New Order’s Iconic ‘Blue Monday’ Celebrates 40th Anniversary
The iconic 12” single Blue Monday celebrates its 40th Anniversary today, 7 March 2023. Written and produced by New Order and released on the legendary label Factory, the seminal track has continued to enthrall fans and influence generations of musicians and creatives since release in 1983.
Buy Blue Monday apparel and art at the official New Order store.
Blue Monday reached the Top 10 in the UK charts, spent a total of 38 weeks in the Top 75 and is the biggest-selling 12” single of all time with worldwide sales of +3 Million. Designed by Peter Saville, the unique cover sleeve, resembling a 5 ¼ floppy disk with coloured code strip which when deciphered reads the artist, track and label information, became an instant classic and equally revered as the music itself.
In addition to the huge commercial success on release, the track has been sampled, covered and remixed by many of the worlds biggest stars including Rihanna on Shut Up And Drive, Kylie Minogue on Can’t Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head, Quincy Jones’ Blue Monday 88 and even inspired fashion designer Raf Simons’ A/W 2019 collection, achieving an almost unparalleled status in contemporary culture.
Blue Monday has also soundtracked a multitude of high profile film releases, video games and advertising campaigns in recent years, including House Of Gucci, Ready Player One, Atomic Blonde, Wonder Woman 1984, the Call of Duty game series and Yves Saint Laurent, in the process introducing it to whole new audience forty years after its original release.
In January, New Order also New Order have released a new T-shirt based on the sleeve design of their classic single Blue Monday in support of mental health charity CALM.
A statement on the New Order website reads, “Available for a limited time only, legendary Factory Records graphic designer Peter Saville has designed a limited edition T-shirt in aid of suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) featuring the iconic design from New Order’s momentous track – Blue Monday.
“Using the colour code that featured on the 12 inch sleeve and video, the T-shirt carries the message ‘16th January’ – a nod to the myth that has now become widely regarded as the most depressing day of the year – Blue Monday.”
Buy Blue Monday apparel and art at the official New Order store