Tag Archives: Jona Lewie

Off The Chart: 28 December 1980

Off The Chart: 28 December 1980

After the excitement of Christmas we’re back to normal on this week’s Off The Chart and, inconveniently, we’ve landed on 1980 where there was no chart published at all in the week after Christmas. Nevertheless we can still bring you two hours of obscure, forgotten and half-remembered hits, plus three of the week’s big albums, a look at what was happening away from the chart, a hit from New Zealand where they seem to still be counting, and the top five singles in full.

  • Whose second hit on the singles chart was absolutely not a single?
  • Which ’70s hitmaker scored their only UK hit album this week?
  • And whose first top 40 hit spent five consecutive weeks at number 33?

Tune in and find out!


Listen to Off The Chart on Mad Wasp Radio at 9pm every Tuesday! You can stream Mad Wasp Radio via their website, their apps for iOS or Android, or through TuneIn and MyTuner, or ask your smart speaker to “play Mad Wasp Radio” – and don’t forget to tweet along using the hashtag #OffTheChart. If you’re not around, you can hear the show again on Mad Wasp Radio at 10am on Friday, or catch up on Mixcloud after that.

Get the Extended Mix!

If you enjoy Off The Chart but find it’s just not long enough, why not join us on Patreon or Mixcloud Select? For a small monthly subscription you get access to the exclusive Extended Mix of the show every week with bonus 12″ mixes, additional chatter and the week’s top ten singles in full!

Our subscribers also get access to exclusive shows including Further Off The Chart in which we play some of the records that come up in conversation on the regular shows. You can even download shows to listen offline in the Mixcloud app! Please consider backing us – we really appreciate it and your subscription allows us to keep producing a new episode every single week.

Spotify playlists

If you’ve missed a previous edition they’re all on our Mixcloud page, or for a taster of the music we play, listen to our Spotify playlist Way Off The Chart including one track from each show!

We also have a Spotify playlist for our #ICEOTWF feature, including all (well, most) of the international hits we’ve played since the feature began in March 2017. There are all sorts of oddities in here, all of which were hits somewhere in the world but not in the UK!

Off The Cards

Off The Cards

We asked, you answered, we spent ages with an abacus and several pads of paper, and now we can reveal the twenty most popular Christmas hits of the ’80s – for this year, anyway. This year’s Off The Chart Christmas … read more

Off The Chart: 9 June 1980

Off The Chart: 9 June 1980

Come back a full four decades to revisit this day in 1980 on this week’s Off The Chart! There’s the usual batch of obscure and forgotten hits, three of the week’s big new albums, a round-up of the day’s events, … read more

Off The Rooftops

Off The Rooftops

Join us on Mad Wasp Radio at 5pm on Christmas Day for Off The Rooftops, the 2019 Off The Chart Christmas Special in which we reveal the results of our 2019 poll to find your favourite ’80s Xmas Hits! We’ll … read more

Mixcloud Select: Now That’s What You Might, Hypothetically, Have Called Music II

Now That's What You Might, Hypothetically, Have Called Music II

Our ongoing alternate universe series of Now albums that never existed carries on with this Virtual Double LP or Cassette. Using the same template as the real world Now albums – two records or cassettes, 7 or 8 tracks per … read more

Off The Sleigh: the Off The Chart Christmas Special 2017

Off The Sleigh

Remember voting for your favourite ’80s Christmas hits back in November? Finally Steve and Julian can reveal the results in this special festive edition of Off The Chart! Find out how your favourites fared as we count down all twenty-two … read more

Off The Chart: 9 December 1980

Off The Chart: 9 December 1980

We’re going all the way back to 1980 on Off The Chart to take in one of the most depressing days in musical history. That’s just the way the dates fall. But never mind, it makes the featured album very … read more

Off The Chart: 17 June 1981

Off The Chart: 17 June 1981

We’re taking on the chart from this week in 1981 with two hours of hits, history and hilarity! Steve and Julian play some of the forgotten hits from the week’s singles chart, three tracks from a featured album, a hit … read more

Off The Chart: 24 December 1980

Off The Chart: 24 December 1980

All the way back to 1980 this week on Off The Chart for one of the least festive charts imaginable. As Britain faces up to rising unemployment, Christmas without John Lennon and a lorryload of inedible poultry, join Steve and … read more

Off The Chart: 28 May 1980

Off The Chart: 4 June 1985

Every Saturday in our podcast-style-radio-show-thing Off The Chart, Steve Binnie and Julian Sparrow look at the chart from the corresponding week in one of the ’80s years and play the songs you don’t normally hear on a chart rundown. They … read more