Popchartfreak

We have just one comment for the predictions: "Trucks. Trucks. Trucks. Trucks. Trucks. TRUCKS. TRUCKS. TRUCKS. TRUCKS. TRUCKS! IT'S A TRUUUUCK THING!" :lol: :teresa:

let's have one more vote for Bob Sinclar and just call it a tie.. :lol:

The Kinks song is good, and the first to show Ray's gift for a great melody if he feels like it, but it's no You Really Got Me! Promised Land I know through Elvis' early 1975 hit version (in the UK) which was better than the bulk of his current stuff at the time, the retro vibe back to Berry was an improvement. The Special Years was a good song, I rediscovered it in Singapore on my reel-to-reel tape recorder, it was still popping up on the radio and I loved anything Val Doonican, the comedy records or the ballads, until around 1973 when I'd moved on from his new stuff. Dance Dance Dance isn't classic Beach Boys, and they hadn't really upped the ante yet production-wise, so not one of their bigger records and not that well remembered, which leaves a clear winner in Leader Of The pack. I can confirm I never heard it at the time, it was 1972 when it was a bigger hit and radio was playing it that I fell in love with it, so good it went top 10 all over again in 1976. It's a classic, and proof that death discs can be brilliant and timeless. Young death was quite the regular thing in all societies throughout history, until anti-biotics, medicine generally and health & safety made inroads into that, and culture then reflected that. I think that gets forgotten in the modern world where it's regarded as bad taste, as everyone shares their feelings online instead.

Perfect was OK, it had its charm, but I got fed up with hearing it pretty quickly and I've never really got back to it, unlike the much-better follow-up. They are still around, I bought one of their new tracks last year, which was pretty decent. I would never have thought Quincy Jones would remix Blue Order, and TBH I preferred it at the time, it was punchier than the sprawling original - plus I could have bought it now on 7" - but I wanted the original version too, so I didn't. 12 inch singles and CD's were overpriced so I only ever bought them if forced to in 1987/8 (at full price, which was very rare) or I got them out of the bargain bins, which Blue Monday never fell into. I bought the 1995 CD remix as it had all the versions on it. New Order records I have on 7": Ceremony, Temptation, Fine Time, Round & Round, Regret, and CD Nineteen63, Blue Monday 95, Crystal, all bargain bin except the last 2 which were full price. Not that many actually, though I have one album and True Faith on various artist collections.

could be - as USA charts included radio play it was never a disadvantage being off an album like it might be in the UK. And if radio ignored you you were dead in the water, even if you'd just dropped River Deep Mountain High... B-)

101 (78) LITTLE DRUMMER BOY - The Pipes & Drums Of The Royal Scots Dragoons Guards Band WABeFqTt-eQ Amazing Grace had been enormous for the bagpipes band, and it really got on my tits after a couple of months to the point where I was hating both the song and the record, and the follow-up was also annoying, for being dull, mostly. Then at Christmas out popped this one, with added choir humming along to the festive classic. It worked for me! I love the song, written in 1941 and first recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Singers. Yes those von Trapps. The ones from Austria in The Sound Of Music. Popularised in 1958 by the Harry Simeone Choir its better known these days as part of the Bowie/Crosby Peace On Earth medley - an even better record than this one. The song is pretty much bullet-proof for me, though. This version has dropped 23 places amongst the competition inrushing my chart, but it's one of those christmas songs that I have never got sick of hearing - unlike most of the bloody usual-suspects clogging up the Christmas chart every bloody year. The day Spotify bung on some alternative oldies onto the playlist, or Amazon get creative instead of predictable, is the day we can all sigh a huge collective gasp of relief. I blame all those people who have a high tolerance for repeat playing records over and over and over and over, year after year after year after year... :teresa:

103 (7) OH BABE WHAT WOULD YOU SAY - Hurricane Smith qnxoTCvklKQ Opinion is often split on Hurricane Smith and his unusual vocal style, so upfront I'll admit I'm a fan - I enjoy odd voices, and I especially loved Hurricane's previous hit Don't Let It Die. With this song he went full-on singalong old-style ragtime vibes, pleasant, memorable hook, and very coverable - it even hit in the States for the former Beatles sound engineer, who was by this time knocking on a bit in pop chart terms - getting a debut hit at 48 is really battling the usual ageism of record-buyers (he was 49 when this came out). As I never have and never will give a shit how old anyone was, or how cool they supposedly were, this wasn't an issue for me if the song was great, and I loved it, charted it at number one and am still fond of it. I think 7 is a bit over-inflated though, but yes I was big on it then, less so these days but it deserves to still be considered one of the 100 tracks of 1972. 103 is as near as dammit.

105 (61) NEW ORLEANS - Harley Quinne uJGl5l0dXXA Bell Records were big in 1972, grabbing lots of hits. Mostly they were one-off tracks like this, a cover of the Gary U.S. Bonds 60's US hit, and for my money it does it just right, I like the arrangement, I like the lead vocal, and it bangs along nicely. I know zero about the band, but they should have sued DC Comics in the 90's when the Joker's girlfriend popped up on animated TV. They used the name first! Missed the rundown by a whisker, it's still fun.

107 (96) I'VE BEEN LONELY FOR SO LONG - Frederick Knight qCsdysH6_g8 One of my big loves a kid and teen was soul music. Motown especially, but not exclusively, a Stax gem could also win me over (like this) as could Philly sounds and the ilk. Frederick popped up with a minor UK hit, and slightly bigger US hit, with this mellow, twanging bit of funk that doesn't get much recognition by and large in the 21st century. It's still a charming falsetto funk ballad, and there's nothing to not like, even if it misses the rundown this time round by a whisker.

109 (89) TELEGRAM SAM - T. Rex CtJ47HUm0P0 I got back from Singapore in September 1971 and T. Rex were the biggest pop band bar none, and I went big on them as I caught up, and just as Marc Bolan decided he wanted to change labels to EMI on his own ego-label name as he went right-on Glam Rock Idol, with this being his first single. Me, I thought it was a drop in standard on the previous T. Rex hits, but still a good top 5 pop hit, enough to just scrape into the bottom-end of the year-end chart. By 1982 I was full-on into Glam nostalgia, it came out again and it topped my chart along with anything T.Rex or Bolan, following his tragic early death. 50 years later and I've reverted back to my original position on Telegram Sam, 89 is about right but it's got edged out this time by other tracks I didnt know at the time.

113 (71) AUTOMATICALLY SUNSHINE - The Supremes 591FQbomd6M This was the democratic Supremes era, a new lead vocalist but Mary Wilson and the whole group got to share lead too on singles, no Ms. Ross to hog the limelight entirely, and they were all the better for it - all great singers, though minus the unique quality of Diana's vocals. This was their last big UK hit, but they'd dried up rather unfairly a bit earlier in the USA. I always rated The Supremes as far back as I can remember (Baby Love, pretty much), and that continued into the 70's, though much as I like this one it's dropped a little off in comparison to their epic 1970/71 singles, but it still should have made the year-end Top 100: had it not been so competitive!

well done Rollo, almost full marks there! Round 1: 30 ( ) knew all three but the names just wouldnt come in time oops! Round 2: 39 3 in 10: 3 ( )

well done, Simon, the TV version is way harder (for me) as they include lots of 21st century questions right up to the 2020's. :)

My own theory for the underperforming ballad tracks in early 88 is the ballad-heavy christmas chart, there was Nat, Rick, Pogues, Alison Moyet, Simply Red, Wet Wet Wet and everyone just mentally went, "sigh, more upbeat stuff please its a new year!" and took their cue from Pet Shop Boys which stood out over christmas as a proper party track. Love both Father Figure and One More Try, myself, and ditto Man In The Mirror, all (as the USA rated them) top-notch quality tracks. Mary's Prayer is decent enough, quite nice, pleasant and all that, but I wouldnt call it an essential track. As with so much of 1988's hits, it's leftover 1987 minor hits that get a second go in a less crowded market place. Climie Fisher is another, but that one was def one that flopped unfairly.

Fragma did the worst in my personal charts, not even top 40 like the rest, so that one, sorry!

back on Pink now till she goes, just not as good as the rest...

