Popchartfreak

18 (41) BACK STABBERS - The O'Jays Another classic I loved at the time and still bloody love even more, what a classic Philadelphia production, great lyrics, Back Stabbers is as eternally relevant as a message for a song as it has always been (in general terms, even if this is strictly about girlfriend-stealers, I have always seen it as a general message for life where some people are concerned). This hit was also the announcement of the arrival of two song-writing teams that would drop classic after soul classic in the 70's - Leon Huff of Gamble & Huff (the producers/main songwriter/owners of Philadelphia International), and Mcfadden/Whitehead who would end the decade with their own classic soul hit as artists as well as songwriters. As for The O'Jays, Gamble & Hugg rescued them from a decade of underwhelming recordings and launched them properly with Back Stabbers, the trio were among the top soul/harmony vocalists who were equally fabulous in solo vocal spots, on this record Eddie Levert and Walter Williams are basically sharing lead vocal duties with back-up from 3rd member William Powell and assorted others. William tragically died aged only 35 in 1977 from cancer. Eddie and Walter have kept on going, though sadly not as a recording act beyond the 80's - though Eddie's kids had hits as Levert. I really can't pick between Eddie and Walter's vocals here, both are amazing singers. What could be better than opening your hit career with a classic - see the late Angie Stone's sample for her great I Wish I Didn't Miss You in the early 2000's - would be to have another classic ready and waiting. No, not the follow-up, 992 Arguments (that's 123 in the list), the one that's on the album that they held back for 1973 single release. That will be popping up here, as year of release.

19 (15) SOLID GOLD EASY ACTION - T.Rex Marc Bolan had been the top singles popstar for 2 years as this gem of Glamrock single popped out just before Christmas of 1972. My family had just moved house - down the road at RAF Swinderby from a 2-bedroom house to a 3-bedroom as one became available, so I didnt have to share with my brother anymore and Marc Bolan helped get the family record-player into my bedroom as Solid Gold Easy Action was too much for my dad to sit through, along with The Jean Genie (Bowie). Mum told me to take it upstairs to avoid arguments. Result! I actually bought this at the same time as I bought Happy Xmas (War Is Over) from John Lennon & Yoko Ono, and I was gutted that I had had to deal with the loss of 2 pop heroes within 8 years, and I have bizarrely found myself at the scene of both of their deaths years later, both of them unplanned - Marc's in Putney, a suburb in London where some comic-book-store owner friends ran a comic shop I visited frequently, and John's at the Dakota Building where 2 friends of mine and I were just walking to Central Park. I crossed the road, I think, to avoid it as much as I could. Back to the record, though, I hadnt loved Children Of The Revolution and Telegram Sam quite as much as previous T.Rex singles (58 and 109 respectively on this list) but this one I raved on, exciting and manic, Hey! Hey! Hey! Clap, clap, clap and rousing guitar, chanting, Bolan at his best again. Annoyingly, Kimmy Osmond kept this from hitting the number one spot, I feel deprived! But there's one more T.Rex still to come in 1972...

20 (82) YOU'LL ALWAYS BE A FRIEND - Hot Chocolate In the early days of Hot Chocolate co-songwriter Tony Wilson was the lead vocalist, and singles like Love Is Life and I Believe (In Love) bring back gushing waves of love and nostalgia for me, I absolutely-bloody-loved Hot Chocolate (and this stayed throughout their recording career), and a lot of that is down to the songs with co-writer and future frontman Errol Brown, who gave the band a winning focus as they moved more into soul and funk and hit the heights in the USA, bald-head and moustache and all. For me, though, I find Tony Wilson's vocals effortlessly emotive and sweetly-sad. You'll Always Be A Friend was supposedly written for a band member saying goodbye - as Tony Wilson ironically would in 1975, having been sidelined by producer Mickie Most as frontman just ahead of the monster hit that is You Sexy Thing - and I always found it touching. The percussive shuffle was essentially Love Is Life part 3, I Believe In Love being part 2, in terms of sound and mood, and all 3 remain huge faves - notably obvious here as it was my 82nd fave hit at the time, and I love it all the more these days as I get increasingly more sentimental with age. I wish Tony Wilson had stayed with Hot Chocolate, much as I loved some later hits as much as these, if only for the odd chance of more vocals from Tony and more royalties for him as co-writer, and me not liking to see people fall out and leave bands.

Kylie's Hand On Your Heart is a good SAW single, whether it's better than It's No Secret...hmmm probably not! Ferry Cross The Mersey was for a good cause so prob should have taken priority. Requiem was a great single, bordering on cheese, but a fine cheese. A bit of a sad title for the lads these days. Always had time for Natalie Cole, but not a great fan of Miss You Like Crazy, a bit dull. Carole King would have done a better tune for the lyric. Beds Are Burning is another that I charted first-time round, so I was glad to see it a hit at last. Chaka Khan, classic original, not sure if the remix was an improvement but I still liked it. I Want It All, I wasnt that bothered with, Queen treading water I thought, though I didn't dislike it as such (pretty much everything they released made my charts).

1 1 1 5 LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN - Justin Hayward & Mike Batt 487600 2 2 2 3 SHINE - Mondo Cozmo 247100 3 3 1 5 SUNSET BLVD - Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco 368900 4 4 4 7 KEEP THE FAITH - Armin van Buuren & Bon Jovi 307000 5 8 5 8 REVOLUTION - Mans Zelmerlow 262550 6 7 6 5 SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN - Avalan Rokston 134550 7 11 7 4 I GOT YOU - Split Enz 124750 8 24 8 5 HOW BAD DO U WANT ME - Lady Gaga 91500 9 5 1 10 ORDINARY - Alex Warren 1011400 10 6 2 12 CONTROL OF ME - Topic x Daecolm 629400 11 9 1 15 THE PROUD ONE - The Osmonds 1092000 12 10 7 10 ANDY (A GUY LIKE YOU) - The Waterboys 276950 13 17 13 10 ABRADACABRA - Lady Gaga 184650 14 20 14 6 BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - David Guetta & Sia 95750 15 16 15 6 LOVE IS LOVE - Kim Wilde 112250 16 12 2 13 PINK PONY CLUB - Chappell Roan 589400 17 15 5 9 BUSY WOMAN - Sabrina Carpenter 323900 18 13 4 11 AS TEARS GO BY - Marianne Faithfull 357150 19 31 19 8 KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG - Roberta Flack 103350 20 14 8 9 HALO - KEiiNO 194500 21 18 10 12 BORN WITH A BROKEN HEART - Damiano David 292550 22 22 17 7 THE WAY I ARE - Don Diablo 120150 23 25 23 4 WHITE LIES - Sam Ryder 59800 24 33 24 7 MARIAH CAREY THROUGH DEATH VALLEY - Blossoms 92200 25 26 25 8 TURN AROUND - The Lottery Winners 128800 26 42 26 2 ATOMIC - Blondie 32250 27 35 27 6 SORROW REPLACED - Kim Wilde featuring Midge Ure 67500 28 19 7 10 WEIGHT OF DESIRE - Tennis 261100 29 27 1 12 HAMMER TO THE HEART - Teddy Swims 816350 30 37 30 5 IT’S NOT RIGHT BUT IT’S OK - Felix Jaehn & Whitney Houston 66000 31 45 31 2 GOOD BOYS - Blondie 30900 32 32 32 6 TURN UP YOUR RADIO - Deacon Blue featuring Lorraine McIntosh 86350 33 30 1 22 LATE NIGHT PHONE CALL - Reverend And The Makers 1500750 34 21 16 11 FANCY - Artemas 219450 35 NEW 35 1 SPIKE ISLAND - Pulp 17500 36 36 5 11 CHASING PARADISE - Kygo & OneRepublic 397000 37 47 37 6 CONFESSION - Louise 56600 38 77 38 2 END OF THE WORLD - Miley Cyrus 21800 39 29 8 16 BEAUTIFUL THAT WAY - Miley Cyrus & Andrew Wyatt 381600 40 48 40 7 TIL A MAWNIN - Shaggy featuring Sting 67350

