1979 in British music

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This is a summary of 1979 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year. 1979 saw the beginning of several trends in British music. Electropop reached number one in both the singles and albums charts in the form of Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, and synthesiser bands began to gather momentum, which would come to dominate music in the early 1980s. The first rap hit in the UK came from the Sugar Hill Gang. The 2 Tone movement also emerged, with early work from bands such as The Specials and Madness. Disco music was still the most popular music of the year, although it showed signs of dying out in the year's later months. 1979 remains the year when physical-format singles hit their sales peak in the UK.

Events

• 23 February – Dire Straits begin their first American tour, in Boston.
• 27 March – Eric Clapton marries Patti Boyd, ex-wife of Clapton's friend George Harrison.
• 31 March – In the Eurovision Song Contest, UK representatives Black Lace finish seventh.
• 2 April – Kate Bush begins her first live tour, The Tour of Life. It remains her only tour, and would be her only live shows for 35 years until her Before the Dawn shows at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2014.
• 6 April – Rod Stewart marries Alana Hamilton.
• 1 May – Elton John becomes the first overseas pop music artist to perform in Israel.
• 2 May – The Who perform their first concert following the death of drummer Keith Moon. The band performed with new drummer Kenney Jones.
• 11 August – Led Zeppelin play their last ever British concert at Knebworth in Hertfordshire.
• 21 August – Cliff Richard achieves his tenth UK number-one with "We Don't Talk Anymore", his first chart-topper in more than 11 years.
• August – Brotherhood of Man members Martin Lee and Sandra Stevens marry.
• 26 November – Bill Haley & His Comets perform at the Drury Lane Theatre in London in a command performance for the Queen. This was Haley's final recorded performance of "Rock Around the Clock".
• date unknown
  • The Welsh Philharmonia becomes the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.
  • Richard Rodney Bennett becomes a resident of New York City.
  • Arthur Oldham founds the Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus in Amsterdam.

Charts

Number one singles

Date	Song	Artist
6 January	"Y.M.C.A."	Village People
13 January
20 January
27 January	"Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"	Ian Dury and the Blockheads
3 February	"Heart of Glass"	Blondie
10 February
17 February
24 February
3 March	"Tragedy"	Bee Gees
10 March
17 March	"I Will Survive"	Gloria Gaynor
24 March
31 March
7 April
14 April	"Bright Eyes"	Art Garfunkel
21 April
28 April
5 May
12 May
19 May
26 May	"Sunday Girl"	Blondie
2 June
9 June
16 June	"Ring My Bell"	Anita Ward
23 June
30 June	"Are 'Friends' Electric?"	Tubeway Army
7 July
14 July
21 July
28 July	"I Don't Like Mondays"	The Boomtown Rats
4 August
11 August
18 August
25 August	"We Don't Talk Anymore"	Cliff Richard
1 September
8 September
15 September
22 September	"Cars"	Gary Numan
29 September	"Message in a Bottle"	The Police
6 October
13 October
20 October	"Video Killed the Radio Star"	The Buggles
27 October	"One Day at a Time"	Lena Martell
3 November
10 November
17 November	"When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman"	Dr. Hook
24 November
1 December
8 December	"Walking on the Moon"	The Police
15 December	"Another Brick in the Wall Part II"	Pink Floyd
22 December
29 December

Number one albums

Date	Album	Artist	Weeks
6 January	Greatest Hits	Showaddywaddy	2
13 January
20 January	Don't Walk – Boogie	Various Artists	3
27 January
3 February
10 February	Action Replay	Various Artists	1
17 February	Parallel Lines	Blondie	4
24 February
3 March
10 March
17 March	Spirits Having Flown	Bee Gees	2
24 March
31 March	Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Vol. 2	Barbra Streisand	4
7 April
14 April
21 April
28 April	The Very Best of Leo Sayer	Leo Sayer	3
5 May
12 May
19 May	Voulez-Vous	ABBA	4
26 May
2 June
9 June
16 June	Discovery	Electric Light Orchestra	5
23 June
30 June
7 July
14 July
21 July	Replicas	Tubeway Army	1
28 July	The Best Disco Album in the World	Various Artists	6
4 August
11 August
18 August
25 August
1 September
8 September	In Through the Out Door	Led Zeppelin	2
15 September
22 September	The Pleasure Principle	Gary Numan	1
29 September	Oceans of Fantasy	Boney M	1
6 October	The Pleasure Principle	Gary Numan	1
=13 October	Eat to the Beat	Blondie	1
=13 October	Reggatta de Blanc	The Police	4
20 October
27 October
3 November
10 November	Tusk	Fleetwood Mac	1
17 November	Greatest Hits Vol. 2	ABBA	3
24 November
1 December
8 December	Greatest Hits Vol.1	Rod Stewart	4
15 December
22 December
29 December

Year-end charts

1979 appears to be the only year since 1977 for which "full year" year-end charts do not exist. The British Market Research Bureau (BMRB), which compiled the official UK charts from 1969 to 1982, used a cut-off date for the collection of sales data sometime in early December each year, in order for the "end of year" chart to be published in the year's final issue of Music Week and to be broadcast on BBC Radio 1. However, from 1977 to 1982, BMRB produced updated charts a few months later, which included the missing final weeks' sales for each year.

No updated chart appears to exist for 1979, so the tables below include only sales between 1 January and 8 December 1979. The two singles most affected by the lack of a full year chart are the records that were at number one and number two for the final three weeks of the year, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" by Pink Floyd and "I Have a Dream" by ABBA: neither of these records appear in the end of year list for 1979.

Best-selling singles

No.	Title	Artist	Peak position
1	"Bright Eyes"		1
2	"Heart of Glass"	Blondie	1
3	"We Don't Talk Anymore"		1
4	"I Don't Like Mondays"		1
5	"When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman"	Dr. Hook	1
6	"I Will Survive"		1
7	"Are Friends Electric"	Tubeway Army	1
8	"Dance Away"	Roxy Music	2
9	"Sunday Girl"	Blondie	1
10	"One Day at a Time"		1
11	"Message in a Bottle"	The Police	1
12	"Pop Muzik"	M	2
13	"Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick"	and the Blockheads	1
14	"Oliver's Army"	and the Attractions	2
15	"Tragedy"	Bee Gees	1
16	"Chiquitita"	ABBA	2
17	"Video Killed the Radio Star"		1
18	"Cars"		1
19	"Every Day Hurts"	Sad Café	3
20	"Ring My Bell"		1
21	"Some Girls"	Racey	2
22	"Boogie Wonderland"	Earth, Wind & Fire with the Emotions	4
23	"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"		3
24	"Woman in Love"		3
25	"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"	Queen	2
26	"Y.M.C.A."	Village People	1
27	"Reunited"	Peaches and Herb	4
28	"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"	ABBA	3
29	"Lucky Number"		3
30	"If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me"		3
31	"Cool for Cats"	Squeeze	2
32	"Something Else"/"Friggin' in the Riggin'"	Sex Pistols	3
33	"Silly Games"		2
34	"Bang Bang"		2
35	"Dreaming"	Blondie	2
36	"Wanted"		3
37	"Can You Feel the Force?"	The Real Thing	5
38	"Knock on Wood"		6
39	"Contact"		6
40	"I Want Your Love"	Chic	4
41	"Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday"	Boney M	3
42	"Theme from The Deer Hunter (Cavatina)"		9
43	"Does Your Mother Know"	ABBA	4
44	"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"		4
45	"Since You've Been Gone"	Rainbow	6
46	"Up the Junction"	Squeeze	2
47	"Love's Gotta Hold on Me"	Dollar	4
48	"Still"		4
49	"In the Navy"	Village People	2
50	"Whatever You Want"	Status Quo	4

Best-selling albums

No.	Title	Artist	Peak position
1	Parallel Lines	Blondie	1
2	Discovery	Electric Light Orchestra	1
3	The Very Best of Leo Sayer		1
4	Breakfast in America	Supertramp	3
5	Voulez-Vous	ABBA	1
6	Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Vol. 2		1
7	Spirits Having Flown	Bee Gees	1
8	Greatest Hits Vol. 2	ABBA	1
9	Reggatta de Blanc		1
10	Manilow Magic: The Best of Barry Manilow		3
11	Greatest Hits		1
12	Last the Whole Night Long		2
13	Armed Forces	and the Attractions	2
14	Outlandos d'Amour		6
15	The Best Disco Album in the World	Various Artists	1
16	Replicas	Tubeway Army	1
17	I Am	Earth, Wind & Fire	5
18	C'est Chic	Chic	2
19	Dire Straits	Dire Straits	5
20	Manifesto	Roxy Music	7
21	Eat to the Beat	Blondie	1
22	Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds		12Template:Efn
23	Bat Out of Hell	Meat Loaf	11Template:Efn
24	Do It Yourself	and the Blockheads	2
25	Tusk	Fleetwood Mac	1
26	Out of the Blue	Electric Light Orchestra	13Template:Efn
27	New Boots and Panties!!		5
28	20 Golden Greats		2
29	Night Owl		9
30	Don't Walk – Boogie	Various Artists	1
31	Fate for Breakfast		2
32	The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1	Earth, Wind & Fire	6
33	Black Rose: A Rock Legend	Thin Lizzy	2
34	The Pleasure Principle		1
35	Action Replay	Various Artists	1
36	In Through the Out Door	Led Zeppelin	1
37	The Great Rock and Roll Swindle	Sex Pistols	7
38	String of Hits		4Template:Efn
39	Live Killers	Queen	3
40	Lodger		4
41	A Collection of Their 20 Greatest Hits		8
42	Nightflight to Venus	Boney M	1
43	Wings Greatest	Wings	5
44	Sky	Sky	9
45	Off the Wall		5
46	Bridges		5
47	Lionheart		12Template:Efn
48	Blondes Have More Fun		7Template:Efn
49	Bob Dylan at Budokan		4
50	Country Life	Various Artists	2

Notes: Template:Notelist

Classical music: new works

• William Lloyd Webber – Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae
• Malcolm Williamson – Symphony No. 5 – Aquerò

Opera

• Peter Maxwell Davies – The Lighthouse

Film and Incidental music

• Richard Rodney Bennett – Yanks directed by John Schlesinger, starring Richard Gere and Vanessa Redgrave.
• Geoffrey Burgon – Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Musical theatre

• Andrew Lloyd Webber – Tell Me on a Sunday
• Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (premièred on Broadway)

Musical films

• The Music Machine
• The Who – Quadrophenia

Births

• 5 January
  • Steve Scott-Lee, singer (3SL)
  • Michelle Barber, singer (Girl Thing)
• 19 January – Wiley, record producer and MC
• 20 January – Will Young, singer and winner of Pop Idol (series 1)
• 23 January – Vicky Dowdall, singer (Girls@Play)
• 8 March – Tom Chaplin, singer (Keane)
• 12 March – Pete Doherty, singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Babyshambles)
• 30 March – Simon Webbe, singer (Blue)
• 10 April – Sophie Ellis-Bextor, singer
• 11 April
  • Paul Byrom, Irish tenor
  • Lee Otter, singer (North and South)
• 13 April – Tony Lundon, Irish singer (Liberty X)
• 29 April
  • Jo O'Meara, singer (S Club 7)
  • Matt Tong (Bloc Party)
• 3 May – Danny Foster, singer (Hear'Say)
• 23 May – Lisa-Jay White, singer (Girls@Play)
• 31 May – Sarah Class, composer
• 8 June – Adam de la Cour, musician and composer
• 29 June – Abz Love, singer (5ive)
• 4 July – Nikki Stuart, singer (Girl Thing)
• 5 July – Shane Filan, Irish singer (Westlife)
• 19 July – Michelle Heaton, singer (Liberty X)
• 20 July – Charlotte Hatherley, singer-songwriter and guitarist (Ash and Nightnurse)
• 21 July – Tommy Clark, singer (Mero)
• 20 August – Jamie Cullum, jazz pianist and singer
• 23 August – Ritchie Neville, singer (5ive)
• 5 September – Garry O'Meara, Irish singer (Reel)
• 8 October – Alexander Shelley, conductor
• 22 November – Scott Robinson, singer (5ive)
• 28 November – Dane Bowers, singer (Another Level, 5th Story)
• 3 December
  • Daniel Bedingfield, New Zealand-born pop singer and songwriter
  • Kerri Ann, Irish singer
• 15 December – Edele and Keavy Lynch, Irish singers (B*Witched)
• date unknown
  • Mark Bowden, Welsh-born composer
  • Emily Howard, composer

Deaths

• 2 February – Sid Vicious, punk rocker, 21 (drug overdose)
• 4 March – Mike Patto, rock vocalist, 36 (throat cancer)
• 24 May – Sir Ernest Bullock, organist and composer, 88
• 16 July – Alfred Deller, countertenor, 67
• 25 August – Stan Kenton, bandleader, 67
• 4 September – Guy Bolton, librettist, 94
• 6 September – Ronald Binge, composer and arranger, 69
• 9 September – Norrie Paramor, record producer, composer, arranger, and orchestral conductor, 65
• 27 September – Gracie Fields, actress and singer, 81
• 13 October – Rebecca Helferich Clarke, viola player and composer, 93
• 6 November – Hugh Ottaway, music writer, 54
• 30 November – Joyce Grenfell, actress and musical performer, 69
• December – Terence Judd, pianist, 22 (probable suicide)
• 21 December – Nansi Richards, harpist, 91

See also

• 1979 in British radio
• 1979 in British television
• 1979 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1979