Popchartfreak

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!😎

Hey Sven! 🙂 Thanks for the picks! Hope all is great with you 😎

Rob Dougan rang no bells with me, playing it now, but it did indeed go top 30 for me so a 7/10, and if anything it sounds like it deserved better than that. I probably only heard it once or twice. By The Way was my jumping on point for the chili-peppers, they'd mostly left me indifferent bar a couple of tracks, but the career revival and maturity suited them more. I got hold of a copy of the album at the time from a work colleague, I think. 9/10's for a while now moving on to the next singles. Dark Gazza Numan had been chart absent for me for 16 years so Rip was a return to a decent 7/10. Saw him about 10 years back and he was still major into pounding industrial synth. Idlewild I have no memory of ever especially liking (chartfiles confirm 2 tracks and a total of 4 weeks) and this is a DNC. The Calling was a huge what was once called MOR Rock ballad, but I found it got on my wick quite quickly after it scraped into my top 40 at 40. It still annoys me, but I'll gift it an official 6/10. The Prodigy were often hit or miss with me. This was a miss. It's depressing how many tracks from the decade I don't remember, having never revisited the music, Amy Studt is another one that I liked: 8/10. No memory of it. Playing it now, it's not bad, a bit Avril in the chorus, but like the verses more. M Factor ditto, another 8/10 I've forgotten, must have had a boogie at the club to it as it had a good 9 weeks on my charts. I would swear I've never heard it before in my life. Let this be a lesson of the effects of ageing brains: music stuff from the first 40 years of your life stays for life, but it gets increasingly difficult to remember stuff after that (at least music-wise) so I'm assuming Memory is full and as new stuff comes in old stuff gets deleted, the more recent first. Something to look forward to, Happy Easter! Reckless Girl 3/10, Shakalaka 3/10, Aurora a pleasnt 8/10, I'm Gonna Be a J-Lo Alright 6/10, Beverley Knight more Bronze than Gold, 4/10, the Taylor Dayne 10/10 classic transformed into a fairly lowly 3/10, and not even childhood nostalgia for Bill & Ben, Little Weed, and Flobbalot all over the playground (that means hack up and spit) could save Flobbadance DNC. Baha Men add to the low scoring also-rans with a 4/10, Two Wrongs also makes a 4/10, and Rik Waller remained entirely absent from my charts of the time, so one can assume his cover of the Labi Siffre 9/10 classic was a 2/10 or less. Judging by Julian's comment I'm guessing "less".

Its a perfectly nice track, and clearly popular but in my case I couldnt help compare it to The Walk, Boys Dont Cry, a forest, love cats, caterpillar, in between days, close to me and others and feel it was a bit laid-back from my expectations at the time. Playing it now, it's def improved with age, the strings chords and twangy riff is the best bit, and the line The Spider man is having you for dinner tonight. Peter Parker wouldnt entertain, I'm pretty sure....

well done on the 39's both 🥰 Randy Van-Warmer is still one of my fave popstar names ever 😆 Doesn't work outside the UK though and not so much here either since Randy Scouse Git stopped being a thing😇

Bit nippy, wet and windy today. Happy Easter! round 1: 36 one year out round 2: 33 Bill Medley, said Joe Cocker then corrected myself too late :) ELO, missed the year and said Evil. 3 in 10: do ya think im sexy, maggie may, you wear it well

Flaming chart-toppers, eh! Have to admit I'm not too fussed about any of these new entries, none of them have stayed with me over the years, I would struggle to recognise them, bar The Cure. I was most put out that all of the quirky Cure hits before Love Song weren't top 10, it was a great run of quality goth-pop, but from here-on they got all serious-album oriented and took off in the USA. It granted them kudos, street-cred and a long-line of influence, but I still love the earlier stuff more for the most part. Morrissey involved in a court case? Who'd a thunk it, but I'm sure that will never happen again.....😇

That's how I have always viewed it too, people have their own fave genres and tend to lean towards similar when voting and the floaters - can I call myself at least a Floater? (ta!) 😎 - can push it one way or the other. I lean towards pop-dance voting as they are more instant, but I also often reward interesting stuff. Who wants to be predictable!

