| "Uptown Top Ranking" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Althea & Donna | ||||
| B-side | "Calico Suit" | |||
| Released | 1977 | |||
| Genre | Reggae | |||
| Length | 3:53 | |||
| Label | Lightning | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Joe Gibbs | |||
| Althea & Donna singles chronology | ||||
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| Official audio | ||||
| "Uptown Top Ranking" on YouTube | ||||
"Uptown Top Ranking" is a song by Jamaican teenage singers Althea Forrest and Donna Reid, recorded when they were 17 and 18 years old respectively.[1] Released in 1977, the song comprises the girls ad-libbing to deejay track "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity. The lyrics were written by the duo and Errol Thompson.[1][2] It was produced by Joe Gibbs,[1] using a re-recording of the riddim of the 1967 Alton Ellis song "I'm Still in Love", which had already been re-popularised in the 1970s by Marcia Aitken's cover "I'm Still in Love With You Boy", and "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity, to which "Uptown" was an "answer record".[3]
The record was initially recorded as a joke. It was accidentally played by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel resulting in numerous requests for additional plays.[4] With early championing by Peel and a performance on Top of the Pops, it soon became a surprise hit, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart in February 1978.[1] The track spent a total of 11 weeks in the charts. Althea & Donna became the youngest female duo to reach the number-one spot on the UK chart.[2]
- ^ a b c d Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 188. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ^ a b Roberts, David (2001). British Hit Singles (14th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 47. ISBN 0-85156-156-X.
- ^ Colin Larkin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9, p.10-11
- ^ "One-Hit Wonders at the BBC". ... at the BBC. 17 April 2015. BBC. BBC Four.