-Jay-

Seeing Jade's fans disappointed that her new single hasn't been added to Hot Hits UK, made me interested to take a closer look at this impactful playlist. I wanted to find out to what extent it supports British artists, and the age of the songs included on it (i.e. how fresh is this playlist?). Of the 70 songs included, 20 of them are by UK artists (as the lead artist). That's 28.5% of the playlist. The newest UK artist song included is Sam Fender - 'Little Bit Closer', which came out 20th February (25 days ago). It's placed 60th out of 70 tracks. The oldest UK artist song included is technically Raye - 'Oscar Winning Tears.', from her February 2023 released album. However it became a single in November 2024. Currently in 64th position. Otherwise, the oldest song is BL3SS - 'Kisses', released on 22nd March 2024 (360 days ago). It's still as high as 32nd place. The average age of all the UK songs included is 26 weeks old (half a year). Although there's 20 songs, there's some repeat artists; there's 15 different artists. So this is the level of support currently being afforded to UK artists, in a playlist geared towards UK listeners. Just one song that has been released within the last 4 weeks: It should come as no surprise that there is more emphasis on the inclusion of USA artists in this playlist. 33 songs are USA artists as the lead artist, 47.1%. If we extend that to North America (so, including Canadian artists), it's 38 songs - 54.3%. There's relatively fresher songs included, with 9 of those 38 being released within the last month. The newest being Playboi Carti - 'RATHER LIE' (3 days) and Chappell Roan - 'The Giver' (4 days). These being the only songs added to the playlist this week ('The Giver' in 12th position, 'RATHER LIE' in 19th position). Should "the UK's biggest playlist" be doing more to support UK based artists? I really think they should be, and it fascinates me why they're not. I don't think it's ever been more difficult for UK artists to do well (or consistently well) in the UK singles chart, in this age of streaming. There could be a multitude of business related reasons why Spotify doesn't throw full support behind an artist such as Jade. It's a shame though, as well as frustrating and predictable, to realise that a new song is essentially dead on arrival because of Spotify's decision making. Also, the inevitably of knowing that the return of the Sugababes will get bare minimum support from Spotify, unlikely to ever be considered for inclusion on their top playlists, and therefore not chart. From my perspective, Spotify also doesn't do much to throw support behind new(ish) artists - and if they do, it's often because of TikTok virality that has dictated that songs such as Messy end up getting heavily supported. The girl group FLO seemed to struggle to get to the stage of releasing their debut album, after spending a lot of time chasing a hit single that never came... and it ultimately resulted in a frontloaded album spending 1 week in the Top 100 (peaking at #3). I would connect the phenomenon of frontloaded albums, to artists not being able to break the glass ceiling of what it takes to achieve a long-running album (high streaming support across multiple songs). Aside from the origin of the artists included, I have to wonder why this playlist is as stale as it is? Inclusions include: Nights Like This, Too Sweet, Kisses, Good Luck Babe, A Bar Song (Tipsy), I Had Some Help, Birds of a Feather, Apple, I Love You I'm Sorry, Somedays, Backbone, Diet Pepsi, Taste... what are they still doing here!! Hits for sure... but surely they've been and gone? No wonder the chart moves at a glacial pace and requires ACR to keep things artificially fresher looking. Anyway... I'm interested if any of you have thoughts about this playlist specifically!

Radio Airplay - 'Reason' era: Here It Comes Again 26/01/03: 67-45-22-22-11-12-09-17-32-61-x On the Horizon 18/05/03: 49-27-08-09-13-31-47-78-x 20/07/03: 83-82-93-x Melt 26/10/03: 77-58-34-38-44-88-x Underlined positions = the week that the single entered the official singles chart, i.e. when On the Horizon was at #9 in the radio chart, it entered at #14 in the singles chart. As mentioned by vibe, On the Horizon had pretty strong radio support going into its release. Other factors (such as music video airplay, and the number of promotional appearances) may have been weaker by comparison? I suppose it could have been the case that despite the radio support, the public and the fans just weren't feeling it... 🥺 On the Horizon actually had better radio support than any of these Spice related singles, released prior to it: Mama, (How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World, I Want You Back, Look at Me, Word Up, Goin' Down, It's Only Rock N Roll, Bag It Up, Tell Me, If That Were Me, Feels So Good, It's Raining Men, Lullaby, Scream If You Wanna Go Faster, Take My Breath Away, Not Such an Innocent Girl, Calling, We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight, A Mind of Its Own, Here It Comes Again and Free Me. ...yet On the Horizon sold considerably less than all of them! At the time of its release, it became the worst selling Spice related single to date, by quite a margin. It sold around 22k physically. Whereas the previous worst seller, Emma - We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight, sold 35k physically. I imagine the label probably felt quite reassured by radio embracing On the Horizon, so how it performed - and how little it did for the album off the back of it - I can imagine it came as shock. Sorry, this post is huge, but one more thing! There used to be a chart published by ChartsPlus, which compiled singles that hadn't been commercially released yet - pretty much their prediction of how well they were expected to do (and radio play definitely factored into their predictions). Prior to its release, they had On the Horizon at #1 in that chart! Yes, its radio play was stronger than Bring Me to Life to begin with. In brackets, is the position they'd actually go on to peak at in the official singles chart... #1 Melanie C - On the Horizon (#14) #2 Evanescence - Bring Me to Life (#1) #3 Electric Six - Gay Bar (#5) #4 Kings of Leon - What I Saw (#22) #5 Shania Twain - Forever and For Always (#6) #6 One True Voice - Shakespeare's Way With Words (#10) #7 Ashley Hamilton - Wimmin (#27) #8 iiO - At the End (#20) Even Marilyn Manson's Mobscene managed to outchart On the Horizon - it went to #13, despite not being in the Radio Top 100 in the week before release. On the Horizon is pretty fascinating to me, it definitely represents the moment that the wheels truly started to fall off for her career, sadly. Personally I think it deserved better than it got. I can also understand why it was chosen as a single, at least to me it seemed like the obvious choice for a second single when the album was new, so I wasn't surprised that it was picked. Sometimes I wonder how it would have done if it had been the first single, and got the glossy video treatment that Here It Comes Again had.

Some estimates for future certifications! Too Lost in You - Platinum - 600,000 - March 2026 Push the Button - 2xPlatinum - 1,200,000 - July 2026 Round Round - Platinum - 600,000 - September 2027 About You Now - 3xPlatinum - 1,800,000 - September 2028 Freak Like Me - Platinum - 600,000 - December 2030 I wonder when Hole in the Head is due for Gold? It was on 304,000 in February 2023. It's more popular on Spotify than Freak Like Me, but the stats are worldwide and it's just one platform, so it's hard to say how these two do in comparison to each other in the UK alone. If it increased by the same amount as Freak Like Me (which has sold 48,000 since Feb 23) then Hole in the Head would be on 352,000 at the moment. I'll predict no later than 2027 for Hole in the Head going Gold! Walk This Way is the next in line to go Silver for Sugababes... it's taking its sweet time though! Last we knew officially was 156,200 sales in August 2019, 152,422 in October 2018. At that pace it's due to crawl its way over 200k in September 2028. Whether it does a little better recently than back then though, who knows.

Oh I'm obsessed, what a tune! It's short for sure but I enjoy the pacing of it, there's an urgency to it, it doesn't feel like a single second's wasted.

I wonder what happened with BMG? Sugababes now being fully independent is a brave/confident step - I hope everything goes smoothly for them from here on out!

so ready!

H said once again in a recent interview that Steps "could get back together for something big to mark their 30th anniversary in 2027". It's going to be a dry couple of years! I get it though, the musical is going on into 2026 so they want attention going that way. I'm curious about what a 2027 reunion would look like. Focusing on an anniversary as the reason to get back together, kind of sounds like it would be treated mostly as a nostalgia trip... but they surely can't do another Greatest Hits! 😆 I'd like the idea of new music, new album... but by then it'll be 6 years on from What the Future Holds Pt. 2. They're all going to be 50+ in 2027, I wonder if they'll still want to be an active group to the extent of recording an album and promoting it. Time will tell!

1 Abracadabra 2 Disease 3 Die with a Smile 4 How Bad Do U Want Me 5 Killah 6 Shadow of a Man 7 Garden of Eden 8 Zombieboy 9 Vanish Into You 10 Perfect Celebrity 11 LoveDrug 12 Don't Call Tonight 13 Blade of Grass 14 The Beast Familiarity with the singles probably benefits them at this point. It will be interesting to do this again in a few weeks/months when the dust has settled. I can't see Abracadabra ever not being my #1, but there's potential for Disease and Die with a Smile to be overtaken. It hasn't escaped my attention just how divisive How Bad Do U Want Me has proven to be with the fanbase. Clearly I'm in the team that loves it! It just hits the spot for me, glorious pop. Perfect Celebrity ended up in 10th place, yet I'd give it a score of 9 out of 10, love it. I almost put it above Vanish Into You but that's really been growing on me as the week progresses. The Beast may be last, but it's still a 7 for me. It's an incredibly strong album! I'm not familiar enough with Can't Stop the High and Kill for Love to include them in my rank yet.

