Jadaver

Another new peak for Ashe today as 'Stop The Wedding!' is up to #4 on Spotify!

+30 Billie Eilish - when the party's over +29 Ariana Grande - no tears left to cry +28 Ariana Grande - God is a woman +27 ROSALÍA - MALAMENTE (Cap. I: Augurio) +26 MJ Cole & Freya Ridings - Waking Up +25 The 1975 - Love It If We Made It +24 Lana Del Rey - Mariners Apartment Complex +23 BROCKHAMPTON - 1999 WILDFIRE +22 Childish Gambino - This Is America +21 Christine and the Queens - Doesn't matter +20 Mark Ronson - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart (feat. Miley Cyrus) +19 Troye Sivan & Ariana Grande - Dance to This +18 Au/Ra & CamelPhat - Panic Room +17 Ariana Grande - breathin +16 Kendrick Lamar & SZA - All The Stars +15 Mitski - Washing Machine Heart +14 Silk City & Dua Lipa - Electricity +13 Twenty One Pilots - Jumpsuit +12 Freya Ridings - Lost Without You +11 Arctic Monkeys - Four Out of Five +10 Years & Years - Sanctify +09 Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel +08 Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa - One Kiss +07 Billie Eilish - you should see me in a crown +06 Grimes - We Appreciate Power (feat. HANA) +05 Juice WRLD - Lucid Dreams +04 Drake - Nice For What +03 Taylor Swift - Delicate +02 Ariana Grande - thank u, next +01 Virtual Self - Ghost Voices

'Money On My Mind' wasn't a bad start to Sam's solo success although, as already referenced, the "when I go home, I tend to close the door" lyric does stick out like a sore thumb! I remember enjoying 'Rude' at the time but it didn't really do anything for me when I last heard it in more recent years. Funny that a Maroon 5 comparison was made in this thread, as I accompanied my brother to see them back in 2015 and MAGIC! were one of the support acts The main thing that springs to mind about 'All About That Bass' for me was Brer mentioning that he discovered the song before it blew up and considered sending it to BJSC, so that would've been an interesting moment in the Persephonia catalogue...! It was massive indeed, I remember being asked by someone if they could buy it on CD single while I was working at HMV but we only had it via Now! 89. The songwriting is very of its time, much like the "haters gonna hate" message at #2 but I don't mind it, 'Dear Future Husband' from that same Meghan era was much more annoying for me. 'Stay With Me' is my least favourite In The Lonely Hour single by far, so dull and dreary. The overplay for this at the time as a chart listener was torture! I'm partial to a saxophone in general but I always thought the drop on 'Crazy Stupid Love' was really naff, in addition to some of the lyrics, especially "she had my D, now she dickmatised". 💀 'I Don't Care' is also pretty grating but I think you have the two songs in the right order.

Round 1: 36 (didn't get: Stephanie De Sykes) Round 2: 30 (didn't get: Celine Dion, Raydio) 3-in-10: 3 (The House Of The Rising Sun, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, Don't Bring Me Down)

Not at all surprising but Vitalic only getting 1 point aside from me was rude, shoutout to Jim xo Too many painful descents to mention (I'm really noticing the lack of Brer this year with the hard falls for songs like 'On Hold' and '3WW' so far...) but at least 'Glue' was on the rise. The campaign for that to become an AQ next year starts now!

I've just given the new entries from over the weekend a listen and this is unsurprisingly a dance reworking of Lumidee's 'Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)'!

Oh yes, I unsurprisingly gave 'Waiting For The Stars' my top marks that round and watched as it didn't get anything else at all for a while (not too surprising when it wasn't a hit) until your votes came in, yay! Happy to hear it stood out enough from one listen to sneak into your votes <3 I think each Billie album has been stronger than the last (I remember being a bit concerned for Happier Than Ever when 'Lost Cause' was chosen as a pre-album release, as it didn't hit me as much as her songs usually did, but the project turned out to be great in full) even if 'when the party's over' is my overall favourite song of hers! I think my favourites from this decade would be 'Happier Than Ever' and 'CHIHIRO'. Love that we have the exact same choice of #1 Billie song! As mentioned, 'you should see me in a crown' was the first song of hers that made me sit up and take notice, but she has some really stunning quieter moments as well like this song or 'everything i wanted'. The choral effects are indeed wonderful, the song 'GOLDWING' from her second album is also a big favourite for me for the same reason. Really happy to hear that 'Waiting For The Stars' was a good discovery for you 🖤 can see the Depeche Mode comparison for sure. Big hits always do the best in ROTD but it's a shame the alt vote has collapsed so much over the past couple of years 🥺 can see why that experience would've been disheartening although I'll still be flogging some songs like a dead horse every year even if they bomb

