I guess we're naming the songs then lol 🤷‍♂️

I didn't realise 'Enola Gay' was still to come, would never have guessed Buzzjack would rate it that highly! The taste!

Though the 4 remaining songs weren’t at the very top of my voting I like them all a lot (perhaps I’d just prefer OMD to win). It’s been great that the results weren’t predictable though, at least by me, and that the 4 songs are so different.

4. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay 1343pts

Writer - Andy McCluskey

Top scores - DaTilt 50, Leonardo 50, Chez Wombat 50

Low scores - vibe 1, chrissmith276 3, Alex! 6

Average score - 31.2

The polls for ultimate number 2 single all the way through to ultimate number 7 have been won by groups but that will not be the case this year as OMD are the last group left. From 1980, Enola Gay was the first of seven top 10 hits for the Merseyside band. The Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima was named after Enola Gay Tibbets who was the pilot's mother. She was still alive, aged 87, when the song came out.

Three of my absolute favourites in a row there, In The End is the best example of how well Linkin Park's sound worked, one of their biggest classics. Wake Me Up When September Ends is one of my favourites from their peak era and great emotional songwriting, I still find myself coming back to it every September!

Enola Gay has always been one of my all time favourites, the dramatic, melancholy synths and sad, impassioned vocals fit really well with the historical context to make a really powerful song.

I wasn’t a huge fan , then I heard the sublime Walking On The Milky Way and hooked into their back catalogue immediately

3. Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal 1451pts

Writer - Michael Jackson

Top scores - Mack 49, GreyAsh 48, Leonardo 48

Low scores - Yog1963 1, Uls2000 10, jimwatts 11

Average score - 33.7

The poll won't be won by a solo male either as Michael Jackson is the last one left. There weren't that many to start with, Plastic Bertrand and Black were the only other ones in the final. Smooth Criminal is also the highest placed song from the 20th Century and finishes more than 100 points ahead of Enola Gay. It was the seventh single to be released from the 'Bad' album, coming out more than a year after the album.

'Yesterday' and 'Enola Gay' were the last remaining songs from my top 5!

The poor former taking a bit of a battering with these comments. I say, as it has finished in the top 10 I agree The Beatles have better but I still think it's wonderful, simple but effective. The strings are gorgeous. I do lean most towards their later eras but have a soft spot for the Help! project in general.

'Enola Gay' has such an iconic, joyous main synth riff yet the lyrical context is hard-hitting as aforementioned. A must in any synth playlist.

I think I knew the Alien Ant Farm version of 'Smooth Criminal' before the original so it took some getting used to but is one of Jacko's better songs.

Wished "Enola Gay" would have gone podium, but Michael Jackson was more than 100 points ahead, so that it was not close. "Enola Gay" one of my favourite songs of all time. In a facebook group I am part of it went into the final for "Best song of 1980" and just slightly lost against "Ashes To Ashes". It is insanity that this only peaked at #8.

"Smooth Criminal" is one of my favourite MJ songs and can't complain for this to be in the Top Ten. What a bassline!!!

Two of my top 5 made it into the top 5, with Linkin Park being my number 4.

Smooth Criminal matches the position I gave it in the final of number 3!

Being so far ahead of the chasing pack, it is clearly a well loved song.

My only other vote to make it into the top 10 is still to come, and it also happens to be the only song from my original nominations still to come.

So I’m hoping that Robyn wins - but Back To Black is also an amazing song, and just missed out on both my top 10 and my original nominations.

Enola Gay melody is one of the most recognizable of alltime. Me like it

Smooth Criminal is a classic, no wonder why is it that high. Me like it too.

Ah was hoping MJ would win, easily my favourite song of his! That lean has always been cool even if he had special shoes to pull it off. Enola Gay has a really catchy riff and a great lyrical theme, don't actually mind the 80s production too much on it.

I'm equally surprised and pleased that 'Enola Gay' has done so well here. OMD are such a great band, I think 'Enola Gay' was the first song I ever heard by them and I've loved it ever since (even if I've come to love more of their songs even more since then!)

That jump in points for Michael Jackson though Bad became a de facto greatest hits with so many iconic songs released from it (I think it still holds the record for most number of singles released from a studio album with 9?) and 'Smooth Criminal' is easily one of the most iconic of those, with an iconic video to match. Glad it's iconicness has been recognised in this poll! I'll stop saying iconic now.

Lots revealed since I last commented:

Happy to be top scorer for 'Just Can't Get Enough' - I downloaded it in 2008 shortly after I got an iPod, so long before the Saturdays cover which doesn't affect my appreciation of it, and although the remaining members of Depeche Mode (it's Vince Clarke's composition after all) went on to darker themes, it hits a sweet spot that all parties rarely matched since. 'Try' is Pink's best song, good to see it at 15.

I do marginally prefer 'Rent' to 'Suburbia', but both are essentials from Pet Shop Boys' imperial phase and they're popular on Buzzjack generally so I can see why both songs have done well. 'Live Forever' missing the top 10 is a strange one considering it would often place highly on all-time lists without any restriction on peaks (I remember a Q Magazine poll from 1998 which had both it and 'Fools Gold' in the top 10), but the Gallaghers are clearly divisive in such a rate as this, and perhaps there's an element of Oasis fatigue that wouldn't have been present if this had been a #10s rate in early 2024 - even so, it was only 4 points short.

Fantastic to see 'Fade To Grey' top 10, a synth-pop classic that I know is a huge favourite for some but wasn't sure how well it was known generally. 'Family Affair' and 'Ain't Nobody' have both aged very well and feel larger than their peaks. As Jade mentioned, 'Yesterday' hasn't had a great reception in the comments since it was revealed and back in the late 90s when I got the red and blue albums it wouldn't have been high in my Beatles favourites either, but it has crept up on me over time - it's its simplicity and clarity that holds strong.

'Wake Me Up When September Ends' is one of my favourite tracks on American Idiot which possibly still ranks as my favourite album of the 2000s - I gave it 46 points but would probably rank it a place higher if I think about it, which would have placed it in the top 5 overall - however 'In The End' is also a classic of its genre and does hit harder since Chester's death. 'Enola Gay' as high as #4 is wonderful, one of my earliest memories of 80s synth pop hits is hearing it on a compilation in the 90s and being transfixed by that riff.

I must have heard 'Smooth Criminal' before I took much interest in pop music, but I only truly became aware of it through the Alien Ant Farm version too - it's a good song and certainly one of MJ's signature hits, but there are bigger fans than me so I guess I'm in its bottom 3 voters by default. Both songs left are great - one of them has been a Record of the Decade winner, but I'd slightly prefer a shock win for Amy, although equally I wouldn't be surprised if Robyn ends up top by a huge margin...

Wake me up when September Ends

In the end

Smooth Criminal

All phenomenal songs worthy of being this high

Wake Me Up When September Ends, In The End & Smooth Criminal are all great songs. Very happy to see them this high.

'Enola Gay' is such a smasher!

I’d love Amy to win, especially as Robyn has won ROTD twice. Either way my presumption that the winner always comes from 1985-2005 has been proved wrong!

Rooting for Robyn, obviously. It would follow Like a Prayer and Enjoy the Silence as being one of my all time faves to win these. Back to Black is also excellent though, I really like all of the top 4 here

#TeamRobyn

I want Amy to win but knowing Buzzjack it's Robyn for sure. 🥱

Also say no, no, no to both Enola Gay and Smooth Criminal into the top 5.

Edited Friday at 17:413 days by Jason