VOTING IS NOW CLOSED

 

Thanks to the 37 people who voted.

53. Tinie Tempah featuring John Martin - Children Of The Sun 47pts

 

Writers - Patrick Okogwu, Eshraque Mughal, Charlie Bernado, John Martin, Michel Zitron, Måns Wredenberg

Top points - Cow P 21, JackJones 11, chrissmith276 10

 

Cow P's wild card finishes in last place. From 2013, it was a sixth top 10 single for Tinie Tempah as the lead artist and a fourth for John Martin as the featured singer.

 

52. The Teardrop Explodes - Reward 107pts

 

Writers - Alan Gill, Julian Cope

Top points - Uls2000 23, AH Gold 23, King Rollo 19

 

This was one of just three top 40 hits for the Liverpool band and the one they are best remembered for. They split up in 1982. Lead singer Julian Cope has been prolific as a solo artist, so far releasing 36 studio albums.

 

51. The RAH Band - Clouds Across The Moon 112pts

 

Writer - Richard Anthony Hewson

Top points - King Rollo 23, Uls2000 22, seven. 22, Liamski689 22

 

I was pleasantly surprised when this qualified for the semi. It was then stuck on 0 points after 19 votes. Seven of us eventually voted for this cult classic with four putting it in their top 4. It's the line where we find out she can only make this phone call once a year that gets me every time. The RAH Band, named after their founder, Richard Anthony Hewson, had another number 6 hit in 1977 called 'The Crunch'. Clouds Across The Moon came out in 1985 and featured Richard's wife, Liz, on vocals.

 

50. Kyu Sakamoto - Sukiyaki 126pts

 

Writers - Hachidai Nakamura, Rokusuke Ei

Top points - JulianT 24, Cow P 24, seven. 23

 

This is the oldest song in this semi-final, released in 1961 four months after 'Hit The Road Jack' which was in the first one. The correct song title is 'Ue o Muite Arukō' but it was changed for English speaking countries. It wasn't a hit until 1963, reaching number 1 in the US and now in 20th place on the all-time list of best selling singles worldwide. Kyu Sakamoto was tragically one of 520 people killed in a plane crash in Japan in 1985, the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history.

 

49. R.E.M. - Daysleeper 134pts

 

Writers - Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe

Top points - DarrenJames 25, Jester 24, jimwatts 24

 

An anthem for night shift workers, inspired by a sign that Michael Stipe saw on an apartment door. It was REM's sixth top 10 hit. They have one of their three semi-final qualifiers left, can it make the final?

 

Pleased to see 'Daysleeper' got that many points in the end. I did a lot of late night studying around the time that came out, so it struck a chord.

Well I knew it wasn’t going to go very far but hoped for a bit higher for Sukiyaki - guess 50th means Top 100 overall at least. It’s a very simple record but incredibly beautiful and mesmerising I think.

 

I must admit I’m not that familiar with the RAH Band and Teardrop Explodes tracks but they were both interesting listens.

'Sukiyaki' is the first of my votes to drop out! I discovered it about a decade ago when trawling the archives and was immediately drawn to it. I was shocked to find out that it was a Billboard Hot 100 #1, both that and The Singing Nun's 'Dominique' are surprising 60s foreign-language chart-toppers across the pond. Love that this has its fans on the forum even if it could go no further.

I'm unsure if I'd ever heard it until less than 24 hours ago but quite sad to see The Teardrop Explodes finishing second from last, and even moreso that Kyu Sakamoto is only 50th aw, had no delusions that would qualify from this round but I actually thought it might have enough of a following on here to get a bit higher than that. R.E.M. and The RAH Band were both first time listens as well but neither did much for me (much preferred 'Imitation Of Life' from the other semi in terms of R.E.M. discoveries). I did think 'Children Of The Sun' was underrated on here at the time but still didn't quite make it into my votes (might have done so in the other semi), that was an odd choice to pick as a +30 in the nominations round I must say x

Daysleeper is superb, so atmospheric. Glad a couple of us like it at least.

I'd assumed Daysleeper would be another of those R.E.M. songs where I was familiar with but didn't know from the title like The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight, but can't say I've ever heard it before and wasn't overly enamoured from one listen.

 

Unlike the other semi I did check out the ones I didn't immediately know, and put titles to songs for Reward and Gloria.

48. The Coral - In The Morning 135pts

 

Writer - James Skelly

Top points - Mack. 22, seven. 21, Chez Wombat 20

 

This was the third and final top 10 hit for the Merseyside band. It was the second most played song on UK radio in 2005.

 

47. Sade - Your Love Is King 143pts

 

Writers - Sade Adu, Stuart Matthewman

Top points - ...ready for it 24, vibe 19, marcinjaro 19

 

From 1984, this was the debut single by the London group which turned out to be their only top 10 hit. They are still going and currently working on their seventh album.

 

46. Avicii - Waiting For Love 144pts

 

Writers - Salem Al Fakir, Simon Aldred, Tim Bergling, Martijn Garritsen, Vincent Pontare

Top points - danG 25, Jason 25, coi 24

 

Dan's wild card made it as far as day 2. Waiting For Love was Avicii's eighth top 10 single and featured uncredited vocals by Simon Aldred who was, at the time, the lead singer of the English group Cherry Ghost.

 

45. Taylor Swift - Cardigan 146pts

 

Writers - Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner

Top points - ...ready for it 25, Brer 22, Alex! 18

 

From 2020, this was one of three Taylor Swift songs to enter the top 10 in the same week. In her own country, it was her second single to go straight to number 1.

 

44. Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me 160pts

 

Writers - Max Martin, Lukasz Gottwald, Bonnie McKee

Top points - detonate 24, Alex! 23, ...ready for it 22

 

From 2011, this was a twenty-first top 10 hit for Britney Spears. It caused a bit of a rumpus between the writers and the Bellamy Brothers who had written 'If I Said You Have A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me' in 1978.

 

In The Morning is a wonderful bit of mid-00s Indie <3 Your Love is King is a favourite of my parents as well, not quite Smooth Operator but still good.

 

Thought Cardigan might have done better, though admittedly there are others I prefer off folklore.

 

 

oops I didnt vote in this, always too busy to flick that much through the many forums! I would obv of course have given Sukiyaki near-top marks and punched it up a few places, as well as Teardrop Explodes which is bloody brilliant. SOS would have got top marks. Clouds Across The Moon is a goodie, I like Avicii's and The Coral, and Sade's is a good'un wouldve grabbed a few points from me. Britney and Taylor, sorry would have got nowt.

 

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr Blue Sky

Simon and Garfunkel - The Boxer

Duran Duran - Ordinary World

Wilson Phillips - Hold On

Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine

TLC - Unpretty

Kyu Sakamoto - Sukiyaki

Abba - SOS

Roxette - Listen To Your Heart / Dangerous

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

 

These have all topped my personal charts and 6 of them are in my all-time Top 1000 chart-performing list (I will get round to re-starting that soon - it was 800 when I started! :lol: ) The Boxer, SOS and Sukiyaki are top 3 for me.