Popchartfreak

well done on the 39 Jade and triple Sade's both 🤩I'm slipping! 😄Popmaster TV grand final series 2 was won by a young chap who knew everything and was SO fast at everythin, spotting instrumental breaks from, for example, Them's Baby Please Don't Go in about one second - music producer Kuresh, stunning performance 😮and he beat virtual me in a really tough Classic Popmaster round too.... round 1: 39 round 2: 39 3 in 10: Good Times, Le Freak, Dance Dance Dance

Yes, I've always taken any sales claims with a pinch of salt unless it came direct from Alan Jones/Music Week - people doing TV rundowns like to have a hook they can use to grab people. Shaky was always claimed to be the biggest singles act of the decade by virtue of number of hits, is how I remember it, or most top of the pops appearances. In terms of impact, Madonna was always going to win, she changed pop music from male/bands dominated to female-dominated (eventually) by being in control and opting for dance music rather than singer-songwriter. Shaky was better than I remembered, I took my Aunty (aged 85) to see a Shaky tribute last year and he was pretty good - I'd forgotten how many tracks Shaky had bunged out and he got his break starring in the London Elvis musical circa '79. Best tracks? Not the covers or xmas songs. You Drive Me Crazy, Cry Just A Little Bit maybe. Madonna best tracks? Drove past the Ex's Dorset airfield last week, I was surveying roads in that area back in 1984 as Her Madgeness was breaking, so let's go for Holiday, and Like A Prayer, Dear Jessie, Papa Don't Preach, Express Yourself.

1 1 1 3 GOD ONLY KNOWS - The Beach Boys 510000 2 2 1 7 BROKENHEARTED - Gabry Ponte & Train 659750 3 3 1 7 RUN WITH U - Mamagama 635000 4 4 4 7 DON’T SPEAK - Loaded Honey 253900 5 9 1 16 SUNSET BLVD - Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco 1015900 6 22 6 3 OVER - Loaded Honey 85750 7 10 7 12 FEEL IT - d4vd 291350 8 8 8 6 BALENCIAGA COVERED EYES - Agnes 195300 9 12 9 6 GLAD - Saint Etienne 132100 10 15 10 3 TOKYO RAIN - Loaded Honey 81000 11 14 11 3 DAYDREAMING - Elliot James Reay 78100 12 6 2 10 MYSTICAL MAGICAL - Benson Boone 565500 13 21 13 3 WOULDN’T IT BE NICE - The Beach Boys 64950 14 5 5 3 GOOD VIBRATIONS - The Beach Boys 112000 15 17 9 8 TIME WAITED - My Morning Jacket 233500 16 7 3 9 VOICES - Damiano David 506400 17 11 2 13 END OF THE WORLD - Miley Cyrus 594550 18 13 1 11 I GUESS U NEVER REALLY CARED ABOUT ME - Artemas 704700 19 29 19 5 ZOMBIE LADY - Damiano David featuring Dove Cameron 53900 20 20 1 14 SHINE - Mondo Cozmo 1072100 21 32 21 7 I SAW THE MOUNTAINS - Noah Cyrus 83400 22 16 4 11 BLUEBIRD - Lana Del Ray 366700 23 18 11 10 HEART BY HEART - Joe Jonas 260400 24 31 24 3 EASY LOVER - Miley Cyrus 48400 25 19 19 6 OH OK - Sam Ryder 110500 26 24 12 7 VOYAGE - Zoe Me 168000 27 23 16 11 MARRIAGE - Nelly Furtado 189850 28 25 22 9 ANGELA - Benjamin Ingrosso 159050 29 26 26 8 MAN ON THE MOON - Fitz & The Tantrums 117800 30 27 23 9 FIND XANADU - Alison Goldfrapp 143450 31 34 31 3 CALIFORNIA GIRLS - The Beach Boys 48500 32 35 32 6 CHEMICAL REACTION - Debbii Dawson 82000 33 33 1 16 HOW BAD DO U WANT ME - Lady Gaga 711900 34 30 1 21 ORDINARY - Alex Warren 1303500 35 51 35 6 LOVER - Richard Ashcroft featuring Joan Armatrading 72650 36 28 3 14 RAGDOLL - The Lottery Winners featuring Chad Kroeger 387500 37 40 37 7 ABSURDA - Javiera Mena 87050 38 53 38 3 RUNAWAY TRAIN - Sam Feldt featuring RuthAnne 39050 39 36 25 9 I’M FREE (7TH HEAVEN RADIO EDIT) - Donna Summer 132650 40 56 40 5 LET’S RIDE AWAY - Avicii featuring Elle King 42500

29th June 2025 It's 3 weeks on top for the classic God Only Knows and a triple helping of Loaded Honey as three tracks off their album make my top 10 - all 3 are delicious 60's-ish/Jungle (the band)/trip-hoppy in vibe, lush and fab. Sainte Etienne get their first top 10 in over 20 years, and highest charting since Sarah Cracknell guested on Mark Brown's The Journey Continues topped my chart over 22 years ago. Daecolm is the highest new entry as he replaces himself in the chart courtesy of Alok and Malou at 70 with Unforgettable - not the Nat King Cole song, it's some more Afrobeats. Armin van Buuren has been dropping good dance tracks at a furious pace, this week is no exception, at 79 with JAI RYU on vocal, Alex Warren joins with ROSE on her second chart entry, the previous Bruno Mars collab having hit the top spot, and Alex is also following up his number one. That leaves Alison Goldfrapp adding another, her 3rd of 2025, 24Goldn back after a bit of a break, and Calvin Harris & Clementine Douglas finally breaking into my chart a tad late. kids of the 1960's will fondly recall Hannah-Barbera's Huckleberry Hound singing Oh My Darling Clementine in every episode. I like to think Mr & Mrs Douglas were fans, but it's more likely to be their parents! My next chart will either be late at the weeknd or a rollover so I can catch up early next week. 1 1 1 3 GOD ONLY KNOWS - The Beach Boys 510000 2 2 1 7 BROKENHEARTED - Gabry Ponte & Train 659750 3 3 1 7 RUN WITH U - Mamagama 635000 4 4 4 7 DON’T SPEAK - Loaded Honey 253900 5 9 1 16 SUNSET BLVD - Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco 1015900 6 22 6 3 OVER - Loaded Honey 85750 7 10 7 12 FEEL IT - d4vd 291350 8 8 8 6 BALENCIAGA COVERED EYES - Agnes 195300 9 12 9 6 GLAD - Saint Etienne 132100 10 15 10 3 TOKYO RAIN - Loaded Honey 81000 11 14 11 3 DAYDREAMING - Elliot James Reay 78100 12 6 2 10 MYSTICAL MAGICAL - Benson Boone 565500 13 21 13 3 WOULDN’T IT BE NICE - The Beach Boys 64950 14 5 5 3 GOOD VIBRATIONS - The Beach Boys 112000 15 17 9 8 TIME WAITED - My Morning Jacket 233500 16 7 3 9 VOICES - Damiano David 506400 17 11 2 13 END OF THE WORLD - Miley Cyrus 594550 18 13 1 11 I GUESS U NEVER REALLY CARED ABOUT ME - Artemas 704700 19 29 19 5 ZOMBIE LADY - Damiano David featuring Dove Cameron 53900 20 20 1 14 SHINE - Mondo Cozmo 1072100 21 32 21 7 I SAW THE MOUNTAINS - Noah Cyrus 83400 22 16 4 11 BLUEBIRD - Lana Del Ray 366700 23 18 11 10 HEART BY HEART - Joe Jonas 260400 24 31 24 3 EASY LOVER - Miley Cyrus 48400 25 19 19 6 OH OK - Sam Ryder 110500 26 24 12 7 VOYAGE - Zoe Me 168000 27 23 16 11 MARRIAGE - Nelly Furtado 189850 28 25 22 9 ANGELA - Benjamin Ingrosso 159050 29 26 26 8 MAN ON THE MOON - Fitz & The Tantrums 117800 30 27 23 9 FIND XANADU - Alison Goldfrapp 143450 31 34 31 3 CALIFORNIA GIRLS - The Beach Boys 48500 32 35 32 6 CHEMICAL REACTION - Debbii Dawson 82000 33 33 1 16 HOW BAD DO U WANT ME - Lady Gaga 711900 34 30 1 21 ORDINARY - Alex Warren 1303500 35 51 35 6 LOVER - Richard Ashcroft featuring Joan Armatrading 72650 36 28 3 14 RAGDOLL - The Lottery Winners featuring Chad Kroeger 387500 37 40 37 7 ABSURDA - Javiera Mena 87050 38 53 38 3 RUNAWAY TRAIN - Sam Feldt featuring RuthAnne 39050 39 36 25 9 I’M FREE (7TH HEAVEN RADIO EDIT) - Donna Summer 132650 40 56 40 5 LET’S RIDE AWAY - Avicii featuring Elle King 42500 41 39 6 16 SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN - Avalan Rokston 403300 42 41 9 12 SPIKE ISLAND - Pulp 275750 43 38 16 10 NEXT SUMMER - Damiano David 179200 44 43 1 33 LATE NIGHT PHONE CALL - Reverend And The Makers 1681200 45 44 29 10 PETITE ETOILE - Polo and Pan featuring Beth Ditto 132350 46 50 46 9 TEARS DRY TONIGHT - CYRIL & James Blunt 91250 47 45 1 16 LIFE IN A NORTHERN TOWN - Justin Hayward & Mike Batt 871200 48 48 1 26 THE PROUD ONE - The Osmonds 1274500 49 47 11 13 ALL I KNOW - Rudimental x Khalid 247300 50 61 50 3 FAMILY AFFAIR - Sly & The Family Stone 24600 51 81 51 2 ROCK THAT BODY - The Black Eyed Peas 15450 52 57 52 3 MANCHILD - Sabrina Carpenter 28600 53 76 53 2 GOLD - Myles Smith 16050 54 58 54 3 BLOODLINE - Alex Warren featuring Jelly Roll 27100 55 49 14 16 IT’S NOT RIGHT BUT IT’S OK - Felix Jaehn & Whitney Houston 270300 56 46 11 12 YOU KILLED THE MUSIC - Debbii Dawson 236450 57 65 57 6 ROCKET - Robbie Williams featuring Tony Iommi 47400 58 60 58 7 SPORTS CAR - Tate McRae 47800 59 37 8 12 APOCALYPSE - Pete Tong, MoBlack & Max Zotti featuring Monolink 319900 60 52 33 12 AZIZAM - Ed Sheeran 161100 61 68 61 3 RUNNING UP A TAB AT THE HOTEL FOR THE FAB - Sparks 18700 62 71 62 3 CHARGIE - Alesha Dixon featuring Tom Moutchie 17600 63 64 63 9 I DON’T WANNA TALK - Dadi Freyr 53900 64 54 52 8 TASTE - Sophie Ellis-Bextor 74500 65 67 65 6 GOT TO HAVE LOVE - Pulp 36600 66 42 31 7 ME & YOU - Ella Henderson 89800 67 63 62 6 PINBALL - Paul Weller 39600 68 74 68 6 IN DAYLIGHT - Sparks 31200 69 66 7 17 BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - David Guetta & Sia 315650 70 NEW 70 1 UNFORGETTABLE Alok, Daecolm & Malou 6000 71 83 71 2 SWEETNESS - Elliot James Reay 9200 72 55 5 17 LOVE IS LOVE - Kim Wilde 379950 73 88 73 2 SO LONG - ABBA 7800 74 80 74 3 EVERYBODY LAUGHS - David Byrne & Ghost Train Orchestra 12000 75 77 75 3 WHO KNEW DANCING WAS A SIN - Elliot James Reay 13400 76 59 34 10 MIND OF A WARRIOR - Alan Walker & Sorana 111250 77 79 77 3 I GET AROUND - The Beach Boys 11600 78 82 78 3 FULL ATTENTION - Tom Grennan 10400 79 NEW 79 1 LET IT BE FOR LOVE Armin van Buuren featuring JAI RYU 4200 80 85 80 2 SUZANNE - Mark Ronson & RAYE 7000 81 90 81 2 I DO I DO I DO I DO I DO - ABBA 5800 82 78 71 9 DROWNED IN A SEA OF TEARS - Sparks 44000 83 89 83 2 SAPPHIRE - Ed Sheeran 5600 84 84 78 5 LORD HAVE MERCY - Sparks 17800 85 86 85 3 NEVER EVER LET YOU GO - Bryan Adams 8000 86 NEW 86 1 ON MY MIND Alex Warren & ROSE 2800 87 87 87 3 LITTLE RICHARD’S BIBLE - Elton John & Brandi Carlile 7200 88 NEW 88 1 HEY HI HELLO Alison Goldfrapp 2400 89 NEW 89 1 JUNE 24Goldn 2200 90 NEW 90 1 BLESSINGS Calvin Harris & Clementine Douglas 2000 DROP OUTS 62 24 14 SORRY I’M HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE - Benson Boone 203550 69 50 10 GUNSLINGER - Natalie Bergman 89300 70 26 13 RELENTLESS LOVE - Sophie Ellis-Bextor 182900 72 2 21 CONTROL OF ME - Topic x Daecolm 778200 73 57 8 BARBARIAN - AWOLNATION 59800 75 7 20 ANDY (A GUY LIKE YOU) - The Waterboys 402700

