John Peel Festive Fifty 1981
1981 saw the final Festive 50 made up of listeners all-time favourite tracks. Peel may well have made the decision to go for a split chart the following year whilst compiling the 1981 Festive 50, as it had not moved on very much from the 1980 chart. There was a first entry for a notable later chart regular Nick Cave (here with The Birthday Party) and perhaps some rather unexpected pop tunes from Altered Images, Heaven 17 and Pigbag. Other than that, this chart was rather business as usual and crying out for a change of format.
The "FM" column in the list below shows the format the tracks can be collected in. Our preference is always to display the 7" if that version is available, with a 12" single as a second choice. "LP" will appear if the track is LP only. Click any band name to see our full stock list by that artist, or the "In Stock" button to view that specific item.
| # | Item | FM | Info | Stock |
| 1 | Joy Division - Atmosphere | 7" | ||
| 2 | Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK | 7" | ||
| 3 | Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart | 7" | ||
| 4 | New Order - Ceremony | 7" | ||
| 5 | Joy Division - New Dawn Fades | LP | On Album: Unknown Pleasures | |
| 6 | Undertones - Teenage Kicks | 7" | In Stock | |
| 7 | Joy Division - Decades | LP | On Album: Closer | |
| 8 | Cure - A Forest | 7" | In Stock | |
| 9 | Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia | 7" | ||
| 10 | Clash - White Man In Hammersmith Palais | 7" | ||
| 11 | Joy Division - Dead Souls | 7" | B-Side of: Licht Und Blindheit | |
| 12 | Damned - New Rose | 7" | ||
| 13 | Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight | 7" | In Stock | |
| 14 | Joy Division - Transmission | 7" | In Stock | |
| 15 | Altered Images - Dead Pop-Stars | 7" | ||
| 16 | Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster | 7" | In Stock | |
| 17 | Sex Pistols - Holidays In The Sun | 7" | In Stock | |
| 18 | Clash - Complete Control | 7" | ||
| 19 | Birthday Party - Release The Bats | 7" | In Stock | |
| 20 | Undertones - Get Over You | 7" | ||
| 21 | Specials - Ghost Town | 7" | ||
| 22 | Scritti Politti - The Sweetest Girl | 7" | In Stock | |
| 23 | Jam - Going Underground | 7" | In Stock | |
| 24 | Stiff Little Fingers - Johnny Was | LP | On Album: Inflammable Material | |
| 25 | Theatre Of Hate - Legion | 7" | ||
| 26 | PIL - Public Image | 7" | In Stock | |
| 27 | Killing Joke - Requiem | 7" | ||
| 28 | Killing Joke - Follow The Leaders | 7" | ||
| 29 | Heaven 17 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang | 7" | In Stock | |
| 30 | Fall - Fiery Jack | 7" | ||
| 31 | Ruts - In A Rut | 7" | ||
| 32 | Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device | 7" | In Stock | |
| 33 | Fall - How I Wrote Elastic Man | 7" | In Stock | |
| 34 | Laurie Anderson - O Superman | 7" | In Stock | |
| 35 | Siouxsie & The Banshees - Jigsaw Feeling | LP | On Album: The Scream | In Stock |
| 36 | B-Movie - Remembrance Day | 7" | ||
| 37 | Siouxsie & The Banshees - Israel | 7" | In Stock | |
| 38 | Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen | 7" | In Stock | |
| 39 | Pigbag - Papa's Got A Brand-New Pigbag | 7" | ||
| 40 | Siouxsie & The Banshees - Icon | LP | On Album: Join Hands | |
| 41 | Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet | 7" | ||
| 42 | Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles | 7" | ||
| 43 | Joy Division - Twenty-Four Hours | LP | On Album: Closer | |
| 44 | Joy Division - Isolation | LP | On Album: Closer | |
| 45 | Killing Joke - Pssyche | 7" | B-Side of: Wardance | |
| 46 | Echo & The Bunnymen - Over The Wall | 7" | ||
| 47 | Fall - Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul | 7" | ||
| 48 | New Order - Procession | 7" | In Stock | |
| 49 | Siouxsie & The Banshees - Switch | LP | On Album: The Scream | In Stock |
| 50 | Altered Images - Happy Birthday | 7" | In Stock |