1 1 1 9 APT. - ROSE & Bruno Mars 599350 2 2 1 10 EXTREME WAYS - Armin van Buuren & Moby 999250 3 10 3 3 THE PROUD ONE - The Osmonds 140000 4 3 1 10 LATE NIGHT PHONE CALL - Reverend And The Makers 1177800 5 21 5 3 EUPHORIA - Armin van Buuren, Norma Jean Martine & LAWRENT with Alok 91000 6 19 6 10 PEOPLE WATCHING - Sam Fender 177900 7 15 7 7 THE DARK END OF THE STREET - Pet Shop Boys 147850 8 16 8 10 ALL YOUR FAULT - Gwen Stefani 178250 9 9 9 7 DON’T TAKE AWAY THE MUSIC - Tavares 203200 10 4 4 11 WITHOUT YA - Bakermat featuring Gladys Knight 448300 11 5 4 14 FANTASY - JADE 489400 12 6 3 10 DISCO AT THE STRIP CLUB - Reve 639500 13 14 13 14 TABOO - Kylie Minogue 253800 14 11 1 17 YOU AGAIN - The Lottery Winners featuring Reverend And The Makers 984400 15 30 15 8 TRUCKS - Cars On The Road Cast 142900 16 17 16 8 CAN’T SLOW DOWN - almost Monday 144000 17 13 5 7 HEAVEN MUST BE MISSING AN ANGEL - Tavares 272800 18 8 8 10 NOW OR NEVER (IT’S MY LIFE) - Bon Jovi x Pitbull 262250 19 25 19 9 MIDNIGHT TRAIN - Kim Wilde 115100 20 18 8 11 DISCO WITCH - LEXXE 303750 21 24 21 7 NIGHTMARE - Geowulf 115750 22 7 1 11 SCREAMLAND - Father John Misty 601750 23 12 4 13 LEFT TO MY OWN DEVICES - Pet Shop Boys 487050 24 20 1 20 NEVER GOING HOME TONIGHT - David Guetta & Alesso featuring Madison Love 1064850 25 23 12 13 THE FEELING - Rudimental, 1991, PNAU & AR/CO 285100 26 22 1 10 WHAT HAVE I DONE (TO DESERVE THIS) - Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield 527000 27 47 27 3 MORE THAN A WOMAN - Tavares 38000 28 51 28 6 BARBARELLA - Betty Boo 55450 29 35 29 7 ANOTHER NIGHT - Grace Davies 93000 30 28 1 20 THE GIRL THAT I CALL HOME - Tears For Fears 972600 31 27 25 14 SHOULDA LEFT YA - Kylie Minogue 196700 32 42 32 8 LATE ’88 - Deacon Blue 79350 33 40 33 7 LIVE FOREVER - Chesney Hawkes 74600 34 32 15 11 BACK AT YOUR DOOR - Orville Peck & Debbii Dawson 186200 35 26 26 7 SUPERSCAR - Adela 120850 36 37 36 7 TANGERINE RAYS - Zedd featuring Bea MIller & Flood 81500 37 44 37 7 BOUQUET - Gwen Stefani 72450 38 29 15 17 HEAVY IS THE CROWN - Linkin Park 265000 39 39 39 7 MISERERE - Pet Shop Boys 92100 40 49 40 7 YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS - Simple Minds featuring Sarah Brown 68200

