Entering the UK Albums Chart on 2 October 1980, and spending 71 weeks on the chart, their debut album, Signing Off (1980), the title of which signalling the band was signing off from (ending) their claim for unemployment benefits, eventually went Platinum in the UK.
UB40's popularity in the US was established with the release of Labor of Love (1983), an album of cover songs. The album reached 1 on the UK Albums Chart and 8 on the Billboard 200 in the US, most notably featuring the track Red Red Wine, a cover version of a Neil Diamond song that, alone, stayed on the charts for over 100 weeks. Present Arms (1981), UB44 (1982), Labor of Love (1983), Geffery Morgan (1984), Baggariddim (1985) and Rat in the Kitchen (1986) followed.
In 1986, UB40 performed at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert. In 1987 Ray "Pablo" Falconer, producer of UB40 music, died in a car crash. His brother, Earl Falconer, the band's bassist, was driving with nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. Earl was sentenced to six months imprisonment in June 1988 and banned from driving for three years.
UB40's most successful worldwide single release was their reggae/pop version of (I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You, also the title of the 1993 Sharon Stone movie Sliver; it was a number one hit across Europe and in the US.
After the release of UB40 (1988), Labor of Love II (1989), Promises and Lies (1993), Guns in the Ghetto (1997), Labor of Love III (1998), Cover Up (2001), Homegrown (2003) and Who You Fighting For? (2005), January 2008 saw Campbell leaving due to management and business disputes. Virtue also left shortly after citing the same issues, Duncan Campbell replacing him.
Their next album, TwentyFourSeven, (2008), UB40's last with their classic lineup, by way of a free insert in The Mail newspaper on Sunday 4 May 2008. The newspaper sold nearly three million copies that led to a backlash when the full 17-track version was released 21 June 2008, and most of the big retailers refused to stock it. As a result, it failed to reach the Top 75 in the UK. Labor of Love IV (2010) would be the first with new lead singer Duncan Campbell. It wouldn't be his last for Getting Over the Storm (2013) and For the Many (2019) would follow.