I really like Run This Town, in particular Rihanna chorus and bridge. It was also her first release post the Chris Brown incident, and I can remember there was a bit of buzz around it.

I'm also in the camp that prefers Run This Town over Empire State Of Mind.

I love both Run This Town and Empire State Of Mind, but there’s a very different vibe to the 2 songs. Run has a harsher aggressive feel whereas Empire is warmer and joyous. Great collaborations!

Just on Run This Town, I have no issues with it blocking Get Sexy from #1. I’m a massive Sugababes fan, but that Sweet 7 era was a massive disappointment and just felt nothing like them at all.

Evacuate the dance floor should be way higher top 3 of the year for me

Fight for this love, Cheryl started high with this one and seemed to progressively get worse over time

Run this town is iconic and ahead of its time deserved number 1

I might have put 'Evacuate The Dancefloor' very high, yes it's no 'Everytime We Touch' but it's super fun and Cascada are one of THE acts of late 00s eurodance so very happy having them get a #1. Glad it got a fair way into this countdown anyway.

after several #1s I could really take or leave, with the exception that 'Number One' takes me right back to the least credible part of my music taste in that I quite enjoy it for what it is, Run This Town is one that keeps sticking with me. As you say Jim, the battle clap really makes this one, and it allows me to focus in on some very good contrast between the rap verses and a lifting chorus, one of the best rap-pop hits of around this time in my mind.

Fight For This Love is the first to feature that I’d have put substantially higher, I think it’s a really strong single.

I don’t rate Cheryl as an artist particularly but Fight For This Love is such a great song! Would be higher for me, probably top 10.

Not with any of you about Run This Town at all though. Yes, it’s better than Get Sexy but that particularly bar is miles underground! Considering the calibre of the three artists involved, it’s very much average and not a well remembered hit for any of them. The overshadowing by Empire State Of Mind is completely justified.

14 David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland - When Love Takes Over

1 week in June 2009: 7-{1}-2-4-5-6-6-9-11-16-19-22-28-35-42-44-49-55-65-71-59R(51)-63R(43)-62->23

Kept off #1: none

#20 in EOY 2009

David Guetta's first (ever!) UK #1 on a weekly sale of 78k had a climb to get there, I think due to rush-release as it was victim to one of the earliest charting examples of a common phenomenon of the peak download era - the fake cover version, in this case by Airi L which went in at #22 the same week this entered at #7. Having been absent from the Top 40 since 2007, it would mark the start of a period of big commercial success for him in which he's never really been away (ghost producers aside - and I'm going to assume the 2009 involvements under his name are all his own work, it doesn't affect the rank after all). It was also the second UK #1 of Kelly Rowland's solo career, but her first since Destiny's Child disbanded (and since it has become something of a meme on here, the first not to feature messaging through Excel in the video). The song begins with and is largely built around a piano riff which sounds very similar - perhaps too much so - to the one in Coldplay's 'Clocks'.

This is the last of several songs in this countdown which I sort of enjoy with some reservations - everything above this I'd comfortably say I like. Coldplay cribbage notwithstanding, there's nothing to dislike - Guetta does a good job and it marked a shift for him from the French house prevalent in the early decade to a more malleable EDM which could blend in with hip hop and R&B lanes. Kelly's vocals push the euphoria in the chorus and keep the whole thing commercial radio friendly too - there's also a repeated "tonight, tonight, tonight..." for the lyrical cliché bingo, when every other song became based in the club at the time it was playing. I just never got too excited about this one, even before I knew how much mileage Guetta would get from largely the same formula repeated in future years, though you will note he has another song of his own plus another of his productions to come.

Absolute classic, it still makes my hairs stand up whenever I hear it.

Without knowing the full list off the top of my head, I know this would be right up there for me.

I can remember hearing When Love Takes Over for the first time. My friend had a low quality version of it that must've leaked online. We were hooked and waited for the official release. We were not disapointed.

Woah! The best number 1 of the year only at 14?!

What.

