February 3Feb 3 Nothing good so far has left, although I think there are worse coronation singles than Alexandra's.
February 3Feb 3 Alexandra‘s Hallelujah is up there with the best X Factor winner singles though admittedly it’s not a high bar. Her winning the show was such a moment - proving that Leona winning wasn’t a fluke for female acts after the wtf Leon win the previous year.
February 4Feb 4 Author 17 Mint Royale Singin' In The Rain#2s held off #1: Number ones still to appear in this countdown!Now for a song that is one of the first examples I remember of a talent show prompting a resurgence of a single and making it an unexpected hit. I'm sure y'all know that Singing In The Rain was originally a song written for the stage - the Hollywood Music Revue of 1929 to be exact! It was then made famous by Gene Kelly in the 1952 film of the same name. Throughout the 20th century it was covered a ridiculous amount of times. Mint Royale, an electronic act from Manchester, got their hands on it in the early 2000's, remixing the song and releasing it as a single in 2005. It was initially used in a car advert for VW and scored a solid peak of number 20. At the time this scored Mint Royale their 2nd joint highest singles peak, after 'Don't Falter' got to number 15 in 2000 and 'Sexiest Man In Jamaica' go to number 20 in 2002. Three years after the release, a young street dancer by the name of George Sampson would pop up on Britain's Got Talent. He had auditioned the year before but had only received a yes from Simon Cowell. In 2008 he returned, putting an interpretive dance on 'Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)'. He wowed the judges and got through to the Semi Finals, where he performed to Mint Royale's version of 'Singing' In The Rain'. It was a revelation for George and for the song - complete with a glorious 'rain' sequence. The boy done good. He performed it again in the final and won the series. His resulting win elevated Mint Royale to the top of the charts, a position held for a second week. The subsequent chart run reflects that of most songs that are unexpectedly shot into the limelight via a pop-culture moment - it spent one more week in the top 10 and three more weeks in the top 40. As for the song itself - I always enjoyed this version. Even the instrumentation of it (yes even I liked that!). I can imagine there are a lot of people that still adore this song and have it on repeat. I also imagine there are a lot of people who forget this song got to number one in the first place. I'll leave it there!(Don't hate me for putting this at number 17.....)
February 4Feb 4 I remember kind of assuming Singin In The Rain would go to no.1 in 2005. I felt vindicated in 2008 when it finally got there.
February 4Feb 4 Singin' In The Rain getting to number one was a wild moment at the time! 2008 definitely seemed to be the year talent shows began to influence the charts with Listen also reaching the top 10 after XF usage. I don't really care for this remix tbh - it's nothing offensive but nothing exciting either. I do love the whole unexpectedness of it becoming a hit though.
February 4Feb 4 Not a bad song - I believe it would leave some of the upcoming songs behind for me - but remember that 2008 had loads of great #1's.
February 4Feb 4 Excellent at the time, just as good now. A great surprise number 1 and the best BGT winner imo.I’d have this MUCH higher.
February 4Feb 4 Aw, I really like Singin' In The Rain, certainly looks out of place these days if you didn't know the context at the time, but a real indicator of how powerful downloads (and reality TV) had become that songs could just be resurrected without the need for a formal re-release (Also, George Sampson's 32 now, if anyone wants to feel old x)
February 4Feb 4 Author 1 minute ago, Chez Wombat said:Aw, I really like Singin' In The Rain, certainly looks out of place these days if you didn't know the context at the time, but a real indicator of how powerful downloads (and reality TV) had become that songs could just be resurrected without the need for a formal re-release (Also, George Sampson's 32 now, if anyone wants to feel old x)And he still looks 15 right?!
February 4Feb 4 Catching up on this as haven't commented on the positions yet. I do like 'All Summer Long' myself oops but I get why it has vitriol shown towards it too. 'Hero' is probably the X Factor's ensembles best effort but not that that's saying much.Don't mind Alexandra's 'Hallelujah' either but doesn't touch Jeff's and Rufus's is great also.'Singin In The Rain' remix is great too. Certainly was an unexpected chart topper at the time.
February 6Feb 6 Author 16 Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris & Chrome Dance Wiv Me#2s held off #1: Basshunter - All I Ever Wanted, Mcfly - One For The RadioFor some reason I thought that the next song only spent one week at number one. Colour me shocked when I checked and it spent four weeks at the top!Dance With Me was a collaboration between rapper Dizzee Rascal, DJ/Singer Calvin Harris & singer Chrome. It was the debut number one for all artists - both Dizzee & Calvin would go on to have another fourteen number ones between them. No idea what happened to Chrome but they never charted again!I liked this song when it was released, but it never went further than like. It's weird seeing Calvin before his glow up as well. What the hell is that haircut? Reminds me of the bowl cuts my mum used to give me when she couldn't be bothered to book/afford to pay for someone......Wouldn't say either of the songs it held off the top would have made great number ones - although I actually quite like that Mcfly song, more so than some of their number ones. Edited February 6Feb 6 by Herbs
February 6Feb 6 I don't remember 'Singin' In The Rain' from its original release but its 2008 re-emergence does bring back a lot of memories! I wasn't particularly fussed about George Sampson's BGT audition but there was something so magical about that 'Singin' In The Rain' routine, everything just came together, so no wonder it was reprised in the final. My year 6 residential was the month after that BGT final and I remember a girl taking a photo of him with her to the trip and someone else in my year claimed to have him on MSN! Further memories of that year's finalists include meeting Kate & Gin at Pets & Home, where Gin the dog was signing (!) copies of their book via pawprint, plus I also ended up interviewing opera singer Faryl Smith for a Uni magazine project.I do enjoy Mint Royale's house take on such a classic anyway, still very uplifting and untainted, unlike the disturbing use of the original in A Clockwork Orange *_*I loved 'Dance Wiv Me' at the time. I'd say the production feels quite dated now but it's still a pretty fun listen. As for Chrome, I can't recall much of what he did next either, but I think he was the vocalist on fellow Dizzee #1 'Holiday' too.
February 6Feb 6 As for Chrome, I can't recall much of what he did next either, but I think he was the vocalist on fellow Dizzee #1 'Holiday' tooYes he was the vocalist on 'Holiday'.
February 6Feb 6 Totally forgot Dance Wiv Me was still to come. For some reason I thought it was a 2009 hit. Never been a fan of it tbh and glad to see it ranked low here. 😋
February 7Feb 7 'Dance Wiv Me' is a classic, too low xChrome - under the rebrand Chrom3 - did actually have one other very minor credited chart appearance, featuring on the 2013 #71 hit 'Carry Me On' by Brookes Brothers.
February 8Feb 8 What a one off that version of “Singin’ In The Rain” is. “Dance Wiv Me” still sounds really good to me too - a marriage of artistic styles that worked brilliantly. I suspect I’d have both a fair bit higher but we’ll see.
February 8Feb 8 Love 'Singing in the Rain'!'Dance Wiv Me' I enjoy ish, but I've never felt the need to listen out of choice.
February 8Feb 8 Look how young Calvin Harris is in that music video. 😆I quite like 'Dance Wiv Me' if I'm honest. I'm not a fan of grime music but this was more radio friendly. Edited February 8Feb 8 by Charlielargepotatoes
February 9Feb 9 Loved Dance Wiv Me and bought it at the time, it was the first Dizzee single I really enjoyed a lot and the start of his imperial phase (loved Bonkers too and subsequently bought the album). I did enjoy Calvin from the word go though as bought the brilliant Acceptable In The 80s. I miss his nerdy and fun early phase a lot.Singin' In The Rain was fun and cool that it got to No.1, Mint Royale used to be an avid chart follower on social media so must have been elated.
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