Gezza

YEAR: 1985 PEAK POSITION: 100 VOTER: AHGold- 21pts, Mango- 17pts, Jester- 13pts, Bjork- 11pts, Gezza- 7pts, Chartjack2- 3pts The duo’s lowest charting single of the 80s and 90s, this slipped in the bottom rung of the top 100- I think it’s very cheap video certainly didn’t help matters Clarke: “The good thing about the first few singles flopping was that it really brought us down to earth, well it brought me down to earth, and also it brought me and Andy together, made us much stronger”. dfO9Jd-Y1K8 9xCKUCxZeok

YEAR: 2005 PEAK POSITION: 15 VOTER: King Rollo- 20pts, Mango- 16pts, Bjork- 13pts, Dandy*- 5pts, JulianT- 4pts, AHGold- 2pts, Jimwatts- 2pts The duo’s final top 20 single in the UK. zjDLUFOY0h8

The rate results tell a different story.....

10TH APRIL It holds fast but yet again "Seven Tears" takes a dip sales wise down to a still healthy 87,000 taking it's overall sales to just over half a million and rises to No 6 in the YTD lists. It will all depend on the relative strength of the market next week as to who (if anyone) can prevent a fourth week at the top for Goombay Dance Band. o5gymHHV1Ew As we've mentioned the YTD chart here's the top 10 at the end of Quarter 1 1- THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT- Tight Fit 755,101 2- A TOWN CALLED MALICE/ PRECIOUS- The Jam 590,099 3- GOLDEN BROWN- The Stranglers 548,653 4- THE MODEL/ COMPUTER LOVE- Kraftwerk 514,257 5- OH JULIE- Shakin Stevens 511,083 6- SEVEN TEARS- Goombay Dance Band 500,687 7- LOVE PLUS ONE- Haircut 100 500,461 8- MICKEY- Toni Basil 485,852 9- THE LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE- Bucks Fizz 424,465 10- MAID OF ORLEANS- OMD 420,934 As you can see No's 4-8 are very tight on the YTD but Tight Fit are some way ahead of the field as they exit the top 10 this week. Due at the end of May is Roxy Music's next album "Avalon" which should follow in the footsteps of their last LP "Flesh And Blood" in 1980, and to promote it the lead single "More Than This" became their joint highest debuting single when it entered at No 18 last week (equalling 1980's "Over You"). This week it outperforms the latter single by doing one better and leaping to No 6 (51,000) it is also the follow up the half million selling single (and their first No 1 single) "Jealous Guy"- this should go on to do great things for the band and is their 10th top tenner in a career now a decade long. DasFNDmAYD8 Arriving 15-7 (48,000) this week is the 4th top 10 smash for David Van Day and Thereza Bazar, better known as Dollar. With the group still ensconced in the studio with Trevor Horn the album seems to be taking its time but the singles continue to flow as "Give Me Back My Heart" proves the group are on a roll. W4tHA_WVGaU Proving you can never really write off Leo Sayer he returns back to the top 10 today as he climbs 14-10 (39,000) with "Have You Ever Been In Love". Just like Roxy Music this is Sayer's tenth top 10 hit and is his first single since 1980's "More Than I Can Say". It's co-written by Peter Sinfield and Andy Hill, better known as the songwriters for Bucks Fizz, and is the lead track from his 9th album "World Radio" due next month. oCURaqTpJlA Talking of Bucks Fizz they leap 5-2 this week but belies the fact that the track is unlikely to make no 1 given that even with TOTP it only increases sales by 43% to 74,000 and could struggle next week. That was still enough to overcome Imagination who slip 2-3 (74,000) and lost runner up spot at the death, two climbers are shaping up nicely at No's 4 & 5- Chas & Dave move 7-4 (66,000) and Japan accelerate 9-5 (56,000). Two fallers to mention briefly, Derek & The Dominoes drop 4-8 (42,000) and Julio Iglesias can't make it two chart toppers in a row as he dives 3-9 (41,000) 1- SEVEN TEARS- Goombay Dance Band (87,000) 2- MY CAMERA NEVER LIES- Bucks Fizz (74,000) 3- JUST AN ILLUSION- Imagination (74,000) 4- AIN’T NO PLEASING YOU- Chas & Dave (66,000) 5- GHOSTS- Japan (56,000) 6- MORE THAN THIS- Roxy Music (51,000) 7- GIVE ME BACK MY HEART- Dollar (48,000) 8- LAYLA- Derek & The Dominoes (42,000) 9- QUIEREME MUCHO (YOURS)- Julio Iglesias (41,000) 10- HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE- Leo Sayer (39,000)

