These are the Billboard magazine Hot Dance Club Play number one hits of 1981.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!Issue date
!Song
!Artist
|-
|January 3
|rowspan="3"|"Celebration"/"Take It to the Top"
|rowspan="3"|Kool & The Gang
|-
|January 10
|-
|January 17
|-
|January 24
|rowspan="5"|"You're Too Late"
|rowspan="5"|Fantasy
|-
|January 31
|-
|February 7
|-
|February 14
|-
|February 21
|-
|February 28
|rowspan="4"|"Rapture"/"The Tide Is High"
|rowspan="4"|Blondie
|-
|March 7
|-
|March 14
|-
|March 21
|-
|March 28
|rowspan="4"|"Breaking and Entering"/"Easy Money"
|rowspan="4"|Dee Dee Sharp-Gamble
|-
|April 4
|-
|April 11
|-
|April 18
|-
|April 25
|"Your Love"/"You're My Magician"
|Lime
|-
|May 2
|"Lay All Your Love on Me"/"Super Trouper"/"On and On and On"
|ABBA
|-
|May 9
|rowspan="5"|"Paradise"/"Hold Tight"/"Heaven of My Life"
|rowspan="5"|Change
|-
|May 16
|-
|May 23
|-
|May 30
|-
|June 6
|-
|June 13
|rowspan="6"|"Try It Out"/"Hold Tight"
|rowspan="6"|Gino Soccio
|-
|June 20
|-
|June 27
|-
|July 4
|-
|July 11
|-
|July 18
|-
|July 25
|rowspan="3"|"Give It to Me Baby"/"Super Freak"/"Ghetto Life"
|rowspan="3"|Rick James
|-
|August 1
|-
|August 8
|-
|August 15
|rowspan="3"|"I'm in Love"
|rowspan="3"|Evelyn King
|-
|August 22
|-
|August 29
|-
|September 5
|rowspan="3"|"Dancin' the Night Away"
|rowspan="3"|Voggue
|-
|September 12
|-
|September 19
|-
|September 26
|"A Little Bit of Jazz"
|Nick Straker Band
|-
|October 3
|rowspan="2"|"Zulu"
|rowspan="2"|The Quick
|-
|October 10
|-
|October 17
|rowspan="2"|"Do You Love Me"/"The Genie"
|rowspan="2"|Patti Austin
|-
|October 24
|-
|October 31
|rowspan="2"|"Menergy"/"I Wanna Take You Home"
|rowspan="2"|Patrick Cowley
|-
|November 7
|-
|November 14
|rowspan="6"|"Controversy"/"Let's Work"
|rowspan="6"|Prince
|-
|November 21
|-
|November 28
|-
|December 5
|-
|December 12
|-
|December 19
|-
|December 26
|"You Can"/"Fire in My Heart"
|Madleen Kane
|-
|}
See also
- 1981 in music
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
References
- Some weeks may also be found at Billboard magazine courtesy of Google Books: 1980—1984.