13th April 2025 It's 2 weeks on top for the evocative song for bygone Northern UK days, or as I see it, images of my childhood in a poor coal-mining town in an orchestral/brass band cover of a great nostalgic 80's song that got nicked as a dance anthem. Lady Gaga meanwhile leapfrogs her own Abracadabra, with what surely must be an obvious next single, into the top 10 for a second one of this decade. Pulp make a comeback, unexpectedly out of the blue, with the great Spike Island, referencing the 90's culture good ol' days, to give them a first chart entry with new material in 23 years, and extends their chart run to 31 years, and including a number one for Common People. Debbii Dawson returns for a second chart hit, the rather fab You Killed The Music at 62, just ahead of Ed Sheeran's new Azizam, a change of musical direction that's a blessed relief to me - his 19th chart entry as lead artist being considerably less than his UK official chart totals, his first for 3 years, but not including a batch of features he's done. Ed has had 3 top 10's, Sing, Shape Of You, and The Joker & The Queen with Taylor Swift, and only 5 top 20's including those three. That explains why I struggle to remember his huge hits in pub quizzes. Pete Tong grabs a second track on the list as Apocalypse drops in at 65, a world away from DJ presenting duties on a great cool dance version of a Cigarette After Sex track, and 8 years of charting for Pete in my chart world. Jonas Brothers new pop track finally earworms into my brain, and extends their chart run to 17 years, most of them since 2019 as grown-ups. D4vd's Feel It is from a TV show I watch, the very gory Invincible animated dark Super-hero show. Great cast and animation though and the song is good. Robin Schulz meanwhile is on an 11th year of chart-spanning with a new club track. Shaboozey teams up with Myles Smith for a double catchy chart-attack on Blink Twice, both on their 3rd entry, and we have two welcome veteran comebacks: A Flock Of Seagulls last bothered my charts with new stuff a whopping 40 years ago, and the now-non-bequiffed main man is back again with the good Lovers & Strangers for a pleasing 43 years of chart hits. The USA has kept them going on tours, while in the UK Turin Brakes have been playing live (and they are excellent, off to see the next one too) in smaller venues, and their new single ahead of the new album drops in: The Message is very nice, and 7 years on from their previous chart entry. The band has been knocking around my charts for 24 years including 3 top 10's. Quality. 1 1 1 5 LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN - Justin Hayward & Mike Batt 487600 2 2 2 3 SHINE - Mondo Cozmo 247100 3 3 1 5 SUNSET BLVD - Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco 368900 4 4 4 7 KEEP THE FAITH - Armin van Buuren & Bon Jovi 307000 5 8 5 8 REVOLUTION - Mans Zelmerlow 262550 6 7 6 5 SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN - Avalan Rokston 134550 7 11 7 4 I GOT YOU - Split Enz 124750 8 24 8 5 HOW BAD DO U WANT ME - Lady Gaga 91500 9 5 1 10 ORDINARY - Alex Warren 1011400 10 6 2 12 CONTROL OF ME - Topic x Daecolm 629400 11 9 1 15 THE PROUD ONE - The Osmonds 1092000 12 10 7 10 ANDY (A GUY LIKE YOU) - The Waterboys 276950 13 17 13 10 ABRADACABRA - Lady Gaga 184650 14 20 14 6 BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - David Guetta & Sia 95750 15 16 15 6 LOVE IS LOVE - Kim Wilde 112250 16 12 2 13 PINK PONY CLUB - Chappell Roan 589400 17 15 5 9 BUSY WOMAN - Sabrina Carpenter 323900 18 13 4 11 AS TEARS GO BY - Marianne Faithfull 357150 19 31 19 8 KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG - Roberta Flack 103350 20 14 8 9 HALO - KEiiNO 194500 21 18 10 12 BORN WITH A BROKEN HEART - Damiano David 292550 22 22 17 