This is a summary of 1984 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
Summary 1984 was a year of several huge selling releases, including at the time the biggest selling single ever. Six singles this year sold over a million copies, the joint highest number ever along with 1998. Out of the top 10 biggest selling songs of the 1980s, six of them all peaked in 1984 including the entire top 4.
One of the biggest bands of the year was Frankie Goes to Hollywood, a five-piece from Liverpool fronted by Holly Johnson. Their debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC for sexually suggestive content, and was number 1 for five weeks. Their second single "Two Tribes" referenced the ongoing cold war and featured a music video of lookalikes of American president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko violently fighting, and was number 1 for nine weeks in the summer, both songs selling over a million. In November they made chart history when their third single, "The Power of Love", also made number 1. They were only the second band in chart history to have their first three releases all go to number 1, following Gerry & The Pacemakers twenty years earlier; however, it would be their last. Their album "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" also reached number 1.
Wham! had their first number 1 single this year after four earlier top 10 hits, the upbeat "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". This would soon be followed by their second, "Freedom" later in the year, and their second album Make It Big also reached the top. One of the members of the band, George Michael, also released a solo single this year, the ballad "Careless Whisper" co-written by his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley. It was number 1 for three weeks and sold over a million.
A big-selling singer who would go on to have many hits over the next two decades first appeared this year, American singer Madonna. Her debut hit "Holiday" reached number 6, and "Like a Virgin" charted three places higher at number 3. From the same country came Prince, who had his first two top 10 hits with "When Doves Cry" and "Purple Rain". For both artists, 1985 would bring even more hits as would the rest of the decade.
After eighteen years, Stevie Wonder achieved his first solo number 1 single with "I Just Called to Say I Love You", from the soundtrack of the film The Woman in Red, selling over a million. He had first charted at the age of 15 with "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" in 1966, and had previously had a number 1 in 1982 with a duet with Paul McCartney, "Ebony and Ivory". In 1984 his harmonica playing featured in Chaka Khan's number one hit "I Feel for You" and in 1985 Eurythmics' number 1 hit "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)".
The Christmas number one single featured more than 40 artists. "Do They Know It's Christmas?", written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, was made in response to ongoing famine in Ethiopia, so the supergroup Band Aid was formed to sing a charity record about it, all proceeds from the song going to the charity to raise money for help. Popular acts of the day such as Wham!, U2, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and Boy George sung on the record.
Not only did the song become the Christmas number one, it sold over three million copies and became the biggest selling single of all time, a record that held for the next thirteen years. The song at number 2, Wham!'s Last Christmas, sold over a million and proceeds from that also went to the charity. Further Band Aid singles would be released in 1989 (Band Aid II) and 2004 (Band Aid 20), both also Christmas number one.
The classical year was kicked off by the first complete performances of Oliver Knussen's one act fantasy opera Where the Wild Things Are, based on Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book of the same title. Knussen composed the music from 1979 to 1983 and an earlier version was first heard in Brussels in 1980. The other major classical music event of the year was the first performances (in the US, then in the UK) of The Mask of Time, the longest and most ambitious of Michael Tippett's late works, written in 1982 by the then 77 year-old composer. Wilfrid Mellers called it "a mind-boggling cosmic history of the universe", while Paul Driver wrote that the Mask revealed "the authentic early Tippett", with a return to the lyricism of The Midsummer Marriage and multiple acknowledgements of his early compositions.
