Popchartfreak

Alex Warren holds at 1 on the Single Track chart, and The Lottery Winners lucky number comes up in albums. That number is 1. Alex Warren makes it week number 2 at number one for Ordinary, a great ballad with gospel choir touches, making it the first time since Kate Bush was Running back Up That Hill that my personal chart and the Official Chart have the same number one. Alex’s previous good hits also get a boost with Carry You Home at a new peak of 10 (and his second top 10 hit) and Burning Down is up to 23. It’s neck and neck on streaming “sales” for Chappell Roan and Doechii at 2 and 3 - except that Chappell’s The Giver has dropped from 2 to 5 and her Pink Pony rears back up to leap over Gotye. Sorry, I mean Doechii’s Anxiety. Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things, meanwhile, really don’t know when to confess they have lost their sparkle after a year clogging up the charts at 4, though his much fresher Harry-Styles-ish Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else is back up, to a new peak of 24, which is good news. The upper end of the chart is otherwise giving me a sense of Groundhog Day, bar Gaga’s relatively newie Abracadabra, until one gets down to a climber for WizTheMc & bees & honey who want to Show Me Love at 14. Using commas instead of ampersands will be enough, thanks, mates. Drake is up to a new peak of 12 with NOKIA. I have literally, as I type this, just had 3 calls from a random woman claiming I rang her and wanting to know why. I have made zero calls on my mobile today, and that incident is only marginally less annoying than a new Drake track wittling on about himself and the trials of being rich and famous. Lots of famous rich people give it all up for a less stressful life. Just saying. Ravyn Lenae sounds like a club under the arches in London, but the American singer is very much not a dancehall. Love Me Not is up to a new peak of 19, and it sounds like a decent r'n'b tinged pop record, with a vocal that really is quite pleasant. Lil Tecca meanwhile has Dark Thoughts at 20, climbing up from 30. Given the furore about the seven dwarfs in Snow White, I’m surprised anyone still feels the need to re-re-re-re-use the term “Lil” unless that is Lil as short for Lillian. I just googled. It’s not. Tyler-Justin Sharpe is a perfectly good name for a rapper/singer and this track despite the obligatory autotune is fairly decent. New entry: Leon Thomas debuts at 26 with MUTT. I love dogs, and records featuring them - Who let the dogs out! Ruff Mix! He’s A Tramp! Mutt Lange! Leon is an American soul-singer-songwriter, and is something of a throwback to earlier decades in the musical roots department, which comes as a nice surprise to this old Soul fan. I’ll forgive the B word, as it might be about another dog not his ex. Ely is a great old Biblical name which one of my great-great-uncles had, so nice to see it back in vogue up two place to 36 with Ely Oaks taking dance track Runnin’ Around into the charts. Ely is from Austria, and I’m not entirely sure my great-great-uncle would have enjoyed this OK track being as he was more likely to have been singing along to The Pirates Of Penzance in the 19th century. That leaves Adele's Hometown Glory oldie up two to 29 and 2 re-entries, Olivia Dean's Bridget Jones track is back at 40 and Sonny Fodera and Clementine Douglas' Tell Me at 39. I get very nostalgic for 1960's USA when I hear names like Sonny & Clementine are now back in fashion. ********************************* In the album charts, it’s straight in on top for The Lottery Winners with these-days decent sales of over 11,000 for KOKO, almost all of them paid-for. Streamers might not be fans, but the band is good and the current and previous singles You Again (with the fabulous Reverend And The Makers) and current Radio 2 A/B list Turn Around, both great. Their previous studio album, Anxiety Replacement Therapy, topped the album chart two years ago and it’s their 4th top 40 album in 5 years. Guests on the album include Shed Seven, who recently dropped the fabulous single Waiting For The Catch, Frank Turner, and the very unexpected Chad Kroeger of Nickelback fame/infamy (delete as appropriate). The latter song is Ragdoll, not to be confused with the Four Seasons classic and is clearly the best track Chad has been on in 20 years. The number 3 slot is comfortably grabbed by Deacon Blue, 36 years into their album chart career. The Scottish band had a long run of hit singles from 1987 through to the mid-90’s and recent airplay from Radio 2 as well has helped a bit of a revival for their best material in 30 years. They last topped the album chart in 1988 with When The World Knows Your Name, but The Great Western Road gets them a highest chart position in 34 years and keeps up their ongoing revival in fortune in the 2020’s in terms of radio-friendly 80’s-referring good singles, not least Late ’88 and current fave Turn Up Your Radio. It’s also their 11th top 40 album, they’ve never flopped, and their 5th top 10. Sabrina Carpenter is holding at 2 with her ever-present Short n’ Sweet, the recent addition of new tracks not hurting one iota, while Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco have an unlikely collaboration on the heels of recent minor hit single Call Me When You Break Up (with added Gracie Adams) and the current excellent Sunset Blvd which deserves to be a huge hit, but probably won’t be. I Said I Love You First enters at 4 to become Selena’s 4th studio album in 12 years, and only the second to go top 10. Quite apart from her music career, I love her in the fabulous Only Murders In The Building with Steve Martin and Martin Short and a host of famous names. Benny Blanco has had quite the career as music producer/songwriter since 2008 and artist since 2018 but no previous charting albums under his own name. Hit collaborations include quality pop like Hot ‘n’ Cold, Teenage Dream, California Gurls and I Kissed A Girl (Katy Perry), Dynamite (Taio Cruz), Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5), Diamonds (Rihanna) some Ed Sheeran monsters, and just about everybody significant in the music industry since 2008. So he’s quite good then! Lady Gaga’s Mayhem, not to be confused with Imelda May’s Mayhem, may, ahem, be the first or second-best album with that title. I haven’t decided yet, but I did buy the lovely Imelda’s album after seeing her in concert and having a chat while she signed her debut album for me. Gaga, to date, hasn’t been too fussed about having a chat with me. It’s her loss, clearly! Anyway Gaga is at 5, and the next new entry is at 16 for The Horrors. My old mucker John used to greet stress at work with an impression of Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now: “The. Horror!” and that’s what I always think of when I hear their name. Night Life is the Sarfend-on-Sea band’s 6th studio album since 2007 and the 4th to go top 20. Lower down the top 40, Alex Warren just scrapes in with his album You’ll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) debuting at 30, no doubt from all the streaming success of the 3 singles rather than belated physical sales, and the rest of the chart is comprised of albums plummeting, streaming hit compilations albums grabbing a one millionth week on the chart collectively (note: Maths may not be a strong point) and Teddy Swims’ I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy Parts 1 and 2 and presumably to be joined by 3 and 4 at some stage.

some great tracks out, and some absolute classics too, so I'll mention the ones that would have got big points from me: Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, Al Green, Toploader, The Doors, with mid points for cardigans Dre, Beach Boys, Verve.

round 1: 39 - why oh why do quizzes keep bringing up my national humiliation and mention Genesis Invisible Touch at every opportunity?! happily this time I didnt blank. 😄 round 2: 30 (Friend Or Foe, Pulp) 3 in 10: 3 Wonderful Tonight, Promises, Layla, I Shot The Sheriff

23rd March 2025 It's 4 week son top for Alex Warren with Armin van Buuren on his 3rd top 10 in 3 months at 5 - Keep The Faith also bringing Bon Jovi back into the top 5 for the first time since it hit number one in 1992. The Waterboys first went top 10 in 1985 with The Whole Of The Moon, and returned there again in the 90's to take it to number one - but they've never made my top 10 again, until now. So 40 years on, better late than never thanks to a lovely Andy Warhol-based song. Keiino make it two top 10's and a couple of others since Eurovision, and pretty much ditto for Mans Zelmerlow as Sam Ryder enters lower down and would also get a ditto, except he is still waiting for his 2nd top 10. Will this one do it? Seven years before Crowded House grabbed a number one in 1987, the Finn brothers were in Split Enz, and started a run of great synth-rock-indie-pop tracks with the fab I Got You, which peaked at 2 for me, and in the 30's in the UK charts of the time. sadly their other singles weren't UK hits, but I thought they were great. I Got You is back at 30, 45 years on. Stela Cole debuts in my chart with StereoQueen, good dance track, and in a quiet week for new entries Benson Boone gets a 4th track charting doing his best Harry Styles impression. 1 1 1 7 ORDINARY - Alex Warren 821400 2 2 2 9 CONTROL OF ME - Topic x Daecolm 467400 3 3 1 12 THE PROUD ONE - The Osmonds 950000 92095 4 8 4 8 AS TEARS GO BY - Marianne Faithfull 248150 5 11 5 4 KEEP THE FAITH - Armin van Buuren & Bon Jovi 127000 6 4 2 10 PINK PONY CLUB - Chappell Roan 481400 7 14 7 7 ANDY (A GUY LIKE YOU) - The Waterboys 154950 8 22 8 6 HALO - KEiiNO 103500 9 7 7 7 WEIGHT OF DESIRE - Tennis 184800 10 12 10 5 REVOLUTION - Mans Zelmerlow 125550 11 5 5 6 BUSY WOMAN - Sabrina Carpenter 244900 12 6 1 9 HAMMER TO THE HEART - Teddy Swims 758750 13 13 10 8 BORN WITH A BROKEN HEART - Damiano David 215800 14 9 9 8 CRYING, LAUGHING, LOVING, LYING - Labi Siffre 162200 15 10 8 13 BEAUTIFUL THAT WAY - Miley Cyrus 326300 16 15 10 9 A TEAR IN SPACE (AIRLOCK) - Glass Animals 262000 17 24 17 8 FANCY - Artemas 157100 18 56 18 2 LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN - Justin Hayward & Mike Batt 32600 19 21 1 19 LATE NIGHT PHONE CALL - Reverend And The Makers 1446550 20 16 2 8 WHO I AM - Alan Walker featuring Putri Ariana & Peder Elias 317800 21 18 1 12 MORE THAN A WOMAN - Tavares 523750 532450 22 40 22 4 THE WAY I ARE - Don Diablo 58150 23 29 23 12 LOVE ME FOR A REASON - The Osmonds 142650 24 20 5 8 CHASING PARADISE - Kygo & OneRepublic 344000 25 30 25 7 ABRADACABRA - Lady Gaga 102650 26 57 26 2 SUNSET BLVD - Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco 28900 27 19 11 10 NO BAD VIBES - Jazzy & KILIMANJARO 220300 28 34 28 5 TURN AROUND - The Lottery Winners 73150 29 28 7 19 ALL YOUR FAULT - Gwen Stefani 413450 30 NEW 