This is a list of 100 "alternative pop" songs from the 1980s, ranked in alphabetical order by artist, with only one song per artist. This list generally only includes songs that were major or minor hit songs on radio stations.  Have any suggestions or corrections for this list?  Send Alaska Jim an email.

1. ABC – Poison Arrow
2. After The Fire – Der Kommissar
3. A-Ha – Take On Me
4. Adam Ant – Goody Two Shoes
5. Alphaville – Big In Japan
6. Art Of Noise - Paranoimia
7. Bananarama – Venus
8. Berlin – The Metro
9. B-52’s – Rock Lobster
10. Big Audio Dynamite – V. Thirteen
11. Big Country – In A Big Country
12. Bow Wow Wow – I Want Candy
13. Boys Don’t Cry – I Wanna Be A Cowboy
14. Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
15. Cars – You Might Think
16. Church – Under The Milky Way
17. Clash – Rock The Casbah
18. Elvis Costello – Everyday I Write The Book
19. Culture Club – Karma Chameleon
20. Cure – In Between Days (Without You)
21. Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died In Your Arms
22. Dead Or Alive – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
23. Depeche Mode – Just Can’t Get Enough
24. Devo – Whip It
25. Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
26. Divinyls – Pleasure And Pain
27. Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science
28. Duran Duran – Rio
29. Erasure – A Little Respect
30. Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
31. Fixx – One Thing Leads To Another
32. A Flock Of Seagulls – I Ran (So Far Away)
33. Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
34. Frida – I Know There’s Something Going On
35. Gene Loves Jezebel – Jealous
36. General Public – Tenderness
37. Go-Go’s – We Got The Beat
38. Haircut One Hundred – Love Plus One
39. Herbie Hancock – Rockit
40. Corey Hart – Sunglasses At Night
41. Murray Head – One Night In Bangkok
42. The Hooters – And We Danced
43. Human League – Don’t You Want Me
44. Icicle Works – Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)
45. INXS – The One Thing
46. Jo Boxers – Just Got Lucky
47. Kajagoogoo – Too Shy
48. Katrina & The Waves – Walking On Sunshine
49. Laid Back – White Horse
50. Level 42 – Something About You
51. Limahl – Never Ending Story
52. Love & Rockets – So Alive
53. Madness – Our House
54. Mary Jane Girls – In My House
55. Men At Work – Down Under
56. Men Without Hats – The Safety Dance
57. Missing Persons – Words
58. Modern English – I Melt With You
59. The Moody Blues – Your Wildest Dreams
60. Motels – Suddenly Last Summer
61. Naked Eyes – Always Something There To Remind Me
62. The Nails – 88 Lines About 44 Women
63. Nena – 99 Luftballons
64. New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
65. Gary Numan – Cars
66. Oingo Boingo – Dead Man’s Party
67. O.M.D. – If You Leave
68. Outfield – Your Love
69. Pet Shop Boys – What Have I Done To Deserve This?
70. Pretenders – Don’t Get Me Wrong
71. Primitives – Crash
72. Psychedelic Furs – Love My Way
73. Real Life – Send Me An Angel
74. Red Box – Lean On Me (Ah-Li-Ayo)
75. R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe
76. Scandal featuring Patty Smyth – The Warrior
77. Peter Schilling – Major Tom (Coming Home)
78. Scritti Politti – Perfect Way
79. Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Love Missle F1-11
80. Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)
81. Slade – Run Runaway
82. Sly Fox – Let’s Go All The Way
83. Smiths – How Soon Is Now
84. Soft Cell – Tainted Love
85. Taco – Puttin’ On The Ritz
86. Talk Talk – It’s My Life
87. Talking Heads – Wild Wild Life
88. Tears For Fears – Shout
89. Thompson Twins – Lies
90. Tom Tom Club – Genius Of Love
91. Tubes – She’s A Beauty
92. The Vapors – Turning Japanese
93. Wall Of Voodoo – Mexican Radio
94. When In Rome – The Promise
95. Kim Wilde – Kids In America
96. Matthew Wilder – Break My Stride
97. Woodentops – Good Thing
98. Yaz – Situation
99. Yello – Oh Yeah
100. Frank Zappa – Valley Girl
 

 
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