Hi AH! 🙂 Hope all is fab, and you are nice n chilled! There's still loads round the top end of your chart I havent heard, soon as I get my chart down to 75 I can start exploring a bit more! Assuming I can catch up, still a week behind so may have to roll over this week's if I run out of time! fabulous chart anyways! 😎

Hi AH! 🙂 Glad you have recovered from social overload 🤩, I'm paying the price of being hyper for too long with an inevitable low the last few days, it's too predictable, hey ho! Yes God Only Knows really should feature high in any list of the Greatest Ever, David Bennett on Youtube did a great analysis of why it was so complex and so great. Poor Saint Etienne, Bob Stanley keeps very busy in the pop biz but the band just don't get the airplay - I'm guessing they fall in between 6 Radio and Radio 2, and never get any promo on either as a consequence, boooo! Lover is a good Joan sample, yes indeed, freshens it up and Radio 2 actually playing it a bit. Beautiful People also got Radio 2 plays, so I suspect ten years from now people will remember it far more than some of the stuff higher in the chart. I'd struggle with a huge chunk of them as it is! Myles Smith comment 😆how very dare they. I find Myles always likeable, but draw the line at 12 months non-stop airplay, that's just inhuman! 😄 Yes, So Long was the only ABBA single after Waterloo to fall short of the chart, but had it been a top 75 it would have charted. I remember them doing it on Top Of The Pops and it went top 5 for me! I love that frenetic guitar/synth short section that would make a great sample backbone for another new song. Thanks as always for the in-depth chart picks and comments in my very behind charts! 😎

Hey Sven! 🙂 Hope all is fab. I actually like your entire top 10, even is a couple of them didnt make my charts (they are way too full already!) 🤩 Lower down I'll just say of the climbers/holders, it's Mystical Magical Suzanne! Bubbling Under it's Loaded Honey ❤️, Mutt, Miley Cyrus, Hurts and Robbie hooray! 1986, ahhh, lotsa love for Wham!, Lessons In LOve, On My Own, Janet Jackson, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Real Thing and Doobie Brothers classic oldies, Madonna, George Michael and Nu Shooz. I've been backstage with one of those acts...it was The Real Thing and it was in 1986!! Yay! 😄 fab charts! 😎

Hey Sven! 🙂 Glad you like the Loadsa Loaded Honey, I've gone a bit Jungle-styled obsessed this week, Elliot James Reay not far behind too. thanks for the picks! 😎

Hi SSP! 🙂 Zombie Lady top 5, Stereophonics top 10, Sombr, Sabrina Carpenter and AWOLNATION top 20, Lover, Cyril and Benson Boone top 40, Sapphire, Sabrina and Ponte/Train top 60, Superman Lovers & Empire Of The Sun top 80 and Alex Warren, Sam Feldt and Benson Boone new in lower down. In 2015 Bad Blood was my fave track of the top 10. great charts! 😎

Hi SSP! Thanks fir the picks as always! Cheers! 😎

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Hope all is good, 5 weeks on top now! I'm playing that new entry from The Boss Hoss, always liked them and the new one is actually pretty good! Werent For The Wind is nice too at 2, but the next one I rate actually climbing is Blessings! Alex Warren & ROSE new in, Squabble Up up, HUGEL & co, and Shaboozey are decent on one play too, Great chart even with loads of faves still declining! 😎

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Thanks for all the picks! Beach Boys-tastic! Hope all is fab! Take care Cheers! 😎

Hey Seltin, lots of chart goodies here, those going up I rate the whole top 4, Sports Car newie Mr Electric Blue, and Blessings. Just outside the 30 it's great to see Agnes, Saphire and Back To Friends up. Great charts! 😎

Hey Seltin, thanks for the picks, glad you like the BEP oldie, that always sounded great in a club 🥰 Cheers! 😎

Hey James, yes I'm way behind, I may have to rollover this weeks if I dont get it done by saturday! 😄 I like taste but yes it's not amongst her best tracks, nor amongst her best tracks of the last 2 years. Sapphire is alright, yes I think so too, he seems to have gone more niche of late. thanks for the comments! 😎

Yay more 39's and pretty close in the 30's to boot.🤗 round 1: 36 beat me to Freddie's chart-topper round 2: 36 stereophonics 3 in 10: 2: Smooth Operator, By Your Side then went blank

Of course, forgot about Cliff! The 80's, from an output point of view, was Cliff's most-consistently good era following on from We Don' Talk Anymore in 1979 he suddenly got access to Alan Tarney and top songwriters again, and in the early 80's he was as cool as he got since his 50's/early 60's movies heyday. I genuinely rate tracks like Carrie, Wired For Sound, and the gorgeous All I Ask Of You, and most of the hits were decent enough, bar the odd Xmas track and detour away from synthpop. Cliff's first attempt at being synthpop-ish was in 1975, and was rewarded with a complete flop for the rather-good It's Only Me You Leave Behind, so he can't really have been accused of bandwagon-jumping as he took another 4 years to try it properly after his fans obviously weren't ready for that just yet!

Ah, I didnt know about the Kelly case, though objectively speaking if he won the case he must have had a fairly convincing argument. A case of The Smiths' then. I'm happy he's OK with Roy at least!

Oh Madness, I thought they'd just been in the list, totally one of my fave acts of the 90's, they have some films on youtube about their career and it's fascinating - they really were a bunch of potential petty criminals who lucked into the music biz and turned out they did things their own way, were very very London-centric, and were hugely loveable and inventive given they worked largely within ska. The funny videos and laddy attitude shouldnt be a negative but not taking yourself seriously is somehow seen as lesser then pretentious earnestness in the Arts, so I'm always there to fly that flag because that is clearly nonsense. Madness were fabulous for 5 years, from One Step Beyond to Michael Caine, via gems like Nightboat To Cairo, It Must Be Love, Our House, Wings Of A Dove and many more. I regularly watch Youtube videos from David Bennett and his inciteful analyses of the technicalities of music from classical to current and he has just done Our House. Madness don't follow the "rules" no surprises, and it works beautifully:

ah well it would be boring if we all liked the same music 🙂that's the great thing about music, there's no right or wrong, there is only opinion and if someone loves something it's a valid opinion 😎

Well that was bad timing did he he not have his seat belt on?! Jeff's control-obsession with his back catalogue is a bit annoying when doing searches and you end up with the re-recorded versions. Not interested, they were perfect first time round, and I'm not switching. I had no idea he hated Roy and Bev - they did invite him into The Move, sounds a bit ungrateful, though Bev did do ELO part II I guess. Roy getting those number ones pre- and post-ELO must have taunted him somewhat then...😄 I saw a Roy Orbison tribute earlier this year which covered Wilbury songs very well too, so at least I've got to see the set done elsewhere 😎

Yes they were, and they all jointly topped my chart for the first time in 1980 where they would have topped my charts separately first time round had I been doing charts. I was mad on the band and the show! When you do the book of the reviews the typo for Strange Little Girl/My Oh My will need updating 🙂I'll buy the book, all those reviews in one handy place! 🤩

Yay Rollo! 🤩Perfect round well done! It's forced me to raise my game today 😄 Round 1: 39 Round 2: 39 3 in 10: Think, I Say A Little Prayer, Spanish Harlem

top 4, well one is blindingly obvious, one had the most hits and I'm struggling to think of the other 2 as I'd thought we had already had the other big ones 😮

Michael Jackson was the same age as me, so we were both 11 when The Jackson 5 hit, and I loved them, and then Michael's 70's solo singles right up to around 1974. The Jacksons were sporadically great, and of course Off The Wall was the one that made Michael a huge star and set up for the 80's. The Quincy Jones era was just amazing, and yes it's slightly surprising he's only at 5, but then it was his album sales that broke records, not his singles sales. Me, I was a huge fan in the 80's as well, and caught him in concert in the 90's. In 1988 I had to make do with listening outside Wembley Stadium to Kim Wilde on support and a bit of Michael after a day out in London - couldnt get tickets. That is the only time I have been (sad enough to) sit outside a musical event. I did at least get to see Paul Young walk by me with his model girlfriend, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. Best tracks of the 80's: Billie Jean, Thriller, Man In The Mirror, but the 2 albums are both pop classics.