gooddelta

The contest needs the floaters! Because they usually decide the winner, like you say. A really strong alt/dance/electronic or pop song might be able to command 250 points from its own side if it appeals really well to its niche, but to get over the line you're usually going to need decent points from the people in the middle too (and with any luck, some small points from the opposite side voters that see the appeal even if they don't completely love it). Which is why we so rarely see winners without any crossover appeal to the other side. Not to say it can't happen though, sure if a standout alt song was to get 10 18s then it would be on 180 points already so wouldn't need that much more support to be in the mix. I see BJSC a bit like Eurovision, with countries that tend to sway one way more often than not; the pop vote (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Malta, Australia, UK, Ireland) and alt/dance vote (Ukraine, Lithuania, Albania, Iceland, Finland, Portgual, Serbia, Croatia) and the people that do their own thing completely (San Marino, Switzerland, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria). But you do need that middle ground to balance things out.

Week 20: I hadn't recalled that H & Claire effectively went head to head with Faye for their first solo releases. Anyway DJ was always going to win the battle against a ballad sung partly in Italian, but I prefer Someone Like You personally, I think it's a nice duet. All I Want Is You was the one I bought at the time, Bellefire were very hyped so two No.18 hits must have been a bit disappointing for them, but I would say this was a lovely cover with great harmonies. I struggle a bit to listen to Rock The Boat, and certainly can't watch the music video as that's what Aaliyah went out to film when she died, so extremely sad in the circumstances but obviously a sublime production. Some good rock in this week - really enjoyed Who Needs Enemies? Not one I remember from the time. And Main Offender is good too. Ronan moving into boring territory, not for the first time, but If Tomorrow Never Comes being such a success is surely what moved him so into becoming an MOR country ballads covers artist. I don't really like Follow Da Leader and for a top five hit that was everywhere at the time, it appears to have no legacy at all - 27k Spotify streams is extremely poor. Week 21: Some great classics in this week, my favourite personally being In My Eyes. I really loved all of the three 2002 hits from Milk Inc a lot, all were in my top 20 songs of 2002, just great euphoric Belgian dance music - and there was a lot of it about around this time with Lasgo, Minimalistix, Ian Van Dahl, Dee Dee, Milk Inc, Jessy and several others...not sure what was in the water there. Come Back was my other favourite - a genuinely GREAT, very classy UK Eurovision entry - who'd have thought it. An amazing vocal from Jessica on the night too, and it seemed fitting we would send somebody from Pop Idol, with how much it had dominated the year to that point in the UK. Come Back was performed too early in the draw to contend in Tallinn (she went on 2nd), but did well to finish 3rd, which shows the potential if she'd been up to perform later. The other Popstars though of course had the most memorable single of the week. I was so impressed with Just A Little, as it felt like Liberty X's career was already done, but clearly they were too good for that to be the case, and this track was absolutely everywhere at the time, and for several years after - just a great, catchy pop song and memorable video. Another really good song from P!nk from a classic album, I think the lyrics on this one are strong and I listen to it quite a lot. Make It Good is quite a curious number, it has really quite strong verses and a solid bridge for me but not sure about the limp intro/post-chorus 'when you're weary', it lets it down a lot for me. Still, I was surprised when it only got to No.11 and this was another example of a pop band immediately imploding very soon after scoring one of their biggest hits (911, Saturdays, Eternal), almost as if they had nothing left to achieve so the only way was immediately down. I know A1 had two No.1s in 2000 but for me Caught In The Middle is where it felt like they'd stepped up to a new league, and I was hoping to see them capitalise. Think I agree on I Feel So Fine, I only vaguely remember the song but that forgettable vocal doesn't work on it very well, I feel a lot more could have been done with that instrumental. Escape was pretty good, another that was hammered by radio and TV, I'm always surprised just how big Enrique was that era - he was peddling good but hardly exceptional pop and had one of the biggest selling albums and singles of the year, plus a few other big singles. Week 22: It's OK is my favourite here - thought that was a very nice, polished and catchy comeback from Atomic Kitten and I loved the glossy, summery video. I find it so interesting how their sound changed after Whole Again was so big, there's no way this mid-tempo strummer would have been a lead single for them in their original guise in 1999. It felt like a different band altogether, with the edges shaved off, but nevertheless, I always enjoyed them and this is a nice slice of Stargate pop that sounds interchangeable with the Blue material around at the time but brings back good memories. Reason also got to No.1 in my personal chart at the time though, I loved Ian Van Dahl and sure it was diminishing returns with each single, with each slightly less good than the last, but for me it was still top drawer Eurodance in all of their top ten hits. Spread Your Love is great - actually that unlocks a memory as I often have it in my head but couldn't place who it was by and when it was from, it definitely does sound like a song that could have come from the 70s to 90s. Without Me is clearly iconic, Eminem's 'comedy' lead singles were always good value and I was in Year 10 at school at the time, so you can only imagine how popular this was with my peers. Oh Baby is such a nice soulful pop song, and I love the intro that fades in then explodes into the chorus, but yeah, I guess the arrival of Rihanna would have done her career no favours, not that it was going anywhere anyway it seems. Bop Bop Baby redefines naff lyrically, clearly it's a song in their usual style and it has a nice bridge, but the lyrics do make me cringe. I was definitely shocked when it went in at No.5, as if the wheels had finally fallen off. I don't know what they were doing releasing the same week as Eminem and Atomic Kitten comebacks though as they usually chose their release weeks well, and there were quieter weeks on the horizon they could have waited for. I think I was expecting No.2/3 for it nonetheless, with the memorable video with Vinnie Jones. The problem is that the relative failure of this and then Hey Whatever in 2003 is why they really stayed in their lane after this with the ballads (and mostly covers), they did seem to relatively struggle with uptempos. In fact, they never even released one of their best singles here - When You're Looking Like That - as they were probably too scared at that point to disrupt the ballad status quo. World Of Our Own and Uptown Girl were their only really successful uptempos. Ms Dynamite had rather an insane amount of hype around her, but she was good and I love the production on It Takes More, it still feels pretty fresh hearing it now. Had forgotten about that wet cover of Baby, Now That I've Found You. What a world that stuff like this could chart back then, now it would be lucky to get three sales on iTunes. Take Down The Union Jack...that's the first and last time I'll listen to that, good grief.

