Popchartfreak

There are few people who can cover a Marvin Gaye song and improve on it but Paul easily did thst here. Moody soulful and classy its one of the best records of the year. Top 5 for sure but behind Billie Jean n Billy Joel so far. I got tickets to see Paul last year but had to miss it as i had a stinking cold or covid or summat and didnt want risk killing off half his local fans. Tch! I still havethe memory of Paul walking past me at Wembley with his model girlfriend as I stood outside listening to Kim Wilde warming up the Michael Jackson crowd. Couldnt get tickets unlike him....

I was rooting through drawers today and found my childhood spirograph set complete with fave drawings. Spooky you should mention it in a Stranger Things invasion of former number one 70s and 80s singles in my charts!

1 4 1 6 WONDERFUL WORLD BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - Jimmy Cliff 365200 2 1 1 3 TELL ME THERE’S A HEAVEN - Chris Rea 400000 3 2 1 5 SHAKE IT DOWN - Mud 560000 4 3 1 13 LOTUS - Rose Gray 987350 5 44 5 4 FREE LOVE - Cast 81250 6 8 6 8 YOUR LAST SONG - The Lottery Winners 229900 7 5 3 8 ATCHAFALAYA - Orville Peck featuring Noah Cyrus 390100 8 9 3 6 I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS - Greg Lake 251850 9 6 4 13 TIME WILL TELL - Celeste 452350 10 10 8 12 SAVE MY LOVE (NICKY ROMERO REMIX) - Marshmello, Ellie Golding & AVAION 345550 11 7 5 15 UNCONDITIONAL - JADE 599900 12 28 12 5 CLOUD - Seafret 80100 13 15 13 7 MANY RIVERS TO CROSS - Jimmy Cliff 130400 14 11 3 11 BERGHAIN - ROSALIA Featuring Bjork & Yves Tumor 485700 15 20 15 4 X.M.A.S. - Kylie Minogue 67500 16 21 16 4 HOT IN DECEMBER - Kylie Minogue 67350 17 14 1 11 SAY HELLO WAVE GOODBYE - Soft Cell 729250 18 12 12 9 BANDAIDS - Katy Perry 176000 19 16 1 11 IT’S A SIN (BRYCE MILLER MONSTER MIX) - Pet Shop Boys 676500 20 18 13 14 HELLO - Sigala x Leigh-Anne x Jonita Gandhi 238450 21 17 1 16 SECRETS - Miley Cyrus featuring Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood 1162450 22 31 22 6 BEAUTIFUL SPIRITUAL - Blue 96950 23 27 23 11 IN THE END - Depeche Mode 168350 24 22 3 18 BACK TO FRIENDS - sombr 645200 25 19 19 15 FIX WHAT YOU DIDN’T BREAK - Nate Smith 193050 26 13 12 11 CHARIOT - Westlife 239150 27 25 1 18 BRAND NEW ME - Saint Etienne featuring Confidence Man 1117650 28 33 1 16 DIE WITH A SMILE - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars 706000 29 41 29 7 THE HARDER THEY COME - Jimmy Cliff 73300 30 34 30 5 HEAVY NEWS - Richard Ashcroft 58600 31 35 31 8 BOOM BODY - Shaggy, Akon & Aidonia 111450 32 48 32 8 MYSTERIOUS GIRL - Damiano David 86100 33 36 33 8 RUN THIS TOWN - Olly Murs 102600 34 23 10 10 GHOST - Rob Thomas 211150 35 26 26 7 YOU CAN GET IF YOU REALLY WANT - Jimmy Cliff 112650 36 32 5 17 TALK TO ME - Damiano David featuring Tyla and Nile Rodgers 473400 37 45 37 10 FREE - Andrew Choi & EJAE KPop Demon Hunters 99850 38 37 37 8 IN THE DARK - Selena Gomez 90250 39 24 13 15 DRACULA - Tame Impala 271850 40 30 9 13 BEFORE YOU BREAK MY HEART - JADE 290900

