Paddington James

Later on today/tomorrow I’ll be taking one more detour before revealing my final top two. I’d like to shine a light on some of my favourite songs of 2011 that didn’t reach #1. I know it’s a little off script for these threads but 2011 was such a significant year for me I want to include it. 🙂

If I remember correctly Kelly Clarkson was in Australia doing promo that week and even performed on The X Factor which helped its rise to #1. If I’m being honest it feels a little out of place as #1 single for her as I don’t think it’s one of her best, but I do love her. The Reece Martin track always sounded like a cheap rip off of P!nk’s hit Raise Your Glass, but I guess it was common to slightly copy songs back then. Samantha Jade’s winners single the following year in 2012 is still one of my favourite winners singles from any X Factor, Idol etc show. I was so happy S&M and Dirty Talk got to #1 here, they were absolutely everywhere at the time and just soundtracked the wonderful first half of 2011 for me.

It really is quite amazing. According to wikipedia it spent 10 weeks at #2, blocked by 3 songs. Somebody That I Used To Know, Mr Know It All and Sexy And I Know It.

3 – What’s My Name – Rihanna ft Drake 1 Week at #1 / Weekly Sales – 53,018 #49 in EOY 2011 – Total Sales of 347,600 Finishing in 3rd place and with the bronze medal is Rihanna who was one of the biggest names on the planet in 2011 and she ended the year with two #1 singles and a further four top 20 singles. The first of those two #1 singles was What’s My Name ft Drake. Debuting at #18 in November the previous year it would then climb to #10 the following week before continuing it’s rise to #8 then #4, three weeks at #2 behind Matt Cardle followed before this finally got to #1 in its 8th week on the chart. Despite being a big Rihanna fan and owning all her albums I wasn’t really a fan of What’s My Name at the time. I liked it but I felt it seemed a little flat compared to her bigger hitters like Only Girl, Don’t Stop The Music, Umbrella and SOS, but as I gave the album more listens in early 2011 it started to grow on me, I still preferred songs like S&M, Fading and Cheers (Drink To That) but it was definitely improving for me on multiple listens. As with many of the #1’s from early in 2011 I have very good memories of this one. I can remember listening to this on the train when I was going in to have lunch with a friend in the city one weekend, in fact I think that’s when this really started to click with me. Elsewhere in the charts this week Jessie J scored her first top 5 hit with Do It Like A Dude at #5. Who’s That Chick re-entered the top 10, giving Rihanna three top singles in the one week and we had two songs titled The Flood in the top 20, Take That at #14 and Cheryl Cole at #18. As well as hitting #1 in the UK What’s My Name peaked at #1 in the US, #3 in New Zealand and #18 in Australia.

Official Australian #1's in 2011 Bruno Mars - Grenade (1 week in 2011, 2 weeks in 2010 - 3 weeks total) Who's That Girl - Guys Sebastian ft Eve (1 week in 2011, 1 week in 2010 - 2 weeks total) Dirty Talk - Wynter Gordon (3 weeks) S&M - Rihanna (2 weeks, then 3 weeks) total 5 weeks) Born This Way - Lady Gaga (1 week) On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull (3 weeks) Sweat - Snoop Dogg ft David Guetta (1 week) Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO ft Lauren Bennett and GoonRock (10 weeks) Someone Like You - Adele (7 weeks) Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye ft Kimbra (8 weeks) Mr Know It All - Kelly Clarkson (1 week) Sexy And I Know It - LMFAO (6 weeks, then 1 week) total 7 weeks) Good Night - Reece Mastin (2 weeks, then 2 weeks) total 4 weeks) Official Year End Top 20 - 2011 Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO ft Lauren Bennett and GoonRock Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye ft Kimbra Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera Someone Like You - Adele Rolling In The Deep - Adele Sexy And I Know It - LMFAO Give Me Everything - Pitbull ft Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer Born This Way - Lady Gaga Price Tag - Jessie J ft B.o.B On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull S&M - Rihanna We Found Love - Rihanna ft Calvin Harris Sweat - Snoop Dogg ft David Guetta The Lazy Song - Bruno Mars E.T - Katy Perry ft Kanye West Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri Super Bass - Nicki Minaj Titanium - David Guetta ft Sia Dirty Talk - Wynter Gordon Good Feeling - Flo Rida Official Top 100: https://www.aria.com.au/charts/2011/singles-chart

So by my calculation only 4 songs reached #1 in both the UK and Australia in 2011, Grenade, On The Floor, Party Rock Anthem and Someone Like You. (5 if you include We R Who We R which reached #1 in Australia at the end of 2010.) I was surprised at the time that Dirty Talk didn't perform better in the UK than its peak of #25. I though it would've easily gone top 10 and challenged for #1. S&M was quite big here and I thought that might've translated over to the UK as well, but I guess Only Girl In The World, What's My Name and Who's That Chick were all quite big in the UK. Someone Like You was massive globally but only got to #1 in Australia at the end of June. Who's That Girl would be in my top 5 Guy Sebastian songs, it's a shame he never took off outside of Australia.

I thought as well as the #3 entry today I would do my rank of the #1 singles in Australia in 2011. The first list is the list of songs in order they were at #1 from January to December. The second list will be my order from favourite to least favourite. Official Australian #1's in 2011 Bruno Mars - Grenade Who's That Girl - Guys Sebastian ft Eve Dirty Talk - Wynter Gordon S&M - Rihanna Born This Way - Lady Gaga On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull Sweat - Snoop Dogg ft David Guetta Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO ft Lauren Bennett and GoonRock Someone Like You - Adele Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye ft Kimbra Mr Know It All - Kelly Clarkson Sexy And I Know It - LMFAO Good Night - Reece Mastin Paddington James's rank of the Australian #1's in 2011 S&M - Rihanna Dirty Talk - Wynter Gordon Someone Like You - Adele On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull Bruno Mars - Grenade Who's That Girl - Guys Sebastian ft Eve Mr Know It All - Kelly Clarkson Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye ft Kimbra Born This Way - Lady Gaga Sweat - Snoop Dogg ft David Guetta Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO ft Lauren Bennett and GoonRock Sexy And I Know It - LMFAO Good Night - Reece Mastin

4 – One The Floor – Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull 2 Weeks at #1 / Weekly Sales – 133,179 / 91,749 #10 in EOY 2011 – Total Sales of 784,100 At the beginning of 2011 I certainly didn’t have Jennifer Lopez having a career resurgence with a global smash hit single on my bingo card. After experiencing diminishing returns globally from her previous two albums one would naturally presume that Jennifer Lopez’s hit making days were behind her, especially after her 2007 album Brave sank like a stone and failed to produce a top 10 hit for the first time in her career. Though I think from the moment anyone heard this it was going to be hard to deny this would be an undeniable smash, I mean it ticked all the boxes for a 2011 hit. It was a dance/pop club banger, it was produced by ‘it producer’ RedOne and featured Pitbull. So it was no surprise when On The Floor debuted at #1 with sales of 133,179 and knocking off Adele’s massive hit Someone Like You. Of all the ‘in the club’ songs of 2011 this would have to be my favourite. I was a Jennifer Lopez at the time and loved Do It Well and Hold It Don’t Drop it from her previous album so this felt like a natural progression for her to me and like with We R Who We R this came out at one of the happiest times of my life. I have so many memories of listening to this song and others from this time on my 1hr train journey to work ever morning and then home again in the afternoon, every time I listen to this song it just transports me straight back to being 22 years old sitting on a train in Melbourne’s city going to work in the morning and seeing my work colleagues getting on the train. So with this and the majority of the top 5 nostalgia plays a fairly significant part in how I still view these songs, though I still think they’re great songs in their own right.

