Smack That was never my type of music back in the day but it was so infectiously catchy I couldn’t not like it. Would have preferred My Love sneaking a week at the top though - especially since the verging-on-annoying Sexyback got there a couple of months before.

No memory of the Biggie posthumous cash-in, but the groove is fine - it peaked at 50 for me, despite the cliched rap objectifying. A better song would have been nice, no Diddy preferred, but the backing track is pretty funky. Smack That annoys me right away trying to be a movie in the video opening, but ignoring that this is minimal melody, beats that were two a penny at the time and the best bit, let's face it, is Eminem. No chance of topping the chart without Marshall. I prefer Nasty Girl TBH, for the 90's groove over the less interesting 2000's nursery rhyme masquerading as a song. Checking my database I see I rated it one week at 75, which I consider being generous because Eminem is on it.

Oh for me “Nasty Girl” >>> “Smack That”. The latter is quite a bit better than “Just Lose It” but it’s still Eminem showing his puerile side.

17 McFly - Star Girl

Kept off #1: nothing directly, but the highest non-#1 that week was Girls Aloud - 'Something Kinda Ooooh' at #3

McFly achieved their second #1 hit of 2006 and sixth chart-topper overall with 'Star Girl'. It had a typical chart run for the band, debuting at the top for a sole week, before then dropping to #9 and spending just two more weeks in the top 40. Much like Paul McCartney with 'Yesterday', Tom Fletcher said the idea for 'Star Girl' came to him in a dream, where he imagined writing a big song about falling in love with an alien woman. The track's working title was the less standout 'Good Night'. Aside from the band members, this song also has writing credits for Jason Perry (lead singer of 'A' - probably the first artist listed alphabetically on many people's iPods at the time), Julian Emery and Daniel P Carter. The latter isn't the only Radio 1 DJ this song has a connection to, though. 'Star Girl' used to be played on The Chris Moyles Show every Friday as an injection of fun, dubbed 'McFly Day'. This started in around 2010 and continued every week until Moyles departed the station in 2012. 'Star Girl' could fittingly be heard in space at one point too after the band successfully campaigned for it to happen on Twitter. In 2009, NASA agreed for it to be played to wake up astronauts on the space station. The BBC article I found backing this up referred to Twitter as a 'micro-blogging' site before it was universally referred to as social media, much different times.

This is a marked improvement on McFly's previous appearance in the countdown even if "there's nothing on Earth that could save us when I fell in love with Uranus" is one of the worst lyrics I've been reminded of when revisiting these songs. That corny double entendre aside, the general intergalactic themes do appeal to me and the song is a definite earworm. The guitar driven instrumentation, later descending into brass, is also solid. I am approaching this one from a slightly nostalgic angle because I used to always wake up for school with Radio 1 breakfast on, so clearly remember the 'McFly Day' thing every single week. I don't go out of my way to listen to this song but it is pretty burned into my brain just from that 2010-12 period alone. 'Something Kinda Ooooh' would've been a fabulous chart topper for a group whose #1s don't best represent them but I can't be mad at McFly as Girls Aloud did stall at #3, so weren't quite directly blocked by them.

Aww “Star Girl” is lovely and I’d put it in my McFly top 3. “Something Kinda Shouty” rightfully blocked.

3 minutes ago, Julian_ said:

Aww “Star Girl” is lovely and I’d put it in my McFly top 3. “Something Kinda Shouty” rightfully blocked.

Aw I thought you had re-evaluated 'Something Kinda Ooooh' a bit when it came up at the #3s sessions! But fair

Star Girl is one of the best McFly songs - happy memories of listening to Chris Moyles.

I have a real soft spot for Star Girl, the McFly day with Chris Moyles brings back very good memories for me too, it was such a random choice but I loved it. Granted probably wouldn't be much higher for me as most of what to come is great

Smack That would be nearer the bottom for me, I find it quite repugnant both musically and lyrically although it may be because I heard that what felt like hundreds of times a day on the music channels. Eminem has a decent verse though.

Another one I’m not familiar with. It hasn’t really done anything for me sadly.

Ah 'Star Girl' is great. I'd say probably their best if not in the top 3 best of McFly's!

Star Girl is my favourite McFly song and the only one I listen to regularly of theirs, it has a real charm to it that I can't put my finger on exactly <3

Not big on Smack That or Nasty Girl so not too fussed to see them so low! The latter probably slightly better for me and it felt like something of a mini surprise chart topper at the time. At least Biggie had one to his name I guess but he had far better material. Interesting nugget of info there with the Twitter 'micro blogging' site, retro indeed!

Ewww I really disliked Chris Moyles, enough so I couldnt bear listening to Radio One anymore when he was on, such a blowhard, sorry! McFly? Star Girl, love the title (DC super-hero and subsequent TV series) didn't think anything of the song, didnt even bother to chart it, there's just nothing in it that stands out as a good musical moment, and I am someone who loves puns about Uranus if you set it up right, and they def didn't set it up right. So bad Scientists decided to re-name Your Anus to You're A Nuss. 😄Probably 😇"There's nothing on Earth that could stop me when my telescope caught a glimpse of Uranus". Plausible Carry On-style deniability would have been better.....

'Star Girl' had a typical chart run for them at the time, but I think has become a bit of a classic for them since (maybe all down to the Radio 1 thing?)

Fab tune anyways.

Ahh this was when McFly were still a shoe-in for #1 with their first two singles of each campaign. 🤦🏼‍♂️😂 Never enjoyed it tbh.

I remember the previous week when Something Kinda Ooooh debuted at #5 on downloads alone (a big achievement at the time). I was sure it would vault to 1 the next week so was a bit shocked it only climbed two spots once CDs were released. 🥲

16 Ne-Yo - So Sick

Kept off #1: Embrace - Nature's Law

Ne-Yo had been making waves as a songwriter, helping to pen the aforementioned 'Unfaithful' by Rihanna plus Mario's 'Let Me Love You', both #2 hits. But it didn't take long for him to go one step further with his own material. 'So Sick' was released as the second single from his debut album In My Own Words. This song was produced by legendary Norwegian duo StarGate. They met in a hallway at Sony Music Studios and Ne-Yo expressed interest in working with them after finding out that they produced R&B-orientated music. StarGate would end up producing 6 songs on his debut album. The lyrics of 'So Sick' were inspired by a previous relationship, where Ne-Yo fell head over heels for a girl, but ended up ruining what they had. 'So Sick' was the first of 5 U.K. chart toppers for Ne-Yo as a performer and also reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It appears to have stood the test of time, clocking in over 1 billion streams on Spotify and being sampled by the likes of Central Cee, The Kid LAROI and Pop Smoke in recent years.

I think Ne-Yo did a great job with the songwriting on 'So Sick'. The lyrics feel genuinely relatable and detail-orientated. We even know the date marked on his calendar! But I think I respect this songcraft more than I actually seek it out, due to other factors. I don't feel particularly compelled by his vocal performance on this song even though the words are clearly coming from the heart. The delivery just lacks a bit of oomph. I also find the production pretty basic even if StarGate are a well-respected name and certainly have their moments elsewhere. So this position felt about right for me.

There was just 1380 copies standing in the way of British rock band Embrace achieving their first #1. But instead, they had to settle for #2 behind Ne-Yo, still a career best. I've just revisited 'Nature's Law' and it sounds like a warm-up to Take That's comeback material later in the year. This is a good thing for me so I would've approved of 'Nature's Law' as a chart-topper.

(p.s. the title 'So Sick' is apt as I'm feeling very rough today so apologies if I take longer than usual to react to posts etc.)

3 hours ago, Scene said:

Ahh this was when McFly were still a shoe-in for #1 with their first two singles of each campaign. 🤦🏼‍♂️😂 Never enjoyed it tbh.

I remember the previous week when Something Kinda Ooooh debuted at #5 on downloads alone (a big achievement at the time). I was sure it would vault to 1 the next week so was a bit shocked it only climbed two spots once CDs were released. 🥲

Girls Aloud had the highest sale for a #3 of 2006, sales that would have seen them #1 either side of that week! :(

Always found So Sick to be a bit mid. He definitely has better (Closer, Miss Independent, Mad off the top of my head).

Just now, Liam.k. said:

Girls Aloud had the highest sale for a #3 of 2006, sales that would have seen them #1 either side of that week! :(

Oh didn’t know that. I remember it had an impressively long chart run for them though.

Absolutely adored (and bought) Nature's Law. Agree it sounds like a prototype for the Take That comeback, I'll never forget Popjustice's (kind of accurate) view that it sounds like it was recorded by a stuck cow (Danny's voice is certainly sounding quite affected in parts on that record but I still love it <3)

So Sick I find completely average, so I expect it would be in around here or a little lower for me. I did like a lot of Ne-Yo's stuff after his first album though.

Oh I've missed quite a lot since I last commented... there hasn't been anything I particularly like though!

The Sandi Thom one is surely one of the most unexpected #1 singles ever? I've had to listen just now to remember how it went and I'm still unsure how it ever managed to get to #1. I don't hate it as much as a lot of others seem to in the thread but it is really basic and lyrically very clumsy - including the rhythmic elements where it feels like she's forcing stuff in rather than letting the song have a natural flow. Very odd chart topper indeed.

I can take or leave So Sick, I wasn’t the biggest fan at the time, but I don’t mind it now. I guess I just don’t have any strong feelings towards it.