Oasis have had a boost from me of late, following Noel in concert and playing both hits compilations I bought years ago but never played. Stop Crying remains very nice, 8/10. Hot In Herre I was less bovvered about 5/10. Basement Jaxx, Get Me Off not as classic as the later chart-topper for me, I'm afraid, DNC, though In Your World is the side I preferred and a pretty good 8/10 for Muse. The Vines? Yet another 8/10 for Get Free, this week seeming to be all top 20 tracks for me at the time. Their best track I think, I do love me a bit of short, sweet n raucous (see Sex Pistols, Corinne Bailey Rae's New York Transit Queen). Brandy drops her best record too, solo, as Full Moon hits my number 2 and 9/10 rating - and yet I have totally forgotten it. Playing it now out of curiosity..nice video, love a Moon theme, the hot guy she's stalking is easy on the eye too, all very stylish but there's no real hook which explains why I cant recall any of it. Prob'ly a Florida hit, I'm guessing. Counting Crows grab a 3/10 from me, most likely it got that for Sheryl, Christina Milian's not up to previous biggie standards but a decent 7/10, and sadly Athlete passed me by too. They usually charted for me back then, but not this one. Roll On gives Mis-Teeq a 7/10 and Andy Williams really didnt need Denise van Outen dragging him down on another version of Can't Take My Eyes Off You, the Frankie Valli cover that was a hit in the UK rather than Frankie's. I had the good taste to opt for the B side original version as it got top 10 again following the same in the 90's when Music To watch Girls By was the lead track, and this was the not-played side. 10/10 classic number one, Andy was cool and effortless.

good scores there both, and better on the Sugababes than me 😄 round 1: 36 (Robbie!) round 2: 36 (Boyzone) 3 in 10: 3 you give love a bad name, keep the faith, livin' on a prayer

awww i forgot you mentioned about Val's advert, it's great it got used! I just spotted a classic 60's track I rediscovered a few years back that used to be hugely popular amongst a fanbase, (Top 100 of all-time in a 1974 poll) Cryin Shames' Please Stay a Bacharach song, Scottish cover of a Drifters original, and a minor UK hit in 1966 - and it was featured at length on Daredevil's new Marvel series yesterday. I almost sent it to BJSC just for being fabulous and evocative and emotional.

Was never keen on the U2/BB feature much, though it was nice for King to get some chart action late into his career. The FYC single was a literally a Good Thing :) Re album sales, the reason singles sold in bucketloads in the 60's and albums didnt is down to price. They were both expensive relative to income (a single was almost 10 shillings by the end of the decade - 50p - when weekly wages were £24 on average. That's what my dad earned in the RAF. Bearing in mind rent, food, clothes and the rest there really wasnt much left over for luxuries like records, except second-hand. Albums were more like 10% of your wage. In the 70's records held their price as wages climbed along with inflation so by the end of the decade singles were peaking in sales and really weren't that expensive (they hit £1 in 1979 as wages hit £100, so 1% and albums were maybe 3 or 4% so they were also peaking in sales. This trend continued into the 80's but there were 3 million unemployed (I was one of 'em) so a chunk of the population wasnt in a position to buy anything much until things improved later in the decade, at which point albums were so cheap it made sense to buy them over singles especially as record companies milked albums for singles to prioritise album sales, more profits in those. Bad was the biggest selling album of all-time in the UK as we go into the 90's.......

21 (NEW) PAPA WAS A ROLLIN' STONE - The Temptations This soul masterpiece is a sprawling novel of a story-song, masterminded by Norman Whitfield, who took on the mantle of Motown's top writer-producer after Holland-Dozier-Holland went off to form their own label. Whitfield had guided The Temptations, then Motown's top male group, away from classy ballad classics like My Girl and 60's Motown dance bangers like Get Ready, and steered them into Psychedelic Soul-funk like Cloud Nine, I Can't Get Next To You and message-ballads like earlier 1972 single Take A Look Around (104 on my list) and Phase 2 as original members like David Ruffin and Paul Williams went solo, with Eddie Kendricks next to take the off-ramp. Papa Was A Rolling Stone is the highlight of this period, a social-commentary funk-orchestral creation that usually got chopped off on the radio about a minute or two after the extended instrumental intro - and it really needs the build to work properly, bearing in mind the album version was still twice as long as the long single version. It really was a case of hitting their peak though, and all of the shuffling membership issues took a toll, as did Whitfield leaving to form his own label too, and spearheading new stars and song-productions for acts like Rose Royce. That left The Temptations rudderless, and that was that for the most part as far as new hit records were concerned, though touring continues to today with surviving member Otis Williams. I caught them around 1989, still with a sizeable original member contingent, but it was an 80's dance remix of Papa that sort of made me reassess this record. It sounded great funked up a bit, and though I'd liked the original, it had never been a massive fave as it took so long to get going. I was wrong, it's brilliant and new at 21, just missing the top 20, doh!