30 1 I GOT YOU - Split Enz 18000 599800 31 27 27 8 THE BALLAD OF LUCY JORDAN - Marianne Faithfull 120300 32 17 8 11 I’M IN LOVE... - Andy Bell featuring Dot Allison and Michael Rother 240200 33 35 33 4 WHIRLWIND - Lainey Wilson 51700 34 26 7 9 RIPPLE - Good Neighbours 267600 35 44 35 3 LOVE IS LOVE - Kim Wilde 40750 36 33 1 19 PEOPLE WATCHING - Sam Fender 700500 37 39 18 16 BOUQUET - Gwen Stefani 235500 38 31 6 11 COLD DREAMING - Doves 213100 39 43 39 7 SOMEBODY’S SON - Empire Of The Sun featuring Lindsey Buckingham 68300 40 36 36 6 LAST NIGHT I DREAMT I FELL IN LOVE - Alok & Kylie Minogue 82450 41 37 37 5 BUTTERFLY - Marina 61400 42 32 20 8 WAY OUT - Jet Trouble 131750 43 45 43 4 WANT U - Hayley May 49000 44 48 44 3 TURN UP YOUR RADIO - Deacon Blue featuring Lorraine McIntosh 33050 45 23 23 8 DO THINGS MY OWN WAY - Sparks 115750 46 38 32 7 REVELATION - The Knocks & Dragonette 99150 47 53 47 5 KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG - Roberta Flack 46650 48 49 48 4 MARIAH CAREY THROUGH DEATH VALLEY - Blossoms 38000 49 25 20 8 LIGHTHOUSE - Kim Wilde 130600 50 54 50 4 WISH I DIDN’T MISS YOU - Angie Stone 40400 51 55 51 3 BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - David Guetta & Sia 32650 52 41 35 7 HUNT YOU DOWN - ALT BLK ERA 116400 53 42 1 19 EXTREME WAYS - Armin van Buuren & Moby 1290450 54 62 54 2 IT’S NOT RIGHT BUT IT’S OK - Felix Jaehn & Whitney Houston 18400 55 52 52 6 CRY FOR ME - The Weeknd 58200 56 68 56 3 LOVE COMES QUICKLY (LIVE AT THE ROYAL ARENA COPENHAGEN 2023) - Pet Shop Boys 22000 285550 57 66 57 3 CAFE DEL MAR - Pete Tong & Jules Buckley & The Essential Orchestra 23000 58 63 58 4 TIL A MAWNIN - Shaggy featuring Sting 27600 59 61 59 4 GRANITE MILLS - Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Russell Moore 30600 60 73 60 2 SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN - Avalan Rokston 15400 61 69 61 2 HOW BAD DO U WANT ME - Lady Gaga 13700 62 67 62 3 SORROW REPLACED - Kim Wilde featuring Midge Ure 19600 63 65 63 5 WAKE ME UP - The Weeknd featuring Justice 31800 64 60 4 48 FEEL - Pet Shop Boys 1157300 65 59 10 32 DIE WITH A SMILE - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars 503950 66 74 66 3 HIGHER - Tom Speight 16800 67 70 67 3 CONFESSION - Louise 16800 68 46 2 16 THE DARK END OF THE STREET - Pet Shop Boys 566550 69 51 1 18 APT. - ROSE & Bruno Mars 846900 70 NEW 70 1 STEREOQUEEN - Stela Cole 6000 71 72 71 6 THE ABYSS - The Weeknd & Lana Del Ray 30200 72 80 72 2 LOUD! - Chesney Hawkes 9600 73 77 73 2 THE GIVER - Chappell Roan 10000 74 47 5 12 EUPHORIA - Armin van Buuren, Norma Jean Martine & LAWRENT with Alok 285300 75 79 75 2 FIDA KNOWN - Gloria Gaynor 9200 76 76 76 2 MANDINGO - Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics featuring Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Method Man & Cappadonna 9600 77 NEW 77 1 WHITE LIES - Sam Ryder 4600 78 75 70 4 LIFELINE - Jonas Blue featuring Izzy Bizu 21000 79 NEW 79 1 SORRY I’M HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE - Benson Boone 4200 80 78 78 3 SCORPIO - Kim Wilde 12800 DROP OUTS 50 1 25 YOU AGAIN - The Lottery Winners featuring Reverend And The Makers 1116100 58 1 28 THE GIRL THAT I CALL HOME - Tears For Fears 1069300 64 1 28 NEVER GOING HOME TONIGHT - David Guetta & Alesso featuring Madison Love 1181600 71 11 16 CAN’T SLOW DOWN - almost Monday 301950

