21st June 2026

It's a mercifully cooler Saturday, after the equatorial temperatures sent me retreating into the cinema everyday for AC, and made me late with my charts, and feeling lazy and tired! It's also another oldie on top as The Jackson 5's 1971 number 2 finally gets on to my top spot, Never can Say Goodbye thus matches I'll Be There in becoming their 7th number one as an act, and allowing Michael Jackson a total of 22 to move ahead of Madonna at 4th in my all-time list of most number ones. It's a long gap to the next 3 though, so he won't be getting any higher than 4th. ABBA, Pet Shop Boys and The Beatles are well clear of the field. I'll Be There also goes top 10, for a third time, at 6.

Appleton have had a chart-topper with All Saints (Pure Shores) but have only peaked at 2 previously as an act, Don't Worry in 2003 - and Ready To Begin leaps 27 places with those fab Verve-ish swirling strings Bittersweet Symphony stylee. They leap past Jungle who climb to 3, while Charlotte MacINnes gets a first top 10 with Struck. Paul McCartney gets his first top 40 in a while with new material, a mere record-breaking chart run of 58 years since The Beatles' Hey Jude topped my very first chart.

Ronald LaPread, The bassist and co-founder of The Commodores passed away this week, so in at 53 is their first UK hit, the funky instrumental Machine Gun back 52 years on, and Sail On, one of the songs of my first USA holiday in California/Nevada/Arizona in 1979, is back at 79. The former song is pre-Lionel The Balladeer, the second part of a run of ballad hits before Mr Richie went solo. The country-soul laid back vibes just fit scorching LA and Death Valley radio stations, and our scorching UK week of heat this week. It was literally like being in Furnace Creek mid-summer, upper 30's....

Best new track debuting is Adam Lambert's Under The Rhythm at 67, it borrows liberally from ATC's Around The World, but is an improvement, and his first chart entry since 2020's Roses with Nile Rodgers, 16 years since his debut, and 9 years since Two Fux topped my chart. Holly Humberstone gets a second on the list at 73, White Noise, and 3rd of the year. It's 5 years since her debut The Walls Are Way Too Thin. Francesco Gabbani meanwhile gets his first entry since his Eurovision track, Summer Funk at 74, 9 years on from Occidentali's Karma.

Chake Khan knocks herself out of my chart, with added Snoop Dogg replacing added Sia, Boogie's In My Soul at 77 sounding good, and Chaka's run still being 52 years on from Tell Me Something Good. Snoop is a more modest 30-odd years in contrast, but has never really gone out of fashion chart-wise for me. Olivia Rodrigo grabs a 2nd charting single from her album, The Cure, and may well be chartin with Robert Smith of The Cure, having already referenced him and them in hit 1, holding at 57 vs The Cure's 84. Boys Don't Cry charted earlier in the year (original version) for The Cure, to boot.

Another one with 2 on the chart, Myles Smith enters Hold Me In The Dark at 92, The Dead South at long last get a fellow-up to In Hell I'll Be In Good Company as they cover Rox In The Box at 95, a Decemberists song, and their second chart hit 9 years on. Quite the week for 2017 acts this week. There's a chart debut with the gospel-sounding Let's Get Together by newbie-to-me Brother Wallace at 96, and also Temper City at 98 who enter Self Aware, and a double Sparks following their fab live performance in Bournemouth last week: 2000's track Baby Baby Can I Invade Your Country went down well with it's Country twang in at 99, and I-405 Rules from their recent Mad! album pops in at 100. That'll be 52 years of charting then, just ahead of Chaka Khan.

1 4 1 8 NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 348600

2 29 2 3 READY TO BEGIN - Appleton 140200

3 5 3 4 THE WAVE - Jungle 171650

4 3 1 9 LOVE CONTROLLER - Demi Lovato 588300

5 2 1 6 CRYING OVER YOU - Reverend and The Makers 605000

6 27 6 7 I'LL BE THERE - The Jackson 5 125050

7 7 7 8 RUMOURS - Hot Chocolate 255250

8 10 8 6 FOREVER - Reverend and The Makers 147650

9 1 1 9 EMMA - Hot Chocolate 602000

10 16 10 7 STRUCK - Charlotte MacInnes 134800

11 6 1 6 YA YA YA - JONAS LOVV 547000

12 11 4 10 CHUCK THE MONEY - Stephen Sanchez 332100

13 9 5 7 MASTER JACK - Four Jacks And A Jill 257000

14 15 14 8 CAN'T SIT STILL - Lainey Wilson 137500

15 19 15 9 MR KNOW IT ALL - Teddy Swims 158300

16 14 1 12 CLICK CLACK SYMPHONY - RAYE featuring Hans Zimmer 866100

17 8 6 12 SUGAR - Simien & Akon 388150

18 18 5 19 DRIVE SAFE - Myles Smith & Niall Horan 563000

19 13 10 9 FREE TO LOVE - Duran Duran featuring Nile Rodgers 166950

20 26 20 9 JOKE ABOUT DIVORCE - Blossoms 123650

21 17 17 6 GO - The Chemical Brothers featuring Q-Tip 90950

22 23 22 9 IN MY ROOM - Linda Ronstadt 135600

23 12 12 8 YOU COULD'VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate 139950

24 22 1 8 BROTHER LOUIE - Hot Chocolate featuring Alexis Korner 565500

25 34 25 6 AIN'T NO SUNSHINE - Shaggy featuring Sting 85350

26 30 26 8 BRING YOUR LOVE - Madonna & Sabrina Carpenter 90350

27 24 16 11 BEAUTY PAGEANT - Holly Humberstone 188000

28 25 3 7 LIFE'S TOO SHORT - The Lightning Seeds 342050

29 36 29 7 OH NO! NOT THE BEAST DAY - Marsha Hunt 71950

30 21 1 7 LOVE IS LIFE - Hot Chocolate 356500

31 28 2 9 ONE BAD APPLE - The Osmonds 346850

32 43 32 5 PATCHES - Clarence Carter 53000

33 47 33 5 BETTER TIMES - Robin Schulz featuring BARBZ 48100

34 50 34 4 RIPPLES IN A POND - Paul McCartney 41800

35 42 35 5 LIGHT UP - Kylie Minogue 55450

36 38 36 8 FLOWERS - Blue 82700

37 39 37 8 COME BACK TO ME - Haircut 100 85550

38 32 1 19 LUCKY AGAIN - Lykke Li 863750

39 35 3 13 PHOENIX - Marshmello x Portugal. The Man 396550

40 49 40 6 UPSIDE DOWN - Natalie Imbruglia 53500

41 69 41 4 MOVIN' TO THE SUN - HUGEL, Imael Angel & Ultra Nate 23900

42 48 42 9 LITTLE MORE TIME - Niall Horan 73150

43 20 13 12 CARRY ON - Jungle 222250

44 31 19 10 I FEEL SO FREE - Madonna 149850

45 55 45 8 ELECTRIC CIRCUS - Nelly Furtado, Boi 1da & Canada Soccer 58900

46 59 46 5 TALK TO YOU - ANOTR featuring 54 Ultra 35250

47 41 1 8 I BELIEVE (IN LOVE) - Hot Chocolate 321600

48 33 5 8 YOU'LL ALWAYS BE A FRIEND - Hot Chocolate 270000

49 40 40 6 BE LIKE A WOMAN - Chris Rainbow 67000

50 54 50 4 MORE! MORE! MORE! - Becky Hill 38600

51 52 51 4 DRAG THE BAG - Inspiral Carpets 33450

52 64 52 3 ON THE FLOOR - Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull 23600