22 (105) STARMAN - David Bowie Cultural memory has Ziggy Stardust debuting on Top Of The Pops with Starman, and coming on like an alien glammed-up to upset mum and dad, but this kid had already met Ziggy on Lift-Off With Ayshea, a kid's pre-news Pop music show hosted by sci-fi show U.F.O.'s (appropriately) Ayshea Brough. I definitely remember that, but sadly along with most Top Of The Pops and Lift Off shows of 1972, all are merely memories these days, as the tapes were all scrubbed, the likes of David Bowie not assessed as measuring up in importance compared to Dad's Army or Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. I had missed out on Space Oddity entirely, being out of the country, and hadn't really noticed Changes, the previous single, so Starman was Bowie ground zero for me and I immediately liked it, but not quite enough to make the top 100 of the year (by 5 places, though excluding oldies it would be comfortably inside). Bowie is now gone and his career is iconic for almost 50 years of quality mixed with bouts of missing-the-mark, but the Ziggy album spearheaded by this single remains essential and timeless. We've already had Bowie in this list at 90 (Changes), 40 (Satellite Of Love), 42 (John I'm Only Dancing), 47 (The Jean Genie), and 36 (All The Young Dudes) but this one takes the highest slot. It's not a stretch to state that Bowie was the act of 1972, and there won't be many critics to argue otherwise.

23 (8) LEAN ON ME - Bill Withers Soul classic, emotionally uplifting, and Bill Withers in his absolute prime, Lean On Me was a huge favourite in early autumn of 1972 along with a cover of one of his other classic songs still pending on this list. I love the song, it's so great it can tolerate any number of covers (In the UK, Mud had a big hit in 1976, and a decade later Club Nouveau had a very 80's sounding upbeat dance cover) but none of them beat Bill's original vocal and arrangement, a bit orchestral, a bit soul, a bit gospel, sincere, warm and positive but also with tinges of sadness to it. What better message can there be in life than to have friends who will be there for you no matter what? I especially love Bill as he came to success later in his life, in his 30's after serving in the US military, and remained humble and grounded his entire life, giving up his career to stay with his family and community in the smalltown West Virginia he came from. A lovely man and great songwriter. Down marginally from one of my top 10 faves to just outside the top 20.

24 (14) LEADER OF THE PACK - The Shangri-Las Another 1960's classic back bigger than ever in the UK charts of 1972 - hitting number 3 where it had peaked outside the top 10 in 1965, due to lack of airplay - songs about death were a bit frowned on by the BBC. The rebel motif running through this track wouldn't have helped, but the Shadow Morton production was genius, motorbike sounds, crashing, teen girl tears and emotion convincing, spoken intro great, this is a genuine all-time classic. The Shangri-Las managed to sound a lot cooler than many of their girl-group rivals because they captured teen angst perfectly, lead vocalist Mary Weiss was a cut above, and other tracks like Past, Present & Future and Remember (Walking In The Sand) are also very good period teen trauma golden oldies. And they don't come any more traumatic that your boyfriend getting killed in a motorbike crash. So good, in fact, that it hit the top 5 in the UK in 1976 again! For it to sell bucketloads in 1972 and then another bucketload four years later was a little unusual, even in those days - though some other tracks did do that - but to chart in 3 years in a space of 11 years is quite rare! But then it was a classic I'd never heard before in 1972 - and rated 14th fave of the year even though it was over 7 years old and sounded older, production notwithstanding, such had been the advances in studio recording over that short period of time.