Artist · chart history
Level 42
Band Isle of Wight United Kingdom Formed 1980
Level 42 formed in 1980 in Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. Level 42 has 12 chart appearances on 11 radio countdowns from 7 stations on RockLists, spanning 1986–2025. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Something About You”, which appears on 8 lists with a best position of #108. The station that charted Level 42 most often is CFNY 102.1 The Edge (Toronto, ON), with 3 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1987.
Level 42 came off the Isle of Wight playing jazz-funk with pop ambitions, and by the mid-'80s they had turned that tight, slippery groove into a hit machine. Mark King and Mike Lindup were at the heart of it, with Boon Gould and Phil Gould also in the ranks.
Their sound is sleek and busy at the same time: popping, rubbery basslines, crisp keyboards, bright harmonies and choruses built for daytime radio, the kind of sophisticated pop that sounded made for a convertible. "Something About You" was their biggest hit in America, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Lessons in Love" did even better at home, going to number three in the UK and number 12 in the States, and the album Running in the Family followed in 1987 with its title track in tow.
Then came the reshuffles. Alan Murphy and Gary Husband passed through the ranks as the lineup shifted, and as the music changed with it their profile faded in the early '90s. The band broke up in 1994 and got back together in 2001.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Level 42 on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Something About You | 8 | #108 | – | – | |
| 2 | Lessons In Love | 3 | #15 | – | 1986 | |
| 3 | Running in the Family | 1 | #22 | – | 1987 |
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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