53 NEW 53 1 MACHINE GUN - The Commodores 11250

54 78 54 2 HOWL - Carly Simon 15400

55 37 28 11 THERE WAS SUN - Nothing But Thieves 142750

56 56 4 16 AMERICAN GIRLS - Harry Styles 427200

57 57 57 9 DROP DEAD - Olivia Rodrigo 56900

58 46 46 9 DO I LOVE YOU? - The Ronettes 76900

59 61 59 6 POTENTIAL - sombr 39200

60 65 60 8 WE GO BACK - Keith Urban featuring Michael McDonald 41400

61 66 61 6 ECLIPSE - Delta Goodrem 30800

62 68 62 3 LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL - Electric Callboy featuring The Offspring 15500

63 45 25 10 FIRST LIGHT - Lana Del Ray 139650

64 67 64 5 THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY - Katy Perry 22300

65 58 1 22 APERTURE - Harry Styles 1067000

66 62 1 28 RELIQUIA - ROSALIA 1312000

67 NEW 67 1 UNDER THE RHYTHM - Adam Lambert 6600

68 71 68 4 FAVOURITE KIND OF IDIOT - Paul Heaton featuring Rianne Downey & Ian Broudie 17600

69 70 69 6 BANGARANGA - Dara 28400

70 77 70 6 I LOVE LIFE - Bakermat featuring RANI 21400

71 74 71 5 MAN IN THE ARENA - The Script 16600

72 80 72 4 BOSTON - STELLA LEFTY 13000

73 NEW 73 1 WHITE NOISE - Holly Humberstone 5400

74 NEW 74 1 SUMMER FUNK - Francesco Gabbani 5200

75 79 75 4 SALESMAN SAINT - Paul McCartney 12700

76 60 24 11 HOT DAMN - Dadi Freyr 149150

77 NEW 77 1 BOOGIE'S IN MY SOUL - Chaka Khan & Snoop Dogg 4600

78 86 78 5 HEADLIGHTS - In Color 10600

79 NEW 79 1 SAIL ON - The Commodores 4200

80 92 80 2 LOVE SENSATION - Madonna 5800

81 81 80 6 MY SYSTEM - FELICIA 18900

82 82 82 6 IN THE STARS - The Rolling Stones 16700

83 83 83 6 C U DANCE - Dizzee Rascal 14800

84 NEW 84 1 THE CURE - Olivia Rodrigo 3200

85 84 84 4 RETURN TO BHIBO - Barry Can't Swim 11200

86 85 85 6 JIGSAW HEART - The Hoosiers 12300

87 76 76 6 HOME TO US - Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr 17300

88 44 14 9 FOCU 'RANNI - ROSALIA 152450

89 89 89 4 MOMMA GETS BY - Paul McCartney 7300

90 90 90 3 ROLLING STONES - The Kolors 5400

91 91 91 4 SAD GIRLS - Bebe Rexha & David Guetta 6300

92 NEW 92 1 HOLD ME IN THE DARK - Myles Smith 1800

93 93 93 2 A CRAZY SHOT IN THE DARK - The Fizz 3400

94 95 94 2 BOTTLE UP - The Backstreet Boys 3100

95 NEW 95 1 ROX IN THE BOX - The Dead South 1500

96 NEW 96 1 LET'S GET TOGETHER - Brother Wallace 1400

97 94 94 3 NIGHTSHIFT SUPERSTAR - Muse 4100

98 NEW 98 1 SELF AWARE - Temper City 1200

99 NEW 99 1 (BABY BABY) CAN I INVADE YOUR COUNTRY - Sparks 1100

100 NEW 100 1 I-405 RULES - Sparks 1000

51 35 10 UP OUT & GONE - Ne-Yo 114400

53 38 8 YOU CAME YOU SAW YOU CONQUERED - The Ronettes 78650

63 2 13 YOU'RE A SUPERSTAR - Take That 527300

72 72 7 (THE BEST PART OF) BREAKIN' UP - The Ronettes 25900

73 51 5 NEW HIGHS - Cerrone & Adi Oasis 36800

75 71 6 BUZZING - Tom Speight 27900

87 18 6 THEME FROM THE ONEDIN LINE (SPARTACUS: ADAGIO OF SPARTACUS AND PHRYGIA) - Vienna Philharmonic & Aram Khachaturian 79600

88 79 6 CHAKZILLA - Chaka Khan featuring Sia 17900

We were just talking about The Communards in Rollo's 1986 thread and now here's another song they covered at #1 for you.

No sign of Prospa/Cloonee - Free Your Mind with uncredited Sybil...

Hi John!

Nice to see "The Wave" in the top 3, "I'll Be There" gain huge in the top 10, the new peaks for "Mr. Know It All", " Bring Your Love", "Little More Time", "More! More! More!", "Potential", "Eclipse", "The One That Got Away", "Bangaranga", "Man In The Arena", "Boston" and "Bottle Up", the big gains for "Better Times", "Movin' To The Sun" and "Talk To You" and the debuts for "White Noise", "Summer Funk", "Boogie's In My Soul", "The Cure", "Hold In The Dark" and "Self Aware".

Great chart!

Take care.

Hi John. Hope you've had a good week, especially at the cinema with that lovely AC. Nope, no AC at my work place 😭. To say it was beyond horrendous is an understatement. Two colleagues passed out and another was sick. None of which sufficient enough for the big boss to send us home or to install air conditioning. He was called quite a few unflattering names this week let me tell you! 😂 At least it's a tad cooler right now here. Anyway, my faves:

1 4 1 8 NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 348600

3 5 3 4 THE WAVE - Jungle 171650 snap! ❤️

6 27 6 7 I'LL BE THERE - The Jackson 5 125050

7 7 7 8 RUMOURS - Hot Chocolate 255250

8 10 8 6 FOREVER - Reverend and The Makers 147650

9 1 1 9 EMMA - Hot Chocolate 602000

11 6 1 6 YA YA YA - JONAS LOVV 547000

13 9 5 7 MASTER JACK - Four Jacks And A Jill 257000

15 19 15 9 MR KNOW IT ALL - Teddy Swims 158300

16 14 1 12 CLICK CLACK SYMPHONY - RAYE featuring Hans Zimmer 866100

18 18 5 19 DRIVE SAFE - Myles Smith & Niall Horan 563000 still don't think I've charted this. Although being back at work and suffering HIts FM means LOTS and LOTS of Myles Smith which I fear has now permanently put me off him for life 😂

19 13 10 9 FREE TO LOVE - Duran Duran featuring Nile Rodgers 166950

20 26 20 9 JOKE ABOUT DIVORCE - Blossoms 123650

21 17 17 6 GO - The Chemical Brothers featuring Q-Tip 90950

22 23 22 9 IN MY ROOM - Linda Ronstadt 135600

23 12 12 8 YOU COULD'VE BEEN A LADY - Hot Chocolate 139950

24 22 1 8 BROTHER LOUIE - Hot Chocolate featuring Alexis Korner 565500

26 30 26 8 BRING YOUR LOVE - Madonna & Sabrina Carpenter 90350

27 24 16 11 BEAUTY PAGEANT - Holly Humberstone 188000

28 25 3 7 LIFE'S TOO SHORT - The Lightning Seeds 342050

29 36 29 7 OH NO! NOT THE BEAST DAY - Marsha Hunt 71950

30 21 1 7 LOVE IS LIFE - Hot Chocolate 356500

31 28 2 9 ONE BAD APPLE - The Osmonds 346850

32 43 32 5 PATCHES - Clarence Carter 53000

35 42 35 5 LIGHT UP - Kylie Minogue 55450

38 32 1 19 LUCKY AGAIN - Lykke Li 863750

40 49 40 6 UPSIDE DOWN - Natalie Imbruglia 53500

41 69 41 4 MOVIN' TO THE SUN - HUGEL, Imael Angel & Ultra Nate 23900

42 48 42 9 LITTLE MORE TIME - Niall Horan 73150

43 20 13 12 CARRY ON - Jungle 222250

44 31 19 10 I FEEL SO FREE - Madonna 149850

46 59 46 5 TALK TO YOU - ANOTR featuring 54 Ultra 35250

47 41 1 8 I BELIEVE (IN LOVE) - Hot Chocolate 321600

48 33 5 8 YOU'LL ALWAYS BE A FRIEND - Hot Chocolate 270000

49 40 40 6 BE LIKE A WOMAN - Chris Rainbow 67000

50 54 50 4 MORE! MORE! MORE! - Becky Hill 38600

52 64 52 3 ON THE FLOOR - Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull 23600

53 NEW 53 1 MACHINE GUN - The Commodores 11250

55 37 28 11 THERE WAS SUN - Nothing But Thieves 142750

56 56 4 16 AMERICAN GIRLS - Harry Styles 427200

57 57 57 9 DROP DEAD - Olivia Rodrigo 56900

58 46 46 9 DO I LOVE YOU? - The Ronettes 76900

59 61 59 6 POTENTIAL - sombr 39200

61 66 61 6 ECLIPSE - Delta Goodrem 30800

63 45 25 10 FIRST LIGHT - Lana Del Ray 139650

64 67 64 5 THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY - Katy Perry 22300

65 58 1 22 APERTURE - Harry Styles 1067000

66 62 1 28 RELIQUIA - ROSALIA 1312000

67 NEW 67 1 UNDER THE RHYTHM - Adam Lambert 6600

68 71 68 4 FAVOURITE KIND OF IDIOT - Paul Heaton featuring Rianne Downey & Ian Broudie 17600

69 70 69 6 BANGARANGA - Dara 28400

71 74 71 5 MAN IN THE ARENA - The Script 16600 I've never been a Script fan but this isn't bad

72 80 72 4 BOSTON - STELLA LEFTY 13000

76 60 24 11 HOT DAMN - Dadi Freyr 149150

77 NEW 77 1 BOOGIE'S IN MY SOUL - Chaka Khan & Snoop Dogg 4600

79 NEW 79 1 SAIL ON - The Commodores 4200

80 92 80 2 LOVE SENSATION - Madonna 5800 ❤️❤️❤️

81 81 80 6 MY SYSTEM - FELICIA 18900

82 82 82 6 IN THE STARS - The Rolling Stones 16700

83 83 83 6 C U DANCE - Dizzee Rascal 14800

84 NEW 84 1 THE CURE - Olivia Rodrigo 3200

85 84 84 4 RETURN TO BHIBO - Barry Can't Swim 11200

88 44 14 9 FOCU 'RANNI - ROSALIA 152450

91 91 91 4 SAD GIRLS - Bebe Rexha & David Guetta 6300

93 93 93 2 A CRAZY SHOT IN THE DARK - The Fizz 3400 ❤️❤️❤️ during the one hour I was able to take over the radio at work I played this and surprisingly this got quite a good reaction from the younger ones!

94 95 94 2 BOTTLE UP - The Backstreet Boys 3100

98 NEW 98 1 SELF AWARE - Temper City 1200

99 NEW 99 1 (BABY BABY) CAN I INVADE YOUR COUNTRY - Sparks 1100

100 NEW 100 1 I-405 RULES - Sparks 1000

Fantastic chart as always ❤️

Edited Sunday at 09:392 days by AH Gold

Hey John,

Beautiful oldie´s from the Jackson 5❣️ at numero uno and numero 7.... ❣️

But Appleton at 2 and Jungle❣️ at 3 are great tracks too 👌

Shaggy/Sting Top 30, Robin Schulz, Paul McCartney and Kylie Minogue Top 40

Best new tracks bubbling under: The Commodores (oldies), Francesco Gabbani and Chaka Kahn/Snoop Dogg

Hey John!

More more more is exquisite. Hopefully a few more climbs are in store.

Drop dead is good but stupid song is much better. Give it a listen.

The cure is brilliant. Probably her best for me. Stand out, classic.

I'm hoping to see a crazy shot in the dark fly up your chart. What a bop!

Fab stuff 🎉

Hi John,

great that "Struck" finally made the top 10. "White Noise" and "Self Aware" are my favourite new songs, which I have played a lot this year so far.