It's really nice to see that most people were genuinely honest with their answers, and I really appreciate that. Some only submitted the answers they actually knew because they wanted to follow the quiz and take part rather than literally compete, while others made such silly mistakes that I can tell they definitely weren't thoroughly checking or googling 😆

Tbf I think a fair number of the hints either aren't really Google-able or require you to have at least some knowledge of your own even with Google assistance so I don't think it's entirely cheatable x

(intrigued to see some of the wrong answers though assuming you will be revealing them xx)

I hope so! It was quite difficult to put the quiz together because so much of it is based on facts and statistics, but I really enjoyed doing the research. I had no idea whether the clues were too easy or too difficult, especially since I'd never really followed the UK charts myself, but working on this has genuinely made me interested in the history of the charts and all the weird and interesting facts behind them.

The hardest part was finding a way to phrase the clues so they couldn't just be googled straight away. When you're dealing with statistics and factual information, that's difficult. For example, one of my original clues was simply an artist who won six awards in one night, but if you phrase it that directly, the answer is incredibly easy to find. So you have to disguise it a little without making it so vague or abstract that nobody could reasonably work it out.

Or the Vatican clue, for example, I only came across that one by digging really deep into the history of that song xD

Much more fun to attempt a quiz like this without Google as if you were on a tv show.

There was certainly some fascinating depth to these questions, amazing job @nine¾ . I didn't Google search but did scroll through my iTunes library a few times just to remind myself of which artists started with certain letters 😂

I feel like I learnt a lot of chart facts that have always stayed with me in the Guinness Hit Singles books and also this brilliant tome.

Edited Tuesday at 10:093 days by gooddelta

I decided to check every artist or song you submitted that differs from my intended answer and provide an explanation for why it does or doesn't fit the clue. I still have two more people's answers to go through and check any answers they gave that differ from mine.

Especially because I also decided that if someone matched a clue to the wrong letter but actually gave a correct answer to that clue, I'd still award 2 points for the correct answer, just not the additional 2 points they would have received for matching it to the correct letter. And some people didn't specify which clue they matched to which letter at all, so now I'm also trying to reconstruct that through a process of elimination. 😂

Oh crap totally misremembered the deadline for this! My answers were in my notes app this whole time. 🥲 I’ve sent them in case it isn’t too late.

A little update, I’ll start posting the results soon.

I won’t be revealing everything at once, but rather a little at a time, depending on how much I manage to get through. I’ll also be including explanations and comments along the way.

I have to travel tomorrow, so I’d really like to get at least part of the results posted tonight, and then I’ll keep adding more whenever I get the chance over the next few days.

So the results will be coming regularly, just in smaller batches.

I’ll also try not to overlap too much with the first semi listen-through tonight haha, but even if there is a bit of an overlap, as I said, you’ll have plenty of time for everything anyway!

my intended answer

In 2022, Aitch sampled Ashanti's 2003 hit Rock Wit U (Awww Baby) on his single Baby. Ashanti was credited on the track, which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, giving her first UK Top 10 hit in 17 years. Her previous Top 10 appearance had been Only U in 2005.

explanations

For this one, I was looking at three things:

- whether the artist was actually sampled

-whether they were officially credited as an artist on the new track

-and whether that track gave them their first UK Top 10 appearance in more than a decade

AQUA - ACCEPTED

In 2023, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice sampled Aqua’s 1997 hit Barbie Girl on their single Barbie World. Aqua were credited on the track, which reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, giving them their first UK Top 10 hit in 23 years. Their previous Top 10 appearance had been Cartoon Heroes in 2000.

Amy Winehouse - REJECTED

Her music has been sampled numerous times, so she meets the first condition, but I couldn’t find a sampled track where she was officially credited as an artist and which gave her a new UK Top 10 entry after more than a decade. A sample or songwriting credit alone wouldn’t count as a chart appearance for Amy, so she doesn’t meet the other two conditions. But if you know of a song where the sample is genuinely obvious and that song actually charted in the UK(top10), I’m happy to give 1 point for it.

ADELE - REJECTED

Her first UK hit was Chasing Pavements in January 2008, reaching #2, and she has 11 Top 10 hits in total. Since the clue requires a return after more than a decade, any qualifying sampled track would therefore have to be from 2019 or later. I couldn’t find any track from that period where another artist sampled Adele, credited her as an artist, and consequently gave her a UK Top 10 entry. Her later Top 10 hits are her own releases, so she doesn’t meet the conditions here.

ABBA - 1/2

Their music has been sampled in UK Top 10 hits, most notably Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! in Madonna’s “Hung Up” (#1 in 2005). However, ABBA were not credited as an artist on that release, so it did not count as a UK Top 10 appearance for them. Their actual return to the Top 10 came in 2021 with the entirely new song “Don’t Shut Me Down” (#9), rather than through a sample. Although that’s a perfectly reasonable line of thinking, and we’re all aware that ABBA were sampled there, they weren’t credited as an artist on the track. The UK chart therefore doesn’t count it as ABBA returning to the Top 10, so the answer isn’t correct. But I’m giving 1 point for correctly identifying the sample connection, but not the full 2 because it didn’t actually return ABBA to the chart.

ATB - ACCEPTED

In ATB's case, the return came through Your Love (9PM), where he was directly involved and credited as an artist, whereas Ashanti and Aqua returned through samples of their earlier work being used in other artists' songs. The clue doesn't distinguish between those two routes, though, so ATB fits as well.

a-ha - 1/2

a-ha - Feel This Moment interpolates the recognisable hook from a-ha’s 'Take On Me', and the members of a-ha even received songwriting credits on the track. It also reached #5 in the UK. However, songwriting credits aren’t the same as an artist credit - the single was officially credited to Pitbull ft Christina Aguilera, not a-ha. As a result, its chart success didn’t actually return a-ha themselves to the UK Top 10. Their Official Charts history shows their last Top 10 single as Analogue (All I Want) (#9) in 2006, and Feel This Moment doesn’t appear among their chart entries. So although the sample/interpolation connection is right, it doesn’t quite fulfil the 'returned them to the UK Top 10' part of the clue. I’m giving 1 point because a-ha genuinely were sampled/interpolated here, but unfortunately the songwriting credits went to the individual members rather than the band itself, so the chart success didn’t count as a return to the UK Top 10 for a-ha. Bit of bad luck with this one!

Yay, off to a good start there! ABBA came into my head first due to the prominent sample in 'Hung Up' but that didn't quite hit all bases. Then it clicked *.*

Ahhh no! I even thought Ashanti but misread the question and thought it had to be the original sampled track that was Top 10 (not just any track by that artist) my fault completely!

Didn’t even consider anyone other than ATB, as it was the first I thought of and seemed to fit. Thanks for the green light!

Ashanti was the only one I thought of (and this was one of the ones that took me a while to think of) - interesting that just as many people said Aqua.

That makes sense in the reading of it, not surprised that had a few valid answers.

I enjoyed doing 'research' for this quiz, in that I completely disallowed using google in the fear that the AI or something would give me the answer straight away which wouldn't be fulfilling in the slightest, but I used Wikipedia and OCC as aids to restart my rusty chart knowledge (mostly to confirm answers) while racking my brains for songs or artists that fit the criteria, very fun. Not that I got too many of them.

That was one of the last ones I gave an answer for... and the one that @awardinary made me think of after his BJSC post about a shanty!

An artist whose UK No. 1 wasn't originally credited to them.

my intended answer

One of Barbra Streisand's seven UK No. 1 albums is the A Star Is Born soundtrack. When it originally charted in 1977, it was credited simply to Original Soundtrack, without Streisand's name. Upon its re-release, the album was credited solely to Barbra Streisand, and the Official Charts now counts it among her seven UK chart-toppers.

explanations

Billen Ted - REJECTED

There were two versions released together: Nathan Evans' original version, which didn't credit Billen Ted because they weren't involved in it, and the 220 Kid & Billen Ted remix, where they were involved from the start. The UK chart entry already credited Nathan Evans / 220 Kid / Billen Ted when the song first charted, so Billen Ted weren't later added to a No. 1 that had originally charted without them. They were simply absent from a separate version of the song. For that reason, I wouldn't count this one.

Billie Eilish - REJECTED

This one is a little confusing because there are two versions of Guess. The original version was released by Charli xcx alone in June 2024, with no Billie Eilish involvement or credit. A separate remix featuring Billie was then released in August.

It was the remix featuring Billie Eilish that became the UK #1. When that version reached #1 on the official weekly Singles Chart, Billie was already credited as an artist: Charli xcx ft. Billie Eilish. So Billie wasn’t retrospectively added to the credit of an existing UK #1, she was added to a new version of the song, and that version subsequently became #1.

So, there are two versions of Guess and first version without Billie was never a UK #1.