I feel nothing, nada After big hype in the last contest, in the end PUNCHBAG's punky pop track ended up in 19th place, which was an underperformance against the odds but still a great result for us and our best of the year to date. For the 174th contest, as we head to Ajanaeda for the first time, we pay tribute to our hosts with a banging new electro-pop anthem. NADA is Lozeak's second outing in BJSC, after she was sent to 158 by Sandénia, with Used To You. The 22-year-old Norwich-born singer recently released her first album, the self-titled Lozeak, and NADA is a standout track. Ricardo Delta explains the entry choice: "It's been a little while since we've sent back to back pop entries but it's Eurovision season and the flowers are blooming we're in a poppy mood. Lozeak's album first caught our attention due to the artwork, which pays homage to the legendary Clubland compilation series, a major success in the 00s in FSR Rontvia. "The spiky 2:11 track NADA, our second entry in a row to clock in at a little over two minutes, was our immediate standout with the biggest earworm of a chorus we've heard this side of Bara Bada Bastu, glitchy electro-pop production that suggests Lozeak had a very Brat summer last year, and with a first line that harks back to I'm Too Sexy. We are not trying to break any mould this month, it's just catchy, fun POP - and we love it!" NADA debuted in the Rontvian charts three weeks ago at No.8 and has steadily made its way up to its current peak of No.2 this week. NADA already has a loyal fanbase in FSR Rontvia, as you can see from the enthusiastic live performance below.

What on earth is this naff German schlager doing so high on UK iTunes? 😆

I think the right song won, but they are all good. I wouldn't necessarily regularly check Nasty Girl or Check On It though.

