Wake Me Up is a good track, still sounds fresh, but it never went top 20 for me as I got bored with it quite quickly, much preferring Hey Brother. Animals I liked even more, that one topped my chart after appearing in BJSC and not getting even close to winning. So i saw this as compensation hooray! Pretty sure Animals would be top 10 for me, if not top 5.

We Can't Stop is one I've forgotten, I think I was starting to take Miley a bit more seriously around this period, as opposed to Nepo Baby TV star with a couple of cheerful tunes. This one went top 40 for me, but I wouldnt have called it one of her best tracks even just to that point, but it's sounding pretty decent from a 2026 viewpoint though, so I may have under-estimated it a bit.

Duke Dumont also needing to hear to remind myself of it, I like the soul vibes, so put that down as another I under-rated, it fell short of the top 40 for me, but I'm enjoying hearing it again. What a lot of chart-toppers that year!

Bingo Players I have very little memory of, and it sounds like Euro-cheese as I play it now. Not a fave, but how did I feel at the time...err, Bing Crosby listed but not these. Did they choose Bingo as a name cos "House" is the best word to hear with a bingo ticket?

Love Me Again, proper dance banger, still sounding exciting. Top 10 for the year, I reckon, and it's worn better than Animals, which I preferred at the time, but only just. Potential top 5.

I think I’m somewhere In the middle on that cover. The stripped down version of the song does work and the piano intro is gorgeous and wintry. Beyond that it’s all a bit meh and the John Lewis ad style quickly wore thin.

Waiting All Night, need the video to remind me of it, points off for the rubbish time-wasting intro to the video, ah yes, the drum n bass chorus hook bit is good, the non-hooky bits less so, mainly just treading water till it builds again. There's a dance edit mash-up waiting to done I think. I like Ella Eyre, but both acts have done better tracks. peaked at 66 for me, so lower-middle of the list.

Storm Queen I swear I've never heard of, oops! It did actually scrape into my charts at 70 though, but it's less good than Rudimental from this viewpoint, so lower end of the list for me, ahead of Bingo Players.

Hooray, up next is a classic, but Boo it's too low! La La La is one of the great records of the year, full stop. A contender for number one number one for me, Naughty Boy was always interesting and Sam Smith's early vocals were impressive, looking very promising for the future. Love it. Sadly neither of them got anywhere near as brilliant as this again, and one of them went on to specialise in whiny ballads.

Roar is pretty good Katy Perry, not my top KP track, but good singalong bangin pop. In with a shot of being top 10 for me, but no higher than that.

Lily Allen, if she did anything covering Keane, confimed in my mind that the original was a proper classic. It went top 10 for me, Keane that is, and the boost helped it top my charts belatedly. Lily's version was nice too, though, top 10 worthy and just outside the top 10 I reckon.

I don’t mind it.

Shame Bastille couldn’t get to number though.

'Look Right Through' is ok. One I do forget was an #1.

'La La La' is quite good as is 'Roar'. Would say 'Dark Horse' was my favourite of that era.

Not a fan of Lily's cover of 'Somewhere Only We Know'. 'The Fear' is the only #1 of hers that I like mind you.

I like Lily's version of that too, I enjoyed it more than the other singles from that album, which was easily her weakest for me.

I'm sorry but the Keane version of 'Somewhere Only We Know' is far superior to Lily's version.

I tire of hearing Somewhere Only We Know at Christmas concerts. Same with Hallelujah. Pick a proper Christmas song.

2 hours ago, Charlielargepotatoes said:

I'm sorry but the Keane version of 'Somewhere Only We Know' is far superior to Lily's version.

Agreed but just a bit superior not far superior. Its not Keane's best song anyway that is "This Is The Last Time"

This is a brilliant cover version of the Keane song - both versions are brilliant and Lily definitely adds something to the aleady great original. My rank is #9.

02. Naughty Boy, Sam Smith - La La La (9)

03. Avicii - Wake Me Up (17)

05. One Republic - Counting Stars (22)

06. John Newman - Love Me Again (12)

07. Katy Perry - Roar (8)

08. Eminem Feat. Rihanna - The Monster (24)

09. Lily Allen - Somewhere Only We Know (7)

10. Jason Derulo Feat. 2 Chainz - Talk Dirty (28)

11. Ellie Goulding - Burn (18)

12. Storm Queen - Look Right Through (MK Remix) (10)

14. Martin Garrix - Animals (16)

15. Duke Dumont Feat. A*M*E - Need You (100%) (14)

17. Pharrell Williams - Happy (19)

18. Rudimental Feat. Ella Eyre - Waiting For You (11)

19. Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop (15)

20. Avicii & Nicky Romero - I Could Be The One (23)

21. The Saturdays Feat. Sean Paul - What About Us (21)

23. Calvin Harris & Alesso Feat. Hurts - Under Control (20)

24. Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell Williams – Blurred Lines (31)

25. Will.I.Am Featuring Britney Spears - Scream & Shout (26)

27. Sam Bailey - Skyscraper (27)

28. One Direction – One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) (30)

29. PJ & Duncan – Let's Get Ready to Rhumble (29)

30. James Arthur - Impossible (25)

31. Bingo Players Feat. Far East Movement - Get Up (Rattle) (13)

6 Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus.

Number one for 1 week

Year end number 41

Number 2 watch -

Berserk - Eminem

Miley’s 2nd UK number one of 2013, Wrecking Ball is also from her fourth studio album, Bangerz. Both Wrecking Ball and Bangerz entered at number one on October 13, 2013, my birthday chart! It was also Miley’s first ever US number one, which I do find quite surprising.

