Popchartfreak

Black Or White is a great video and decent upbeat pop song. I like the intent too, but it's not in the same league as the best stuff off the previous 3 albums, and not near the top 5 of 1991 chart-toppers for me.

3 classics just outside the 20, Heart Of Glass an anthem even if Atomic is the ultimate Blondie single. Topped my charts and I bought it as I did Cliff, a career best to that point (and beyond) for me. Classic. Without You remains an epic tortured committed sonbg and vocal. I bought it second time round in 1976. The two songwriters from Badfinger both sadly committed suicide young, and the band should have been on the rundown with No Matter What in their own right. Fabuylous record. Top 20, err, novelty and MOR dominating. Boney M surprisingly low given they generally are listed as top 10 of all-time on All-time-sales charts of the 80's amd 90's, certainly one I bought too, though it peaked at 2 for me, YMCA hogging the top spot. a record I have more than got fed up with hearing. Fun at the time though. Puppy Love, I rated, then hated, then came back to in more recent years. Donny's best single may have been his USA chart-topper though, Go Away Little Girl. At least until 80's George-Michael-influenced hits like Soldier Of Love. Eye Level, nice tune, but it stopped Ballroom Blitz getting to number one so not forgiven. Amazing Grace another monster I grew to hate at the time, then learned to love in later years, but Judy Collins' version is the definitive. I still think Little Drummer Boy is the pipers' christmas goodie though. 1972 big at the top end with Lt Pigeon, but it was follow-up Desperate Dan that topped my charts oddly. It's still fun though I wouldnt call it a major fave! Brotherhood Of Man arrived during peak ABBA and sounded a bit naff in comparison, though Angelo was the better song and record when they upped their game. My fave though is their Tony Romeo cover, Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In). The Coomodores, Three Times A Lady is nice enough, Easy is better, Sail On is their best ballad, full-on Soul-Country vibes, and Richie's later ballads are pretty dire. The Smurf Song was a kiddie thing and tolerable for what it was for a while. Welcome Home another one that got on my nerves at the time after it hung around so long, but I find it kinda sweet these days and can happily singalong to it...!

I'm back, lots to catch up on! Congrats to all the 39's and 36's galore from everyone, all very impressive 🤩Julian I must have a listen to your friend's show, I avoid anything like that as I did it in 1986 Radio 1 Bournemouth Roadshow and swore I would never do it again, too stressful and my mind goes blank under pressure! 😄 round 1: 36 I Swear. I did. round 2: 36 Bono. Nono! 3 in 10: Church Of The Poison Mind, Karma Chameleon, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania very interesting and historic, but also sobering with a dark history with Nazis and KGB committing atrocities. On the last night the national alarm went off on everyone's mobile at 12.20am due to a drone incursion warning. It's very loud and insistent...!

One and only is better than shoop shoop. Great to have both acts top the chart but Cher has endless classics way better than this and i love linda lewis 1975 disco version best. Chesneys recent singles have been pretty good too as has cher's charting xmas track. Cher was way overdue a number one but if we had to have a pre believe track it should have been one by one. Sit Down and KLF wuz both robbed though.

My little brother bought jimmy osmond as he was a Liverpool FC fan. I bought Tubeway Army as it sounded fab n futuristic in a Heroes sort of way. My mum and i also bought gloria gaynor classic. That was the second and final new single mum bought. So a hat trick of family responsibility there! Jimmy's track is forgiveable sung by and aimed at kids and grannies but not one that stands too much repeat play! Ian dury is a goodie but i was more into Sally Oldfield Mirrors at the time. Elton and kiki Are the hot summer of 76 but oh how i would have loved Dusty on it to reboot her career earlier! Argentina is a classic and julie covington did a very explicit play that year at uni in terms of feminist subject matter. Good thing it was dark as i went bright red with embarrassment! Mondays and Night Fever both classics i helped to number one. David Soul i didn't buy but i do like it. Bye Bye Baby is a good song but i considered the Rollers annoying by this stage having been a fan pre Rollermania. Recently played it a lot and its a good pop cover actually 50 years on. Mississippi was a good singalong monster ideal for karaoke on holiday Eurobars for the older crowd. I do like the song. Dr Hook a good song too though OD'd on it a bit over the years. I always thought Sharing The Night Together should have been a hit both times it came out.

Burn is good, among the better ones to drop out so far. Not on a par with Hurts/Calvin but decent enough. It sounds a lot better than I thought it did at the time, didnt even go top 40 for me, prob Ellie OD by that time a factor.

ooh well done everyone on Friday! 🤩🤩 a best-ever group performance i think! round 1: 39 round 2: 36 two years out eek! 3 in 10: Manchild, Buffalo Stance, Woman I will be on a coach tour of Estonia Latvia Lithuania from tomorrow for a week so sadly missing the daily and BJ most likely, bar a catch-up here and there.

Dizzy was the first record I ever bought thanks to my great-grandparents giving me 10 shillings to treat myself on comics and records when we moved to Singapore for 2 years. That was a fortune back in the olden days, and I am of course talking of the Tommy Roe original bought from Changi Village evening market stall, a bubblegum classic so good that the late William Orbit sampled it for Bass-o-matic's Fascinating Rhythm in 1990 and Vic covered it in 1991 with a fun upbeat slice of fun I was bound to enjoy as a Vic & Bob fan. To keep on with the reminiscing, Tommy Roe's Greatest Hits was the first CD album I bought, I saw him in concert around then and then Vic and Bob in 1991 doing their comedy tour with added music hits. Phew! George & Elton, happy to see them top the chart, but TBH I got fed up with hearing it. And it put me off the original version, which I wasnt keen on in 1974 - too dirgey - but grew to love by the early 90's buying the CD re-issue before this came out and set me back to square one on it. George was great, love him, love Elton, but this track not so much.

