The Human League (GB)

About

Also known as: Human League, League Unlimited Orchestra, The League Unlimited Orchestra

Few bands can claim a number one on both sides of the Atlantic with the same song, but The Human League pulled it off with "Don't You Want Me" in 1981 and 1982. The Sheffield synth pop group started out as a genuinely experimental electronic act, then pivoted hard after a lineup shake up that brought in singers Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley alongside frontman Philip Oakey. The result was Dare, one of the defining records of the early 1980s. The hits kept coming well into the decade, including "(Keep Feeling) Fascination", "The Lebanon" and "Human", another US number one from 1986. Since the late 1980s the band has essentially been a trio: Oakey, Catherall and Sulley. That core held steady through Octopus in 1995, which delivered their first UK top ten since "Human" with "Tell Me When", and through Credo in 2011. With more than 20 million records sold worldwide, six UK top 20 albums and 13 top 20 singles, they remain one of the most commercially successful electronic acts Britain has ever produced.