Hello again. Welcome to 1984. We’ve got 14 singles to rank, some are great, some are not so great, but only one will be crowned the best.

Let’s get straight to it.

14. The Reflex – Duran Duran (4)

God I dislike this song. I’m definitely not a Duran Duran girl, I’ve never really understood the hype around them and this song in particular is just so annoying. What’s even more annoying is that it kept Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark from the top spot. Disgraceful. 

13. I Just Called to Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder (6)

I’m very much in the minority with this one because I am not a fan. It was nominated for three Grammy awards, remains Stevie Wonder’s biggest hit (reaching no 1 in 28 countries) and won a Golden Globe (meh) and Academy Award (oh!) for best original song. Sadly, it’s not for me.

12. Freedom – Wham! (3)

Freedom is just a bit too corny for me. It’s not Wham’s best hit nor their most memorable. It’s just ok. 

11. I Feel for You – Chaka Khan (3)

This is a cover/reworking of Prince’s I Feel for You and helped reignite Chaka Khan’s career. Fun fact – the repetition of ‘Chaka Khan’ at the start of the track was an error that the producers liked and decided to keep in. 

10. Pipes of Peace – Paul McCartney (2)

I mean this is all…okay. Very Paul McCartney in terms of ‘vibes’ but not super memorable. It’s one of those classic ‘songs for peace’ type tune. It’s more memorable for its music video which depicts the 1914 Christmas truce between British and German troops during the war. 

9. 99 Red Balloons – Nena (3)

80s songs certainly have interesting back stories. West German band Nena’s original song 99 Luftballons was an anti-war song with a narrative that involved 99 balloons being mistaken for UFOs by the military, a prominent display of airforce firepower to compensate for the mistake, consequent panic from other nations leading to a devastating war with no victors. Whew. The English translation (which frustrated the band) was a bit more on the nose (because it was so subtle before). I listened to both versions and neither stands out as any better than the other…interestingly only the German version was a hit in the US.

8. Two Tribes – Frankie Goes to Hollywood (9)

Another anti-war song (maybe we’ll start seeing a resurgence of them in 2025…although, hopefully not). Two Tribes was a massive hit – nine weeks at the top of the chart, over a million copies sold, an Ivor Novello award…its success also brough Relax back up to No 2 for a spell. It’s big, it’s loud, it’s angry – it’s definitely more of a statement than a song; I’ll admit I won’t be listening to it again in a hurry.

7. I Should Have Known Better – Jim Diamond (1)

I honestly don’t know where to put this song, which is why I’ve placed it in the middle of the road.  I don’t particularly like it and it’s not going to make a guest appearance on any of my playlists but…I don’t hate it either. In fact, it grows on you. It’s a sort of weird power ballad/soft rock track with an insanely catchy/memorable/confusing chorus and a drum fill akin to In the Air Tonight. Interestingly, there are French, Italian and Spanish versions of the track; all of which I listened to and all of which are bad covers (Matteo Becucci’s Italian version wins purely because he has a decent voice). But back to Jim; he publicly asked people not to buy his track and buy 1984’s Christmas No 1 instead (more on that soon), which is pretty sweet and might (although unlikely) have cost him the festive top spot.

6. Hello – Lionel Richie (6)

We all know Hello. We’ve all seen the novelty mugs (Hello, is it tea you’re looking for?), we’ve all seen the dramatic music video. Teetering on cheesy (or rather, too cheesy) there’s no denying this is one of 1984’s most iconic tunes. 

5. Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood (5)

You could feasibly write an essay about this song and its rise to the top. Drenched in controversy, Relax was Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s debut single and remains to this day, the UK’s biggest selling debut single of all time. It’s a fun, punchy, very 80s song that may or may not be about sex (it is). Despite its sluggish initial chart climb (debuting at no 67) it managed to skyrocket to the top after the group performed it on Top of the Pops and it was subsequently banned by the BBC for being ‘obscene’ (interestingly, the BBC had no problem allowing a certain Mr Savile to host Top of the Pops). Would it have been the success it was without the ban? Probably, it’s very of its time and still holds up as a great synth-pop, new wave track but whether it would have been the bombastic hit it was is another story.

4. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go – Wham! (2)

I’m a bit conflicted putting this so high because it is an annoying tune and I dumped Duran Duran all the way down the bottom for their annoying tune. But there’s something more feel-good about this. Yes it’s corny, yes it’s a weird hybrid of doo-wop and 80s synth and yes it has the misfortune of having a brass band breakdown (whyyyy? (a pet hate of mine, I’m biased, I know)) but it also features great vocals from George Michael and is a real crowd-pleaser.

3. Careless Whisper – George Michael (3)

Despite being a Wham song, Careless Whisper is credited to George Michael only, which seems a bit harsh on Andrew Ridgeley who co-wrote the song. It’s famous for that iconic sax riff which you now won’t be able to get out of your head.  

2. The Power of Love – Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1)

My favourite of the three Frankie Goes to Hollywood hits (what a year they had!) spent only one week at the top. A December release that would surely have been a shoo-in for Christmas No 1 had it not been for the final song in this ranking list, the song nonetheless continues to get festive airplay forty years later…despite having absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.

1. Do They Know it’s Christmas? – Band Aid (5 (two weeks in 1985)

There’s so much to say about this song – from its origins, to the number of artists featured on it, to the recording process (a 24 hour feat) to its legacy and the number of – inferior – versions that have followed. Whether you like the song or not (I’m in the camp that does) isn’t really the point; no other song summed up music in 1984 like this did. Alarmed by the ongoing famine in Ethiopia, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure assembled a ‘supergroup’ in the hopes of raising money for charity – what they achieved surpassed their hopes, raising over £8 million and hitting no 1 in 13 other countries. Whilst the track has been subject to criticism over the years – particularly its lyrics – Ure always maintained that the content of the song itself was secondary to the cause. It has been replicated ad nauseum but no version has ever managed to capture the zeitgeist of UK music in the way the original version did.

Second the Best

Last Christmas is probably everyone’s favourite Christmas No 2 – it finally reached top of the charts in 2023, 39 years after its initial release. There were some non-festive hits that missed out on the top spot too; Queen’s Radio Ga Ga and Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun being the two most notable. 

Across the Pond

The biggest hit of 1984 in the states was Prince’s When Doves Cry which peaked at No 4 here. Madonna also topped the US charts with Like A Virgin (also No 4 here) and Tina Turner cinched her first and only US No 1 with What’s Love Got to Do With It. Interestingly, Owner of a Lonely Heart by English prog-rock band Yes spent three weeks at the top whilst it  barely made a scratch here (No 28).

The Hit that Got Away

Van Halen’s Jump is one of the most 80s sounding songs in the world and whilst it reached the top in the US, it didn’t get beyond No 7 here. Together in Electric Dreams (Philip Oakey) still gets regular Radio 2 airplay to this day after it peaked at No 3, but my choice for Hit That Got Away is Laura Branigan’s Self Control with her rock vocals, a great guitar riff and catchy bridge only reaching No 5 in the charts.