gooddelta

27 is my lucky number. Love that ❤️

Fab hosting Josh, thank you! Great pacing, fun theme and some twists and turns.

Think that's my favourite Taahino entry in quite some time, glad to see it in ❤️

Kath 😭 Gah, Semi 1 was absolutely brutal. So many good dance entries out.

Omg, I didn't even get a Q prediction so came in expecting nothing. Thank you kind, kind supporters, thrilled to be part of such a landmark final. Congrats to Zanmatony too!

Congrats Cody, definitely a fave of mine from Semi 1 and stood out sonically there too, so would have been an annoying DNQ!

Oh nooooo! Dandy’s track was one of my favourite discoveries across both semis and would have surely been a fave for the Semi 1 voters, what a loss! New Lexico’s was also lovely.

Go Mack 👏 I hoped that would defy the odds, lovely entry. A few shocks along the way, especially in Semi 1 as expected, but looking like an extremely stellar final.

What will be will be... It would be hard to grumble too much to miss the final on such a strong month. Some brilliant songs are going to DNQ, that's for sure. Nice to see everyone in Semi 2 voted, I suspect Singerpurear will be out with the deduction although not sure it had much of a chance in that semi anyway sadly (nice cover though). I can't really call who the other DNQs will be in that one at all.

Hmm, Pete Tong basically dumps more strings onto the original. Nice but I'd just listen to the original. Giving it to Rita as she did quite well to turn that into a pop song.

Oh My God. I love the other three, this is good too though. Be MIne is one of my favourite Robyn songs - and songs, full stop. It holds very particular personal memories of my whole university days (2005-8). I knew and loved it for years before her commercial renaissance (it was released in 2005 in Sweden) and it was super special to see it grab a top 10 spot here years later. I love that Robyn has this very rare ability to give an upbeat pop song so much emotion and fragility, you really feel for her as a listener.

U2, I prefer Complete, but that song remains heavily forgotten.

I couldn't remember the Arctics song by name alone, but listening back to it it rings a bell and it's decent enough. Gone for America, sorry, not my favourite Razorlight song but it's still solid. There's nothing in the round I dislike and only only one song I could say I love significantly above the rest.

My favourite fact about It Feels So Good is that when it initially charted in 1998 at No.24, it had different production with more strings in the mix, a bit like her version of I Put A Spell On You. I think both versions are good, but I can see why it was stripped to a more minimal version for the 2000 re-release. You can hear the original at 5 minutes into the chart show from the time.

Both classic tracks but I prefer Reach really, and it's a shame it was stuck behind Sonique for all three weeks. Seems crazy that such an iconic song only got to No.2, when they had several No.1s (granted three of those are also considered huge pop classics), but that's the luck of the chart draw.

It's Semi 2. Justice for the pop semi!

I’ve also been trying to remember the last British single to spend three weeks in the top three from debut (assuming Ed makes it three on Friday). Was it Sprinter? Whatever it is, it’s an extremely rare feat anyway these days when British acts are having a much harder time in the charts, and certainly the complete opposite of a flop in the modern charts.

What was the last song that debuted in the top three then spent its second week there and quite likely third too? Unless I’m wrong it was taste SEVEN months ago. Yet Ed is flopping with the most consistent hit from debut this year? Huh?

Agreed, I find the listenthroughs to often be a reliable barometer for what will do well with the dance/alt side and the people in the middle, but for pop it's not reliable at all. Songs that have been fully criticised or recieved a wall of 'mid' or tumbleweed reactions have gone on top be safely top ten in the final.

Imagine how different the results would be if we all had to submit full semi ranks, and first got 27 points, all the way down to 1 point for last. All those songs eternally stranded in 11th in every vote would suddenly be safe, whereas the polarising stuff would have a much harder time (which is exactly why we don't do that, people would send very safe stuff that everyone would probably rank at least middle).

Lookylion's winner What Now by Honey came 16th in the semi, so the near misses do happen sometimes in an unfavourable semi. Throw a pop song into a mostly dance/alt mix and getting out of that alive can be more of a challenge than going top ten in the final sometimes! Not that I expect Mae Muller to DNQ and to be the song to end Hendinia's record run at all though, it definitely has more crossover appeal to the 'other side' than, say, her previous two BJSC entries and her Eurovision entry. Having said that, it's not like the dance and alt voters in Semi 1 have a lack of other stuff to vote for. But I do expect Breakaway to contend for the top five if it makes the final.

Also going for Limp Bizkit, quite a good cover.

It's definitely Billie's best single ever for me, and I am still hearing it everywhere so I'm not surprised it's riding so high still nearly a year on. It's just a shame it never made it all the way to No.1.

Five of those eight would be in my votes if I was in that semi. It’s like The Hunger Games 😪

Really good track, I didn't expect this production, I was immediately transported back to the mid 90s. Very lush soundscape.