Well, it's all come down to this! We started The Pop Factor with 24 artists - 8 representing each of our three categories comprising Solo Men, Solo Women and Groups - and over the weeks we have lost 19 of them; most recently CHVRCHES and Louise in the Semi Final, finishing in 6th and 7th place respectively. Now only 5 artists remain and they're ready to leave it ALL on the stage in the Grand Final with their final bid for your - the voting BuzzJack public's - votes, to take the crown, and the grand prize of The Ten Poond Record Token.

How the Grand Final works:

The five finalists will perform for you, the voting BuzzJack public, once in Part One of the Grand Final. Once you've listened to all of the artists perform you should cast your vote, ranking the performances from favourite to least favourite. As with the Semi Final, there will be no public voting in the Grand Final.

You should submit your votes in private HERE, choosing from each of the drop-down boxes to assign each song to a position in your ranking from 01 (favourite) to 05 (least favourite).

For those voting that are competing in the Grand Final, you must vote. You can include your own song in your votes as per the structure of the Google Form, however it will be removed when votes are counted and verified. Failure to vote by a competing artist will result in a 50% point deduction from your final score.

As always, and now more than ever in the Grand Final, if you aren't participating as a contestant in The Pop Factor, you can cast your vote too. The Semi Final results - although not being revealed until the end of the competition - were very tight. EVERY VOTE COUNTS!

♦️

Voting will freeze and end for Part One of the Grand Final on Wednesday 16th July 18:59 BST

Voting will reset for everybody in Part Two of the Grand Final, too, so make sure your voice is heard in crowning the winner of The Pop Factor!

When the vote is frozen, we'll cross over to reveal the results.

Only TWO artists - the two artists with the most points overall - will automatically progress to Part Two of the Grand Final.

And in one final twist of fate...

The three finalists not automatically progressing to Part Two of the Grand Final will come face to face with our Guest Judge Supreme... Robert Botbert. Robert Botbert alone will decide which ONE finalist will progress to Part Two of the Grand Final to perform again in the race for the crown.

To clarify, TWO artists in total will be eliminated from the competition, leaving us with THREE artists in Part Two of the Grand Final.

Reminder: voting will freeze on Wednesday 16 July 2025, 18:59 BST

For the penultimate time this season...

IT'S TIME

TO FACE

THE MUSIC OF THE GRAND FINAL!

01

02

03

04

05

Standard list of entries:

Christina Aguilera feat. Redman - Dirrty

Mary J. Blige - Real Love

Pet Shop Boys - It’s a Sin

The Saturdays feat. Flo Rida - Higher

Avril Lavigne - I’m With You

REMINDER:

Do NOT post your votes in this thread.

Please use the form HERE to vote privately.

In 2021, Rolling Stone included "Real Love" in their list of "500 Best Songs of All Time" at number 327.^[3] In 2022, Pitchfork ranked it at number 39 in their list of "The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s

If this song is new for you please give it few listens. I can't believe it is not on her official youtube channel. This was Mary’s first top 10 hit in the states. It is her 4th most streamed song and is known as a signature hit!

Check out the video for the 90’s fashion and choreography.

Having to pick between two of my top ~15 songs of all time to decide between I’m With You and Dirrty (which in itself could not be much more different types of song) is a TOUGHIE.

Think I’m rooting for Avril to win the whole thing, can’t remember who is representing each artist but they’ve played the whole thing masterfully.

Another absolute classic from Pet Shop Boys 🤩

It's A Sin played in the background just now on BBC1 Wimbledon coverage while showing Jannik Sinner's career stats. The timing!

Do I send my votes now...? Kinda tempting to do so with only five to order.

I just knew It’s A Sin, Dirrty and Higher were coming 😅 - can’t fault the thought processes there! Not sure if I know the Mary track but will make sure to give it a few listens to give it a fair chance.

And thank you @RobBot for the kind words. ❤️ 🙏

Two of these are waaayyyyy better than the others for me. A very clear last place for me also.

Oh there’s some very nice choices here.

I was never really into Dirrty despite Stripped being one of my all-time top 10 albums oops. I didn't get round to buying it until I heard Beautiful.

Love all of the other choices, that's a great pick for Mary J (again).

8 hours ago, RobBot said:

Having to pick between two of my top ~15 songs of all time to decide between I’m With You and Dirrty (which in itself could not be much more different types of song) is a TOUGHIE.

Think I’m rooting for Avril to win the whole thing, can’t remember who is representing each artist but they’ve played the whole thing masterfully.

I wholeheartedly agree, and I would root for Mary J Blige and PSB as well...they all played amazing game <3.

Omg five absolute bangers, these must be the best selections yet (and therefore the toughest to choose between!)

Guessing @Spiceboy is once again needing some alone time with this Robert Botbert before he performs his judging duties...

6 minutes ago, Mangø said:

Omg five absolute bangers, these must be the best selections yet (and therefore the toughest to choose between!)

Guessing @Spiceboy is once again needing some alone time with this Robert Botbert before he performs his judging duties...

Nah not this time, he's not my type! 😅

59 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

Nah not this time, he's not my type! 😅

I’m guessing you didn’t want some alone time with Paddy J either. 😅

53 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

I’m guessing you didn’t want some alone time with Paddy J either. 😅

You thought right 🤣

22 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

You thought right 🤣

I’ll try not to take it personally. 🤣

Edited Monday at 10:183 days by Paddington James

One of the best songs ever... and one of the worst ever too :D

Voted!

Voted!

Very difficult to order the top 2 and the bottom 2.

Yess, very difficult to order the top two, the middle one and the bottom two!!