6 minutes ago, Jessie Where said:

His most infamous moment probably being when N-Dubz were on Radio 1, somebody (rightly) sent in a text saying they were shit and he noted down their number to personally send them abuse. What a tool.

That's absolutely horrific. I feel dirty having No Regrets that high.

6 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

That's absolutely horrific. I feel dirty having No Regrets that high.

Well - you rate the songs - not necessarily the persons behind it, and he seems to be a problematic person, but no criminal, so your rating is fine.

I’ve admitted before that I’m not a great fan of Bruno but this would be one of his better number ones

I love 'Grenade'. One of his best personally.

Grenade is decent, probably placed about where I'd put it, top half but not top 10 - definitely a lot better than the Lazy Song. I don't really recall No Regrets, don't particularly imagine it's something I want to be reminded of either :| I think from the 10 that are left I'd have four in my top 10 too.

Ndubz and Dappy got on my nerves a bit at the time, so I didn't bother charting No Regrets, but it sounds OK from this distance. I don't remember anything about it so prob a fanbase hit rather than because it's a great record - but it's not a BAD record as such and I was prob harsh on it at the time. I'd still have it a bit lower though.

Grenade is fabulous, one of Bruno's classics and would be higher up the list I'm thinking (depending on what's left). A chart-topper for me, one a hat-trick he had around that time.

Always liked Grenade, great song.

I quite like 'Grenade', although some very cliched lyrics.

It seems crazy in hindsight that it beat 'Rolling in the Deep' to #1, but I remember at the time that was entirely expected.

Tbf as awful as Dappy is as a person and the lyrical stuff behind 'No Regrets' is fairly obnoxious, it's got some great instrumental riffs so it comes together well as a song, this was something fairly common to N-Dubz actually, normative musical quality will tell you their songs are awful and they are but in the right mood they can be real fun.

Love 'Promises' from the last few, I think that'd be right near the top for me, it's not quite 'Guilt' but it's a good progression from Nero's first two singles, an absolute banger of a dance song and one of those lovely #1s where I can't quite believe it's in the list looking back, in a good way, that such a comparatively underground act could get to the top.

In comparison 'Louder' and 'What Makes You Beautiful' are just standardly good club songs, though moments with the latter definitely... occurred. 'Heart Skips A Beat' I really struggle with, this is where Olly starts to fall down for me, it's not quite his worst but nothing I'd go out of my way to listen through.

As for 'Grenade', I think I put out 'Just The Way You Are' a bit lower than the average would have had it in my thread, I think I'd have 'Grenade' somewhere above the average in contrast, maybe about where you've put it or a little higher, I think it's also my favourite of the singles from his debut album, and it's the evocative (if basic evocative) lyrics that make the difference.

About to kick off the top 10.

The top 11 starting with Grenade were the stand out #1's for me in 2011. It was very close between all 11 songs.

10 – Dance With Me Tonight – Olly Murs

1 Week at #1 / Weekly Sales – 46,584

#54 in EOY 2011 – Total Sales of 340,241

Dance With Me Tonight became Olly Murs’s third #1 single when it reached the #1 position in December, though unlike Olly’s previous two #1 singles Dance With Me Tonight didn’t debut at #1, it got there in its third week on the chart after spending its first two weeks at #2. Dance With Me Tonight was 2011’s lowest selling #1 single, selling 46,584 copies in the week it hit #1. In it’s first week on the chart it debuted at #2 selling 74,475 copies, finishing 5,329 copies behind We Found Love. In its second week at it sold 62,417 copies finishing 36,515 behind Wishing On A Star. It’s also worth pointing out that Olly’s second album In Case You Didn’t Know was released one week after the release of Dance With Me Tonight and sold 100k plus in it’s first two weeks, so the fact this could still get to #1 in the Christmas rush is still a pretty good achievement.

I’d been an Olly Murs fan since the release of Please Don’t Let Me Go back in mid 2010 and remember being utterly obsessed with Dance With Me Tonight when it was released. I remember listening to it multiple times a day on my journey to and from work, there was just something so joyful and infectious about it. It was also my favourite Olly Murs song for quite a while and whilst I still enjoy it I don’t quite get the same enjoyment out of it as I once use to. I initially had this pegged as a top 3/top 5 song in my rankings, so I’m a little surprised to see it finish here.

Elsewhere on the singles chart that week American sing Lloyd scored his biggest international hit when his single Dedication To My Ex (Miss That) debuted at #3. T-Pain scored his biggest ever UK hit at #6 with 5 O’Clock which sampled Lily Allen’s 2009 single Who’d Have Known , which in turn sampled Take That’s 2007 single Shine and Amy Winehoues posthumous single Our Day Will Come debuted at #29.

I enjoy this more than I did at the time, but it's not really a go-to for me. Heart Skips was definitely much better.

Heart Skips A Beat is waaaaaaay better than this. It’s a bit generic tbh.

I’m not a fan of this, nor Olly with his cheeky chappie, ‘bit of a lad’ persona, same as Robbie Williams. This one is a poor attempt at a 50s throwback.

I also think “Heart Skips A Beat” is the better of the Olly songs, and Rizzle Kicks were always good fun. “Dance With Me Tonight” isn’t bad though and I quite like the retro feel of it.

“No Regrets” isn’t something I’d seek out but it’s actually alright. “Grenade” is certainly much more dynamic than “The Lazy Song”, although “Rolling In The Deep” deserved to get there.

'Dance With Me Tonight' is also fun but HSAB would be the higher of the two Olly tracks for me.

Jolly singalong fun, but Heart Skips A Beat I like a lot more. This wouldnt be top 10 for me, but nor would it down the bottom end. Shakin' Stevens would have loved to get his hands on this song in the 80's.

9 – We R Who We R - Kesha

1 Week at #1 / Weekly Sales – 90,139

#57 in EOY 2011 – Total Sales of 329,400

To we have We R Who We R by Kesha and I must say that this is a song that doesn’t really feel like a ‘2011’ song for me and that’s because it had the bulk of its chart success in Australia in 2010. Released in Australia on October 22^nd 2010 We R Who We R spent three weeks at #1 in Australia in November and ended the year as the 25^th highest selling single. Compare that to 2011 where it ended the year as the 100^th best selling single in Australia and it’s easy to see why. Regardless though this is a rank of the UK #1 singles in 2011 and as this got it’s UK release in January 2011 and reached #1 in it’s second week on the chart it qualifies for the rank. I was surprised to so see this debuted at #95 in the UK before falling out for a week before reaching #1 a week later. Was this due to imports? The song

We R Who We R was the lead single from Kesha’s new EP Cannibal and sold 90,139 copies to take #1 and knocked Grenade off the top in the process. I always had somewhat of a soft spot for this song and I think it’s because I have some fond memories of this. I can remember New Year’s Eve 2010 clearly and this song pumping out the speakers of party boats going down the Yarra River in Melbourne’s CBD minutes before midnight and the masses of people on the banks of the river going wild. Or how it was all over radio and tv. This was also around the time I started to lose touch with my high school friends and this was constantly played when venues when we went out.

The progression from Tik Tok to this song feels very similar to the progression from Just Dance to Bad Romance for Lady Gaga, which makes sense in my mind as they followed similar trajectories, just Kesha was a year after Lady Gaga. Very successful pop/dance first album followed by an EP one year later which slightly evolved the sound.

Elsewhere in the charts this week P!nk vaulted from #105 to #21 with F**kin’ Perfect, Adele debuted at #36 with Someone Like You and Rihanna’s 2006 single Unfaithful found itself back in the charts at #60.

I assume Unfaithful was back at #60 because the X factor effect?

Benny Blanco (the song’s producer, and the future Mr. Selena Gomez) shared some bts on the song in a podcast interview recently, as he was the main producer behind Kesha’s debut album and EP (surprise surprise Dr. Luke was credited in name only).

Every track on Animal/Cannibal was exactly 120 BPM because he was that much of a novice he didn’t know you could change the BPM settings on the tech.

The bridge consisting purely "DJ Turn It Up-Up-Up" repeated with more autotuned vocals every time was because of a deadline crunch. Kesha’s was touring and didn’t have time to record the actual bridge and the label needed a finished product by midnight to send to the CD press. So Benny took the very first line she sings in the song "DJ Turn It Up" and made that the bridge instead.