19th January 2025 It's 2 weeks on top for APT. There's certainly no new competition threatening the top spot, though the Osmonds' The Proud One hit a chart peak of 3 50 years late, and still may go all the way, cos it's fab. The Osmonds have never topped my charts in any combination, that's the entire family, though Crazy Horses and One Bad Apple both peaked at 2 as oldies, so that is an omission that may yet be corrected. The top 10 gets busy at long last, as Armin van Buuren grabs two top 5 tracks this week, and Alok gets his first in 3 years since topping with Ellie Goulding on All By Myself. Sam Fender gets his first-ever top 10, and Pet Shop Boys make it 40 years of top 10's. They may have missed out on the odd year here or there, but essentially it's been an ongoing achievement throughout. I've lost count on how many the total is. Gwen Stefani meanwhile grabs her first top 10 in 4 years for a total of 11 not including No Doubt stuff. 16, if you do include No Doubt, beginning in 1997. Betty Boo has the highest climber, the intro sounds like something from Phantom Of The Opera and it extends her chart career to 36 years. The highest new entry is an afrobeat-ish dance track from jazzy and KILIMANJARO, while in a quiet week, Franz Ferdinand chart a second track - from their new album - and Enter Shikari go where they've never gone before - into my charts, with a Prodigy-ish track. 1 1 1 9 APT. - ROSE & Bruno Mars 599350 2 2 1 10 EXTREME WAYS - Armin van Buuren & Moby 999250 3 10 3 3 THE PROUD ONE - The Osmonds 140000 4 3 1 10 LATE NIGHT PHONE CALL - Reverend And The Makers 1177800 5 21 5 3 EUPHORIA - Armin van Buuren, Norma Jean Martine & LAWRENT with Alok 91000 6 19 6 10 PEOPLE WATCHING - Sam Fender 177900 7 15 7 7 THE DARK END OF THE STREET - Pet Shop Boys 147850 8 16 8 10 ALL YOUR FAULT - Gwen Stefani 178250 9 9 9 7 DON’T TAKE AWAY THE MUSIC - Tavares 203200 10 4 4 11 WITHOUT YA - Bakermat featuring Gladys Knight 448300 11 5 4 14 FANTASY - JADE 489400 12 6 3 10 DISCO AT THE STRIP CLUB - Reve 639500 13 14 13 14 TABOO - Kylie Minogue 253800 14 11 1 17 YOU AGAIN - The Lottery Winners featuring Reverend And The Makers 984400 15 30 15 8 TRUCKS - Cars On The Road Cast 142900 16 17 16 8 CAN’T SLOW DOWN - almost Monday 144000 17 13 5 7 HEAVEN MUST BE MISSING AN ANGEL - Tavares 272800 18 8 8 10 NOW OR NEVER (IT’S MY LIFE) - Bon Jovi x Pitbull 262250 19 25 19 9 MIDNIGHT TRAIN - Kim Wilde 115100 20 18 8 11 DISCO WITCH - LEXXE 303750 21 24 21 7 NIGHTMARE - Geowulf 115750 22 7 1 11 SCREAMLAND - Father John Misty 601750 23 12 4 13 LEFT TO MY OWN DEVICES - Pet Shop Boys 487050 24 20 1 20 NEVER GOING HOME TONIGHT - David Guetta & Alesso featuring Madison Love 1064850 25 23 12 13 THE FEELING - Rudimental, 1991, PNAU & AR/CO 285100 26 22 1 10 WHAT HAVE I DONE (TO DESERVE THIS) - Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield 527000 27 47 27 3 MORE THAN A WOMAN - Tavares 38000 28 51 28 6 BARBARELLA - Betty Boo 55450 29 35 29 7 ANOTHER NIGHT - Grace Davies 93000 30 28 1 20 THE GIRL THAT I CALL HOME - Tears For Fears 972600 31 27 25 14 SHOULDA LEFT YA - Kylie Minogue 196700 32 42 32 8 LATE ’88 - Deacon Blue 79350 33 40 33 7 LIVE FOREVER - Chesney Hawkes 74600 34 32 15 11 BACK AT YOUR DOOR - Orville Peck & Debbii Dawson 186200 35 26 26 7 SUPERSCAR - Adela 120850 36 37 36 7 TANGERINE RAYS - Zedd featuring Bea MIller & Flood 81500 37 44 37 7 BOUQUET - Gwen Stefani 72450 38 29 15 17 HEAVY IS THE CROWN - Linkin Park 265000 39 39 39 7 MISERERE - Pet Shop Boys 92100 40 49 40 7 YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS - Simple Minds featuring Sarah Brown 68200 41 31 4 16 HIGHER - Tom Grennan 486600 42 33 12 11 I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES - The Jackson Sisters 244050 43 38 2 16 EVIL WOMAN - Duran Duran 534300 44 34 16 12 ALL THE YOUNG DUDES - Pet Shop Boys 189500 45 41 1 20 HEART LIKE MINE - Sam Feldt featuring Rosa Linn 1045100 46 50 46 4 NIGHT OR DAY - Franz Ferdinand 42150 47 48 47 4 SAY HELLO WAVE GOODBYE - Soft Cell 47100 48 64 48 2 KEEP ME SATISFIED - Jungle 19400 49 56 49 4 BEAUTIFUL THAT WAY - Miley Cyrus 34100 50 43 20 11 SOMEONE FOR ME - Kylie Minogue 163800 51 45 34 11 YOUNG LION - Sade 142450 52 36 19 13 DISEASE - Lady Gaga 166600 53 59 53 4 HURT - OneRepublic featuring Jelly Roll 33950 54 46 8 21 WALK AWAY RENEE - The Four Tops 419600 55 53 4 39 FEEL - Pet Shop Boys 1060700 56 55 4 33 BIRDS OF A FEATHER - Billie Eilish 749150 57 63 57 3 GIMME LITTLE SIGN - Brenton Wood 24000 58 54 1 19 LOOKING THROUGH THE WINDOWS - The Jackson 5 842350 59 57 10 23 DIE WITH A SMILE - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars 420900 60 52 31 9 SAY GOODBYE TO MUM AND DAD - Tears For Fears 122000 61 58 19 14 GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF - Chesney Hawkes 185650 62 60 60 7 NICE TO MEET YOU - Myles Smith 49800 63 69 63 6 VIVA L’OPERA - Armin van Buuren featuring Natalie Gioia 35000 64 65 64 2 I’M IN LOVE... - Andy Bell featuring Dot Allison and Michael Rother 14100 65 62 36 8 RISK IT ALL - Shy FX featuring Maverick Sabre 97450 66 71 66 3 LOVE ME FOR A REASON - The Osmonds 17600 67 NEW 67 1 NO BAD VIBES - Jazzy & KILIMANJARO 6600 68 74 68 2 COLD DREAMING - Doves 11600 69 75 69 2 LET ME IN - The Osmonds 11200 70 72 70 2 HEY YA! - Tom Speight featuring Lydia Clowes 11600 71 73 71 3 BUG - Fontaines D.C. 16400 72 70 70 3 YES I CAN - Bonnie Tyler 17000 73 NEW 73 1 BLOODSHOT - Enter Shikari 5400 74 NEW 74 1 BUILD IT UP - Franz Ferdinand 5200 75 66 66 7 WINTER SONG - Mike Batt featuring Paul Carrack 40400 DROP OUTS 61 5 6 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND - The Beatles 195700 67 56 6 HOT TO GO - Chappell Roan 47400 68 30 12 LONELY HEART - Alesso & John Alto 150800