YEAR: 2007 PEAK POSITION: 21 VOTER: Popchartfreak- 20pts, Gezza- 13pts, Chartjack2- 12 pts, Dandy*- 8pts, Bjork- 4pts, Jimwatts- 1pt First single from “Light At The End Of The World” and was their last top 30 single. Clarke recalls “This is one of the few songs that existed in part before the Maine hotel room writing sessions. Before we started this album, I was really keen for it not to be mid-tempo—I'm having a mid-tempo crisis! Our albums seem to have got slower and slower, so I started searching for classic funk or disco bass lines, put some ideas together with chord changes and bass lines underneath, and emailed them to Andy for him to sing over the top. The song, like this album, is quite 'up' and uptempo because we're both in good spaces right now” It has two promos- one featuring the band in a supermarket and one made with fan submit short clips on the theme of falling in love. M51pKXP1i5Y LMVplKAIlcI

YEAR: 2003 PEAK POSITION: 10 VOTER: Popchartfreak- 13pts, King Rollo- 12pts, Jester- 11pts, Chartjack2- 8pts, Padamic Tension- 6pts The original concept for the album “Other People’s songs” was that it would be a solo Andy Bell album covering songs he’d always liked and doing predominately Phil Spector tracks turning them into gay love songs. In the end it morphed into an Erasure album. This was of course a cover of Peter Gabriel’s 1977 #13 hit for which the duo had to change the tempo to suit Bell’s vocals, it returned them to the top 10 for the first time in 9 years- so job done! yNwD2X3kjlk JZLPpKGzBYc

3RD APRIL "Seven Tears" is still atop of the charts this week but it's retreating sales wise almost immediately, it shifted a further 106,000 copies to bring the title's total to 413,000 after just 6 weeks, nothing to be sniffed at. Perhaps the fact that singles have increased by 10p affected sales? (that increase has been blamed on manufacturing picture discs which are increasingly popular by fans along with other gimmicks currently being employed by record labels to attract purchases). 57fsyyejKVs The Goombay Dance Band climb into the YTD top 10 which we'll reveal next week but they are still way behind Tight Fit who trip over 700,000 as it slides 2-6 (52,000). Also in the top 10 YTD are Bucks Fizz who are back in the weekly top 10 today with the follow up to "Land Of Make Believe" called "My Camera Never Lies". Debuting last week at No 33 it rockets to No 5 on a sale of 52,000 copies and becomes the second fastest selling single of their brief one year career so far naturally behind "Making Your Mind Up", their second album "Are You Ready" is due later this month and will contain both of their last two tracks. It seems the band are building on that initial Eurovision victory. QYDy4oSegNQ It's now been over a year since Chas & Dave scored their first top 10 hit with "Rabbit" but the wait is over as this week "Ain't No Pleasing You" jumps 14-7 (50,000) to beat their previous best chart position attained by the aforementioned "Rabbit" of No 8 in Jan 1981. V1bxWAFgV1I Knocking around since 1974 it took until 1980 for Japan to score their first hit single "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" (No 60) and now a further 2 years to score their first top 10 single "Ghosts" as it jolts 16-9 (43,000). The group have been garnering considerable press recently for their looks and presentation but there is clearly some good music on offer as well as we can see, the parent album "Tin Drum" peaked at No 12 upon release back in November but it re-climbs this week to No 13, tantalisingly close to re-peaking. oXQJ8f-HgZo Away from the new entries and Imagination are now within touching distance of that elusive No 1 spot with "Just An Illusion" climbing 4-2 (73,000) thanks to TOTP, and a similar story for Derek & The Dominoes as "Layla" leaps 7-4 (60,000). Julio Iglesias meanwhile stumbles at No 3 (70,000) without TOTP whilst ABC tumble 6-8 (44,000) and the Associates drop 9-10 (41,000) 1- SEVEN TEARS- Goombay Dance Band (106,000) 2- JUST AN ILLUSION- Imagination (73,000) 3- QUIEREME MUCHO (YOURS)- Julio Iglesias (70,000) 4- LAYLA- Derek & The Dominoes (60,000) 5- MY CAMERA NEVER LIES- Bucks Fizz (52,000) 6- THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT- Tight Fit (52,000) 7- AIN’T NO PLEASING YOU- Chas & Dave (50,000) 8- POISON ARROW- ABC (44,000) 9- GHOSTS- Japan (43,000) 10- PARTY FEARS II- The Associates (41,000)

