This week in 1981
1 Imagine John Lennon
2 Antmusic Adam and the Ants
3 Happy Xmas (War Is Over) John and Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band, with the Harlem Community Choir
4 Do Nothing/Maggie’s Farm The Specials featuring Rico with the Ice Rink String Sounds
5 (Just Like) Starting Over John Lennon
6 Stop The Cavalry Jona Lewie
7 Too Nice To Talk To The Beat
8 Rabbit Chas and Dave
9 De Do Do Do De Da Da Da The Police
10 Flash Queen John Lennon was particularly proud of Imagine, saying he considered it as strong a composition as any he wrote with the Beatles. Neither the buying public nor the critics disagree. The song has sold more than 1.6 million copies in the UK alone, making it Lennon’s best selling single in his homeland. In 2002, a survey by the Guinness World Records British Hit Singles Book ranked it the second best single of all time behind Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. And Rolling Stone ranked ‘Imagine’ No 3 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, behind Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’. First released in 1971, Imagine was reissued following John Lennon’s murder in December 1980, reaching number one in the UK for the first time, and remaining at the top of the chart into the New Year.