1980 in British music
This is a summary of 1980 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
Events
- unknown date – John Rutter is made an honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton.
- 1 January - Cliff Richard is appointed an MBE by Elizabeth II.
- 16 January - Paul McCartney is arrested in Tokyo for possession of a half pound of marijuana. The remaining part of McCartney's tour has to be cancelled.
- 25 January - Paul McCartney is released from a Japanese jail and ejected from the country by Japanese authorities.
- 8 February - David Bowie and his wife of nearly 10 years, Angie, file for divorce. Bowie gets custody of their 9-year-old son, Zowie
- 30 April - The Roger Daltrey film, McVicar, opens in London.
- 18 May - Ian Curtis, vocalist of pioneering post-punk group Joy Division, hangs himself in his Macclesfield home. His death comes just days before Joy Division are scheduled to begin their first U.S. tour.
- 16 September - Kate Bush becomes the first British female artist to reach No.1 in the album charts.
- 20 September - Ozzy Osbourne's breakthrough debut album Blizzard of Ozz is released in the UK.
- 25 November - ABBA score the last of their nine number one singles in the UK Charts.
- December - Duran Duran signs with EMI after finalizing its lineup and touring as a support act for Hazel O'Connor.
- 4 December - Led Zeppelin disbands following the death of drummer John Bonham.
- 8 December - John Lennon is shot dead outside his apartment building in New York City. His latest single, " Starting Over", subsequently becomes a number one hit.
Pop music
Charts
Number-one singles
Number-one albums
Year-end charts
The tables below include sales between 31 December 1979 and 31 December 1980: the year-end charts reproduced in the issue of Music Week dated 27 December 1980 and played on Radio 1 on 4 January 1981 only include sales figures up until 6 December 1980.Best-selling singles
| Title | Artist | Peak position | |
| 1 | "Don't Stand So Close to Me" | 1 | |
| 2 | "Woman in Love" | 1 | |
| 3 | "Feels Like I'm in Love" | 1 | |
| 4 | "Super Trouper" | ABBA | 1 |
| 5 | "D.I.S.C.O." | Ottawan | 2 |
| 6 | "The Tide Is High" | Blondie | 1 |
| 7 | "Geno" | Dexys Midnight Runners | 1 |
| 8 | "Together We Are Beautiful" | 1 | |
| 9 | "Coward of the County" | 1 | |
| 10 | " Starting Over" | 1 | |
| 11 | "Working My Way Back to You" | 1 | |
| 12 | "9 to 5" | 3 | |
| 13 | "Baggy Trousers" | Madness | 3 |
| 14 | "Ashes to Ashes" | 1 | |
| 15 | "Theme from M*A*S*H " | MASH | 1 |
| 16 | "Going Underground"/"Dreams of Children" | 1 | |
| 17 | "Crying" | 1 | |
| 18 | "The Winner Takes It All" | ABBA | 1 |
| 19 | "Dance Yourself Dizzy" | Liquid Gold | 2 |
| 20 | "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" | St Winifred's School Choir | 1 |
| 21 | "Atomic" | Blondie | 1 |
| 22 | "Upside Down" | 2 | |
| 23 | "Use It Up and Wear It Out" | Odyssey | 1 |
| 24 | "Start!" | 1 | |
| 25 | "Master Blaster " | 2 | |
| 26 | "Funkytown" | Lipps Inc. | 2 |
| 27 | "I'm in the Mood for Dancing" | 3 | |
| 28 | "If You're Lookin' for a Way Out" | Odyssey | 6 |
| 29 | "One Day I'll Fly Away" | 2 | |
| 30 | "The Special AKA Live!" EP | 1 | |
| 31 | "What You're Proposing" | Status Quo | 2 |
| 32 | "Take That Look Off Your Face" | 3 | |
| 33 | "No Doubt About It" | Hot Chocolate | 2 |
| 34 | "Stop the Cavalry" | 3 | |
| 35 | "Brass in Pocket" | Pretenders | 1 |
| 36 | "Oops Up Side Your Head" | 6 | |
| 37 | "What's Another Year" | 1 | |
| 38 | "Xanadu" | /Electric Light Orchestra | 1 |
| 39 | "Special Brew" | Bad Manners | 3 |
| 40 | "King"/"Food for Thought" | UB40 | 4 |
| 41 | "And the Beat Goes On" | 2 | |
| 42 | "Turning Japanese" | 3 | |
| 43 | "When You Ask About Love" | Matchbox | 4 |
| 44 | "I Could Be So Good for You" | with the Dennis Waterman Band | 3 |
| 45 | "My Girl" | Madness | 3 |
| 46 | "Never Knew Love Like This Before" | 4 | |
| 47 | "Enola Gay" | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | 8 |
| 48 | "Call Me" | Blondie | 1 |
| 49 | "More Than I Can Say" | 2 | |
| 50 | "Embarrassment" | Madness | 4 |
