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[Popchartfreak]

24th January 2016

It’s another David Bowie oldie on top, one I like to think he wrote for me (I’m John, and he’s only dancing, so that’s fine). This is the 3rd time it’s made my top 5, in 1972, in 1980 (in an alternate 1972 version) and now again. There was also that other double A side version (Again) which is the worst of all the various versions - it’s like Bowie was never quite satisfied with it, leaving off his big albums, I think bizarrely so. It’s pretty obscure as a result of that decision, but it’s much better than many of the tracks that made it on to Ziggy and Aladdin. Play loud and it all makes sense. His 12th chart-topper, and only a 44-year wait from entering my chart to do it - a new chart record.

It’s a manic chart, stuffed with fabulous hot new singles, and still Hurts and Florence won’t shift, cos I love them so, still. Florence is now 2nd biggest record of the 21st century and Hurts are in the top 10. In at 4, it’s an unusual banging dance track, the producers seem to have purposely shifted it slightly off the beat, which is totally bizarre-sounding but soooo obsessive for me. Zonderling and Bishop are new to me, and this track is FAB. Alan Walker and Turin Brakes both go top 10, and the theme tune to David Bowie’s 80’s movie, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence is back for Ryuchi Sakamoto, it’s still lovely and haunting, in at 17. Ryuchi first made my chart in 1980 with Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Invaders Theme, which I’ve been playing a lot lately too.

Talking of Bowie, some drop out, some enter, some go up, such as Tis A Pity She Was A Whore, experimental industrial rock, almost, and into the 40 along with the gorgeous The Prettiest Star. New tracks, the marathon title track to Blackstar is into the 75, all jazzy, an Aladdin Sane album track, Panic In Detroit, and also a live performance of Pink Floyd’s Arnold Layne with David Gilmour, which I never charted - I must have been on holiday out of the country and missed it when it went UK top 20. David’s Pet Shop Boys Hallo Spaceboy (final part of the Major Tom referenced trilogy) stays static, but Pet Shop Boys have released a new track from a forthcoming new album and it sits amongst a bunch of Bowie tracks, I think appropriately. Inner Sanctum is pure dance, pretty much, and enters unusually low for a PSB track, for me.

There are loads of tracks re-entering, or entering again as new (it’s a new year, so a new entry if they exited the chart in 2015 in my version of chart worlds) thanks to the hideously slow UK singles chart finally getting behind tracks that were in my charts last year - though some it must be said did chart in the UK Sales chart as opposed to combined streaming chart - or else Radio 1 and 2 have suddenly got behind them. So X Ambassadors, Tame Impala, Elle King, 99 Souls, Thomas Rhett are on the up again. Finally, Glenn Frey died this week, and I’ve had to chuck out Lemmy and Natalie Cole tracks to make way for solo Glenn and Eagles tracks, but I stuck with ones that were 100% Glenn that underperformed in my charts.



1 13 1 2 JOHN I’M ONLY DANCING David Bowie 202000
2 2 1 11 WINGS Hurts 1540000
3 3 1 21 QUEEN OF PEACE Florence + The Machine 2425000
4 NEW 4 1 CRAZY FOR YOU Zonderling featuring Bishop 65000
5 4 4 2 HOME WE’LL GO (TAKE MY HAND) Steve Aoki and Walk Off The Earth 125000
6 6 6 5 WISH Hurts 178250
7 5 5 4 INTO THE NIGHT Nero 175300
8 15 8 2 FADED Alan Walker 55000
9 9 9 2 CHANGES David Bowie 90000
10 17 10 2 KEEP ME AROUND (RADIO MIX) Turin Brakes 65000



11 11 4 8 HYMN FOR THE WEEKEND Coldplay featuring Beyonce 343000
12 7 7 6 ISOBEL’S DREAM Kim Wilde 201400
13 1 1 2 HEROES David Bowie 202000
14 10 6 6 CHEAP THRILLS SIA 252000
15 8 8 6 LAZARUS David Bowie 129600
16 19 16 3 REAL LOVE Chris Lee 66000
17 NEW 17 1 MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE Ryuchi Sakamoto 23000
18 18 18 19 GEE WHIZ (LOOK AT HIS EYES) Carla Thomas 243700
19 27 19 2 7 YEARS Lukas Graham 39400
20 23 20 4 AMAZING Foxes 62450

