1981 in Music - Chronological Table of US and UK Number One Hit Singles

Chronological Table of US and UK Number One Hit Singles

US Number One singles and artist
(Weeks at Number One)
UK Number One singles and artist
(Weeks at Number One)


"(Just Like) Starting Over" – John Lennon (4 weeks)
"The Tide Is High" – Blondie (1)
"Celebration" – Kool & the Gang (2)
"9 to 5" – Dolly Parton (2)
"I Love a Rainy Night" – Eddie Rabbitt (2)
"Keep on Loving You" - REO Speedwagon (1)
"Rapture" – Blondie (2)
"Kiss On My List" – Daryl Hall & John Oates (3)
"Morning Train (9 to 5)" – Sheena Easton (2)
"Bette Davis Eyes" – Kim Carnes (9)
"Stars on 45 Medley" – Stars On 45 (1)
"The One That You Love" – Air Supply (1)
"Jessie's Girl" – Rick Springfield (2)
"Endless Love" – Diana Ross & Lionel Richie (9)
"Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" – Christopher Cross (3)
"Private Eyes" – Daryl Hall & John Oates (2)
"Physical" – Olivia Newton-John (6)


"There's No-one Quite Like Grandma" – St Winifred's School Choir (1)
"Imagine" – John Lennon (4)
"Woman" – John Lennon (2)
"Shaddup You Face" – Joe Dolce Music Theatre (3)
"Jealous Guy" – Roxy Music (2)
"This Ole House" – Shakin' Stevens (3)
"Making Your Mind Up" – Bucks Fizz (3)
"Stand and Deliver" – Adam and the Ants (5)
"Being With You" – Smokey Robinson (2)
"One Day in Your Life" – Michael Jackson (2)
"Ghost Town" – The Specials (3)
"Green Door"- Shakin' Stevens (4)
"Japanese Boy" – Aneka (1)
"Tainted Love" – Soft Cell (2)
"Prince Charming" – Adam and the Ants (4)
"It's My Party" – Dave Stewart (the keyboardist) & Barbara Gaskin (4)
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" – The Police (1)
"Under Pressure" – Queen & David Bowie (2)
"Begin the Beguine" – Julio Iglesias (1)
"Don't You Want Me" – The Human League (3)

Read more about this topic:  1981 In Music

Famous quotes containing the words chronological table, table, number and/or hit:

    If you are to judge a man, you must know his secret thoughts, sorrows, and feelings; to know merely the outward events of a man’s life would only serve to make a chronological table—a fool’s notion of history.
    Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)

    Comes the time when it’s later
    and onto your table the headwaiter
    puts the bill,
    Robert Creeley (b. 1926)

    The quality of moral behaviour varies in inverse ratio to the number of human beings involved.
    Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)

    I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.... Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.
    Harper Lee (b. 1926)