Popchartfreak

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-)

Hi SSP! thanks for the picks! :dance: B-)

Hi Jordan! :) Love that APT thumbnail, love the video, a proper fun catchy pop record. I hope it tops the UK chart this week! I like your whole top ten actually, even though there's a few I havent bought/charted, there's not much I actively dislike in your chart at all, and loads I love. Just a few I havent heard. Fab chart! I will buying some B-)

Hi Jordan! :hi: :) Thanks for the picks and comments! Glad we agree on APT. :cheer: I heard APT. properly on XL106.7 in Orlando while I was walking round a Tourist Shop next door to the hotel on International Drive with my niece's family so that's all I thought of until I saw the video - now I also associate it with my 6-year-old great-niece as I played her the video and she loved it (she also loved my BJSC entry as well :lol: ). almost Monday is so Empire Of The Sun-ish, I was bound to rate it! :) I agree about slower stuff on BJSC, and low-key subtle stuff generally as the temptation is to go for In Ya Face loud stuff to get noticed. It's great when the unusual stuff does well. cheers! B-)

116 (32) SON OF MY FATHER - Chicory Tip 3-VtpQwjGsw Well here's a surprise, a pioneering pop hit doesnt make the 100 - Chicory Tip brought synthesisers into the charts and sounded like the future of pop music (they were, eventually) but it was mostly as a result of, and credit to, the original Giorgio Moroder non-hit which they copied. This sounded cool at the time, and it's still pretty catchy and upbeat. When we were invited to take our fave records into our final music lesson of the year summer '72, Alice Cooper was dominating the chart, I opted for Nut Rocker, and a cooler girl in the class brought this in. I felt out-done! 10-year-old pseudo-classical rock instrumentals were really not going to sound better than a synth. 50 years on, it has a period charm to it, but there's a marginally-later synth track to come that has really been the more important track.

122 (18) MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB - Wings QQryRw2abDE I wasn't old enough to be all cool and dismissive of a kiddie-aimed song yet, when this came out, and the melody was lovely so I was won over after the racket of Wings previous single. This was an intentional response from McCartney for getting banned, a sort of "OK, no way you can ban this so stick it!" which serious Macca fans derided at the time. Me, I didn't care, I still rated it a lot, great to sing along to, hence the year-end top 20 slot. Now I'm old and cynical it plummets 104 places, but I'm still fond of it. It's not amongst his essential work admittedly, and The Frog Chorus is more fun and more listenable, but there you go, it still only just misses the Top 100.

129 (93) PUPPY LOVE - Donny Osmond 0mouUvIHhh0 Donny is a week older than me, and his voice hadn't broken yet either in 1972. The Osmond Brothers had been US and UK TV staples for years, with Donny and their cartoon TV show pushing One Bad Apple to the top of the US charts - a really fab sub-Jackson 5 pop track that one - in 1971. The UK was a bit slower, and it was Donny's cover of the Paul Anka 50's hit that broke then huge in the UK. Puppy Love was sweet, older music fans liked the nostalgia, pre-teen and early teen girls had a new squeeky-clean pin-up, and I had nostalgia for them on The Andy Williams Show. Puppy Love was a decent fave, but the Donny-mania quickly got on the nerves of most boys at school, and I went off this and the rest of Donny's hits (most of which I didnt like) until I stood next to grown-up Donny in the 80's when he opened up a new HMV record store in Bournemouth, and rather enjoyed his George-Michael-inspired new stuff. No apologies, I still like this one, and it's way better then the rest of his 70's solo hits. Note: ignore all of the tacky covers on youtube, anything recorded after his voice broke in 1973 rather misses the point of the song, and that includes Donny's official version on his youtube channel as a grown man. Please!! If the original version is too sickly-sweet for you, too bad, his vocal is flawless. Compare with his later number ones and be impressed.

130 (38) RUN RUN RUN - Jo Jo Gunne cOi0Iv5J45c DJ Alan Freeman loved pushing rock tracks like this one, and this American band had the one-off big hit in the UK and that was that, they never really had a US hit as big as this was at the time. This driving rock goodie, though, has been largely forgotten, which is shame it has riffs aplenty and hooks throughout, and was one I came back to in the 80s and 90s, but it didn't quite excite me as much in the 2020's after a bit of a layoff. So down almost 100 places....

yay! 39's!! :yahoo: well done! :cheer: Round 1: 36 (or 39 if I allow for Ken's sweetly low-key diction on the 1982 hit sounding like "None Of Those" to me, I would have asked him to repeat the question :lol: ) Round 2: 39 tiebreak: yup 3 in 10: 3 ( )

a bit o hype for one of our former chart-toppers, the fabulous Belinda carlisle track Sanity, her best track in 30 years, and voted. 10 good tracks get the points, hopefully all through OK.

sales really were low, though my view of 88 at the time was that it was a low-point of the 80's in terms of hit records. That said there were plenty of classics, not least S Express, love the Rose Royce rifftastic disco anthem, and this version just as much. I saw natalie Cole in concert in the 90's, it was great she got some Springsteen career-reviving action, Pink cadillac is good. I will stick with the original I want You back - Jackson 5 - taking me back to being 12 years old, and Man In The Mirror should have been a chart-topper. That Xmas/New Year all sorts of shock flops for big names as the pop charts shifted stuff about. The Nana I Want You back is a very good pop tune, I missed Siobhan but it all worked out well for all concerned in the long run. Pebbles was OK but she should have covered Meet The Flintstones instead of Girlfriend's pseudo-Prince vibes :D

Round 1: 39 Round 2: 36 ( ) 3 in 10: 3 ( )