Hello and welcome to my ranking of the #1 Singles on the UK Singles Chart for 2011. I'd like to start off by thanking @Julian_ for reaching out and asking me if I'd like to take part in the wonderful series which was started all the way back in June last year by the incredible @gooddelta, when he ranked a mammoth 43 #1 singles from 2000. And for also allowing me to have 2011 as well. I do feel somewhat like a fraud or a little underqualified to be doing this as I feel a little like an outsider (not being from the UK) and not having heard some of these songs until starting this project, please keep that in mind with their placements. I have done my best to give each song some time to grow on me and have given each song at least 5-10 plays to try and judge it fairly.

2011 was such a significant year for me and will always be one of the most pivotal and formative years of my life, for good and bad reasons. In early April I finished up at my first ever full time job and just a few weeks after that I was on a plane for the first time ever taking my first overseas holiday to the UK and Ireland. That holiday still to this day remains some of the best four weeks of my entire life. Unfortunately things took a drastic turn days after I returned home in May when my father passed away unexpectedly. It brought about emotions that were at completely at the other end of the scale. At the end of 2011 in December I ventured north to Queensland for 2 weeks to stay with friends I had met on my UK trip just 8 months earlier. So all in all it was a pretty big year for me which is why I feel so privileged to bringing you the #1's rank fior 2011.

Enough about me though and back to what we are all here for and that is my rank of the 2011 UK #1 singles. My countdown will kick off with #31 within the next 24hrs and throughout my rank I'll be taking slight detours to talk about other notable non #1's of 2011 (which may feature some of the artists pictured below. As well as going through and doing a rapid fire rank of the 13 #1 singles in Australia in 2011.

Please feel free to comment and participate along the way. I know that there will be more than a few disagreements with my ranks. As always please keep it respectable and I'd love to

I also forgot to add that in line with most previous editions I will also be including songs that hit #1 in 2010.

Looking forward to this! 2011 was the year I joined BuzzJack ❤️ I turned 14 that summer so very much into my awkward teenage years now.

Re. the OP - I'm sure you'll do a great job 🫶 your approach is bound to be refreshing if some of these songs are brand new to you.

No worries about chart placings, and thanks for volunteering, its all part of the fun of comparing opinions! 🤩Sorry to hear you lost your dad so young, it's tough at any age, but especially at important early times in your life. Queensland nostalgia I'm up for - I did Cairns and Green Island in the 90's!😍

Looking forward to seeing your take on these songs - the Australian bit sounds like a great bonus as well. Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it so yeah, don't worry at all, it will be interesting to read.

Lots of fond memories of some of the songs in 2011, some I remember more clearly being #1 than others, without a list in front of me I couldn't name them all now, and I'll keep it that way for surprise's sake but there's definitely a few favourites and intriguing songs in this thread.

Ooh, I’m really looking forward to this! You’ve really built up the anticipation, I’m sure it will be fantastic!

Looking forward to it - 2011 is a cool year - much better than 2010.

2011 was a huge transitional year for me, I went to university, moving out of my house for the first time. It was such a surreal experience as I had such a sheltered life beforehand and the social side of uni was a bit of a revelation. I do have some great memories attached to some of these songs so a real nostalgic year.

Very much interested seeing your thoughts as an outsider to the UK Charts at the time.

I feel that I should probably add before I start that the posts for each song will vary in length, but hopefully not quality. I did find it harder to write up about the songs I wasn’t familiar with at all, as I guess I didn’t have those memories or attachments to them.

Looking forward to this. Just checked the 1's and it looks a lot stronger yay. Some crap or forgettable stuff of course too though.

2011 was a really memorable year for me too, I for some reason was going clubbing every Wednesday night with my housemates so enjoying all of the 'club bangers' in real time (and fortunately not working on Thursdays). Those songs sounded much more epic in a club setting than on the radio so I have quite fond memories of a lot of them.

In the summer I moved back in with my mum in Brighton as the lease on my rented place in Wales with my housemates was up, and I started a new job fairly soon after, so it was a year of two halves for sure.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts @Paddington James !

Kicking things off with #31 shortly.

31 – Wishing On A Star – The X Factor Finalists ft JLS & One Direction

1 Week at #1 / Weekly Sales – 98,932

#132 in EOY 2011 - Total Sales of 167,200 in 2011

Kicking off the countdown is the 2011 version of the X Factor Finalists charity single, Wishing On A Star. This was the fourth consecutive year that the finalists from Simon Cowels hit reality TV series The X Factor recorded a song together. The previous three years had all seen their respective releases hit #1 but do diminishing returns. In 2008 Hero sold 312,244, in 2009 You Are Not Alone sold 193,176 and in 2010 Heroes sold 144,01. So it was clear that with each passing year the interest and demand for these releases was fading. Not even the additions of from X Factor alumni JLS and One Direction could do anything to stop the declining return. Though it still managed to debut at #1 the sales of 98,932 were the lowest of the four years these finalist singles were released.

Wishing On A Star was originally recorded and released by American R&B group Rose Royce in1978 and reached #3 on the UK singles chart that year. It then charted another 3 times in the UK top 100 before this X Factor Version took it to #1. For myself I don’t have many memories of this song, which could be expected as the song wasn’t released here in Australia. Despite this though I was a fan of this years X Factor and remember enjoying all of Little Mix, Amelia Lily, Misha B and Janet Devlin. One of those acts will feature latter on in the countdown, as will each of the two X Factor alumni groups featured on this release. The reason for it’s last place though is due to it just being another rinse and repeat release for the X Factor conveyor belt which didn’t really connect with me. I also felt the addition of JLS and One Direction was unnecessary but I guess they were included to try and help with the sales.

A really poor X Factor ensemble single that so a good start!

7 minutes ago, Roba. said:

A really poor X Factor ensemble single that so a good start!

There were a few acts I liked from the 2011 series, mainly Misha B, Janet Devlin and Amelia Lilly, but this song does full flat.

You wouldn’t think it was possible for this to be worse than the previous three finalists’ singles and yet this somehow manages it. An absolutely shocking mess.

I had blocked out all memory of that one existing until I did research into this set of charity singles for my thread, could have sworn they only did 3 of those.

it's so so bad, no cohesive sound, gratuitous 'JLS! 1D!', good first one out.

Really bad indeed, thank goodness it was the last one. It was the last really great year of the show (James and Ella saving the following year) but this didn't stop the charity release from being another turd.

Good choice for last. That is the only good thing about it.

I could go against everyone else and say this was good…. but I’d be lying! Quite a feat to be worse than the other years, so at least it’s got that going for it.