The Rose is dull, deserving of last place.

Rock Steady would’ve made a great #1. I loved it then and I still love it now.

I've been out of the loop with these countdown threads / this part of the forum in general oop but will make sure to keep up with this one and I'll endeavour to read back Chez's one as well x

My first exposure to the song 'The Rose' was its usage on Family Guy which does make it a bit hard for me to take any version of it seriously but regardless it's the kind of soppy ballad that I don't think would be of much interest to me anyway especially with Westlife singing it (I don't think their covers are offensively bad or anything but they just provide nothing to get excited about). Remaining firmly seated on my stool x I did have a quick peek at the list of 2006 #1s and it's definitely the obvious choice and probably the correct one for last place here - I think the bottom 5 or so if I was ranking them myself would fall out pretty quickly but then would start getting harder to rank pretty quickly after that!

I have always liked 'The Saints Are Coming' and it would have been cool for Green Day to have a #1 to their name even if it would have been a weird one to do it with. But I guess if Linkin Park could get a new highest peaking single in 2024 it's not off the table that Green Day could get #1 with a comeback single some day...

I have such fond memories of 2006! It was also the year I got into the charts, so I got to witness the quirky week 2 leap in every song’s chart run due to the then-new download rule.

Looking forward to seeing how the #1s are ranked here. From memory there are many great songs to come but also a couple of duds - one of them being out first thankfully. 😋

20 hours ago, Last Dreamer said:

As I said before I knew a woman, which had Westlife - Rose in her all-time top 5 songs.

Question is, WHY?

30 minutes ago, Jessie Where said:

Question is, WHY?

She had very interesting music taste, loved oldies (Elvis, Cliff, Engelbert), but also Oasis, Divine Comedy and some boybands Westlife, Boyzone, Take That.

23 McFly - Don't Stop Me Now / Please, Please

Kept off #1: Rihanna - Unfaithful

'Don't Stop Me Now' was of course originally recorded by Queen back in 1978. Lead singer Freddie Mercury penned the song after feeling like the group was getting better at "having a good time", as the lyrics famously say. 'Don't Stop Me Now' feels like classic Queen with its sing-a-long, anthemic chorus complete with multi-track harmonies. It was chosen as the second single from their seventh studio album Jazz and reached #9 on the U.K. Singles chart. 'Don't Stop Me Now' has stood the test of time, currently boasting the group's second highest stream count on Spotify, with over 2.4 billion plays at the time of writing.

Fellow British four-piece McFly would instead be responsible for sending a version of 'Don't Stop Me Now' to #1 almost 30 years later. The group's Comic Relief single 'All About You' had been a roaring success the previous year and now they were back to lend a helping hand once more, as some proceeds from the 'Don't Stop Me Now' single would go to Sport Relief. The double A-side release would also include an original track called 'Please, Please'. This song, penned by lead singer Tom Fletcher, was inspired by a fling that drummer Harry Judd had with Lindsay Lohan when they were both involved with the film Just My Luck. They're not subtle about this inspiration either as the opening line is literally: "Please, please, Lindsay, please"!

I prefer the source material for this cover over that of 'The Rose' so it already started off at a higher level for me musically. But unfortunately, McFly had some very big shoes to fill, as Freddie Mercury has got to be one of the most beloved vocalists of all-time. They were obviously never going to reach the heights of his charismatic flair on the original recording, but this rendition is nothing special for me whatsoever. It is a bit too shouty in places and doesn't have the same euphoric conviction, especially on the line "I'm a sex machine ready to reload", which feels quite lamely rushed through. I'm not alone with this underwhelmed reaction, as for some reason an early Britain's Got Talent memory that sticks in my head was Simon Cowell telling an act that they used an awful version of 'Don't Stop Me Now' as background music, or words to that effect, which was the McFly cover. The other side is free of comparison as an original composition, but isn't much better for me, as I find the loud, chaotic chorus of 'Please, Please' quite annoying. McFly have their moments but this whole release is a pass for me. At least it raised a bit of money for charity I suppose.