14th September 1976 It's 5 weeks on top for Dancing Queen as it becomes their longest-running single on top, holding off Monday Monday from the top spot - but that will do it in 1997 with California Dreamin' so not to worry. Plus Creque Alley makes it 2 top 10's for The Mamas & The Papas, and a 4th top 10 for the late Mama Cass. Twiggy, meanwhile, joind the top 10 club with Here I Go Again. The highest new entry is The Real Thing's soundalike follow-up to You To Me Are Everything, which just fell short of the top 10, as Can't Get By Without You does in week 1, at 13. MIke Batt celebrates the end of the hot, dry summer with Rainmaker, under his alias Wellington Womble. It's a pretty good single actually and deserved to be a hit, but the Wombles bandwagon had left the station, sadly. New at 27 here, at least. A re-entry we didn't really need, and due to the HMS Ark Royal TV series using as the TV theme, Sailing is back for a second run leass than a year on at 33. More welcome to me, was Jo Jo Gunne getting re-issued and Run Run Run duly debuts at 37 4 years on from being top 5 in my charts, and Love Is All is back for a second try for Roger Glover 18 months after it first tried (and failed) to chart, in at 38, and a top 10 for me first-time-round. Mockingbird is also a 1974 track back again for Carly Simon and James Taylor at 39, and Gallagher & Lyle try for hit 3 with the sweet Breakaway at 42. Art Garfunkel did a nice cover. Randy Edelman is also back again with a ballad this time, Uptown Uptempo Woman at 48 while Silver's Wham Bam has been forgotten 50 years later, but is a rather nice slice of West Coast harmony rock that deserved to be a UK hit. One of those tracks on my list to bring back for some more plays! 1 ( 1 ) DANCING QUEEN ABBA 2 ( 5 ) MONDAY MONDAY The Mamas & The Papas 3 ( 2 ) YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO The Chi-Lites 4 ( 6 ) BLINDED BY THE LIGHT Manfred Mann's Earthband 5 ( 7 ) BENNIE AND THE JETS Elton John 6 ( 3 ) YOU'LL NEVER FIND ANOTHER LOVE LIKE MINE Lou Rawls 7 ( 8 ) THE PRICE OF LOVE Bryan Ferry 8 ( 12 ) CREQUE ALLEY The Mamas & The Papas 9 ( 10 ) YOU SHOULD BE DANCING The Bee Gees 10 ( 13 ) HERE I GO AGAIN Twiggy 11 ( 11 ) WITHOUT YOU Nilsson 12 ( 9 ) LET 'EM IN Wings 13 ( NEW ) CAN'T GET BY WITHOUT YOU The Real Thing 14 ( 4 ) AFTERNOON DELIGHT Starland Vocal Band 15 ( 20 ) AMOUREUSE Kiki Dee 16 ( 21 ) MISSISSIPPI Pussycat 17 ( 24 ) I CAN'T ASK FOR ANYMORE THAN YOU Cliff Richard 18 ( 18 ) DANCE LITTLE LADY DANCE Tina Charles 19 ( 22 ) I WANT MORE Can 20 ( 30 ) DOINA DE JALE Gheorghe Zamfir 21 ( 25 ) 1, 2, 2003 Len Barry 22 ( 36 ) IT'S O.K. the Beach Boys 23 ( 26 ) BABY I LOVE YOUR WAY Peter Frampton 24 ( 31 ) I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU Bay City Rollers 25 ( 16 ) HEAVEN MUST BE MISSING AN ANGEL Tavares 26 ( 37 ) BABY WE'D BETTER TRY TO GET TOGETHER Barry White 27 ( NEW ) RAINMAKER Wellington Womble aka Mike Batt 28 ( 15 ) A LITTLE BIT MORE Dr. Hook 29 ( 44 ) BEST DISCO IN TOWN The Ritchie Family 30 ( 45 ) DISCO DUCK Rick Dees & His Cast Of Idiots 31 ( 17 ) MYSTERY SONG Status Quo 32 ( 23 ) WHAT I'VE GOT IN MIND Billie-Jo Spears 33 ( NEW ) SAILING Rod Stewart 34 ( 14 ) NICE 'N' SLOW Jesse Green 35 ( 39 ) LOVING ON THE LOSING SIDE Tommy Hunt 36 ( 38 ) HEAVEN IS IN THE BACK SEAT OF MY CADILLAC Hot Chocolate 37 ( NEW ) RUN RUN RUN Jo-Jo Gunne 38 ( NEW ) LOVE IS ALL Roger Glover & Friends 39 ( NEW ) MOCKINGBIRD Carly Simon & James Taylor 40 ( 40 ) (I'VE GOT THE) MUSIC IN ME The Kiki Dee Band 41 ( 42 ) ARIA Acker Bilk 42 ( NEW ) BREAKAWAY Gallagher & Lyle 43 ( 19 ) HOROSCOPE Harpo 44 ( 28 ) I NEED IT Johnny 'Guitar' Watson 45 ( 49 ) THAT'LL BE THE DAY Linda Ronstadt 46 ( 29 ) IN ZAIRE Johnny Wakelin 47 ( 32 ) DAYDREAM BELIEVER The Monkees 48 ( NEW ) UPTOWN UPTEMPO WOMAN Randy Edelman 49 ( 27 ) HERE COMES THE SUN Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel 50 ( NEW ) WHAM BAM SHANG A LANG Silver Meanwhile in my diary for this week, next-door-neighbour Ernie did me a budgie birdbox, for the little breeders in the outdoor aviary/shed. Back at school sorting out of the timetables (photography, Geography, English Lit) - I still have nightmares about forgetting to turn up for lessons at school and College, which is bizarre! Cards at lunchtime with schoolmates, mum picked me up after school (in North Hykeham) to take me home to Mansfield before she went to my Aunty's Tupperware party. Exciting domestic pastimes in those days! TV had a unique UK/US TV link-up for chat shows from Dick Cavett & Eamon Andrews, signs of the future. Chairman Mao died. Not that it affected my day to day life. Mum's niece popped round with her family Thursday during Top Of The Pops. I note a powerful episode 'Lester' of the great Harry O detective show , where a regular was killed off. David Janssen starred, and his co-star had been Manolito in the fab High Chaparral Western show, Henry Darrow. Still remember being shocked! I also audio taped one of my fave Batman episodes (Shame starring Cliff Robinson) really funny pisstake of 50's Western hero Shane. On Saturday I went into town with my brother as Tom Baker did a Doctor Who P.A. swooshing right by me in his full outfit. I didn't queue with all the kids to meet him though, I get a little tongue-tied with celebrities. Still do. Yesterday (in 2026) I met Katy Manning, Jo in 70's Doctor Who, Jemma Redgrave from recent Doctor Who, and British movie icon of the 60's and 70's Madeline Smith, all perfectly lovely and friendly. Babysat my little cousins again Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening too they were all round.

