gooddelta

I ended up getting this with Mario Kart World today as I won some money at work so put it towards it. Mario Kart World is fun, I've only played a bit of it but there are some nice touches that weren't in previous games and graphically it's very nice, especially docked. I need a lot more time to explore it though. Quite a seamless transfer of everything from the original Switch although it took a fair while as I have so many games for that. I played a few of the older games that have had graphical/frame rate improvements and it all looks very nice, shiny and HD. But I look forward to some of the upcoming new games. It was also fun to play Gamecube Wind Waker again! I look forward to Mario Kart: Double Dash being added whenever that might happen, it's been such a long time since I've dug out my Gamecube to play that. It's a really nice console to hold too and a big improvement for me as I only had the original 2017 Switch model (which I'm tempted to sell now but need to check which games I have won't work on Switch 2). It's not an especially innovative launch but I'm grateful for the backwards compatibility as there are so many Switch games I'm not even 10% of the way through.

Oh definitely Space Cowboy, such a great track.

I prefer Gravel Pit, I'm not massively passionate about it but I do enjoy it - significantly more than everything else in this round too apart from Breaking Free.

Bit harsh on Shaznay, that's a really lovely song. Just pretty unremembered in the mix with a lot of classics I guess. I'm going for Miss Independent again.

Going with Do Somethin', it's not a Britney favourite of mine.

Well done Dan, I have heard that track before but it never really clicked that it was sampled by Cappella. Alphaville, like Freiheit, are an act I need to check out more by (20th is criminal for the latter). Seems Germany delivered some great 80s acts, with Modern Talking too. Congrats also to Severin and Addy - Army Of Lovers are such a great band, not one of my absolute favourites from them tbh but a nice song and good to see it do well, they really deserved more UK success than one low top 40 hit. Pleased to see White Town make the top 10, that was a really nice find! 15th is fair for Agenais, maybe it was a bit delicate to really fully cross over but it's nice to see a few people found a good discovery from it! Quite surprised at Tracy Chapman and Paula Cole doing that badly, I thought both would be top ten! Thanks for hosting Brer, really good theme and I found a lot of good discoveries I know I'll go back to.

Oops, the only way is down for poor Donna, to start off so well and barely double its score from the first two votes 🥲 Edit: Nice late save from Dan though <3 Julian's entry has been a bit robbed here, it wasn't ever in danger of not making my vote, I found it very enjoyable. Surprised it didn't have any other appeal to people.

I guess with hindsight I might have flipped the emphasis on Heartbeat/Tragedy, to make it Tragedy/Heartbeat, as Heartbeat was the song mostly played on the chart and music channels in the run up to Christmas, slightly masking the potential of Tragedy for a bit. They're fortunate attention did switch to Tragedy come new year, because there was no real guarantee that would happen. Still, I do get the logic of pushing a ballad at Christmas and it all worked out in the end. Other than that, I'd have squeezed in Love You More somewhere, but really the only place it would have fit is as a double a-side with Better Best Forgotten. Maybe with a nice fresh single remix and a release delay of a few weeks that could have been another No.1 for them as a double a-side.

No arguments at the current runaway leader, how Alphaville are a one-hit wonder in this country (with Forever Young not even being one, let alone anything else) is a mystery.

Agenais is a song I found during one of the Covid lockdowns in 2020, I was checking out some 90s albums I hadn't listened to at the time and Donna Lewis seemed like a good one to check. It's kind of in that mid-90s Eurovision meets Enya mould, which I always love. I really find it quite beautiful, it wasn't a single though, just an album track. I keep rough track of Ann Lee's releases but never heard Save Me or that she reverted back to using her full first name. That was a great discovery. But honestly, that Freiheit track is so good (great entry Rollo). I have always loved what I've heard from them, and how Beatles/Paul McCartney-esque they are and this song has been stuck in my head. I must check out the full album.

Some really good choices revealed so far, as will be seen in my votes. I have never sought out anything else by White Town, nor even knew what the guy looked like, but I fell down a rabbit hole watching a lot of his material. This is a really lovely song and very different to Your Woman. For me, the best songs in this contest were predominantly the ones that didn't really sound like the artists' one hit.

Just came across this chart and it reminded me of Next Plane Home, I must dig out Daniel's album with that on. Funny that of all the big acts in that top 10 from 17 years ago, Miley is the one still snatching hits (P!nk too I guess when active). I did love See You Again too though, she started off strong.

That Pet Shop Boys Blu-ray/CD has unfortunately been postponed until 'early 2026' due to a publishing dispute over one of the songs. Not sure which one, presumably one of the covers. https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/news/2025-06-13/dreamworld-blu-ray-cd

Thank goodness Never Ever limped over the line in the end, it's a classic No.1! Funny that Heartbeat/Tragedy by Steps did basically the same a year later after yo-yoing the top ten for a couple of months, I did like a new year climber! Bamboogie is a bit of a forgotten track, it's maybe not available to license anymore as it wasn't on Now Yearbook '98 or the Extra and doesn't seem to have been on any compilation for a long time. I don't hate it but the right song definitely won. Strange that Clock had another KC and the Sunshine Band cover in the chart at the same time. I actually think Avenging Angels is great, it has a kind of James Bond/Austin Powers '60s vibe to it like a lot of their stuff did I guess. Apparently it was in the airplay top ten for the whole year so did quite poorly commercially that being said. High is brilliant - one of the best MOR singles of the late 90s, and lyrically something that resonates more with me now I'm older. I'm not a huge fan of theirs but that is undeniably brilliant songwriting.

01 Pet Shop Boys - Rent (FAVE) 02 Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding - Miracle 03 The Saturdays - All Fired Up 04 Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending 05 Christina Aguilera - Fighter 06 A-ha - Take on Me 07 Mary J. Blige - Family Affair 08 Enrique Iglesias feat. Ciara - Takin’ Back My Love 09 Addison Rae - Times Like These 10 Fifth Harmony feat. Ty Dolla $ign - Work From Home 11 Elton John - I’m Still Standing 12 Damiano David - Born With a Broken Heart 13 CHVRCHES - Graves 14 SASAMI - Just Be Friends 15 Charlie Puth - How Long 16 James Blake - Loading

Akon again.

U Got It Bad is the song I'd least likely play out of choice, so that.

Shocker I know, but Kelly Clarkson. I like Miss Independent but the debut album definitely was just a taster of far better to come.

This is my favourite Zara single in some time! Bomfunk MC’s vibes to the production, very fresh sounding bassline.

1. KAJ - Sauna Collection 2. Addison Rae - Addison 3. Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful 4. MARINA - PRINCESS OF POWER 5. Sarah Connor - Freigeistin 6. Avicii - Avicii Forever 7. Sally Shapiro - Ready To Live A Lie 8. The Ting Tings - Home 9. Louise - Confessions 10. Take That - Nobody Else (30th Anniversary Edition)

I bought this and it's nice to hear the album again, some strong album tracks in as much as mid-90s pop non-singles could be good anyway. I really like All That Matters To Me, it's not far off being good enough to be a single. I like it more than Sure anyway. The live version of Every Guy is a bit ropey in terms of sound, reminds me of some of the poor quality live versions tacked onto the Spiceworld reissue - not quite as bad of course, those were embarrassing.

Bring back the official version to Spotify I say!

I was hoping this would be the case as I definitely can't afford the boxset with the CDs, but will buy the standard Bluray, looking forward to the Extras (and seeing it again ofc).

Going for Caroline, I really like what she did with Breathless, very trippy. Mariana's seems like a relatively straight retread of the original so a bit ploddy and pointless.

I’ll fight you for it, and the other 20 people.