Herbs

And still no Take That appearance! What the hell am I doing?!

8 Duffy Mercy #2s held off #1: Nickelback - Rockstar, H Two O ft Platnum - What's It Gonna Be, Leona Lewis - Better In Time/Footprints In The Sand It's time for me to tell a story (and make it all about me for a bit!) In 2003, 18 year old Herbs wanted a fresh start. After going through a pretty sucky time in 6th form, the opportunity arose to head off to Uni. And after falling in love with the place on an Open Day, the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (since renamed to Aberystwyth University) called my name. A world away from the rest of the world. It was perfect. Yet during my 1st year of uni, I was still firmly in the closet and not ready to be myself. I went to over half of my lectures (some with a certain Green Party leader - my new claim to fame!), but on the whole I went in on myself. TV, music and forums (Cool Clarity at the time) were my comfort blanket. For you young folk, this was back in the day of square box TV sets and five channels. C4 was my constant fave - home to one of my all time fave shows in The Secret Life Of Us. But at points during the day certain programmes were replaced with S4C - the Welsh version of channel 4. Where does all this link to Duffy you might ask?! Well, it turns out, Wales had their own version of X Factor. It was titled 'Wawffactor' and ended up having three seasons. I think I casually watched it at different points. Think X Factor on a heavily reduced budget and you'll get the idea. Across the 3 seasons, none of the winners really amounted to much. But two of the runners up did. One was Peaky Blinders actress Aimee-Ffion Edwards. The other was a certain Aimee Duffy. Four years after she finished runner up on Wawffactor, she'd re-appear as Duffy. And 'Mercy' was an instant smash, spending five weeks at number one and holding off newly crowned X Factor winner Leona Lewis and Nickelback. This was followed by further hits and a massive album in Rockferry. Back in 2008 I was more of an Adele fan - and I remember some people comparing Adele & Duffy, with the latter seeing more success with their first albums. Many expected Duffy to return with a big second album, particularly when we know what became of Adele! But a poorly judged advert appearance and the lukewarm reception to the 2nd album's lead single stopped any momentum Duffy had. Still this is a cracking pop song and the one that I grew to like more over the years.

Damn watch it be my number 8!

Jakatta - but this is clearly going to win Go on then - vote the 'phonics out!

Down 4 U I have 2 clear faves here - Jack & Vanessa. Hope they last a few rounds

Think I'm the same with the Coldplay song I should have added to Katy Perry - I prefer Hot N Cold and Thinking Of You (video featuring an early celeb crush of mine in Matt Dallas)

Am I surprised our rankings wouldn't align?!

And oh dear guys, still no Take That. I must be really trolling the lot of you! But sorry (not sorry), there's a reason I love every song still to appear! Slight spoiler - the next song is a song I liked but didn't love upon release. Over time I've found myself appreciating it more :) Songs still to appear in alphabetical order: Beyonce - If I Were A Boy Duffy - Mercy Estelle ft Kanye West - American Boy Girls Aloud - The Promise Leona Lewis - Run Pink - So What Take That - Greatest Day The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name

9 Katy Perry I Kissed A Girl #2s held off #1: The Script - The Man Who Can't Be Moved, Eric Prydz - Pjanoo I've always loved how subjective music is - and that extends to how you can personally like/relate to songs. If I'd done this ranking in 2008, this song would probably have appeared near the top. I looooove a good pop song, with a catchy hook. Always have, always will. And this hit all the marks when it was released. There's a reason it spent five weeks at the top (and thankfully ended Kid Rock's reign). Based on chart stats, it was a debut release ~ debut number one scenario. But Katy's success did not come out of nowhere. Seven years earlier, under her actual name 'Katy (short for Kathery) Hudson' released her debut album 'Katy Hudson'. I remember reading the story of this album and how it came from a singer so far removed from the singer we know today - heavily routed in Christian Pop and not a cheeky lyric in sight. Not to be confused with the actress Kate Hudson, Katy changed her industry name to 'Katy Perry' and left her Christian routes behind. Before her debut Katy Perry album she released the EP 'Ur So Gay'. For those of you who remember that song, I'll let you make your minds up about what you think about the song now! And then we move onto 'I Kissed A Girl'. In a way it's quite surprising that this song was so embraced by the music world. Some saw it as offensive to the LGBTQIA+ community, fetishising what it means to have a same sex kiss. Others saw it as a gateway to starting their own journey. To be honest, I am never sure what I think (and the aforementioned 'Ur So Gay' song). I kind of have to take it as something of the era - which in itself is a slight echoing of the heavily gendered culture of the 90's and early 00's. Katy would go from strength to strength, scoring four more number one singles and countless other hits. She's recently had quite a dramatic decline from the top, but remains a constant figure in the US due to her role on the American Idol panel.