Best-selling albums
| Title | Artist | Peak position | |
| 1 | Super Trouper | ABBA | 1 |
| 2 | Zenyatta Mondatta | 1 | |
| 3 | Greatest Hits | Rose Royce | 1 |
| 4 | Guilty | 1 | |
| 5 | Pretenders | Pretenders | 1 |
| 6 | Reggatta de Blanc | 2 | |
| 7 | Flesh and Blood | Roxy Music | 1 |
| 8 | Manilow Magic: The Best of Barry Manilow | 4 | |
| 9 | Off the Wall | 6 | |
| 10 | Duke | Genesis | 1 |
| 11 | Sky 2 | Sky | 1 |
| 12 | Double Fantasy | and Yoko Ono | 2 |
| 13 | One Step Beyond... | Madness | 2 |
| 14 | 12 Gold Bars | Status Quo | 3 |
| 15 | String of Hits | 1 | |
| 16 | The Last Dance | Various Artists | 1 |
| 17 | Greatest Hits Vol. 2 | ABBA | 1 |
| 18 | Outlandos d'Amour | 9 | |
| 19 | The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits | Boney M. | 1 |
| 20 | Scary Monsters | 1 | |
| 21 | Greatest Hits | Dr. Hook | 2 |
| 22 | Tell Me on a Sunday | 2 | |
| 23 | Absolutely | Madness | 2 |
| 24 | Not the Nine O'Clock News | Not the Nine O'Clock News Cast | 5 |
| 25 | Tears and Laughter | 1 | |
| 26 | Signing Off | UB40 | 2 |
| 27 | Never for Ever | 1 | |
| 28 | The Wall | Pink Floyd | 3 |
| 29 | The Specials | 4 | |
| 30 | I Just Can't Stop It | 3 | |
| 31 | Greatest Hits | 1 | |
| 32 | Give Me the Night | 3 | |
| 33 | Get Happy!! | and the Attractions | 2 |
| 34 | Me Myself I | 5 | |
| 35 | Bat Out of Hell | Meat Loaf | 20 |
| 36 | McCartney II | 1 | |
| 37 | Emotional Rescue | 1 | |
| 38 | Back in Black | AC/DC | 1 |
| 39 | Peter Gabriel | 1 | |
| 40 | Eat to the Beat | Blondie | 7 |
| 41 | Autoamerican | Blondie | 3 |
| 42 | Parallel Lines | Blondie | 15 |
| 43 | Hotter than July | 2 | |
| 44 | Sometimes You Win | Dr. Hook | 14 |
| 45 | Wheels of Steel | Saxon | 5 |
| 46 | The Game | Queen | 1 |
| 47 | Sound Affects | 2 | |
| 48 | Kings of the Wild Frontier | Adam and the Ants | 3 |
| 49 | Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds | 32 | |
| 50 | Breaking Glass | 5 |
Classical music: new works
- George Benjamin - Ringed by the Flat Horizon
- Lennox Berkeley - Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, Op.99
- Harrison Birtwistle - Clarinet Quintet
- Jonathan Harvey - Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco
- Alun Hoddinott - The Heaventree of Stars
- Robert Simpson - String Quartet No. 8
- Malcolm Williamson - Ode for Queen Elizabeth
Opera
- Peter Maxwell Davies
- *Cinderella
- *The Lighthouse
- William Mathias - The Servants
Musical theatre
- Suburban Strains, book and lyrics by Alan Ayckbourn with music by Paul Todd
Births
- 1 January - Richie Faulkner, rock guitarist
- 29 March - Andy Scott-Lee, singer
- 4 April - Johnny Borrell, singer and musician with Razorlight
- 12 April - Brian McFadden, Irish singer
- 29 April - Kian Egan, Irish singer
- 8 May - Michelle McManus, singer and TV presenter
- 28 May - Mark Feehily, Irish singer
- 23 June - Jessica Taylor, singer
- 29 June - Katherine Jenkins, soprano
- 7 July - Fyfe Dangerfield, singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 19 July - Michelle Heaton, singer
- 28 July - Noel Sullivan, pop singer
- 19 August - Darius Danesh, singer-songwriter and actor
- 5 September - Kevin Simm, singer
- 6 September - Kerry Katona, TV presenter and pop star
- 3 October - Danny O'Donoghue, Irish singer-songwriter
- 15 December - Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist with Kasabian
- date unknown - Catrin Finch, harpist
Deaths
- 25 January - Queenie Watts, actress and singer, 53
- 18 February - Muriel Brunskill, operatic contralto, 80
- 19 February - Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC, 33
- 4 May - Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, pianist, 60
- 18 May - Ian Curtis, musician and singer, 23
- 5 July - A. J. Potter, composer
- 6 July - Frank Cordell, composer, arranger and conductor, 62
- 25 September - John Bonham, drummer, 32
- 30 September - Horace Finch, pianist and organist, 74
- 27 October - Steve Peregrin Took, bongo player for Tyrannosaurus Rex, frontman for Shagrat and Steve Took's Horns, solo artist, 31
- 8 December - John Lennon, singer, songwriter, and guitarist, 40