7th September 1976 It's back to school (A levels 2nd year) for me, and Dancing Queen not shifting any time soon on a fourth week on top. Lou Rawls deservedly goes top 3 with his classy soul shuffler, what a vocal. Monday Monday gives Mama Cass a third top 5, and Blinded By The Light gives Bruce Springsteen a first top 10 song, and Manfred's first top 10 since Joybringer 3 years back, and his 4th in total since Fox On The Run hit the top spot in late 1968. Bryan Ferry makes it a 4th solo top 10 or 10th including Roxy Music hits. The Price Of Love makes it the first Everly Brothers cover to go top 10 since Glen Campbell & Bobbie Gentry's All I Have To Do Is Dream in 1969. New in at 21, Dutch band Pussycat debut Mississippi at the expense of Jonathan King's cover which is booted out now the real thing was taking off, a good country-ish singalong. In at 31, Bay City Rollers get some plus points from me for covering an early fave Dusty Springfield classic, though the novelty will wear off quickly, but it did extend their run to 5 years. Meanwhile the charting veteran Beach Boys have a new single in at 36. It's OK. It really is. Hot Chocolate seem to be struggling with inspiration since the departure of Tony Wilson, but still getting hits in the wake of You Sexy Thing with Heaven Is In The Back Seat Of My Cadillac an otherwise pedestrian funk workout in at 38. Not to worry, helpful songwriters will be along shortly to right things a bit. Tommy Hunt debuts at 39, Loving On The Losing Side, one I havent heard in 50 years as I never managed to tape it or buy it, it's a pretty good Northern Soul club song from the USA via Wigan. Nice to hear it again. Down the bottom end is a plethora of newies: Mr Acker Bilk gets a chart hit from me for his Aria, another one never played on radio, and sort of nice to see him have a hit after his classic Stranger On The Shore was still well known in those days 15 years on. It's not quite as great as that one, but it's nice. New at 42, ahead of The Ritchie Family at 44, celebrating discos Euro-stylee, and a bit of fun - though their best record will be in 1979 and a non-UK Euro-smash American Generation. US DJ Rick Dees takes the piss out of disco, meanwhile, featuring a duck sounding suspiciously like both the baby duck from Tom & Jerry cartoons, and Hannah-Barbera's Yakky Doodle. The latter now totally forgotten, but kids loved his double act with Chopper. That's a dog. I think 70's record buyers were already programmed to go "aaawww" when hearing that voice, explaining how it became a hit. At 47 The Lonely Ranger sneaks for Silver Pony. It wasn't a hit and I'd totally forgotten it, but it's quite quirky for the time - The Lone Ranger TV Theme (aka Rossini's William Tell Overture) done synth-stylee with the odd vocal snippet from the show like "Hi Ho Silver, Away" before opting for some breathy, naughty bits from a random lady pretending to be Tonto. The Lone Ranger runs off, obviously not his thing. Jolly and a novelty. Not as good as Quantum Jump's Lone Ranger though, which came out first. Henry Gross' US hit Shannon, slips pleasantly in at 48 for US radio fodder support from me, if not the actual UK charts, Linda Ronstadt is back again with That'll Be The Day this time, a standard Crickets and Buddy Holly cover, in at 49, and at 50 it's War with a 3rd chart entry in Summer. Not heard that in 50 years either. It's a bit Low Rider-ish, but slower. And more laid back. And an Up On The Roof vibe. Nice though. 1 ( 1 ) DANCING QUEEN ABBA 2 ( 2 ) YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO The Chi-Lites 3 ( 6 ) YOU'LL NEVER FIND ANOTHER LOVE LIKE MINE Lou Rawls 4 ( 4 ) AFTERNOON DELIGHT Starland Vocal Band 5 ( 8 ) MONDAY MONDAY The Mamas & The Papas 6 ( 20 ) BLINDED BY THE LIGHT Manfred Mann's Earthband 7 ( 7 ) BENNIE AND THE JETS Elton John 8 ( 14 ) THE PRICE OF LOVE Bryan Ferry 9 ( 3 ) LET 'EM IN Wings 10 ( 5 ) YOU SHOULD BE DANCING The Bee Gees 11 ( 18 ) WITHOUT YOU Nilsson 12 ( 19 ) CREQUE ALLEY The Mamas & The Papas 13 ( 15 ) HERE I GO AGAIN Twiggy 14 ( 22 ) NICE 'N' SLOW Jesse Green 15 ( 10 ) A LITTLE BIT MORE Dr. Hook 16 ( 12 ) HEAVEN MUST BE MISSING AN ANGEL Tavares 17 ( 11 ) MYSTERY SONG Status Quo 18 ( 27 ) DANCE LITTLE LADY DANCE Tina Charles 19 ( 9 ) HOROSCOPE Harpo 20 ( 25 ) AMOUREUSE Kiki Dee 21 ( NEW ) MISSISSIPPI Pussycat 22 ( 39 ) I WANT MORE Can 23 ( 23 ) WHAT I'VE GOT IN MIND Billie-Jo Spears 24 ( 28 ) I CAN'T ASK FOR ANYMORE THAN YOU Cliff Richard 25 ( 40 ) 1, 2, 3 Len Barry 26 ( 46 ) BABY I LOVE YOUR WAY Peter Frampton 27 ( 13 ) HERE COMES THE SUN Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel 28 ( 33 ) I NEED IT Johnny 'Guitar' Watson 29 ( 16 ) IN ZAIRE Johnny Wakelin 30 ( 37 ) DOINA DE JALE Gheorghe Zamfir 31 ( NEW ) I ONLY WANT TO BE WITH YOU Bay City Rollers 32 ( 24 ) DAYDREAM BELIEVER The Monkees 33 ( 17 ) THE KILLING OF GEORGIE PART 1 Rod Stewart 34 ( 29 ) WOULDN'T IT BE NICE The Beach Boys 35 ( 30 ) GOOD VIBRATIONS The Beach Boys 36 ( NEW ) IT'S O.K. the Beach Boys 37 ( 42 ) BABY WE'D BETTER TRY TO GET TOGETHER Barry White 38 ( NEW ) HEAVEN IS IN THE BACK SEAT OF MY CADILLAC Hot Chocolate 39 ( NEW ) LOVING ON THE LOSING SIDE Tommy Hunt 40 ( 43 ) (I'VE GOT THE) MUSIC IN ME The Kiki Dee Band 41 ( 26 ) SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE (SHAKE YOUR BOOTY) KC & The Sunshine Band 42 ( NEW ) ARIA Acker Bilk 43 ( 21 ) HARVEST FOR THE WORLD The Isley Brothers 44 ( NEW ) BEST DISCO IN TOWN The Ritchie Family 45 ( NEW ) DISCO DUCK Rick Dees & His cast Of Idiots 46 ( 32 ) DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART Elton John & Kiki Dee 47 ( NEW ) THE LONELY RANGER Silver Pony 48 ( NEW ) SHANNON Henry Gross 49 ( NEW ) THAT'LL BE THE DAY Linda Ronstadt 50 ( NEW ) SUMMER War

Under Control, well for a start I was a fan of Hurts, they've had some amazing tracks and never got the success they deserved, and they were great in concert too. This one? It's not quite as great as several of Hurts singles, and both Calvin Harris and Tiesto have other great dance tracks too, but I really rate this one even if the underlying sound was like a lot of tracks of the era. One of only two Calvin Harris chart-toppers for me, and I still think it's classier than a lot of dance at the time, no irritating repetitive hooks, it flows nicely as a song, and it was great Hurts got a hit. My fave so far to drop out by quite a distance and likely at the top end of my rating for the year. Pharrell, well I went to see that film when it came out (probably with age-appropriate relatives) and two of the songs struck me as rather good, with Happy the obviously more catchy, downloaded and charted them immediately, and then considered bunging Happy into the BJSC as it was just getting no airplay anywhere, realised it would prob get vetoed so sat back until the rest of the world caught on. By which time I started to get fed up of hearing it. Yes, I was probably the first to OD on it 😄it's still fun and positive and works in the film, but with the state of the world it's much harder to sing along and mean it these days! I expect it will be mid-table for me...I still like it but dont love it.

Lena Martell a pet hate, oh how that record annoyed me. People from my grandparents' generation were fans though, and with the trials of getting older I can see why it appealed to them. As Bette Davis quipped in her later years, "old age sure ain't for sissies". Dance Away was the moment the avante-garde Glam pioneers moved over to mass-appeal laid-back synth-pop, and much as I like it as a pleasant pass-time, it's really not in the same class as Virgina Plain, Streetlife, All I Want Is You, Love Is The Drug, not to mention Ferry's best solo stuff. Angel Eyes and Same Old Scene would have a bit more oomph but this was the future for both Roxy and Ferry, pretty much. Mungo Jerry I was huge on this record for ages and ages until a bloody advert ruined it. I have to return to tropical Singapore and try and remember it when it was new and fresh and catchy. Mungo always did give good value on singles with the number of tracks. Downside 33 and a third singles sound quality wasn't as good as 45rpm. Ray lives in Dorset and still does local festivals, the legend!

Power Of Love is unusual, starkly beautiful and yes emotional, and the reference to The Hooded Claw aka the very camp Paul Lynde in Penelope Pitstop is enough for a 10/10 from me too! As is OneNight In Bangkok, dramatic rap-musical track long before Lin-Manuel had a go, Chess is under-rated and for a while it looked Bjorn & Benny could have done some more musicals, but hey ho Mamma Mia I suppose! Having Tim Rice on lyrics helped, he knows how to knock out a great phrase or two. I'm with you on the frogs, utterly charming and that video/TV clip is amazing 9/10. If nothing else Macca showing that kids songs can still be melodic, classy and positive. I've never OD'd on it either. Like A Virgin was the one that made Madonna the superstar and the video is great, it was a noticeable move away from dance music, but Holiday is still my fave of '84 8/10. Invisible deserved better, one of Alison's best singles, but at least it went top 30, 8/10. Fresh is indeed fresher than most later-career Kool & The Gang singles, not bad at all 7/10. Lay Your Hands I also liked, but not quite as much as the Twins' previous ballad in late '83 7/10. Big Country I was waning on by now they somehow had lost their widescreen riff knack 5/10. The Kane Gang made Respect Yourself a UK hit, so there's kudos for that as it was pretty much unknown at this point, and set up Bruce Willis nicely for '87. Not as good as the Staple Singers Obv but the Kane Gang were on the whole not bad at all with their singles, but under-achieved commercially. 7/10. Private Dancer sounds like a dull Dire Straits ballad, for obvious reasons, and I never really warmed to it either. Competent and Tina is the best thing about it 6/10. Round And Round wasnt their worst single, it was passable pop 6/10, and they essentially split up at this point for 2 years, with projects Arcadia and The Power Station with Robert Palmer. Which was a sign of things to come long-term after the next get-back-together. Huey Lewis having finally broken through in the UK with one of his lesser tracks was mystifiying, given the excellent Heart & Soul had flopped, still his best record. 5/10. The Medal Song and George had definitely lost the plot. They would have been better lifting off the US-only singles from either previous album. 4/10. Teardrops typical Shaky by and large 5/10. Do The Conga well its a follow-up I suppose, and parties enjoyed it for a bit 3/10.

Didn't like this at the time and still don't. I have always struggled with Iron Maiden and their cartoon manic OTT metal, never straying far from the template established with their best track Run To The Hills. At least Bruce Dickinson's solo stuff was a bit more varied, notably his cover of All The Young Dudes, not to mention his pilot career and swordfighting! Now that impressed me! This is better than The Stonk though. Not that I'm against the genre, but if I am going for that era manic metal I go OTT with Motorhead's best tracks, or earlier Deep Purple on Fireball, Sabbath Paranoid.

Being too old for this to have existed when I was in Primary School, and indeed the whole concept of learning popular music of the 20th century at school - as far as I recall - I have no nostalgia for the song and didnt even know it existed until the 80's. I have sat through Gareth Gates starring in the musical, and I have to say it's no Jesus Christ Superstar or Evita, both of which are brilliant. Frankly I got bored, it's almost as if it was written for kids not grown-ups! 😄So, not a fan much of the song. It's an OK singalong I suppose, and would be higher than The Stonk for me, but behind The Simpsons.

I had to go and mention quality didn't I?! Showaddywaddy's was a decent drum-heavy cover actually, and may well be their best record, though I have a soft spot for Hey Mr Xmas (rarely not a cover). They did get a bit samey towards the end though. Chuck Berry was funny once or twice and that was enough. Memories of TOTP trying to make it non-threatening by getting artist Rolf Harris on to draw cartoons live showing Chuck was singing about a sort of musical yo-yo. He wasn't, and that if anything has aged even more badly than Chuck on stage singing it. And Chuck was done for a videoing hobby....! So that leaves Blockbuster! The Sweet were always good, even in their bubblegum calypso phase, but they'd had a go at Glam with Little Willy (see My Ding A Ling later in the year) and Wig Wam Bam honed the template, before they struck gold with Blockbuster. Fabulous record and the 3 follow-up number 2's were even more exciting and should have hit the top spot. They had 5 number two's which is pretty unlucky! Just Andy left now, sadly, so the intro to Ballroom Blitz is a bit silent these days.

I have those CD's - they didnt even bother putting Bartman on last on side 2, it was stuck in between 2 bangers in Peace and Insanity, which is truly bizarre. Looking at the track listing they clearly had no idea what they were doing in terms of mood creation and placing of randoms amongst bunches of tracks where they clearly dont belong....! 😄

1 1 1 3 SUNSHINE - Jungle 358000 2 2 1 7 THE GAME OF LOVE - New Radicals & Michelle Branch 750200 3 3 1 10 CLUB TO YOUR ARMS - Rose Gray 1175000 4 4 4 12 LOVE SENSATION/AFTERHOURS RADIO EDIT - Madonna/Madonna & Kylie Minogue 412400 5 5 5 6 BABY I KNOW - The Rubettes 254300 6 8 6 4 SLEEPING WITH MY BOOTS ON - Lily Meola 170250 7 9 7 6 TONIGHT - The Rubettes 162000 8 19 8 7 THINK I'M GONNA FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU - The Dooleys 124650 9 20 9 3 REWARD - The Teardrop Explodes 78750 10 26 10 3 MESMERIZED - Freemasons featuring Faith Evans 63700 11 6 3 10 HONEYBEE - Olivia Rodrigo 416900 12 10 6 11 THE CURE - Olivia Rodrigo 258900 13 14 13 4 STORMY WEATHER - Etta James 96500 14 12 12 7 SUNRISE - Simply Red 157650 15 7 5 8 SOMEDAY, SOMEWHERE - Jungle 250700 16 18 16 9 DANCETERIA - Madonna 144750 17 11 1 9 DON JUAN - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich 533500 18 13 2 14 THE WAVE - Jungle 806650 19 22 19 10 DANCING WITHOUT YOU - Disco Bambino, Nile Rodgers & Sophie Ellis-Bextor 128050 20 15 1 9 ZABADAK! - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich 627000 21 25 21 7 WANTED - The Dooleys 103550 22 16 10 11 SUMMER FUNK - Francesco Gabbani 219100 23 51 23 3 TAKE IT SLOW (BULLIT) - Robin Schulz & Watermat 37400 24 50 24 3 WHERE ARE YOU NOW? - Jungle 37200 25 36 25 8 STUPID SONG - Olivia Rodrigo 78600 26 35 26 6 BLUE DREAM - Holly Humberstone 76450 27 24 20 11 WHITE NOISE - Holly Humberstone 147550 28 31 28 9 NO MORE REGRETS - almost monday 108450 29 17 10 5 THE LOVE BOAT - Lowdii Beats 143200 30 21 8 15 TALK TO YOU - ANOTR featuring 54 Ultra 277550 31 23 1 16 CRYING OVER YOU - Reverend and The Makers 931150 32 29 5 10 TANGERINE - Damiano David 346350 33 30 8 12 HOWL - Carly Simon 317750 34 27 20 8 I'M ALIVE - Imael Angel 139650 35 42 35 8 BIZARRE - Madonna & Martin Garrix 82850 36 49 36 3 OH YEAH? - Steve Lacy 32500 37 45 37 6 FIREFLIES - Martin Garrix & U2 65500 38 41 38 9 MEET ME IN LOVE - Blossoms featuring Maya Jama 78800 39 33 33 8 SHATTERED DREAMS - Johnny Hates Jazz 104550 40 44 40 6 YOU'RE THE REASON WHY - The Rubettes 54650

30th August 2026 It's 2 weeks on top for Jungle as a 7th track from Sunshine enters (with rapper Bas) at 76, Romeo II leapfrogging Move Like You Do at 79, while Where Are You Now leaps into the 40 at 24. That's 6 simultaneous tracks with Madonna on 5 simultaneous, Love Sensation holding at 4, Danceteria up to 16, Bizarre to 35, Fragile to 47 and One Step Away new at 99 to make an 8th track from Confessions II to chart. It's more oldies in the top 10 though as The Dooleys finally crack the top 10 49 years on, Think I'm Gonna Fall In Love With You out-doing it's top 20 peak to give a 2nd top 10 at 8. Wanted went top 3 in 1979 and is up to 21. The Teardrop Explodes hit the top 10 having peaked at 2 first-time around in 1981, and the follow-up to that now returns too at 78. It's Treason! It's Just A Story. That leaves the Freemasons to add to their list of top 10's with Mesmerized taking the Faith Evans remix up from 26. It's a dance corker, and their 5th top 10, including 2 number ones in the 2000's and 11 years since their previous entry and 21 years since their debut. It's from their greatest hits album, and Faith Evans' original failed to chart, so it's her 5th charter and 3rd top 10, including her 30-year-old collab with Puff Daddy, I'll Be Missing You. It's a very belated chart debut for 1990 B side Ken, for Kate Bush, the theme tune to an amusing episode of Comic Strip Presents, where Kate goes suitably OTT on the GLC "Hollywood-tells-the-story" pisstake of Ken Livingstone's climb to the London elite. It's fun and sees Dawn French as Cher playing a politician, Jennifer Saunders as Brigitte Nielsen as Thatcher, Robbie Coltrane as Charles Brosnan playing Ken, among others. In at 82 because I didnt allow B sides in my charts in the 90's. I'm guessing it's the closest to new Bush material we are likely to get again as Kate works the back catalogue instead, and Ken remains off streaming sites, being more of a novelty. Carly Rae Jepsen replaces herself on the chart with Don't Leave Me On The Dancefloor at 92, Alex Warren keeps the pace of new releases frantic with a track off his new album, Emerald Eyes at 98, and local band SLOWAVE get a second new entry with new track Silver Lines at 100. I'm biased towards their brand of rock (and other genres) as the lead singer is the son-in-law of a long-time friend. 1 1 1 3 SUNSHINE - Jungle 358000 2 2 1 7 THE GAME OF LOVE - New Radicals & Michelle Branch 750200 3 3 1 10 CLUB TO YOUR ARMS - Rose Gray 1175000 4 4 4 12 LOVE SENSATION/AFTERHOURS RADIO EDIT - Madonna/Madonna & Kylie Minogue 412400 5 5 5 6 BABY I KNOW - The Rubettes 254300 6 8 6 4 SLEEPING WITH MY BOOTS ON - Lily Meola 170250 7 9 7 6 TONIGHT - The Rubettes 162000 8 19 8 7 THINK I'M GONNA FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU - The Dooleys 124650 9 20 9 3 REWARD - The Teardrop Explodes 78750 10 26 10 3 MESMERIZED - Freemasons featuring Faith Evans 63700 11 6 3 10 HONEYBEE - Olivia Rodrigo 416900 12 10 6 11 THE CURE - Olivia Rodrigo 258900 13 14 13 4 STORMY WEATHER - Etta James 96500 14 12 12 7 SUNRISE - Simply Red 157650 15 7 5 8 SOMEDAY, SOMEWHERE - Jungle 250700 16 18 16 9 DANCETERIA - Madonna 144750 17 11 1 9 DON JUAN - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich 533500 18 13 2 14 THE WAVE - Jungle 806650 19 22 19 10 DANCING WITHOUT YOU - Disco Bambino, Nile Rodgers & Sophie Ellis-Bextor 128050 20 15 1 9 ZABADAK! - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich 627000 21 25 21 7 WANTED - The Dooleys 103550 22 16 10 11 SUMMER FUNK - Francesco Gabbani 219100 23 51 23 3 TAKE IT SLOW (BULLIT) - Robin Schulz & Watermat 37400 24 50 24 3 WHERE ARE YOU NOW? - Jungle 37200 25 36 25 8 STUPID SONG - Olivia Rodrigo 78600 26 35 26 6 BLUE DREAM - Holly Humberstone 76450 27 24 20 11 WHITE NOISE - Holly Humberstone 147550 28 31 28 9 NO MORE REGRETS - almost monday 108450 29 17 10 5 THE LOVE BOAT - Lowdii Beats 143200 30 21 8 15 TALK TO YOU - ANOTR featuring 54 Ultra 277550 31 23 1 16 CRYING OVER YOU - Reverend and The Makers 931150 32 29 5 10 TANGERINE - Damiano David 346350 33 30 8 12 HOWL - Carly Simon 317750 34 27 20 8 I'M ALIVE - Imael Angel 139650 35 42 35 8 BIZARRE - Madonna & Martin Garrix 82850 36 49 36 3 OH YEAH? - Steve Lacy 32500 37 45 37 6 FIREFLIES - Martin Garrix & U2 65500 38 41 38 9 MEET ME IN LOVE - Blossoms featuring Maya Jama 78800 39 33 33 8 SHATTERED DREAMS - Johnny Hates Jazz 104550 40 44 40 6 YOU'RE THE REASON WHY - The Rubettes 54650 41 37 1 19 LOVE CONTROLLER - Demi Lovato 878200 42 39 1 13 READY TO BEGIN - Appleton 555950 43 48 43 11 SELF AWARE - Temper City 74900 44 28 26 10 ON MY SOUL - Bruno Mars 123600 45 34 7 14 MOVIN' TO THE SUN - HUGEL, Imael Angel & Ultra Nate 310500 46 66 46 2 I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU - Dolly Parton 19550 47 63 47 4 FRAGILE - Madonna 27000 48 60 48 3 RAIN - Dagny 26700 49 38 29 11 BOOGIE'S IN MY SOUL - Chaka Khan & Snoop Dogg 140650 50 40 39 8 I FEEL HOPE COMING - Alabama Shakes 94700 51 53 51 8 STAND UP - Howard Jones 67700 52 54 52 8 THERE'S A BETTER WAY - Inspiral Carpets 54400 53 43 3 16 FOREVER - Reverend and The Makers 550200 54 46 1 18 NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE - The Jackson 5 567300 55 55 1 22 CLICK CLACK SYMPHONY - RAYE featuring Hans Zimmer 1071400 56 47 43 8 STREET OF DREAMS - U2 69100 57 32 27 11 MACHINE GUN - The Commodores 171700 58 58 58 8 TAKE ME BACK - Kygo & Max McNown 54900 59 68 59 2 JOLENE - Dolly Parton 16500 60 62 60 4 I'M IN LOVE AGAIN - Lulu 30200 61 61 1 18 BROTHER LOUIE - Hot Chocolate featuring Alexis Korner 697250 62 70 62 2 GOD ONLY KNOWS - for KING AND COUNTRY featuring Dolly Parton 13400 63 65 5 17 MASTER JACK - Four Jacks And A Jill 419950 64 69 64 3 LOADED - Primal Scream 14800 65 64 64 5 SWING YOUR DADDY - Jim Gilstrap 27200 66 56 56 6 DES FLEURS - Tove Lo & Stromae 33400 67 57 55 9 CHEMISTRY - PNAU featuring Master Peace 60400 68 59 1 16 YA YA YA - JONAS LOVV 732750 69 74 69 5 DYNAMITE - Haircut 100 16500 70 71 66 4 FASCINATING RHYTHM - Bass-o-matic featuring William Orbit 22800 71 88 71 2 ANIMAL - KATSEYE 8200 72 99 72 2 DOWN FROM DOVER - Dolly Parton 6700 73 75 73 4 D MINOR - Reverend and The Makers 13800 74 78 74 7 WATCHING YOU WATCHING ME - The Shires 23900 75 67 14 11 UNDER THE RHYTHM - Adam Lambert 183600 76 NEW 76 1 ROMEO II - Jungle & Bas 4800 77 90 77 2 LEAVE ME BEHIND - Nickelback 6600 78 NEW 78 1 TREASON (IT'S JUST A STORY) - The Teardrop Explodes 4400 79 95 79 2 MOVE LIKE YOU DO - Jungle 5700 80 52 33 10 CHICAGO - Michael Jackson 133950 81 85 81 3 IF I LET YOU - The Womack Sisters 8100 82 NEW 82 1 KEN - Kate Bush 3600 83 77 77 6 TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE - Orville Peck 17400 84 86 84 4 LLEGO - Empire Of The Sun, Danny Ocean & FIFA Sound 10200 85 79 77 6 BLUE SHADOWS - The Avalanches featuring Karen O 17200 86 87 86 4 STAND TOGETHER - Shed Seven 10000 87 76 67 6 JUST DRIVE - Natalie Imbruglia 22600 88 82 74 10 WATCH IT BURN - Katy Perry 31600 89 96 89 2 SOUL BELIEVER - Johnny Hates Jazz featuring Jaki Graham 3600 90 94 90 2 LOVE IS LIKE A BUTTERFLY - Dolly Parton 3600 91 93 91 5 SO GOOD - Charlie Jeer & Simone Ashley 7300 92 NEW 92 1 DON'T LEAVE ME ON THE DANCEFLOOR - Carly Rae Jepsen 1800 93 100 93 2 FREEDOM BUS - Sheryl Crow featuring Jesse Welles 2700 94 97 94 3 BERRY - Deniece Pearson 4100 95 84 84 5 DAI DAI - Shakira featuring Burna Boy 11300 96 92 92 4 PETAL - Ariana Grande 6100 97 98 97 3 TASTES LIKE SUMMER - James Blunt 3500 98 NEW 98 1 EMERALD EYES - Alex Warren 1200 99 NEW 99 1 ONE STEP AWAY - Madonna 1100 100 NEW 100 1 SILVER LINES - SLOWAVE 1000 DROP OUTS 72 18 14 LIGHT UP - Kylie Minogue 192950 73 5 28 DRIVE SAFE - Myles Smith & Niall Horan 695950 80 53 13 BOSTON - STELLA LEFTY 80950 81 58 7 THESE ALARMS - Snow Patrol & Kylie Minogue 34300 83 21 9 FIREBALL - Pitbull featuring John Ryan 98650 89 15 18 MR. KNOW IT ALL - Teddy Swims 297050 91 73 6 ON WIRES - Carly Rae Jepsen 16300 the next chart will be delayed, due to holiday, so it will either be a rollover of this one or an even-later-than-usual version along with the one due in two weeks time. One or the other, as I can't abide blanks in my charting history: either way their will be chart "sales" to add as I now move into my 58th year of pop charts. It's hard to believe I wasn't a fetus then, I know, but it's true, and I'm still excited by new music: Jungle, Rose Bray and the Madonna/Kylie ones especially this week if we count The Game Of Love as an oldie.