Joey Negro

5 – Don’t Hold Your Breath – Nicole Scherzinger 1 Week at #1 / Weekly Sales – 98,091 #33 in EOY 2011 – Total Sales of 435,700 Finishing in fifth place in my countdown of the #1 singles in the UK in 2011 is Nicole Scherzinger. Don’t Hold Your Breath was released as the second single from Nicole’s debut album Killer Lover. Selling 98,091 in the last week of March it was enough to knock Adele’s hit Someone Like You down to #2. Nicole’s career in the pop music industry began 11 years prior in 2000 when she successfully auditioned for the American version of the reality tv show Popstars. After making the group Eden’s Crush and winning Popstars Eden’s Crush earned themselves a top ten single and album in America before it all fell apart in 2001. Four years later in 2005 Nicole would resurface as part of a new girl group The Pussy Cat Dolls and this is where she quickly rose to fame with the group racking up multiple top 10 singles around the world throughout 2005 and 2006. Then in 2007 Nicole made her first attempt at a solo career where she released four singles from what was meant to be her debut album, however only one of those made a small dent on the global charts with the other three having no impact at all. The subsequent album was shelved with some of the songs finding there way onto the second Pussy Cat Dolls album. Then in late 2010 Nicole made her second attempt to launch a solo career and this got off to a much better start when Poison reached #3 in the UK and #7 in Ireland. Don’t Hold Your Breath followed next and would go on to become Nicole’s biggest hit worldwide. Despite only reaching #86 in America the song would go on to each #4 in Ireland, #21 in New Zealand and #18 in Australia, as well as #1 in the UK of course. I really enjoyed this song from the very first time I heard it, I found that it stood out a little as it wasn’t quite club banger nor was it a ballad or r’n’b song and I found it kind of hit that sweet spot. It also made me want to go back and give a proper listen to Poison as that was never released properly as a single in Australia, I enjoyed both so much that it led to me going out to buy her album Killer Love. Elsewhere in the charts this week The Wanted debuted at #3 with their new single Gold Forever, new English girl group Parade debuted at #10 with their debut single Louder, Snoop Dogg landed at #16 with his new single Sweat and Ellie Gould would reach a peak of #49 with Lights, the final single from her debut album of the same name. This was roughly one year before it would go on to reach #2 in the US.

Savage Garden. ❤️

5,6,7,8

So that leaves us with my top 5 which are in alphabetical order: Don't Hold Your Breath On The Floor Someone Like You We Found Love What's My Name

6 – Price Tag – Jessie J ft B.o.B 2 Weeks at #1 / Weekly Sales – 84,076 / 95,697 #4 in EOY 2011 – Total Sales of 981,300 In late 2010 English singer Jessie J released her debut sing Do It Like A Dude, that debuted at #25 and went up and down the charts before finding a peak of #2 just a few weeks before her second single Price Tag was released. Released at the end of January and featuring US artist B.o.B Price Tag debuted at #1 selling 84,076 copies in it’s first week and stayed there for a second week as well where its sales increased selling 95,697 copies. Where the music and video for Do It Like A Dude seemed quite dark pop and music and video for Price Tag was much more bright and colourful. With an undeniably catchy chorus “It’s not about the money, money, money. We don’t need your money, money, money” it’s easy to see why this was such a success not just in the UK but globally as well. I’ve mentioned a few times already about my fondness for the #1’s from earlier in 2011, well songs in general that were released in the first half of 2011 and this is another example. It came at such a joyous and happy time in my life and I have memories of listening to this walking home from the train station every evening after work for at least a few weeks. This with One The Floor, Rolling In The Deep, S&M and Dirty Talk were just some of the songs getting repeated listens every day on my commute to and from work. I probably only have this slightly ahead of One The Floor as I felt this wasn’t so generic, not that there’s anything wrong with On The Floor. Elsewhere in the charts the two weeks this was at #1, Enrique Iglesias continued his resurgence with Tonight (I’m Loving You) debuting at #5, the Taio Cruz/Kylie Minogue collaboration Higher peaked at #8 and Rihanna’s S&M rose to #20. Moving on to week two and a mid week release for the hotly anticipated new Lady Gaga single Born This Way saw it only manage a #3 debut, what could’ve been if it had a full week of sales and Adele’s Someone Like You dropped from #33 to #47, but that drop was only going to be short lived.

Wow! Pussycat Dolls being out this early is a surprise.

Thanks @Roba. I must say I've been really happy with the comments so far. I know it's my list and it's all subject to taste but aside from a few of the obvious it's nice to see it being so well received so far. ❤️

7 – Give Me Everything - Pitbull ft Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer 3 Weeks at #1 / Weekly Sales – 71,309 / 95,848 / 82,210 #6 in EOY 2011 – Total Sales of 865,900 American rapper Pitbull has been around since 2004 which is when he scored his first US top 40 hit, but it wouldn’t be until 2009 until he broke through internationally with I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) which reached #6 in Australia and #4 in the UK. Jump forward another two years to 2011 and Pitbull had his true global smash with a little help from Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer when Giver Me Everything reached #1 in Canada, Ireland, the US and of course the UK. It also reached #2 in Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and Spain. After debuting at #35 Give Me Everything reached #1 in it’s fifth week on the charts and stayed there for three consecutive weeks, it would also spend a total of 12 weeks in the top 10. Although this didn’t reach #1 in Australia I can still remember how big it was and the impact it dominance it had on tv and radio in the early months of 2011. I have a real soft spot for songs from mid 2010 to mid 2011 as looking back on it now that period was probably on of the best times of my life. I was 22 years old, working full time, planning my first overseas holiday, catching up regularly with many friends and my football team was absolutely flying. So the music from this time holds a special place in my heart. On the song itself though I was impartial to it at the time but over the years it has grown on me quite a bit and I think that’s partly due to the nostalgia. Pitbull, Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer all make solid contributions to the track and each of them add to its appeal. I can’t talk about this song without bringing up some of its most quotable or remembered lyrics, such as. “Yeah right, picture that with a Kodak. Or better yet go to Time Square, take a picture of me with a Kodak”, or “Grab somebody sexy, tell’em hey” or “I got it locked up, like Lindsay Lohan”. It’s funny to think that younger people listening to this song now will probably have no idea what Kodak is/was. Elsewhere on the charts this week Lady Gaga’s Hair debuted at #13 as she was preparing to release her album Born This Way. Wynter Gordon would re-peak at #25 with Dity Talk and Jedward climbed into the top 40 with Lipstick.

I can take or leave All About Us, but it does sound very much like a song that would've fitted perfectly on The Veronicas debut album.

Not a fan of the Kittens version of The Tide Is High. I'm guessing if Billie Piper went ahead and released her version like was planned in 2001 then this the Kittens version would've never happened.

Agree with the comments on Lifted, one of my favourites from here. I also really like the unreleased track from here Call Me What You Like.

Belgium back in front 2-1..

B*witched Delta Goodrem Evanescence

Massive hate watch today. Let’s go Belgium!

5,6,7,8 Stomp

8 – Read All About It – Professor Green ft Emeli Sande 2 Weeks at #1 / Weekly Sales – 153,007 / 85,302 #37 in EOY 2011 – Total Sales of 410,600 Up next at #8 is the Professor Green and Emeli Sande collaboration Read All About It. Released in late October Read All About It would go on to debut at #1 with sales of 153,007 copies, the second highest first week sales for the year at that stage behind One Direction. It would also spend a second consecutive week at #1 selling 85,302 copies, it would also become the first #1 single for both Professor Green and Emelie Sande. A kind of autobiographical song Read All About It touches on the passing of the rappers father just four years prior and his life/relationship growing up. It’s a song I really connected with and enjoyed at the time having just lost my five months earlier, although the circumstances were different it’s one that I felt partially reflected how I was feeling at the time. There was a time for a while after that where I could no longer listen to the song and I went about 10 years without listening to it, but listening to it again recently for this brought back all those memories of the latter stages of 2011. Elsewhere on the charts one it’s first week at #1 Labrinth and Tiny Temper debuted at #2 with Earthquake, Coldplay debuted at #14 with Paradise and Bruno Mars scored a fifth top 20 hit from his debut album with Runaway Baby debuting at #19. In it’s second week at #1 Cher Lloyd debuted at $4 with her follow up to Swagger Jagger, With UR Love ft Mike Posner, Ed Sheeran made it three to 10 hits in a row with his third single from + titled Lego House and Nicole Scherzinger debuted at #18 with Try With Me, the new singles from her re-release for the album Killer Love.