7 THE WAY I ARE - Don Diablo 120150 23 25 23 4 WHITE LIES - Sam Ryder 59800 24 33 24 7 MARIAH CAREY THROUGH DEATH VALLEY - Blossoms 92200 25 26 25 8 TURN AROUND - The Lottery Winners 128800 26 42 26 2 ATOMIC - Blondie 32250 27 35 27 6 SORROW REPLACED - Kim Wilde featuring Midge Ure 67500 28 19 7 10 WEIGHT OF DESIRE - Tennis 261100 29 27 1 12 HAMMER TO THE HEART - Teddy Swims 816350 30 37 30 5 IT’S NOT RIGHT BUT IT’S OK - Felix Jaehn & Whitney Houston 66000 31 45 31 2 GOOD BOYS - Blondie 30900 32 32 32 6 TURN UP YOUR RADIO - Deacon Blue featuring Lorraine McIntosh 86350 33 30 1 22 LATE NIGHT PHONE CALL - Reverend And The Makers 1500750 34 21 16 11 FANCY - Artemas 219450 35 NEW 35 1 SPIKE ISLAND - Pulp 17500 36 36 5 11 CHASING PARADISE - Kygo & OneRepublic 397000 37 47 37 6 CONFESSION - Louise 56600 38 77 38 2 END OF THE WORLD - Miley Cyrus 21800 39 29 8 16 BEAUTIFUL THAT WAY - Miley Cyrus & Andrew Wyatt 381600 40 48 40 7 TIL A MAWNIN - Shaggy featuring Sting 67350 41 39 1 22 PEOPLE WATCHING - Sam Fender 749000 42 53 42 4 SORRY I’M HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE - Benson Boone 36700 43 28 28 10 SOMEBODY’S SON - Empire Of The Sun featuring Lindsey Buckingham 118400 44 50 44 6 LOVE COMES QUICKLY (LIVE AT THE ROYAL ARENA COPENHAGEN 2023) - Pet Shop Boys 58500 45 23 18 15 LOVE ME FOR A REASON - The Osmonds 196900 46 43 43 6 CAFE DEL MAR - Pete Tong & Jules Buckley & The Essential Orchestra 60250 47 41 7 22 ALL YOUR FAULT - Gwen Stefani 457550 48 69 48 2 ALL I KNOW - Rudimental x Khalid 18500 49 68 49 3 RAGDOLL - The Lottery Winners featuring Chad Kroeger 24100 50 34 11 13 NO BAD VIBES - Jazzy & KILIMANJARO 267900 51 51 51 4 STEREOQUEEN - Stela Cole 36700 52 54 52 3 SOAK UP THE SUN (SURF MESA REMIX) - Sheryl Crow 27300 53 55 53 3 STILL BAD - Lizzo 27850 54 40 10 12 A TEAR IN SPACE (AIRLOCK) - Glass Animals 309000 55 56 55 6 HIGHER - Tom Speight 48400 56 59 56 5 LOUD! - Chesney Hawkes 37400 57 60 57 3 RELENTLESS LOVE - Sophie Ellis-Bextor 36800 58 44 2 11 WHO I AM - Alan Walker featuring Putri Ariana & Peder Elias 360500 59 63 59 2 HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE - Blondie 17300 60 67 60 2 BOYS DON’T CRY - Tom Grennan 16600 61 58 4 51 FEEL - Pet Shop Boys 1185100 62 NEW 62 1 YOU KILLED THE MUSIC - Debbii Dawson 7400 63 NEW 63 1 AZIZAM - Ed Sheeran 7200 64 79 64 2 TWILIGHT ZONE - Ariane Grande 11300 65 NEW 65 1 APOCALYPSE - Pete Tong, MoBlack & Max Zotti featuring Monolink 7000 66 70 66 3 JUMP IN THE LINE - Ash 18200 67 71 67 3 MAKE UP YOUR MIND - Bryan Adams 17600 68 65 65 5 FIDA KNOWN - Gloria Gaynor 28800 69 NEW 69 1 LOVE ME TO HEAVEN - Jonas Brothers 6200 70 NEW 70 1 FEEL IT - d4vd 6000 71 NEW 71 1 ETERNAL LIFE - Robin Schulz & Oswald 5800 72 38 31 7 WANT U - Hayley May 89700 73 64 64 5 THE GIVER - Chappell Roan 28500 74 74 74 5 MANDINGO - Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics featuring Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Method Man & Cappadonna 25000 75 75 75 3 BAR LONELY - Franz Ferdinand 14000 76 78 76 2 DREAMING - Blondie 9200 77 NEW 77 1 THE MESSAGE - Turin Brakes 4600 78 NEW 78 1 LOVERS AND STRANGERS - A Flock Of Seagulls 4400 79 NEW 79 1 BLINK TWICE - Shaboozey & Myles Smith 4200 80 80 80 2 LEARN TO LET GO - The Doobie Brothers 8000 DROP OUTS 46 9 10 CRYING, LAUGHING, LOVING, LYING - Labi Siffre 193700 49 37 6 WISH I DIDN’T MISS YOU - Angie Stone 69800 52 7 11 RIPPLE - Good Neighbours 291850 57 33 6 WHIRLWIND - Lainey Wilson 75850 61 18 18 BOUQUET - Gwen Stefani 255300 62 20 10 WAY OUT - Jet Trouble 149550 66 6 13 COLD DREAMING - Doves 232000 72 36 8 LAST NIGHT I DREAMT I FELL IN LOVE - Alok & Kylie Minogue 99800 73 8 13 I’M IN LOVE... - Andy Bell featuring Dot Allison and Michael Rother 256600 76 37 7 BUTTERFLY - Marina 77700