Unexpected diversion to get a proper modern spin-off for once but not sure I get who the audience is for this when 95% of these were on recent numbered Now albums, which cuts off the core audience. And young pop fans are unlikely to buy the CD. So not sure how many buyers are left realistically. The vinyl is a nice draw though, I might conisder it when it goes down in the inevitable sale later in the year.

I might be mistaken, but despite not charting here until late 2005, DHT's dated back to 2003. Not sure when Dancing DJs was made but I can't find any record of it existing before 2005 despite it charting here earlier (and maybe encouraging the DHT one to get a UK push!).

@blacksquare Yours sounds comfortably safer to me than all six you've listed as safe, and potential semi winner?! Agree it's a difficult semi to call overall, definitely not hearing eight DNQs.

It's all very cringey. Also, not including Never Really Over on the tour setlist is criminal, the one saving grace of the last couple of eras.

Both great Clubland classics! But DHT, love both the ballad version and techno mix of that.

The Killers again.

Keane (sorry), I love all three. Song 4 Mutya is actually my favourite.

ATB - love him but this was a pointless cover, and that album had SO many great songs on it he could have released instead, one of my favourite dance albums ever (apart from this song).

I always think there are roughly a third of participants who are pop countries voting almost exclusively for other pop, a third (maybe just under) who are alt/dance/electronic leaning and voting almost exclusively for other songs like that, and the rest who fall into the cracks in the middle and whose votes tend to go everywhere - often to the songs/genres that don't fall into these categories, although you find these people voting for some pop and alt stuff too. Doesn't always work out like that though, usually some alt countries have a couple of pop songs in their votes, must admit I don't often see many alt entries in 'pop country' votes though.

I don't use it on my computer, it crashes my whole computer to the point I have to hard reboot it. For some reason it opens up a 2gb tab, they really need to declutter it. I find it ok on mobile though.

Confirmed! It's definitely not going to win but I do find it to be a beauty.

Was a weird selection of 2009 c-list artists, but Young Soul Rebels.

Cascada, begrudgingly, even if it was a very naff cover and there were better covers on the album of Roxette and Nik Kershaw. But agree with Chris on To The Moon and Back, it’s too wordy to sing it to a tempo that fast.

This contest is like a who’s who of viral internet pop hits of the last couple of months! Going to be a tough battle for the win. I did expect Breakaway to show up, and I’m sure it’ll be top five. It’s a great sound for Mae.

It used to be more regular than annual, as Buzzjack hasn't been running 34 years so we must have had at least two a year at some point! I always used to see it as the forum's second biggest contest after BJSC but it has been quite infrequently held of late. Would be nice to do it twice a year again at least, as many of the others get at least 5 or 6 outings a year. I think my best ever UP finish was 2nd with 55 Year Old Daughter by Giant Swan although one of the duo's members was found to be a nasty piece of work recently - to say the least, so I'd love to find something better that erased the memory of them.

Electronic music tends to do best in this now doesn't it. Not sure I have anything great of that description so will probably flop again but will definitely confirm something!

A stellar job Rollo, many thanks. I had a look through all of the other hits/classics from 1982 and I couldn't think of anything significant missing. Really nicely sequenced too and a great write-up. Great artwork too Colm. When I listened to this album a few days ago, it occured to me that around as much time has passed between Dizzee Rascal's Dream (which sampled Happy Talk) and today as there was time between Happy Talk and Dream. Mad.

Steps, it's not one of my favourites from them but the Safri Duo-esque drums worked well on it and gave it a fresh lick of paint. Amerie's was decent though too.

Not overly worried about Ed at this point as Sunday last week he was nearly 10 places lower and rebounded well. Sunday listeners are the worst, everything old goes back up. For whatever reason, very few songs have caught on in a really big way now for the best part of nine months - not sure if it's the strength of what's out or Spotify's stale playlists, probably both. April to July last year feels like a glorious memory but seemed to just be one of those one-off extremely busy periods that we get scattered throughout chart history (late 1997, spring 2001, summer 2013) rather than anything indicative of a sustained market boost at the top end. Hoping it's a good year for Eurovision at least, with the market weak (unless it dramatically picks up in the next month). Hopefully a few can go top 40.

The Killers again.