Major releases
Michael Jackson's Thriller, the highest-selling album of all time, as well as the best-selling album of 1983 and 1984, was released in 1982 and began to have major chart success the following year. The album spawned seven hit singles and stayed on the US and UK charts for over two years. Jackson was nominated for ten Grammy Awards, of which he won eight: seven album Thriller, and the other for the song "Someone in the Dark" featured in the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Thriller paved the way for countless other African-American artists' music to be aired on radio and MTV. To date, Thriller has sold over 104 million copies. Jackson follow-up hit album Bad was released in 1987.
Head over Heels by the Cocteau Twins sold poorly upon its initial release but is considered one of the most influential albums of 1983citation needed. In the ensuing years, the album's eclectic assortment of alternative rock, New Wave and synth pop influences became a cornerstone of later alternative rock groups, most especially in the United Kingdom, where the Cocteau Twins' mix of airy textures and breathless vocals (dream pop) mutated into genres like twee pop, space rock and shoegazing, and eventually hit mainstream success with a psychedelic-influenced form, Britpop.
Quiet Riot's Metal Health was enormously popular in 1983. The lead single, "Cum on Feel the Noize" (cover of Slade) was also a huge hit, #5 Billboard, and set the stage for the mainstream success of later glam metal bands like Poison. Other landmark rock/metal albums released in this year include Def Leppard's Pyromania, Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, Mercyful Fate's Melissa, Dio's Holy Diver, Accept's Balls to the Wall, Metallica's Kill 'em all, Slayer's Show No Mercy, Ozzy Osbourne's Bark at the Moon and Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil.
The country music legend Kenny Rogers recorded his 23rd studio album We've Got Tonight, which was his last album for Liberty Records. He signed to RCA for a guaranteed sum of no less than $20 million for 6 albums, the biggest record deal of all-time up to that point. His earnings for those recordings amounted to even more, but no details have been made public. Rogers' RCA debut included his duet with Dolly Parton, "Islands in the Stream", which would become one of the biggest records of the year.
Some other releases from 1983 deserve special mention:
- The Police's Synchronicity was their final release together before breaking up, and was enormously popular, including one of their more popular songs, "Every Breath You Take"
- Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) was their breakthrough success, and included their signature tune, the title track
- Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil was their breakthrough, and included "Looks That Kill", though they would go on to greater popular and critical success in the later part of the decade after recovering from the shock of member Vince Neil's near-fatal car accident
- Nena releases "99 Luftballons" and its English version, "99 Red Balloons", generating her fame in the English-speaking world
- Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones was his first album for Island Records, and the first in a series of three thematically and stylistically linked albums that established him as a critical success and cult favorite
- New Order's Power, Corruption & Lies was the second since forming from the ashes of Joy Division (after the suicide of Ian Curtis) and the first to achieve critical or popular success. In some countries the album included the best-selling 12" record of all time, "Blue Monday"
- Duran Duran scored hits from three separate albums in this year (Rio, the reissue of Duran Duran, and Seven and the Ragged Tiger)
- Merle Haggard began a run of chart success in this year, which continued for about two years. His duet album with Willie Nelson, Pancho & Lefty, was an enormous critical and popular success and did much to revitalize the careers of both entertainers, especially with the hit title track
- Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood was more popular than any blues album since the late 1960s, and did much to establish country-blues as a commercially viable genre
- George Strait's Right or Wrong sold extremely well, and was a pivotal album in the development of the honky tonk revival during the rest of the decade.
- The first Now That's What I Call Music! was released, starting the long-running compilation series in the UK
- Metallica and Slayer kicked off the thrash metal era with Kill 'Em All and Show No Mercy.
- R.E.M's first full-length album Murmur was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year.
- The Carpenters' Voice of the Heart was released after Karen Carpenter's untimely death which contains material from some of her last recording sessions, as well as previously unreleased tracks from sessions over the years.
- The Depeche Mode single "Everything Counts" achieve a great popularity and is considered the first industrial Pop music.
Events
Bands formed
Bands disbanded
Bands reformed
Albums released
- Country (music group) Atlanta releases 'Atlanta Burned Again Last Night' on independent MDJ Records. Song breaks into the top ten in Billboard's Country Charts.citation needed
Biggest hit singles
The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1983.
| # |
Artist |
Title |
Year |
Country |
Chart Entries |
| 1 |
Michael Jackson |
"Billie Jean" |
1983 |
 |
UK 1 - January 1983, US BB 1 - January 1983, US BB 1 of 1983, Canada 1 - February 1983, Switzerland 1 - March 1983, Éire 1 - March 1983, Australia 1 for 5 weeks February 1984, Holland 2 - January 1983, Sweden (alt) 2 - March 1983, France 2 - January 1983, US CashBox 3 of 1983, Austria 3 - April 1983, Poland 3 - February 1983, Germany 3 - March 1983, Australia 4 of 1983, RYM 4 of 1983, POP 4 of 1983, Norway 6 - April 1983, Italy 8 of 1983, South Africa 15 of 1983, 15 in 2FM list, Scrobulate 16 of pop, Global 33 (5 M sold) - 1983, Acclaimed 33, Europe 40 of the 1980s, Party 53 of 2007, Rolling Stone 58, Germany 139 of the 1980s, OzNet 249, WXPN 620 |
| 2 |
Irene Cara |
"Flashdance... What a Feeling" |
1983 |
|
US BB 1 - April 1983, US CashBox 1 of 1983, Canada 1 - May 1983, Sweden (alt) 1 - May 1983, France 1 - July 1983, Switzerland 1 - June 1983, Norway 1 - June 1983, Italy 1 of 1983, New Zealand 1 for 6 weeks July 1983, Australia 1 for 5 weeks May 1984, Oscar in 1983, UK 2 - June 1983, Australia 2 of 1983, POP 3 of 1983, Austria 4 - August 1983, Germany 4 - June 1983, US BB 6 of 1983, Japan 7 of all time (international songs), South Africa 9 of 1983, Holland 13 - April 1983, Poland 21 - July 1983, Scrobulate 31 of gay, AFI 55, Germany 57 of the 1980s, RYM 121 of 1983, OzNet 243, RIAA 256 |
| 3 |
David Bowie |
"Let's Dance" |
1983 |
 |
UK 1 - March 1983, US BB 1 - April 1983, Canada 1 - March 1983, Holland 1 - March 1983, Sweden (alt) 1 - April 1983, France 1 - March 1983, Switzerland 1 - April 1983, Norway 1 - March 1983, Éire 1 - April 1983, New Zealand 1 for 6 weeks April 1983, Austria 2 - May 1983, Germany 2 - April 1983, US CashBox 4 of 1983, Poland 5 - April 1983, KROQ 6 of 1983, US BB 15 of 1983, Italy 19 of 1983, Australia 24 of 1983, RYM 32 of 1983, Scrobulate 40 of 80s, POP 47 of 1983, Germany 172 of the 1980s, Belgium 258 of all time, Acclaimed 1445 |
| 4 |
The Police |
"Every Breath You Take" |
1983 |
|
UK 1 - May 1983, US BB 1 - June 1983, Canada 1 - May 1983, Éire 1 - June 1983, US CashBox 2 of 1983, Sweden (alt) 2 - June 1983, Norway 2 - June 1983, KROQ 3 of 1983, Poland 5 - June 1983, South Africa 5 of 1983, Holland 6 - May 1983, Switzerland 6 - July 1983, Austria 8 - August 1983, Germany 8 - June 1983, France 10 - May 1983, Australia 10 of 1983, Italy 10 of 1983, Virgin 12, Scrobulate 13 of 80s, US BB 16 of 1983, RYM 16 of 1983, Europe 33 of the 1980s, Acclaimed 38, OzNet 38, RIAA 44, POP 49 of 1983, Poland 68 of all time, TheQ 76, Rolling Stone 84, 90 in 2FM list, Belgium 110 of all time, WXPN 216 |
| 5 |
Culture Club |
"Karma Chameleon" |
1983 |
|
UK 1 - September 1983, US BB 1 - December 1983, Canada 1 - December 1983, Holland 1 - September 1983, Sweden (alt) 1 - October 1983, Switzerland 1 - October 1983, Norway 1 - October 1983, Éire 1 - September 1983, New Zealand 1 for 6 weeks October 1983, Australia 1 for 5 weeks July 1984, Austria 3 - November 1983, Germany 3 - January 1984, South Africa 7 of 1984, Poland 8 - September 1983, Australia 8 of 1983, US CashBox 14 of 1984, POP 15 of 1984, Italy 16 of 1983, KROQ 25 of 1983, US BB 29 of 1984, RYM 49 of 1983, Scrobulate 71 of 80s, Germany 159 of the 1980s, OzNet 979 |
Top hits on record
- See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1983
Published popular music
Classical music
Opera
Musical theater
Musical films
Musical television
Births
- January 19 - Hikaru Utada, singer and songwriter
- March 14 - Jordan Taylor Hanson, Hanson
- March 19 - Ana Rezende, Cansei de Ser Sexy
- March 29 - Luiza Sá, Cansei de Ser Sexy
- May 11 - Holly Valance
- June 30 - Cheryl Tweedy, member of Girls Aloud
- June 30 - Patrick Wolf,singer/songwriter
- July 2 - Michelle Branch, The Wreckers
- July 11 - Marie Serneholt, A*Teens
- August 18 - Mika, British Singer
- September 14 - Amy Winehouse, English singer
- September 17 - Jennifer Peña
- October 29 - Amit Paul, A-Teens
Deaths
- January 28- Billy Fury, singer dies of Myocardial infarction (heart attack).
- February 4 - Karen Carpenter, singer, cardiac arrest due to anorexia nervosa
- February 12 - Eubie Blake (100), pianist
- February 22 - Sir Adrian Boult, conductor
- March 6 - Cathy Berberian, singer and composer
- March 7 - William Walton, British composer
- April 4 - Danny Rapp, Danny and the Juniors, gunshot wound
- April 14 - Pete Farndon, the Pretenders, drug overdose
- April 30
- May 23 - George Bruns, film composer
- June 2 - Stan Rogers, musician
- June 25 - Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian composer
- July 5 - Harry James, bandleader
- July 23 - Georges Auric, composer, member of Les Six
- November 7 - Germaine Tailleferre, composer, only female member of Les Six
- November 19 - Tom Evans, bassist of the rock group Badfinger.
- December 28 - Dennis Wilson, member of the Beach Boys
Awards
Grammy Awards
Country Music Association Awards
Eurovision Song Contest
Charts
List of No. 1 Hits
See also:
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