mrpopquiz

Blessings going higher than 7 is going to mess up Calvin's top 10 bingo card.

The gap between Never Ever at 1 and Bamboogie at number 2 was in fact 557 sales according to this article on the OCC website. https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-closest-battles-for-number-1-on-the-official-singles-chart__22356/

Tonight we will have the 9th and 16th January shows Next Friday - the 23rd and 30th January shows. We then take a break from 1998 for a fortnight ( cannot see the schedule for 11 July yet ) 27 June Glastonbury 4 July - Test Cricket highlights.

In 1997 a record ( at the time ) 21 songs go straight in at number 1. Too Much was the 88th song to debut at number 1 in UK chart history. There were 213 songs going straight into the top 10 in 1997 beating the 1996 record of 176. How different things are in the streaming era when we have only had 18 son gs go straight into the top 10 after 5 months of 2025.

Fun fact Up to this point in 1997, the number of songs going straight into the top 10 was 199. That is way ahead of last year's record total of 176 with 5 charts still to go.

In that case, Beautiful Things ( currently 27 top 10 weeks ) will overtake All I Want For Christmas Is You ( 49 top 10 weeks ) !!

Messy drops to number 11 tonight. Its ACR sales are 22,188 - however it would still be number 1 if on SCR with pre-adjusted sales of 42,705 compared to Pink Pony Club at number 1 with sales of 39,032.

Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan number 1 tonight on sales of 38,645. Messy by Lola Young on ACR at number 7 on sales of 23,715 but would be number 1 again if still on SCR on pre-adjusted sales of 45,307.

On tonight's chart, Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar is number 1 on sales of 37,456. Messy by Lola Young has gone to ACR this week on sales of 23,069 at number 9, however if still on SCR, Messy would be number 1 on pre-adjusted sales of 44,442.

FYI - BBC4 will not be showing the episode on the 28th March 1997 due to I Belive I Can Fly playing over the chart rundown. They will also skip the 3 weeks the song was at number 1 - 11 , 18 , 25 April shows.

A lot of the archive up to and including 1975 was wiped as the BBC used to reuse tapes and it was only in 1976 that the BBC changed policy and started keeping the tapes which is why the repeats on BBC4 started with April 1976 back in 2011. Only occasional episodes and performances exist in the years before 1976 which is why you keep seeing the same old clips again and again on retro compilations - eg T Rex and Elton on Hot Love and Rod Stewart with John Peel on Maggie May where he played football. As for 1975 , apart from the 5 episodes we will see, 5 other episodes exist in the BBC as complete recordings - one of those is an off air recording, presumably someone at home recorded the show - ita s DLT show so we wont see it anyway ( we did see an off air recording of David Hamilton's last show in March 1977 ). Of the other 4 episodes that exist in full and could be shown, 3 are presented by Savile and the other 1 is presented by Savile and DLT so they won't be shown. It really was staggering that Savile presented so many shows ( over 270 ) when he didn't give a sh** about the music or artists - it was all about him.

The other episode from 1975 that can be broadcast - the 28th August show with Tony Blackburn - will be shown on the 24th January at 8.55pm according to the provisional schedule just released. Line up (19) KENNY – Julie-Ann (2) ROD STEWART – Sailing (video) (29) THE EAGLES – One Of These Nights (danced to by Pan’s People) (39) DESMOND DEKKER – Sing A Little Song (13) JASPER CARROTT – Funky Moped (NEW) GILBERT O’SULLIVAN – I’ll Believe It When I See It (20) HOT CHOCOLATE – A Child’s Prayer (NEW) PETER SKELLERN – She Gives Me Hard Times (12) BIMBO JET – El Bimbo (Performed by the TOTP Orchestra) (6) BILLIE JO SPEARS – Blanket On The Ground (video) (42) CHRIS SPEDDING – Motor Biking (1) THE STYLISTICS – Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love) (video) (9) MIKE BATT with THE NEW EDITION – Summertime City (and credits)

Over the past couple of years we have seen a marked increase the number of songs going straight into the top 10 - largely due to HMV selling CD singles for 1.99 on the week of release before increasing to 3.99 from week 2 onwards. Why wait until week 2 to buy a single at double the price ? Straight into the Top 10 by Year 1985 – 11 1986 – 9 1987 – 19 1988 – 20 1989 – 30 1990 – 24 1991 – 43 1992 – 60 1993 – 71 1994 – 74 1995 – 110 1996 – 176 How many songs will go straight into the top 10 in 1997 ?

If by Yin and Yan on the 10th April show is a spoof of the Telly Savales version.

Have you looked at their website ? https://www.bigtop40.com/charts/

That's So True by Gracie Abrams number 1 on sales of 48,176. The sales report says that Gracie Abrams would only be number 6 if we did not have ACR - the top 5 would all be Christmas song. That means Wham! must be the real number 1 this week.

Sailor Song by Gigi Perez number 1 on sales of 39,001. Taste by Sabrina Carpenter number 11 on ACR sales of 21,620 but would still be number 1 on SCR sales of 42,906.

One thing that has not been mentioned yet this week. In the whole of 1995 we had a record 110 songs go straight into the top 10. In 1996 we have now had 116 songs go straight into the top 10 - and we are still in the first week of September.

Bye Bye Bye to Bye Bye Bye !

This Friday the 1996 shows resume with the 21st and 28th June shows. We will then be skipping the next 2 shows on the 5th and 12th July - there are rumours on other forums that there are compliance issues with the episodes relating to strobing. Instead, next Friday we will have the 19th and 26th July episodes.

The provisional schedule for the 20th September has just been released and the 1996 double bills will resume that night at 7pm.

There are changes to the BBC 2 and BBC 4 schedules this Friday. The cricket highlights have moved from BBC4 to BBC2 at 7pm which means at 7pm on BBC4 ........Top of the Pops 1996 !! We will have the next 2 scheduled episodes of the 6th and 14th June 1996. This is a welcome surprise https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl6b/2024/08/30

Espresso denied another week at number 1 due to ACR. Please Please Please is number 1 on sales of 46,019 Espresso at number 8 on ACR sales of 25,583 but would be number 1 on pre-adjusted sales of 50,196

Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter denied a 6th week at number 1 tonight due to ACR rule. Espresso dropped 1 - 9 on ACR sales of 27,148 however would still be number 1 if on SCR with sales of 53,159. The actual number 1 -Please Please Please by Sabrina Carpenter has sales of 49,414.

Well Well Well !! This is a surprise. We have just had the provisional schedule for Friday 9th August and there will be a 1996 double bill from 7pm !!! This is the provisional schedule and will be officially confirmed next week.