| TW | LW | Weeks | Song | Artist | |
| 1 | 1 | 7 | Bette Davis Eyes | – | Kim Carnes |
| 2 | 4 | 7 | Kids in America | – | Kim Wilde |
| 3 | 3 | 8 | More and More | – | Joe Dolan |
| 4 | 2 | 5 | Stand and Deliver | – | Adam & The Ants |
| 5 | 7 | 4 | Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart) | – | Ottawan |
| 6 | 8 | 6 | Nightmare | – | Peach |
| 7 | 9 | 6 | When I’m Gone | – | Albert Hammond |
| 8 | 11 | 10 | Do You Feel My Love | – | Eddy Grant |
| 9 | 12 | 4 | Louise (We Get It Right) | – | Jona Lewie |
| 10 | 5 | 9 | In the Air Tonight | – | Phil Collins |
| 11 | New | 1 | Chequered Love | – | Kim Wilde |
| 12 | 6 | 7 | Turn Me Loose | – | Loverboy |
| 13 | 10 | 9 | Angel of the Morning | – | Juice Newton |
| 14 | New | 1 | For Your Eyes Only | – | Sheena Easton |
| 15 | 15 | 3 | Hey You | – | Hey You |
| 16 | 19 | 2 | Tequila Sheila | – | Mac Davis |
| 17 | 17 | 3 | How I Feel Inside | – | Roy Bulkin |
| 18 | 14 | 8 | Hold on to Love | – | Patty Brard |
| 19 | 16 | 5 | Lately | – | Rudy Grant |
| 20 | 13 | 7 | Stars on 45 | – | Star Sound |
Bubbling under (thanks to Kevin Farquhason for the info):
| Maria Tyl | Blue Eyes Crying In Rain (official bubble) |
| Santana | Winning |
| Smokey Robinson | Being With You |
| Pussycat | Then The Music Stopped |
| Mac Davis | It’s Hard To Be Humble |
| Michael Jackson | One Day In Your Life |
| Vangelis | Chariots Of Fire (Titles) |
‘Bette Davis Eyes’ by Kim Carnes enjoyed a 3rd week at the top of the charts, but it had to contend with a new number 2 in the form of Kim Wilde’s ‘Kids In America’ which moved up from 4 to 2, swapping places with Adam & The Ants’ ‘Stand And Deliver’. This was the 17th time we had seen the top 2 spots occupied by solo female artists and only the second time we had seen acts with the same first name being at 1 and 2. The previous time we had acts with the same first name in the top 2 positions was when Neil Diamond was at 1 with ‘Longfellow Serenade’ and Neil Herbert was at 2 with ‘She’s A Woman’.
There were no star raters this week as the biggest climb was only 3 places and there were 3 songs that managed this. The first of these was Eddy Grant’s ‘Do You Feel My Love’ which moved up from 11 to 8. Jona Lewie’s ‘Louise (We Get It Right) climbed from 12 to 9 and Mac Davis’ ‘Tequila Shelia’ moved up from 19 to 16. It was Lewie’s 5th biggest climber overall having manages it once with his first hit, ‘(You’ll Always Find Me In The) Kitchen At Parties’ then twice with ‘Stop The Cavalry’ and now Twice with ‘Louise (We Get It Right)’.
Star Sound’s ‘Stars On 45’ picked up the faller of the week award with a 7 place drop from 13 to 20. This was the tied second highest number of places fallen in a week by a song by a Dutch act. There had been 3 others that had managed it and 1 of those 3, Pussycat’s ‘Mississippi’ had also managed a record for a Dutch act 8 place drop. We would not see a song by a Dutch act fall 7 or more again.
There were 2 songs that left the charts this week, the first of which was the one that had been the oldest in the top 20 for the last 6 weeks and that was David Scobie’s ‘Gypsy Girl’ which had just missed out on 20 weeks in the charts as it had managed 19. It peaked at 5. Of the 25 songs that had managed 19 weeks so far, only Billy Joel’s ‘Just The Way You Are’ which peaked at 6, had a lower highest position. ‘Gypsy Girl’ would be Scobie’s only SA chart hit. His follow up single, ‘Taking The Easy Way Home’, would feature on the ‘Bubbling Under’ show, but never quite make it onto the top 20.
Eddy Grant’s ‘Do You Feel My Love’ took over as the oldest on the charts. It was on 10 weeks and we had to go back to 12 September 1979 to see the last time a song on only 10 weeks was the oldest. On that occasion it was Susan Cadogan’s ‘Hurt So Good’
We also bid farewell to Shakin’ Stevens’ ‘This Ole House’. It had managed a run of 12 weeks and spent 5 of those at the top of the charts., He would see further success on our top 20 with his next hit coming along in a few weeks’ time.
Kim Wilde became the 69th act to see more than 1 hit in the top 20 in the same week and the 12th woman to do so. Her new one was ‘Chequered Love’ which arrived at 11 this week, joining ‘Kids In America’ which, as mentioned above, was at 2. There had only been 2 songs by women that had entered the charts at a record to date highest position of 10 and they were Nancy Sinatra’s ‘These Boots Were Made For Walking’ and Julie Covington’s ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’. ‘Chequered Love’ joined 2 other songs by women in entering the charts at 11. The other 2 were Barbra Streisand’s ‘Mother’ and Marti Webb’s ‘Take That Look off Your Face’. There would only be 1 more song by a woman enter the charts as high as 11 in the top 20 era. As with ‘Kids In America’, ‘Chequered Love’ was written by Kim’s brother Rickki and her father Marty. ‘Chequered Love’ would peak at 4 in the UK and just miss out topping the charts in Belgium, Germany, Holland and Switzerland as it went to number 2 in all 4 of those countries.
Before this week we had only seen 1 song from a James Bond movie make our charts and that was Tom Jones’ ‘Thunderball’. We had also seen Herb Alpert’s theme to the James Bond spoof ‘Casio Royale’ which starred David Niven in the role of Bond. There had been 7 official Bond movies released since ‘Thunderball’ in the interim, but it was only with ‘For You Eyes’ that we saw a theme song make our charts again. Sheena Easton was the artist on the title track to the 12th James Bond movie and this was her second SA chart hit. The song was written by Bill Conti and Michael Leeson and was a first hit for both song writers on our charts. Conti was responsible for the theme tune to the Rocky movies (‘Gotta Fly Now’) but that didn’t make our charts. ‘For Your Eyes Only’ would go to 8 in the UK and 4 in the US as well as topping the charts in The Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. It is the only Bond Theme to date to feature the singer in the opening credits of the movie and one of the few not to have any involvement from John Barry who composed the James Bond Theme heard at the start of all the films.
Peach’s ‘Nightmare’ out did their previous hit, ‘A Lot Of Things’ as it moved up to 6, surpassing their only other hit to date’s peak.
Guyana caught up with Romania for weeks in the charts by acts from those nations with both sitting on 15, but where Guyana had required hits from 2 acts (Eddy Grant and his brother Rudy Grant), Romania’s total was all accumulated by 1 hit by Zamfir, ‘Summer Love (Ete D’Amour)’.
Joe Dolan saw his weeks count move on to 97 and he moved into tied 15th place alongside The Beach Boys on the total weeks count list.
We only had 3 songs on the top 20 that had topped either the UK or US or both charts and they were Kim Carnes’ ‘Bette Davis Eyes’, Adam & The Ants’ ‘Stand And Deliver’ and Star Sound’s ‘Stars On 45’. This was the lowest this total had been since 12 September 1980.
Youtube playlist:
SA Singles Charts 