10 Coldplay Viva La Vida #2s held off #1: None Next up is a little known group called Coldplay! The group had first appeared on the charts almost a decade earlier and quickly became a juggernaut on the world stage. By 2008, they'd released three massive selling number one albums and released countless hits. But somehow none of them had reached the top spot in the UK Charts. They had peaked at number two twice with 'In My Place' and 'Speed of Sound', although I think we can all agree they had bigger songs in their discography (i.e. 'Yellow' and personal faves of mine, 'Trouble', 'Fix You' and 'The Scientist'). And for this release the stars aligned. The similarly titled album had hit number one the week before and the momentum that came with that helped this song to finally give the group their debut number one. Future releases would solidify Coldplay's ability to create anthemic songs, perfectly suited to large arena audiences.

1 NE The Vaccines - Headphones Baby 2 2 Bella Poarch - Build A Bitch (CR: 1-2-2) 3 1 Olivia Rodrigo - Good 4 U (CR: 1-3) 4 NE Surf Curse - Freaks 5 3 Conor Maynard - Crowded Room (CR: 37-48-51-43-19-14-9-7-8-5-4-1-1-1-2-3-5) 6 5 Imanbek & Cher Lloyd - Baddest (CR: 3-4-5-5-6) 7 NE Martin Garrix ft Bono & The Edge - We Are The People 8 4 Cheryl - Sexy Den A Mutha (CR: 2-3-4-8) 9 NE Lukas Graham - Happy For You 10 6 Jake Bugg - Lost (CR: 2-3-4-6-10) 11 7 Anton Ewald - DeLorean (CR: 3-6-6-6-7-11) 12 8 Katy Perry - Electric (CR: 8-12) 13 9 Emily Barker ft Frank Turner - Bound For Home (CR: 9-13) 14 NE Keiino - Summer Of My Life 15 NE Rain Radio & DJ Craig Gorman - Talk About 16 10 Coldplay - Higher Power (CR: 1-2-5-5-7-10-16) 17 12 Bebe Rexha ft Lil Uzi Vert - Die For A Man (CR: 1-3-3-5-7-8-10-10-12-17) 18 NE Elton John and Years & Years - It's A Sin 19 11 Pink - All I Know So Far (CR: 4-7-8-11-19) 20 16 Bebe Rexha - Sabotage (CR: 7-5-6-6-8-2-3-5-5-5-7-6-7-9-11-12-13-16-20) 21 13 The Kid Laroi & Miley Cyrus - Without You (CR: 1-1-2-4-7-9-11-13-21) 22 NE Leftwing & Kody ft Hexe - Gold 23 14 DJ Khaled ft Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby & DaBaby - I Did It (CR: 8-9-14-23) 24 15 Hayley Kiyoko - Found My Friends (CR: 2-2-3-5-9-11-12-15-24) 25 18 Winona Oak - Old Insecurities (CR: 38-44-47-30-21-13-14-18-25) 26 NE Marina - Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land 27 22 Slayyyter - Over This! (CR: 21-22-27) 28 NE Jay B ft Sokodomo - Switch It Up 29 17 Jack Wins & Joe Stone - Light Up My Life (CR: 17-29) 30 20 Mark Knight & Beverley Knight ft London Community Gospel Choir - Everything's Gonna Be Alright (CR: 14-14-15-20-30) 31 19 Texas - Mr Haze (CR: 19-31) 32 24 Rina Sawayama & Elton John - Chosen Family (CR: 1-2-4-4-6-8-12-18-20-24-32) 33 25 Ben Platt - Imagine (CR: 1-1-1-3-3-4-6-9-11-14-19-21-23-25-33) 34 NE Manic Street Preachers - Orwellian 35 23 Cassadee Pope ft Karen Fairchild & Lindsay Ell - What The Stars See (CR: 6-10-15-19-23-35) 36 NE Kid Brunswick - When You Were Young 37 NE Django Django - Kick The Devil Out 38 NE Armin van Buuren & Tom Staar ft Josha Daniel - Let Go 39 21 Afflecks Palace - The City Is Burning Alive (CR: 21-39) 40 28 Paul Anka & Olivia Newton-John - Put Your Head On My Shoulder (CR: 16-22-28-40) 41 30 The Veronicas ft Allday - The Life of the Party (CR: 1-2-3-5-8-9-11-15-19-25-30-41) 42 26 Alan Walker & Conor Maynard - Believers (CR: 16-26-42) 43 27 Saweetie - Fast (Motion) (CR: 17-27-43) 44 29 Sydney Mack - Medicine (CR: 18-29-44) 45 NE Kele - From A Place of Love 46 32 Rag N Bone Man - Crossfire (CR: 10-12-15-20-24-29-32-46) 47 31 Jack Savoretti & Nile Rodgers - Who's Hurting Who (CR: 10-16-22-27-31-47) 48 33 Guilt Trippin' - Catch Me (CR: 9-14-13-16-22-27-31-33-48) 49 38 Lil Sis Nora - MDMA (CR: 24-29-33-38-49) 50 36 JP Saxe - Like That (CR: 13-20-28-36-50)

It is a cracking pop song

Alpine: Gasly (Q,R) v Colapinto Aston Martin: Alonso (Q,R) v Stroll Audi: Bortoleto v Hulkenberg (Q,R) Cadillac: Perez (Q,R) v Bottas Ferrari: Leclerc (R) v Hamilton (Q) Haas: Ocon v Bearman (Q,R) McLaren: Norris (Q,R) v Piastri Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell (Q,R) Racing Bulls: Lawson (Q,R) v Lindblad Red Bull: Verstappen (Q,R) v Hadjar Williams: Albon (Q,R) v Sainz Jr Pole Position: Russell Winner: Russell Fastest Lap: Leclerc

Big win for Jack Draper at Indian Wells after he beat Djokovic in 3 sets Even more remarkable considering he’s on his return from injury! He needed a good run to defend points gained from winning last years title Also - for the neutral fan, this point was insane

IVD

Voted

Massively prefer Remember Monday’s song from last year but I can see the appeal with this one Hope it does well for him

Think I’ve got a shot actually! Random question - anyone remember the mid 00’s C4 show ‘Sugar Rush’. Whenever I hear One Way or Another my head immediately goes to that show as it was the theme song

3 horrible ones for me Nelly Furtado vs Blondie Erasure vs Bowie And another one where I prefer one artist (was actually an artist I had considered) but prefer the song of the other artist!

I’d be proud to have sent The Chicks (or any of the lesser known artists for that matter). Kind of wish future Pop Factors have more underdogs

Think the plan will be to send something I love and hope it resonates with people

