1980: Best Selling Singles (UK)

"Woman in Love" was one of Barbra Streisand's most successful songs chartwise. Spending three weeks at the top of the charts from late October, it was written by the Bee Gees and taken from her highly successful album, "Guilty".

It achieved the same feat in the US, where it sold around two million copies and sold almost a further 800,000 copies in the UK.

Who the heck is Kelly Marie?, you might be asking. Well, she had the third best selling single of 1980 with this Euro-Disco track that was written by Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry fame.

Hard to believe, but this song was originally going to be offered to Elvis Presley to record, but his untimely death occurred before this could happen.

This single was the biggest of Kelly Marie's short chart career spending two weeks at Number One, and eventually crossed the Atlantic to US clubs the following Spring, where it became equally successful.

If you happened to be vacationing in Europe at any time during the summer of 1980, this is the song that was filling the dancefloors at clubs and hotels during this period. Many British holidaymakers loved it so much that it was bought in its thousands once they returned home.

"D.I.S.C.O." by Ottawan was originally recorded in French by the group duo, Jean Patrick and Annette, and released in 1979. It wasn't until 1980 that the English version became popular, and then peaked at No.2 for three weeks in October. It eventually remained on the UK chart for eighteen weeks, and then became a favorite at parties and wedding receptions.

The group managed one more Top 5 hit the following year with "Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)" before fading into obscurity.

"Geno" was the first of two Number Ones for Dexy's Midnight Runners in the UK, following up their first minor hit single "Dance Stance". Their sound was in stark contrast to the then post punk recordings of groups such as The Jam and The Police, instead lending itself more to the Northern Soul output from the 1970s. The song itself was a tribute to soul legend, Geno Washington.

Based in Birmingham and led by Kevin Rowland, the group achieved eight UK Top 20 singles before splitting up in 1987. They are probably best known internationally for the single "Come On Eileen", which topped the charts in both the UK and the USA.

Fern Kinney's "Together We Are Beautiful" topped the UK charts for a sole week in March 1980. While she had been in the music business for a number of years as a backing singer, this song was only her second attempt to crack the charts, and she hit pay dirt big time with this offering.

With its slow, sultry beat, the single was ideal for the time, but further success eluded her with the decline in the popularity of disco music. As a result, she became a One Hit Wonder in the UK - one Number One single and then nothing else. In addition, she could not duplicate her success in her native USA, where the record failed to sell.

To date, Kenny Rogers has only managed three solo Top 20 hits in the UK, and here is one of them.

"Coward of the County" was his second Number One, following on from the success of "Lucille" in the Spring of 1977. He has managed several chart placings dueting with Sheena Easton and Dolly Parton.

His first real success in the UK came around ten years earlier when he was the lead voice with the First Edition.

This was Sheena Easton's second single release in the UK, where it peaked at No.3 in August. In the US, it was retitled "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" to avoid confusion with the Dolly Parton recording of the same name.

Easton's career and popularity began because she was featured in a BBC reality series called "The Big Time", created by Esther Rantzen. The show followed Easton as she worked to become a professional singer and then secure a record deal. Once the show finished, her career took off and at one point she had two songs in the UK Top 10, the other being "Modern Girl".

"9 to 5" went on to even greater success in the US, where it peaked at Number One the following year, earning Easton the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1981.

This song was the second of five of rock legend David Bowie's UK Number One singles, and came five years after the re-release of "Space Oddity" hit the top spot.

"Ashes to Ashes" has often been regarded as a very close cousin to "Space Oddity", due to its reinterpretation of the character from the latter, namely Major Tom. Bowie regarded the single as his interpretation of hammering the nail in the coffin of his Seventies career - a suitable epitaph.

"Ashes to Ashes" hit Number 4 in the UK in its first week of release, rising to Number One a week later, making it Bowie's fastest selling single up until that point. It was issued in three different sleeves, the first 100,000 copies including one of four sets of stamps, all featuring Bowie in the Pierrot outfit he wore in the accompanying video.

Surprisingly, the single failed to dent the US Billboard Hot 100.