The label's lack of care to be bothered to spend out on the photoshoot, makes me feel at least a bit reluctant to support it... but I know the collector in me just won't be able to pass on it, sigh!

Released 22 years ago on 10th March 2003!

Unexpected! Cool to finally hear this one.

I can't decide which artwork I'd prefer on vinyl and which I'd prefer on CD! Really like both covers.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG9VYIlqby9/ https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG9IAlqMmVo/ Emma at Sabrina Carpenter’s show!

Stop was released as a single 27 years ago - 9th March 1998!

Downloaded it Great to see it at #1 on iTunes!

Madonna's Frozen is one of my all time favourites - it's such a stunning, haunting and beautiful classic, that still gets me whenever I hear it after all these years. Jade's interpretation - she puts her own spin on it and yet she still captures the tone and mood of the original extremely well, and I love the twist at the end when it goes faster. Gorgeous!

January 2025 Squid Game (Netflix) [Season 2: Episodes 1-7 / completed] XO, Kitty (Netflix) [Season 2: Episodes 1-8 / completed] Other: Gladiators (2024) (BBC One) [Series 2: Episodes 1-2 / ongoing] Gladiators (2024) (BBC One) [Celebrity Special / completed] The Traitors (BBC One) [Series 3: Episodes 1-12 / completed] The Traitors: Uncloaked (BBC Two) [Series 2: Episodes 2-3, 5-7, 10-12 / partially completed] -------------------- February 2025 Big Boys (Channel 4) [Series 3: Episodes 1-6 / completed] Other: Gladiators (2024) (BBC One) [Series 2: Episodes 3-5 / ongoing] -------------------- March 2025 Abbott Elementary (Disney+) [Season 3: Episodes 1-8 / ongoing] Doctor Who (iPlayer) [Special Episode: "Eve of the Daleks" / completed] Other: The Brit Awards (ITV1) [2025 Ceremony / completed]

Eek the tumbleweed in this forum! Where is everybody? 🤪 Are we finally all bored of the girls 😌

Sugababes on 18th March 2006! I was 18 years old. I would have loved to go to concerts in my childhood, but alas! The tickets were purchased in 2005 when Mutya was still in the group, but the tour ended up being with Amelle! I saw them in Liverpool with two of my cousins (who are from there). It's the only time I've actually been to a concert in Liverpool, and it was at the Philharmonic Hall. I still have rather strong memories of being there, we were pretty close to the front. I found it so exciting!

InstagramESPN on Instagram: "Introducing @espnf1’s anthem for the...6,600 likes, 1,212 comments - espn on March 5, 2025: "Introducing @espnf1’s anthem for the 2025 season 🍿🏎️ ‘Garden of Eden’ by the one and only @ladygaga 🤩".Garden of Eden snippet!

I'm glad I ordered the orange cassette, I did that less than an hour before they sold out 😮 I wonder how many copies were available!

That messy post ended up firstly setting it to limited comments, then deleted entirely, before making his account private

I agree that it’s definitely Take That who are the pinnacle of how successful a reunion can possibly be! They managed to add numerous classic singles to their catalogue, some of which probably get a better crowd reception than some of their 90s hits. Their 00s albums outsold their 90s albums! Numerous stadium and arena tours, and they’re still a big touring act now, even though they’ve only been a three piece for the past decade. (By the way, it’s wild that this year marks 20 years since they reunited!!). Steps have also done very well. Doubling the size of their discography, arena tours, new albums charting at #2 and #1, and now there’s even a well received musical. I think unlike Take That, it’s still the hey day material that really connects with their casual audience, the new music didn’t really get the opportunity to connect on that level, but it has been embraced by their hardcore fans. Plenty of other reunions have been successful, but are more heavily centred around nostalgia and can ultimately be rather brief. I’d have loved for Spice Girls to “do a Take That” but sadly not.

25 years ago today!

'Mama'/'Who Do You Think You Are' was released as a single 28 years ago on this date, 3rd March 1997!