'Boys and Girls' is a basic bop that would be higher up for me. I prefer it to 'Mama Do' but it's close between them both tbh. The two singles that followed this I liked even more though.

11 minutes ago, Roba. said:

'Boys and Girls' is a basic bop that would be higher up for me. I prefer it to 'Mama Do' but it's close between them both tbh. The two singles that followed this I liked even more though.

Slightly off topic, but I’ve always really liked Cry Me Out.

Boys & Girls was one of my very early BJSC entries in September 2008, finishing third. I didn't expect Pixie to take off commercially though, let alone for this song to become a No.1 hit a year later.

The original (demo I guess) I sent is more in keeping with the soul pop sound that dominated 2008, but I can see why they made it more sparkly and poppy for the UK release, as the soul pop vibe was fading out a bit by 2009.

I still like the track though, moreso than Mama Do as well, but most of her stuff has aged quite poorly overall and is in keeping with the pop production of the time.

Edited April 8Apr 8 by gooddelta

34 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

Slightly off topic, but I’ve always really liked Cry Me Out.

Deserved top 10 at the time!

i had no memory of the Pixie Lott track till i played it. This chugs along nicely without having a hook as such (or is it the chorus which it lacks!?), which I rather like. Peaked at 6 for me, and I agree about Cry Me Out - that should have been the chart-topper (it was for me).

Two very typical late noughties hits there. “Never Leave You” has a nice melody but is highly unremarkable and “Boys And Girls” has a little bit of a soulful quality but again is rather meh overall. As ever I haven’t checked the list so I can’t say yet whether they deserve to be quite so low, but I can’t see myself putting either much higher.

Ahhhh I quite love 'Boys & Girls', even if it's a somewhat standard and of its time pop song.

Just catching up a bit. The first three assorted charity/XFactor songs are awful in many ways so I certainly won’t argue with them being at the bottom. Joe was at least involved in a great Christmas #1 battle. I don’t even like the originals of The Climb or ‘..Not Alone so not much going for them, but I do love Kenny and Dolly’s Islands In The Stream. I too have managed to avoid seeing Gavin & Stacey, so the ‘humour’ is lost on me.

I have to admit I didn’t recall the next two songs initially but on listening back remembered they were okay, I think both Tinchy and Pixie have had better singles. I’m resisting checking the rest of the number ones so not sure yet where I would place them in the order of the other number ones at present.

Great thread so far though, really enjoying it. 33 number ones though, and almost all new songs… those were the days!

Pixie Lott is to music as what beige is to paint.

I do have 2009 down, stereotypically, as a more interesting but trashier year in comparison to 2008's background noise - though of course many good and interesting songs were released in both, I think that's partly because of the relative character of many of their #1s.

Bottom lot I completely agree with, talent show nonsense covers with few interesting qualities.

I would certainly have 'Never Leave You' a lot higher, I can recognise that it's not exactly a critic's darling of a song but it fits in alongside 00s eurodance in the nostalgia for the 00s lane well to be a decent example of what is now nostalgic pop-grime. Couldn't hate it, it's very pleasant.

On the contrary, very pleased to see Boys And Girls out this early; though Pixie Lott managed to have a few decent moments throughout her career, this wasn't one of them, the sort of song that would show up on a club playlist and you'd have to nod along to it while finding it excruciating in its lack of ideas or excitement.

Never liked Boys and Girls much it was about strong debut Mama Do and later Bright Lights for Pixie Lott. All About Tonight was quite good too.

And for the latter can someone rate the 2011 #1s soon? I think we should go up to 2015 for now!

Edited April 8Apr 8 by TheSnake

Just been playing catch-up with this thread while I have a day off!

'You Are Not Alone' is a fair last placer. I'm not a fan of the already drippy original so a clinical X Factor version was hardly going to sway me. The first thing I associate this cover with is Olly Murs fluffing up his lip-syncing in the music video; he comes in too late when the final chorus begins  JadeGagaOlly observations sticking xo

I never watched Gavin & Stacey but do remember the release of 'Barry Islands in the Stream' as Comic Relief was still quite a big deal throughout the 2000s. I'd never seek this out either but do have a soft spot for Red Nose Day throwing together these music/comedy crossovers, like Gareth Gates and The Kumars colliding, Peter Kay miming to Tony Christie or Tom Jones and Nessa sharing a credit - which now makes more sense after reading your contextual paragraphs about the show!

