Official Top 40 best-selling songs of 1985

The biggest songs of 1985 revealed, including Jennifer Rush, Madonna and A-ha.

1985 saw the release of several now-iconic songs, but the biggest of them all that year was power ballad The Power Of Love by Jennifer Rush.

The US singer's track, which she co-wrote, took its time to reach the summit, entering at Number 97 in June that year and hitting Number 1 in October, spending five weeks at the top.

The Power Of Love managed the feat of passing the landmark 1 million UK sales that year, totalling 1.2 million, making it 1985's best-selling single - as revealed on new Channel 5 series Britain's Favourite 80s Songs.

1985 saw one of the most historic events in music history, Live Aid, which was held in July as the follow-up to last year's charity single Do They Know It's Christmas? - 1984's best-selling track (and still performing well into 1985, placing 14th on the year-end chart). Acts including Queen, U2 and The Who performed to audience estimated at 1.9 billion, raising £150 million to help famine in Ethiopia.

The single and event inspired several more charity releases, many of which topped the Official Chart. April saw the release of We Are The World by USA For Africa, a collective of stars including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Diana Ross and Tina Turner. The two-week Number 1 ranks as the 35th best-seller of 1985.

Another was David Bowie and Mick Jagger's cover of Dancing In The Street, which ranks sixth with 661,000 sales, while supergroup The Crowd - featuring Bruce Forsyth, Tony Christie and Rick Wakeman - are at 26 with a cover of football anthem You'll Never Walk Alone, released in trubute to victims of a fire at Bradford stadium in May.

Other big singles in 1985 include Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson's duet I Know Him So Well, finishing at Number 2 (843k), while Madonna makes two appearances; at Number 3 with four-week chart-topper Into The Groove (793k) and Crazy For You at Number 16.

Paul Hardcastle's massive five-week Number 1 smash 19 - controversial for its strong anti-war message around America's involvement in the Vietnam War - places fourth (785k), and Sister Sledge's Frankie, a track which saw them reunite with Chic's Nile Rodgers, rounds out the Top 5 (698k).

Official Top 40 best-selling songs of 1985

POS	TITLE	ARTIST	PEAK
1	THE POWER OF LOVE	JENNIFER RUSH	1
2	I KNOW HIM SO WELL	ELAINE PAIGE AND BARBARA DICKSON	1
3	INTO THE GROOVE	MADONNA	1
4	19	PAUL HARDCASTLE	1
5	FRANKIE	SISTER SLEDGE	1
6	DANCING IN THE STREET	DAVID BOWIE AND MICK JAGGER	1
7	MOVE CLOSER	PHYLLIS NELSON	1
8	A GOOD HEART	FEARGAL SHARKEY	1
9	TAKE ON ME	A-HA	2
10	LOVE & PRIDE	KING	2
11	I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS	FOREIGNER	1
12	EASY LOVER	PHILIP BAILEY (DUET WITH PHIL COLLINS)	1
13	AXEL F	HAROLD FALTERMEYER	2
14	DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?	BAND AID	1
15	I GOT YOU BABE	UB40 AND CHRISSIE HYNDE	1
16	CRAZY FOR YOU	MADONNA	2
17	SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU	WHITNEY HOUSTON	1
18	SOLID	ASHFORD AND SIMPSON	3
19	YOU SPIN ME ROUND (LIKE A RECORD)	DEAD OR ALIVE	1
20	THERE MUST BE AN ANGEL (PLAYING WITH MY HEART)	EURYTHMICS	1
21	I'M YOUR MAN	WHAM!	1
22	TRAPPED	COLONEL ABRAMS	3
23	CHERISH	KOOL AND THE GANG	4
24	EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD	TEARS FOR FEARS	2
25	MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE	SHAKIN' STEVENS	1
26	YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE	THE CROWD	1
27	IF I WAS	MIDGE URE	1
28	NIKITA	ELTON JOHN	3
29	DANCING IN THE DARK	BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN	4
30	1999/LITTLE RED CORVETTE	PRINCE	2
31	HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO	BONNIE TYLER	1
32	KAYLEIGH	MARILLION	1
33	LAST CHRISTMAS/EVERYTHING SHE WANTS	WHAM!	2
34	A VIEW TO A KILL	DURAN DURAN	2
35	WE ARE THE WORLD	USA FOR AFRICA	1
36	LEAN ON ME (AH-LI-AYO)	RED BOX	3
37	PART-TIME LOVER	STEVIE WONDER	3
38	MONEY FOR NOTHING	DIRE STRAITS	4
39	DON'T BREAK MY HEART	UB40	3
40	WE CLOSE OUR EYES	GO WEST	5