'Part Of Me' just feels lazy and basic to me, simply getting a #1 as it was the first new thing she's released after a blockbuster era.

Part Of Me was decent, though not up with there with most of the Teenage Dream singles for me. 7 top 10's 2 number ones is the tally for Katy in my charts, this was more formulaic and peaked at 29. It's probably better than I rated it at the time though. Think it would be a bit lower down the list so far, on or around the 20 mark.

13. Sam and the Womp – Bom Bom
1 week at #1 (entered 26^th August) 01-02-05-09-13-17-24-25-35-45-51-49-62-62-73-72-39R(3){-33-51-55R(22)-65-68} (22 weeks)
Kept off #1: N/A
Sales: 107,461
EOY: #42

Here we have a song I had completely forgotten about but delighted to be reminded of, and one which is a true one hit wonder – Sam and the Womp have no other charting songs anywhere in the world, but Bom Bom had relative levels of success in a dozen countries across the globe, although it’s only the UK where it reached the very top.

Sam and the Womp were made up of Sam Ritchie, a British trumpeter, and Bloem de Ligny, a vocalist from the Netherlands who moved to Britian – she has a vocal style compared to Bjork, which does make some sense here on Bom Bom. It wasn’t unusual for a random act I’d never heard of to get a big dance hit at the end of the summer, though they were often Euro acts who had a popular hit over the continent and we’d catch on later in the UK, whereas this was a British made hit.

The song is a bit bizarre and all over the place and I could easily see some people ranking this 20 odd places lower, but I do find it to be a lot of fun for three minutes, it’s a real earworm of Sam’s brass over an electro beat, and Bloem’s vocal on it really works, some great lyrics and her delivery is excellent, especially the emphasis on “I like your style of WOMPING”. I can’t imagine it’s a song that’s listened to that often now, but I have certainly enjoyed remembering its existence.

'Part Of Me' is decent but wouldn't place among Katy's best.

Don't think I liked or cared for 'Bom Bom' then but listening to it now it sounds a bit better in fairness. Quite catchy.

I'm sure we'll have plenty of crossover in the top 10 but I'm not so keen on the last two!

I find the chorus of 'Part Of Me' quite lazily written. I did love the dreamy follow-up 'Wide Awake' though. 'Bom Bom' is fairly overstimulating and annoying for me but it certainly stands out, that's for sure! Love the Björk vocal comparison.

Not keen on those two either - Katy Perry had a decent run of songs before this, but 'Part Of Me' is one where I find her vocal style a bit shouty. I'd actually forgotten about 'Bom Bom', but I've always found it annoying so I'm afraid I'm one of those who would have it around 20 places lower. Wonder if this is Till's #32 finally?

'Bom Bom' is fun and very Eurovision, and has some of its time dubstep production to it.

'Part of Me' is a decent enough song.

I don't return to listen to either song though much.

Edited August 6Aug 6 by TheSnake

This felt like an of the moment thing at the time that was huge and I've rarely heard anywhere since. I actually quite love it, even though it's objectively terrible. The vocals are like if Bjork had done narcotics

Gah have fallen behind again. The last 5 in my order:

“Part Of Me” has very little going for it in my opinion: that’s actually the one I’d have much much lower.

“Troublemaker” is just average commercial pop as others have said.

“Good Feeling” is one of Flo Rida’s better records certainly but far from essential.

“Call My Name” is one of Cheryl’s best singles absolutely: it has a bit of sparkle in the production and a driving energy.

“Bom Bom” I’ve always rather enjoyed: it’s nice when the charts throw up a one off like that.

I quite like it - very 2012-coloured. This one briefly made it into my Top 10. Decision is #10.

01. Rihanna - Diamonds (18)

04. Jessie J - Domino (28)

10. Sam and the Womp – Bom Bom (13)

12. Flo Rida - Good Feeling (16)

13. Katy Perry - Part Of Me (14)

14. will.i.am; Eva Simons - This Is Love (31)

15. Cheryl Cole - Call My Name (15)

16. Little Mix - Wings (20)

17. Tulisa - Young (29)

18. The Script, Will.I.Am - Hall Of Fame (19)

20. Cover Drive - Twilight (24)

21. Maroon 5;Wiz Khalifa - Payphone (32)

22. Rita Ora;Tinie Tempah - R.I.P. (30)

24. The Justice Collective – He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (23)

25. Rita Ora - How We Do (Party) (26)

27. Ne-Yo - Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) (27)

28. Olly Murs; Flo Rida - Troublemaker (17)

29. Gabrielle Aplin - The Power Of Love (21)

30. Wiley, Djo Feat. Ms. D - Heatwave (22)

31. One Direction - Little Things (25)

33. Chris Brown - Turn Up the Music (34)

34. James Arthur - Impossible (33)

35. Robbie Williams - Candy (36)

36. Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band - Sing (35)

'Bom Bom' Massive earworm, easily one of my favorite #1s of 2012!

16 hours ago, DaTilt said:

I quite like it - very 2012-coloured. This one briefly made it into my Top 10. Decision is #10.

Nice to have the overall positivity of Bom Bom!

That or today's entry would certainly have been my main guesses at what would be in a bottom 5. Of the top 11, no predicting which song it is someone might dislike so much!

