Written by: Duran Duran & John Barry Produced by: Bernard Edwards, Jason Corsaro & Duran Duran South African record label (unless otherwise stated): EMI
Hit number for artist
5
Peak position
4
Weeks
16
Biggest climber awards
2
Star rater climbs
4
Biggest faller awards
2
Top 20 points
131
Overall Top 20 points ranking
=851
Top 20 points ranking for the artist
3
Top 30 Points
269
Overall Top 30 points ranking
=795
Top 30 points ranking for the artist
3
Annual ranking:
1985
=34
Other chart success:
Australia
6
Austria
6
Belgium
2
Canada
1
Denmark
1
France
11
Germany
9
Ireland
2
Netherlands
3
New Zealand
13
Norway
2
Spain
1
Sweden
1
Switzerland
7
UK
2
US
1
Zimbabwe
6
SA Radio charts:
Capital 604
1
Radio 5
1
Radio 702
3
This was the theme tune to the James Bond film of the same name. The story goes that the band’s bassist, John Taylor, who was a big Bond fan, approached the Bond film produced, Cubby Broccoli at a party. Taylor was somewhat inebriated and said, ‘If I give you a fiver, can I write a theme tune please.’ At the time of writing, this has been the only Bond theme to top the US charts. Using a top 20 points basis, the song would be the best performer of the 5 Bond themes that made our charts (6 themes if you include Herb Alpert’s ‘Casino Royale’ the theme to a spoof Bond film starring David Niven). However, using a top 30 points basis, it is beaten into second place by A-ha’s ‘The Living Daylights’.
The best performing Bond theme on our charts – Duran Duran’s A View To A Kill
There were 13 James Bond movies released during the years that the charts ran for. Of those, we saw 6 of the theme tunes make our charts. This includes the non-official ‘Casino Royale’ which starred David Niven as Bond. These 6 were (based on their top 20 points):
Year
Song
Act
Points
1985
A View To A Kill
Duran Duran
131
1987
The Living Daylights
A-ha
123
1981
For Your Eyes Only
Sheena Easton
73
1965
Thunderball
Tom Jones
67
1983
All Time High
Rita Coolidge
61
1967
Casino Royale
Herb Alpert
22
The following Bond themes (looking at films from 19965 to 1989) did not make our charts:
1967 You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra)
1969 We Have All The Time In The World (from ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’) (Louis Armstrong)
1971 Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)
1973 Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney & Wings)
1974 The Man With The Golden Gun (Lulu)
1977 Nobody Does It Better (from ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’) (Carly Simon)
1979 Moonraker (Shirley Bassey)
No Bond Theme made it to the top of our charts.
EUROVISION WINNERS
We had 7 Eurovision Song Competition winners make the charts. These (in top 20 points order) were:
Song
Act
Points
Come What May (Aka Aprés Toi)
Vicky Leandros
321
Waterloo
Abba
223
Puppet On A String
Sandie Shaw
207
Save Your Kisses For Me
Brotherhood Of Man
142
All Kinds Of Everything
Dana
82
Making Your Mind Up
Bucks Fizz
51
What’S Another Year
Johnny Logan
31
There were 3 other songs that made our charts which were entries into the competition but did not win and those were:
Congratulations – Cliff Richard (came 2nd)
Knock, Knock Who’s There – Mary Hopkin (came 2nd)
Beg, Steal Or Borrow – New Seekers (came 2nd)
All 3 of these were the UK’s entry into the contest.
Grammy Song Of The Year
15 of the winners of the Grammy Song of the year made our charts. Again in top 20 points order, these were:
Song
Act
Points
Every Breath You Take
Police
310
We Are The World
USA For Africa
299
What’s Love Got To Do With It
Tina Turner
242
Bette Davis Eyes
Kim Carnes
241
You Light Up My Life
Debby Boone
225
That’s What Friends Are For
Dionne & Friends
217
Just The Way You Are
Billy Joel
189
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simon & Garfunkel
186
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Roberta Flack
168
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
Bobby Mcferrin
156
Games People Play
Joe South
150
I Write The Songs
Barry Manilow
136
What A Fool Believes
Doobie Brothers
111
Killing Me Softly With His Song
Roberta Flack
99
Somewhere Out There
James Ingram & Linda Ronstadt
1
The following were the songs that won the award, but did not make our charts:
1966
The Shadow of Your Smile
Tony Bennett
1967
Michelle
The Beatles
1968
Up, Up, and Away
The 5th Dimension
1969
Little Green Apples
O. C. Smith
1972
You’ve Got a Friend
James Taylor & Carole King
1975
The Way We Were
Barbra Streisand
1976
Send in the Clowns
Judy Collins
1978
Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)*
Barbra Streisand
1981
Sailing
Christopher Cross
1983
Always on My Mind
Willie Nelson
* Shared the award with Debby Boone’s ‘You Light Up My Life’
Oscars
Each year there is an award at the Oscars for the best original song in a film. The award does not note the singer, but in all cases, the charting version was the version which appeared in the film. There were 13 of these songs which made our charts:
Song
Act
Points
You Light Up My Life (from ‘You Light Up My Life’)
Debby Boone
225
Say You, Say Me (from ‘White Nights’)
Lionel Richie
420
I Just Called To Say I Love You (from ‘The Woman In Red’)
Stevie Wonder
390
Up Where We Belong (from ‘An Officer & A Gentleman’)
Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
305
(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life (from ‘Dirty Dancing’)
Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes
304
Flashdance…What A Feeling (from ‘Flashdance’)
Irene Cara
241
Take My Breath Away (from ‘Top Gun’)
Berlin
217
The Morning After (from ‘The Poseidon Adventure’)
Maureen Mcgovern
203
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head (From ‘Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid’)
B.J. Thomas
164
Fame (from ‘Fame’)
Irene Cara
141
Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do) (from ‘Arthur’)
Christopher Cross
126
Born Free (from ‘Born Free’)
Matt Monro
125
The Windmills Of Your Mind (From ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’)
Noel Harrison
65
Those that didn’t make the charts were:
1965 – The Shadow Of Your Smile (from ‘The Sandpiper’)
1967 – Talk To The Animals (from ‘Doctor Doolittle’)
1970 – For All We Know (from ‘Lovers And Other Strangers’)
1971 – The From Shaft (from ‘Shaft’)
1973 – The Way We Were (from ‘The Way We Were’)
1974 – We May Never Love Like This Again (from ‘The Towering Inferno’)
SA Singles Charts 