Much like Westlife, McFly are no strangers to a #1 hit and are in fact the only act in this countdown with more than one appearance, so I'll have more to say about them later down the line. The release of 'Don't Stop Me Now' / 'Please, Please' was the group's fifth #1 hit out of a total of seven in their career. McFly's debut single '5 Colours In Her Hair' managed two weeks at the summit but every other chart-topper for them was only there for a week. On this occasion, they blocked rising star Rihanna from the top. She'd make up for it with plenty of U.K. #1s up her sleeve in the future, in fact achieving one every single year between 2007 and 2013, but for now she had to wait. I do find 'Unfaithful' a bit nasally but that aside, it's a pretty good ballad, so would much rather have seen that at #1.

Fully agreed with second last too, that is not a very good cover at all unfortunately, Tom's voice doesn't really do it justice in the chorus, not sure it fully suits him and it sounds a bit grating as a result. Ditto Please Please - that is just an annoying track. Interesting and unusual that McFly were the only act with two No.1s that year!

I much prefer Unfaithful, it was the first Rihanna single I bought, even despite the vocal. But if any song needed a re-record by the original artist with a more developed, older vocal, it's that one.

For a while back in the day 'Unfaithful' was my favourite Rihanna song so that would have been one I was again on the wrong side of. Bizarre #1 of course, no reason to listen to the McFly version of this Queen song, it does very little the original doesn't do, just worse, and the other song is far from their best.

I really liked Unfaithful at the time even the vocal, and I wasn't really a big fan of the McFly cover of Queen (I preferred the Queen original).

No complaints about those first two out. When McFly released 'I'll Be OK' in 2005, I couldn't help but notice a long section of the chorus melody sounded note for note like the bridge to 'Don't Stop Me Now' - so when they actually covered it the following year, I thought that was interesting. Rihanna was then in the very unfortunate position of 3 of her first 4 hits (the other being an #11) peaking at #2 for 2 weeks, two of them behind two different songs! She more than made up for that from the following year onwards though.

'Don't Stop Me Now' is... not the worst Queen cover by a boyband that hit #1 in the UK but yeah, no great loss here either and I don't even recall how 'Please, Please' goes. At least there is a much better McFly song (imo) still to come x

Generally not that keen on Rihanna ballads but I have always had a soft spot for 'Unfaithful'.

17 minutes ago, Brer said:

'Don't Stop Me Now' is... not the worst Queen cover by a boyband that hit #1 in the UK

Oh I agree with this, 'We Will Rock You' would likely be dead last if I did a rank of the many 2000 #1s!

Thanks everyone for all the comments so far 🫶 much appreciated.

Two very uneventful covers to begin with, can’t argue with either being at the bottom of this list. I actually can’t even recall McFly doing Don’t Stop Me Now so in that respect alone I’m surprised to see it!

12 minutes ago, Jade said:

Oh I agree with this, 'We Will Rock You' would likely be dead last if I did a rank of the many 2000 #1s!

Thanks everyone for all the comments so far 🫶 much appreciated.

It was dead last in my 2000 No.1s rank, boybands need to stop touching Queen 😑

This one has a charm of sorts though.

I’ve never really got into McFly, though that’s probably because I don’t recall them releasing anything in Australia.

That cover of a great Queen song is pretty terrible though.

Unfaithful in some way reminded me very similar to Lonely No More by Rob Thomas.

Might be just me, let me know what you think:

Mcfly were pretty hit and miss for me. This double A being a big miss!

Definitely starting with two (well three I suppose) songs I'd forgotten had existed and have no desire to remind myself of!

I can't stand 'Don't Stop Me Now' in its original version as it is!

'Please Please' by McFly. The music video seems as if they're trying to create their version of the "Carry On" film series but this is just all of them leering at the nurse because she happens to be pretty, no doubt that they were trying to cater for the lads mags fans by getting an model to appear in it as a nurse. it's an music video that hasn't aged all at all.

'Don't Stop Me Now'. I remember this was played as an montage in an presentation on my last day in Year 7.