YEAR: 1992 PEAK POSITION: 1 VOTER: Jester- 19pts, Chartjack2- 18pts, King Rollo- 7pts, Mango- 3pts 1975 Abba classic revamped for the “Abba-Esque EP”. Improved on the peak of the original (No 6) Clarke commented on the success of the EP “I’m really pleased with how it’s done but at the same time, for me, it’s not Erasure. It’s an aside, a bit of a laugh. We copied the arrangements pretty much as the originals, but there isn’t the same satisfaction, it’s not really us” QvR72DYtYHw OvDzOprkBTE

YEAR: 2005 PEAK POSITION: 25 VOTER: Bjork- 21pts, Mango- 10pts, Gezza- 8pts, Padamic Tension- 4pts Third release from “Nightbird” which at least kept their top 30 run intact. akdTCnuv574

27TH MARCH Just 7 weeks after Kraftwerk became the first West German band to make No 1 in the UK we now have a second West German act to make the books as Goombay Dance Band make the expected move 2-1 (119,000) and it's an easy victory for the band as well as they were clear from the off with little doubt that they would triumph. That of course means that Tight Fit relinquish the top spot but as they slide 1-2 (73,000) which brings their total to 674,000, easily now the biggest hit of the year, though it looks it won't be passing "Tainted Love" as the decade's biggest seller! ULqxiUK6kOs Although a long way off the top, history suggests not writing off Julio Iglesias just yet. His last single "Begin The Beguine" topped the charts for a week in December 1981, now follow up "Quiereme Mucho (Yours)" powers 12-3 (71,000) this week, the title translates as "Love Me Much" and it seems the UK public currently wants to indulge Iglesias- could he sneak another No 1? 9BviGACC7G8 Though only together for under 2 years Derek and The Dominoes produced one album in their time and from that the track "Layla" made No 7 in 1972. Co-written by Eric Clapton about his unrequited love for George Harrison's then wife Pattie Boyd it has gone on to become something of a classic and for proof Boyd and Clapton of course married in 1978, the re-issue this year is the full version not the heavily edited cut which was made into a single in 1972 and is used to promote the re-release of "Time Pieces- The Best of". Sb1qpuQoMxo Scottish pop is back this time courtesy of the Associates who have been knocking around since 1979 without troubling the charts but as they move onto Album No 3 "Sulk" due in May they find the magic bullet. "Party Fears II" this week floats 15-9 (46,000) for the northerners backed with an eccentric TOTP performance. fZSMDaewz2A Outside of the new entries there are climbers for Imagination 8-4 (58,000) and Adrian Gurvitz 10-8 (46,000) whilst ABC hold at No 6 (53,000), falling down the listings however are Toni Basil 3-5 (58,000) and Haircut 100 4-10 (43,000). 1- SEVEN TEARS- Goombay Dance Band (119,000) 2- THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT- Tight Fit (73,000) 3- QUIEREME MUCHO (YOURS)- Julio Iglesias (71,000) 4- JUST AN ILLUSION- Imagination (58,000) 5- MICKEY- Toni Basil (58,000) 6- POISON ARROW- ABC (53,000) 7- LAYLA- Derek & The Dominoes (47,000) 8- CLASSIC- Adrian Gurvitz (46,000) 9- PARTY FEARS TWO- The Associates (46,000) 10- LOVE PLUS ONE- Haircut 100 (43,000)

YEAR: 2007 PEAK POSITION: Did not chart VOTER: Dandy*- 15pts, Gezza- 11pts, King Rollo- 5pts Erasure’s first “flop” chart wise though Wiki says it peaked at 172!!- this was part of the “Storm Chaser EP” which again meant that CD single sales were not counted towards the chart so that may have been a factor. Bell commented “The riff in the song was amazing, it’s like an ABBA song for the riff alone” sxN_qNOmU5Y

YEAR: 2000 PEAK POSITION: Ineligible VOTER: Padamic Tension- 14pts, King Rollo- 10pts, Dandy*- 3pts Another single packaged into an EP which overran on timings to make it ineligible for the UK charts. It was heavily remixed from the album version. Originally the plan was that the second single would be “Alien” but in the end it was swapped out. O3p7BxvEYyc

You're quite right it was the Rapino brothers not brothers in rhythm!

The brothers in rhythm was the UK remix (the first version). The other version was the hit in the Europe, this was back in the day when records routinely got remixed for the UK market to be hits here

Baby I'm an addict..... Somewhere Des'ree was making notes...

20TH MARCH Another week at the top beckons for Tight Fit whose "Lion Sleeps Tonight" sells a further 94,000 copies last week, a still impressive total though the rest of the pack inch closer every week. The single is now the biggest selling of the year so far- and it's still No 1! XYnsn61aOnY Tight Fit will be hard pushed to make a fourth week as Goombay Dance Band broke through the ranks this week to spiral 8-2 (81,000) and could threaten for the top in 7 days time. After 3 top 20 hits Imagination are back with a new album "In The Heat Of The Night" which is due in a couple of months, lead single "Just An Illusion" this week charges 18-8 (41,000) to become their second top 10 hit for the colourful trio. bip_JuQpSwg Also returning to the top 10 is Adrian Gurvitz. Who? Well he was in the lead vocalist in the group Gun who scored a No 8 hit back in 1968 with "Race With The Devil", the group split some 12 years ago and Gurvitz has been involved with other groups but nothing of note chart wise, until recent hit "Classic" which this week soars 12-10 (38,000) . fiPYamC-zXg To make way for the Goombay Dance Band the rest of the top 5 all move back one spot, and all lose sales so can't really grumble, Toni Basil reneges 2-3 (80,000), Haircut 100 drop 3-4 (63,000) and Bananarama and Fun Boy Three recede 4-5 (57,000), to further note J Geils Band also drop 5-9 (40,000) on their way out. In amongst them all two climbers, ABC propel 10-6 (56,000) and Bow Wow Wow are right behind them 9-7 (51,000) 1- THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT- Tight Fit (94,000) 2- SEVEN TEARS- Goombay Dance Band (81,000) 3- MICKEY- Toni Basil (80,000) 4- LOVE PLUS ONE- Haircut 100 (63,000) 5- IT AINT WHAT YOU DO IT’S THE WAY THAT YOU DO IT- Fun Boy Three & Bananarama (57,000) 6- POISON ARROW- ABC (56,000) 7- GO WILD IN THE COUNTRY- Bow Wow Wow (51,000) 8- JUST AN ILLUSION- Imagination (41,000) 9- CENTERFOLD- J Geils Band (40,000) 10- CLASSIC- Adrian Gurvitz (38,000)

YEAR: 2014 PEAK POSITION: Did Not Chart VOTER: Gezza- 12pts, Popchartfreak- 11pts, Bjork- 3pts Released in the run up to Christmas that year but didn’t return them to the charts gPCec83QWNo

YEAR: 2003 PEAK POSITION: 14 VOTER: Chartjack2- 16pts, King Rollo- 4pts, Popchartfreak- 3pts, Padamic Tension- 2pts The duo’s version of the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel 70s chart topper served as the second single from “Other People’s Songs” album. Apparently it also appears in the first ever episode of comedy series “My Name Is Earl”. lbkmWb5bH-8 mh4SoXDcpso

