Rule The World is sublime, I only discovered during lockdown in 2020.

3 Patience

 

 

For years, I considered Patience my favourite Take That song, but recently it's fallen a little into third place. That's no slight on this song, though - others have simply risen above it, I still have a LOT of love for Patience! It was the first Take That song I ever (knowingly) heard, and the first one to be released in my lifetime (!), though I didn't take too much notice of it at the time despite being aware of it. Over the years, it's been a song I'd give spot plays to, and it was really great to hear it live at the Jingle Bell Ball last year. It's undoubtedly my favourite Take That song with Gary on lead vocals, and I love how, despite definitely sounding like a mid-00s production, it still holds up to this day as one of their strongest and most anthemic songs. A genius comeback single, positioning Take That perfectly to satisfy their original fans, and gain a load of new ones as they entered their "man band" era.

 

Top 2 reveal tomorrow, which Mark lead will take the win? Shine or Hold Up a Light? :o

I love the garden and how the vocals were divided, still a song a revisit lots, god I miss the days of songs like this.

Patience, another excellent track and defines what a comeback should sound like, it ticked every box possible.

Patience is amazing too. I knew part of the chorus for a while as it was used in an ad here, but I could never work out what song it was. When I found out it was this I checked it out and I’ve been a fan since.

Happy Now was always a highlight for me from Progress, so it’s great to see it so high up your rankings! I wish it had been a “proper single” as opposed to only being a Comic Relief thing.

 

The Garden is epic! It amazes me to this day that it was passed on as a UK single choice.

 

Patience is really a lesson in how you make a triumphant comeback. What a song!

 

Mark slaying with this Top 2. :cheeseblock: I think I know which one will come out on top… :thinking:

Patience is the ultimate comeback song and went all around the world for them.

 

I didn't know they were releasing new music so when I first heard the song in a shop I thought it was fantastic. Went home and investigated and was shocked to find it was Take That.

 

It is everything you want in a reunion track: different, epic and classic. They delivered.

The remaining top 2 songs are also great, hold up a light really should have been pushed as a single as its such a great song and it's even better when performed live.

2 Shine

 

 

Much like Patience, Shine was unavoidable at the time of release. It felt like the perfect double whammy at the time, as to me, a casual fan, it seemed like there wasn't a very big gap at all between Patience and Shine being hits. Undoubtedly, this worked in their favour, cementing that their comeback wasn't just a moment of nostalgia, but I think part of Shine's success had to be how different it sounded to Patience. Not only did both songs feature a different member on lead vocals, but their vibes are distinct from each other. Shine was also only the second single to feature Mark on lead, following Babe over a decade prior, and it's fair to say it remains Mark's most iconic moment, as part of Take That or otherwise. Over the years, Shine has remained a Take That classic, and feels firmly cemented in the public consciousness through regular advert usage - Jess Glynne wishes Hold My Hand could sound so good after being hammered by adverts! I also love the lyrics of Shine, written about Robbie's battle with depression, adding an extra layer of sincerity to what's otherwise one of their most fun singles. An undeniable classic, but there's another Mark lead which *just* pips it to the post for me...

 

1 Hold Up a Light

 

 

There's little to separate the top 2 for me, but I settled with Hold Up a Light at #1 very early on, and though I'd edited my list at various points before revealing each position, this has remained firm. Hold Up a Light was the fifth and final single from The Circus, though it had a much lower-scale release than usual for that period. A CD single was given a limited release, at the merchandise stalls of The Circus Live and briefly on their official website, but no wider-scale release (and coming so late into the campaign) meant Hold Up a Light sadly didn't chart in the top 100, peaking at #123. Despite this, it's become a staple of the band's setlists, and it's easy to hear why. Hold Up a Light is anthemic to its core, with the perfect singalong chorus (written for exactly the kind of moment you'd expect it to garner on tour - phone lights in the air!) and a really great vocal from Mark. I think it could have been a big hit had it received a full push earlier in the campaign, and it feels criminal to me that a song so euphoric doesn't have a UK top 100 peak to its name, especially when it feels like more of an essential Take That track than several which do.

 

 

1 Hold Up a Light

2 Shine

3 Patience

4 The Garden

5 Rule the World

6 Happy Now

7 Never Forget

8 Back for Good

9 These Days

10 Kidz

 

11 Up All Night

12 The Flood

13 Love Love

14 Pray

15 Brand New Sun

16 All Wrapped Up

17 Hey Boy

18 Relight My Fire (feat. Lulu)

19 This Life

20 Babe

 

21 Said It All

22 Could It Be Magic

23 You and Me

24 Greatest Day

25 Higher Than Higher

26 Everything Changes

27 Giants

28 It Only Takes a Minute

29 Reach Out

30 Let in the Sun

 

31 A Million Love Songs

32 Promises

33 Sure

34 Cry (Sigma feat. Take That)

35 I Found Heaven

36 Windows

37 Once You’ve Tasted Love

38 New Day

39 Why Can’t I Wake Up With You

40 How Deep Is Your Love

 

41 When We Were Young

42 Do What U Like

43 I’d Wait for Life

44 Love Ain’t Here Anymore

45 Out of Our Heads

A massive thank you to everyone who's taken part, I've had a great time counting this down and I've loved reading everyone's contributions, whether you agree or disagree! :wub:

Shine is a great thumping track which Mark delivers on. I can't imagine the others singing it.

 

It was also key following the reunion single in determining how their reunion was going to be viewed by the general public. You could have a novelty comeback hit but not two in a row. As a result it helped the album return to number one.

 

It stands out against their classic ballads and is in the Relight My Fire bracket of classic setlist shifters.

 

Hold Up a Light is indeed a fan favourite and written to formula with that in mind. It is not a particular favourite of mine but it is fine. Regarding Mark's lead songs I prefer Shine, Babe, and The Day After Tomorrow.

 

I can see and hear how much Hold Up a Light excels within a live setting though.

 

Thank you for doing the countdown, it has been great.

Edited September 29, 2024Sep 29 by nirvanamusic

Very solid top 2 and I like both equally. Both great feel good songs.

Thanks for doing the countdown I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed reading about each song and the background to them -thank you :)

Great countdown Joseph!

 

Love Shine, only discovered it around 2011-12 but it’s been a firm favourite since then.

Great top 10 Joseph! I think My top 3 would be Kidz, Rule The World and Shine tbh

My Top 3 would be

 

01 Rule the World

02 Never Forget

03 The Flood.

Great job with this Joseph! I think I may listen to your list from bottom to top to re-familiarise myself with all the singles.

 

'Patience' is still my #1 Take That song, yay for it finishing top 3 here and #1 out of non-Mark led songs x

Thank you all for your comments, it's much appreciated! :wub: