'Walking On The Moon' is my favourite to drop out so far! There's something surprisingly hypnotic about its laidback execution and the theming is cool indeed.

'Ring My Bell' certainly has memorable features, with those primal electronic drum sounds and high-pitched vocals, but it verges on annoying for me.

'YMCA' can be good fun in the right setting but the Trump association is rather unfortunate nowadays. 'HOT TO GO!' was dubbed the Gen Z 'YMCA' with its accompanying moves and Kylie's 'XMAS' was clearly getting in on the action too, so it continues to influence.

Oh I don't pay any more attention to Trump than I absolutely have to (ie I literally turn anything off) so I don't even vaguely associate it with him, thank goodness!

YMCA was huge fun and signalled a culture change for gay people in society. It set up the real change around the early 80s. The Red Indian was obv most peoples fave except in gay circles - the biker uniform! Then that dance hijacked it for kids parties years later and it just never went away to the point where i just dont want to hear it so its below police and cliff for me.

Shamelessly adore 'YMCA'!

Yeah neither #12 nor #13 should be above “Walking On The Moon” - especially not impressed that Anita only beat The Police because you were offered a scam prize on Youtube or something! They’re both catchy numbers though and “YMCA” especially is indeed a guilty pleasure.

Haha not because of the scam thing! Just that she was behind until the final listen through… but who knows if that was manifested or not! 😱

11 | Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall, Part Two

Weeks at number one: 5

End of year position: ??

Rating: 7/10

I suspect this may be my most controversial placing in the whole thing as I know this is a very well regarded track but I can't bring myself to put it in the top 10...

...but why?!!! Well there may be some horrors that have made #1 in the UK over the decades but this is the only one to have given me literal nightmares. Obviously I can't possibly have remembered it from the time it was released, but that video scared the living daylights out of me as a child. The parts in the video still above where the children were being pushed into the mincer were enough to be potentially freaky to kids, but it was the parts with the hammers that really scared me. For years as a child I used to regularly have this nightmare where these things were in the distance and getting slowly closer to me, marching along in the regimented way that the hammers do at around 2:40ish in the video - they would never quite catch me but the dream felt like it went on forever and they just got closer and closer and closer to me whilst I was unable to move. This probably sounds so silly but I had that nightmare all the time and it just got to a point where I couldn't even stand to hear the song without it making me feel scared (I can remember one particular occasion in Woolworths when it started playing and my mum wondered what on earth was happening as I just began shaking irrationally) - Even as an adult the association was so strong it used to make me feel kinda unsettled when I heard it so up until I was about 30 I'd probably have ranked this dead last 🫣

But fortunately I can now at least listen to it and I can recognise it does have some merit to it. I think my favourite part is once the kids take over and the choir of children carry the second half of the song - and I can definitely appreciate it as a very unique chart topper, it really must have sounded very different to anything else. Considering how huge Pink Floyd were on the albums chart, it feels very weird that only this and See Emily Play managed to make the top 10 for them - but I guess maybe their style of prog rock was always better suited to the album format than individual singles.

So anyway, I've settled on a 7/10 being a fair score for this one as I can appreciate it objectively, but this is my subjective countdown and I can't ignore that it traumatised me!!!

I was slightly dreading your position for 'Another Brick in the Wall' as it's a highlight of the year for me and I know you're not too fond of it. However... I was not aware of that context, omg, your poor traumatised childhood self!! Your view on it now makes so much sense.

I was expecting it to drop out earlier than this so will take 11th even if it'd be top 3 for me in an exceptional year for #1s, a hauntingly powerful record and visual.

'Ring My Bell' grates on me too much with the 'Bell' empasis to enjoy it properly unfortunately but can't deny it's a disco tune nonetheless.

'YMCA' is a party anthem but not one I'd choose to listen to out of choice. It is fun dancing too and micking the moves at disco's though, obviously.

'Another Brick In The Wall' is an utter classic. Would be higher up my list!

'Another Brick' is iconic. Not that unusual instrumental production for the time though; it is quite disco influenced. It's the vocals that make it stand out.

The video of the massive walking hammers at the end!

Well, if you were scared by this one, you'd best not watch the full movie for The Wall granted this is probably the most disturbing part of it, though there's a hell of a lot of intense psychedelic imagery and disturbing war metaphors. The film was a mixed bag, at times wonderful but sometimes just not quite working (I thankfully wasn't a child when I saw it!), but I love the soundtrack and this would probably be my number 1 if not top 3 for this year, I first discovered it through the Eric Prydz remake, the guitar line, choir and atmosphere are all beautiful. With how few hits they had, it was good their biggest was one of the best.

I have a soft spot for YMCA, but the Trump association does bring it down a bit these days, so not sure if it would be in my top 10.

I didn't really know about Pink Floyd when Another Brick In The Wall came out. It was a few years later that I first got into prog rock. I liked the song straightaway, I would put it somewhere in my top 10 from the year. YMCA is a catchy fun song that I don't mind listening to.

