These two in a row :heart: I love Emeli. 'Only Love Can Hurt Like This' is also amazing.

86. ISSUES- Julia Michaels (826,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 10

YEAR: 2017

 

Another act who wrote hits of others before striking out on her own. This was Michaels debut release and was co-written by Benny Blanco and Stargate, and Michaels felt the song was too personal to give away though reputedly a few major acts were interested in it.

 

Michaels: "My boyfriend got mad at me over something really, really stupid, So I wrote 'Issues' in about an hour. It was the first time I had written a song that felt so personal to me because of the way it had come about. It was the first time I kept a song for myself and I had never done that before in my life. That was kind of the transition for me from songwriter to artist”.

 

 

85. BEST THING I NEVER HAD- Beyonce (828,000)

 

http://i.imgur.com/ySMFv5k.jpg

 

PEAK POSITION: 3

YEAR: 2011

 

Incredible to think now that this was Beyonce’s last solo top 10 single! This charted at No 3 the week that parent album “4” was issued and was in the immediate aftermath of her Glastonbury set which saw her profile resurge after a break of nearly 2 years since her “Sasha Fierce” era. It was originally written in a faster tempo drawing inspiration from the beat to “The Show” by Doug E Fresh, it became her biggest solo hit since “If I Was A Boy” made No 1 in 2008. This is her biggest selling solo single released in the 10s.

 

 

I've never been able to get over how the chorus of 'Best Thing I Never Had' is so grammatically inconsistent (the phrase from the title seems to simultaneously be a good thing and a bad thing in 2 different lines in the chorus). It's a mediocre song regardless but that pet peeve makes it more infuriating. x

84. WE CAN’T STOP- Miley Cyrus (833,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 1

YEAR: 2013

 

The track that really announced her as a star in the UK, it came with a striking new image for the former Hannah Montana star and of course generated THAT performance with Robin Thicke at the MTV video music awards later that year. It marked her progression to a new record label and one that she pulled out of being a primary character in “Hotel Transylvania” to concentrate on. The track was written for Rihanna (how many songs are in this thread!)

 

The lyrics were subject to some controversy as Cyrus later admitted “the line is actually “dancing with Molly,” referring to the drug Molly (slang term for MDMA or ecstasy), and the reference in the song depends on how old you are. If you’re aged 10 [the lyric] is Miley. If you know what I’m talking about, then you know.”

 

 

83. CRYING IN THE CLUB- Camila Cabello (838,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 12

YEAR: 2017

 

Back to the debut solo single for Cabello which is again co-written by Benny Blanco and (this time around) Sia! Throw in a spot of “Genie In A Bottle” and bingo it launched Cabello as a solo star and was supposed to serve as the lead single to her debut solo album but plans changed when she heard “Havana” and this track didn’t end up making it onto the album at all!

 

 

Video Games took a few listens but really liked it in the end and it's aged well.

Do It Like A Dude I liked a lot back then but has dated a bit.

OLCHLT that was probably my fave of Paloma's solo efforts

Next To Me was one of Emeli's best and still sounds good too.

Issues, it's good for what it is.

Best Thing I Never Had, meh.

We Can't Stop, big big meh. 2013 me never would've predicted she'd finally release 2 actually good songs in Nothing Breaks.. and Midnight Sky

Crying in the Club now that's another 'surprise'/inflated by streaming entry, never realised it was that big. decent song but not one I've gone back to since... 2 years ago. :magic:

Love those entries from Paloma, Miley and Camila.

 

My favourite songs by both Camila and Paloma :wub:

 

I think my fave from Miley is still to come but We Can’t Stop is still a bop :heart:

'Crying In The Club' is a tuuuune. Obviously I'd expect nothing less of a Sia-penned song but yeah I'd definitely be crying in the club if I was drunk and it came on. I'm still gutted it never made the album.

I agree with others that 'Video Games' is the best song to appear so far. I instantly fell in love with it and still adore Lana's music 9 years later. Shame I didn't quite get to see her live in February </3 Also, 'Do It Like A Dude' is actually my favourite Jessie J song! I preferred 'Domino' at the time but this aged better for me.

 

'Crying In The Club' is a bit of a bop, but felt way more like a Sia song than Camila's musical identity. Thankfully she found her stride properly with 'Havana'.

82. WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER- Taylor Swift (839,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 4

YEAR: 2012

 

Whilst “Love Story” was her first smash in the UK subsequent releases had failed to dent the top 20 and this is the song that marked the beginning of Swift as a major chart star here. It was reportedly about the break up with former boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal and based on rumours she had heard of his thoughts that they may rekindle the relationship. Catty.

 

 

81. I WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN- Rita Ora (840,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 1

YEAR: 2014

 

Another artist who started out auditioning for “Eurovision: Your Country Needs You” but Ora withdrew after qualifying way back in 2008 as she didn’t feel ready. Again youtube helped to promote her and come to the attention of DJ Fresh who asked her to record vocals for “Hot Right Now” and boom! A UK No 1 single. Her first era gave her a hat-trick of No 1 hits (though none appear here) and this was intended to launch album two but Ora and her record label fell out and it all ended in a lawsuit which saw the second album emerge in 2018! The track itself was written and produced for her by then boyfriend Calvin Harris who famously dumped her months after via twitter….

 

About the track Ora said “It’s a very important song to me because it's a love song, but it reminds you of Whitney. And that was the vibe we were on. We just wanted to feel good. You know that feeling of 'How Will I Know' with the synth? It just makes you feel happy; that's what I wanted to create”

 

 

Oh wow I had no idea that Rita was involved with Eurovision :o

 

I was worried about the 'Red' era as I quickly found 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' pretty insufferable, but thankfully the follow-up was miles better.

Camila had better singles to come but 'Crying In The Club' was a pretty good debut from her. Can definitely see why she canned it from the album though.

 

WANEGBT another awful song from Taylor, I do hope there'll be at least one song I like from her on this list... :lol: (I'm not really familiar with how much each of her songs have sold).

I like We Are Never Getting Back Together but she’s topped it a few times since. Back in 2012 though I did love it.

 

I Will Never Let You Down is so fresh sounding still even now. I like it more now than I did at the time as well. Strange to think that was the last time Rita would top the singles chart too although she’s still got some more songs to appear on here.

Oh, I actually didn't expect 'I Will Never Let You Down' to make the list. It's a great pop song though, so catchy.

Love 'I Will Never Let You Down'! Didn't Calvin have a whole album of songs ready for her, before he dumped her? Or am I imagining that?

I definitely remember reading that Rita’s original second album was all ready to go but she legally couldn’t release it following her split from Calvin so I guess he was heavily involved on that album.

 

I often wonder if any songs she recorded originally ended up being used / released by other artists and were just unaware. It’s crazy to think Rita’s second album wouldn’t come until 2018 for an eternity it felt like we’d never get it :lol: :lol:

Completely forgot Taylor and Jake were a ‘thing’. Luckily he found love with Tom Holland by decades end.

 

Inflation is showing. Issues and Crying In The Club definitely don’t feel like they were this big, even if the latter is a bop, though I must say it’s opening is identical to Cheap Thrills.

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, looking back, was the proud start of Taylor leading her album campaigns with one of its more mediocre offerings. Luckily, Red is a phenomenal album so WANEGBT is still pretty damn good.