Bryan Adams - ACCEPTED

This was incredibly difficult and tricky for me to decide because it really is a borderline case, but in the end I’ve decided to accept it.

Before the official release of Don’t Give Up, Bryan Adams’ identity was initially kept hidden/uncredited on the early promotional versions of the song. However, once the song was officially released and entered the UK chart, it debuted straight at No. 1 with Adams already credited. So there was never actually a point when his UK No. 1 appeared on the UK chart without him being credited.

Although I intended the clue to refer specifically to UK chart credits, I only said that the artist 'wasn’t originally credited' I didn’t specify that they had to be uncredited on the UK chart itself. Because of that ambiguity in my wording, I have to accept Bryan Adams as a fully correct answer and award 2 points.

Boris Gardiner - REJECTED

Elizabethan Reggae was indeed originally miscredited to Byron Lee (producent), including during its early appearances on the UK chart, before the credit was corrected to Boris Gardiner. However, the song only reached No. 14. His actual UK No. 1, I Want to Wake Up with You, was credited to him from the beginning. So while the credit story itself is correct, it doesn’t apply to his UK No. 1, which is the key requirement of the clue.

Blue Pearl – REJECTED

I couldn’t find a UK No. 1 that would satisfy the clue. Their highest-charting single on the main UK Singles Chart was Naked in the Rain, which peaked at No. 4, and it was credited to Blue Pearl from the beginning. (Can You) Feel the Passion did reach No. 1 on the UK Dance Chart, but only No. 14 on the main Singles Chart, and I couldn’t find any evidence of a later change in its artist credit either.

Billy Preston - REJECTED

Unfortunately, this doesn’t fit the clue. Get Back was credited to 'The Beatles with Billy Preston' from its very first appearance on the UK chart, when it debuted straight at #1. So Preston was already credited when the song became a UK No. 1. His credit wasn’t added or attributed retrospectively.

Black Box - REJECTED

Ride on Time was credited to Black Box as the artist from the start. The issue was that the original version used a vocal sample from Loleatta Holloway’s Love Sensation, but Holloway herself wasn’t credited for her vocals. After the rights dispute, the vocal was re-recorded, with Heather Small providing the replacement studio vocal. So Black Box doesn’t quite fit the clue: they were credited for their UK No. 1 - it was someone else involved in the recording who originally went uncredited, for example Holloway would be fit for the letter H.

Band Aid - REJECTED

Do They Know It’s Christmas? was credited to Band Aid from the very beginning and entered the UK chart at No. 1 under that name. So there was never a situation where their UK No. 1 was originally credited to someone else and Band Aid were only added to the credit later.

Becky Hill - REJECTED

There is a connection here, since Gecko originally existed as an instrumental track by Oliver Heldens, without Becky Hill. However, the UK No. 1 was the later vocal version, 'Gecko (Overdrive)', and Becky Hill was credited on that release from the moment it entered the UK chart. So this isn't a case where an artist was originally uncredited on a UK No. 1 and received the credit later.

Blu Cantrell - REJECTED

Breathe had an earlier UK chart entry before becoming a No. 1, but Blu was already credited on it from the start. In fact, she was the original artist on the song, while Sean Paul was added for the later remix that became the hit.

Barry Manilow - REJECTED

He never had a UK No. 1 single, but his only UK No. 1 was the album Barry Live in Britain, and there is no issue of him originally being uncredited on that release.

Oh I didn’t even consider the album chart for some reason ooooops glad I wasn’t alone with Billy Preston at least even if it didn’t seem quite right.

That one was difficult! Not convinced Bryan

Adams is a better answer than Billie Eilish: seems almost exactly the same situation, but fair enough! 😉

(Note the UK chart is a songs chart since 2007 so the 2 versions of “Guess” will have been combined: there isn’t a non hit version.)

Oh me neither Jade! I just assumed it was the singles chart and never even vaguely considered albums... I thought I could recall people in the chart forum getting into a slight tizzy around Billie Eilish not being credited properly on Guess - but I'm not confident on that and I could well be wrong.

Agree that mango has been very lucky there!!! 🍀🥭

I accepted Adams because it was still the same song, and his involvement was deliberately kept hidden on the promotional versions. I hadn't specified that this kind of situation was excluded, simply because it hadn't occurred to me that there could be a case like that. With Billie, though, we're dealing with two distinct versions of the song rather than an artist whose credit was deliberately withheld from the same recording.