13TH MARCH Tight Fit continue to impress at the No 1 spot selling a further 106,000 copies last week which brings its total sales to 507,000 copies, the third biggest hit of 1982 behind only the Stranglers and The Jam. The latter move to No 1 on the YTD list despite hurtling 3-11 on the weekly charts and also debut at No 1 on the album charts with "The Gift", it's the group's sixth album but their first chart topper- they certainly seem to be on a roll at present. WScEJKNMdgI Out of the top 6 only Toni Basil went without TOTP and it shows, the track held No 2 but loses 8,000 sales week on week to 88,000, it was still well clear of Haircut 100 who despite improving 4-3 lost sales as they register 69,000 buyers last week. Formed in 1975 Iron Maiden have been chart regulars since 1980, since when they have accrued 6 hit singles none peaking higher than No 29 but new single "Run To The Hills" finally provides them with their breakthrough single. Climbing 11-7 (49,000) it is the lead track to the bands third album "The Number Of The Beast" which is due next month and will be the first to feature new lead Vocalist Bruce Dickinson, they are also one of the foremost groups in the new wave of UK heavy metal which has undergone a resurgence in recent years. 86URGgqONvA Named after a small bay in St Lucia, Goombay Dance Band are up next with "Seven Tears" which this week accelerates 39-8 (47,000) as it becomes their first UK hit. The band are already a big name in Europe with their song "Sun Of Jamaica" topping charts all over the place in 1980. XMJohEuidvE How appropriate is this? In the week when Adam & The Ants rumours of a split swirl around ("Deutscher Girls" holds at No 13 and a rush released "Antmusic EP" arrives at No 60 as a farewell if true) Matthew Ashman, Leigh Gorman and David Barbarossa formerly of the band arrive in the top 10 along with Annabella Lwin as Bow Wow Wow. They were lured away from Adam Ant back in 1980 by Malcolm McLaren to form Bow Wow Wow and must have feared they had missed out on the big time until "Wild In The Country" which this week continues to expand 16-9 (43,000). It's their first release for RCA after EMI dropped the band after allegations of exploitation of lead singer Lwin along with the idea that their single "C30,C60, C90 Go" promoted home taping and thusly EMI refused to promote despite the fact it was the first single to be released on new format the Cassingle. That's all behind them now, interestingly it is their first release not to be produced Malcolm McLaren. Lw6Ofi-oMCM It's second time lucky for ABC whose debut single "Tears Are Not Enough" peaked at No 19 last year but go considerably better with "Poison Arrow" (15-10, 40,000) and is the precursor to their debut album which is due in the summer. This single is produced by Trevor Horn who has been working his magic on Dollar in recent months and revamped their fortunes, he's the man with the golden touch at present. N-L81YQyZ9c Elsewhere Bananarama and Fun Boy Three haven't stopped yet as they climb 6-4 (63,000) but it's illusionary in some respects as its sales are off, and neither have Depeche Mode who are northbound with "See You" (8-6, 54,000) meanwhile J Geils Band hold at No 5 on a sale of 59,000 thanks in the main to TOTP. 1- THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT- Tight Fit (106,000) 2- MICKEY- Toni Basil (88,000) 3- LOVE PLUS ONE- Haircut 100 (69,000) 4- IT AIN’T WHAT YOU DO IT’S THE WAY THAT YOU DO IT- Fun Boy Three & Bananarama (63,000) 5- CENTERFOLD- J Geils Band (59,000) 6- SEE YOU- Depeche Mode (54,000) 7- RUN TO THE HILLS- Iron Maiden (49,000) 8- SEVEN TEARS- Goombay Dance Band (47,000) 9- GO WILD IN THE COUNTRY- Bow Wow Wow (43,000) 10- POISON ARROW- ABC (40,000)

Decade break down of what's Left: 1980-13 1990- 17 2000-8 2010- 2 2020- 0

YEAR: 2011 PEAK POSITION: 172 VOTER: King Rollo- 15pts, AH Gold- 9pts, Gezza- 1pt First single in 4 years from the boys and lead track to “Tomorrow’s World”. It missed the charts showing that their fanbase had decreased substantially since they had been away. It was chosen as the lead single at the last moment over “You’ve Got To Save Me Right Now” as Bell stated “Usually we don't choose the singles, you kind of have an instinctive feeling sometimes. In this instance, "When I Start To (Break It All Down)" took over from "Save Me" because we thought the song had gone in the direction that sounded really good” Clarke: “When it started it was called “Tender” and it was loosely based on “Love Me Tender” by Elvis but it got mashed up into what it is now, to me it sounds more like Tears For Fears”. rW9mCHQW_yQ