Hi DaTilt! 🙂 I'm a bit out of touch with a lot of these new entries, but these are my trusty faves! 1. Ariana Grande – Petal (1) 5w 12. Katseye – Animal (6) 6w 13. Lily Meola – Sleeping With My Boots On (9) 7w 22. Kacey Musgraves – Mexico Honey (20) 4w 25. Adéla – Ain’t In LA (14) 6w 30. Shaboozey; Leon Bridges – Burn It Down (19) 6w 44. Angelina Mango; Marco Mengoni – Canto D’Amore (33) 7w 58. Fontaines D.C. – Marianne (74) 2w good charts! 😎

Hi DaTilt! Thanks for the comments! You get your wish re Lily! 😄 cheers! 😎

Hi AH!🙂 Great charts as always! My version of your oldies chart will be debuting in my 1976 charts any week now as that was when I evicted them all cruelly from my current charts as it was getting overcrowded with oldies. It stayed that way, barring any that made the UK official top 75, until the 2000's! 😮 Hope life is fab, back in a week or two! cheers! 😎

Hi AH! 🙂 Thanks for the hols wishes, I will prob have to roll over a chart - or else do one on paper and copy it over a week later when I'm back! Condolences on the work Brittas, that does create a very clear impression in one word!! 😄There's nothing that inspires higher work rates and loyalty to a company than silence and boredom......🙄I've worked for several factories and it was only the music that kept me sane amongst the tedium, and that applies to working from home on IT stuff. I've often wondered if there's a connection in the USA between silence and shooters going off the deep end in the workplace 😮 Maybe try Boom Radio and say you're only thinking of the welfare of the older staff...🙂 Hooray on Sunshine top 10 for you, and good to hear Madge and Kylie have loads of number ones in your charts. Yes annoying it dropped out the 100, as it's really good! Glad you like Lily Meola too, been spreading that one amongst Country Music fans, they like it too! 🤩Hooray also at getting into God Only Knows, it topped my chart a few years ago - Dolly's only chart-topper for me, though Jolene came close! thanks as always! 😎

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Great charts! These are my fave climbers from the main chart: 1 2 1(x1) 4 The Beaches – 'Edge of the Earth' 4 1 1(x2) 12 Angelina Mango ft. Marco Mengoni – 'Canto d'amore' 5 RE 5 2 Luke Combs – 'Be By You' 12 89 12 2 Dolly Parton – 'Jolene'❤️ 15 36 15 2 Barry Can't Swim – 'Dance Dance Dance!' 23 29 23 6 Carly Rae Jepsen – 'After All' 24 94 2 20 Dolly Parton – '9 to 5' 28 88 28 2 Dolly Parton – 'I Will Always Love You'❤️ 34 NE 34 1 Alex Warren – 'EMERALD EYES' 45 96 1(x1) 30 Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton – 'Islands In the Stream' 53 NE 53 1 Blossoms ft. Declan McKenna – 'Additional Driver' I would chart this one if they let me buy it! Album only so far 🙄 58 67 2 29 Ella Langley – 'Be Her' 74 NE 74 1 Sam Smith ft. The TwoCity Chorus – 'Oh Mother' 75 NE 75 1 Jungle – 'Someday, Somewhere'🤩 76 NE 76 1 OneRepublic – 'Pay That Toll' 77 RE 72 2 Jessie Ware – 'Sauna' 86 RE 68 2 KAROL G & Bruno Mars – 'Still' 93 RE 42 3 Rose Gray – 'Just Be Bodies' cheers! 😎

Another 3 classics and personal chart-toppers and singles I bought for Blondie (the USA was mad not having it as a single) and The Rats. They never got a US top 40 either, though Mondays teetered round the lower end Hot 100 a bit. Maggie May I wasnt much of a fan of in 1971, lodas of records I loved much more, but in the 1976 top 40 re-issue (with You Wear It Well on t'other side) I started to get nostalgic for it and started to love it, increasingly with time after that. Presume the two issues of Maggie May count in the total? (I say hopefully getting to knock into the 40😄) I must say, generally speaking record buyers in the 70's had fabulous taste by and large for the monster hits. That sounds like I'm complimenting myself!! 😇