Good for an X Factor winner, and tbf, good for its genre of dull radio pop with a key change, but still horrible, due to being part of that genre.

'You Raise Me Up' I'd possibly rank ahead of it due to being familiar with it as a worship song and sort of thinking its rousing feels somewhat authentic (though better when nightcored x). Still, it's Westlife, so bleh.

I didn't like this at all predictably, the rhyming of "soul" with "goal" always grinded my gears.

I did however really quite like the follow-up 'No Promises'

Don't like Westlife's version of 'You Raise Me Up' at all.

I quite like 'That's My Goal' though and it was a very memorable series after not watching the first year and takes me back to that time period at Christmas too as was beginning to get back into the charts again properly at this point. Shayne was definitely the correct winner (that wasn't Maria Lawson who was my fave when she got shockingly eliminated). 'No Promises' is his best though overall!

I think it wasn't until 2015 or 2016 that I heard That's My Goal for the first time.

As far as winners singles go I actually don't mind it. Though there is one or two I prefer above it.

That’s My Goal is ok, it’s the start of the formulaic X Factor winner song and video (with pause so they can add in the bit when the winner was announced!).

It also reminds me of Christmas (and like others, I also prefer No Promises).

Shayne Ward's series of X Factor was the first one I watched! He was a very marketable winner both looks and talent-wise, the foundations to be a U.K. counterpart to Justin Timberlake at the time, so a shame the hits would dry up after a few years following a promising start.

He was actually on Strictly last year so ended up doing both of the big two in the end.

'That's My Goal' at least has the interesting distinction of being an original composition indeed, although nothing to get too excited about.

Its impact on the X Factor of course stretched to that trainwreck Ablisa audition later on too *_*

I remember my Nan getting excited that a "Ward" had finally made it in the big leagues... I on the other hand wasn't that bothered. 😄

“That’s My Goal” is an original composition but it’s so much a product of the winner’s song formula that it might as well not be. “You Raise Me Up” did indeed feel like it was perfect for Westlife. I’d probably put that as the higher of these two but it’s still very uninspiring. I got more from the George Best tribute version that charted around the new year.

45 minutes ago, Jester said:

That’s My Goal is ok, it’s the start of the formulaic X Factor winner song and video (with pause so they can add in the bit when the winner was announced!).

It also reminds me of Christmas (and like others, I also prefer No Promises).

I cannot hear or think about this song without hearing in my head Kate Thornton shout 'Shayne' before the key change.

It's a very bland song indeed for me, unbelievable sales for such a Westlife album track kind of thing. But X Factor indeed was already on its way to becoming a cultural phenomenon.

Not heard Shayne's in yonks - think that was the first X Factor where I caught the last few shows, it started becoming an "event" and something I invariably caught in Shenanigans bar in Gran Canaria in my annual pre-xmas holiday. it's better with a tipsy crowd. He was very easy on the eye but I was hoping Andy would win I think. Sadly, he ended up as UK Eurovision cannon-fodder. Shayne? he could sing, he could have had a decent career with decent contemporary songwriters, but this was in the Westlife-arena, and we didnt need another one of those. Stickwitchu is still the top track so far.

Ablisha. I think I hear That's My Goal

11 hours ago, awardinary said:

I remember my Nan getting excited that a "Ward" had finally made it in the big leagues... I on the other hand wasn't that bothered. 😄

Did Anita Ward not ring her bell?

3 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

Did Anita Ward not ring her bell?

I guess that wasn't her goal.

Westlife that was still when pretty much any cover version that did went to #1.

23. Elvis Presley - It's Now or Never

#1 for 1 week W/E 5th February

#152 in EOY (if anyone knows where this or any of the Elvis reissues are in the EOY for the year, I'd be grateful x)

So the Elvis reissues were always going to be difficult to rank when I picked this year, there were many angles I could go down - I could not include them at all as they weren't 2005 songs, I could rank them all at the bottom and play the 'Elvis is overrated angle' or I could just put them all in one place in the middle, however they were number 1 hits just as much as other songs here and as I'll cover below, it's not like the circumstances of them being there are particularly unique looking at recent chart history. And while I wouldn't call myself a superfan (the songs in his post-military career were pretty bad and a lot of what he was delivering was certainly not entirely original and more palatable for the audience coming from a white man) he was an icon for a reason as his voice, music and performing ability has been near unmatched in decades since and I genuinely really enjoy a few of his songs, so I will give them an honest assessment alongside the number 1 hits this year. I'm not going to go into the background of Elvis himself as you've got many literature and films that go into that, but it is worth discussing in this post his presence in 2005.