12. PSY – Gangnam Style
1 week at #1 (entered 9^th September, #1 30^th September) 61-37-03-01-02-03-03-05-07-06-07-06-08-09-09-06{-03-03-09-12-16-22-24-29-30-38-38-37-39-50-46-54-58-63-64-62-71-67-55-70-51-57-63-67-67-70-73-71-66-50R(20)-59} (51 weeks)
Kept off #1: N/A
Sales: 84,421
EOY: #6 (878,000)

Going from a true one hit wonder to one in spirit now with PSY, the Korean rapper who had a 2012 worldwide viral smash with Gangnam Style. There was a #10 follow-up Gentleman in 2013 so he can’t claim to be a one hit wonder, but he might as well be given the scale of hit and what he’s known and remembered for.

Gangnam Style was an unavoidable phenomenon in the latter half of 2012, a song that had everything to become such a viral hit; catchy, a fun video, a memorable and easy to mimic dance, and to help in the UK and other English speaking countries, an English language part in the chorus. The speed of its virality was incredible, with a vast cultural impact - it didn’t take long to become the first video to reach a billion views on YouTube, overtaking Justin Bieber’s Baby as the most viewed on the platform in the process, a record it held for almost five years, and its rise up the UK chart was as quick as you’d get then – 61-37-03-01 for a first four weeks. It stuck around for ages too, with 17 consecutive weeks in the top 10. There were Gangnam Style dance mobs across the world where thousands would gather to do the dance together.

It was hard not to be taken in Gangnam Style, there was a novelty-ish element to it but it was very fun and easy to see why it became as big as it did, it felt everyone attempted the dance at some point. Even though I had a disdain for some of the songs and generic lyrics that were around at the time, and I’d have probably slagged off the same lyric in many others, it was hard not occasionally end up singing “HEEEYYYY SEXY LADY”. It probably did get too annoying after a while, but nice to look back on all these years later.

K-Pop has become a huge export for Korea in the years since this, it’s hard to know how much of an impact Gangnam Style had in that, but it certainly played a part in its rise. It’s not a genre I’ve ever really found anything I love in, but then it clearly isn’t made and marketed for me. There’s also only one way that I can finish a post about Gangnam Style...

Gangnam Style is fun - I remember playing this a lot in 2012 and no party was without it - people went crazy. Still like it. Decision is #8.

01. Rihanna - Diamonds (18)

04. Jessie J - Domino (28)

08 Psy - Gangnam Style (12)

10. Sam and the Womp – Bom Bom (13)

12. Flo Rida - Good Feeling (16)

13. Katy Perry - Part Of Me (14)

14. will.i.am; Eva Simons - This Is Love (31)

15. Cheryl Cole - Call My Name (15)

16. Little Mix - Wings (20)

17. Tulisa - Young (29)

18. The Script, Will.I.Am - Hall Of Fame (19)

20. Cover Drive - Twilight (24)

21. Maroon 5;Wiz Khalifa - Payphone (32)

22. Rita Ora;Tinie Tempah - R.I.P. (30)

24. The Justice Collective – He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (23)

25. Rita Ora - How We Do (Party) (26)

27. Ne-Yo - Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) (27)

28. Olly Murs; Flo Rida - Troublemaker (17)

29. Gabrielle Aplin - The Power Of Love (21)

30. Wiley, Djo Feat. Ms. D - Heatwave (22)

31. One Direction - Little Things (25)

33. Chris Brown - Turn Up the Music (34)

34. James Arthur - Impossible (33)

35. Robbie Williams - Candy (36)

36. Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band - Sing (35)

Love those two, Bom Bom was one of my summer 2012 anthems. Delightfully wacky one-off British one-hit wonder, not something that happens a lot!

Gangnam Style I was addicted to for quite a while, such a unique No.1 single too, and the iconic dance!

Part Of Me is a pass for me, the other single from that project Wide Awake I loved, but not this, which was very Katy on autopilot. Good Feeling ditto, I'll just stick on Levels instead as others have mentioned.

Call My Name is really good, great production on that and Cheryl sounds good on it too (apart from here, oops!).

Bom Bom yet another I had forgotten, and yes very Bjork-ish in delivery if not sound. Sounds quite fun in a repetitive fashion, but there's enough interesting bits to stop it being annoying. As I at best only vaguely recognise the song, I wonder what I thought about it at the time... (number 73, but at least it had a 3 week run). If it were to slot into my current top 100 faves it would be still be down the lower end, but that does still mean I quite like it but don't love it. So not bottom, but more joining the mass of OK's on the way to Good's.

Gangnam Style is iconic, immediately recognisable and an absolute banger, and far and away the best track to drop out so far. What's not to love about it! Oddly it only peaked at 9 for me at the time (but had a long run) but it's better than that, would be top end of this rating for me.

3 hours ago, DaTilt said:

Gangnam Style is fun - I remember playing this a lot in 2012 and no party was without it - people went crazy. Still like it. Decision is #8.

Well there goes my theory! 😆

I would put 'Gangnam Style' and 'Bom Bom' near the bottom of my countdown. Those songs irritated me so much.

Remember going to my friends house party and she was playing 'Gangnam Style' and everyone did the dance, except me.

I refuse to do it. 😆

25 minutes ago, Charlielargepotatoes said:

I would put 'Gangnam Style' and 'Bom Bom' near the bottom of my countdown. Those songs irritated me so much.

Remember going to my friends house party and she was playing 'Gangnam Style' and everyone did the dance, except me.

I refuse to do it. 😆

ahh that's me too. I try to grab control of the record player/CD's at parties so I have an excuse not to dance being busy with the next track. That or wash the dishes 😄

I suppose it has its place, but it's not something I have any real fondness towards.