DanChartFan

2nd December results Vote 13 - 757 votes cast 1964 - The Beatles - I Feel Fine - 29.7% (225 votes) 1982 - Renee and Renato - Save Your Love - 9.9% (75 votes) 2001 - Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman - Something Stupid - 41.6% (315 votes) 2018 - LadBaby - We Built This City - 18.8% (142 votes) Vote 14 - 729 votes cast 1965 - The Beatles - Day Tripper - 21.5% (158 votes) 1983 - Flying Pickets - Only You - 20.6 % (150 votes) 2002 - Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground - 57.9% (422 votes) 3rd December voting open Vote 15 - 1966 - Tom Jones - Green Green Grass Of Home 1984 - Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas 2003 - Michael Andrew and Gary Jules - Mad World Vote 16 - 1967 - The Beatles - Hello Goodbye 1985 - Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone 2004 - Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas

There are 69 xmas number ones, and we have already skipped 1991 as the OCC combined that with 1975, rather than using the other track on the AA. I strongly suspect that 1969's christmas number one will also be left out of the votes due to the singer in question's conviction, so that means there are probably 67 songs actually in the votes, so either one of the votes has to have 3 rather than 4, or else there has to be a duplication or wildcard. Of course we don't know whether they actually intended for it to be that particular vote that only had three, or whether they accidentally left Ladbaby off when they published it lol.

1st December Results Vote 11 - 507 votes 1962 - Elvis Presley - Return To Sender - 24.7 (125 votes) 1980 - St Winifred's School Choir - There's No One Quite Like Grandma - 13.8% (70 votes) 1999 - Westlife - I Have A Dream - 29.6% (150 votes) 2016 - Clean Bandit - Rockabye - 32% (162 votes) Vote 12 - 567 votes 1963 - The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand - 22% (129 votes) 1981 - Human League - Don't You Want Me - 40.6% (230 votes) 2000 - Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It? - 12.9% (73 votes) 2017 - Ed Sheeran - Perfect - 23.8% (135 votes) 2nd December voting open Vote 13 - 1964 - The Beatles - I Feel Fine 1982 - Renee and Renato - Save Your Love 2001 - Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman - Something Stupid 2018 - LadBaby - We Built This City Vote 14 - 1965 - The Beatles - Day Tripper 1983 - Flying Pickets - Only You 2002 - Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground

30th November results Vote 9 - 806 votes cast 1960 - Cliff Richard and The Shadows - I Love You - 3.25 (26 votes) 1978 - Boney M - Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord - 37.8 (305 votes) 1997 - Spice Girls - Too Much - 52.2 votes (421 votes) 2014 - Ben Haenow - Something I Need - 6.7% (54 votes) Vote 10 - 781 votes cast 1961 - Danny Williams - Moon River - 9.7 % (76 votes) 1979 - Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) - 29.2 (228 votes) 1998 - Spice Girls - Goodbye - 55.7% (435 votes) 2015 - The Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir - A Bridge Over You - 5.4% (42 votes) 1st December voting still open Vote 11 - 1962 - Elvis Presley - Return To Sender 1980 - St Winifred's School Choir - There's No One Quite Like Grandma 1999 - Westlife - I Have A Dream 2016 - Clean Bandit - Rockabye Vote 12 - 1963 - The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand 1981 - Human League - Don't You Want Me 2000 - Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It? 2017 - Ed Sheeran - Perfect

The 29th November results Vote 7 - 1508 votes cast 1958 - Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe - 2.9% (44 votes) 1976 - Johnny Mathis - When A Child Is Born - 18% (271 votes) 1995 - Michael Jackson - Earth Song - 51.7% (780 votes) 2012 - Justice Collective - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - 27.5 % (415 votes) Vote 8 - 1090 votes cast 1959 - Emile Ford and The Checkmates - What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For - 5.6% (61 votes) 1977 - Wings - Mull of Kintyre/Girls' School - 22% (240 votes) 1996 - Spice Girls - 2 Become 1 - 67.2% (732 votes) 2013 - Sam Bailey - Skyscraper - 5.1% (56 votes) The 30th November voting is now open Vote 9 - 1960 - Cliff Richard and The Shadows - I Love You 1978 - Boney M - Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord 1997 - Spice Girls - Too Much 2014 - Ben Haenow - Something I Need Vote 10 - 1961 - Danny Williams - Moon River 1979 - Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) 1998 - Spice Girls - Goodbye 2015 - The Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir - A Bridge Over You

And here is the rankings so far, by both straight votes and percentage of the votes. By Straight Votes 959 – 2009 – Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name 606 – 2008 – Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah 463 – 1973 – Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody 446 – 1975/1991 – Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody 415 – 1992 – Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You 404 – 1974 – Mud – Lonely This Christmas 388 – 1989 – Band Aid II – Do They Know It’s Christmas 340 – 2006 – Leona Lewis – A Moment Like This 299 – 1988 – Cliff Richard – Mistletoe And Wine 270 – 1994 – East 17 – Stay Another Day 225 – 1990 – Cliff Richard – Saviour’s Day 155 – 1957 – Harry Belafonte – Mary’s Boy Child 153 – 2010 – Matt Cardle – When We Collide 141 – 1993 – Mr Blobby – Mr Blobby 100 – 1971 – Benny Hill – Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West 89 – 1972 – Little Jimmy Osmond – Long Haired Lover From Liverpool 74 – 1970 – Dave Edmunds Rockpile – I Hear You Knockin’ 74 – 2007 – Leon Jackson – When You Believe 50 – 1954 – Winifred Atwell – Let’s Have Another Party 47 – 1956 – Johnnie Ray – Just Walkin’ In The Rain 27 – 1953 – Frankie Laine – Answer Me 17 – 1952 – Al Martino – Here In My Heart 16 – 2011 – Military Wives/Gareth Malone – Wherever You Are 15 – 1955 – Dickie Valentine Christmas Alpahbet By Percentage of the Votes 65.6% - 1989 – Band Aid II – Do They Know It’s Christmas 62.5% - 2008 – Alexandra Burke – Hallelujah 54.2% - 1974 – Mud – Lonely This Christmas 51.8% - 2009 – Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name 50.3% - 1975/1991 – Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody 46% - 2006 – Leona Lewis – A Moment Like This 41% - 1988 – Cliff Richard – Mistletoe And Wine 30.4% - 1994 – East 17 – Stay Another Day 25% - 1973 – Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody 23.2% - 1990 – Cliff Richard – Saviour’s Day 22.4% - 1992 – Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You 20.5% - 2010 – Matt Cardle – When We Collide 18.9% - 1993 – Mr Blobby – Mr Blobby 17.5% - 1957 – Harry Belafonte – Mary’s Boy Child 17% - 1971 – Benny Hill – Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West 12.6% - 2007 – Leon Jackson – When You Believe 10.1% - 1970 – Dave Edmunds Rockpile – I Hear You Knockin’ 9.2% - 1972 – Little Jimmy Osmond – Long Haired Lover From Liverpool 6.3% - 1956 – Johnnie Ray – Just Walkin’ In The Rain 5.2% - 1954 – Winifred Atwell – Let’s Have Another Party 4.6% - 1953 – Frankie Laine – Answer Me 2.3% - 1952 – Al Martino – Here In My Heart 1.8% - 2011 – Military Wives/Gareth Malone – Wherever You Are 0.8% – 1955 – Dickie Valentine Christmas Alpahbet

The 28th November results Vote 5 - 745 votes cast 1956 - Johnnie Ray - Just Walkin' In The Rain - 6.3% (47 votes) 1974 - Mud - Lonely This Christmas - 54.2% (404 votes) 1993 - Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby - 18.9% (141 votes) 2010 - Matt Cardle - When We Collide - 20.5% (153 votes) Vote 6 - 887 votes cast 1957 - Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child - 17.5% (155 votes) 1975/1991 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - 50.3% (446 votes) 1994 - East 17 - Stay Another Day - 30.4% (270 votes) 2011 - Military Wives - Wherever You Are - 1.8% (16 votes) So a few firsts here. Before these two votes only the newest or second newest songs in any vote had won, so both polls mark the first time the second oldest song won. Also vote 6 is the first time the oldest song didn't come last, and the first time that the newest song did, with Military Wives polling less votes than everyone else so far other than Dickie Valentine. The 29th November voting is now open Vote 7 - 1958 - Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe 1976 - Johnny Mathis - When A Child Is Born 1995 - Michael Jackson - Earth Song 2012 - Justice Collective - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother Vote 8 - 1959 - Emile Ford and The Checkmates - What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For 1977 - Wings - Mull of Kintyre/Girls' School 1996 - Spice Girls - 2 Become 1 2013 - Sam Bailey - Skyscraper

