Fontaines DC, Temper City and Miley Cyrus are probably my biggest omissions that I'd have like to have seen added.

Here's some other thoughts on Now 125;

Disc 1

Nice to see first time additions from Ashe, ADÉLA, and Audrey Hobert. I guess Ashe could be a future #1 so would add some value to the compilation for sure.

Bruno's single is very old by this point, but it was the case on Now 124 also so not hugely surprising.

Charli's singles this era haven't really impacted the charts the same way as her BRAT era so it was less obvious what song would be picked but I think Camera is the right choice overall.

Can they please stop trying to push Luke Combs on us all. I get that maybe he had a hit a couple of years ago with a cover of Fast Car, but he's not marketed for UK audiences and this constant obsession of including a song of his in the country section of the disc is getting very tired now. We don't want it. If we did, his music would be charting much higher.

Dolly Parton's only ever appearance in the main series comes this month following her passing, and they choose to use, not 9 To 5, not Jolene, but this duet instead... It just doesn't feel like a fitting tribute choice in my opinion.

Disc 2

Expectedly Olivia Rodrigo gets the double appearance in the volume we would have expected for her two recent hits. Not gripes at all there.

However, Alex Warren's higher-peaking hits FINE PLACE TO DIE and PASSENGER both get snubbed for the more recent, and lower-peaking, RESCUER. There is just something that doesn't sit right with me about this.

First appearance for Carly Rae Jepsen since Now 91, and the first for Chaka Khan... ever!

Along with Chaka, it was good to see first time features for Jungle, KAROL G and Delta Goodrem.

The longest gap between appearances though isn't Blue (last seen Now 59) or Simple Minds (last seen Now 30) but it is Bonnie Tyler, who last appeared with the very same song on the very first edition of Now That's What I Call Music way back in 1983 and hasn't appeared again since. It seems her tribute sets quite the record for longest gap between appearances for any song in the series.

Overall it's a mixture of hits on one disc and vintage artists on the second. It makes me wish that more of what was on Disc 2 had a chance of making it into the UK Charts, but it just seems like that's not a reality we will ever see again.

Luke Combs is far bigger here than his singles chart appearances would suggest tbf.

He has 9 Platinum singles in the UK, loads more Gold and Silver, and sold out Wembley Stadium 3 times this year.

Even one of his many UK tribute acts plays pretty big venues here.

His songs tend to stream well over time rather than have high peaks. But even still, most of his singles chart in the lower ends of the Top 100 - which is far more than a lot of the “albums” artists featured!

I've finally listened to NOW Yearbook 1971 Extra, and whilst I really enjoyed this one (the top heavy Motown on Disc 3 was really enjoyable) I have a Top 10:

1. The Pioneers - Let Your Yeah Be Yeah

2. Dave & Ansel Collins - Monkey Spanner

3. The Delfonics - Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)

4. Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

5. Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up

6. Frank Sinatra - I Will Drink The Wine

7. Perry Como - I Think Of You

8. Deep Purple - Fireball

9. Atomic Rooster - Tomorrow Night

10. East Of Eden - Jig-A-Jig

Shout out to the novelty track by Waldo De Los Rios, but these classical medleys remind me of the Hooked On Classics from 1981 so it just missed out on the top 10.

Looking forward to Yearbook '94!

I may have a few ideas for NOW Yearbook 1990-1994: The Final Chapter. Please note that I have left out the 1994 tracks, since we don't have Yearbook Extra 1994 yet.

Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro

Iron Maiden - Holy Smoke

Lisa Stansfield - Live Together

Black Box - Fantasy

2 Unlimited - Get Ready for This

Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It for You (we don't know if they have licensing rights to Bryan Adams these days)

George Michael - Heal the Pain

Hale & Pace and the Stonkers - The Stonk

Julian Cope - Beautiful Love

P.M. Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy

Rod Stewart - Rhythm of My Heart

Salt-n-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex

The KLF - Last Train to Trancentral

The Simpsons - Do the Bartman (ooh, I hope so)

Curtis Stigers - You're All That Matters to Me

L7 - Pretend We're Dead

Michael Jackson - Heal the World

Right Said Fred - Deeply Dippy

SL2 - On a Ragga Tip

2 Unlimited - No Limit

East 17 - West End Girls

Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - Boom! Shake the Room

Michael Jackson - Will You be There

Mr. Blobby - Mr. Blobby (the Christmas '93 No.1)

Snow - Informer

2 minutes ago, geraintlewis268 said:

I may have a few ideas for NOW Yearbook 1990-1994: The Final Chapter. Please note that I have left out the 1994 tracks, since we don't have Yearbook Extra 1994 yet.

Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro

Iron Maiden - Holy Smoke

Lisa Stansfield - Live Together

Black Box - Fantasy

2 Unlimited - Get Ready for This

Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It for You (we don't know if they have licensing rights to Bryan Adams these days)

George Michael - Heal the Pain

Hale & Pace and the Stonkers - The Stonk

Julian Cope - Beautiful Love

P.M. Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy

Rod Stewart - Rhythm of My Heart

Salt-n-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex

The KLF - Last Train to Trancentral

The Simpsons - Do the Bartman (ooh, I hope so)

Curtis Stigers - You're All That Matters to Me

L7 - Pretend We're Dead

Michael Jackson - Heal the World

Right Said Fred - Deeply Dippy

SL2 - On a Ragga Tip

2 Unlimited - No Limit

East 17 - West End Girls

Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - Boom! Shake the Room

Michael Jackson - Will You be There

Mr. Blobby - Mr. Blobby (the Christmas '93 No.1)

Snow - Informer

Lots of hoping and praying with this list. Out of this list I would definitely like to see:

The Simpsons - Do The Bartman

Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby

Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy

SL2 - On A Ragga Tip

2 Unlimited - No Limit

Snow - Informer

I'd much rather 'Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter' on The Final Chapter and 'Holy Smoke' on its Extra? That's just my preference though.

I’ve also got a list of songs that I hope and expect to appear on 1990-1994. The way they’re going with the 90s yearbooks, they’ll probably give us 1990-1994 in April after the next 70s yearbook which I hope they don’t. Get the individual yearbooks done first and save final chapters for last

Queen - These Are The Days Of Our Lives

Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me

Xpansions - Move Your Body

Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives

Del Amitri - Nothing Ever Happens

Del Amitri - Always The Last To Know

Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

Faith No More - From Out Of Nowhere

The Prodigy - Out Of Space

Take That - Do What You Like

New Order - World (The Price Of Love)

Edited Sunday at 14:014 days by Hadji

2 hours ago, geraintlewis268 said:

I may have a few ideas for NOW Yearbook 1990-1994: The Final Chapter. Please note that I have left out the 1994 tracks, since we don't have Yearbook Extra 1994 yet.

Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro

Iron Maiden - Holy Smoke

Lisa Stansfield - Live Together

Black Box - Fantasy

2 Unlimited - Get Ready for This

Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It for You (we don't know if they have licensing rights to Bryan Adams these days)

George Michael - Heal the Pain

Hale & Pace and the Stonkers - The Stonk

Julian Cope - Beautiful Love

P.M. Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy

Rod Stewart - Rhythm of My Heart

Salt-n-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex

The KLF - Last Train to Trancentral

The Simpsons - Do the Bartman (ooh, I hope so)

Curtis Stigers - You're All That Matters to Me

L7 - Pretend We're Dead

Michael Jackson - Heal the World

Right Said Fred - Deeply Dippy

SL2 - On a Ragga Tip

2 Unlimited - No Limit

East 17 - West End Girls

Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - Boom! Shake the Room

Michael Jackson - Will You be There

Mr. Blobby - Mr. Blobby (the Christmas '93 No.1)

Snow - Informer

Unfortunately some of those won't be eligible,

2 hours ago, Mark said:

Unfortunately some of those won't be eligible,

Name them.

1 hour ago, geraintlewis268 said:

Name them.

Bryan Adams

Right Said Fred

Michael Jackson

The Simpsons

9 minutes ago, Hadji said:

Bryan Adams

Right Said Fred

Michael Jackson

The Simpsons

Oh, yes. Due to the loss of their licensing rights.

1 hour ago, geraintlewis268 said:

Oh, yes. Due to the loss of their licensing rights.

Possibly The Stonk too

Considering how much Now love Total Eclipse Of The Heart, they didn’t include it on part 1 or 2 of 12" 1983

2 hours ago, Mark said:

Possibly The Stonk too

Well, it did make it onto NOW 19.

7 minutes ago, geraintlewis268 said:

Well, it did make it onto NOW 19.

35 years ago, not been since

15 hours ago, Hadji said:

Bryan Adams

Right Said Fred

Michael Jackson

The Simpsons

And Mr. Blobby.

1 hour ago, IdentFan101 said:

And Mr. Blobby.

I mean, Mr. Blobby never made an appearance on any NOW album, but I see where you’re coming from. They seldom include novelty hits.

4 hours ago, IdentFan101 said:

And Mr. Blobby.

And 2 Unlimited too unfortunately. I wish 1993 was the first 90s yearbook or they started them sooner so we could’ve had No Limit on 1993

5 minutes ago, Hadji said:

And 2 Unlimited too unfortunately. I wish 1993 was the first 90s yearbook or they started them sooner so we could’ve had No Limit on 1993

Can't believe they fell to issues, entirely unfair.

And speaking of yearbooks, the 1994 yearbook still isn’t up for preorder on iTunes. They need to realise that not putting it on download is ruining sales of the album

I have another that may have just popped into my mind, another for Yearbook 1990-1994: The Final Chapter:

R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts