6) Shivers | Bland, Generic and Cheesy. If only "The Joker And The Queen" had got to no. 1 instead of this

 

I can't with this statement :drama:

Fave: Bad Habits

 

Worst: River

all terribly overrated dull songs.

An interesting thread for sure and I love seeing the responses from others on this!

 

I said in another thread last week that for someone with so many #1s like Ed has it’s kinda ironic to me that I prefer almost every song of his that didn’t make #1 to every song on this list. Photograph, A Team, Bloodstream, Castle on The Hill and more recently Overpass Graffiti to name a few are all better than anything on here.

 

I think my ranking would go

 

1. Beautiful People - (My favourite) it’s understated to some of his massive hits and didn’t really feel overplayed. The collaboration felt natural and not hit chasing and it’s vocally a good duet too.

 

2. Eyes Closed - (early on I know but like I said in the single thread for this last week i really did immediately like it on first listen)

 

3. Shivers (I don’t think this was overplayed as much as some of the others and I do quite like the production).

 

4. Shape of you (it is overplayed and a sia knock off but it was a bit of a bop. It wouldn’t come top 10 in an entire singles discography list it’s mainly high because his other #1s aren’t very strong for me)

 

 

5. Sing (ironically aside from the Christmas ones his first ever #1 feels the least like a #1 than anything on here. It’s produced well and quite different to him from what we’d heard from his debut album. The vocals are a bit jarring though but it’s got a bit of spark and personality to it that we don’t see a lot from him (I don’t actually think this was necessarily a chasing a #1 type of lead single because there’s so many other singles on X he could have led with.

 

6. I don’t care It’s far from either of their bests but for what it is it’s alright it’s ranked as high as it is because it wasn’t quite as overplayed as some of the tracks I’ve ranked it above.

 

7. Perfect (it’s inoffensive as hell but I don’t necessarily hate it as much as others on here but it was very overplayed in the end)

 

 

8. Merry Christmas (it’s not bad but even in the festive period last year I didn’t really play it and it’s obviously a seasonal track so I wouldn’t return to it much).

 

9. Thinking out loud (not one I enjoy. My sister had this at her wedding which I wasn’t too happy about :angry:

 

10. Bad Habits (never got the hype for this one at all and now it become such a long running #1 I’ve no idea.

 

11. Own It (both the Stormzy collabs feel low and i actually like Stormzy but they don’t bring out the best in one another)

12. Take me back to London

 

13. River (two huge names but very forgettable)

 

14. Sausage rolls for everyone (evil evil)

Ranking:

 

1.shivers - 9/10 - shivers is a bop, one of his best singles imo. deserved what bad habits had tbh

2. River - 7/10 - the chorus is catchy, but Emimem's verses are what make it good. if it was a solo ed song it would be lower down. I like the storytelling of it, reminds me a bit of Love The Way You Lie

3. Take Me Back To London - 6/10 - another decent one.

4. Shape Of You - 6/10 - very overplayed at the time, but its a bit of a bop now i havent heard it in ages.

5. Sing - 6/10 - its catchy enough.

6. Beautiful People - 6/10 - its alright, but one of the weaker songs from no6 collabs project

7. Eyes Closed - 5/10 - feels a bit too recent to rank as i havent had a full chance to get a proper opinion, its alright but another boring one, nothing special

8. Merry Christmas - 5/10 its a nice christmas song but im bored of it now, not the classic i thought it could become. elton doesnt help :kink:

9. Thinking Out Loud - 5/10 - still quite boring, but its a bit better than perfect.

10. Perfect - 4/10 - also boring, though marginally better than the other two 4/10s

11. Own It - 4/10 - another super boring one, though its a bit more tolerable than BH

12. Bad Habits - 4/10 - i never liked this one, so boring. its not terrible but its nothing amazing and definitely not worthy of 11 weeks at #1.

13. I Don't Care - 2/10 - dreary and boring, and bringing on one of the worst musicians for it didnt help its case. such a bore

14. Sausage Rolls For Everyone - absolutely terrible, i dont think anything else needs to be said tbh.

Shivers is the fave from this list though Bad Habits, Shape of You and Merry Christmas would make up the top 4. Sausage Rolls has no redeeming features making it worth listening to ever again out of choice. The rest are all ‘ok’ - quite happy to hear them, but wouldn’t choose to do so.

Favourite (and his only good #1 song) - Thinking Out Loud

Least Favourite - All the rest.

Terrible list of songs but if I had to pick the best out of a very bad bunch it would be Sing as the best one and that Sausage Rolls abomination being the worst.

Edited April 6, 20232 yr by Gerald

Best - River

Worst - I Don’t Care

1. Sing (I feel like this has been overshadowed by everything since and is kinda underrated now? Anyway the X album remains a great album)

2. Shivers (really grown on me with time)

3. Own It

4. Shape Of You

5. Perfect (despite the ridiculous chart longevity I actually don't hear this much these days and for that it's risen my rankings)

6. Merry Christmas

7. I Don't Care

8. Beautiful People (the back-to-back of "I don't fit in at parties etc etc" with this and I Don't Care is a bit irritating but they're decent enough)

9. Bad Habits

10. Take Me Back To London

11. Thinking Out Loud

12. Eyes Closed

13. River

14. Sausage Rolls For Everyone

1. Thinking Out Loud

2. Perfect

3. Bad Habits

4. Merry Christmas

5. Shivers

6. Sing

7. Shape Of You

---

8. Eyes Closed [hard to gauge yet and may be too high, but it's easily his weakest non-collab #1]

9. Own It

10. Beautiful People

11. Take Me Back To London

12. I Don't Care

13. River

---

14. Sausage Rolls For Everyone

Never realised how many of his number ones were non eventful ones.

