Celebrated hits from Tina Turner and Blondie precede legendary Pop from Sinitta, Hazell Dean, Tight Fit and Baltimora, before Stars On 45’s salute to ABBA and bringing the disc to a close with UB40’s enduring ‘Red Red Wine’.

It was initially thought this would be temporary, and that the previous NOW Music would resume in early 2017, but the success of the 1980s format saw this retained indefinitely. In 1981, Toyah would become a Top 10 regular, but in 1980 ‘Ieya’ was a huge track on the Independent chart and Sparks enjoyed a European smash with the Giorgio Moroder and Harold Faltermeyer produced ‘When I’m With You’. Bates has continued to present his old radio feature The Golden Hour as a programme on Now 80s, [14] with some episodes billed as Simon Bates' New Golden Hour and others appearing on Now 70s. By 1981, the influence of dance-floor was still felt on the charts and on the 12” singles of the year, but by a huge number of artists enjoying their first hits and across many different genres.

The final side opens with the song that launched one of the defining bands of the era, The Smiths, with ‘Hand In Glove’. Moving on with a selection of songs from some of the greatest female voices of the decade – including Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton, Chaka Khan, Irene Cara and Olivia Newton-John. On 7 November 2021, Now 80s started to show American TV series Fame from the beginning of season one in 1982, with three back-to-back episodes shown on Thursday nights and a repeat on Sunday mornings. On 22 September 2022, Now 80s was added as a streamed channel to Samsung TV Plus, which can be accessed on most Samsung TVs, Smartphones and Tablets, on channel 4717.

Disc 2 kicks off with The Communards’ chart topper ‘Don't Leave Me This Way’ before a string of massive number ones from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Duran Duran, Soft Cell, The Human League, Culture Club and the party staple ‘Come On Eileen’ from Dexys Midnight Runners. Big Audio Dynamite, Julian Cope and XTC are also included before the collection draws to a close with Latin Quarter’s ‘Radio Africa’ – and Scritti Politti’s 1981 single ‘The “Sweetest Girl”’. Sylvester (the extended remix of ‘Do You Wanna Funk’) and Imagination’s ‘Just An Illusion’ in its full 12-inch glory. We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our site, provide personalised content and advertising, analyse our traffic, and ensure you see more of what you love. Disc 3 gets underway with the huge collaboration from Meat Loaf with Cher on ‘Dead Ringer For Love’ and some serious partying with ‘(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right’ from The Beastie Boys.Post-Punk New Wave exploded on to the charts, and The Associates, The Jam, Echo And The Bunnymen, Pretenders, and Siouxsie's side project The Creatures are all included. From 9 until 16 October 2020, NOW 80s rebranded temporarily as LENNON80 to mark what would've been John Lennon's 80th birthday.