RPM was a Canadian magazine that published the best-performing singles of Canada from 1964 to 2000. During 1980, twenty-two singles reached number one. American rock band Styx achieved the first number-one single of the year, "Babe", while Beatle John Lennon became the last musician to peak at the summit during the year with "(Just Like) Starting Over". Nine of the twenty-one chart-topping acts peaked atop the listing for the first time this year: Rupert Holmes, The Sugarhill Gang, Pink Floyd, The B-52's, Gary Numan, Lipps Inc., Billy Joel, Genesis, and Christopher Cross. No Canadian musicians reached number one in 1980.

The longest-running number-one single of the year, as well as the best-performing single of year, was Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)", which spent six issues at number one from 22 March to 26 April. "Call Me" by Blondie also remained atop the listing for six weeks, and Queen stayed a total of six weeks at the top with "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Another One Bites the Dust". The Rolling Stones achieved a five-week stint at number one with "Emotional Rescue", and the two musical acts that remained at number one for three weeks were Kenny Rogers and Billy Joel.

+Key Indicates best-performing single of 1980

Chart history

Issue dateSongArtistReference5 January"Babe"Styx12 January"Escape"Rupert Holmes19 January26 January"Rapper's Delight"The Sugarhill Gang2 February9 February"Coward of the County"Kenny Rogers16 February"Please Don't Go"KC and the Sunshine Band23 February"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"Queen1 March8 March"Coward of the County"Kenny Rogers15 March22 March"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"Pink Floyd29 March5 April12 April19 April26 April3 May"Call Me"Blondie10 May17 May24 May"Rock Lobster"The B-52's31 May"Call Me"Blondie7 June14 June21 June"Cars"Gary Numan28 June5 July"Coming Up"Paul McCartney12 July"Funkytown"Lipps Inc.19 July"Little Jeannie"Elton John26 July"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"Billy Joel2 August9 August16 August"Misunderstanding"Genesis23 August"Emotional Rescue"the Rolling Stones30 August6 September13 September20 September27 September"Magic"Olivia Newton-John4 October11 October"Sailing"Christopher Cross18 October25 October"Another One Bites the Dust"Queen1 November8 November15 November22 November"Woman in Love"Barbra Streisand29 November6 December"Dreamer"Supertramp13 December20 December"(Just Like) Starting Over"John Lennon27 December

Notes

See also 1980 in music List of RPM number-one adult contemporary singles of 1980 List of RPM number-one country singles of 1980 List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1980 List of Cashbox Top 100 number-one singles of 1980 List of Canadian number-one albums of 1980

References

External links Read about RPM Magazine at the AV Trust Search RPM charts here at Library and Archives Canada