Album · Pet Shop Boys
Actually by Pet Shop Boys
Actually is an album by Pet Shop Boys, released in 1987. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 54 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “What Have I Done To Deserve This?”, on 25 lists with a best position of #36.
Actually, Pet Shop Boys' second album, arrived in September 1987 on Parlophone in the UK and EMI Manhattan in North America, and it's synth-pop in a tailored suit: cool, arch, gorgeous and quietly furious. Chris Lowe's keyboards stack up grand, glossy walls of synth, and Neil Tennant, who wrote the lyrics, delivers them in that dry, half-spoken voice that makes every line sound like a raised eyebrow. Shep Pettibone is in the producer credits.
"It's a Sin" is all thunder and melodrama, "Heart" is pure glittering dance-floor pop, and both went to number one. "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" drafts in Dusty Springfield for a duet that sounds like two eras of British pop shaking hands. No other Pet Shop Boys album has sold as well at home, where it went triple platinum on the strength of over a million copies, and the worldwide tally has passed four million.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Actually on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What Have I Done To Deserve This? | 25 | #36 | – | 1987–2021 | |
| 2 | It's a Sin | 23 | #11 | – | 1987–2021 | |
| 3 | Heart | 4 | #33 | – | 1987–1989 | |
| 4 | Rent | 2 | #17 | – | 1987–1988 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.