4th January 2026 It's up to the top spot for the late Jimmy Cliff, who dethrones the late Chris Rea. I missed out on Wonderful World Beautiful People in 1969, I just didnt get to hear it in Singapore, so it's a lovely first belated chart-topper 56 years late. That's not the oldest track to top my charts, but it's up there, and Jimmy has other great reggae standards lower down the chart to boot. The only new track into my top 10 is from Cast, on only their 2nd new track of the 21st century having had quite a few top 10's in the 90's, most of them rarely played on the radio, which is a shame. Free Love is a great lush production ballad, John Powers always had a way with a good tune and the strings are fab. There's a new years influx of fresh stuff, headed by the ever-dependable Alan Walker at 45, a great single for the new year in Broken Strings, and ahead of Djo coming back following the end of the Stranger Things series, Joe the actor really was one of the central characters on the show, despite being an intended one-season character, and the threatening for the top spot must be people recognising that. Rockafella Skank and The Rolling Stones Satiusfaction have been mashed up by Fatboy Slim, for a bit of fun, and Diana Ross brings Upside Down back for the first time in 45 years. Other newies: a Loaded Honey album track, OneRepublic on another media-spin-off, Winona Oak returning on a strong ballad, Bastille having their best single in a while, David Guetta helping Teddy Swims and Tones and I to add to their run of chart entries, and extending his chart run to 23 years and still having hits in the 2020's with new material. There aren't many can claim that! Kylie, Pink, Beyonce, Elton, Rolling Stones, Cher to name a few. 1 4 1 6 WONDERFUL WORLD BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - Jimmy Cliff 365200 2 1 1 3 TELL ME THERE’S A HEAVEN - Chris Rea 400000 3 2 1 5 SHAKE IT DOWN - Mud 560000 4 3 1 13 LOTUS - Rose Gray 987350 5 44 5 4 FREE LOVE - Cast 81250 6 8 6 8 YOUR LAST SONG - The Lottery Winners 229900 7 5 3 8 ATCHAFALAYA - Orville Peck featuring Noah Cyrus 390100 8 9 3 6 I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS - Greg Lake 251850 9 6 4 13 TIME WILL TELL - Celeste 452350 10 10 8 12 SAVE MY LOVE (NICKY ROMERO REMIX) - Marshmello, Ellie Golding & AVAION 345550 11 7 5 15 UNCONDITIONAL - JADE 599900 12 28 12 5 CLOUD - Seafret 80100 13 15 13 7 MANY RIVERS TO CROSS - Jimmy Cliff 130400 14 11 3 11 BERGHAIN - ROSALIA Featuring Bjork & Yves Tumor 485700 15 20 15 4 X.M.A.S. - Kylie Minogue 67500 16 21 16 4 HOT IN DECEMBER - Kylie Minogue 67350 17 14 1 11 SAY HELLO WAVE GOODBYE - Soft Cell 729250 18 12 12 9 BANDAIDS - Katy Perry 176000 19 16 1 11 IT’S A SIN (BRYCE MILLER MONSTER MIX) - Pet Shop Boys 676500 20 18 13 14 HELLO - Sigala x Leigh-Anne x Jonita Gandhi 238450 21 17 1 16 SECRETS - Miley Cyrus featuring Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood 1162450 22 31 22 6 BEAUTIFUL SPIRITUAL - Blue 96950 23 27 23 11 IN THE END - Depeche Mode 168350 24 22 3 18 BACK TO FRIENDS - sombr 645200 25 19 19 15 FIX WHAT YOU DIDN’T BREAK - Nate Smith 