Album · Joy Division
Closer by Joy Division
Closer is an album by Joy Division, released in 1980. 6 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 18 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Isolation”, on 8 lists with a best position of #38.
Closer, Joy Division's second and final studio album, came out on Factory Records on 18 July 1980. Martin Hannett produced it at Britannia Row Studios with the Salford four-piece: Ian Curtis singing and writing the words, Bernard Sumner on guitar and keyboards, Peter Hook on bass and Stephen Morris on drums. It was recorded two months before Curtis died by suicide in May 1980 and released two months after, which is impossible to forget while it plays.
Hannett's production is all cold air and hollow space, Morris's drums clanging like machinery in an empty hall, Hook's bass prowling underneath, Sumner's keyboards spreading a chill over everything. "Atrocity Exhibition" lurches in jagged unease, "Isolation" rides a brittle synth pulse, and "The Eternal" and "Decades" move at a slow, funereal hush. It reached number 6 in Britain and is now counted among the defining records of post-punk. The surviving members carried on as New Order.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Closer on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isolation | 8 | #38 | – | 1981–2021 | |
| 2 | Decades | 3 | #7 | – | 1980–1982 | |
| 3 | Twenty Four Hours | 4 | #23 | – | 1980–2003 | |
| 4 | Atrocity Exhibition | 1 | #621 | – | 2024 | |
| 5 | The Eternal | 1 | #48 | – | 1982 | |
| 6 | A Means to an End | 1 | #1946 | – | 2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.