richie

Ha ha! No, their dominance in the latter half is one reason why I found it pretty difficult to get even my shortlist over 50!

Just 14 - caught out by a few tricks and some of the more recent things. Bing Crosby's White Christmas is technically a bigger seller than Wham! though isn't it? It's just it sold most copies before the charts began so they're not really counted?

It was a superb decade - nearly all my favourite songs come from it. They just tended to be further down the chart. I think I had a bit of trouble doing a top 50 of the 80s and 70s chart toppers too.

+40 Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine - After The Wastershed (Early Learning the Hard Way) +39 Ash - Girl From Mars +38 Frank & Walters - After All +37 SL2 - DJs Take Control/Way In My Brain +36 Super Furry Animals - Northern Lites +35 Primal Scream - Dixie-Narco (EP) +34 Orbital - The Box +33 Prodigy - Fire/Jericho +32 Silver Bullet - 20 Seconds To Comply +31 Nirvana - Lithium +30 Levellers - 15 Years (EP) +29 Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm +28 Erasure - Star +27 CJ Bolland - Sugar Is Sweeter +26 Massive Attack - Risingson +25 Monaco - What Do You Want From Me +24 Blur - Coffee + TV +23 Oasis - Shakermaker +22 All Seeing I - Beat Goes On +21 Del Amitri - Nothing Ever Happens +20 Stone Roses - Ten Storey Love Song +19 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Feat Kylie Minogue - Where The Wild Roses Grow +18 Supergrass - Pumping On Your Stereo +17 Space - Neighbourhood +16 R.E.M - Drive +15 Prodigy - Wind It Up (Rewound) +14 Shampoo - Trouble +13 Maureen - Thinking Of You +12 Dodgy - If You're Thinking Of Me +11 INXS - Suicide Blonde +10 Lenny Kravitz - It Ain't Over Til It's Over +09 Cathy Dennis - Waterloo Sunset +08 Simply Red - Something Got Me Started +07 Skunk Anansie - Brazen (Weep) +06 Catatonia - Strange Glue +05 Brainbug - Nightmare +04 Placebo - Every You Every Me +03 Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore +02 2 Unlimited - The Magic Friend +01 Felix - It Will Make Me Crazy

+50 The KLF & The Children Of The Revolution - 3AM Eternal +49 Adamski - Killer +48 Vic Reeves & The Wonder Stuff - Dizzy +47 The Prodigy - Firestarter +46 Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me +45 England & New Order - World In Motion +44 Blur - Beetlebum +43 Snap! - The Power +42 The Shamen - Ebeneezer Goode +41 The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats +40 Oasis - Some Might Say +39 Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha +38 The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun +37 Charles & Eddie - Would I Lie To You? +36 The Prodigy - Breathe +35 The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go? * +34 Fatboy Slim - Praise You +33 Enigma - Sadness Part 1 +32 Madonna - Vogue +31 Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy +30 Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U +29 Mr. Oizo - Flat Beat +28 Shaggy - Oh Carolina +27 Erasure - Abba-Esque EP +26 White Town - Your Woman +25 Iron Maiden - Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter +24 Coolio & LV - Gangsta's Paradise +23 Right Said Fred - Deeply Dippy +22 The Steve Miller Band - The Joker +21 Blondie - Maria +20 The Beautiful South - A Little Time +19 The Bluebells - Young At Heart +18 Tasmin Archer - Sleeping Satellite +17 Chaka Demus & Pliers - Twist And Shout +16 DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince - Boom Shake The Room +15 Queen - Innuendo +14 Doop - Doop +13 Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby +12 Pato Banton - Baby Come Back +11 2 Unlimited - No Limit +10 Ace Of Base - All That She Wants +09 D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better +08 Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer +07 Hale & Pace - The Stonk +06 Olive - You're Not Alone +05 Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds - Three Lions +04 The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) +03 Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack +02 Madonna - Frozen +01 The Simpsons - Do The Bartman * - awarded less points than usual as it was a re-issue. Difficult to find 50 decent number ones in the 90s.

Found it! 1st October 1981 with Mike Read as host! Hooray for the UKIP fascist!