Favourite: 'ghostin' 🥰🥰🥰 my #1 Ariana album track! Least favourite: begrudgingly 'warning signs (interlude)', this is a great line-up

2019 Bring Me The Horizon - nihilist blues (feat. Grimes) Burial - Claustro Drab Majesty - Ellipsis

Yikes this is such uncomfortable viewing. I didn't like a few of these people anyway but disappointed in Philip. Twinks has very quickly gone up in my estimations though, she's lovely!

The Damned - Grimly Fiendish Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World

week ending 04/10/26: 09 Ariana Grande [28 posts] 20 consecutive weeks in the top 10 thanks all <3

Hi Sergej! So happy to hear you're enjoying my entire top 4 as well 🤩 watch this space for the next Fontaines single. thank you for commenting <3 Hi James! 'Marianne' is great indeed <3 I'm enjoying their new single as well although it's quite different to that, more trip-hop inspired. I saw that posters for WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA have been spotted so bring on this whole new project from Slayyyter 🤩 I agree this song isn't top tier CHVRCHES but does remind me of the Screen Violence era which I did quite like overall. thank you for commenting <3 Hi DaTilt, Oh yes I spotted 'Air' in your chart as well *.* I was most intrigued for the collab with Clark, as I'm a big fan of his too, but ended up loving this song almost as much <3 Yeah oops it's been a bit overshadowed in two crazily busy weeks! But still good stuff. thank you for commenting <3 Hi Piran! This is my favourite Tinashe era since Aquarius and could even surpass it, what a triumph thank you for commenting <3 Phoebe keeps on delivering this year! thank you for commenting <3

Play 'Rolling Face' by Adult DVD please, Radio 1 you cowards!

Hi Piran, hope you're good Loving the Tinashe impact this week! I was so impressed by the album that I ordered it on vinyl I'm particularly a fan of the metallic 'Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore' <3 the Wale/Gaga 'Chillin' interpolation was a pleasant surprise! 'I Remember Everything' from your throwback chart is one of my all-time favourite country hits 🤩

Hi DaTilt hope you're good! Loving the new entries for BICEP and Phoebe Bridgers this week <3

Hi Sergej hope you're good! Wow, what a fantastic week for new entries 🤩 Firstly, I spy two of my own #1s in 'Devout' and 'Alyse' <3 I am a sucker for the dark synth sound of the former act and this is such a banger from Shygirl. Quite a diverse era so far as the follow-up single is a more mellow trip-hop sound. I'm really enjoying 'Different Religion' and 'Roses' at the moment too! I of course approve of 'Marianne' making your top 10 as well. Bring on the album *.*

'Stop The Wedding!' is up to a new peak of #5 on Spotify today. I hope that can keep going and be a future #1!

2010s #08 Billie Eilish - 'when the party’s over' (2018) #07 Vitalic feat. David Shaw and The Beat - 'Waiting For The Stars' (2016) I first came across superstar Billie Eilish pre-breakthrough in 2016 when the Young Bombs remix of 'Ocean Eyes' was sent to BJSC. This didn't make too much of an impact in the contest and finished in 38th place. However, the next attempt to send her was a lot more successful, as 'bellyache' placed 8th the following year. I actually didn't point this song and instead got into Billie properly with the release of 'You Should See Me in A Crown' in summer 2018, the lead single from When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. Little did I know how huge this era would go on to be! But this dark, Lorde-esque direction certainly interested me and I was now waiting to see what else she had to offer. Turns out I'd enjoy the following single even more... 'when the party's over' was written and produced by Billie's older brother Finneas O'Connell. He came to her with the track and the two of them decided to perform it live, but felt this was a mistake, as they had no idea how they would replicate its intimate sound in the studio. I can vouch for how incredible this song sounds in the flesh as I finally saw Billie live in London last year! She easily has the star power to play stadiums but I was glad she still chose arenas, as I felt that smaller scale suited her output well. She was such a talent live and the production values were impressive too. This was also the first concert I've attended where all the available food was plant based, to comply with her own ethos. 'when the party's over' was truly goosebump inducing live but I also think they nailed the studio version as well. A 16-year-old Billie really put the work into crafting the vocals for this song and even recorded over 90 takes of just the opening word "don't", to start 'when the party's over' just right. She manages to sound wise beyond her years with a delicate, compelling performance. The vocal layering feels so rich and I adore the choral feel to the song as well. Eilish said this was inspired by singing in a choir as a child. She was also directly inspired by the songs 'Stand Still' by Sabrina Claudio, '715 - CRΣΣKS' by Bon Iver and Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek'. The Heap influence is evident, also an idol of Ariana from earlier in the countdown. I generally enjoy the works of Bon Iver and Sabrina Claudio but wasn't familiar with these specific songs, so just checked out both and can definitely hear their DNA too. Goth-pop ballad 'when the party's over' is incredibly sparse as there are no accompanying instruments for the entire first minute of the song, a testament to Eilish's striking presence. She is then joined by hard-hitting sub-bass sounds and a beautiful piano. The less is more approach here is a perfect fit and results in maximum impact for all the little touches. The visualiser for 'you should see me in a crown' freaked me out a bit with the spiders but I did warm to the equally striking video for 'when the party's over', where black tears flow down a blue-haired Billie's face after she drinks a cup full of black liquid. The concept was inspired by fan art where Billie had been drawn with leaky black eyes. The lyrics of the song started to come to Finneas when he was quietly driving home late at night after leaving a date's house. He felt a mixture of unhappiness and comfort, as ending a relationship is always difficult, but he also felt a sense of safety from the lack of full investment. I think the whole song is beautifully written but particularly love the imagery and execution of the titular line during the second verse. The scene of two people barely being able to hear each other on the phone over the noise of a party is pretty atmospheric and the echoey, layered reverb effects help to convey a distant feel for that line before launching into the chorus. I'd say my favourite Billie album is HIT ME HARD AND SOFT (which now has the added touring memories) but there's still something so special about 'when the party's over' as a specific song. 'when the party's over' frustratingly stalled at #21 in the U.K. chart but was a top 40 breakthrough for Eilish nevertheless. It was incredible to witness her ascension in 2019 with 'bury a friend' and especially the success of 'bad guy'. ... It has just dawned on me that I technically made an error nominating 'Waiting For The Stars' for 2017 in Record of the Decade! I so heavily associate this song with that year, as the music video dropped in January and the accompanying album also came out in 2017, but the song was first heard at the end of 2016. Oops. Ah well, I'm sure it won't go particularly far anyway. I also link 'Waiting For The Stars' with 2017 as it was sent to BJSC that year, by John's nation Singerpurear. I'd actually already heard the song before that though as fellow BuzzJack member Lotti had played it on the aforementioned plug.dj platform. I believe she also had it as a song contest potential at the time. 'Waiting For The Stars' was a hit for Singerpurear as it finished in 5th place. Shockingly, I 'only' gave it 15 points, but do remember thinking it was easily my strongest silver medal of the year. 'Waiting For The Stars' made the top 10 of my 2017 BJSC EOY countdown when I used to put those together. Rolloland's 'Routine' by Steven Wilson beat it to my 18 points. That song is gorgeous and has a stunning music video as well, which tipped it over the line for me. I still adore that entry but long term I've found that I go back to 'Waiting For The Stars' more than pretty much any other song sent to the contest. It's clear to see why this song would appeal to me so much as it calls back to the synth-pop music of the late '70s and '80s that I love. French producer Vitalic is also a huge fan of this era, with a penchant for Moog style disco bass and the epic voices of the new wave period. He also likes the appeal of imperfect music, so sometimes deliberately makes errors when sequencing drums, or programs sounds to be out of tune. His efforts resulted in a rippling, intergalactic Moroder-esque synth instrumental with a suitably shimmering music video to match. British singer David Shaw, under his project David Shaw and The Beat, tackles the vocals with new wave era flair. He adopts that cold, detached style that appeals to me so much but also has some natural emotive charm at the same time. The vocals during the chorus feel quite layered with the added backing vocoder effects and synth choir patch, providing an epic sound. The lyrics throughout channel anxiety about the future as the narrator desperately hopes the stars will align in the end. This song was featured in an advert for Peugeot SUV cars so might still be familiar to those who weren't in the BuzzJack Song Contest at the time for that reason. I embedded the Vitalic video via Vimeo as it's age restricted on YouTube. Feel free to check it out there instead but the lack of proper embed was bothering me

