Love a bit of Ne Yo! Though this one is on the dull side. So much so, I forgot it existed!

Ne-Yo did really go on a musical journey from 2006-2015!

Edited December 1, 2025Dec 1 by TheSnake

Quite like 'So Sick' but 'Nature's Law' should've got there over it!

Not much to say about the last few songs, but they're all roughly where I'd place them. 'It's Chico Time' feels like a time capsule of The X Factor 2005 that was closing by the time the single came out, even if it did remain a stock answer to "what time is it?" for a while. The production on 'Nasty Girl' sticks in the mind but I haven't any interest in the lyrics, 'Smack That' has some memorable hooks but doesn't really appeal overall, 'Star Girl' felt too close to McFly fanbase only territory to pique my interest, and 'So Sick' is OK but nothing exciting and I'd have preferred 'Nature's Law' to grab that week - Embrace even coming close to #1 would have seemed highly unlikely 5 years earlier, but they turned it around in the middle of the decade (until their World Cup song that is, which kind of killed them again oops).

Hope you feel better soon Jade!

Sorry you're poorly Jade! It's almost as if you timed it for Ne-Yo eek! I'd forgotten how So Sick went and I'd forgotten it was a number one, so that's not a promising start - it scraped into my top 40 in comparsison to his closest to number one in Beautiful Monster (#2) and top 10 for Closer. It sounds OK, nice production, there's nothing bad about it - but it just comes and goes and doesnt leave much of an impression for me. Good lyrics need something interesting melodically to shine.

I think 'So Sick' is pleasant enough, but not one I believe I've ever once listened to out of choice.

18 hours ago, TheSnake said:

Ne-Yo did really go on a musical journey from 2006-2015!

Agreed. 'So Sick' and 'Beautiful Monster' couldn't sound any more different and they were only released 4 years apart.

Edited December 2, 2025Dec 2 by montyj

"So Sick" is OK, but nothing spectacular. Embrace deserved the #1, but unfortunately they missed it close. My favourite song of them is "Gravity".

15 Orson - No Tomorrow

Kept off #1: nothing directly, but the highest non-#1 that week was Black Eyed Peas - 'Pump It' at #3

American pop-rock band Orson released 'No Tomorrow' as their debut single from the album Bright Idea. It debuted at #5 in the U.K. chart, before later climbing to #1, infamously with the lowest weekly sales for a chart-topper of all time, with just 17,694 copies sold. This record had previously belonged to the Elvis reissue of 'One Night' / 'I Got Stung' from the year before, which managed 20,463 sales. So Orson are the only act to ever sell less than 20,000 copies to reach the top. This was very telling of the era, where physical CD sales were nosediving and downloads weren't fully integrated into the chart yet, with an accompanying physical release still needed until January 2007. Orson reached #1 in March 2006, so Smash Hits was already over by this point, Top of the Pops was on life support and the first song to reach #1 on downloads alone (with its CD being released the following week) was about a month away. So this was a very transformative time for the industry and 'No Tomorrow' was the rock bottom moment before these changes set in.

I remember 'No Tomorrow' getting a couple of mentions in the 'What is the most Ordinary #1 Ever?' thread and I wouldn't quite go that far, but I can see why, as it's a pretty straight-forward pop-rock song and the band aren't particularly charismatic. However, I do quite like the power-pop energy in the chorus and the lyrics capture a feeling of youthful lust pretty well. So this position felt about right for me.

Orson members Jason Pebworth and George Astasio are also members of a song writing and music production group called The Invisible Men, who have quite a lot of hits in their repetoire over the years. Their first credit was as song-writers on Girls Aloud's 'The Show' and they were also involved on works for the Sugababes, Jessie J, The Noisettes and even on US #1 'Fancy' by Iggy Azalea and Charli xcx. So they've done pretty well for themselves!

These were the poor sales for the top 3 when Orson got to #1:

1. Orson - No Tomorrow (17,694)

2. Chico - It's Chico Time (17,365)

3. Black Eyed Peas - Pump It (17,360)

So that small sales gap between #1 and #3 was pretty unlucky for the Black Eyed Peas. But they swerved the 'lowest selling #1' tag all the same.

My first ever Jester's Top Tunes number 1 in the first week of Buzzjack! I have a huge soft spot for No Tomorrow because of this.

Most of the recent songs in this thread I have very few strong feelings towards, so haven't commented (except to say that 'Smack That' is hilariously inept), but 'No Tomorrow' is definitely one I like and hopefully a signal that we're getting into the good side of the 2006 #1s. Love its energy even if I could go years without thinking about it.

I haven’t heard that Orson track since it was out… just listened and it’s alright, the best one so far. It’s very much like if Maroon 5 went slightly more rock

3 hours ago, dandy* said:

I haven’t heard that Orson track since it was out… just listened and it’s alright, the best one so far. It’s very much like if Maroon 5 went slightly more rock

That's a very good description.

