Herbs

Interesting comments - I’d have said that a lot of the artists mentioned have much better songs.

Bad day for Herbilore votes - we’ve lost half of our votes… Thanks to anyone who voted for Mia though. And glad to see Valencia through (even if I still genuinely think my entries from her were better)

Momo Boyd :( Such a beautiful song. Sorry others didn’t see it

Oh wow Ennea not qualifying surprises me I will forever not understand BJSC voting

Have a real bad feeling I’m losing a podium finisher

I set the trend!

Damn I had a bad feeling Pagasa and Sandenia wouldn’t make it… And a couple of my 11th-15th also out

Thank you :)

Oooooooh! If I’m out please let me know early!

Honestly, if I’d have known First Aid Kit wouldn’t get vetoed, I’d have sent them myself! Hope you do really well with this :)

Poor Louise - love that song Bloc Party is my least fave

As per normal I have no idea who anyone is If I were to hazard a guess I’d say Portishead as a potential winner

Yeah it 100% was with Hope. Think if they’d gone down a joint vocal route they could have got something more out of the show

Isn’t David the new Karen?!

That was an epic finale So glad they both stuck together and took the crown! The realisation on the banished players faces when they realised was perfect tv

Let's get the next one out of the way as well.... 20 Leon Jackson When You Believe #2s held off #1: Soulja Boy Tellem - Crank That (Soulja Boy) Shouldn't be any surprises here. Should Leon Jackson have won X Factor? (especially after Shayne & Leona paved the way for credible winners). No. Do I blame Leon Jackson? No. I blame the British public? 100%. The public have a knack for keeping in mediocre male singers. Arguably it wasn't a stellar year for X Factor talent. At the time I took time to listen to performances from all of the finalists and I wasn't massively enthusiastic about the result. In saying that, I had a few favourites. Kimberley - I do subscribe to the idea that she was screwed over by a change to TV scheduling, meaning a number of people missed her one and only performance. She went out week one and we all saw the tantrum that Sharon O threw, having to be persuaded to come back a week later. Rhydian - would he have been a single's artist. No chance. But he could sing and had stage presence Same Difference - excusing the dodginess of a brother/sister combo singing certain songs together,, they were both way more fun and marketable. Hope - this band was actually my favourite act of the year. They leaned too much on having a 'lead' singer, who would go onto to form 1/3 of 'Girls Can't Catch', responsible for one of my fave pop songs of the era in Echo. I'd go as far as to say that Leon was in my bottom 3 of the final 12. I don't hate the song choice. I don't hate his voice on it, even though it does sound very 'karaoke'. I'm amazed it made 3 weeks at number one.

Would love to see Robbie not do a 1–Out but chances are high right?!

Herbilore votes sent

21 Kid Rock All Summer Long #2s held off #1: None (The Script's 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved' was #3 and would climb to #2 a few weeks later) I'm not going to waste much time on this one. I hate this song. I HATE the artist a lot more. Kid Rock is pretty much the antithesis of everything I stand for. He has a history of homophobia and misogyny, as well as many other controversies. He's also a staunch supporter of Trump/The Republican culture. This song interpolates 'Sweet Home Alabama' and 'Werewolves of London'. I remember at the time that people were raving about it. I think now it'd be considered a largely forgotten number one. He has never charted since and for me that is a good thing...... So yeah, I ranked something lower than Leon Jackson. But is there another song below Leon?!

It would be too easy to ‘Run’ away from that joke! But ‘The Promise’ I’ll make is not to!

Jade you’re a baby!

Finally! Although yes where are 'Echoes' and 'Forever'

I won't reveal the place of Leon Jackson in mine (let's keep some suspense in my rate!) but here would be mine: Sugababes - About You Now Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love Rihanna - Umbrella Mika - Grace Kelly Robyn - With Every Heartbeat Katie Melua and Eva Cassidy - What a Wonderful World Take That - Shine Beyonce and Shakira - Beautiful Liar Sugababes and Girls Aloud - Walk This Way Timbaland and Keri Hilson - The Way I Are Leona Lewis - A Moment Like This Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado - Give It To Me Kanye West - Stronger Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) McFly - Baby's Coming Back

Hello all and welcome to my official ranking of the 2008 number ones! This is my first one of these - thanks for having me! But also be nice! I am a pop ho at heart, but there may be some surprises along the way. There's a decent chunk of number ones from this year that I adore. To take it down a completely self-centred route, I may also add the odd personal story here or there. 2008 was quite a messy year for me. I started my first teaching job, finished my first teaching job, went down to my last £5 (whilst heavily in an overdraft) and also met someone who had quite a large (not necessarily positive) impact on my lifet the time. But I was also living in Manchester - one of my fave places in the whole world. In world news 2008 was all over the place. The collapse of the Lehman Brothers contributed to the financial crash (years later I would work in finance and see the repercussions of this with some of the buildings I went to/some of the clients I worked on behalf of - fun times!). The impact was real. Spending went down, house prices died and pension pots were at risk. The world hated the people in power for a long time. There was also a catastrophic earthquake in China that claimed the lives of almost 100 thousand people (RIP) In politics 2008 saw the White House entrance of Barack Obama. The Democratic leader was the newest President of the USA, taking over from the bell end that was George Bush.....Barack would go on to be a very popular President and for a time the relationship between the UK & US was actually decent. It goes without saying that Barack was a leader for all and not just for some. Music wise, we had a massive album from Coldplay (more on that later), the Mamma Mia soundtrack blew up and then wouldn't go away and X Factor contestants still dominated the charts. There were also debuts from the likes of Duffy & Katy Perry. Pop music was certainly having a bit of a resurgence. The box office was dominated by superheroes, with The Dark Knight and Iron Man dominating. That leads me to the sad celebrity death of the year, as Heath Ledger, start of the first film and of blockbuster such as 10 Things I Hate About You & Brokeback Mountain died at the age of 28. He would go on to win a posthumous Oscar for his role as The Joker. Let me know what you remember from 2008 :) I'll start the countdown shortly. I will be including the last number one of 2007/first number one of 2008 and (spoiler) it won't be in last place. That position is reserved for a song I truly dislike.....

Wow I at least expected an Ari nomination!