Good song if a little generic for me, I’d forgotten it was Guetta’s first #1

Never really get this first Cheryl era - I find that "Fight This Love" sounds very dated now productionswise. I like her later stuff much more - particularly "I Don't Care", which is a great BOP.

"Evacuate The Dancefloor" was somehow a peak of the eurodance revival, but was a bit too cheesy for me.

The Jay-z/Kanye tune is quite OK, eventhough I am not a big fan of it.

Definitely a big step up in quality for the last few, this is more what I was hoping for for 2009s list. Cheryl is perfectly good for what it is, I've grown to like Run This Town more as it's aged but do think it's great now, and When Love Takes Over is a classic - surpassed by some of his others from the same era but still sounding great.

Just reminded myself of 'Run This Town' and couldn't help but think of Jack Saunders with the "this is Roc Nation, pledge your allegiance" lyric I enjoy the dark, atmospheric production but otherwise the rest is just decent for me - I agree that 'Empire State of Mind' is a cut above.

The less said about 'Get Sexy' the better x

The piano riff on 'When Love Takes Over' is a shameless 'Clocks' rip-off for sure but I do enjoy it quite a bit in the right setting, takes me back to summer barbecues. That instrumental was a good fit for Kelly's soaring vocals.

'Run This Town' is solid though there are a few bits that also grate.

'When Love Takes Over' is a great dance tune and it was nice to see Kelly Rowland get another #1 too.

13 Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You

1 week in March 2009: {1}-4-6-7-10-14-17-20-29-33-33-36-48-53-65-69->16

Kept off #1: Taylor Swift - Love Story

#46 in EOY 2009

Kelly Clarkson was the winner of the first series of American Idol in 2002, and saw her first chart success in the UK in 2003 when 'Miss Independent' reached #6. In a move to distance herself the franchise, Kelly changed management in 2004, and came back with the Breakaway album in 2005 which produced another three Top 10 hits. My December then became her highest peaking album in the UK when it reached #2 in 2007, but disputes to her approach from the record label meant the #9 hit 'Never Again' was its only single in the UK. This was therefore her first hit in almost two years, and came with a return to a more mainstream power pop sound, with one of the co-writers being Max Martin and, in a point of contention for Kelly herself, another being producer Dr Luke. Kelly has said she refused a songwriting credit for that reason, despite much input in rewriting the original song to make it more personal to her. It marked a successful comeback, giving her a #1 on both sides of the Atlantic, and her only one in the UK with a 51k opening sale. And with impeccable timing, I'm revealing this on the same day Kelly was confirmed to finish third in Buzzjack's second season of The Pop Factor! This song was sent by her mentor, Scene, in Round 10 where it finished in second place, behind another song from an artist whose 2009 #1 is still to come.

As I said yesterday, I like everything that remains in this countdown, and they've outdone 20+ songs to get this high, so let's focus on why we like them. This starts with a similar production to her hitherto biggest hit 'Since U Been Gone', and perhaps sounds like a direct sequel to the Breakaway era, with some danceable enhancements. The creative process may have been fraught for Kelly, and the line "here you are again" as well as the dependent tone to the lyrics perhaps throw simultaneous light and shade over the situation, but it's overpowered by the thrash and thrill of the huge chorus that give it that cathartic feel. To me it all offers some reaffirmation that personal struggles and compromises are just part of the road to a better place. Although perhaps the bigger story now is the song at #2, the UK chart debut of American then-teenager Taylor Swift - whatever happened to her, etc. - well it would be three years until she was back in the UK Top 20, and at least a decade until she became the biggest pop star on the planet, but this song was a sure-footed introduction.

I'm glad she managed to get at least one UK #1 to her name. Again there are quite a lot of others by her I prefer, but it is a storming pop song (and infinitely better than the dire 'Love Story')

Love 'My Life Would Suck Without You' and it'd be higher for me. I would say 'Already Gone' was my overall fave from that era though.

Always been a fan of Kelly C. This is a big bold hurtling song so glad it’s higher in the rate. I’d probably have it around the same place.