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[ThePensmith]

THEPENSMITH'S CHART OF THE YEAR: THE TOP 40 SINGLES OF 2019
© AM Limited 2019

1. MARK RONSON FEAT. LYKKE LI - Late Night Feelings (#1, May)



2. SHAWN MENDES FEAT. CAMILA CABELLO - Senõrita (#2, July)
3. PEPPA PIG - Bing Bong Zoo (#1, December)
4. LITTLE MIX - One I've Been Missing (#1, December)
5. MARK RONSON FEAT. CAMILA CABELLO - Find U Again (#1, August)
6. DUA LIPA - Don't Start Now (#1, November)
7. JONAS BROTHERS - Sucker (#1, March)
8. HIMESH PATEL - Yesterday (#1, July)
9. MCFLY - Touch the Rain (#1, September)
10. JODIE WHITTAKER - Yellow (#1, November)

11. P!NK - Walk Me Home (#1, March)
12. NIALL HORAN - Nice To Meet Ya (#1, October)
13. NOW UNITED - Legends (#1, November)
14. MABEL - Mad Love (#1, June)
15. JULIA MICHAELS FEAT. NIALL HORAN - What A Time (#1, February)
16. LITTLE MIX - Bounce Back (#1, June)
17. ALPHABEAT - I Don't Know What's Cool Anymore (#1, September)
18. OLLY MURS - Talking To Yourself / That Girl (#1, July)
19. NOW UNITED - All Day (#1, January)
20. CAMILA CABELLO - Liar (#2, September)

21. JONAS BROTHERS - Cool (#2, June)
22. OLLY MURS - Feel the Same (#3, April)
23. THE VERONICAS - Think of Me (#1, April)
24. DJ SPOONY PRESENTS GARAGE CLASSICAL FEAT. SUGABABES - Flowers (#1, October)
25. MABEL - Don't Call Me Up (#2, March)
26. ALPHABEAT - Shadows (#5, March)
27. NOW UNITED - Párana / Beautiful Life (#1, June)
28. AVICII FEAT. ALOE BLACC - SOS (#2, May)
29. COLDPLAY - Orphans / Arabesque (#1, November)
30. JP COOPER FEAT. ASTRID S - Sing It With Me (#2, July)

31. BUSTED - Radio (#1, February)
32. NOW UNITED FEAT. BADSHAH - How We Do It (#2, March)
33. WESTLIFE - Hello My Love (#2, January)
34. CRAIG DAVID - When You Know What Love Is (#2, June)
35. BASTILLE - Can't Fight This Feeling (#4, November)
36. WESTLIFE - Better Man (#2, April)
37. CALL ME LOOP - Self Love (#4, July)
38. NIALL HORAN - Put A Little Love On Me (#3, December)
39. LOS UNIDADES FEAT. PHARRELL WILLIAMS & JOZZY - E-Lo (#1, January)
40. MARK RONSON FEAT. YEBBA - Don't Leave Me Lonely (#3, November)

Compiled from my personal listening on physical, streaming and digital formats across the 52 chart weeks covering Friday 28th December 2018 - Thursday 26th December 2019. Figures in brackets indicate song's peak position and the month it reached that peak.

END OF YEAR COMMENTARY



(From L-R) Topping our charts in 2019: Mark Ronson, Little Mix and Jonas Brothers

After several sluggish years, for fans of slightly faster moving chart action it is a pleasure to report that things have sped up once again on my personal chart. And the stats don't lie - last year, a total of 28 different singles took turns at the top of my chart - the largest such amount for almost five years, when 30 different records took turns at the top in 2014. That's also nearly double the total of number one records - 15 - from 2018.

And coming up trumps to beat them all and claim the year's biggest single on my chart was of course 'Late Night Feelings', the mammoth six week chart topper from May by Mark Ronson featuring Lykke Li. It is the first time either Ronson or his collaborator, Swedish singer-songwriter Li have had the year's biggest single. Ronson previously finished at #7 in our top 10 for 2007 with 'Valerie', his #2 cover of The Zutons' hit with Amy Winehouse, whilst Li's previous biggest hit ('Little Bit', a top 30 hit in September 2008) failed to trouble our end of year chart at all.

He is also the third British born male artist in a row to claim the year's biggest single, following the triumphs of Ed Sheeran in 2017 and George Ezra in 2018, and the seventh male solo artist to do so this decade. And with strong showings for his August chart topper 'Find U Again' with Camila Cabello (5th for the year), 'Don't Leave Me Lonely' with Yebba (40th for the year, #3 in November) and 'Nothing Breaks Like a Heart' with Miley Cyrus (as high as #21 in January, and #99 for the year), he is also the year's biggest singles act on our chart by far.

However, his status as 2019's biggest single was run pretty close in the very final days of this year, thanks to 'Bing Bong Zoo', the surprise Christmas chart topper from Peppa Pig - currently spending its second week at the top of our weekly chart - which raced from nowhere to #3 in the space of four weeks according to our end of year figures. Had the clock ticked over just a couple of days more, it would also have usurped the biggest single of the year to not reach the top of our chart, 'Senõrita' by Shawn Mendes featuring Camila Cabello (the year’s top female solo act), which finishes the year at #2. It seems to be a position it will forever be associated with in years to come, as the summertime release spent five of its eleven weeks inside our top 10 locked down at #2, despite ultimately going onto perform better than the three records by Ronson and Cabello, Himesh Patel ('Yesterday', #8 for 2019) and Olly Murs ('Talking to Yourself / That Girl (Remix)', #18 for 2019) which kept it off the top.

The Peppa single wasn't the only one released in the final months of the year to make our end of year top 10. Strong performances from November and December chart toppers by Little Mix (#4, 'One I've Been Missing'), Dua Lipa (#6, 'Don't Start Now') and Jodie Whittaker (#10, 'Yellow') ensure that this is the most Q4 release heavy year end top 10 for a decade. Little Mix also have a lot to celebrate, as even though they released just one other new single over the course of this year - their June chart topper 'Bounce Back', #16 for the year – this combined with residual success of their 2018 hits ensure they are the year's top group where our singles chart is concerned, just snatching it away from Now United in the last few weeks of this year.

We've got this far without discussing in depth the average length of a number one hit this year. But the fact the total of chart toppers increased to 28 should be one clue that very few records managed lengthy stays at the summit this year compared to recent years. The only ones to spend as many as four weeks at number one were the two Ronson chart toppers, and Jonas Brothers' comeback single 'Sucker' in March, which was also one of only six records in the whole year to climb to number one rather than enter straight in. Jonas Brothers are also the year’s top all male group, just beating out Westlife, McFly and Busted, who all came back after hiatuses of various degrees of length with new material this year.

TOP 10 ARTISTS OF THE YEAR ON MY PERSONAL CHART

1. MARK RONSON
2. LITTLE MIX
3. NOW UNITED
4. JONAS BROTHERS
5. CAMILA CABELLO
6. OLLY MURS
7. WESTLIFE
8. MABEL
9. MCFLY
10. NIALL HORAN

Based on collective chart performance over the 52 chart weeks covering Friday 28th December 2018 - Thursday 26th December 2019.

MY BIGGEST SINGLE OF THE YEAR: 2018 - 2009

2018: George Ezra - Shotgun
2017: Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill
2016: Justin Timberlake - Can't Stop The Feeling
2015: Little Mix - Black Magic
2014: Pharrell Williams - Happy
2013: Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams - Get Lucky
2012: Emeli Sandé - Next To Me
2011: Bruno Mars - Grenade
2010: Owl City - Fireflies
2009: Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat