Déjà vu is nothing to be scared of

It's the Gallup UK Top 40 Singles of the Year 1984 - and your chance to download a whopping 7.5% of it! Imagine that!

Times must've been hard, pocket money-wise, in this year, as I only owned three of these on 7" (numbers 1, 15 & 37). I'd just discovered the delights of the compilation album in '84, mind, so subsequently own a lot of the songs here as part of various early Now double LPs (oh, and Hungry For Hits! Anyone remember that?).

Here are the runners and riders in full anyway. (Click on numbers 37, 19 & 12 to download.)

UK TOP 40 BESTSELLERS OF 1984

40 WE ALL STAND TOGETHER - Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus
39 STREET DANCE - Break Machine
38 WOULDN'T IT BE GOOD - Nik Kershaw
37 THAT'S LIVIN' ALRIGHT - Joe Fagin
36 THE WILD BOYS - Duran Duran
35 JOANNA - Kool and the Gang
34 PRIDE (IN THE NAME OF LOVE) - U2
33 AUTOMATIC - Pointer Sisters
32 LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU WELL - Howard Jones
31 I WON'T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON ME - Nik Kershaw
30 THE WAR SONG - Culture Club
29 GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN - Cyndi Lauper
28 SELF CONTROL - Laura Branigan
27 DOCTOR DOCTOR - Thompson Twins
26 WHEN DOVES CRY - Prince
25 TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS - Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakley
24 RADIO GA GA - Queen
23 TIME AFTER TIME - Cyndi Lauper
22 I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER - Jim Diamond
21 THE POWER OF LOVE - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
20 NO MORE LONELY NIGHTS - Paul McCartney
19 HOLE IN MY SHOE - Neil
18 I WANT TO BREAK FREE - Queen
17 WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT - Tina Turner
16 AGAINST ALL ODDS - Phil Collins
15 THE REFLEX - Duran Duran
14 99 RED BALLOONS - Nena
13 WHITE LINES (DON'T DON'T DO IT) - Grandmaster & Melle Mel
12 I FEEL FOR YOU - Chaka Khan
11 LAST CHRISTMAS - Wham!
10 WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO GO - Wham!
9 GHOSTBUSTERS - Ray Parker Jr
8 FREEDOM - Wham!
7 AGADOO - Blacklace
6 HELLO - Lionel Richie
5 CARELESS WHISPER - George Michael
4 TWO TRIBES - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3 RELAX - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
2 I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU - Stevie Wonder
1 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? - Band Aid

So there we have it. 1984 was all - or at least mostly - about Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Wham!. Oh, and Band Aid. Obviously. Amazing to think that enough people bought Culture Club's risible War Song to propel it into the year-end top 30 as well. Nice to see some actual novelty songs riding high in the chart though: Wacky Macca Thumbs Aloft and the Frog Chorus, Neil from the Young Ones and Blacklace's Agadoo. Ahh, Blacklace. They don't make them like that anymore. Mainly because one of them's dead.

Other songs that came out in 1984 but missed the year-end bestsellers list: Seven Seas by Echo & The Bunnymen, Young At Heart by The Bluebells, What Difference Does It Make and Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now by The Smiths, Each And Everyone by Everything But The Girl, Windjammer's Tossing & Turning, the Kane Gang's Closest Thing To Heaven, One Better Day and Michael Caine by Madness and this largely forgotten gem, which Mick is sharing with the world - or at least the music blog-reading bit of it - even as we speak.