Yesterday radio 2 did a motown at 50 special. The top 30 all time biggest selling Motown singles in the UK to date.

I was a little surprised when I saw the chart at some of the entrants with many I would have thought being there missing You can listen again HERE

THE CHART

1 I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder

2 Hello - Lionel Richie

3 One Day In Your Life - Michael Jackson

4 Three Times A Lady - Commodores

5 Being With You - Smokey Robinson

6 All Night Long (All Night) - Lionel Richie

7 I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye

8 Baby Love - Supremes

9 I Want You Back - Jackson Five

10 Happy Birthday - Stevie Wonder

11 Upside Down - Diana Ross

12 End Of The Road - Boyz II Men

13 Master Blaster (Jammin') - Stevie Wonder

14 The Tears Of A Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

15 Reach Out I'll Be There - Four Tops

16 What Becomes Of The Brokenheated - Jimmy Ruffin

17 Under The Boardwalk - Bruce Willis

18 I'm Still Waiting - Diana Ross

19 Lately - Stevie Wonder

20 Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder

21 Part Time Lover - Stevie Wonder

22 Where Did Our Love Go - Supremes

23 I'll Be There - Jackson Five

24 I've Never Been To Me - Charlene

25 Nightshift - Commodores

26 Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday - Stevie Wonder

27 Stoned Love - The Supremes

28 With You I'm Born Again - Billy Preston & Syreeta

29 Indiana Wants Me - R. Dean Taylor

30 Easy - Commodores

Edited January 2, 200916 yr by chalky

Was a touch surprised meself!

Knew the 60's motown stuff was underground at the time, but on those figures it must've been bloody sub - terranean!!

Paul

Was a touch surprised meself!

Knew the 60's motown stuff was underground at the time, but on those figures it must've been bloody sub - terranean!!

Paul

what surprised me the most was there wasn't one record from the Temptations, one of, if not the greatest group of all time (IMO of course)

29 Indiana Wants Me - R. Dean Taylor

Everytime I hear this I think is this realy Motown...

I have to say that this list is an absolute travesty.......Charlene only number 24?????????

I have to say that this list is an absolute travesty.......Charlene only number 24?????????

Just wondering how many Motown fans have all these records in their collections???

C'mon hands up.

Ok I'll go first.

Kev

Just listening to this on iplayer whist at work.

Disappointing that some classics don't make the Top 30 but it's on sales I understand.

Just goes to show that many of the Motown tunes loved on the Northern Soul/Soul scene were not best sellers, which is pretty much in line with everything else we love!!!!!!

KTF.

Drew.

Tonight on Radio 2 at 7pm Richard Allinson and Steve Levine celebrate the 50th anniversary of Motown with a look at the individuals and teams who helped to establish the record label as 'The Hit Factory'.

Richard Allinson is standing in for Ken Bruce this week and he said this morning that during tonight's show he will be playing some tracks from Motown that have never been on the radio before

From listening to radio 2 this month there will be plenty of shows which celebrate the history of Motown to coincide with the 50th birthday celebrations.

Edited January 2, 200916 yr by chalky

Can't say i'm surprised. The top 5 are all crappy ballads that always do well in the charts. Just goes to show how commercial Motown really was at the end of the day. It was always a business aimed at producing 'hits' from day one and nothing wrong with that. The Hit Factory has been used since to describe a similar outfit...