193050 26 13 12 11 CHARIOT - Westlife 239150 27 25 1 18 BRAND NEW ME - Saint Etienne featuring Confidence Man 1117650 28 33 1 16 DIE WITH A SMILE - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars 706000 29 41 29 7 THE HARDER THEY COME - Jimmy Cliff 73300 30 34 30 5 HEAVY NEWS - Richard Ashcroft 58600 31 35 31 8 BOOM BODY - Shaggy, Akon & Aidonia 111450 32 48 32 8 MYSTERIOUS GIRL - Damiano David 86100 33 36 33 8 RUN THIS TOWN - Olly Murs 102600 34 23 10 10 GHOST - Rob Thomas 211150 35 26 26 7 YOU CAN GET IF YOU REALLY WANT - Jimmy Cliff 112650 36 32 5 17 TALK TO ME - Damiano David featuring Tyla and Nile Rodgers 473400 37 45 37 10 FREE - Andrew Choi & EJAE KPop Demon Hunters 99850 38 37 37 8 IN THE DARK - Selena Gomez 90250 39 24 13 15 DRACULA - Tame Impala 271850 40 30 9 13 BEFORE YOU BREAK MY HEART - JADE 290900 41 40 1 18 DIVINE FEELINGS - Vance Joy 948500 42 51 42 6 A LOVER’S CONCERTO - The Toys 49300 43 47 43 7 LET YOUR YEAH BE YEAH - Jimmy Cliff 64400 44 43 1 30 TOKYO RAIN - Loaded Honey 1726200 45 NEW 45 1 BROKEN STRINGS - Alan Walker featuring Katherine O’Ryan & Isabella Melkman 13000 46 29 29 9 MY OLD WAYS - Tame Impala 124350 47 50 47 8 I’M DONE (GAMES THAT YOU PLAY) - Amy McDonald 73800 48 55 48 6 ESIBIZIONISTA - Annalisa 46700 49 52 49 8 CHOOSIN’ TEXAS - Ella Langley 61200 50 53 1 30 GOD ONLY KNOWS - The Beach Boys 1147250 51 63 51 3 CHRISTMAS IS HERE - Cher 29150 52 57 52 8 DREAM AS ONE - Miley Cyrus 55700 53 38 10 15 WHY I CRY - MT Jones 290550 54 46 18 14 THE FATE OF OPHELIA - Taylor Swift 205250 55 58 55 2 DIVE INTO THE OCEAN - Alok, Zeeba & Portugal. The Man 21000 56 49 8 16 LOVIN’ YOU - Richard Ashcroft featuring Mason Williams 348250 57 59 57 4 CHURCH - JADE 27200 58 70 58 4 RELIQUIA - ROSALIA 24900 59 64 59 4 THE CHANCE WON’T COME AGAIN - Andy Bell featuring Tim Rice-Oxley 26200 60 42 30 11 LITTLE SAD EYES - The Castells 154050 61 56 1 25 WALK OF FAME - Miley Cyrus featuring Brittany Howard 1242000 62 72 62 3 SHAKE THE SNOW GLOBE - Gwen Stefani 15400 63 68 63 2 OPALITE - Taylor Swift 13600 64 39 16 9 LIVING IN A BOX - Living In A Box 151350 65 69 65 7 BANKSY - The Rasmus 35200 66 NEW 66 1 END OF BEGINNING - Djo 6800 67 62 62 5 COMING HOME THIS CHRISTMAS - Jonas Brothers featuring Kenny G 29000 68 65 65 4 MONSTERS - Strawberry Alarm Clock 21400 69 60 60 6 GENTLE REMINDER - MT Jones 38400 70 75 70 2 IMMORTAL LOVE - Mika 11000 71 67 67 6 SEE EMILY PLAY - The Damned 31200 72 74 72 5 WILD WOMAN - Aerosmith, YUNGBLUD & Lainey Wilson 23400 73 NEW 73 1 SATISFACTION SKANK - Fatboy Slim & The Rolling Stones 5400 74 NEW 74 1 ONLY GONNA LET YOU DOWN - Loaded Honey 5200 75 NEW 75 1 UPSIDE DOWN - Diana Ross 5000 76 NEW 76 1 GIVE ME SOMETHING - OneRepublic 4800 77 NEW 77 1 HORSES - Winona Oak 4600 78 NEW 78 1 SAVE MY SOUL - Bastille 4400 79 NEW 79 1 GONE GONE GONE - David Guetta, Teddy Swims, Tones and I 4200 80 NEW 80 1 TURN THE LIGHTS OFF - Kato featuring Jon 4000 drop outs 54 54 6 WILD WORLD - Jimmy Cliff 48800 61 45 10 A PART OF YOU - Cerrone 86950 66 15 13 THEY - Sparks 225150 71 60 10 LEMONADE - Louis Tomlinson 61700 73 56 5 SHAKE UP CHRISTMAS - Train 35800

