“Dirtee Disco” is OK really, like a weaker “Holiday” but inderstandably a flash in the pan #1.

“Nothin’ On You” might be my favourite out so far although that still isn’t saying a whole lot… as you say a nice but not classic pop rap song.

I hated Replay at the me time but it’s not so bad now. Still not overly fond of it but it’s not diabolical.

16. Cheryl – Promise This

1 week at #1 (entered 31^st October): 01-02-07-17-19-28-37-42-38-33-52-81

Kept off #1: none

EOY #39

For a brief moment in time, coinciding with the winding-down of Girls Aloud and her stint as a judge on the Talent Show, Cheryl Cole was the hottest British pop property as a solo artist. ‘Fight For This Love’ had been everywhere in 2009 as her first solo #1, and like a few other artists who had new #1s in the later half of the year, a couple of songs from the previous album era were hanging around. Those were ‘Parachute’ and ‘3 Words’, the latter featuring will.i.am again, and the former being such a consistent seller that it would nearly outsell this #1 on the year-end chart.

It was only a short time between her albums 3 Words and Messy Little Raindrops, the latter the album that ‘Promise This’ led off, but Cheryl's life had dramatically changed in that short time. This solo success happened around the same time as several significant changes in her personal life, she had publicly gotten separated, filed for divorce and completed divorce from her then-husband footballer Ashley Cole at various points throughout 2010, with the tabloids hanging on every new development, including ‘unreasonable behaviour’ from Ashley. At the same time as all this was going on, she contracted a life-threatening strain of malaria over the summer of 2010 in Tanzania, also again, luridly focused on by the media.

All this meant that her new single, performed to great applause on the Talent Show in late October, would be almost certain to go to #1. Which it did, but not before ending up in what I think was clearly the biggest chart battle of the year. ‘Promise This’ and the song it beat sold so well that this was the highest-selling chart week of the year if you discount winner singles and charity efforts, so the highest selling ‘standard’ #1 of 2010. A good thing for ‘Promise This’ that it sold so well on this first week too, as it was clearly not going to last as long on the charts as the huge behemoth that it beat. Only Cheryl could have stopped that one, but only for a week.

With all that context, ‘Promise This’ could have really sounded like anything and it would have gone to #1. It's not an undeserved #1 though, it's a fine song, and to its credit has some interesting bits to it. Most notable is the inclusion of the French-Quebecois nursery rhyme 'Alouette', that cheery song about plucking a lark and its body parts. 'Plumerai l'aile' specifically means 'pluck the wings', fitting with the rest of the lyrics - I really enjoy the 'Alouette' parts, I think they give a lot of rhythm and a sense of foreboding over the song.

The rest is pretty great too, not so subtly alluding to Cheryl's brush with death and building up to a lovely finale. I think in the wake of a very significant year for her, out of this, came one of her best displays of artistry and challenge, all poured into one song. The main weakness is that, as ever with her, it's got some imperfections, she's a fine singer but not an outstanding one, and that production from Wayne Wilkins, it has some good points with the marching beats but in the verses I think it loses itself a bit. Wilkins, who also did 'Fight For This Love' had better production on that and if you compare it to the rest of Wilkins' work rather than Cheryl's, compare songs like Shontelle's 'T-Shirt', Jordin Sparks's 'Battlefield', or Beyoncé's 'Sweet Dreams', it feels production-wise like a weaker version of some of those - man has a style but I don't think this was his best work.

Obviously I was exposed to this, like many in the nation, by Cheryl performing it on a very public platform and then later on the charts. It was fine at the time, but I moved on from it fairly quickly and it didn't have all that much cultural staying power, even with reinventing a nursery rhyme in an interesting way. That said, it's a fair second #1 for her and is only narrowly behind 'Fight For This Love' in my Cheryl-related affections.

Hmmm. I didn’t mind this at the time, it’s not that bad I suppose (he said grudgingly).

6 minutes ago, Jester said:

Hmmm. I didn’t mind this at the time, it’s not that bad I suppose (he said grudgingly).

I'm sure we'll get to something you like soon! (perhaps)

Hate 'Promise This' so much, and its parent album was the worst album I've ever heard.

On 18/05/2026 at 13:19, RabbitFurCoat said:

The Roll Deep pair were absolutely class, loved them being big hits during my uni years and still sound good, though definitely have them the right way round. Start Without You is iconic, just felt quite unique and unlike what I'd expect from an XF act, but did really enjoy it, haven't heard it in a looong time now though, so might not look on it so favourably. Olly... meh, he definitely had much better later on.

Agreed, and as I alluded to earlier Green Light was probably my favourite No.1 of the whole year. I'm not quite sure why I love it so much, something about the driving bassline, the knowingly naff lyrics that felt like the last hurrah of 00s rap-dance, the feelgood chorus, memories of hearing it in clubs at the time. I just love it.

Promise This also topped my personal chart at the time, definitely not Cheryl's best solo single but I really enjoyed it back then and the shoehorned French words. Alors On Danse (proper French) was in the charts around this time too.

I actually prefer California Gurls to several of the singles from the Teenage Dream era, it's fun, summery, colourful and tongue in cheek and Snoop's part is very memorable too.

Not a huge amount to say on the other dropouts since I last checked that hasn't been said. I'd have Alexandra (sounds like an Um Bongo advert to me, utterly bizarre track for a major pop artist that's hard to hate but I can't find much to love), the crap Dizzee song and probably The Wanted a fair bit lower; nice strings aside that is quite a nothingy song for me.

Haven't ever been keen on 'Promise This'. Again just alright but nothing more for me.

Dirtee disco was awful should be last

Nothing on you was nice enough but both had better

All time low was basic boy band by numbers I can take or leave it

Replay is a bop though

Promise this was good I prefer the flood from MLR, I do think she peaked with Fight for this love though

Yet more X Factor promoted successes. Not much to offer for me I’m afraid

Love The Wanted track, those strings are just delicious and the song is pretty good, great vibes without any obvious vocal hooks, just chunters along with class as a cohesive whole. Iyaz, a bit of catchy fun, I wouldnt turn it off but needed to hear it again to remind me how it went. Ditto Cheryl's, but that's a lot more forgettable overall more of a Girls Aloud out-take for me. Of the 3 it's easily the most forgettable, and that annoying little nursery rhyme bit was a mis-step. All Time Low peaked at 5 for me but was a good long run and rates second only to one other track of theirs - chart-topper Show Me Love (America). Iyaz, reached a decent number 20, and Cheryl, a marginally higher 19.

“All Time Low” is easily my new favourite and it takes me right back to that summer. The string opening is great but also the build in the production towards the end.

“Replay” is crazily infectious and I do still have a soft spot for the chorus. It’s pretty basic though and I don’t like the way he stresses “rePLAY”.

I really like the “Alouette” part of “Promise This” too: the rest is fairly bland though still better than 2 of Cheryl’s #1s to come.

'Promise This' I do really like especially the production and prefer to 'Fight For This Love'.

'All Time Low' I thought was OK at the time, and I remember those strings coming up on a lot of TV soundbeds, as well as the next NYE fireworks sequence in London. Interesting mention of a work presentation in the lyrics too.

'Replay' became annoying after a few, erm, plays, but at least an iPod is immortalised in the chorus lyrics of a #1.

Never thought much of 'Promise This', but she would have worse #1s. 'Fight For This Love' remains her best, and despite this coming in at the same placing of 16th as that did for 2009, feels about right based on what's appeared so far.

Controversial view prefer 'Promise This' to 'Fight For This Love' always thought she was about Higuain during the Alouette part.

Promise This isn’t on par with her debut era but it’s still decent.

I do prefer Adele’s version from the Live Lounge in 2011.

15. Taio Cruz – Dynamite

1 week at #1 (entered 29th August): 01-03-03-02-02-05-08-13-16-20-25-32-36-32-42-47-49-39-29-37-47-55-58-74-69-65-69-74-65-53-75-81-80-89

Kept off #1: Eminem - Love The Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna)

EOY #17

"The song 'Dynamite' itself is about when you go to the club and when you go to a party and when you're just going out... you got to feel like, 'I'm just gonna explode.’” – Taio Cruz

"I thought ["Dynamite"] was the dumbest song I had ever written and thought it was going nowhere." – Bonnie McKee

Those quotes, only existing on Wikipedia now as their sources, interviews from the time, have died to link rot, are a very good summation of ‘Dynamite’ as it stands in UK Chart history, a dumb bit of fun that is simply an uplifting club tune. Which it certainly is, and what most people who heard it took it as. On the surface.

McKee, getting her second big writing credit hit after ‘California Gurls’ earlier in the year, has talked more about the song of course in public and most of her comments and interviews are less disparaging to 'Dynamite' and actually more about what she meant while writing those lyrics, she wrote the ‘hands up in the air’ lyrics in the chorus, and they came from a feeling of release of overcoming the struggles of getting sober. On top of a fairly generic Lukasz Gottwald and Max Martin melody and not even meeting McKee until after the song had been finished, Cruz wrote the verses, which makes sense, the verses are far more in the style that we'd come to know and like (?) him for in his short career, with all the repeated words about nothing in particular. Ironically, the song is perhaps known as the quintessential example of dead-eyed 'hands in the air' club tunes, because of Taio Cruz' insistence on being the blandest individual who ever stepped foot into a recording studio.

All that said, it works. It works very well for what it is. Worth saying that the music video, complete with pyrotechnic explosions (because Dynamite!!!), does some weird things with the intro that aren't on other versions of the song, and the intro that is on the recorded version is pretty lush. It's also just such a good time that when I remember it exists, I am briefly affronted at the suggestion I might like this before happily giving it another listen. It's probably the strongest form of nostalgia elevating an average song, but 'Dynamite' knows what it is, gives out all the euphoric joy it can, then leaves. Can't really complain here. Allegedly 'Dynamite' was leading off The Rokstarr Collection, a deluxe album that's styled more like a greatest hits, as it includes songs from his first album Departure as well as the Break Your Heart-containing Rokstarr, giving the few individuals who would willingly purchase a Taio Cruz album the greatest deal of their lives. Cruz would swiftly move on, but this was such a hit he could have snuck another single in there had he cared.

This is another song that beat 'Love The Way You Lie' to the top spot, though the latest temporally, with 'Green Light' on the previous week. Again I'd swap them easily, but that's more a statement on how good 'Love The Way You Lie' is. 'Dynamite' wasn't a bad seller by any means, it'd go onto have a long run in the top 40 and even come back again at the end of the year, I remember listening to this quite a few times on the chart show, and it's just a really versatile song, can be played anywhere, it's no one's favourite song but it's a crowd-pleaser.

'Dynamite' compares really favourably to 'Break Your Heart' and most of Taio's other hits, he wouldn't have any other #1s but he had a fair few hits in this short period, all as forgettable and generic as each other (except for the hilariously terrible 'Hangover', which now makes up what I choose to consider Taio's true legacy, being the base for one of Scottish pirate metal band Alestorm's best covers), 'Dynamite' is definitely the most likeable of them and does deserve its place in the top 15 here, as much as it's easy to make fun of, its uplifting mood is undeniable.

While Cruz' career would fizzle fairly soon after reaching this high, and yes, this is definitely his high, McKee was just getting started in her pop writing career if not her infamously dogged singing career, after scoring this, her second #1, she'd be all over many hits for the next 5 years.

Dynamite is a bop 🙌🙌 actually still slaps in this nice weather we are having atm

'Dynamite' is a tune albeit dated like a lot of 2010 stuff. Would be similar placing for me I think.

I quite like Dynamite, I think I’d have it a bit higher than this though.