 

The A Team , Lego House, I See Fire, Castle on the Hill are the songs I like from him.

 

Love 'I See Fire' and 'The A Team'. I know it's a bit soppy (and very derivative of 'Chasing Cars') but love 'Photograph' too - and despite its no.15 peak, one of Ed's biggest hits.

 

Went for 'Bad Habits' as best no. 1- I know its a very light song for such a subject matter (drugs, toxic relationship - could even be chemsex but prob nah because it's Ed) and it's not anything original or classic but despite hearing it hundreds of times it has that ability for me to never got tired of it or find it annoying. 'Shivers' likewise but marginally prefer 'Habits'.

'I Don't Care' is by far his worst - luckily I can barely remember it.

Edited April 6, 20232 yr by Smint

From fave to least fave

1. Sing
2. Bad Habits
3. Take Me Back To London
4. Own It
5. Beautiful People
6. River
7. Shivers
8. Eyes Closed
9. I Don’t Care
10. Thinking Out Loud
11. Shape of You
12. Merry Christmas
13. Perfect
14. Sausage Rolls For Everyone

Best: Shivers

Worst: I Don’t Care

1. Shivers

2. Sing

3. Thinking Out Loud

4. Bad Habits

5. Shape of You

6. Perfect

7. Take Me Back to London

8. Merry Christmas

9. Beautiful People

10. Eyes Closed

11. Own It

12. River

13. I Don't Care

14. Sausage Rolls For Everyone

 

1-3 are great, 4-6 are still fine for me even though 'Perfect' is a soppy ballad that's been overplayed to death but I can go without hearing it but still not mind it at the same time same with SOY. 7-9 are ok as well. 'Eyes Closed' is a bit of a non event, 'Own It' I ain't keen on, same with 'River'. 'I Don't Care' is lame and that Sausage thing... I'd have wished never happened!

The Good

1 Shivers

2 Thinking Out Loud

3 Bad Habits

4 Eyes Closed

5 Shape of You

6 River

 

The Bad

7 I Don’t Care

8 Merry Christmas

9 Own It

10 Beautiful People

11 Sing

 

The Ugly

12 Take Me Back to London

13 Perfect

14 Sausage Rolls for Everyone

Best: Bad Habits.

 

Worst: The sausage roll one, would also be bottom of Elton’s ranking if such a thing were to exist, although I wanted it stated that i for the record that although it’s got merit to it, I hate ‘Perfect’ with a passion.

Elton John #1s Ranking

 

The Good

1 Are You Ready for Love

2 Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

3 Healing Hands

4 Ghetto Gospel

5 Something About the Way You Look Tonight

6 Sacrifice

7 Cold Heart

8 Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me

 

The Bad

9 Merry Christmas

10 Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

 

The Ugly

11 Candle in the Wind

12 Sausage Rolls for Everyone

01. Shivers [FAVOURITE]

02. Thinking Out Loud

03. Bad Habits

04. Perfect

05. Beautiful People

06. Take Me Back to London

07. Own It

08. Shape of You

09. River

10. Merry Christmas

11. Eyes Closed

12. Sing

13. I Don't Care

14. Sausage Rolls for Everyone

 

I really enjoy 'Shivers'. One of his best songs. 'Thinking Out Loud', 'Bad Habits' and 'Perfect' I could listen to (and get some kind of enjoyment out of them) again at SOME point, but I still find them a bit over played that I just cba to listen to them rn. 'Beautiful People', 'Take Me Back to London' and 'Own It' are ok, but again I don't have desires to listen to them, really. Kind of a "if they're on I wouldn't skip" kinda deal I guess? I actively dislike the rest of them. ESPECIALLY the bottom 2. Absolutely DIRE.

 

SO many of his non-number 1's are better! 'Photograph', 'Castle On The Hill', 'End Game' (w/ Taylor), 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You', 'South of the Border', 'Bam Bam' (w/ Camila), 'Cross Me', 'One' & 'Lego House'... these would all rank inside the top 4 of this list for me!

Great:

1 Thinking Out Loud

 

Very good:

2 Shivers

3 Sing

 

Good:

4 Perfect (diet 'Thinking Out Loud' so feels quite superfluous but it's still a good song)

5 Take Me Back To London (I still wish there was a version with Sir Spyro's production but without the Jaykae and Aitch verses, if such a version existed I think I'd put it 2nd/3rd)

6 Beautiful People

7 Bad Habits (although the version featuring Bring Me The Horizon would be 4th)

 

Decent:

8 Merry Christmas

9 Eyes Closed

10 Shape Of You (I did like this one a bit more at the time but it got old very quickly, I really wish this had let 'Castle On The Hill' have at least the one week ahead of it but ah well)

 

Mid:

11 Own It

12 I Don't Care

 

Bad:

13 River (it's just 'Love The Way You Lie' but 10x more tedious)

 

Awful:

14 Sausage Rolls For Everyone

 

As many people have said, most of his best songs didn't get to #1.