This week in 1980
1 Xanadu Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra 2 Use It Up and Wear It Out Odyssey
3 Jump To The Beat Stacy Lattisaw
4 Cupid/I’ve Loved You For A Long Time Detroit Spinners 5 Could You Be Loved Bob Marley and the Wailers
6 My Way of Thinking/I Think It’s Going To Rain UB40 7 Babooshka Kate Bush
8 Crying Don McLean
9 Waterfalls Paul McCartney
10 More Than I Can Say Leo Sayer
It’s hard to believe that Electric Light Orchestra, who sold over 50 million records around the world in 13 years of active recording, reached the top of the chart only once in their native UK and in Ireland. While the band’s signature tune ‘Mr Blue Sky’ peaked at 6 in the UK (and a lowly 28 in Ireland) in 1978, their ‘Xanadu’ collaboration with Olivia Newton-John, from the movie of the same name, hit the top spot two years later. It was also one of seven topten hits for ELO in the US. Four-time Grammy winner Olivia NewtonJohn, who has sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide, had already tasted No. 1 success before reaching the top with ‘Xanadu’, thanks to her starring role alongside John Travolta in ‘Grease’. Newton-John and Travolta’s two big duets from the movie, ‘You’re The One That I Want’ and ‘Summer Nights’ were both chart-toppers, helping make that soundtrack one of the biggest sellers in history.