28. ANYWHERE- Rita Ora (1,302,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 2

YEAR: 2017

 

Inspired by her previous song with Avicii (“Lonely Together”), it’s apparently about “a love song about escapism" and "having a desperation of wanting to break free from whatever it is you're going through”. It’s New York lensed promo helped it to No 2 where it was held off by Camila Cabello’s “Havana”.

 

 

One of my favourite songs ever :wub:

great to see Anywhere have such a high sales total, shame it was unlucky enough to get behind a proper massive hit, when it was a bigger song than her actual #1s.

'IDGAF' must be one of the most successful post-album singles of the streaming era

but not as successful as New Rules ...let alone Perfect :kink:

As great as 'Anywhere' is, I preferred 'Your Song' - I presume that didn't make the list? (unless I haven't been paying attention and I've missed it)

As great as 'Anywhere' is, I preferred 'Your Song' - I presume that didn't make the list? (unless I haven't been paying attention and I've missed it)

#38

#38

Oops, I even commented on it :lol: I'm clearly losing my marbles.

26. JAR OF HEARTS- Christina Perri (1,317,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 4

YEAR: 2011

 

A song that took an unusual route to fame, Perri’s best friend worked on the US version of “So You Think You Can Dance” and she handed a recording of the track to the choreographer who decided to use it on the show. It was put onto i-tunes the following week despite Perri not being signed at the time and flew to No 17 in 2010, a year later and we got the track which took 11 weeks to make the top 20 here making No 4. Eight weeks later the song went back to No 4 again following a performance by a contestant on X Factor. Perri explained “I wrote the song after I went home to Philadelphia for the holiday last December (2009). I sat in my childhood bedroom and hid from the boy (with the jar of hearts) who wanted to see me. My heart wanted to see him, my head knew better. I couldn't take one more break so I wrote the song instead."

 

 

25. BAD GUY- Billie Eilish (1,341,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 2

YEAR: 2019

 

One of the breakthrough acts of last year, this is Eilish’s biggest hit so far but then she was only 17 at this point. This track was released simultaneously with her debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” and debuted at No 2 behind Lewis Capaldi whilst the album made No 1 enabling Eilish to become the youngest female ever to top the UK album chart. A remix was later added featuring Justin Bieber.

 

 

Am I also losing my marbles and forgetting it already being announced or does this mean 'A Thousand Years' is ahead of 'Jar Of Hearts' despite peaking a fair bit lower? (It does feel like 'A Thousand Years' has had more lasting impact so that does make sense - both good songs anyway, Christina Perri pretty solidly a 2 hit wonder).

 

'bad guy' must be a fair bit higher if its 2020 numbers were added on too!

bad guy is one of my least favourites from Billie these days but it was everywhere last year!

It's crazy how 'Bad Guy' sold more in a couple of months than 'Jar of Hearts' during whole decade

Am I also losing my marbles and forgetting it already being announced or does this mean 'A Thousand Years' is ahead of 'Jar Of Hearts' despite peaking a fair bit lower? (It does feel like 'A Thousand Years' has had more lasting impact so that does make sense - both good songs anyway, Christina Perri pretty solidly a 2 hit wonder).

I can recall 'Jar Of Hearts' was not in the overall top 100 of the decade but 'A Thousand Years' was, so yes it will be higher!

 

love Christina Perri and Jar of Hearts is an incredible song. I still remember it all started cos it was used in So You Think You Can Dance in the US for a dance routine

 

Bad Guy is great but in a way it's like so different to the rest of Billie's song, which are mostly ballads and downtempo tracks

24. STARSHIPS- Nicki Minaj (1,356,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 2

YEAR: 2012

 

She’s better known for her collaborations but Minaj struck commercial with this single which for Gotye would have topped the UK charts. Produced by RedOne it served as the lead single to her album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded” and was helped by a promo shot in Hawaii.

 

Minaj herself is no fan of the song now “I hate ‘Starships,’ I mean ew, ‘Starships?’ I’m like, ‘Why did I do that?’ I really think that every time I hear it.”

 

 

23. ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD)- Rihanna (1,384,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 1

YEAR: 2010

 

Rihanna was back in 2010 with this corker which debuted at No 2 behind Cheryl Cole (who’d had the benefit of an “X Factor” performance that week), so what better way to hit back than doing the song on that same show the following week! It helped Rihanna replace Cole at the top and increase sales from 126k to 134k to do it, it became her fourth UK chart topper and launched “Loud” on its way to becoming her biggest selling album ever in the UK.

 

 

Two songs there that have aged extremely poorly (although I never particularly liked 'Only Girl (In The World)' to begin with).

Only Girl :wub: still Rihanna's best lead single.

22. MAKE YOU FEEL MY LOVE- Adele (1,403,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 4

YEAR: 2008

 

Written by Bob Dylan in 1997 and already covered by Billy Joel and Gareth Brooks before Adele added her version was included on her debut album as the only cover on it, she explained “My manager is the biggest Dylan fan, and for ages, he'd been bugging me to listen to the song, because I hadn't heard it before. I was being quite defiant against it. I said, 'I don't want a cover on my album. It kind of implies that I'm incapable of writing enough of my own songs for my first record.' And then I heard it in New York when he played it for me, and it just really touched me. It's cheesy, but I think it's just a stunning song, and it really just summed up everything that I'd been trying to write in my songs”.

 

Revitalised in 2010 by two performances on X factor to turn it into a top 10 single and coupled with regular use on various talent programmes throughout the decade coupled with Adele’s ever rising profile helped to sell the song into the millionaire club.

 

 

21. 2002- Anne-Marie (1,422,000)

 

 

PEAK POSITION: 3

YEAR: 2018

 

We’ve already met Julia Michaels on this rundown and here she is as co-writer on this hit for Anne-Marie along with Benny Blanco and Ed Sheeran, though of course the list writers is much longer as the song cites a wide variety of songs. The reason for that is, as the singer put it “It is all about that year, when I was that age just listening to that music that I loved at that time. You know, Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott. All of these songs...Yeah, it just takes me back to that time.”