I DREAMED A DREAM IN TIME GONE BYYYYYYYYYY WHEN... oh hello, sorry I hadn't realised we'd started already. Welcome to the final thread in the 2000s decade series of UK #1s ranked by members of the community - in this case, my good self!

Over the course of the next month or so, I'll be taking you through the 33 (yes there were that many!) UK #1s during the year 2009, from those I've ranked lowest to highest, with some of my commentary about the songs and why I've put them where they are. For some musical context, this was the year when downloads truly moved clear as the format of choice, and labels were maximising the held back approach in this media to give rise to 23 of these songs debuting at #1.

Personally, 2009 is not a year I remember with particular fondness. My wife and I both lost a grandparent that year - the last surviving one in her case, and I was left with one grandmother, who is still with us. I visited USA, and New York, for the first time in the February, and loved it - walked almost everywhere and took a boat to Liberty Island in the freezing cold. Almost everyone I knew was on Facebook, although I didn't have a smart phone until the following year. The decline in the physical market made it increasingly difficult for alternative / independent acts to enter the singles chart - when the gorgeous 'White Winter Hymnal' by Fleet Foxes which Radio 1 had playlisted could only chart at #77 (I only followed the Top 75 closely at this point), that was the signal for me that I could no longer rely on the singles chart as a source for music of my tastes. At the same time, my first green iPod remained my favourite item and I would regularly visit my local library to scour the CDs and borrow them for £1 each a week, identify my favourite tracks and then add those to it alongside my old CD tracks and the old and new songs I'd downloaded. Michael Jackson died aged 50 on 25 June 2009, and the following week he had 13 songs in the Top 40, and 37 (if counting his brothers' band) in the Top 100 - the three-track rule was still eight years away, although Spotify opened registration in the UK during the year.

And of course there was The X Factor, and fellow Simon Cowell enterprise Britain's Got Talent, dominating TV viewing, discourse, and in the former's case, the singles charts and indeed many of the #1s to be discussed here - some of which you will not be surprised to know will be appearing very soon. Hope you enjoy reading about them all!

Before we get started, here are links to the previous #1 reviews in this forum's series:

2000 by gooddelta

2001 by awardinary

2002 by Roba

2003 by Julian

2004 by Popchartfreak

2005 by Chez

2006 by Jade

2007 by Scene

2008 by Herbs

Also in case it were needed, to confirm that I will not be using AI for any of these commentaries - the words and opinions presented are my own, and if I can't remember something and haven't taken the time and effort to research it, it probably isn't too important in the context of this thread.

As a final preface note, this was released in 2009, and 15 years later won the first edition of this forum's Bop Idol for me, still my only win in 80+ song contests entered on Buzzjack:

33 X Factor Finalists 2009 - You Are Not Alone

1 week in November 2009: {1}-2-5-11-12-29-51->7

Kept off #1: none

#28 in EOY 2009

Despite, or perhaps because of... but mainly despite, this being the only UK #1 to feature the vocals of Jedward, The X Factor's class of '09 bring up the rear in this list. As Herbs mentioned regarding the equivalent 2008 single, not content with having assumed a stranglehold over the Christmas #1 with the winners' coronation singles, The X Factor sought to expand its empire to a #1 of its own each November while the live shows were in full swing. A formula was therefore established by the aforementioned X Factor Finalists 2008 single, a cover of Mariah Carey's 'Hero' which became that year's second best seller, and the final 12 acts of the 2009 series who had made it to the live shows were brought in to record their parts for this one. Where sales of 'Hero' had been in aid of the Help for Heroes charity, proceeds of this one went to Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the promo video intersperses the matching darkly clad contestants singing with footage of them visiting children in the London hospital. The acts who performed on the single of course reconvened on a live show in November 2009 for the first public performance of the song, and it was then released, guaranteeing it the #1 the following week with sales over 193k, albeit this was a comedown from the 313k 'Hero' opened with, and it managed a single week at the top compared to three the year before.

As you would expect, it's all very competently put together, with the more talented vocalists, starting with Joe McElderry, Olly Murs and Lucie Jones, getting their moments in the verses (Jedward get a whole line to themselves in the middle) and the group coming together for the big final choruses, yet it's all so clinical that the singers are rendered devoid of showing any real character in their performances and it has the tired feel of a production line. As I mentioned in the OP, Michael Jackson had died that summer, so his best-known songs had been much in the conscience in the months prior to this single - indeed, his original of this song, which had been a UK #1 in 1995, climbed back to #35 from download sales in the immediate wake of his death, and lyrically (for the title at least) it fit the brief for the charity single - however for one of his major hits it is one of the least fondly remembered, even more so in more recent years given that the song's writer is one R. Kelly. So it is that there aren't many redeeming features for the X Factor Finalists 2009 version, other than the "it's for charidee!" angle that the show clearly pushed, and it's hard to imagine it having had a lot of repeat plays from buyers or perhaps any in many cases, although it has now crawled past 1 million plays on Spotify. Still, of course, this wasn't the end of the charting road for some of the acts who would go on to make chart appearances of their own, one of which could well be soon to follow in this countdown.