2005 would've been Elvis' 70th birthday and EMI marked the occasion by re-releasing all 18 of his number 1 singles, while this wasn't the first time this happened, the Beatles' label did a similar exercise in the 80s, the scale and publicity for this campaign was far wider than anything that had been before. It wasn't lost to the estate that the 1000th number 1 was coming up and this specifically tied in with that, and they achieved it, as well as the 999th and 1002nd (which this one was), in the process, it also got his total number 1 figure up to 21, a good few singles clear of nearest competitors, the Beatles (even though not counting repeats, kinda as it should be, they would now be tied). The sales were very low and at a time when physical sales were really drying up, and it certainly reads more than a little cynical so I can certainly see why some view this as quite a nadir for the singles chart. From an outsiders perspective to the conversation at the time, I certainly think it reads like a shameless corporate exercise devaluing the music and his legend, but I do also see it as an interesting gateway between the physical and digital eras. While it would be another 12 months before the musical new age would begin and downloads would start their take over, older songs getting to number 1 is something that would become a feature of the digital era in various ways that still persist and labels have learned how to exploit this, just in a different way to how it was done before, and while I do prefer newer music getting the spotlight, events like this are always unique quirks of the chart which are interesting to view if nothing more. There's much more that can be said for this, so I will just link to this very thorough 3 part series on the Popular blog to commemorate the 1000th number 1: https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2023/11/no-bird-can-fly-no-fish-can-swim-until-the-king-is-born

Anyway, the song itself is one of Elvis' biggest hits and one of the world's best selling singles at 20 million copies. It is based on the 1916 composition O Sole Mio, Elvis first heard another song that used this melody - Tony Martin's There's No Tomorrow while on military service and was inspired by this to do his own version. He pitched the idea to his publisher who had songwriters write it in less than half than hour, in the UK, there was a copyright issue which meant it was delayed a few months but anticipation was so high that it managed a rare-at-the-time number 1 debut and stayed there for eight weeks in October 1960, and added to that tally 45 years later. Of course if you're in the UK, you'll more likely know it as 'Just One Cornetto' as many years of advertising has wormed that into my brain so that I can't really think of much else when I hear this, and that's ultimately why I've ranked this one the lowest as any intended effect it may have is dwindled so that the only feeling I get from this is wanting an ice cream. But even outside of that. it's your standard 50s/early 60s crooning number which just doesn't appeal to me much, however much I can appreciate the instrumental, his vocal talent and the backing singers. It's not as bad as some of his movie releases, but it's not a highlight in his back catalogue,

(The next Elvis posts won't be as long as that, just wanted to set the context and give my thoughts on the exercise as a whole x)

I prefer to have all Elvis re-issues at # 1 again instead all UK # 1s from 2005 year.

The Cornetto song was #152 in the end of year chart! My thoughts are similar to yours on that one really.

I can remember following the UK Charts from Australia in 2005 and being initially confused as to why an Elvis song went to #1. I'm not really an Elvis fan, so I'd probably place these quite low.

I grew up with Elvis, mum was a superfan, and my Aunty Norma still is a fan - we went to see an excellent Elvis tribute act the other month, he'd been to perform in Vegas and clearly a fan himself, pretty much ignoring Elvis' 60's hits until his critical recovery in 1968, the second record I ever bought was In The Ghetto, and went to the cinema with mum to see the odd Elvis movie, so...I enjoyed the excitement of seeing which (if any) of the reissues would top the charts again - and as a Beatles superfan I'm asserting these are extra weeks on top to existing number ones so it's still 18-all. That is the accepted format for Golden, now on it's 3rd run on top, so all we arguing about is length of time between runs 😇

It's Now Or Never, I liked it as a kid, I liked it when Elvis died in 1977 (and that was a huge cultural shock) and charted it then - because by sheer co-incidence all of his number ones had been re-printed as a new box set that could be bought individually in record shops just as The Beatles had in 1976 (they also held the same catalogue numbers). Back catalogue as a thing didnt exist then - that's why so many tracks got actual re-issues with new numbers and bundled with other hits as pent-up demand got them back in the charts. Back in the Guinness Chart Hits Book days re-issues and re-entries would get picked up on, but in these bundling days of the OCC that's not always clear - and it's certainly not clear on Wikipedia. When Elvis died there weren't enough copies available to invade the charts in a big way, but there was an inrush down the bottom end of the charts as what record stores had left all sold out - so, in a way, these 2005 weekly excursions made up for what certainly would have been a total Elvis invasion had 1977 had streaming rather than hits albums to buy and a limited amount of old singles.

That said, that bloody Cornetto advert ruined this one forever. It's still better than all the tracks before it though 😄