1 NE Olivia Rodrigo - Good 4 U 2 1 Bella Poarch - Build A Bitch (CR: 1-2) 3 2 Conor Maynard - Crowded Room (CR: 37-48-51-43-19-14-9-7-8-5-4-1-1-1-2-3) 4 3 Cheryl - Sexy Den A Mutha (CR: 2-3-4) 5 5 Imanbek & Cher Lloyd - Baddest (CR: 3-4-5-5) 6 4 Jake Bugg - Lost (CR: 2-3-4-6) 7 6 Anton Ewald - DeLorean (CR: 3-6-6-6-7) 8 NE Katy Perry - Electric 9 NE Emily Barker ft Frank Turner - Bound For Home 10 7 Coldplay - Higher Power (CR: 1-2-5-5-7-10) 11 8 Pink - All I Know So Far (CR: 4-7-8-11) 12 10 Bebe Rexha ft Lil Uzi Vert - Die For A Man (CR: 1-3-3-5-7-8-10-10-12) 13 11 The Kid Laroi & Miley Cyrus - Without You (CR: 1-1-2-4-7-9-11-13) 14 9 DJ Khaled ft Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby & DaBaby - I Did It (CR: 8-9-14) 15 12 Hayley Kiyoko - Found My Friends (CR: 2-2-3-5-9-11-12-15) 16 13 Bebe Rexha - Sabotage (CR: 7-5-6-6-8-2-3-5-5-5-7-6-7-9-11-12-13-16) 17 NE Jack Wins & Joe Stone - Light Up My Life 18 14 Winona Oak - Old Insecurities (CR: 38-44-47-30-21-13-14-18) 19 NE Texas - Mr Haze 20 15 Mark Knight & Beverley Knight ft London Community Gospel Choir - Everything's Gonna Be Alright (CR: 14-14-15-20) 21 NE Afflecks Palace - The City Is Burning Alive 22 21 Slayyyter - Over This! (CR: 21-22) 23 19 Cassadee Pope ft Karen Fairchild & Lindsay Ell - What The Stars See (CR: 6-10-15-19-23) 24 20 Rina Sawayama & Elton John - Chosen Family (CR: 1-2-4-4-6-8-12-18-20-24) 25 23 Ben Platt - Imagine (CR: 1-1-1-3-3-4-6-9-11-14-19-21-23-25) 26 16 Alan Walker & Conor Maynard - Believers (CR: 16-26) 27 17 Saweetie - Fast (Motion) (CR: 17-27) 28 22 Paul Anka & Olivia Newton-John - Put Your Head On My Shoulder (CR: 16-22-28) 29 18 Sydney Mack - Medicine (CR: 18-29) 30 25 The Veronicas ft Allday - The Life of the Party (CR: 1-2-3-5-8-9-11-15-19-25-30) 31 27 Jack Savoretti & Nile Rodgers - Who's Hurting Who (CR: 10-16-22-27-31) 32 29 Rag N Bone Man - Crossfire (CR: 10-12-15-20-24-29-32) 33 31 Guilt Trippin' - Catch Me (CR: 9-14-13-16-22-27-31-33) 34 NE Eliza - Mr Unavailable 35 24 KUU - Gimme Your Love (CR: 17-24-35) 36 28 JP Saxe - Like That (CR: 13-20-28-36) 37 26 Au/Ra - Bite Marks (CR: 26-37) 38 33 Lil Sis Nora - MDMA (CR: 24-29-33-38) 39 NE DJ Khaled ft Justin Bieber & 21 Savage - Let It Go 40 NE Greentea Peng - Dingaling 41 30 Tom Odell - Money (CR: 8-12-17-23-30-41) 42 NE Kurupt FM ft Craig David - Summertime 43 35 Tina Arena - Church (CR: 7-10-13-18-25-35-43) 44 36 Olivia Rodrigo & Joshua Bassett - Even When/The Best Part (CR: 13-14-17-23-28-36-44) 45 37 Lion Babe - Frida Kahlo (CR: 4-8-11-18-21-26-23-26-30-37-45) 46 NE Cally Rhodes & Alfie Cridland - Comfort Zone 47 32 Pat - White Air Forces (CR: 32-47) 48 NE Hybrid Minds ft Grace Grundy - Bad To Me 49 34 Vicki Manser ft Adam Gillian - Nothing In Between (CR: 34-49) 50 NE Fedde Le Grand & Nome ft Amanda Collis - Sucker For Love

I dunno, are there popular songs that have been played to death and may see people voting for the competitor? I’m looking at you Dancing Queen

Kind of hope the 13th act is a surprise and not an obvious choice Think I know what song would get me through to the final 12!

Choices choices choices! How to get through the next round?!