Hi Seltin! 🙂 Ariana at 2 yay, Miley high entry, and Jonas Brothers sneaking in down there too 😎 great chart, voting too! 🙂

Hi Seltin, thanks for the comments and picks! Miley is great, gaga too! 🙂

Hi AH! 🙂 Hope all is Hunky Dory! Fabulous chart as always, and hope work is not too stressful at the mo, don't know how folk on BJ find the time to work, time management for me is as slow as ever! 😎

Hi AH! 🙂 Hope things are ticking over ticketyboo. I'm going to start resurrecting old words on Buzzjack, if only to send people rushing to google. Whoops-a-daisy! 😄 Glad you like Life In A Northern Town, it's my latest BJSC effort to bring the mid-20th century vibes into notice, as not even Radio 2 has gone for it. Selena's best ever record for me, love it. ❣️I'd forgotten Good Boys actually made the charts, so thanks for the reminder, it's one of my top latter-day Blondie tracks, probably their best of this century and they've had some goodies, yet I never bought it I just realised so itunes here i come 😎 thanks as always for the big picks! 🙂

Hi SSP! Gwen Stefani doing very well here, her recent stuff has been fab. Felix/Whitney & Kim Wilde up nicely, Waterboys & Gaga too, Benson Boone, Bryan Adams, Doechii, Lizzo, Chappell, Sugababes, new in for Ed Sheeran, Limahl, Guetta/sia up, sophie new in, and Franz Faerdinand too, lots to love here! great chart! 😎

Thanks SSP! Thanks for the picks, Doobies not moving much this week sadly, overtaken by a batch of newies! 😄

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Hope all is fab, sorry for the lateness this week and earlyness last week! Very hectic weekend! Azizam up to 3, new for Shaboozey & Miles high up, Rudimental a big climb, ditto Ariana and a small climb for Alex Warren 🥰 Also Tom Grennan up, and lots of faves dropping unexpectedly like Miley Cyrus, great chart!😎

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Hope all is well! Thanks for the picks, its a shame Revolution didnt make it through to Eurovision! thnks as always 😎

Hey Sven! 🙂 Yay at Ordinary getting to the top 🥰 Guetta Sia, Chappell and Benson Boone all top 10, Sam Fender holding, and in the breakers Ariana Grande on top, Alok & Kylie up, Sugababes, Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, Lizzo & Jonas Brothers are all fresh. Ahh 1974, all great for me, lotsa classics from Mud, Suzi Q, Hollies, Wings, Love Unlimited Orchestra, Bowie, ABBA, Alvin, Cozy, Terry Jacks, and Candlewick Green, happy days! ❤️ fab charts!😎