The eighties – hate them or love them, but they’re surely hard to ignore. Eighties fashion, typical 80’s bands and 80’s hairstyles – even those who are too young to remember get drawn into this crazy decade as 80’s music is still popular all over the world.
In 1983, the 80’s music style that was just breaking through in earlier years had made quite some inroads. To be listed in the Top 20 hit list of 1983 below, bands could be from anywhere in the world but the songs had to fulfill all of the following criteria:
- Be pop or dance songs – not rock, R&B or any other genre;
- exemplify the 80’s music style: be fresh, bold and full of spunk (not purely instrumental songs);
- artists were chosen only among 80’s bands, with the eighties being the decade of their biggest hits;
- only one hit song per 80’s solo artist or band was included per year for variety sake.
Eighties Movies, 80’s TV Shows and Other Events of 1983
To really get the feel for a decade, let alone a year, it makes sense to take a look at related areas like movies, TV shows and world events. 1983 was surely an exciting year: Michael Jackson’s music video for the song “Thriller” aired for the first time and went on to become the most famous and most often repeated music video of all times.
1983 was also the year of Flashdance, Star Wars IV: Return of the Jedi, James Bond: Octopussy, Staying Alive, Local Hero, Monty Python’s Meaning of Life and Scarface, among others. On TV, the final episode of M*A*S*H aired, Fraggle Rock, Hotel and the A-Team had their debuts, the popular show Wheel of Fortune was going on and the first episode of The Black Adder was aired.
Other earth-shattering events of 1983 were:
- Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano started erupting on January 3 and is still flowing as of today.
- Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie was arrested in Bolivia and charged with war crimes.
- Björn Borg retired from his tennis career.
- Nintendo went on sale in Japan and Microsoft Word was released.
Top 20 Eighties Songs in 1983
There were quite a few hit songs in 1983 that are popular until today like “Beat It,” “Down Under” and “Our House” (which many think are not 80’s songs at all), “Relax” (don’t do it!) and “Love Is a Battlefield.” After the Fire’s “Der Kommissar” remained a one-hit wonder, like so many 80’s songs, which is why it makes sense to list them alphabetically by title rather than by band.
- “Africa” – Toto
- “Beat It” – Micheal Jackson
- “Come on Eileen” – Dexy’s Midnight Runners
- “Der Kommissar” – After the Fire
- “Down Under” – Men at Work
- “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” – Culture Club
- “Flashdance…What a Feeling” – Irene Cara
- “Hungry like the Wolf” – Duran Duran
- “Let’s Dance” – David Bowie
- “Love Is a Battlefield” – Pat Benatar
- “Our House” – Madness
- “Relax” – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
- “Safety Dance” – Men without Hats
- “Say It Isn’t So” – Hall & Oates
- “Sexual Healing” – Marvin Gaye
- “She Blinded Me with Science” – Thomas Dolby
- “She Works Hard for the Money” – Donna Summer
- “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” – Eurythmics
- “Too Shy” – Kajagoogoo
- “Uptown Girl” – Billy Joel
One can easily see how TV and movie pop culture influenced the 80’s songs and vice versa and, in fact, continues to do so – who could forget 80’s hits like “Come On Eileen,” “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” and, in the rock genre, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”?
For more ultimate 80’s hits like “Tainted Love” or “The Tide Is High,” check the previous years from 1980 to 1982 or find out about the following years, 1984 and 1985!
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