Hey Sven! 🙂 Great top 5 still, Brenda & Chris Rea top 10, hooray! Kylie top 40! Yay! In the breakers Abba, Eagles, Rosalia, Kylie, Ella Langley, and Jade. 2011, Rihanna, Katy, Bruno all faves, Adele, Take That, Guetta, and nice to see Train in the charts: that went by unnoticed in the UK! great charts! 😎

Hey Seltin! 🙂 Church, Dopamine, La Perla all new peaks - yay - Ella Langley big new entry 🤩Lower down Cher and Jade not falling too, hooray. great charts! 😎

Hey Seltin, Thanks for the picks! cheers! 😎

Hey James! 🙂 Thanks for the comments and picks! Jade building up quite a number of great tracks as she goes on. I'm a bit behind on the new Xmas songs so perversley they will be peaking after xmas! 😄Ophelia is officially her biggest track ever I think, as far as number one weeks on top, everyone seems to like it, even people who don't usually rate her. Church I'm still building on, needs a few more plays, I'm only hearing it once or twice a week at the mo as I'm not out and about in my car and have the radio on in the house (Radio 2 not playing it). Opalite took a long while to register with me - even though I have the album - but the video helped! Cheers! 😎

A great xmas song often hangs on till the new year if it's new with me too 🙂

Hi SSP! These are my top climbers this week:🤩 01 01 Opalite - Taylor Swift 7 1(4) 02 03 Bandaids - Katy Perry 8 2 22 23 Mysterious Girl - Damiano David 10 22 27 68 Save My Soul - Bastille 2 27 38 65 Satisfaction Skank - Fatboy Slim / Rolling Stones 2 38 41 50 Still Don't Care - Meghan Trainor 5 41 49 52 If The World Burns Down - Kacey Musgraves 7 49 50 53 I'm Done (Games That You Play) - Amy Macdonald 6 50 55 62 Dopamine - Robyn 6 55 59 --- The Life Of A Showgirl - Taylor Swift / Sabrina Carpenter 1 59 67 75 Guilty - Olly Murs 5 67 83 --- Immortal Love - Mika 1 83 fab charts! 😎

Hi SSP! Thanks for the picks, a nice mix of choices! cheers! 😎

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Catching up today, Top 2 still locked in nicely, both still growing for me. Dream As One, Dopamine, Rosalia, Nate Smith, Mutt all hitting new peaks, and lots going up but not peaking on previous, great charts! 😎

Hi Sergej!🙂 Sorry I'm still late with my charts so catching up on this one first! Great bounceback 1 and 2, among loads of others getting a big bounce back like Amy AmcDonald and sombr. Those with new peaks faves include Berghain, and new ones Church, Save My Soul, Nate Smith, Mutt, charts dont get much busier than this! great chart! 😎

Hi Sergej! 🙂 Thanks for all the picks, nice to see Jimmy Cliff amongst your faves! cheers! 😎

round 1: 33 Hips! Do Lie, apparently. round 2: 33 Another Level, didnt recognise it even when played and with 3 options to pick from! 3 in 10: Antmusic, Dog Eat Dog, Prince Charming