Slight change of plan as I'm busier than expected tonight - I'll keep this open until 12:00 (midday) Sunday. Would be great to have a few more votes in the meantime!

+12 Dua Lipa - Physical

+10 ABBA - Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)

+08 Girls Aloud - Call The Shots

+07 Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

+06 David Bowie - Life On Mars?

+05 Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy

+04 Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

+03 New Order - Blue Monday [1988]

+02 Radiohead - Paranoid Android

+01 Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

24 hours left to vote!

 

Currently there are three separate ties on points :drama: it would be nice to break those - who would like to be the 20th voter? x

+12 Move Your Feet

+10 Blue Monday

+8 Smalltown Boy

+7 Take Me Out

+6 (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

+5 Call The Shots

+4 Life On Mars?

+3 Physical

+2 Paranoid Android

+1 Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)

1st

Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

ABBA - Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)

New Order - Blue Monday [1988]

Dua Lipa - Physical

Girls Aloud - Call The Shots

Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy

David Bowie - Life On Mars

Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

Radiohead - Paranoid Android

10th

Thank you to the 21 voters!

 

All 10 songs accrued at least 100 points, and as with the equivalent #2s final in January, each song had at least one of your 12 point votes. I'll count them down over the next couple of hours!

10. Girls Aloud - Call The Shots

 

101 points - 12s: adrianreavill83, AaronTM

 

 

The first of two autoqualifiers drops out first, so maybe it had a slightly lucky break to get here, but nonetheless has a good score in the final.

9. Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay

 

109 points - 12s: chartjack2

 

 

The only 1960s representative in the final, this recently had a brief moment in the Spotify top 40.

Edited August 25, 2024Aug 25 by jimwatts

8. Radiohead - Paranoid Android

 

116 points - 12s: rio309, King Rollo, dandy*

 

 

Here's a surprise, as the song which stormed to a comfortable win in its semi final group falls in 8th place!

7. Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy

 

117 points - 12s: danG

 

 

This is the only song in the final to have charted this year - it currently sits at #63 on a 15-week continuous Top 100 run, which is longer than its original 1984 run when it peaked at #3.

That feels low for “Paranoid Android” but I guess it’s the most fiercely alternative track here - even “Take Me Out” is poppy to an extent.

6. ABBA - Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)

 

117 points - 12s: chrissmith276, Mangø

 

 

Another of ABBA's #3s, 'Money Money Money', topped the recent Triple epizeuxis in song titles poll, however it was narrowly pipped in its weekly poll in this #3 series - whereas this song (which didn't count as a triple epizeuxis due to the bracketed part of the title) has made it all the way to 6th in the final. It wins a tiebreak over 'Smalltown Boy' by having one more vote of 12.

5. Dua Lipa - Physical

 

117 points - 12s: Roba., …ready for it, Nick F1

 

 

And beating both those songs on the same tiebreak due to having a third vote of 12, here is the only #3 from the current decade in the final, with nothing from the 2010s surviving the semis.

4. New Order - Blue Monday [1988]

 

118 points - 12s: jimwatts

 

 

So there were just 2 points separating 8th from 4th, and coming out on the right end of all that is an undisputed classic of the 1980s... or at least the original is, which climbed to #9 on the 31st week of its legendary 1983 chart run. Whether this 1988 remixed version outdoing that with a #3 peak means the votes here should count to the original or the remix, I left it to the voters to decide, but for what its worth I think the remix has retained enough of the brilliance to justify its place here.

'Call The Shots' finishing 10th is a little surprising!

 

 

3. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

 

130 points - 12s: Dobbo, CowTzy

 

 

The song which emerged victorious from the "group of death" poll for the best of Week 17, beating huge favourites such as those by Keane and Outkast as well as the winner of the Buzzjack's Ultimate UK #3 Hit rate in 2021 in The Killers - Somebody Told Me, has proved it wasn't a fluke by finishing in the #3 position in this final.

 

Two songs remain, but which will take the crown?

Oh my 12 and 10 remaining so I’m happy either way. One of the most joyous songs ever VS one of the most innovative.

2. Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

 

135 points - 12s: Brer

 

 

Defying the odds, this didn't make the top 30 of the above 2021 rate, and only clinched outright second place in its semi group on the final day of voting after two different songs had taken turns there over the two previous days, all a long way behind group winner 'Paranoid Android' - but from a clean slate in the final, this joyful song with an equally joyful accompanying video has powered its way to the runner-up spot!

 

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1. David Bowie - Life On Mars?

 

158 points - 12s: Dot, Popchartfreak, Chez Wombat, JulianT, Jade

 

 

However there can only be one winner - and from the 1971 album Hunky Dory which, like this single, peaked at #3 in 1973, it's a comprehensive victory for the late David Bowie and what I and many others consider to be his greatest song! :cheer:

 

Thank you all for taking part!

Junior Senior being the last song to get a 12 here then - that's cool that all of them got at least one, and fab to see them defying the odds to get all the way to 2nd. 'Life On Mars?' is a winner I will not argue with also even if it only got 4 points from me (it's a little difficult to compare such a disparate group of classics). Also glad Otis didn't come last, not that Girls Aloud deserved to either x

 

I was wondering if these results would finish before 4pm that's good that they have, as I can now kick off today's SyncTube session with Bowie :magic: