I rather like 'Stronger'. One of my faves from him tbh!

13 Leona Lewis A Moment Like This

#2s kept off #1: Proper Education (Eric Prydz, Pink Floyd)

 

Leona Lewis rose to fame in the autumn of 2006 as a contestant on the third series of The X Factor. The show was still in its infancy, with the original three judges Simon, Sharon and Louis on the panel, alongside host Kate Thornton and Xtra Factor host Ben Shepherd.

The second series had seemingly succeeded where the first failed: by finding a commercially viable popstar in Shayne Ward. Unlike first series winner Steve, Shayne possessed youth, Beckham-like looks and a powerful voice, which in theory should set him up for a brighter future in Pop. However, despite all the promising signs at the start, Shayne couldn’t escape the same fate as Steve: rush-recording a debut album in time for Mother’s Day, with little artistic investment put into his career. By this point, it was clear how Cowell’s label Syco were operating: contestant wins in December, a cheaply produced album of mostly cover versions is rush-released the following Spring before the public lose interest and the next X Factor cycle begins.

By the third series, Simon must have known he needed to find someone special in order to justify the entire purpose of the show: After all, other talent shows had successfully found successful pop acts within their first two years: Will Young and Kelly Clarkson were discovered in the first seasons of their respective Idols, while Girls Aloud was discovered during the second series of Popstars.  

The talent pool for the third series, much like the fourth series discussed earlier, was extremely underwhelming. Among the final 12 live finalists, we had the vocally-average former child star Ray Quinn, the corny MacDonald Brothers and the karaoke act The Unconventionals. On the whole, I’d describe the line-up as a mix of average, dull and desperately lacking in star quality. It was nothing short of a miracle, then, that one of the contestants possessed a vocal ability and resonance unheard on a British talent show by that point.

Leona first auditioned with a cover of Somewhere Only The Rainbow, before flying through both bootcamp and the judges houses stage. By the time of the first live show, Leona was still under the radar somewhat. She could clearly sing well, and had an obvious star quality, but she was yet to appear as a real contender. That all changed when she performed Summertime, a performance that still to this day makes the hairs on my face stand up. Despite her voice clearly being the best thing in the competition, the year was still 2006 and female winners of public-voted TV shows were a rare thing. In fact, by the time of this series, there had still been no female act to reach the final of The X Factor. Leona thankfully ended up winning in the end, making history in the process as the show’s first female winner and first non-white winner.

Despite That’s My Goal’s huge success the previous year, Simon returned to his safe haven of covers for the third series and selected A Moment Like This as the year’s winning single. The song notably served as the coronation song for Kelly Clarkson upon her American Idol win in 2002, becoming a US #1 hit in the process.

Leona’s version was also a commercial success, selling 571,000 copies in its first week to become the 2006 Christmas number one. The track would tally four weeks at the top before steadily falling down. While Leona’s opening week is dwarfed by Shayne’s mammoth 750k opening the year before, she managed to break a world record for the fastest-downloaded single at the time, with the song digitally bought 50,000 times in just 30 minutes!

 

As much as I welcome the success of this song, the song itself is a schmaltzy, saccharine cheese fest. Listening to it now, I have to cringe at some of the lyrics (“some people search forever for that one special kiss”/”I can’t believe it’s happening”/”could this be the greatest love of all? I wanna know that you will catch me when I fall”). As mentioned with Leon earlier, the production is very X Factor-by-numbers. Perhaps this isn’t a surprise given both songs were produced by Steve Mac. Leona’s vocal is definitely the best thing about this though. Her voice back then had an angelic, vulnerable quality that really sold the emotion of a song, no matter how sickly the lyrics.

Truth be told, though, I wish she could have been given a more inspired song to release. While not as awful a choice as When You Believe, it undersold Leona’s star power in my opinion. I think I remember a rumour at the time that Born To Try by Delta Goodrem was an option and to be honest I would've preferred that! On the bright side, the single gave us live versions of ‘Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word’ and ‘Summertime’, which I remember spinning far more than 'Moment'.

Thankfully come Mother’s Day 2007, Leona’s debut album was still yet to be announced…

 

Oh Stronger is one of the few Kanye songs I really enjoy, I guess because of the Daft Punk sample and because it was more commercial than a lot of his stuff, but I did enjoy his rap on it too.

I'm glad A Moment Like This has an ok showing here, I really do rather like it myself, it just reminds me how obsessed i was with Leona back then. Another good X Factor write-up too, I'd fully resigned myself to Ray Quinn winning that show and was elated Leona managed to (and I voted for her every week) but sure she had far better to come.

You unlocked a memory there reminding me that Born To Try was rumoured as a winner's single - thematically I'm surprised X Factor didn't pick it up as one at any point. I remember American Idol used her song Together We Are One as a farewell tribute to Simon Cowell, which seems very self-serving looking back!

So happy to see this escape the bottom handful. Yes it's a cover and X-Factor by numbers, but what a voice Leona has. Thankfully she had much better still to come.

I knew 'Stronger' before 'Harder Better Faster Stronger' and remember enjoying it at the time, but haven't revisited much since delving into Daft Punk's discography.

Not much to add for 'A Moment Like This' that both of us haven't already covered. An unremarkable winner's single for a remarkable voice. Nice to see 'Summertime' getting a shoutout here too as that was my favourite Leona performance on the show, Big Band week wasn't always groan-worthy!

12 McFly Baby’s Coming Back / Transylvania

#2s kept off #1: none

 

 

McFly were another act that made an almighty entrance to the music scene in 2004. Upon their arrival, their first two singles hit #1 as well as their debut album, Room on the 3^rd Floor. The foursome managed to repeat their debut era’s success with their next two albums, bagging two #1s and a further #3 hit for both 2005’s Wonderland and 2006’s Motion in the Ocean. It therefore looked like the fourth single from their third album was destined to follow in the footsteps of their previous ‘fourth singles’ and become their lowest peaking song of the era.

Rather than taking two pre-existing album tracks and releasing them as a double-A side, which they had already done twice this era alone, McFly decided to pair an album track with a new release: a cover of the #51 smash from 1991, Jellyfish’s Baby’s Coming Back. Naturally, this incentive allowed the band to break their chart pattern and bag a third number one from their third album – and seventh overall! The party wouldn’t last too long though, as the single would fall in typical McFly style from 1-20 the following week: the biggest drop from number one in history at the time, a record held for the next 9 years until A Bridge Over You plummeted 1-29.

It's a respectable cover albeit disposable. The boys deliver a solid performance, keeping true to the original with little deviation. Does it add anything the original lacks? Not really. That said, I do quite enjoy how they’ve brought the guitar riff to the foreground, and the drums to the back, creating a distinct 60s Spector feel which I always dig. I can’t say I’ll ever feel compelled to listening to it again though. It's just a bit dull.

Transylvania, on the other hand, is something I wouldn’t mind hearing again. Accompanied by a gothic-themed video in which all members dress as ladies, it definitely feels like the main attraction of the double A-side. It’s a shame Team McFly didn’t have the confidence to give it single status in its own right as it’s one of their better hits. While it does sound a bit Bohemian Rhapsody-knock-off in parts (the pre-chorus comes to mind), there are some real infectious hooks in there, especially the post-chorus back-and-forth between Tom, Dougie and Danny (“who is your lover? / I couldn’t tell”).

The single managed to reach #1 on sales of just 30,000, representative of the dire sales climate in early 2007. If released only a week later, the McFly boys would have had to settle for #2, as a monster hit was just about to land…

11 Eva Cassidy & Katie Melua What A Wonderful World

#2s kept off #1: none

 

 

Eva Cassidy’s rise to fame is remarkable for both its unusual and sad nature. Though a musician in her lifetime, Eva lived a life virtually unknown by the time of her death at just 33 in 1996. Her rise to fame would come four years later, when Mike Harding and Terry Wogan played her covers of Over the Rainbow and Fields of Gold on Radio 2, making her a household name in the UK. A camcorder recording of Over the Rainbow would subsequently be shown on Top of the Pops 2 after massive demand, while her 1998 compilation album Songbird would gradually ascend to #1 over the first half of 2001.

Among the many singers Eva inspired in her short time was Blues/Folk-pop songstress Katie Melua, who found success of her own with 2003 debut Call Off the Search. The album gave Katie her first #1 and managed to finish 2004 as the year’s fifth biggest-seller. She was no stranger to singles chart success either, scooping a #10 hit with The Closest Thing to Crazy. Katie’s sophomore album, 2005’s Piece By Piece, would also go on to top the charts and birth the top 5 hit Nine Million Bicycles – Melua’s best charting release by this point.

The two artists would first cross paths (of sorts!) on Christmas Eve 2006 when Katie performed Over the Rainbow with Eva via videotape on BBC1’s Duets Impossible (the show would also feature collaborations between Westlife & Roy Orbison and the Sugababes & Dusty Springfield). I’m guessing the duet inspired someone as, a year later, the pair would collaborate for the first time on record.

Released in December 2007, in order to raise money for the British Red Cross, the pair collaborated on the 1967 Louis Armstrong classic What A Wonderful World. The single was distributed exclusively via Tesco, an unusual marketing strategy both then and now. Being bound to Tesco did the release no harm in the end, racking up over 50,000 copies to debut at #1 – marking both Eva and Katie’s first UK chart toppers. The song would suffer a steady fall of 1-2-14-53-98 before exiting the charts in January 2008.

Now this is a gorgeously written song. Penned by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, the lyrics ponder the beauty of nature in all its many forms, while showing appreciation for life. It’s simple but effective: especially so when sung with the soulfulness required. Fortunately, Cassidy and Melua’s voices were a strong match, both for each other and the song. Eva’s delivery is suitably understated in parts, dialling up the power at the right points. Katie’s contribution is decent enough – her voice blends effortlessly with Eva’s at times, but at other points sounds a bit jarring (especially towards the end). I get this is for charity but an Eva solo version is sufficient enough!

It’s nice enough. Inoffensive if not a little dull.

Songbird is a beautiful album. Never liked this though, its lift music to me.

Haha I knew these would be the bottom 8!

Transylvania isn’t too bad but the other track was crap and this was McFly’s MO at the time. Grab a no.1 on an easy week and shoot out the chart. It was embarrassing by this point. I’d probably have had it lower.

Love Eva Cassidy’s voice, don’t particularly mind Katie Melua. It was hardly groundbreaking but it was inoffensive and interesting to see it top the chart at the time as it was unexpected.

I think the only one I'd have ranked a bit higher from 11-17 is Stronger, but I do agree it's not a highlight at all from Kanye compared to some of his other work and the Daft Punk song is infinitely better (and harder, faster and stronger ba doom tish etc.)

Eva Cassidy's Songbird was part of my COVID album bucket list project and I enjoyed it much more than expected for an easy listening album. I'm not mad on this cover as it's just not as powerful as the original and it became a bit 'X Factor-ised' over the years, but it was a nice idea in tribute of Eva, and I remember the real shock I had at it getting to number 1, a Tesco exclusive single still managing to get there in the download era was an interesting novelty.

I rather like Transylvania from McFly, it's quite quirky and sounded a bit different from their usual sound, the other side was more by the numbers though. Amusing fall from number 1.

Eva/Katie was such an unexpected No.1 indeed, especially due to its Tesco exclusivity, which didn't work for poor Nadine in 2010. I actually like it, it made my end of year top 100 and I'd place it around the same area.

I've got no time for that McFly single sadly, I don't like either side. I think I'd have Leona and Kanye higher than that.

'Stronger' is such a banger, capping off an incredible album in Graduation. Much lower than I'd have put it, I think the Daft Punk sample really works to its advantage.

do not recall the McFly tracks at all and I don't think they're that good (?), What A Wonderful World is a little dull but fine. Good lot to get rid of for the most part up until the top 10.

Those McFly songs did nothing for me at all, I'd have them behind Leona and Kanye too.

The Eva/Katie song on the other hand was really pleasant, I was surprised by it as I wasn't expecting to like it.

McFly's 'Baby's Coming Back' cover is nothing to write home about but I do like 'Transylvania', suitably a bit gothic and more out of their comfort zone. It was interesting to hear Dougie on vocals for a change too.

'What A Wonderful World' is a lovely composition although I don't seek out this particular version. Love that unexpected chokehold on Tesco shoppers though!

Always quite liked Transylvania, can barely remember the other side

It was one of those bought number ones and at the time I remember just thinking, why would you want that big a drop, just to say you’ve had another number one….

Now that we’ve reached the top 10, I can happily say I’m a fan of everything to come! 2007 may have had some dud chart toppers but as we’ll see, there were quite a few #1s worth celebrating.

I’ll reveal #10 later today! 🎁

I quite like 'Transylvania'! Obviously it wouldn't have made #1 on its own as an existing album track, so needed that much less good cover version tacked on to it.

Agree the only one so far that might have made my Top 10 is Kanye. I do quite like “Transylvania” too but that isn’t enough to save the whole package.

Eva and Katie was a great and unique chart moment, but not really a track with high replay value.

Not much to comment on so far, all a bit meh, Stronger is the best produced - but is it better than Daft Punk (no), does it add anything to the original (no) and is it interesting in some other way (no) so mostly in line with some of the other tracks it's nice to see songs get a number one that didn't in the original versions, and that's about it. West's is listenable though it's not on a par with Diamonds From Sierra Leone.

What A Wonderful World is heartwarming for Eva Cassidy getting some posthumous success which was no doubt some compensation to her family and friends, and Katie Melua grabbing a top slot too, and Mike Batt another chart-topper as producer to add to his Bright Eyes (which he wrote), Wombles hits, and chart successes from Kursaal Flyers, David Essex, himself, Katie Melua, Steeleye Span and others.

Yes not much to disagree with in the results so far. I do like the original 'Baby's Coming Back' by Jellyfish after I heard the McFly version first, so credit to them for that but their version doesn't add anything to make me go back to it, and I haven't sough out 'Transylvania' much - it's fine, but feels too much of a fanbase heavy concern for a #1.