John_Squire

Hasn't Where Is The Love sold more than 635k? IIRC it was over 600k in 2003 alone (623k?), and must have sold over 35k in nearly 7 years.

Strangers In The Night ain't bad, one of Frank's best IMO...

Simon and Garfunkel - BOTW isn't bad by any means, though; I guess they just deserved more #1s (certainly Mrs. Robinson and The Boxer are worthy and probably better than BOTW.) edited out non retro referances

How wrong I was. Hope it stays in the top 40 though and fingers crossed for top 30.

Kate Nash drops :o

Probably peak between 8 and 12 but then drop like a stone, like 'On A Mission' did (OK, not a McFly-style drop, but an early Noughties pop one)

DJ Deekline - I Don't Smoke

I don't think so. Wonder if some of the Haiti single profits could go towards it though?

Possibly very low top 10, I'll say #10. But more realistically 15-20, about #18.

It's good but there are better big, overblown 80s songs that need reviving! I suppose 'DSB' deserves it somewhat having never been a hit, but I'm glad it didn't make #1.

Top 5, but I doubt #1. Maybe #3.

I think 2010 will not differ much from 2009 on the albums front. 5-10% up or down, possibly up if the recession gets better! Probably down though, but not by much at all. Singles too will be similar, don't know if any artists will dominate like GaGa or BEPs did last year, so I don't really expect a million-seller (though those two acts should both pass a million with 2009 singles)

I want to dislike 'Riverside' but I can't, it's infectious. 'Replay' on the other hand is absolutely $h!te, terrible. Awful first new #1 of 2010.

Top 3 definitely. It's alright, it's like Hello Goodbye 'Here In Your Arms' but better. Doubt it'll be a highlight of the year for me though...

I think Marina has a shot at top 5, she's so hyped. Maybe #2, but I doubt it'd do number 1, it probably won't sell over 40k in a week. Florence couldn't go top 10 after all, despite her hype; I think Marina will do better on albums (possible #1 there).

Camera Obscura - French Navy. They may have broken through with the album, but that was a killer first single, yet it got to IIRC 141.

I don't think having the show recorded on Christmas Day would be that much of a problem! There would be plenty of people eager to work on it regardless of day. The audience may not want to give up Xmas, granted, so I could see the audience being largely made up of friends/family/distant associates of the finalists, plus (if it's allowed) paid audience members too.

Anyone got Last Christmas' actual (or to nearest thousand) for its biggest week at #2? Wasn't it #2 for at least a couple of weeks, maybe 3? It sold about 1.3m IIRC, Joe won't get anywhere near that (even if he makes #1 which I think he will pretty soon)

Should be a lot higher! It would be nice to see Thea go top 75 again.

Did Eternal ever have a single that sold as well as 'Whole Again'? I'm not sure but didn't 'I Wanna Be The Only One' sell 700-800k, where Whole Again sold IIRC 940k+.

Edit: Why Christmas songs are falling. ^ Because everyone downloaded them in 2004, and 05, and 06, and 07, and 08... It's a shame the public never got the Pogues to number 1 :( How much have they sold since 2005, 300k?

400k max, but I'm probably wrong.

Alexandra best, Shayne worst.

Something more Christmassy would be more apt than RATM, but I'm happy if it gets the #1 (which it won't) People shouldn't be so defensive about the X-Factor, etc. The show itself IS good, and produces good singers (though never good first singles for the winners - Shayne's, Leona's and Leon's being crap, Alexandra's being the best and her version of Hallelujah isn't brilliant, just OK). What's a pile of crap is that it's practically guaranteed the #1 Christmas (and New Year) single spot. The only way the X-Factor winner wouldn't get the Xmas #1 is if a massive charity single was out - like Band Aid 20 and I'm not even sure if that would stop the winner nowadays, X-Factor seems a hell of a lot more popular than it did five years ago. Simon Cowell associated acts being practically guaranteed success is no more cynical or depressing than any big marketing machine driving a new act into the market, then ruthlessly dropping them. Think of the many boy- and girl-groups in the late 90s/early 00s who had a hit or two the were dropped. Hell, even go as far back as the Monkees for manufactured acts with 'instant' success. The major problem I have with the winners is that the show doesn't seem to try hard enough. Each and every year they produce a lukewarm ballad, inferior to the original version if it's a cover. (Not sure if Shayne's was a cover but it was awful anyway) 'Hallelujah' is a brilliant song, yet Alexandra's, though quite good, wasn't the best version in the charts last Christmas. Now we have a cover of an alright song which, in my opinion, is just another lukewarm ballad. Joe seems like a nice guy but he won't have a major mainstream pop career for long if his team give him songs like 'The Climb' all the time. Simon, Louis, and whoever else runs the show obviously have contacts with great songwriters. Diane Warren? Xenomania? Cathy Dennis? If they have acts like George Michael and Macca performing it surely can't be too hard to get great stars to write the bloody winning song! How hard would it be to craft an original, possibly up- or at least mid-tempo, or even Christmassy song? If the winner's song is picked long before the final, to make it fair, etc, then they could stop being so f***ing complacent! Does Simon actually enjoy listening to the music that the winners produce? If the argument is that it would take too long to do, or that it may not suit the winner's voice, then: produce more than one new song. Not hard! You've got a whole year! Additionally: $h!t videos! If you watch the show, you've seen their original audition and the 'journey' to the final loads of times, if not, there's Youtube! Make a half decent video even if it's a bit cliched, not simple standing interspersed with old footage!!!

'Innocent' is probably my favourite single of theirs for a while. Certainly the best since Superman. They've gone downhill a bit I guess (though tbh the 2001-3 period had some stinkers amongst the good songs, whereas 2005 was damn good) but didn't deserve to flop as badly with this album.