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All-time countdown · John Peel (BBC Radio 1) · December 30, 1980

John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1980)

The all-time countdown (December 30, 1980) from John Peel (BBC Radio 1) ranks 50 songs, with “Anarchy in the U.K.” by The Sex Pistols at number one. The list features 20 different artists; Joy Division has the most entries with seven songs.

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John Peel (BBC Radio 1)station
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Listener poll of all-time favourite tracks (not restricted to 1980 releases). Peel's full typed list ran to 65 records, with numbers 51-65 available by post only; only the top 50 were broadcast on air (22-30 December 1980), and only those are included here.

# Song ListsBest
1 Anarchy in the U.K. The Sex Pistols 85 #1
2 Atmosphere Joy Division 21 #1
3 Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division 120 #1
4 Down in the Tube Station at Midnight The Jam 10 #4
5 White Man In Hammersmith Palais The Clash 22 #3
6 Holiday In Cambodia Dead Kennedys 47 #6
7 Teenage Kicks The Undertones 16 #2
8 New Rose The Damned 23 #8
9 Alternative Ulster Stiff Little Fingers 7 #6
10 Transmission Joy Division 19 #10
11 Public Image Public Image Ltd. 17 #9
12 Holidays In The Sun The Sex Pistols 8 #11
13 Going Underground The Jam 17 #7
14 Decades Joy Division 3 #7
15 Complete Control The Clash 9 #2
16 Johnny Was' Stiff Little Fingers 4 #15
17 Get Over You The Undertones 4 #12
18 A Forest The Cure 58 #4
19 In A Rut The Ruts 4 #11
20 New Dawn Fades Joy Division 4 #4
21 Totally Wired The Fall 3 #21
22 She's Lost Control Joy Division 20 #20
23 Pretty Vacant The Sex Pistols 21 #6
24 Suspect Device Stiff Little Fingers 7 #4
25 God Save the Queen The Sex Pistols 63 #3
26 How I Wrote 'Elastic Man' The Fall 3 #24
27 Wasted Life Stiff Little Fingers 2 #18
28 Another Girl, Another Planet The Only Ones 10 #17
29 Love Song The Damned 3 #22
30 Kings of the Wild Frontier Adam & the Ants 3 #30
31 California Uber Alles Dead Kennedys 10 #31
32 Gangsters (Specials, 1979) 2 Tone The Specials 1 #32
33 Poptones Public Image Ltd. 1 #33
34 Careering Public Image Ltd. 2 #34
35 Requiem Killing Joke 4 #27
36 Psyche Killing Joke 3 #34
37 Jigsaw Feeling Siouxsie and the Banshees 5 #35
38 Fiery Jack The Fall 2 #30
39 Armagideon Time The Clash 2 #39
40 Where's Captain Kirk? Spizzenergi 1 #40
41 Twenty Four Hours Joy Division 4 #23
42 Smash It Up The Damned 3 #42
43 Treason The Teardrop Explodes 2 #43
44 Switch Siouxsie and the Banshees 5 #38
45 Icon Siouxsie and the Banshees 3 #40
46 Bank Robber The Clash 2 #46
47 Hong Kong Garden Siouxsie and the Banshees 7 #22
48 White Riot The Clash 18 #15
49 Rowche Rumble The Fall 2 #40
50 Damaged Goods Gang of Four 7 #23

About this countdown

John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1980) was voted by John Peel (BBC Radio 1)’s listeners in December 30, 1980. Positions are shown exactly as the station ranked them; artist and song names have been standardized so that every entry links to that song’s complete chart history across all stations. It counts toward the Alternative & Modern Rock rankings.

Source: John Peel Wiki (Fandom), "1980 Festive Fifty".

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