Very much liking The Coral and Muse too.

Never cared for Lostprophets thankfully so never had to do the big deletion of files. Not bothered about the Chilis either but they have a few decent tracks even if they're awful people.

Bill McCai always felt like a modern update of Excerpt From a Teenage Opera by Keith West. A very upbeat, catchy tune about someone dying.

This has just inspired my next playlist - Death Discs, as they were called in the 60s.

I love Hysteria, it's still one of my favourite Muse tracks now. There's just something really quite driving about the way it progresses and the warped guitar hook is really catchy for me.

A top Muse track there. Worthy of being a #1 definitely. Love The Darkness Christmas offering as well!

23 - 22/12/2003 Outkast - Hey Ya!

Chart Run: 10-08-05-05-03-02-01-01-02-05-07-10-12-11-13-14-16-15-16-20-24-29-35-40 (24 weeks)

A rarity in the first few years of a song which took a few weeks to peak at the top. In the UK chart it would gradually fall over the Christmas period before climbing back up and re-peaking well into 2024, but for me it was something I'd barely heard before release and I kept enjoying more and more before it hit the top. Looking back I'm surprised it overtook The Darkness before Christmas, but I did love it. I ended up buying Speakerboxx/The Love Below album, but couldn't ever really get into either of them.

It went on to become one of the biggest and well known hits of the decade and deservedly so. It's not something I've ever got bored of and can't see ever happening. It's always sounded great and still does, one of the songs of the decade. Ending 2023 on a high.

2025 Rating: 10/10

Unsurprisingly, it didn't hold anything off the top, with the three previous number one singles taking up the other spots in the top 3 across this fortnight.

2023 Rank and Review

23 songs which took in a big range of quality. A trio of my all time favourites to a few that I wouldn't be bothered if I never heard again, but that's probably to be expected given we're going back 22 years to the year I turned 14, with mostly decent stuff in between - 16/23 are good and I still enjoy which is a solid enough ratio. What I've realised is that 2003 was far from a vintage year for music, it's not like there were loads of songs that I charted in the top 10 that I was loving where I think it's a shame I wasn't talking about those instead, popular sounds of the early part of the decade were losing their way, and the wave of indie that'd take over not quite yet hitting. The list of UK number ones is as 'meh' as you can get (although it is definitely better than '04), with only Crazy in Love holding any real fondness for me now.

It strikes me as there being a lack of variety in this list, the vast majority being male-fronted indie/rock, but am not too surprised and that doesn't change anytime soon, and whilst their were excellent albums released in '03 that went on to become big favourites of mine (Elbow - Cast of Thousands, The Knife - Deep Cuts and the Ben Gibbard fronted duo of Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism and The Postal Service - Give Up), that just wasn't music that a 14 year old in 2003 was ever likely to hear. Anyway, here's how I'd rank the 23 songs:

1. The Libertines - Don't Look Back Into The Sun

2. Outkast - Hey Ya!

3. Blur - Out of Time

4. Coldplay - Clocks

5. Foo Fighters - Times Like These

6. The Chemical Brothers feat. The Flaming Lips - The Golden Path

7. The Coral - Bill McCai

8. Foo Fighters - Low

9. The White Stripes - 7 Nation Army

10. Linkin Park - Numb

11. Jane's Addiction - Just Because

12. Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather For Ducks

13. Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

14. Muse - Hysteria

15. The Strokes - 12:51

16. The Darkness - Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)

17. Metallica - St. Anger

18. Good Charlotte - Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

19. The Thrills - Big Sur

20. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Fortune Faded

21. Funeral For a Friend - Juneau

22. Stereophonics - Madame Helga

23. Lostprophets - Burn Burn

Thanks to everyone who's been reading and interacting with this for the past month, I have enjoyed doing it and nice to see others thoughts. I shall start with 2004 tomorrow, which somewhat shockingly begins with a song sung by an actual woman!