21 36 21 3 RENEGADES X Ambassadors 47150
22 14 7 8 DELILAH Florence + The Machine 231100
23 22 1 12 ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME Coldplay 1325750
24 25 24 2 THE OPEN ROAD Postiljonen 37750
25 NEW 25 1 SPEAKING OF MOMENTS BLEITCH 18750
26 NEW 26 1 MONODY TheFatRat featuring Laura Brehm 18500
27 21 3 14 HEAVEN Shaun Frank & KSHMR featuring Delaney 719150
28 42 28 2 KEEPING YOUR HEAD UP Birdy 32050
29 48 29 2 'TIS A PITY SHE WAS A WHORE David Bowie 57300
30 35 30 2 DON’T EVEN TRY Bryan Adams 35500



31 33 31 2 ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS David Bowie 35600
32 32 32 2 GOLDEN YEARS David Bowie 35600
33 55 13 13 LET IT HAPPEN Tame Impala 198750
34 12 12 2 LIFE ON MARS? David Bowie 52600
35 29 19 6 ALL MY FRIENDS Snakehips featuring Tinashe and Chance The Rapper 102500
36 38 36 2 THE JEAN GENIE David Bowie 34600
37 20 9 6 NEED UR LOVE Charli XCX 164700
38 41 38 2 OH! YOU PRETTY THINGS David Bowie 31200
39 NEW 39 1 THE WANDERING SONGSTRESS The Shanghai Restoration Project featuring Zhang Le 17100
40 40 40 3 A DAY IN THE LIFE The Beatles 51000

41 24 24 4 ARMY OF ME Anastacia 70400
42 26 3 10 WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE Adele 432450
43 34 6 11 ONE STEP AT A TIME Jeff Lynne’s ELO 344600
44 37 37 4 OUT OF THE WOODS Taylor Swift 50000
45 50 45 2 BOYS KEEP SWINGING David Bowie 25000
46 49 46 10 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND The Beatles 92100
47 47 47 2 SUFRAGETTE CITY David Bowie 25000
48 NEW 48 1 YOU BELONG TO THE CITY Glenn Frey 12300
49 16 16 2 SPACE ODDITY David Bowie 37100
50 NEW 50 1 NOT LETTING GO Tinie Tempah featuring Jess Glynne 12000



51 31 3 20 THE RAIN THE PARK AND OTHER THINGS The Cowsills 537450
52 90 52 2 FAST CAR Jonas Blue featuring Dakota 13500
53 53 53 2 THIS IS NOT AMERICA David Bowie with The Pat Metheny Band 22500
54 30 16 8 BANG MY HEAD David Guetta featuring SIA and Fetty Wap 119200
55 70 55 2 BAD HABITS The Last Shadow Puppets 16800
56 56 56 7 LIVERPOOL LULLABY Cilla Black 46900
57 57 57 2 HALLO SPACEBOY David Bowie with Pet Shop Boys 20800
58 28 28 2 STARMAN David Bowie 28500
59 NEW 59 1 INNER SANCTUM Pet Shop Boys 10100
60 89 60 2 I CAN’T GIVE EVERYTHING David Bowie 12200



61 39 9 10 THE GIRL IS MINE 99 Souls featuring Destiny’s Child and Brandy 234000
62 62 62 3 ACROSS THE UNIVERSE The Beatles 22200
63 43 43 4 STRESSED OUT twenty one pilots 40100
64 NEW 64 1 CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF MYSELF Santigold featuring B.C. 7100
65 68 65 5 CHRISTMAS WITHOUT A PRAYER Sparks 23800
66 NEW 66 1 BLACKSTAR David Bowie 6800
67 44 18 6 SHUT ‘EM UP The Prodigy featuring Public Enemy and Manfred Mann 81850
68 65 65 4 IN THE NIGHT The Weeknd 25600
69 NEW 69 1 BLOODSPORT '15 Raleigh Ritchie 6200
70 NEW 70 1 AIN’T TOO COOL LunchMoney Lewis 6000

