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[Popchartfreak]

30th January 2022

It's all about the 1960's as The Love Affair finally get elusive chart entry and number one with the classic Everlasting Love from 1968 when it topped the UK charts, and was a massive fave of mine along with My Rainbow Valley, the wonderful follow-up, but both were a few months early for my first charts, so 1969's Bringing On Back The Good Times was the first top 10 they had, and thanks to some itunes sales this week Everlasting Love gives them a first number one 54 years late. The original version by Robert Knight charted in 1974, among many other charting versions of the song across the decades. The song is flawless and can cope with any treatment and come out smelling of roses. That a 54-year-old song is selling well would be like a song from 1914 selling well in 1968. That would have been unheard of as recorded music essentially only went back 40 years while still having at least a degree of audio quality.

That means The Ronettes' Be My Baby has to make do with a number 2, but it's already topped my charts in 1964 and a few years back. Both the top 2 would have topped my hypothetical charts as a 10-year-old and a 5-year-old for The Ronettes. LEON has a massive climb to 12, for a 7th year of hitting, while highest new entry in a very busy week comes from U2 - well, actually from Black Widow & U2 aka Scarlett Johansson and Bono, with a Sing 2 version of their 1987 chart-topper (for me), the still-brilliant I Still Haven;t Found What I'm Looking For at 24. Tove Styrke has a big climb to 30, and new at 40, it's my beloved Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) which has been selling on itunes for weeks now, but I haven't recharted to date as it topped my charts already in 1970 and 1975 with massive runs, but my happy Singapore nostalgia makes me chart it yet again for some extra chart "sales" for Edison Lighthouse. Lead singer Tony Burrows has charted under many names, most of them equally fab, like The Flowerpot Men from 1967, First Class from 1974, and he had 3 records in the UK chart in 1970 at the same time, this one, and also as White Plains, and Brotherhood Of Man.

There's a lot of new acts debuting this week, some obscure, some currently huge, but I'll ignore them all and mention Animotion finally charting I Engineer 37 years late, the band topped my charts in 1985 with the brilliant Obsession. Richard Ashcroft revamps his 2000 top 10 hit C'Mon People with Liam Gallagher, extending his chart run to 35 years since The Verve topped with Bittersweet Symphony. Mishcatt gets a first solo entry, but topped with the late Avicii a couple of years ago, The Divine Comedy return for the first time in 12 years, The Best Mistakes extending their chart run to 26 years or so, Elton John & Stevie Wonder join together to extend theirs to 54 years (Stevie) and 51 years (Elton), which is no mean feat. Or "featuring" on records these days, but they are too big to not co-star. Colin hay re-charts his 1983 chart-topper Down Under as guest vocalist to Luude, also an Aussie, and lastly John Holt charts his 1973 non-hit Morning Of My Life, his reggae version of The Bee Gees 1970 song, which I've never heard in my life before, but which is selling on itunes. So his chart career is a top 10 cover of Help Me Make It Through The Night in 1974, and this, both of them from the 1,000 Volts of Holt reggae album.

Just because I can, who in my chart have I seen live in concert? Duran Duran, The Monkees, U2, Katy Perry, Elton John, Kylie Minogue, David Bowie & Men At Work. I've also stood next to Donny Osmond, and have tickets to see Virtual ABBA...


1 NEW 1 1 EVERLASTING LOVE - Love Affair 170000
2 12 2 3 BE MY BABY - The Ronettes 172000
3 1 1 13 WHEN YOU DANCED WITH ME - ABBA 1245000
4 4 4 5 DANCING AWAY IN TEARS - Yola 226000
5 9 5 3 BETTER DAYS - Neiked, Mae Muller & Polo G 115800
6 2 1 12 GIVE IT ALL UP - Duran Duran featuring Tove Lo 1205000
7 10 7 4 LESS THAN ZERO - The Weeknd 154000
8 5 5 4 NOTHING’S EVER GONNA BE GOOD ENOUGH - Miles Kane featuring Corinne Bailey Rae 203000
9 6 6 4 BRAVE - Ella Henderson 163750
10 3 1 6 HELLO IT’S ME - Todd Rundgren 642000

11 7 3 13 BUMBLEBEE - ABBA 724000
12 62 12 2 WISHFUL THINKING - LEON 42400
13 11 1 13 ODE TO FREEDOM - ABBA 1049000
14 8 8 10 HOLIDAY - Confidence Man 294200
15 18 15 2 WE STAND ALONE - George Cosby 49000
16 25 16 4 NO CHOICE - Tame Impala 68150
17 28 17 3 OH MY GOD - Adele 53300
18 23 18 6 SWEET TALKER - Years & Years + Galantis 95500
19 26 19 4 SACRIFICE - The Weeknd 76000
20 20 20 5 MY HERO - Westlife 82900

21 13 1 6 YOU JUST MAY BE THE ONE - The Monkees 446750
22 17 5 13 KEEP AN EYE ON DAN - ABBA 533500
23 16 13 11 EVERYWHERE - Niall Horan & Anne-Marie 261650
24 NEW 24 1 I STILL HAVEN’T FOUND WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR - Scarlett Johansson & Bono 19000
25 30 25 5 WHEN I’M GONE - Alesso & Katy Perry 77150
26 34 26 4 WHERE ARE YOU NOW - Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott 58300
27 15 15 11 OVERPASS GRAFFITI - Ed Sheeran 177650
28 44 28 2 YOU TOOK THE WORDS RIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH - Meat Loaf 31550
29 39 29 6 PAPA GENE’S BLUES - The Monkees 86350
30 64 30 2 SHOW ME LOVE - Tove Styrke 25100

31 29 1 22 DON’T SHUT ME DOWN - ABBA 1613800
32 24 10 12 WORLD WE USED TO KNOW - Alan Walker & Winona Oak 302650
33 27 1 14 LITTLE THINGS - ABBA 701100
34 37 34 4 LET’S ALL DANCE - Donny Osmond featuring Charlie Wilson 64300
35 14 14 9 MERRY CHRISTMAS - Elton John & Ed Sheeran 137850
36 36 1 22 I STILL HAVE FAITH IN YOU - ABBA 1334050
37 48 37 3 WILDER DAYS - Morgan Wade 39700
38 55 38 3 WON’T STAND DOWN - Muse 34000
39 42 39 9 SLOWDOWN - John Miles 97900
40 NEW 40 1 LOVE GROWS (WHERE MY ROSEMARY GOES) - Edison Lighthouse 17000

41 19 19 6 LISTEN TO THE BAND - The Monkees 108550
42 22 9 11 SOMEBODY TO USE - Alesso 229250
43 21 16 11 SWEET DREAMS & DYNAMITE - Seeb & Nina Nesbitt 135700
44 NEW 44 1 LOST - Tinlicker featuring Run Rivers 13250
45 31 31 4 LOVE CAN’T TURN AROUND - Pete Tong, Riton & Vula featuring Jules Buckley & The Heritage Orchestra 59900
46 49 46 2 SWEET YOUNG THING - The Monkees 24850
47 71 47 2 SHADOWS - Bonobo featuring Jordan Rakei 18300
48 56 48 4 SEVENTEEN GOING UNDER - Sam Fender 38500
49 60 49 2 GHOST - Justin Bieber 22100
50 NEW 50 1 WINTER KILLS ME - Markus Schulz featuring Lady V 12000

51 32 17 12 KISS OF LIFE - Kylie Minogue & Jessie Ware 200600
52 33 33 5 MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE (TAYLOR’S VERSION) - Taylor Swift 69400
53 NEW 53 1 NEW LOW - Nightlife 11250
54 35 4 6 WHAT AM I DOING HANGING ROUND? - The Monkees 228500
55 NEW 55 1 C’MON PEOPLE (WE’RE MAKING IT NOW) - Richard Ashcroft featuring Liam Gallagher 10800
56 57 56 3 BILLY GOODBYE - Franz Ferdinand 28400
57 40 40 5 CAN’T HELP THINKING ABOUT ME - David Bowie 65000
58 58 58 2 BAT OUT OF HELL - Meat Loaf 20400
59 NEW 59 1 I ENGINEER - Animotion 10100
60 63 60 3 PAINT THE RED ROSE BLUE - Elvis Costello & The Imposters 24000

61 61 61 4 IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND - Gordon Lightfoot 28100
62 43 2 18 DOPAMINE - Purple Disco Machine featuring Eyelar 707250
63 66 63 3 PLANET IN THE SKY - Klingande x Merk & Kremont featuring MKLA 19400
64 NEW 64 1 BREAKUP RITUALS - Mishcatt 7100
65 38 28 10 INVISIBLE THINGS - Natalie Imbruglia 110300
66 68 66 3 BABY I LOVE YOU - The Ronettes 19000
67 NEW 67 1 ABCDEFU - GAYLE 6600
68 NEW 68 1 SHUT OFF THE LIGHTS - Bastille 6400
69 69 69 3 FLAMES - NERVO featuring Salena Mostroianni 17600
70 NEW 70 1 THE BEST MISTAKES - The Divine Comedy 6000

71 NEW 71 1 FINISH LINE - Elton John & Stevie Wonder 5800
72 NEW 72 1 NEW TRICK - CXLOE 5600
73 NEW 73 1 DOWN UNDER - Luude featuring Colin Hay 5400
74 NEW 74 1 WE DON’T TALK ABOUT BRUNO - Encanto Cast 5200
75 NEW 75 1 MORNING OF MY LIFE - John Holt 5000


DROP OUTS
50 50 4 THE WAY YOU SAID GOODBYE - Jack Savoretti 35000
41 18 11 DO YA FEEL MY LOVE? - Stereophonics 189650
45 45 8 MUSIC - John Miles 82400
46 9 13 MOTH TO A FLAME - Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd 292050
47 1 8 HIGH FLY - John Miles 619700
51 6 14 JUST A NOTION - ABBA 392450
52 52 9 RUN FOR HOME - Lindisfarne 69800
53 5 15 UNBELIEVABLE - Texas 348950
54 54 5 RIO - Michael Nesmith 41900
59 10 12 I CAN BE THAT WOMAN - ABBA 278700
65 1 17 HERE COMES THE NIGHT - Agnes 814050
67 7 21 COLD HEART (PNAU REMIX) - Elton John & Dua Lipa 549000
70 10 13 ABRAHAM, MARTIN & JOHN - Marvin Gaye & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra featuring Beverley Knight 311600
72 72 2 BOTH SIDES NOW - Joni Mitchell 10600
73 27 15 UNDENIABLE - Kygo featuring X Ambassadors 207750
74 74 1 DEADRINGER FOR LOVE - Meat Loaf featuring Cher 5200
75 12 5 SOME OF SHELLY’S BLUES - The Monkees 107250