It was, apparently, originally written with Beyoncé in mind, before being offered to Miley.

In 2023, Miley also re-recorded the song as a duet with Dolly Parton for her album Rockstar.

The famous video features close-up scenes of Miley tearfully singing, inspired by Sinead O’Connor’s iconic Nothing Compares 2 U video, contrasting with footage of her licking a sledgehammer and swinging on an actual wrecking ball while naked.

I think Wrecking Ball being a power ballad about heartbreak makes a nice contrast with We Can’t Stop.

I love the subtle melodic verses most of all, with its minimalist keyboards, which is able to put emphasis on Miley’s anguished vocal, and allows the song to properly build. Of course the chorus has a big impact when it comes, reflecting the impact of the lyrical theme of a wrecking ball, comparing it with the deterioration of a relationship, and she certainly shows off her great powerful vocals. I think it’s still her best single to date.

Miley’s adult career had really taken off!

8

Quiz -

1. Answer - Beyoncé

2. What did Lorde reveal to be the lyrical inspiration behind her No. 1 hit "Royals"?

Iconic song (and video), I do way prefer this to its predecessor.

Also one of my favourite associated memories was adding this to the office Christmas tree that year (I'm still actually really quite proud of it 😄)

I was never that struck by Wrecking Ball, though Miley was obv making an "I'm all grown-up now" statement as per previous teen pop stars Kylie and Madonna did. Peaked at 40 and is a mid-tabler for me, I wasn't going to swing over to her side full-on for a couple of years yet till she got a bit of momentum going.....

Never a fan of Wrecking Ball. I just don’t get the appeal 🤷‍♂️

Better than her other one however.

The chorus is decent but I’m still lukewarm on Miley most of the time, the events surrounding the song and its promotion were a moment in time at least. Far better than We Can’t Stop, I agree.

Wrecking Ball was far better than We Can't Stop, an iconic video and the song itself was much more effective at showing her maturing as an artist than the predecessor. She would do better material later in her career, but that was certainly the best we've seen so far.

Look Right Through was the song I was surprised was still to come, it definitely couldn't have got to number 1 at any other time than then (and a lot of other dance songs would take advantage of that going into next year), but the deep house sound was one I was really into and I still think it still sounds good despite it probably beign largely forgotten these days.

Sam Smith would go on to completely lose me musically next year, but their dance song features before that still sound really good, I never tired of La La La despite the overplay.

I actually hadn't registered Somewhere Only We Know was still to come, the advert was quite nice but not a fan of the cover at all sadly, it just doesn't need to exist when she has so much better original material.

Eventhough not my favourite song from Miley, it is decent enough to be #13 in my ranking in a very strong year of #1's.

02. Naughty Boy, Sam Smith - La La La (9)

03. Avicii - Wake Me Up (17)

05. One Republic - Counting Stars (22)

06. John Newman - Love Me Again (12)

07. Katy Perry - Roar (8)

08. Eminem Feat. Rihanna - The Monster (24)

09. Lily Allen - Somewhere Only We Know (7)

10. Jason Derulo Feat. 2 Chainz - Talk Dirty (28)

11. Ellie Goulding - Burn (18)

12. Storm Queen - Look Right Through (MK Remix) (10)

13. Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball (6)

14. Martin Garrix - Animals (16)

15. Duke Dumont Feat. A*M*E - Need You (100%) (14)

17. Pharrell Williams - Happy (19)

18. Rudimental Feat. Ella Eyre - Waiting For You (11)

19. Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop (15)

20. Avicii & Nicky Romero - I Could Be The One (23)

21. The Saturdays Feat. Sean Paul - What About Us (21)

23. Calvin Harris & Alesso Feat. Hurts - Under Control (20)

24. Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell Williams – Blurred Lines (31)

25. Will.I.Am Featuring Britney Spears - Scream & Shout (26)

27. Sam Bailey - Skyscraper (27)

28. One Direction – One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) (30)

29. PJ & Duncan – Let's Get Ready to Rhumble (29)

30. James Arthur - Impossible (25)

31. Bingo Players Feat. Far East Movement - Get Up (Rattle) (13)

Really wondering that one apecific song has not appeared so far as I find it one of the weakest effort for that specific artist.

'Wrecking Ball' is a better song than 'We Can't Stop' and I quite liked it at the time.

Edited Saturday at 21:241 day by TheSnake

So far in the top 10, 'Look Right Through' felt like something of a non-#1, although that's not always a bad thing - just that the door seemed a lot more open then for something unexpected to debut at #1 as this did. MK's vocal looping isn't up there with his work on 'Push The Feeling On', but I don't mind it.

'La La La' is decent, the Bollywood sample works well. I actually preferred all the singles from Sam's debut that didn't reach #1, but this would be my favourite of their #1s for a few years.

After a decent run of singles from Katy's previous album, I found 'Roar' a bit plaintive lyrically. I've never been the biggest fan of her vocal style either so this didn't do much for me unfortunately.

Likewise Lily's cover - I adore Keane's original, but much of that is down to the piano and Tom Chaplin's vocals, while Lily sounded to me like she was singing on commission and would rather be performing her own songs. The production is quite sweet though, but not to the point that I can abide it continuing to turn up on Christmas streaming playlists.

'Wrecking Ball' as I mentioned is my preferred of Miley's 2013 #1s - the video notwithstanding, the song works well thematically around the title - though I still think she had better to come.

I haven't checked what's left to come, but there are at least a couple I'll be more enthusiastic about when they come up - looking forward to the top 5!