Events 9 January – first complete performance of Oliver Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are by Glyndebourne Touring Opera at the National Theatre, London. 11 January – BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read announces on air that he will not play the single "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood because of its suggestive lyrics. The BBC places a total ban on the record at about the same time. 21 January – "Relax" reaches number one in the UK singles chart, despite the BBC ban; it will spend a total of 42 weeks in the Top 40. 14 February – Elton John marries studio engineer Renate Blauel. 1 March – Sting plays his last concerts with the Police at the end of the Synchronicity tour; the band takes a "pause" after the tour and only play a few special events together after this until 2007, when they organise a reunion tour. 5 April – Michael Tippet's large scale choral work The Mask of Time for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra is performed for the first time at the Symphony Hall, Boston. The work was commissioned to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. 1 May – Mick Fleetwood files for bankruptcy in the United States. 19 July – The first performance of Peter Racine Fricker's String Quartet No 3, op 73, written between 1974 and 1976, takes place at the Cheltenham Festival, performed by the Chilingirian Quartet. 23 July – The Piano Concerto by Peter Dickinson (dedicated to the soloist Howard Shelley) has its first performance at the Cheltenham Festival with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Edward Downes. 23 July – The first UK performance of Michael Tippett's The Mask of Time takes place at the Proms. 5 August – Now 3 becomes the 300th album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. 24 August – Oliver Knussen's Second Symphony receives its premiere at the Proms, with the London Sinfonietta conducted by the composer. 23 October – A report on the Ethiopian famine by BBC journalist Michael Buerk is broadcast in the UK and receives an unprecedented public response. Among those watching is Bob Geldof, who is inspired to release a charity record to raise money to help with famine relief. 25 November – The Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is recorded at SARM Studios in Notting Hill, London, by a gathering of performers that includes Paul Young, Simon Le Bon, Bono, Phil Collins, Paul Weller, Sting, Boy George and Tony Hadley. 28 November – The Bring Me Sunshine charity concert at the London Palladium, in memory of Eric Morecambe, includes musical performances by Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen, Des O'Connor, and Ernie Wise. 2 December – Frankie Goes to Hollywood become the first act to take their first three singles to the UK number-one position since Gerry & The Pacemakers in 1963, when "The Power of Love" tops the chart. 3 December – Bob Geldof and Band Aid release the single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which becomes the fastest-selling single of all time in the UK. 11 December – While on tour, Bucks Fizz's tour bus crashes. All members of the group are injured and member Mike Nolan suffers brain damage after falling into a coma. 13 December – George Harrison makes a rare public appearance, joining Deep Purple on stage in Sydney, Australia for their encore rendition of "Lucille".
Charts
Number one singles
Chart date(week ending) Song Artist(s) Weeks Sales 7 January "Only You" Flying Pickets 1 168,623 14 January "Pipes of Peace" Paul McCartney 2 38,590 21 January 83,929 28 January "Relax" Frankie Goes to Hollywood 5 90,270 4 February 158,168 11 February 137,819 18 February 114,886 25 February 93,143 3 March "99 Red Balloons" Nena 3 98,566 10 March 98,447 17 March 67,490 24 March "Hello" Lionel Richie 6 86,190 31 March 152,762 7 April 140,641 14 April 77,911 21 April 63,648 28 April 57,970 5 May "The Reflex" Duran Duran 4 59,262 12 May 84,235 19 May 68,731 26 May 62,458 2 June "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" Wham! 2 105,706 9 June 136,017 16 June "Two Tribes" Frankie Goes to Hollywood 9 135,762 23 June 199,852 30 June 170,119 7 July 179,945 14 July 130,424 21 July 133,943 28 July 123,012 4 August 109,633 11 August 99,365 18 August "Careless Whisper" George Michael 3 159,970 25 August 199,546 1 September 185,266 8 September "I Just Called to Say I Love You" Stevie Wonder 6 194,701 15 September 214,030 23 September 234,175 30 September 198,560 6 October 148,087 13 October 117,283 20 October "Freedom" Wham! 3 118,099 27 October 141,576 3 November 121,499 10 November "I Feel for You" Chaka Khan 3 85,425 17 November 100,419 24 November 80,070 1 December "I Should Have Known Better" Jim Diamond 1 64,787 8 December "The Power of Love" Frankie Goes to Hollywood 1 91,443 15 December "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Band Aid 3 574,464 22 December 769,046 29 December 634,814
Number one albums
Chart date(week ending) Album Artist(s) Weeks 7 January Now 1 Various Artists 1 14 January No Parlez Paul Young 1 21 January Now 1 Various Artists 1 28 January Thriller Michael Jackson 1 4 February Touch Eurythmics 2 11 February 18 February Sparkle in the Rain Simple Minds 1 25 February Into the Gap Thompson Twins 3 3 March 10 March 17 March Human's Lib Howard Jones 2 24 March 31 March Can't Slow Down Lionel Richie 2 7 April 14 April Now 2 Various Artists 5 21 April 28 April 5 May 12 May 19 May Legend Bob Marley and the Wailers 12 26 May 2 June 9 June 16 June 23 June 30 June 7 July 14 July 21 July 28 July 4 August 11 August Now 3 Various Artists 8 18 August 25 August 1 September 8 September 15 September 22 September 29 September 6 October Tonight David Bowie 1 13 October The Unforgettable Fire U2 2 20 October 27 October Steeltown Big Country 1 3 November Give My Regards to Broad Street Paul McCartney 1 10 November Welcome to the Pleasuredome Frankie Goes to Hollywood 1 17 November Make It Big Wham! 2 24 November 1 December Hits 1 Various Artists 5 8 December 15 December 22 December 29 December
Year-end charts
Best-selling singles