Song · UB40
“One In Ten” by UB40
From the album Present Arms (1981)
“One In Ten” by UB40 appears on 5 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1999 and 2002. It was first released in 1981 on the album Present Arms. Its best result is #795 on the WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,094 alternative song of all time.
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"One in Ten" is UB40 at their angriest, a dole-queue protest pulled from their second album, Present Arms, and released as a single on DEP International in July 1981. The title is a statistic: roughly one worker in ten was claiming unemployment benefit around the band's West Midlands home that summer, when the song was cut. It aims squarely at Margaret Thatcher as joblessness and inequality climbed, then widens the lens to poverty, hunger, suicide, drug addiction and homelessness around the world.
All eight members share the writing credit, and Ray "Pablo" Falconer produced it with the band. It gave UB40 their fourth top-ten hit at home, peaking at No. 7 on the UK chart, and in Britain it came paired as a double A-side with "Present Arms in Dub".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 1492 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 1492 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1492 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2001 | 795 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2002 | 1490 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
Also listed as: One in Ten.
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