gooddelta

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.

I bought both that week, but Rule The World is one of my top 20 songs of all-time, amazing track. I so wish they'd picked another week to release it.

Voted! Everyone really brought their A game once again this month, both semis are bloodbaths. Lots of great stuff I already knew, lots of brilliant discoveries, I can barely hear five songs that sound like DNQs across the entire two semis, let alone 16. I don't envy those voting in Semi 1 though, I could have happily voted for 20 songs - it sounds like a final in itself.

U2

The Killers for attempt six.

Overload to win!

Week 26: Agreed with the top pick - Stop Crying Your Heart Out was a great, very emotive rock ballad, and yet another example of Oasis releasing something softer, more melodic and better as the second single and me wishing it was the lead so it could have been the token No.1 of the campaign. Hot In Herre was great though, I'm going with a friend (their pick) to see Nelly in concert in June with Eve as support but actually thinking that it will be such a fun night. So many party bangers like this. This is still a song I hear so often. Full Moon and When You Look At Me were really enjoyable R&B, the latter I'm pretty sure finished right next to or near AM to PM in the end of year chart and had an extremely similar chart run too - quite bizarre that they had completely equal appeal. I had very little memory of Get Me Off, but it is a really good track upon relistening, will add to my playlist. No really major opinion on the other indie and rock of this week - Athlete would do the same style better on their next album although the bridge is good, not into Get Free or American Girls, and Sum 41's song I remember the chanty chorus and it's quite fun but not a favourite. I wasn't keen on that Mis-Teeq single either - weren't both songs presented as a medley in the joint music video, with a couple of minutes of each one? Neither were great anyway. At least they preserved the 'hands up in the ay-er' bit. I wonder what that Andy and Denise song was all about, or if it was for some sort of purpose. I remember at the time thinking how random it seemed, and it's certainly no better now. Weeks 27 and 28: Clubbed To Death is the song I predicted you'd put top of this group Julian, it's definitely a sublime instrumental so certainly is a good choice. I even put it on Buzzjack Presents 2002, it seems such an iconic track despite not ever being a major chart hit. I'm glad it got its time to shine in the top 40 eventually. It was cool at the time to see RHCP get their biggest ever hit, that album and era was so good, but then so was Californication, so it was quite an artistically fruitful few years for them. I saw them live a couple of years back and this song was so enjoyable live. Two of the alsorans were my favourites this week though. Kelly Llorenna's storming Eurodance cover of Tell It To My Heart I still love a lot. It was so exciting being such a huge fan of hers at the time seeing her get a solo top ten hit to her name, she'd been trying long enough, and she was also the unofficial face of the Clubland movement that was kicking off around this time. So it was only fair that Kelly and this song opened the first edition. I know it's a cover but I think it works well, Kelly is vocally powerful and her TOTP performance was memorable. A strong live vocal - of course - and starting off singing in a mack that she dropped later. The video quality is awful, but only a couple of years until BBC4 get to the 2002 reruns and we get a better quality version. And I loved that Aurora song too, quite a lot more than Dreaming. That has lovely synths, beautifully subtle verses and then a really powerful chorus for MOR dance music, so good and one of my favourites of the summer. Nice to see the beginning of Amy Studt's career here. I definitely prefer her 2003 singles to Just A Little Girl but it was an interesting introductory single indeed, quite unlilke anything else in the charts in 2002. She beat Avril to her schtick by a few months and then was called 'UK Avril' when she released Misfit... Every time I remember about Shakalaka Baby it makes me smile, that was a very unusual sound for the charts at the time but was so catchy. Preeya later appeared in Eastenders for four years. This is the version of the J.Lo song that was the UK hit - it uses the same recognisable Club Nouveau sample used in I Got 5 On It by Luniz used and a rap from Nas, which I think majorly helped its UK success. The album version with the 80s-esque intro is a bit of a bland production in comparison imo. I don't really like Baby's Got A Temper, I thought it was a very poor comeback after so long, it felt a bit like a parody of their earlier stuff to me and I'm not surprised it came and went very quickly. The 2009 return was so much better. Wherever You Will Go is a great track although I was never overkeen on his very deep vocal, I've heard covers of it that I prefer. The 'run away with my heart' middle eight is fantastic though, with the strings in the background. The Gary Numan song I can't recall but it's a very strong and compelling production, and he was due a commercial comeback after the success of Freak Like Me, driven by his sample. And Idlewild was good too - I remember hearing that on Now 52, like a lot of these other songs. A couple of dance hits I'm not too enthused by in Mother and Reckless Girl, and Gold was a very dull single indeed by Beverley Knight - I really hoped she'd capitalise on the success of Shoulda Woulda Coulda but this wasn't it. Rik Waller's cover is a waste of time - I still think his voice was more pedestrian than media painted it to be at the time, there's not a lot of light and shade to it and he's unpleasantly wailing a bit by the end. I had pretty much forgotten both the Baha Men and Wyclef Jean songs but remember them upon relistening - another dud from Baha Men, but I don't mind the Wyclef song, it's not strong enough to be a lead single but is a fairly pleasant collab with the City High singer. I still find it weird that Bill And Ben had a commercial renaissance in the 00s. This theme is definitely not as charming as Bob The Builder, a bit chaotic and annoying really for me.