Nerina for the win!

+05 Olivia Rodrigo - the cure +04 Ashe - Stop The Wedding! +03 Sienna Spiro - Great Expectation +02 Ella Langley - Choosin’ Texas +01 ADÉLA - Nicole Kidman -01 Taylor Swift - Patient Zero -02 Taylor Swift - Babylon -03 Jamie Miller - Babydoll -04 Stella Lefty - Boston -05 Taylor Swift - Cleveland!

Oh wow, I had no idea and am so sorry to hear about your personal connections to the tragedy - I do apologise if this was at all triggering 🫂 sounds like you did some amazing, admirable work in the aftermath. Crazy to think that almost a decade has passed now. Understandable why 'no tears left to cry' would be a tough listen even if appreciating the song as a piece of music. I'm glad you made a good discovery out of 'Ellipsis'! They haven't released an album since that 2019 era but did put out an EP a few years ago which included a great collab with Slowdive's Rachel Goswell, called 'Vanity' 🖤

2010s Next up is the penultimate decade of the countdown (where is time going?!) that I entered as a 12-year-old and exited at 22, so quite the transitional period. Here we speed run through a lot of my memorable life stages - from the majority of secondary school, to two years of sixth form, to three years at University, before rounding off with a little over a year spent in the full-time working world. I was a majorly awkward teenager who found secondary school a challenge, with its societal pressures and some lessons I didn't care for, but I thrived a lot more in sixth form! My peers appeared to be more carefree, I loved specialising in the subjects I was passionate about and found a tight knit friendship group, so finally experienced a proper social life at this point. University was generally enjoyable and my journalism course took me down many interesting avenues, especially writing for a cat magazine! I left feeling quite lost about where to go next but wangled my way into a temporary, unexpected work situation that has ended up lasting a lot longer than planned. I entered the 2010s still as passionate about music as ever and stumbled across a certain website called BuzzJack! I joined in January 2011 so was just about old enough to become a member here as per the rules. My early posts were... a choice, often writing about the movement of Glee songs in the iTunes thread when nobody cared, as the show was already on the decline. I also started my personal chart this year albeit through the medium of YouTube videos. I assume I didn't realise there was a relevant section on BuzzJack as I only ever camped out in the chart forum at that time. But I finally moved them across to this site in 2013. I was more active across the whole of BuzzJack by this point and won a 'best emerging poster' award. But I didn't properly fall in love with this place until 2015, after joining a plug.dj session one night, as it had been advertised in The Lounge. This was an off-site platform we used to listen to music before SyncTube. I made a lot of connections with people this way as we used to spend so much time on the site playing whatever we wanted, often until ungodly hours. Fun times! I feel like those sessions and the BuzzJack Song Contest, which I finally signed up to that year despite originally being approached about it two years prior, had the most significance on expanding my music taste. Younger me was largely into pop and dance but I slowly found myself attracted to more alt music in time. I think this first began when I was really active on Tumblr during the early 2010s, as that site worshipped artists like Lana Del Rey, Lorde and The xx, so I found myself getting into them too. But BuzzJack took this newfound curiosity to the next level and you can really see the difference in my personal charts from the early 2010s compared to the end of the decade. I began the 2010s still buying new CD singles and downloading songs on to my iPod, but switched to curating playlists by the end of it. However, the decade did also produce the vinyl revival. I'd say it exploded properly during the pandemic but I first got the vinyl bug back in 2014, after receiving a record player for my 17th birthday. I worked at HMV between that year and 2015 and recall our selection being soooo small, so it was fascinating to watch the rebirth of the format slowly playing out in real time, as nowadays there is so much choice. On top of vinyl, I'd say another significant music interest this decade was concert going! I finally had student loan and proper adult money so could see many favourite acts from a range of genres. This included all sorts during the 2010s - from Spice Girls, to Kendrick Lamar, to The xx, to The Chemical Brothers. Good memories! The streaming era certainly shifted what the charts could look like. At the beginning of the decade it was fair game for £1 Fish Man to score a top 40 hit but by 2019 that kind of novelty was rare, especially in a culture more averse to 'cringe', save for a family obsessed with sausage rolls for some reason. All sorts of trends happened during the decade - from 'hands in the air' EDM, to stomp clap music, to tropical house, to cursive whispering girlies and so on. Let's get into the hit makers and more underground favourites that have stood the test of time for me in amongst all the fads... #10 Drab Majesty - 'Ellipsis' (2019) #09 Ariana Grande - 'no tears left to cry' (2018) The 2010s countdown begins on a pretty uncommercial note as darkwave band Drab Majesty have never appeared in the single or album charts, as far as I'm aware. This duo first came into my life through their track '39 By Design' taken from sophomore album The Demonstration. That song was released in late 2016 although I found it in 2017. I vividly remember discovering '39 By Design' on Twitter, back when it was useable. I followed a local girl on there who DJed and had pretty impeccable music taste. Her 'darkwave' description instantly piqued my interest so I checked out this song and loved it. I briefly considered it as a song contest potential but ultimately scrapped that idea as I didn't think it'd find an audience at the time. Fast forward to 2018 and I hosted the 10th edition of Nuggets. To my amazement, 'Dot in the Sky' by Drab Majesty, from the same album as '39 by Design' was sent! I vowed to pay more attention to this duo as I really enjoyed this song as well. The next year saw the release of third album Modern Mirror. I kept an eye on this project and charted lead single 'Ellipsis' but it didn't have a particularly spectacular run, which amazes me now. Leww's BJSC nation Aeroche ended up sending this song to the contest and won with it! By this point, 'Ellipsis' had grown on me more, receiving my 12 points. This was a good place to be in but it still needed time to blossom into an all-time favourite and I finally got there in the end, as it became an ultimate almighty post-contest grower... Drab Majesty consists of vocalist, guitarist and drummer Andrew Clinco, under his androgynous alter ego Deb Demure, in addition to keyboardist and vocalist Alex Nicolaou who goes by Mona D. The project was originally a Clinco solo endeavour that began in 2011, but Mona D joined 5 years later. Clinco decided to adopt the alter ego as he felt he was listening back to someone else. Third record Modern Mirror is an up to date interpretation of Ovid's myth of Narcissus. I apparently rather like this source material as I really enjoyed the groundbreaking '70s LGBTQ+ art house film Pink Narcissus too. 'Ellipsis' uses a phone screen as a modern version of Narcissus' pool, as a device where we obsess over and feel trapped in our digital personas. 'Ellipsis' focuses on the struggle of dating in the digital world. The title refers to the ellipsis that pops up when you're texting someone. "I watch you write" refers to waiting for that other person to reply, as the narrator observes the ellipsis appearing and disappearing, while the other party struggles to communicate. I think the "two modern minds won't say what they want to" lyric is particularly standout and evocative. Deb Demure delivers these words in pleasingly brooding fashion as ever. The uptempo, gloriously '80s darkwave instrumental that is dripping in reverb was also a huge selling point for me. I love the driving drums, lo-fi guitar sound and of course those synths. The pay off felt from the final chorus and instrumental outro after the build-up to that moment is incredible, what a rush. ... Next up is a far more well-known song and one of the best pop packages of the 21st century for me! My favourite Ariana song has changed a few times over the years but I'm confident it's 'no tears left to cry' now. I got the opportunity to see Ari live in London back in 2019 and her vocals were phenomenal in the flesh, with this song standing out as my overall favourite performance of the night. I'd been a casual fan as early as 2013 after a couple of school friends showed me 'The Way', a #41 $ma$h over here. She even followed me on Twitter around this time although (sensibly!) came off the platform years ago, so I no longer have proof of this, apart from a screenshot I took years ago. Third album Dangerous Woman became my favourite body of work from her overall, with the acclaimed thank u, next and eternal sunshine rounding out the trio. But the rather messy album sweetener produced a fantastic singles run nevertheless, with the lead 'no tears left to cry' starting off this project on an impressive note. May 22nd 2017 was a deeply tragic day, as 22 Ariana fans lost their lives in the Manchester terrorist attack that targeted one of her Dangerous Woman tour shows. I vividly remember this story unfolding on social media at the time. At first, it was speculated that a speaker had blown, but soon the blood-curdling reality of what had actually happened was revealed. This would be devastating in any circumstance but particularly struck a chord with communities like ours who live and breathe concerts, especially those seen as an LGBTQ+ safe space. It was difficult to process and deeply upsetting. At the same time, it was reassuring to watch social media being used for good, as some kind people in Manchester were offering places to stay or free taxi rides for those stranded. I couldn't even begin to imagine how the family and friends directly involved with those caught up in this horrific attack felt. Then there was Ariana herself. She unsurprisingly cancelled tour dates and initially laid low, dealing with the PTSD and depression that came with the trauma of the attack. But at just 23 years old she did something pretty remarkable and put together the One Love Manchester benefit concert. I watched this on TV at the time and began to appreciate her as a person more, in addition to her vocal talent, with a choked up rendition of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' especially moving me. She gained a lot of goodwill and her single 'One Last Time' even shot to #2 here. Both this and Oasis' 'Don't Look Back In Anger' became defining anthems for Manchester in the wake of this tragedy. Months passed and pop fans eagerly awaited Ariana's next move. 'no tears left to cry' would eventually be her musical statement and arrived in April 2018... I clearly remember the release of 'no tears left to cry' as it came out on the day I submitted my dissertation! Ari's first release post-Manchester could have gone in a number of directions but I think the end product was perfectly pitched. It's a triumphant message of strength as she's cried all the tears she wants to but is now ready to move forward positively, not wanting hate to win out. The inspirational, resilient message really lands and doesn't feel at all forced. The song starts out as a ballad but morphs into an upbeat sad banger, using Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' as the blueprint. The accompanying music video, where Ariana's world is turned upside down and ends with a nod to Manchester with a worker bee, is her best visual for me in addition to the song. That video version of 'no tears left to cry' starts with a choral introduction that I wish was on streaming! Ari effectively uses light and shade throughout, with conversational talk-speak verses and a soaring chorus that really shows off her power as a vocalist. The production was helmed by Max Martin and Ilya and also adds to the appeal. I particularly enjoy the unexpected shuffling U.K. garage influence on its sound, the dreamy synths throughout and stabby keyboards. It felt like new ground for an Ariana song and I've championed an ethereal soundscape for her ever since. In more recent years, 'we can't be friends (wait for your love)' and 'twilight zone' were both pretty effective returns to this kind of world for me. 'no tears left to cry' registered an impressive 74,290 units during its first week in the U.K. but was unlucky to run into the biggest song of the year, 'One Kiss' by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa, so had to settle for a #2 peak much like 'One Last Time'. Still, it went on to become the 10th best selling song of the year here and an Ariana classic.

I voted for these three: Rose Gray - Just Be Bodies Ninajirachi x Porter Robinson - WannaCry Tinashe - Melatonin

Two Spider Man adjacent silver certifications this week with 'Loser' and EoO'! The latter getting there is a nice silver lining after it didn't impact Spotify post-film like Tame Impala did. I guess the Super Bowl earlier this year helped it out too.