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Dead or Alive
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Artist · chart history · #168 in alternative artist polls

Dead or Alive

Band Liverpool United Kingdom Active 1980–2011 UK new wave band

Dead or Alive formed in 1980 in Liverpool, United Kingdom and was active until 2011. Dead or Alive has 64 chart appearances on 44 radio countdowns from 15 stations on RockLists, spanning 1985–2025. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”, which appears on 36 lists with a best position of #6. The station that charted Dead or Alive most often is KROQ (Los Angeles, CA), with 20 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1985.

64appearances
44countdowns
9songs charted
15stations
0#1 finishes
1985–2025years

Dead or Alive were Pete Burns's creation, a Liverpool band that started out in the gloom of post-punk and gothic rock and ended up on dance floors around the world. After a string of indie singles that went nowhere, they signed to Epic in 1983 and got their first chart placement with "Misty Circles" from Sophisticated Boom Boom in 1984, with Steve Coy on drums, Tim Lever on keyboards, Mike Percy on bass and Wayne Hussey on guitar. Hussey soon left for the Sisters of Mercy and later the Mission, but Burns and Coy remained the core for the rest of the band's life.

Youthquake in 1985 was the explosion. "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" was a dizzying, relentless dance-pop whirl with Burns commanding the floor, and it went to number one in the UK, number 11 on the Hot 100 and number one on the American dance chart, with "Lover Come Back to Me", "In Too Deep" and "My Heart Goes Bang" following it out. Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know. added "Brand New Lover", and Nude topped the US dance chart again in 1988 with "Come Home With Me Baby".

Burns died on October 23, 2016, which ended the band for good, and Coy died on May 4, 2018. The big one keeps coming back, though: "You Spin Me Round" charted again in 2006 after Burns appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, and again in 2022 when Stranger Things put it in its fourth season.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

Songs by Dead or Alive on radio countdowns

#SongStrengthListsBest#1sPeak year
1 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
2,027		 36 #6 – 1985
2 Brand New Lover
435		 15 #12 – 1986
3 Lover Come Back to Me
237		 5 #59 – 1985
4 You Spin Me
68		 1 #161 – –
5 My Heart Goes Bang
61		 1 #43 – 1985
6 Come Home With Me Baby
50		 1 #54 – 1989
7 In Too Deep
17		 1 #90 – 1985
8 I'll Do Anything
10		 1 #450 – –
9 Turn Around and Count to Ten
5		 1 #103 – 1988

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.

85 86 88 89

Every countdown appearance

Year#SongCountdown
2025 230 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs
2023 775 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s
2022 161 You Spin Me X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time
2021 637 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s
2009 381 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Live 105 Memorial 500 Song List (2009)
2006 177 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006)
2005 676 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)
2005 1418 Brand New Lover CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)
2005 986 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005)
2004 676 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)
2004 1419 Brand New Lover CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)
2003 676 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)
2003 1419 Brand New Lover CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)
2002 676 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)
2002 1433 Brand New Lover CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)
2001 676 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)
2001 1435 Brand New Lover CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)
2000 674 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)
2000 1434 Brand New Lover CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)
1999 328 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999)
1999 449 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999 137 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999 378 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999)
1999 831 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999 50 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1999)
1999 673 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999 1434 Brand New Lover CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)
1999 6 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Channel 104.9 Top 101 Songs of the '80s (February 1999)
1998 92 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998)
1998 390 Lover Come Back to Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998)
1998 457 Brand New Lover KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998)
1997 85 Artist ranking KROQ Top 106.7 Artists of All-Time (Memorial Day 1997)
1996 164 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996)
1996 308 Lover Come Back to Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996)
1996 309 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996)
1996 484 Brand New Lover Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996)
1995 186 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995)
1994 211 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994)
1994 156 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994)
1994 455 Brand New Lover Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994)
1992 75 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992)
1992 118 Brand New Lover Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1992)
1992 273 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1992)
1991 150 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1991)
1991 194 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)
1990 135 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990)
1990 191 Brand New Lover Live 105 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1990)
1989 54 Come Home With Me Baby Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1989
1989 122 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989)
1989 197 Lover Come Back to Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989)
1989 427 Brand New Lover KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989)
1989 450 I'll Do Anything WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989)
1989 140 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) 91X Top 191 Songs of the 1980s (1989)
1989 44 Artist ranking Live 105 Top 105 Artists of All-Time (1989)
1988 103 Turn Around and Count to Ten KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1988
1988 152 Lover Come Back to Me KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988)
1988 293 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988)
1988 449 Brand New Lover Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988)
1986 12 Brand New Lover KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1986
1985 6 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985
1985 43 My Heart Goes Bang KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985
1985 59 Lover Come Back to Me KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985
1985 90 In Too Deep KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985
1985 15 You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) 91X Top 91 Songs of 1985

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