22 hours ago, Chez Wombat said:

Well, if you were scared by this one, you'd best not watch the full movie for The Wall granted this is probably the most disturbing part of it, though there's a hell of a lot of intense psychedelic imagery and disturbing war metaphors. The film was a mixed bag, at times wonderful but sometimes just not quite working (I thankfully wasn't a child when I saw it!), but I love the soundtrack and this would probably be my number 1 if not top 3 for this year, I first discovered it through the Eric Prydz remake, the guitar line, choir and atmosphere are all beautiful. With how few hits they had, it was good their biggest was one of the best.

I have a soft spot for YMCA, but the Trump association does bring it down a bit these days, so not sure if it would be in my top 10.

I will most definitely never watch the full movie in that case! 😭

10 | Bee Gees - Tragedy

Weeks at number one: 2

End of year position: 15

Rating: 7.5/10

I mentioned earlier that Walking on the Moon had dropped out of an initial top 10 placing the more I listened, well this one did the opposite as I originally had it at 14th. The Bee Gees are one of those bands that I find difficult to like simply because I really don't like their style of singing, the high pitched whiny approach really isn't for me - I much prefer You Win Again to their 70s output in general and whilst I can understand the appeal of their Saturday Night Fever material, I'm afraid their vocals prevent me from loving it as much as I should... ...but this grew on me as I did my listen throughs and whilst I still definitely think the Steps original is better, I think they've done a good job of covering it without the help of the dance craze that made the Steps classic such a huge hit.

I kid, obviously, but I actually hadn't heard this all the way through before I was ranking this year and had no idea that it had already made #1 - so the Steps version was actually the first version I'd heard. What I most definitely hadn't realised was just how similar the two versions were, I'd always assumed that Steps' version had been influenced by Feel It by the Tamperer but actually the production is pretty much already there in this and consequently I'm pretty impressed by how well it has aged. In fact I've added it to my playlist for old classics and can see this actually growing on me even more.

The song itself has to be one of the most OTT tracks ever recorded - couple the high pitched vocals with the OMG IT'S A TRAGEDY!!! TRAGEDY!!! WITH NO-ONE TO LOVE ME lyrics and you're in Moira Rose (RIP) levels of overreacting territory, but it also just completely works and makes for a good fun twist and progression from the disco movement that they helped to create and popularise... although it's definitely not the best #1 of the year that pushed disco in new directions...

On 13/02/2026 at 21:06, TheSnake said:

'Ring My Bell' is also used in a TV advert for an investment company called AJ Bell.

Ring My Bell was, as Dandy, said originally about kids talking on the phone and written for Stacy Lattislaw who's management turned it down, She hit in 1980 with Jump To The Beat though.

Edited Monday at 21:173 days by CRAZY CHRIS

'Tragedy' is a good song but Bee Gees have better. I think I prefer the Steps version with the chimes too.

Edited Monday at 22:352 days by TheSnake

Yeah, I find this and a lot of their material irritating because of the vocal.

Steps version and the majestic 'You Win Again' >>>>

09 | The Police - Message in a Bottle

Weeks at number one: 3

End of year position: 11

Rating: 8/10

In ninth we have the second appearance from The Police as we're moving firmly into territory where I really like all the songs. This was the first of five UK #1s for the group and it is definitely one of their strongest songs and I don't think I'd realised until I'd listened to both of their tracks together that this one also has more than a hint of a reggae vibe to it. Where as Walking on the Moon took the sound and stripped it back to a slow pace, this one does the opposite and ramps it up very effectively with the almost punk like guitars and I particularly like the point where it explodes into life from the "I'll send a SOS to the world" section before evaporating into the title line... the tempo changes are essentially exactly the opposite to their other 1979 chart topper.

I think this one may be my favourite song of theirs, possibly matched by Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, and whilst I don't mind the band, I think I generally prefer much of Sting's solo material that followed after the band split - I'm particularly fond of Desert Rose which is a real 10/10 from him and his very successful Ten Summoner's Tales album was also very good.

Having looked at the songs that didn't quite make it, I'd definitely have preferred one of 1979's other huge acts to get another #1 as the wonderful Dreaming by Blondie was kept at #2 in Sept/Oct that year. The other primary challengers all made #1 either side of this one so I won't spoil them yet... but both have finished higher for me.

These are already brilliant songs and I believe the Top 8 are great songs as well, so that nuances will decide on the places. YMCA is really overplayed but still a catchy song. I agree with the ranking. Pink Floyd would be definately higher for me, an iconic song. I am a big Bee Gees fan, so for me "Tragedy" would be in the Top 5. I love their production skills and like how they sing. Regarding The Police I must say that the songs are all really well produced and catchy but I am not the biggest fan of Sting's voice - for me it works best in "Englishman in New York". So "Message In A Bottle" would be no top 10 for me.

Loving the shoutouts for 'You Win Again', 'Desert Rose' and 'Dreaming'

'Tragedy' and 'Message In A Bottle' are a good start to the top 10 so far! I can understand why the vocals might be a bit much for people on the former but I quite enjoy the all-out drama of that entire package.

The Police merged those reggae and new wave sounds effectively. I really like the central guitar riff and general imagery used in the lyrics.