That's interesting. 1981 was the year I first saw Top of the Pops. The episode I saw definitely had Adam and the Ants at number one with Prince Charmng and quite possibly had Ottawan doing Hands Up and The Tweets doing their Birdie Song. Anyone know if that episode has been Yewtreed?

Heh heh, I'm sure I could listen to Slade, Mike Oldfield, Johnny Mathis, Greg Lake and Jona Lewie ten times a day until Christmas. The campaign (and the madness) starts here!

Yeah, not sure who first started the two CD single deal. A few indie bands before then had done gatefold CDs with one CD available one week and the second the next - Thousand Yard Stare, Inspiral Carpets and The Wonder Stuff spring to mind. But I can't remember anyone putting two out in the same week until Blur with Country House (or indeed three in one week in 1996 from Rocket From The Crypt's On a Rope) Anyway, that's way off topic for dance. Let's hope the next entry in the countdown is a goodie :)

Was looking at the chart run down and couldn't understand why Lennon fell the week after he died...then, of course, they couldn't get the records out into the shops in time until the following week.

I'll be streaming Slade all day long on Christmas Eve then :D

and I absolutely hated Dreamer back then and still do. I might have been sore that it knocked Some Might Say off the top as I was a big Oasis fan at the time, but even without that I couldn't listen to it. I always thought the spate of straight to number ones was a mix of having two CD singles out at £1.99 in the first week compared to £3.99 for all other existing chart CDs. But it's probably a mixture of things.

Long time guilty pleasure with me - mainly as I love the Johnny Mathis song they sampled.

Yep, no complaints here - and good to have a Christmas song in there (although you could say that about Chris De Burgh in the 80s one!)

It's not the number of gold medals he's won, it's the quality of them. Not to take anything away from Britain's rowers and cyclists, but Olympic and World track and field is still one of the most prestigious disciplines out there...unless I'm deluded and support for athletics has dwindled globally (try telling people in Africa that). Farah has won the 5000 and 10000 double (itself a very, very rare achievement) FIVE times at the following: Olympic Games World Championships (twice) European Championships (twice) That marks him out as Britain's greatest athlete in terms of dominance in the INCREDIBLY difficult field of middle distance. Regardless of whether those came with world records. Besides, records at this distance just aren't broken very often. Kenenisa Bekele slashed two seconds off Gebrselassie's 5000m record in 2004 which itself had stood since 1998 and over two races took five seconds off Gebrselassie's 10000m in 2004 and 2005. These are records like Jonathan Edwards' which are going to stand for a long time. It doesn't make Farah's dominance any less impressive though. That said, he didn't even place in 2013 when he won his last World double so he probably won't get anywhere this year either. People tend to have favourite sports, so only some will vote for athletics at all and Jessica Ennis is more popular with the public (I think that's why he also didn't place in 2012)

Hooray for the Toy Dolls! One of the best records to come out of Sunderland - Futureheads and Kenickie probably making up all the rest!

Arab Strap - The Girls of Summer Arab Strap - Here We Go Arab Strap - Afternoon Soaps Arab Strap - Love Detective Carter USM - Bloodsport for All Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Kill Your Television Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Until You Find Out Flowered Up - Phobia Paris Angels - Perfume Cud - Oh No Won't Do Sultans of Ping FC - Where's Me Jumper? Suede - The Drowners Sabres of Paradise - Wilmot Urusei Yatsura - Strategic Hamlets Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Diamond Dew Happy Mondays - Lazyitis Teenage Fanclub - Star Sign Teenage Fanclub - The Concept

That's just mad.

I should be grateful that Pulp's worst ever song didn't make it.

(I Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection by Nelson was a number 1 hit in the USA but didn't chart in the UK. This is because it was awful and the band was basically made up of two Pat Sharpe look-a-likes.

He looks like his Mum has combed / cut his hair.

Mo Farah has achieved more than any other British athlete ever. If he doesn't win the BBC award then I don't know what on earth he has to do.

What is with the names of acts these days? I'd kill for a definite article somewhere.

Isn't that what he looks like?

:huh: