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Cover of This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get by Public Image Ltd.
Cover: This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get

Song · Public Image Ltd.

“This is Not a Love Song” by Public Image Ltd.

From the album This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get (1984)

“This is Not a Love Song” by Public Image Ltd. appears on 28 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 1983 and 2021. It was first released in 1984 on the album This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get. Its best result is #12 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1983. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #35 alternative song of 1983, #900 alternative song of all time and #404 of the '80s.

28countdowns
9stations
#12best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1983–2021years charted

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This Is Not a Love Song

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"This Is Not a Love Song" was Public Image Ltd's 1983 single and the biggest commercial hit the post-punk band ever had, a title that doubles as a sneer at every chart record around it. John Lydon, Keith Levene and Martin Atkins wrote it, and Lydon and Atkins produced and mixed it themselves, so there's no outside polish: just a bass-heavy, circling groove with Lydon's nasal sneer riding on top.

It lived several lives. A 12-inch remix showed up as "Love Song" on Commercial Zone, and the band cut it again, this time with a horn section, for their fourth studio album, This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get.

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

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1983 96 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1983 107
1983 72 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1983 91
1983 12 John Peel (BBC Radio 1) John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1983 50

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1988 229 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) 496
1988 78 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 200 Songs of All-Time (1988) 200
1989 371 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) 500
1991 374 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) 500
1991 997 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) 1002
1999 482 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 291 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 300
1999 908 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 752 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
2000 959 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 939 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2002 939 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 989 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 924 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2003 664 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2004 924 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 924 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2007 1123 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 1112 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 1132 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 995 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 965 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 983 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 978 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2021 562 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s 909

Also listed as: This Is Not A Love Song; This is not a Love Song; This Is Not a Love Song.

Charting alongside it in 1983

Best songs of 1983 →
  1. 1New Year's DayU2
  2. 2Let's DanceDavid Bowie
  3. 3The LovecatsThe Cure
  4. 4Every Breath You TakeThe Police
  5. 5Rebel YellBilly Idol
  6. 6In a Big CountryBig Country

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