To the surprise of no-one, I was fully team Olly for that 2009 series of X Factor (I had Facebook around this time so am still haunted by old statuses telling people to vote for him 💀), but Joe galvanising more of a voter base did make sense. 'The Climb' is standard winner's single fare, again not one I'd seek out, although good for Joe still getting a turn at #1, after being the sacrificial lamb for the X Factor brand against Rage. 'Someone Wake Me Up' was a pretty good pop song from him later on.

I liked 'Never Leave You' at the time but it hasn't aged particularly well, was quite a bland listen when I last revisited it. It's surprising that Amelle was the Sugababe who managed to achieve a solo U.K. #1! 'Boys and Girls' is another one I was into at the time (I even bought the accompanying album) but has dated and no longer excites me in the same way, it's pretty throwaway really. I remember the video getting a lot of rotation on 4Music at the time, so still recall it well, including the dance routine and her quintessentially '00s OTT smoky black eye make up.

I've long said that 2009 was a great year for the UK charts, and probably the last time I liked anywhere near as many songs and acts that did well, however I suspect this list won't show much of that. No great loss so far - Barry Islands In the Stream is indeed dreadful, I always had a bit of a soft spot for all of Kay's number ones to some extent but even with liking the show the Gavin & Stacey one truly dreadful

28 JLS - Everybody In Love

1 week in November 2009: {1}-3-6-11-16-25-25-22-15-30-47-56-62-66-72-74->16

Kept off #1: none

#42 in EOY 2009

After two days' break from talking about The X Factor, we're back again. JLS (the initials are for Jack the Lad Swing) arrived fully formed for their audition in 2008, and impressed throughout the series to make it all the way to the final, despite their mentor Louis Walsh's best efforts to turn them into the next Westlife. They finished second in the final, therefore they were not bound into a record deal through the show and signed for Epic records in early 2009, and a few months later their debut single shot to #1 and will be covered later on. Benefitting from their association with The X Factor, they were invited to perform their second single in one of the live shows in the 2009 series, which helped them to a second #1 with opening sales of 121k, which is more than their debut single had opened with. The following week they released their self-titled debut album which also shot to #1, incredibly outselling Robbie Williams' Reality Killed The Video Star, with both albums' sales landing between 238k and 240k - still to date the only of Robbie's solo studio albums not to reach #1, with Live At Knebworth being his only other album not to do so. For JLS, this song would become their most streamed song on Spotify.

I always thought they were a breath of fresh air for the show - soulful voices, individually styled and down to earth - so it was very pleasing to see them have a decent career after the show for a few years, and they have since reformed and are still going, and I'd be hard pushed to say anything negative about them as a band. I think they had potential to hit higher heights - the aforementioned week with their debut was the only time they had a #1 album - and if anything was holding them back it was the songs. In this case, like the Pixie song just covered, it just doesn't really go anywhere for me - it opens with the chorus and jams along from there. It's certainly not their worst #1, that came the following year ('The Club Is Alive' is just awful, and 'Love You More' is sweet but not a full recovery), and while there may be songs higher in this countdown with more objectionable traits to them, as a whole package this feels about right.

Lame.

They have like 2 or 3 singles I'd say are passable, they were not a great act in terms of their output.

I was never much of a JLS fan, but they did have some ok songs. I remember really liking Take A Chance On Me back in 2011.

Preferred 'Eyes Wide Shut' that was peak JLS.

Thats definitely the weaker of pixies number 1s same goes for JLS so no suprise they are so low

oooooh this is interesting, very much in agreement with the bottom 3. But I adore that JLS song (it would have challenged for my top spot!)

Everybody In Love is pleasant enough, I certainly preferred JLS over many of the X Factor output in the ‘real’ world (outside the show), they just never really excited me.