On this day in history (March 7, 1983), New Order released the single Blue Monday which would later become the number one selling 12″ record of all time. The single featured some of Peter Saville’s most original work, consisting of a die-cut sleeve resembloing a 5.25″ floppy disk. The cover doesn’t contain any words but rather, a code in the form of coloured blocks that when deciphered, lists the artist, song and label information. The key that can be used to decipher the code is printed on the back sleeve of Power, Corruption and Lies. The cost of producing the floppy-based sleeve was so much that the single originally lost money.

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Videos

Blue Monday 88

Blue Monday Original Video

Blue Monday Top Of The Pops

Charts

Peaked at #5 on the US Billboard dance club chart

Peaked at #1 on the UK Indie Chart

B-sides and Versions

Blue Monday was released in a variety of formats featuring a number of b-sides depending on the pressing. The b-sides include