No. 1 in Heaven

After Big Beat and Introducing Sparks sold poorly, Ron and Russell Mael wanted to move in a more electronic direction. They had told a German journalist, a friend of Giorgio Moroder, how much they admired him, and the contact led to the sessions at Moroder's Musicland Studios in Munich. Ron later said they heard I Feel Love on the radio and thought it could be interesting if Russell sang over that kind of cold electronic background. The album dropped guitar, bass guitar and piano. Layered sequencers and synthesizers sat over the drums and percussion of Keith Forsey, and Russell's falsetto was multi-tracked with backing singers.

Virgin released it on 1 March 1979 and Elektra licensed it in the US, the band's only album for that label. La Dolce Vita did not chart, The Number One Song in Heaven reached number 14 in the UK, Beat the Clock reached the UK top ten in July and Tryouts for the Human Race reached number 45. The album spent one week at number 73 in September. UK reviews were mostly negative, with NME's Ian Penman calling Moroder's production essentially irrelevant, but retrospective verdicts were kinder: AllMusic's Fred Thomas gave it five stars and Paste ranked it the 138th greatest album of all time. Joy Division's Stephen Morris said the band were listening to The Number One Song in Heaven while making Love Will Tear Us Apart.