King Rollo

Queen - I Want To Break Free Propaganda - Dr Mabuse Nik Kershaw - Dancing Girls New Order - Thieves Like Us Ultravox - Dancing With Tears In My Eyes Tie-break: People Are People

Thanks to everyone who read my reviews and commented. Please post your own order of songs if you have the time. This is a recap of my top 20: 1. The Sun Always Shines On TV - A-ha 2. West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys 3. Take My Breath Away - Berlin 4. The Final Countdown - Europe 5. Chain Reaction - Diana Ross 6. Papa Don't Preach - Madonna 7. A Different Corner - George Michael 8. Rock Me Amadeus - Falco 9. Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl In Town) - Jackie Wilson 10. Caravan Of Love - The Housemartins 11. The Lady In Red - Chris de Burgh 12. True Blue - Madonna 13. Spirit In The Sky - Doctor and the Medics 14. Don't Leave Me This Way - The Communards with Sarah Jane Morris 15. When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going - Billy Ocean 16. Every Loser Wins - Nick Berry 17. The Edge Of Heaven - Wham! 18. I Wanna Wake Up With You - Boris Gardiner 19. Living Doll - Cliff Richard and The Young Ones featuring Hank Marvin 20. The Chicken Song - Spitting Image

1. The Sun Always Shines On TV - a-ha 'Take On Me' had been a huge breakthrough hit for the Norwegian group but was kept off the top of the UK chart by Jennifer Rush's 'The Power Of Love' for three weeks. The Sun Always Shines On TV was the follow-up single. After entering the chart around Christmas at number 39, it climbed to 27 and 5 before emulating Take On Me's peak of number 2, behind West End Girls. This time, a-ha got the number 1 they deserved, with a two week reign. The video for the song started with an epilogue to the one for Take On Me before switching to a performance in the church of Saint Alban the Martyr in Teddington in front of hundreds of mannequins. This is a song of two intros, the first one is quite brief with synth sounds resembling a flute and piano which continue to back the first vocal, then comes a longer and much more dramatic intro before the vocals take centre stage. Morten Harket puts in a skilled and evocative vocal performance but the highlight of the song for me is the wall of sound created by all the keyboard textures. The song's title came from the group watching TV on a rainy day in England and hearing the programme announcer say "it's a rainy day but, as always,. the sun always shines on TV". The rest of the lyrics seem to be about having worries and self doubt, maybe even depression, and craving the love of another person. This means that I can mention Genesis for a third time in this countdown as their TV themed song, 'Turn It On Again, has a similar lyrical story. I prefer The Sun Always Shines On TV to Take On Me which has almost 20 more times Spotify streams and it's my favourite song by a-ha. I placed it at number 391 in my top 1000 so that helped my decision to put it above West End Girls at the top of my rankings.

2. West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys West End Girls was one of twelve songs that the Pet Shop Boys recorded in 1983 and 1984 with producer Bobby Orlando who Neil Tennant had met in New York where he was interviewing Sting for Smash Hits magazine. It was a minor hit in some countries. The song was re-recorded in 1985 with Steven Hague producing and entered the chart at number 80 in November. It then progressed 59-40-23-9-5-4-3 before spending two weeks at number 1 in January 1986. It also reached the top of the Billboard chart and won a Brit award for best single. My top two number 1 singles from the year are well ahead of the rest and this one finishes as the runner-up. The 40 second intro immediately draws you in with the sounds of the street interspersed with different synth effects. Then Neil Tennant comes in, rapping in a well spoken English accent which would certainly have been unusual for the mid 80s even if wasn't the first time it had been done. He then sings the chorus parts. You also have a trumpet but it's not a real one, only an Emulator sample, and some backing vocals from Helena Springs. The lyrics are about the disparity between the poor East End of London and the more affluent and glamourous West End with the boys from the former travelling over to the latter for the evening to have a good time. Synth pop had virtually died out by 1986 but the Pet Shop Boys brought it back with something that sounded new and refreshing. I placed West End Girls at number 549 in my all time top 1000 behind twelve other Pet Shop Boys songs so with it only being my 13th favourite from them, it falls short of my top ranking here.

I'm glad it went much longer than 70 minutes, I was willing Muchova to get back into the match so we'd get a third set. After that, I wasn't really bothered who won. Noskova did really well to go 3-0 up in the final set after losing five games in a row.

Round 1: 36 Thomas Round 2: 39 💥 3 in 10: 3 Black Cat, Rhythm Nation, The Best Things In Life Are Free

3. Take My Breath Away - Berlin Take My Breath Away was written by Giorgio Moroder with lyrics by Tom Whitlock for the film Top Gun. It was first offered to The Motels, who got as far as recording a demo, but ended up with the American band Berlin whom Giorgio had worked with previously. Lead singer Terri Nunn was the only member of the group to contribute to the recording with the synths and other instruments being played by Giorgio and his studio team. The song spent four weeks at number 1 in November while also topping the Billboard chart and winning an Oscar for Best Original Song. Take My Breath Away ended up killing the group with the other members not wanting to perform a song in their concerts that they had no involvement with and they split up just one year later. Terri Nunn formed a new line-up of Berlin in 1997 and this group is still going with some of the original members eventually returning to the fold. The song was a top 3 hit again in 1990 after the TV premiere of Top Gun. Like my fourth placed song, The Final Countdown, this one starts with its main selling point, which in this case is that synth bass sound which continues throughout the whole of the song. We also have the electronic drums and sweeping keyboards. These alone are not enough, it obviously needs a great vocal and Terri Nunn comes up with the goods with an absorbing performance, full of emotion, which she said afterwards was down to her being unhappy with her own love life at the time.

Another new album: Asia - Indigo [6th November] (Their first album since 2014)

Well done John on that double 39. Round 1: 24 Choice, the year, Save The Last Dance For Me Round 2: 24 Stereophonics, I'm Every Woman, Barry Manilow Tie-break: 3 out of 4 3 in 10: 1 Elephant Stone

4. The Final Countdown - Europe Swedish band Europe were formed in 1979 and The Final Countdown was the title track from their third album. The keyboard riff that the song is known for dates back to about 1981 and it was finally used here with lyrics inspired by David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'. The single spent two weeks at number 1 in December. It returned to the top 40 at the end of the millennium and has endured into this century with 1.4 billion youtube views and 828 million Spotify streams. Europe had four more top 40 hits from 1987 to 1992. Like David Bowie before them (with 'Ashes To Ashes'), they recorded a sequel to The Final Countdown, 'Pictures', in 2017. Their twelfth album will be released later this year. I've never really liked this song too much but it's good enough to finish in fourth place. The keyboard riff is instantly recognisable, there's plenty of energy to the song and the guitar solo is fabulous. It's one of the best 'hair metal' songs from the second half of the 1980s. Looking at the lyrics, the trip is to Venus but "there are so many light years to go". Sunlight takes only eight minutes to reach Earth and Venus is nearer than that so it would clearly take much less than one light year to get there. Maybe, Venus is just the first stop and they will go further after that. Reading the lyrics for the sequel, they are still in the Solar System but this seems to be down to some sort of mishap as the person in the song is drifting in space and wants to cut the cable.

What a fantastic final set that was.

Round 1: 27 Modern Romance, Want Me Round 2: 30 Honky Cat, the year 3 in 10: 3 Believe, If I Could Turn Back Time, Gypsies Tramps And Thieves

5. Chain Reaction - Diana Ross Up to this point, Diana Ross had twelve US number 1 singles with The Supremes and six as a solo artist but she had only hit the top of the UK chart twice, with 'Baby Love' in 1964 and 'I'm Still Waiting' in 1971. Her last top 10 hit had been 'Work That Body' in 1982 so Chain Reaction gave her a bit of a revival. The song was written by the Bee Gees and features Barry Gibb on backing vocals. It wasn't an instant hit, spending its first three chart weeks at 91, 69 and 44 before entering the top 40 at number 31. It then went 14-4-2 before spending three weeks at number 1 in March. A cover version by Steps reached number 2 in 2001. Chain Reaction is written in the style of the Motown songs of the 60s and has an infectious rhythm to it right from the start with that drum beat. The same pace is kept up throughout. There's nothing too complicated here, it's just a well written song by experienced hitmakers with a consummate vocal by an American icon.

I know Mona Lisa and would probably recognise some of the others if I played them. I'll look forward to seeing what else appears here.

What stamina Djokovic has for a 39 year old. I don't think he'll be able to beat Sinner in the semi-final.