jimwatts

Another historic week, this remains the only Top 40 in history to contain as many as 20 new entries :o (albeit one of them was the aforementioned climber from #50). Olive were unlucky to miss the Top 40 with the original releases of 'You're Not Alone' (it went 42-44-44...) and 'Miracle' which reached #41 (and a later re-release also made #41!) so had some overdue good fortune in reaching #1 when the sales bar was relatively low for 1997.

Sent my votes :music:

Votes sent in SF1!

Great picks - thanks Dan, and everyone else who has commented or followed along. I'll say that as a countdown, I'm a little unsatisfied with the order as it all feels too arbitrary with each song having only had one chart appearance as a starting point, but as a set of 120 songs to represent the year, I'm pretty happy with it. Now that I've returned to a regular weekly chart, I could revert to the tried and trusted scoring method I used in 2023 when I compile the next one, but I'll see how the year turns out first! My EOY top 120 of 2024 in full: #1 Vampire Weekend - Capricorn #2 Echoberyl - Weird Boy #3 Jain - Nobody Knows #4 GusGus, Högni, Earth - Breaking Down #5 Sleater-Kinney - Crusader [special Interest Remix] #6 ROSÉ & Bruno Mars - APT. #7 Attractive Chaos - Words On A Letter #8 Gabby Martin - Cologne #9 Etta Marcus - Skin Parade #10 The Horrors - Lotus Eater #11 Chelsea Wolfe - Everything Turns Blue #12 Sunday (1994) - Blonde #13 TR/ST - Slug #14 JJ Wilde - Best Of Me #15 Anthony McCaffrey - The Dark #16 akiaura, LONOWN & STM - Sleepwalker #17 Twin Tribes - Monolith #18 Kalte Liebe - Tränen stillen keinen Durst #19 Manic Street Preachers - Decline & Fall #20 Syntronix, Warptronic - Soulless #21 Ehrah, LAU - Everything I Want #22 jacket., Bunny X, Jenny Bates - Any Day And Every Night #23 Seycara Orchestral - If You Were Mine #24 Daniel Merriweather - Orbit #25 Valencia Grace - Skin #26 Requiem's Embrace - Nightmares #27 Pixel Grip - Stamina #28 Castle Rat - Cry For Me #29 Calva Louise - Over The Threshold #30 The Decemberists, James Mercer - Burial Ground #31 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Long Dark Night #32 Adrianne Lenker - Ruined #33 anna luna - house #34 Ethel Cain - American Teenager #35 Sky Ferreira - Leash #36 Third Party - Believe #37 FKA twigs - Eusexua #38 Florrie - Kissing In The Cold #39 Kim Wilde - Trail Of Destruction #40 Debbii Dawson - Happy World #41 The Happy Fits - Achey Bones #42 Cage The Elephant - Neon Pill #43 Social Order - Miss You #44 Christopher Anton - Don't Cry Tonight #45 Billie Eilish - CHIHIRO #46 Ela Minus - BROKEN #47 Lewis Capaldi - A Cure For Minds Unwell #48 Lady Gaga - Disease #49 Chelsea Wolfe - House Of Self-Undoing #50 Violent Vickie, Echoberyl - Gaslight #51 Talking To Shadows - Valentina #52 DJ_Dave - World's Hardest Game #53 Izzy Camina - Seraphim #54 Vintage Culture - Find A Way #55 Rose Gray - Angel Of Satisfaction #56 Funk Tribu - Viento #57 Pom Pom Squad - Downhill #58 Mandaworld - U CANT STOP ME NOW #59 Glass Animals - A Tear In Space (Airlock) #60 Otik - Downcast #61 Safe Mind, Boy Harsher, LUCY - 6' Pole #62 TR/ST, Cecile Believe - Run #63 april june - carry you on my broken wings #64 Camera Obscura - The Light Nights #65 Blondshell feat. Bully - Docket #66 Father John Misty - Q4 #67 Celestial Skies - Forget Me Not #68 Ben Hemsley, Rose Gray - Tidal #69 MRD, Flawless Issues - i fall apart #70 Felix Jaehn, Leony - Waking Up #71 Suite Simone - Hazed Blue #72 Butschi - Don't You Feel My Heart #73 Fontaines D.C. - Starburster #74 beabadoobee - Beaches #75 NERO - Draw Energy #76 Machinedrum - Stairzzzzzz #77 NTO & Vitalic - Cœur Noir #78 Sharon Van Etten - Afterlife #79 James Blake - Thrown Around #80 Block & Crown - Raise The Roof #81 No Mana - Solarpunk #82 Baby Jane - Cemetery Date #83 Von Bikräv, TDJ - Saut De L'Ange #84 Armin van Buuren, Agents Of Time, ORKID - Love Is Eternity #85 The Beaches - Blame Brett #86 Tove Lo - No One Dies From Love #87 Fazerdaze - Cherry Pie #88 Dua Lipa - Falling Forever #89 Pictureplane - Velvet Lies (Metallic Garden) #90 Marlon Hoffstadt, DJ Daddy Trance - Move Your Feet #91 Shygirl, Danny L Harle, Club Shy - encore #92 Swiss Portrait - Paralyzed #93 Lankum - Newcastle #94 Alok, Ely Oaks - Tsunami #95 JJ Wilde - Arizona #96 Allie X - Weird World #97 Mindspeak - The Chase #98 Annie - The Sky Is Blue #99 Jockstrap - Concrete Over Water #100 Dua Lipa - Training Season #101 The Marías - No One Noticed #102 Mura Masa, Cherish - FLY #103 Wings Of Desire - Some Old Place I Used To Know #104 Fat Dog - Running #105 Khruangbin - May Ninth #106 The Vaccines - Hometown Of Jupiter #107 MINTTT - Bom Dia, Mentira #108 Moonchild Sanelly - Do My Dance #109 Tinlicker feat. Brian Molko - Nowhere To Go #110 The Beaches - What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Paranoid #111 Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars - Die With A Smile #112 Grum - Voyager2 #113 Ariana Grande - we can't be friends (wait for your love) #114 Everything Everything - The End Of The Contender #115 The Cure - Alone #116 Charli xcx - So I #117 Sam Quealy - Watch Me Now #118 Patty Gurdy - Brighter Days Come #119 Sara Landry, Shlømo - Play With Me #120 Gracie Abrams - Close To You

