1983 in Music

Synth-pop takes over the world.

By 1983, the synthesizer was no longer an outlier — it was the lead instrument in mainstream pop. New Order's 'Blue Monday' became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time, Eurythmics scored a transatlantic number one, and Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' pulled rock and pop into a single video.

Trends of 1983

The second British invasion peaked in the US charts: at one point, more than half the Billboard Top 40 was British. New wave matured into glossy adult-pop. Hip-hop began to break out of New York with Run-DMC's debut single, while gothic rock crystallised around Bauhaus and the Sisters of Mercy.

Key albums

• Power, Corruption & Lies — New Order
• Synchronicity — The Police
• Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) — Eurythmics
• Construction Time Again — Depeche Mode

Key songs

• Blue Monday — New Order
• Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) — Eurythmics
• Every Breath You Take — The Police
• Beat It — Michael Jackson

Artists of 1983

• New Order — Reinvented dance music with 'Blue Monday'.
• Eurythmics — Annie Lennox became the year's most striking pop figure.

Legacy

1983 is the year electronic music became the sound of the mainstream — and the year MTV became fully indispensable to a music career.

All years 1980–1989 · 80s charts by year

Compiled and fact-checked by the RADIO 1980 Editorial Team. Spotted something wrong? Send a correction.