The Jamaica Observer‘s Entertainment Desk continues with the 34th of its biweekly feature looking at seminal moments that have helped shape Jamaica over the past 60 years.

Considered nothing more than a novelty song when it was released in the summer of 1977, Uptown Top Ranking became a massive hit in Jamaica that year. By early 1978 the catchy single by teenagers Althea and Donna was number one in the United Kingdom.

Produced by Joe Gibbs, Uptown Top Ranking was driven by the music of Alton Ellis’ timeless I’m Still in Love With You, recorded at Studio One a decade earlier. That song and rhythm had made a comeback through Marcia Aitken’s I’m Still in Love With You Boy and Three Piece Suit by Trinity when schoolgirls Althea Forrest and Donna Reid recorded their song on the timeless beat.

At the time, Gibbs’ studio was red-hot. He had Dennis Brown, Culture, Trinity and George Nooks in his camp, all of whom had songs in the Jamaican charts.

Uptown Top Ranking added to that success. It was a summer hit in Jamaica, but it was not until late 1977 that it took off in the UK where reggae artistes Dave and Ansel Collins (Double Barrel), John Holt (1,000 Volts of Holt), Ken Boothe (Everything I Own) and Junior Murvin (Police And Thieves) had significant pop chart success in the previous six years.

It was not until John Peel, a top disc jockey at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) gave it power play that Uptown Top Ranking took off in a country still caught up in the rebellious punk movement.

In a 2020 interview with the Jamaica Observer, Reid said the song was inspired by her and Forrest’s middle-class background.

“We understood that we were speaking about the fact that we were uptown folks who had a story and wanted to be a part of the fabric and culture of our music,” she said.

Uptown Top Ranking went number one in the UK in February 1978. An album of the same name was released by Frontline Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records that year.

Still a favourite on oldies radio and at retro parties in Jamaica and the UK, Uptown Top Ranking was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 200,000 units in late 2020.