I forgot that existed. Absolutely horrifically dire, zero redeeming qualities.

OMG I don’t envy you doing 33!!

Wait 33 number 1s in a whole year 😳 how times have changed

Nice but forgettable track so not suprised its last

Rubbish cover that just like the ones that came after so no complaints with that last placing.

2009 had some great number ones for me so shall be fun.

33 #1's is a lot! Looking forward to this.

No complaints with last place.

I have some fondness for 2009 as it was my first year following the UK charts, and the year I graduated high school.

Actually it was my first year watching X Factor too (the many XF alumni in the charts certainly influenced me to watch!), but 'You Are Not Alone' would be at or near the bottom for me too.

Some very good #1’s in 2009, some absolute trash and average #1’s as well. Really looking forward to this.

I’ll be following this, but woah at 33 number 1s!

X Factor brought out great candidates for the last places in those kind of rankings - well deserved.

32 Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West feat. Sir Tom Jones and Robin Gibb - Barry Islands In The Stream

1 week in March 2009: {1}-3-23-51->4

Kept off #1: none

#108 in EOY 2009

Comic Relief was still a two-yearly event in the 2000s, and tie-in singles had been part of the event since its inception, then in 2005 the "official" Comic Relief single (McFly's #1 double A-side of 'All About You' and 'You've Got A Friend') was joined by '(Is This The Way To) Amarillo?' credited to Tony Christie feat. Peter Kay which, although an unchanged re-release of Tony Christie's 1971 hit, now had a video starring Peter Kay alongside a host of celebrity figures, as a "comedy" alternative single. After the latter spent 7 weeks at #1 and ended the year as 2005's biggest seller, the pattern was repeated in 2007 with Sugababes vs. Girls Aloud's cover of 'Walk This Way' being joined by The Proclaimers feat. Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin's '(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles' as a new recording of The Proclaimers' 1988 hit with the actors behind the latter names performing their verses as those characters. Again, both singles reached #1, so when it came to 2009, a winning formula was reused - this time with The Saturdays' cover of 'Just Can't Get Enough' being joined by the single in question here. As with the previous two occasions, the releases of the singles were staggered to give both a chance of entering at #1, however The Saturdays only made #2 - I'll touch on that again when discussing the song which reached #1 ahead of it. There was no such problem for its "comedy" partner, as this single duly debuted at #1 the following week with sales of 87k.

The concept for the single, a cover of Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's 1983 hit 'Islands In The Stream' which reached #7 in the UK and was written by The Bee Gees, stems from BBC TV sitcom Gavin & Stacey of which Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West are two of the main characters played by Ruth Jones (also one of the show's writers) and Rob Brydon, as they perform the song in one episode. The video above stretches this scenario to the pair performing the song at a karaoke championship in Las Vegas, to which en route their car breaks down, and they are rescued by a chauffeur-driven Tom Jones who allows them to share a lift to their destination alongside him, and later appears at the end of their song performance to help them to a victory. One of the song's writers Robin Gibb makes a cameo appearance at the start, but the main sub plot plays into one of the series' recurring 'jokes' of Vanessa recounting her previous liaisons, usually romantic, with various famous people - in this case alluding that she and Tom Jones had been in a relationship which ended acrimoniously, but the famous singer now wants to make it up to her - and duly saves the day.

Now if you followed the show, this may have made some sense, but if you didn't, I can't imagine my explanation above being the most thrilling of reads, so we're just left with the song, and its video, for your entertainment. Except that even if you did follow the show, the end result is still pretty underwhelming, and in any case, I'm reviewing the songs, rather than the videos - so to hear the studio version, which isn't on Spotify, refer to this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTQA8zv1ijE - and here, there's no backstory, just the unspoken addition of "Barry" to the song's title as a reference to Barry Island where the two characters live in the show, and a spoken line from each of the 'characters', before the pair launch into a suitably karaoke standard vocal performance of the song - with added Robin Gibb vocals - until the middle eight where Bryn chips in with "crikey Nessa, it's Sir Tom Jones!" who sees the song through to its conclusion. There really isn't much to it, other than being for the most part a substandard duet performance by two people who aren't vocalists by trade, and while I have something of a soft spot for the 2007 '500 Miles' cover which does pay off quite nicely with the original performers The Proclaimers appearing for the final verse, this 2009 sequel falls flat by comparison. It perhaps should have been bottom in this countdown, as it's a cobbled together mess even in comparison to the 'You Are Not Alone' cover, but it does at least raise a wry smile for me that everyone involved was at least trying to have fun with it, however flawed the concept and execution. There will be one more single in this countdown that was wholly produced for charity, fortunately it was one that got many more things right, which means it will be appearing a little while later.

I like the show and how it featured, but as an actual single release it was not needed.