Hi AH! 🙂 Not long till the weekend! Fabulous chart as always, lots to love, and much to play as per usual, I'll try and play some now as I reply! 😎

Hi AH! 🙂 Glad you got a break, and well done on dumping Heart FM, but doh! on the replacement 😄 I'm into week 4 on top for Ordinary but I feel it's just hanging on due to lack of serious competition now. Life In A Northern Town has traditional northern roots in Mike Batt's arrangement, it's really good and Mike just responded to a Wombles-related tweet from me, I keep meaning to buy his autobiography but I dont want to give Amazon any cash if I can buy it in a bookshop 😎 Die With A Smile I loved, then fairly quickly I overdosed on it, then I kept hearing it in Florida and got hols memories attached to it and I've stayed faithful ever since - if anything I think it peaked too low (at 10) in my chart but the 7 month run has more than made up for it. 🙂 Thnks as ever for the fab long list of picks!! 😎

Hey Sven! 🙂 My fave top 40 upwardly mobile tracks: - LADY GAGA - ABRACADABRA -PP❤️ / - (2x🥇@) 04 06 04 - Alex Warren - Ordinary 08 10 05 - Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club 17 17 05 - Kygo & OneRepublic - Chasing Paradise 18 NE 01 - Benson Boone - Sorry I´m Here For Someone Else / - (tip09) 19 28 03 - Sabrina Carpenter - Busy Woman 20 40 02 - David Guetta & Sia - Beautiful People -PP❤️ 29 35 02 - Morgan Seatree & Florence + The Machine - Say My Name (remix´24) 33 33 02 - Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco & Gracie Abrams - Call Me When You Break Up 34 NE 01 - WizThe Mc & Bees & Honey - Show Me Love -PP❤️ / - (tip01) and from the bubblers: DOECHII - ANXIETY -PP❤️ 03 03 - Sam Fender - Arm´s Length 19 NE - Alok & Kylie Minogue - Last Night I Dreamt I Fell In Love 20 NE - Chappell Roan - The Giver / - (Qmusic AlarmSchijf 🔔 week 12) 21 years ago these were my faves: 02 01 11 - Jamelia - Superstar / - (1x🥇@) 03 02 06 - Britney Spears - Toxic / - (2x🥇@) 06 26 02 - Usher & Ludacris & Lil´Jon - Yeah! / -AS🔔 08 12 02 - George Michael - Amazing -PP❤️ 09 09 04 - Kylie Minogue - Red Blooded Woman -PP❤️ 12 11 11 - Gary Jules & Michael Andrews - Mad World -PP❤️ 30 NE 01 - Anastacia - Left Outside Alone / -AS🔔 great charts!!😎

