gooddelta

Songs with zero veto points are more likely to flop is my thought. Many people check the same sources so it helps to have some sort of demand or recognisability factor for a track for it to do well. Be that previous BJSC success, an acclaimed song or artist in pop or alt circles, every little helps. Rarely is it a song that is unknown to every single poster apart from the sender and Uhsting could ever win (and those are probably a lot of the songs that get zero veto points).

It's a vinyl rip on this album as you can hear slight crackling at the end of the song. Same with Anita Dobson.

It's a highlight from the album for me anyway, gives me early 00s French house vibes which I love. Kylie definitely complements it well and it's great to see them on a single together after all these years.

One I actually picked up the other day very cheap was this Stars of Soap album, which contains several songs that didn't make it to streaming or Now Yearbooks: https://www.discogs.com/release/2380939-Various-Stars-Of-Soap Letitia Dean! Malandra Burrows! Gayle & Gillian! Tracy Shaw! Anita Dobson! Now did well with 1987 because Ferry Aid - Let It Be also isn't on streaming.

Ah! Could be that Pavi’s is the different length one on YouTube and is different on Spotify?

Maybe a difference in YouTube and Spotify lengths? Mine is about 30 seconds longer on YouTube due to the video. These lengths posted look like from Spotify.

Maybe they'll get Mr Blobby for that album too as it's now finally available to stream. It appeared on Cheggar's Choice a long time ago but that tracklist is one to forget, although features many songs hard to license now (and many nobody would want to for obvious reasons). I wanted to listen to Yearbook Extra '99 today but Amazon can't deliver until tomorrow, even when I checked at midnight, bah. Will see if I have time to go to HMV.

Thanks Wardy!

My latest LB9 release is here! I say latest, I made this song in 2003 and only just found out the vocals were royalty free which meant I can release it. I sent it to BJFestivalen many years ago and it actually did ok there, although not as well as Dan's recent impressive Club Bizarre result. Obviously it's 90s dance inspired. Have always been happy with this one, and glad it's finally available to stream and download.

It’s a really good track, I can see it doing well. Shame I switched from it in Club earlier in the year but intrigued to see what people think. My entry is six minutes but doesn’t really kick in until about two. I really hope people don’t only check the first minute of it and skip as that part is very much not representative.

The article makes some fair points and generally The Guardian is a reliable source but it definitely is undermined by that 60k error. I hope they correct that because it makes the numbers sound way more pitiful than reality. Readers will think 1 stream is equivalent to 1 download.

The early days were something else.

A full THIRD of semi finalists will DNQ! Get ready for heartbreak as long songs get in and long streaks end in tears.

Norma is the most surprising pass for me recently for sure. She had been entered a few times before recently to some success, plus the song sampled not just an iconic No.1 but Maneater also came 2nd in BJSC and aren’t big points attached to sampling big BJSC hits too? Maybe it still got under 25 though but it’s just such a recognisable sample that it almost sold the song all by itself (I thought it was good and voted for it as I love that melody!)

I’m quite surprised Eras is continuing, I can only assume they make some profit on the vinyl and hardback book releases. What’s left then post-2007 - landfill indie, club banger era, tropical house 😂 The A*Teens song on Disc 1 was on another fairly recent pop compilation I’m sure, and certainly on a TOTP album in 2001. But then again pop was very well compiled at the time, not sure there are many rarities that were not on any UK compilations. Maybe Moi Lolita by Alizée would have been a nice one.

I also wouldn't include any New Music Friday playlists for the record, as it's so transient with full turnover each week, only the very popular curated genre playlists where songs sit on them for entire contest cycles. Btw, I have used OBSESSED before too, or at least tried to with Fleeting... 😂

Maybe 'prominent playlists with over 200,000 followers', which would cover those two and the popular Planet Rave, for example, which I believe is well used for sourcing, and All New Indie (not sure if there are alt bloc alternatives!). I do believe it gives an inbuilt advantage when lots of people are using the same playlist sources that have only a few new songs added each month/contest cycle, which is how I presume so many people come across the same stuff that on the surface feels obscure. Having said that, even if you just gave 'prominent playlist inclusion' something like 5-7 points for example, a song would have to still fall foul in other ways like multiple confirmations, appearing in loads of charts, online hype etc. 5-7 points would never be enough alone.

I'll get the vinyl for this. Have got all these on CD multiple times but not got all of them on vinyl. Some that are nice to see, like Life Ain't Easy and Halfway Around The World. I think most have been covered by Yearbooks, Extras and the Millennium series (save for 1996 stuff).

Sounds fair for any artist quadruple confirmed. Although I've never heard the song. It's on OBSESSED and All New Pop though ofc. I still think the framework should have some points attached to OBSESSED personally in the next update, I feel it's very relevant to 2026 entry sourcing in terms of many people hearing the same stuff and songs therefore having a headstart on recognition. Its a very good song though, it reminds me of Sky Ferreira and Zowie (an artist I came 2nd with a very long time ago). Very early 10s vibe to it.

Intriguing mix, I love hearing what we could have had. Some good parts from Nadine and Nicola on this.

I think for me it's being that much of an effortless earworm while being such a simple song. Seeing it live was great too as the whole thing could be quite easily recereated with his loop pedal, it's essentially a very simple backing track loop but I find it quite hypnotic to listen to, especially as it builds and layers towards the end. Obviously it did rip off the production of Cheap Thrills (and I guess No Scrubs in the melody as they had to be credited, although I didn't even pick up on that at all at the time), but there is just something about it I have never got bored of. I think he's said in interviews he was expecting Castle On The Hill to be the bigger hit and was surprised this took off more than that. I suspect he was hedging his bets just in case one wasn't liked, going with both a classic Ed kind of song and a song that fit the charts of the time. Of course both were gigantic in the end, but it was his heyday and he could have released anything. However the fact they both hung around so long and led to the album smashing records and causing a whole change to the chart rules is testament to the quality of the two songs imo. I still love that album.

Tbf I definitely do get the disdain for Perfect as it's quite corny. Although I still like it, it's worn off me since release, I just don't rate much of the rest of this list (I only love my top two). I'll always defend Shape Of You as a top class pop song though. It was overplayed for years but I hardly hear it now so have reintroduced it into my own semi-regular rotation.

Why is it all men apart from Kyla! 01 Ed Sheeran - Shape of You 02 The Weeknd - Blinding Lights 03 Ed Sheeran - Perfect 04 Harry Styles - As It Was 05 The Weeknd - Starboy (feat. Daft Punk) 06 Drake - One Dance (feat. WizKid & Kyla) 07 The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber - STAY 08 The Neighbourhood - Sweater Weather 09 Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved 10 Post Malone & Swae Lee - Sunflower

They're on pages 8 and 9 of this forum. Here's the results:

Great No.1. Love In Rewind was a highlight in a poor year. Lejla and Pokušaj are my other favourites, although Call Me was fun in a naff way. Very odd entry to come from an Eastern country though, feels more like a dated schlager from Scandinavia.