The only redeeming factor with islands in the stream is it helped me discover the original

This is worse than You Are Not Alone for me.

The original is a classic however.

31 Joe McElderry - The Climb

1 week in December 2009: 2-{1}-2-15-25-38-50-68->8

Kept off #1: none

#5 in EOY 2009

In its sixth series in 2009, after several unsuccessful attempts, The X Factor appeared to have stumbled upon a male singer with the voice, presence and all-round entertainer charisma one suspects Simon Cowell and the show had been searching for all along. His name was Olly Murs. Unfortunately for them, he was defeated in the final, as the male singer who emerged victorious in it fit neatly into the squeaky clean popstar mould that appealed to the masses within the TV viewing audience - not necessarily an accurate barometer of those who regularly bought albums and invested in music. So it was that 18 year old Joe McElderry from South Shields got to release the chosen coronation single, a cover of a Miley Cyrus song from earlier that year which had become the second of her three #11 hits before she would first reach the UK Top 10, and which would go on to climb back into the Christmas chart (at #31, coincidentally enough matching this countdown placing) on the back of this one. Released specifically in time to debut in the Christmas chart, and following four successive Christmas #1s for equivalent The X Factor winner singles in previous series of the show, another procession to the festive top spot was assumed. Except, famously, it didn't quite work out that way - its opening sale of 450k instead became the highest recorded weekly sale for a song at #2, as a campaign with the aim to send a certain other song to Christmas #1 instead had incredibly succeeded, with sales in excess of 500k. For those who know me, it may not come as a surprise that it will be some time before said song appears in this countdown. However in the following week, with the campaign having achieved its aim, the final chart of 2009 saw sales of said song sink faster, allowing Joe McElderry to complete "the climb" to #1, despite his own sales falling by more than 50% to 195k, before being deposed the following week in the first chart of 2010 by a song returning to #1 (again, one which won't appear in this countdown for some time).

It certainly feels harsh to be critical of Joe as a winner of the show, a thoroughly likeable personality and talented vocalist, and with the bar not exactly set sky high by some of the earlier male winners. The main problem for him was that with the show itself six series deep and showing no signs of reining in its saturation of all forms of media, many people just wanted something new. That's not to say that the campaign wouldn't have taken place if, say, Olly had won instead, so in some ways winning the show was a poisoned chalice for Joe. However if we judge the single on its merits (which is the idea of the countdown after all), there isn't a great deal to help his case. There had been some talk that Joe had been due to record a version of 'Don't Stop Believin'' as his single if he won, having already performed the song on the show (following which Journey's original version finally made its Top 40 debut, and after Joe performed it again in the final, it shot into the Top 10 for the first time), however this idea was shelved - perhaps Glee had something to do with this - and the Miley song was chosen instead. By coincidence, Miley's version made its first Spotify top 200 appearance since at least 2016 only last week - so it clearly still has some resonance and has weathered the passing time, which perhaps vindicates its choice as a winner's song, befitting the lyrical theme that one gains the most from the struggle that comes with working towards their goals. There just isn't enough of a spark to Joe's version to make it feel in any way essential - it's a competent vocal, give or take a jarring overdub on the first chorus, and the usual tricks are thrown into the production, including the key change timed alongside the announcement of the winner as "Joe!" in the promo video's standard chronicling of his 'journey' as a contestant on the show, but none of this resembled anything we hadn't heard before. As it turned out, only one further Top 40 single followed for him before parting ways with Simon Cowell in 2011, and despite finding later success in musical and theatre, this coronation single would represent something of a false start for him.

No shock here. After loving Leona and Alexandra I was a little disappointed with this one.

I wanted Olly or Stacey to win, but in the end I think it all worked out well for Olly.

Bland cover, Joe has a good voice but wasn't my choice for winner. Stacey or Olly like Paddington would have been my preferred choices too.

That 'Islands In The Stream' version isn't anything great obviously but since it was made for the cause I don't dislike it as such.

Gosh, there was a lot of number 1s in 2009, I didn't quite register it was that many!

2009 was quite a significant year for me, I sat my GCSEs and finished school and travelled round the US in the summer (It was certainly a lot more appealing to visit then x), I have a lot of memories of the music, and was more able to use some of my pocket money to actually buy albums and singles.

Can't disagree with any of these so far - I do prefer The Finalists' You Are Not Alone to Hero, but the bar is on the floor and it's still terrible, I think everyone was a bit more aware of the cynicism there as the sales for that one were much lower. I never watched Gavin & Stacey, so Islands in the Stream was always just a karaoke cover, doesn't have the same charm as the last two Comic Relief unofficial singles so I see why that was the last one to make number 1. There is a certain other charity single still to come which I have a softer spot for.

Joe/X Factor didn't exactly make it difficult for themselves to target with that utterly insipid choice of song and cover (much as I hate Hallelujah, it was at least a fairly inspired choice of song), that series really was headline central every single week even before the campaign, though Joe was always a dead cert to win and all the more boring for it.