-Jay-

#5 came across as a good result, but I do believe they could have pushed it further if they'd had standard CDs. Particularly if they'd done one of each member - and I'm sure that they would have had way more potential for good sales than the cassettes. The chart that week: #1 - 139,107 - Ed Sheeran #2 - 11,422 - Richard Ashcroft #3 - 10,135 - Elton John #4 - 7,875 - Coldplay #5 - 7,798 - Spice Girls (so close to being #4!) Spice: Vinyl: 4,563 / CDs: 1,464 / Cassettes: 1,219 / Streaming: 364 / Downloads: 188 Vinyl: 58.52% / CDs: 18.77% / Cassettes: 15.63% / Streaming: 4.67% / Downloads: 2.41% To be honest the CD sales were poor, and an indication that it was overpriced. Having 5 cassette formats only to sell around a thousand copies of them in the UK also wasn't a great outcome (an average of 244 copies per member shows that very few fans were motivated to buy all 5). Clearly the vinyl was the main event, with there being 6 versions. I'll never understand how the Universal team looked at the above result and decided that Spiceworld 25 should have half the number of vinyl formats, ditch the individual members concept entirely, and stay firm with there being just one expensive CD. Before we even get into the lack of quality. (Side note: Someone on Popjustice recently discovered that the metallic texture background used for Spiceworld 25 was a free stock image. )

I'm so ready!

Even with the initial tease of the Golden Wagner, I had very little faith that Louise would actually win that, so I was very pleasantly surprised that she (jointly) did so. Naked, the bop that you are! Having the unexpected opportunity to showcase some of her hits, and make it to the semi-finals, was fun - and I’m glad that the songs had some fans. ❤️ I enjoyed taking part - hearing familiar songs by artists I love, and making discoveries from artists I’m not so familiar with. Well done to everyone! Calum you’ve put so much work, effort and passion into every aspect of this contest, it’s been very entertaining, so thank you! Looking forward to seeing the results of the Top 3 later.

"Heartbeat (gorgeous Nicole Scherzinger collaboration) and Takin' Back My Love (Ciara collaboration)" This probably unintentional shade to Ciara x Correct it now!! "Takin' Back My Love (gigantic bop Ciara collaboration)"

He should really be contacting the publishers to resolve this issue (I can’t imagine much money was made out of this song tbh lol)

I don't believe I'd heard anything beyond Shut Up and Dance before this, so it was interesting to hear more from Walk the Moon and I liked Jenny the most! Shut Up and Dance is obviously ubiquitous but I still enjoy it when I hear it actually. I think it helps that most of my listening is by choice, not via the radio, so the fact it was overplayed didn't really impact on me much when it was a hit. Rina 💔 I actually do really like Send My Love to John, the message of it is so touching. Hold the Girl was one of my favourite albums of 2022, but I noticed that it was a divisive album amongst her fans. Perhaps a song or two from Sawayama would have seen her last longer in the contest, but yaas for the Hold the Girl album stanning anyway!

Sue you're almost as filthy as @Spiceboy x

I've slowly but surely been getting into more K-pop, and I'm enjoying ENHYPEN! I knew Brought the Heat Back before the competition (Ava Max feature version). Lots of bops! I hadn't given Tom Aspaul a listen before this, despite seeing his name years beforehand, but I liked what was sent (as well as some tracks that have come up on autoplay for me since then), so he's a nice discovery! Lemon Demon is certainly one of the most memorable contestants in this contest and I appreciated Cabinet Man! Yva songs are cute, I particularly bopped to Grožio Fabrikas. I love that you can just tell by looking at them that they were around in the mid 2000s x

Well done Christina A very good moment to choose to send Dirrty!

Meh. I know I shouldn’t be taking the bait, but this attitude from you is rude and uncalled for. Considering you were charting her new music in your personal chart this year, you can’t dislike her that much...

What does this mean x

A Stan Is Born Well done to everyone through btw - and commiserations CHVRCHES!

Away to report this xx

I had a strong feeling it would go this way so I'm fine with it I really don't think there's much else I could have picked which would have fought off the other artists here. Plus I think it's nice for the final to consist of artists/contestants who have been through the whole process. It was just nice to have a few bonus rounds! Brb while I scream for dearALICE x

Angel of my Dreams Fantasy Plastic Box FUFN It Girl Midnight Cowboy I really like her 'Frozen' cover but not really sure where I'd rank it. I'm afraid I only heard her 'Backbone' cover once!

I already know this is easily going to become my most listened BLACKPINK song to date.

Yay! Great to finally have official confirmation that it's passed 1 million (it probably did it around 2022 but it was never confirmed).

Remixes out tomorrow!

This has reminded me that the "Stop to the Top" campaign was 18 years ago lol. It re-entered at #78 on 8th July 2007, which is certainly not the top of the charts xx

Her husband has been sacked by F1 team Red Bull after 20 years. With this happening, some articles are bringing up last year's "scandal". It's seen as a somewhat out of the blue dismissal. I won't pretend to know the ins and outs of the F1 world lol, but it does seem like this is quite the blow for his career. And although there's likely no reason for Geri to comment publicly, I wonder how she feels about this!

Not to be shady to Geri but I have to admit I would find it so interesting for the non-Geri line up to exist again. As far as I'm aware we've never seen that combination of 4 since 2000?

Definitely very consistent! I have a feeling that if Louise had carried on beyond 2003 and released her fourth studio album around 2004/5, that it might have missed the Top 20. I can see her career having gone in the same way as a solo Spice Girl / Rachel Stevens... probably managing more Top 10 or Top 20 hit singles, but this not translating into an album that sells well. From a chart perspective, maybe she bowed out at a good time. It was such a pleasant surprise when she came back in 2019. I'd long since come to terms with her not being a popstar anymore. Never would have imagined two more albums, that for me are better than her first three! Not that it matters much at all, but Heavy Love was originally scheduled for a 2019 release before being pushed back to January 2020. So she missed out on having a charting album in the 2010s decade!

^ This was also in consideration for this round! I was torn between that and Let's Go Round Again, but ultimately I decided against Stuck in the Middle because the original is probably a lot more well known than the original of Let's Go Round Again? Louise's best selling singles from the 90s/00s, as of January 2020: (Official Charts): (#10, 1997) [185,000] Let's Go Round Again (#5, 1996) [167,000] Naked (#4, 1997) [159,000] Arms Around the World (#3, 2000) [153,000] 2 Faced (#4, 2001) Stuck in the Middle (#8, 1995) Light of My Life (#9, 1996) One Kiss from Heaven (#5, 1996) Undivided Love (#11, 1998) All That Matters (#17, 1996) In Walked Love (#5, 2003) Pandora's Kiss/Don't Give Up (#13, 2000) Beautiful Inside Naked has an erroneous Platinum certification, which should be for the album of the same name. BPI have never noticed their mistake! So annoyingly even if the single was to go Silver, we wouldn't get to know about it through certification updates. Let's Go Round Again still not being silver after 5 and a half years demonstrates what her streaming levels are like.💔

I have been considering Undivided Love! Definitely within my Top 5 favourites from her original run too. ❤️

I hadn't listened to 'No More Drama' for a little while. I kind of forgot how hard Mary pops off on this one (Actually doing my listening now - I think this will be a tough round for me to order)