YEAR: 2020 PEAK POSITION: Did not chart VOTER: Gezza- 20pts, JulianT- 3pts Second single from “The Neon”- Bell recalled about the promo “"This is my favourite track from the album, I am truly honoured that all our LGBTQIA+ friends were so creative during lockdown and helped us with this joyful video. Thanks for creating such a lovely piece of art!. It’s one of our best ever songs in the vein of “You Surround Me”- it has that rip roaring chorus which I love” Turns out this is our favourite Erasure single from the current decade! A8NqwW0hJ9w

YEAR: 2000 PEAK POSITION: 27 VOTER: AH Gold- 14pts, Bjork- 8pts First Erasure single produced by the legendary Flood, it was lead single to their 9th album “Loveboat” and first release in over 3 years yet still missed the top 20. EKwP5eIku7Y

10TH AUGUST Another week when the charts didn’t quite go as expected. It did turn into a battle between the incumbent chart topper from the Spice Girls and the new debut release by former Take That member Robbie Williams, but whereas former bandmate Gary Barlow grabbed a week at the top before the Spice Girls took over, Williams can’t quite manage to bookend them and has to settle for No 2. That of course means a third week at No 1 for “Wannabe” whose sales are off a mere 3% to 148,000 bringing its total to 483,000 after its first month on sale and should be in the YTD top 10 by next week. gJLIiF15wjQ So onto that new Robbie Williams which is of course a cover of George Michael’s “Freedom 90” which peaked at No 28 back in 1990, thematically discussing his days with Wham! and his need to change and break free from his old image, it is obviously something that Williams can relate to. Williams has of course been at pains to distance himself from Take That with various attacks on the work of his old band and on lead singer Gary Barlow which the media have had a field day with. Time to justify the hype now and in truth it was an almighty battle with “Freedom” chasing “Wannabe” all the way tracking it like for like although it faded a little to 146,000 copies in the end- substantively more than “Forever Love” which is some bragging rights for Robbie I guess. By the way Barlow departs the top 10 after just 3 weeks- the only song to make No 1 and spend less weeks in the top 10 was Queen's "Innuendo" which went 1-2-12 in 1991. y0G-H8rWxEs Suede’s first album with Bernard Butler is almost ready and primed to go and that means a lead single and here it is with “Trash” straight in at No 3 (86,000) tying it with “Stay Together” as their biggest hit, though of course the current single is by far their biggest weekly sale ever. Third album “Coming Up” is out next month, this is the band’s third top 10 single. d3-cOZfXsuw Dodgy’s last 6 singles have all peaked higher than the previous one, an enviable track record in this day and age and is crowned by new single “Good Enough” powering in at No 4 (77,000). NjU2lKxhZP0 Already an 8 week chart topper in the US, “Tha Crossroads” is the second UK hit for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony following “1st Of The Month” which made No 32 last year. Written for and in memory of the group’s former mentor Easy Z (formerly of NWA) Who died last year, the song comes with a rather poignant video showing the figure of death collecting souls, it may not top the UK charts but is new at No 8 (27,000). qMFwxe5bH7E Los Del Rio fall back 4-5 (59,000) despite a healthy 52% sales increase but is pushed down by the weight of all those new entries. Old hits that ease down the charts are the now deleted Fugees 2-6 (34,000), Peter Andre 3-7 (30,000), Underworld 6-9 (24,000) and Wink 8-10 (21,000). 1- WANNABE- Spice Girls (148,000) 2- FREEDOM- Robbie Williams (146,000) 3- TRASH- Suede (86,000) 4- GOOD ENOUGH- Dodgy (77,000) 5- MACARENA- Los Del Rio (59,000) 6- KILLING ME SOFTLY- The Fugees (34,000) 7- MYSTERIOUS GIRL- Peter Andre (30,000) 8- THA CROSSROADS- Bone Thugs N Harmony (27,000) 9- BORN SLIPPY- Underworld (24,000) 10- HIGHER STATE OF CONCIOUSNESS 96 REMIX- Wink (21,000)