I'm starting to realise that I'm not at all familiar with a lot of UK #1's from 2006. ☹️

I also really rather like “No Tomorrow”.

Close between that and “Star Girl” for favourite so far.

I really like Ne-Yo in general: he’s a genuinely excellent singer and songwriter and he was fab on “The Masked Singer”. “So Sick” is rather basic musically though.

Like 'No Tomorrow' too. Always been pretty good for me!

I love No Tomorrow and it would probably be easily top 5 for me. It was unlucky to get that record. The four weeks either side of its stint at no.1 it sold over 20k so it was just an extremely quiet week.

The song itself feels like 2006 personified-I remember going to parties and actually clubbing for the first time as I turned 18 later that year and this just just seemed like a soundtrack to that time. I loved their album too, my favourite of the year after I’m Not Dead.

I Love No Tomorrow, one of my top records of the year, great song - it's not a surprise that Orson found more hits as songwriters, and if they were like a more rocky Maroon 5 of the time, I would say it was more of a case of what Maroon 5 would sound like if they could write great songs with more of an exciting upbeat uptempo feel - They didn't come close to this until Moves Like Jagger for me, though I liked This Love and a couple of others 😇I love all of the hooks along the way to a climax, No Tomorrow is not a format song, no real singalong bit, it's more like a stream of riffs consciousness that remains interesting throughout, almost but-not-quite strays into Jefferson Starship's Jane at one point, and just never lets up until the sudden end. A manic musical journey....

Pump It also topped my charts of the time and was a biggie, so that's some sort of consolation I guess 😄

I think 'No Tomorrow' is OK. It felt so huge at the time, but I don't think I've heard it anywhere in the wild since the year it came out!

14 Beyoncé - Déjà Vu (feat. Jay-Z)

Kept off #1: nothing directly, but the highest non-#1 that week was 'Ridin' by Chamillionaire feat. Krayzie Bone at #3, which previously peaked at #2

Beyoncé's sophomore album B'Day arrived in 2006 and 'Déjà Vu' was chosen to lead the project. This song was produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Beyoncé herself, 808-Ray and Jon Jon Traxx. Béy also has a composing credit with Darkchild, but the lyricists once again include him, alongside Delisha Thomas, Makeba Riddick-Woods, Keli Nicole Price and Shawn Carter, aka Jay-Z. Riddick-Woods, who later signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation label, originally recorded the demo, with lyrics that would remain in the final product. She and Darkchild presented the demo to Beyoncé who approved and added her own melodic and production touches. 'Déjà Vu' was originally intended to be a solo release, but Beyoncé caught Jay-Z trying to sing along to a recorded version of the song, so asked him to contribute. The two had been dating for about 5 years by this point and also experienced previous success as collaborators, with the likes of '03 Bonnie and Clyde' and of course, 'Crazy In Love'. So why not give it another go. 'Déjà Vu' is an R&B team-up that draws inspiration from 1970s funk & soul music. The track contains a lot of live instrumentation with the exception of the 808 drum. Beyoncé can be heard introducing some of the instruments at the start of the song: "Bass (uh), hi-hat (uh), 808 (uh)". Horns can also be heard during some sections. 'Déjà Vu' is supposedly about being constantly reminded of an ex-lover although the lyrics read more like hallucinations than the dictionary definition of 'déjà vu'. Jay-Z turns up for a few portions of the song, first alongside Beyoncé on the intro and opening verse, then later for a confident solo part. This collaboration was a second U.K. #1 for both Beyoncé and Jay-Z, following monster hit 'Crazy In Love' in 2003. It reached #4 in the U.S., but 'Irreplaceable' was her B'Day golden ticket across the pond, spending an impressive 10 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

'Déjà Vu' does feel like a lesser 'Crazy In Love' but that was such a mammoth hit, both critically and commercially, that it's easy to see why it would wind up as a template at some point. Once again we have intense infatuation, brass and a Jay-Z feature - even if the latter wasn't originally planned. But this does still have its high points for me. The (mostly) live instrumental arrangement sounds rich and funky. I also have to highlight Beyoncé's vocal performance. I particularly enjoy how manic her delivery becomes during the bridge. Jay-Z also fits pretty well on this so I'm not mad about the change of plans to involve him. This isn't top tier Beyoncé and she was still years away from hitting her creative stride, but it's a solid, energetic team-up all the same, so this mid table area felt about right.

'Déjà Vu' put a stop to the non-consecutive run at #1 for 'Hips Don't Lie' once and for all, but did not directly block anything from becoming a #1. 'Ridin' by Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone was stuck at #2 behind Shakira and had fallen to #3 by the time 'Déjà Vu' had made it to the top. That song does have some nostalgic value, especially due to the Weird Al parody 'White and Nerdy', but I do prefer the other two songs mentioned here.