Skip to content

Artists · Global Music Power

David Sylvian

Charting Jun 25, 1983Mar 27, 1999 · 40 weeks with chart power

Charted in 1 of 2 marketsUK Singles Chart 40 wk

Compare with other artists
Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart combined, weighted · UK Singles Chart data ends Sep 18, 2026 · How it works

Each week an artist's share is the weighted mean of their Power Share across Billboard Hot 100 ×1 and UK Singles Chart ×0.45 (weights ∝ √population, US = 1). The divisor is every chart's weight, so a number one is worth the same share in any era — and a week before every chart exists, or after one's data ends, sums to less than 100.

UK Singles Chart data runs to Sep 18, 2026; later weeks combine the Billboard Hot 100 only, so their shares — and the most recent years' Era Power — are lower than a full week's would be.

Peak Power
0.18%
week of Jun 16, 1984
Career Power
7
share-weeks
Crowns
0
weeks crowned Artist of the Week
Peak Year
4
June 1983 – June 1984
Peak Five Years
6
October 1982 – October 1987
Top-five weeks
0
weeks ranked 1–5
Longevity
40
weeks with chart power
Dominance
0.63%
week of Jun 2, 1984
Comebacks
0
none detected

Ranked by weekly Power Share, part of the ChartReign Power model — not the chart's own positions. How it works →

Exponentially smoothed share of the week's total power (the primary metric).

Songs on the Global Music Power

12 records · 7 share-weeks of Career Power

Power contributed is what each song earned this artist: their weekly Power Share, split across their songs (a featured credit takes its reduced share). Record Power is the song's own figure, the same for every artist on it. Bar length compares songs within this list. On this combined chart each song's figures are its figures on each market, weighted as the chart weights them, so the list still adds up to Career Power; peaks and weeks are shown per market.

SongPeakWeeksPower
Red Guitar#1772.3
Forbidden Colourswith Ryuichi Sakamoto#1691.9
The Ink in the Well#3630.8
Taking the Veil#5340.5
I Surrender#4020.4
Pulling Punches#5620.3
Let the Happiness In#6620.2
Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II)with Ryuichi Sakamoto#5830.2
Words with the Shaman#7220.2
Pop Song#8320.1
Jean the Birdmanwith Robert Fripp#6820.1
Silver Moon#8320.1

30-second previews and store links from Apple Music.

At their peak

David Sylvian's best twelve months on the Global Music Power ran from June 1983 to June 1984. The most powerful artists over those weeks:

  1. 1Culture Club122
  2. 2Lionel Richie113
  3. 3Billy Joel110
  4. 4Michael Jackson105
  5. 5The Police92
  6. 6Duran Duran89
  7. 7Eurythmics84
  8. 8Irene Cara65
  9. 9Elton John62
  10. 10Kool & The Gang57

Ranked by Era Power over the same weeks.