Artist · chart history
New Model Army
Band Bradford United Kingdom Formed 1980 80s punk/goth rock
New Model Army formed in 1980 in Bradford, United Kingdom. New Model Army has 4 chart appearances on 4 radio countdowns from 3 stations on RockLists, spanning 1984–1991. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “51st State”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #233. The station that charted New Model Army most often is Live 105 (San Francisco, CA), with 2 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1990.
New Model Army came roaring out of Bradford in 1980, founded by Justin Sullivan on vocals and guitar with Stuart Morrow on bass and Phil Tompkins on drums. Tompkins was gone within the year, Rob Waddington took over the drums, and Robert Heaton joined in 1982, and it was Sullivan's lyrics, flipping between political fury, spiritual searching and the deeply personal, that became the band's calling card.
They are a band that refuses to sit in one box. There's punk at the root, but you can hear folk, soul, metal and even classical creeping in, and the records sound like a street protest with a poet at the microphone. Vengeance, in 1984, set the tone with its bristling title track, and The Ghost of Cain in 1986 brought "51st State", a stomping, fist-in-the-air broadside. The New Model Army EP in 1987 carried "White Coats", and by Impurity in 1990, with "Purity" on board, the lineup included Ed Alleyne-Johnson on electric violin.
Players have come and gone ever since, but Sullivan has never left, and the current lineup still has him up front with Dean White, Michael Dean and Ceri Monger.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by New Model Army on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 51st State | 1 | #233 | – | – | |
| 2 | White Coats | 1 | #529 | – | – | |
| 3 | Purity | 1 | #82 | – | 1990 | |
| 4 | Vengeance | 1 | #43 | – | 1984 |
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.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 529 | White Coats | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) |
| 1990 | 82 | Purity | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1990 |
| 1988 | 233 | 51st State | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) |
| 1984 | 43 | Vengeance | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1984 |
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