Hey Sven! 🙂 Thanks as always for the picks of the climbers! 😎

Hi Sergej! 😎 my climbing or new entries faves this week: 1 NE 1(×1) 1 Chappell Roan – “The Giver” big new entry here!! 3 3 1(×1) 18 Chappell Roan – “Pink Pony Club” 4 11 4 11 Shaboozey – “Good News” 9 NE 9 1 Felix Jaehn ft. Whitney Houston – “It's Not Right But It's Okay”🥰 25 56 25 7 Marshmello ft. Jonas Brothers – “Slow Motion” 28 NE 28 1 Doechii – “Anxiety” 74 90 74 3 Alex Warren – “Ordinary” 80 NE 80 1 Lady Gaga – “Garden of Eden” 90 91 90 2 Selena Gomez, benny blanco, & Gracie Abrams – “Call Me When You Break Up” great charts! 🙂

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Thanks for the picks, and take care backatacha! 😎

Hi SSP! Good to see climbers from CCR, Bryan Adams, Gaga x2, Andy Bell, Benson Boone, Shaggy, Waterboys, Damiano David, Billy Idol, Gloria gaynor and Deep Blue Something back, and new entries from Whitney, Dolly (such a sadly sweet sentiment), Chappell, Suzanne Vega, Bryan Adams, Kim Wilde😎 great charts! 🙂

Hi SSP! cheers for the picks! 🎊😎

wow big 39's there, Ken will be banging on the thread to enter 😄 well done both! round 1: 33 (Ricky!) round 2: 39 3 in 10: 2 The fabulous To The Moon And Back, I Want You, the rest were very forgettable. Apparently.

kanye is a gold digger and easily the least of the 4 pour moi. Miss Piggy liked to say "pour moi" in an attempt to sound profound, and if it's good enough for her....

flipping fill.

i like all of these, but there's a few that are not big top 20's for me, so Ja Rule is the least, just edging out Destiny's Child. Well, I like Mas Que Nada in any version, the song is timeless, even one with a will.i.am overhaul, and at least Sergio gets a credit....granted not as classic as the original.

I'm going for the Feist-wait-wut?! That's a top ten 9/10 track, Cascade OTOH a cheesy peak of 71-ish 3/10. Madonna is also a whopping 10/10 chart-topping track for me. Flipping Fill didnt even chart for me, so guesses who I will be pushing to go next. Then again there's one I'm sick of hearing now lately....

yay Jade on the 39!! 🤗 round 1: 39 round 2: 39 3 in 10: 3 masses against the classes, motorcycle emptiness, a design for life

Badly Drawn Boy always slots into the "pleasant" category for me, and Silent Sigh was a pleasant beardy 7 🙂 4 My People was a big club fave at the time, I remember folk bopping wildly to it, 9/10, the Bluetones OTOH I don't recall - checked and I didn't chart it. That'll be why then. Shake Ur Body another club goodie, I thought it did better than merely top 40 for me, but no, so a 7/10 then. Outkast just scrape a 7 but another I couldnt whistle if I tried. Actually I can barely whistle anything these days. Marc et Claude failed to make my chart, but Anastacia was big on the scene in 2002 and One Day In Your Life was a goodie, 8/10 though it had a 20-week run in my charts! Travis was a nice track, a pleasant 7/10, My niece went to see Sum 41 last year, she loves 'em, but we beg to differ on them, Motivation scraped a 3/10. Adam Fenton is, I think, Alvin Stardust's son aka Shane Fenton, but not even that got him a single week in my personal charts. I will stick with Alvin's Greatest Hits...

oh we are into some massive classics here in Toxic, Hot n Cold and Cool, all huge for me, and Thank U, Hunter, Womanizer, Scream and Remedy are all good too. I saw Little Boots in the Abba band at Abba Voyage, and I'm off again for the 3rd time in June. The purpose-built sound quality alone is better than any live concert could hope to offer, and they have a live band and live backing singers along with the Abbatars.

I'm going to shock-horror opt for the single version of Donovan's to Dylan. It might not be as important, and is clearly influenced by Dylan, but I love it and Donovan more than I ever loved Dylan at the time and since. I bought tickets to Donovan's last attempted tour but he cancelled due to lack of interest, which is sad. Dylan's last tour was sold out and hugely expensive, and if I wanted to listen to someone "singing" badly I'd just record myself on my phone for free and play it back 😇I do have both Greatest Hits though. Don't really recall that Gerry song, but I saw him in concert in the 80's so clearly heard it before, it's quite nice. Here Comes The Night is a great record, better than virtually any post-60's Van Morrison tracks, he's one of those artists I just don't get the appeal of, his last truly great record was Brown Eyed Girl for me. Dave Berry I saw on the same Gerry tour, I wasnt that impressed by and large with his back catalogue bar The Crying Game, Little Things is a bit twee and I would prob prefer the original as I love Bobby Goldsboro's voice. Playing Birds & The Bees, ah yes I do know it. I like that one. Matt Monroe is another one I never rated that much in the 70's, bar Born Free, but I'm finding I do quite like his stuff as I discover his oldies, I could quite happily listen to a Greatest Hits now. I'm getting old....!

voted early, hooray!

31 (24) OH GIRL - The Chi-Lites My favourite American soul band of the early 70's? Yeah, probably the Chi-Lites, loved their sweet, cool, emotional ballads, and to a lesser extent their political singles, this one topped my chart in the late summer of 1972 along with some other key soul track still to come. I love the plaintive harmonica and Eugene Record's lead-vocal was always as appealing to me as his songs, right from his early hits writing with Barbara Acklin in 1969 - such as the instrumental or hit versions of Am I The Same Girl - Dusty Springfield covered that one - the sample Beyonce nicked for Crazy In Love, or the many 80's cover versions of their 70's hits. Eugene Record is under-rated these days, again as with many 70's acts probably not helped by passing away, 20 years ago for Eugene, but the band tended to have more success in the UK than the USA from around 1974 onwards, the big hits carried on until 1976 here, but faded earlier in the USA, and hit lower chart positions there or weren't released at all in favour of lesser singles. Oh Girl I was big on for a couple of decades, then I went off it a bit for a couple of decades in comparison to other hits and flops they had, it just seemed a bit slow and sentimental when that was out of fashion, but this review got me back on board with it, playing a lot over a period of 3 months or so got me back into what I initially saw in it. Charming, sweetly-sad, sincere, subtle. And so down a mere 7 slots 50 years on.

32 (55) DO IT AGAIN - Steely Dan Steely Dan debuted in 1972 with a classy jazzy brand of impeccably-produced folkish-rock which stayed throughout the band career and solo careers of main men Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The albums were rated critically, and were always laid-back pleasant grooves, and occasionally they dropped a classic single along the way too. Like Do It Again, a complete flop in the UK, hit in the USA, though it did grab some radio play, enough for me to really like what I heard and believe it should have been a hit. By 1975 Steely Dan had had quite a few radio play singles and were quite well-known without having anything close to a hit, so this track was put out again for a proper push at the chart in shorter single-edit form and this time they made the UK charts, albeit a lesser hit. It made my top 10 though and ended that year 55th fave, a cool fave that has stayed with me pretty much ever since, though Steely Dan have always been firmly in the "pleasant" category for me. Never bad, great for late evening listening or lazy hot summer days when extended jazzing goes down better than it might at a club. This track has been covered as a mash-up, but it still is more of a cult oldie than a regular staple. The single edit is best for me, I don't need the extended middle instrumental grooves, I prefer my singles to get to the point, pretty much. From top 60 in 1975 to top 40 back in the 1972 year it should be in.

33 (23) SUGAR ME - Lynsey De Paul Lynsey was at this point the most successful female British pop songwriter, usually with writing partners like Barry Blue, and she peaked early in 1972 writing a fabulous song still to come, and hitting the charts herself with Sugar Me in the autumn setting up her pop career. Sugar-sweet added violin and percussive-sounds are the standout hooks as this catchy pop gem topped my chart as 23rd fave of the time, and the racy follow-up Getting A Drag (lyrically ahead of its time) pulls in at 177 for the year. More hit singles followed over the next 3 years both as songwriter for other acts and herself, followed by a Eurovision runner-up near-win in 1977 and then that was pretty much it for Lynsey. Which is a shame, as she isn't that well remembered these days with no record labels pushing her back catalogue of songs since she passed away in 2014. This is still her best record, but it's not her best song, her voice was always pleasant but not powerful like, say Thunderthighs' cover of her brilliant Central Park Arrest - see Lou Reed #35 - and that may have affected collective memory somewhat, which is a shame as pretty much nothing she was involved in has become radio regulars, just the occasional play on old chart countdowns. I still rate the songs though, quality pop, and I'm still fond of Sugar Me, that violin riffing really works for me, so only marginally down on the time.