I've never been that keen on 'Real Gone Kid', but I really like 'Dignity' from Deacon Blue and how the music builds with the storytelling. That's a close knit top 4, a few songs could have nabbed #1 there!

0A2LtxYIijU Monthly #1s (continued) #5 Sleater-Kinney - Crusader [special Interest Remix] [#1, Jun] #4 GusGus, Högni, Earth - Breaking Down [#1, Apr] #3 Jain - Nobody Knows [#1, Aug] Starting the top 5 is my previous BJSC entry from Sleater-Kinney remixed by Special Interest which came third from last in the final, but I'd have regretted not sending it at all - once I was entranced by the haunting soundscape around the distorted vocals, I sought out the original, but I still prefer this remix as the kicking beats and darkwavey guitar make the chorus sound huge. My current BJSC entry is next, from Icelandic producers GusGus with the vocals of Högni and Earth duetting on a gorgeous euphoric tune - we'll see how it does. There are another two BJSC entries to come, but I sent them last year before charting them - and one of them lands in third place in this countdown, a fabulous 2:50 of synth-powered dance pop from Jain with the theme of dancing through distress perfectly encapsulated by the video which I love almost as much as the song. It finished 13th in BJSC 167 with 24 voters which in itself is very pleasing, even if the reveal of the results had it on course for something much bigger until right at the death. P8byffcH8g4 #2 Echoberyl - Weird Boy [#1, Jul] That leaves my favourite BJSC entry of the year which inspired the subtitle of this thread, and though it has to settle for the runner-up spot here, my most played song of 2024 is this one by Echoberyl where the bassy synths evoke 'Fade To Grey' and the alluring vocals of Cecilia Dassonneville declare her interest in the titular character, but also question his existence as the lines between reality and fantasy become blurred. It received 26 voters in BJSC 166, the joint 4th most of that contest, however an average of less than 7 points from each of those voters meant it wound up in 16th place. I can recommend the parent album Through The Chaos although I would say this is comfortably its standout moment, and my favourite song of the year not connected to an album to make the UK chart. 8lCmyFCj580 #1 Vampire Weekend - Capricorn [#1, Feb] And it's congratulations to Vampire Weekend who produced my favourite song of 2008 in 'A-Punk', and 16 years later have for me another EOY #1 :cheer: On first listen I thought it a good comeback from them, on the second I thought this will be a high charter for me, and on the third I decided this was the best thing I'd heard in ages - the chamber style arrangement with the odd instrumental quirk in the post-choruses is a welcoming listen, but the sympathetic delivery of lyrics such as "Who builds the future? Do they care why?", "I looked for answers there, they weren't mine to find", and "sifting through centuries for moments of your own" strike a chord with me about the passage of time, and identity, and memories - not so much to feel sad about it as to think and re-evaluate things a bit. It was my #1 for February and it was tempting to break from the new songs only rule to bring it back a month or two later but I resisted, whereas in a weekly chart I'm sure it would have beaten my current record of 5 weeks at #1, so topping this countdown is the least it deserves.

^ Seycara Orchestral was a lovely choice for a foray into classical and the Twin Tribes one was very much up my street too, happy to give both maximum points in BJSC! 'Eusexua' is fabulous and #37 here doesn't do it justice - indeed the album has many highlights, and 'Striptease' is well on the way to an appearance in my EOY for 2025. Cool to share an 18 with 'Sleepwalker' B-) I have also listened to 'Destruction Age' and had other akiaura songs come up on autoplay for me, I think Kath chose well though. Similarly with The Horrors, 'Lotus Eater' is their only song I've really got into so far, but I'm interested to see what else they have on the album. Thanks Jade ^_^ OK here it comes! (warning: flashing images in the next video)

An historic week as the first Top 3 of all new entries. A shame none of them were particularly great, considering the artists involved at least. The Cardigans were unlucky to outsell all the previous week's Top 3 and still be stuck at #4.

As an RIP for Rick Buckler of The Jam, could we have 'Strange Town' by them? They had many other great songs besides the ones which have already featured in these series, but that's got some of his best drumming too.

Possibly even 3 of the Top 4, with new peaks for all 3 songs at the expense of one for Chappell.

Switching to Ronan for much the same reason.

Oh how close The Cardigans were to (re-)entering #1 that week, and also 911 with one of their own songs! DJ Quicksilver did well to hit new peaks in sales in each of weeks 3, 4 & 5 in this sales climate. The TOTP 1997 repeats resumed for this week after the break, the first song played...1994 #1 D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better :lol:

(and also Kate Bush for 1 week)

'luther' entered at #10 on the previous page - it should outdo that peak on Friday though. 'APT.' spends a 7th consecutive week at a #2 peak, emulating the pre-ACR runs of 'I Swear' and 'Moves Like Jagger'. The record of 8 consecutive at a #2 peak is held not by Frank Chacksfield or anyone else from the 1950s, but 'These Days' in 2018 - the last of these being the week 'God's Plan' went to ACR without which it wouldn't have climbed to #1 officially.

I was thinking we've hardly ever been in the same semi either - the last time I was in SF1 was your last in SF2, and the only time we've been in the same semi was 7 contests ago! You still have to vote in both. Same as when you last had an AQ (and hosted) in 2023.

The Marías top 40 and 'Striptease', 'Rushmere' and 'Heartbreaker' appearing :cheer:

Speaking of acts whose highest peaks (well as lead and up to the week before this) were #12, #13 & #14, The Future Sound Of London had their aforementioned #12 a fortnight earlier with 'We Have Explosive' (warning: flashing images in video) Xc9l7pygQRo and today I learnt Tangerine Dream had their their highest charting UK hit that week too... at #95: 3zU11j8jg4I

'Around The World' is a masterpiece :wub: 'You Showed Me' isn't one of my Lightning Seeds favourites but I'm glad they finally had a Top 10 hit that wasn't 'Three Lions'.

BJSC 172 iMFrODwRyZo GusGus (feat. Högni & Earth) - Breaking Down Going back to one of my monthly personal chart #1s of 2024 for almost certainly the last time, more evidence if any were needed that Iceland is the coolest nation on the planet.

In SF1 for a change :o only for the third time but just 3 contests after the second, maybe the alliance is wearing off -_- still in the opposite semi to Aelandor for a 10th contest in a row where we've both taken part. I've only charted one of these songs so instant hype for Klum Rep, I also voted for / mentioned I liked the Neliönoir / Hendinia entries in relation to this week's polls in the genre forums. I recognise a few songs in my own semi too but they're still pretty new to me. Seconded.

Best: Alicia Keys - Fallin' Cher - Believe Lonestar - Amazed Madonna - Music OutKast - Ms. Jackson Just missing out: 'Try Again', 'Family Affair', 'No Scrubs' Worst - looks like a popular selection: Creed - With Arms Wide Open Mariah Carey - Thank God I Found You SisQó - Incomplete

'A Little Respect' missing the Top 3 by 17 sales :o it's my favourite Erasure song too, although they have many not far behind. The Isley Brothers' original of 'Harvest For The World' is fabulous, not too bothered about The Christians' version.

Completely forgot about some of these like The Fratellis :o Arctics, Ed and Dua got my vote as the ones for whom I have particular faves from multiple eras.

Any thoughts about when to have a listenthrough for this? Pending BJSC perhaps, but I'd be up for one or other tomorrow.

In an alternative universe, Supergrass and Blur both had turns at #1. Would have been less poetic for a 2-minute song called 'Song 2' perhaps. At least it has done well in the long run.