71 82 71 2 SOUND AND VISION David Bowie 9400
72 45 3 10 LITTLE MAN Sonny And Cher 409100
73 73 73 2 CHINA GIRL David Bowie 10800
74 NEW 74 1 BORROWED TIME Frances 5200
75 75 75 4 BEAUTIFUL Carole King 20000


*****************************************************

76 46 6 9 WHAT A DIFF’RENCE A DAY MADE Dinah Washington & Belford Hendrick’s Orchestra 259200
77 58 5 28 HAPPY TOGETHER The Turtles 463300
78 60 60 2 ASHES TO ASHES David Bowie 14400
79 79 79 2 THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD David Bowie 8400
80 52 22 11 DON’T GIVE UP (ON LOVE) Blinkie 110950

81 61 5 10 HOT POWERS 329300
82 59 37 5 BAZAAR (Sunburn Goa 2015 Anthem) KSHMR and Marnik 49750
83 54 29 6 WHO KNOWS Protoje featuring Chronixx 86200
84 RE 10 14 EX’S AND OH’S Elle King 221850
85 81 3 17 BLACK SOAP Ex Cops 455800
86 NEW 86 1 THRESHOLD Redlight featuring Melisa Whiskey 2800
87 RE 2 18 CRASH AND BURN Thomas Rhett 864000
88 NEW 88 1 WILD HORSES BISHOP 2400
89 63 35 6 DON’T LEAVE TKDJS featuring AYER 63900
90 51 15 9 GIVE IT ALL Foals 132350

91 64 46 4 STEVIE KNOWS Olly Murs 31750
92 NEW 92 1 LYIN’ EYES The Eagles 1800
93 NEW 93 1 ARNOLD LAYNE David Gilmour featuring David Bowie 1700
94 100 94 2 ONLY YOU Chris Lee 2600
95 99 95 2 ONE CALL AWAY Charlie Puth 2600
96 96 96 2 YOUNG AMERICANS David Bowie 2800
97 98 97 2 MAGIC DANCE David Bowie 2500
98 NEW 98 1 NEW KID IN TOWN The Eagles 1200
99 69 6 12 COMING HOME Sigma & Rita Ora 307050
100 NEW 100 1 PANIC IN DETROIT David Bowie 1000



DROP OUTS
66 26 23 MELLOW YELLOW Donovan 277800
67 17 8 SEND MY LOVE (TO YOUR NEW LOVER) Adele 137700
71 36 9 FOCUS Ariana Grande 80750
72 47 10 RIDE-O-ROCKET The Brothers Johnson 66900
74 74 1 STITCHES Shawn Mendes 5200
76 39 3 SILVER MACHINE Hawkwind 39000
77 4 14 HEY BOY Take That 371750
78 33 5 MAIN TITLE AND THE ATTACK ON THE JAKKU VILLAGE (Star Wars: The Force Awakens Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) John Williams 58700
80 10 9 FAST LANE Rationale 217400
83 15 3 ACE OF SPADES Motorhead 42900
84 32 3 UNFORGETTABLE Natalie Cole and Nat ‘King’ Cole 38800
85 48 3 I’D NEVER FIND ANOTHER YOU Billy Fury 26550
86 16 10 DREAMS Life Of Dillon 128800
87 71 3 HOLLOW Tori Kelly featuring Big Sean 14200
88 88 1 UNDER PRESSURE David Bowie and Queen 2400
91 45 7 A HEAD FULL OF DREAMS Coldplay 40700
92 3 19 I’M IN LOVE WITH MY LIFE PHASES 506750
93 93 1 FAME David Bowie 1700
94 67 4 THE SOUND OF SILENCE Disturbed 20600
95 95 1 MODERN LOVE David Bowie 1500
97 63 5 HISTORY One Direction 26200