Artist · chart history · #258 in alternative artist polls
ABC
Band Sheffield United Kingdom Formed 1980 English 80s pop group
ABC formed in 1980 in Sheffield, United Kingdom. ABC has 78 chart appearances on 35 radio countdowns from 14 stations on RockLists, spanning 1982–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “The Look of Love”, which appears on 25 lists with a best position of #56. The station that charted ABC most often is KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), with 26 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1985.
ABC stepped out of Sheffield in 1980, having shed their skin as the electronic outfit Vice Versa, and set about making pop music with serious ambition. They were part of the new pop wave that wanted chart glory without giving up the brains, and they mixed synth-pop with disco strut and rock bite. Martin Fry, the band's one constant, fronted a classic lineup with Mark White on guitar and keyboards, Stephen Singleton on saxophone and David Palmer on drums.
The Lexicon of Love in 1982 went to number one in Britain and remains the high-water mark, a run of hits in "Tears are Not Enough", "Poison Arrow", "All of My Heart" and "The Look of Love", with Fry crooning like a matinee idol who's read too much. The records crossed the Atlantic too, making them part of the second British Invasion.
They refused to stand still. Beauty Stab brought "That Was Then But This Is Now", How to Be a... Zillionaire! came with "How To Be A Millionaire", "Be Near Me" and "Vanity Kills", and Alphabet City brought "When Smokey Sings" and "Night You Murdered Love". Up followed in 1989 with "The Real Thing". The hits thinned out after that, but Fry kept the band on the road and eventually delivered The Lexicon of Love II, a sequel to the album that made them.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by ABC on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Look of Love | 25 | #56 | – | 1982 | |
| 2 | Poison Arrow | 19 | #63 | – | – | |
| 3 | Be Near Me | 16 | #18 | – | 1985 | |
| 4 | When Smokey Sings | 5 | #50 | – | 1987 | |
| 5 | Vanity Kills | 2 | #55 | – | 1985 | |
| 6 | How To Be A Millionaire | 2 | #72 | – | 1985 | |
| 7 | All of My Heart | 3 | #755 | – | – | |
| 8 | That Was Then But This Is Now | 2 | #1441 | – | – | |
| 9 | Night You Murdered Love | 1 | #395 | – | – | |
| 10 | Tears are Not Enough | 1 | #1827 | – | – | |
| 11 | The Real Thing | 1 | #1985 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
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