", Angelic Upstarts with "I'm An Upstart", the Ruts with "Babylon's Burning" and UK Subs with "Stranglehold".

One notable historic moment of 1979 was the death of disco music in July with many people in America burning their disco records. Despite this, disco music still had a healthy presence in the UK charts in the latter part of the year with notable records such as "Lost In Music" by Sister Sledge and "Is It Love You're After" by Rose Royce.

So with the 80s just round the corner, is their any sign the 80s are coming?

We yes very much so. I've already mentioned the debuts of the Police and Gary Numan/Tubeway Army, both acts I would associate with the 80s more than the 70s.

In March we had the debut of Motorhead with "Overkill" and the debut of Dire Straits with "Sultans of Swing". Motorhead would have a further hit in December with "Bomber", whilst Dire Straits wouldn't return until 1981.

Then one I find quite surprising, we have M debut in April with "Pop Muzik" and follow up in December with "Moonlight and Muzak". These were the only hits of M, an act I associate with the 80s but only had hits in the 70s, unless you count the 1989 re-issue of "Pop Muzik".

In July we see the beginning of 2-Tone with the Specials debuting with "Gangsters". Then in September we have Madness debut with "The Prince". October saw the debut of Selecter with "On My Radio" plus the Specials second hit "A Message To You Rudy / Nite Club". In November we had the second Madness single "One Step Beyond". Then December saw the debut of the Beat with "Tears Of A Clown / Ranking Full Stop".

Also in December we see the first rap record in the UK charts, "Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. Then we saw the second one a week later, "Christmas Rapping" by Kurtis Blow.

So what we can say about 1979 is that the early glam rock sounds earlier on in the decade seem now to be dead and buried, the punk and disco sounds which came later are very much still alive and the 80s seem to have arrived already.

So it seems inevitable that 1980 will feel like the 80s, but will it still feel like the 70s at the same time? and what else that we associate with the 80s will arrive?