Nothing good so far has left, although I think there are worse coronation singles than Alexandra's.

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.

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.....)

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.

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.

"Singin' In The Rain" I really liked at the time!

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.

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.

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)

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?!

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.