gooddelta

Thanks Suede for the silver, and welcome back!

Thanks Jim and Leww for the points.

I knew the drought was coming, it’s like holding back the ocean with your hands trying to keep the pop voters at bay. (Thanks Hushky though!)

Thanks Jupiter!

Thank you Harve and Addy <3

11! I don’t expect the incoming run of pop voters to go for it though.

Thanks Frank and Jacob!

Gah, thank you Harry and Iz for another 18!!

Thanks Chez!

Wow, the host 18 <3 always amazing to receive, thanks Dandy!

Thanks Freeze <3

Amazing early support! Thanks so much Blacksquare and Cow!

Three 18s in a row!!! Thank you Jade, that’s amazing and not sure I’ve ever received that from anyone?! Thank you Ansel too ❤️

Summericia landsliding! Another BJSC pop classic from Roba.

Crikey, I didn’t expect an 18 this early, thanks so much Cheiron! Thanks Mack too for points in the opening vote.

Definitely a very clever track with the cover of Freak Like Me and Gary Numan sample underneath it, a great comeback for Sugababes after Siobhan left, and a very fresh sound for British pop at the time (when you think that the other main British girlband pre-GA was Atomic Kitten, who had gone very middle of the road all of a sudden). But still, I wouldn't regard this as a major personal favourite, I'm not sure if the Tru Faith and Imaani cover from 2000 was still too fresh in my mind at this point. But I can't begrudge it doing so well, it's quite iconic.

Thanks Rollo, have saved the full playlist and looking forward to checking this out. It certainly is true that a lot of the older songs with very high streams fall into the 'Soft Rock' category, I suppose many of these songs have proven such a mainstay on the radio over the years, often with big choruses that are easy to remember and sing along to, yet are often critically acclaimed to so don't get snubbed by some of the radio stations that might avoid pop.

Colourblind is a nice track, I'd probably put it 10-12 places lower but I'll do my full rank at the end to see. I'm glad he had a redemption arc though and got a No.1 single, and it was more original than Will or Gareth's first singles. Lose Yourself is another timeless Eminem track and probably one of the best 00s No.1 singles, the piano intro (which I remember learning in my keyboard lessons at the time) through to the gritty bassline, verse raps that are still quoted heavily to this day and almost chant like chorus all combine to make something very special.

Grace! Glad to see the song recognised <3 Punchbag have better songs than that. Angel Of My Dreams will very easily walk this.

Both brilliant, I'm going for Christina as it's one of my favourite ever ballads. But Mel C's is a great, classic track.

Madonna, sublime single from a classic album. The GA cover is not one I listen to a lot but is quite fun.

I've mentioned this before but there was really nothing in Eurovision prior to the release of Kiss Kiss that sounded like this song. Sertab Erener's winner in 2003, Everyway That I Can, certainly did sound like it, but that came a full year afterwards (so was maybe even influenced itself by Holly/Tarkan's success?). And that winning kickstarted this style of music doing well in the contest. Either way, I was never super into Kiss Kiss (or Down Boy) myself although it's super catchy with the 'mwah' - clever track but probably about 10 places lower for me. More Than A Woman was so fresh and sharp for that period and Aaliyah's passing was such a big loss to the music industry, she had always been good but was becoming really superb musically. Just A Little is great pop, the kind of song you hear on first listen and think 'oh, this is a No.1 single' - which was a little surprising considering how their prior single fared - the X rebrand clearly rejuvenated them. Catchy, superb hook, great video and imagery, strong vocals. If You're Not The One is possibly my personal favourite of the top ten so far, one of my favourite singalong songs due to the mix of lower register and falsetto. It's also just a brilliantly written ballad.

Voted! Best of luck to my faves - a few of which will definitely be fighting for the win and a few I expect to find stranded in midtable, but I've made some lovely discoveries this month!

It's a much, much better album than Autumn Variations. The last few songs will need repeat listens to click, but the first half has some great tracks. Definitely some ballads towards the end (of the standard edition) that feel like they're trying to emulate that big sound of Perfect but maybe not quite getting there.

Agreed about NYCC. You can guarantee that every long-running No.1 will have a few soundalikes coming along within a couple of months, the intro is nearly the same. Nice to see Robyn again on the first show in her mini first UK chart career before the second wind. Viva Forever is such an excellent track, although they exposed themselves a bit with the pre-recorded advance performance seeing as Geri had already left when this episode was aired!