Hi AH! :) Hope the week is going OK and the weekend looms for a rest! B-) Fab chart, lots of old faves of yours popped back in down the bottom end! There's been a bit of a dearth of hot new tracks the last 2 months, but plus side a top 75 is much easier for me and if it keeps up I might even knock it down to 70 for the first time in 47 years :lol: I expect something'll turn up though, like that maria's track which sounds nice, and your top 2! B-)

Hi AH! :) , all OK bar the ongoing annoying itchy cough ta! No worries about commenting, I was running late with my chart as usual, so I was short of time too, but I did drop in on your chart to spot developments! :cheer: Sorry work is so tiring, I can sympathise as life generally gets tiring when you're my age! :lol: I never make New Years Resolutions, I just have aims I get annoyed I dont get round to! :lol: I would imagine hearing APT everyday will get very annoying, I'm trying to limit plays to 2 or 3 a week so I stay enthusiastic! :) Radio at work always takes me back to the summer of 79 when I was working in a hosiery warehouse with Radio 1 on. I found a lot of great stuff got overplayed so they prob dropped out my charts a bit quicker than they deserved, but plus side, that period is immensely familiar and nostalgic to me now. I couldnt say that for Radio 1 tracks now, half of 'em I've never heard! At least... Yes Schlager should have been a Xmas push - plus side, I doubt they will have anything new in '25 so there's no reason they cant bung it out with a Xmas cover in November. My choice would be I Believe In Father Christmas full orchestra stylee or something daft like Wombling Merry Christmas to go with the fun/amusing Schlager theme and Schlager stylee. :lol: I heard the new Majestic cover of Jackson Sisters, hey I was ahead of the game! Hope it's a hit. It's long overdue for the Sisters to get some cash and kudos from that track, it has Isaac hayes Shaft vibes by way of influencing Rose Royce Is It Love You're After/S Express in the sample riffs. It's been covered, but never a proper hit anywhere. cheers as always for the indepth picks and comments! Fingers crossed for an easy work week! B-)

Hey Sven! :) 8 weeks on top for the fab APT as I have it for a 2nd week :cheer: Good top 6, and climbers Robbie, holders Myles and Sam Fender, and in the Bubblers, Euphoria on top :cheer: top 5 for me this week! Deacon Blue is very good too. 2009 seems recent yet its a whopping 16 years ago :o KIllers, Britney, Gaga, Guru Josh, Broken Strings, Madonna among my faves from then. great charts! B-)

Hey Sven! :) Yay, we're in number one-sync! :cheer: :) Thanks for the picks! cheers! B-)

Hi Sergej! :) while I wait for the new chart to comment on, your number one is growing on me by the day! cheers! B-)

Hi Sergej! :) thanks for the picks, and compliment and wishes, take care too! B-)

Hi SSP! :) Climbing faves this week: Red Wine on top :cheer: Bon Pitbull, Gaga, Adela, Gwen, Zedd, TPau, PSB's, Bonnie Tyler, Lola Young, a great chart! cheers! B-)