Communards is the debut album by The Communards, released in 1986 on London Records. The album was produced by Mike Thorne, who had previously produced lead singer Jimmy Somerville's earlier band, Bronski Beat. Although the singles released ahead of the album were only moderately successful, the first single to be lifted from it after release, "Don't Leave Me This Way", was number one in the UK for four weeks and was the top-selling single in the UK that year. During the single's four-week run at number one, the album itself reached a chart peak of number seven, going on to spend a total of 45 weeks in the UK Albums Chart.