You'd have to ask the OCC. As far as I can see they seem to have started with 68 xmas number ones (with the 1991 instance of Bo Rhap being skipped), with the general idea of placing the groups by using four vertical columns of 17 consecutive xmas number ones. The first column thus starts with 1952 and presumably ends with 1968 and the second in fact begins with 1970, which suggests they are also skipping 1969 as you'd expect, and presumably ends with 1986. The third begins apparently with 1988 (begging the question of what will happen with 1987) and presumably ends with 2005, and the fourth begins with 2006 and presumably ends with two vacant spaces (one of which I'd guess will in fact have 1987 in it). 26th Nov - 1952, 1970, 1988, 2006 26th Nov - 1953, 1971, 1989, 2007 27th Nov - 1954, 1972, 1990, 2008 27th Nov - 1955, 1973, 1992, 2009 28th Nov - 1956, 1974, 1993, 2010 28th Nov - 1957, 1975, 1994, 2011 29th Nov – 1958, 1976, 1995, 2012 29th Nov – 1959, 1977, 1996, 2013 30th Nov – 1960, 1978, 1997, 2014 30th Nov – 1961, 1979, 1998, 2015 1st Dec – 1962, 1980, 1999, 2016 1st Dec – 1963, 1981, 2000, 2017 2nd Dec – 1964, 1982, 2001, 2018 2nd Dec – 1965, 1983, 2002, 2019 3rd Dec – 1966, 1984, 2003, 2020 3rd Dec – 1967, 1985, 2004, ____ 4th Dec – 1968, 1986, 2005, ____ Or are they also going to have 4th Dec - 1969, 1987, ____ , ____ ?

Unfortunately I missed the first two votes myself, and I don't honestly know which one I would have gone with for Vote 1, but either Dave or Cliff. For Vote 2 it would definitely have been Benny Hill for me. And the ones I actually did vote for were Vote 3 - Little Jimmy Osmond (but for me that's probably the poorest group so far) Vote 4 - Slade (I loved the fact that the Rage campaign got xmas number one, probably my favourite xmas chart battle, but the song itself isn't good enough to beat Slade or Whitney in my opinion) Vote 5 - Mr Blobby (tough one between Mud and Mr Blobby, but Mr Blobby was the christmas chart race that got 10 year old me interested in the xmas charts in the first place, and is a much more positive song) Vote 6 - Queen (though I felt bad for East 17 being in that group, as they may well have got my vote in a lot of other possible groupings)

I've been trying to figure out the rest of the voting groups for the first round and have come up with this: 29th Nov – 1958, 1976, 1995, 2012 29th Nov – 1959, 1977, 1996, 2013 30th Nov – 1960, 1978, 1997, 2014 30th Nov – 1961, 1979, 1998, 2015 1st Dec – 1962, 1980, 1999, 2016 1st Dec – 1963, 1981, 2000, 2017 2nd Dec – 1964, 1982, 2001, 2018 2nd Dec – 1965, 1983, 2002, 2019 3rd Dec – 1966, 1984, 2003, 2020 3rd Dec – 1967, 1985, 2004 4th Dec – 1968, 1986, 2005 4th Dec – 1969, 1987 So I'm not entirely sure what the OCC's actual plan is. I would have thought that 1969's xmas number one will not be in the vote, so perhaps the 1987 xmas number one will be slotted on the end of one of the two above it.

The 27th November voting results: Vote 3 - 970 votes cast 1954 - Winifred Atwell - Let's Have Another Party - 5.2% (50 votes) 1972 - Little Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover From Liverpool - 9.2% (89 votes) 1990 - Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day - 23.2% (225 votes) 2008 - Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah - 62.5% (606 votes) Vote 4 - 1851 votes cast 1955 - Dickie Valentine - Christmas Alphabet - 0.8% (15 votes) 1973 - Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody - 25% (463 votes) 1992 - Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You - 22.4% (415 votes) 2009 - Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name - 51.8% (959 votes) [NB I'm aware that the number of votes for each song add up to one more than the total number of votes, but I can't quite resolve this. Twitter only gives the percentages for each candidate in the vote) It's worth pointing out that in three of the four results so far the newest song won, with only Leon Jackson being unable to benefit from the advantage of youth, losing out to Band Aid II of all things, although even Benny Hill polled better than Leon. The next two votes may well see the oldest winners so far. The 28th November voting is currently open Vote 5 - 1956 - Johnnie Ray - Just Walkin' In The Rain 1974 - Mud - Lonely This Christmas 1993 - Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby 2010 - Matt Cardle - When We Collide Vote 6 - 1957 - Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child 1975/1991 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody 1994 - East 17 - Stay Another Day 2011 - Military Wives - Wherever You Are

I thought I'd start a thread about this as I can't see anyone talking about this here yet. On the 26th November the OCC began a series of Twitter votes to decide the UK's favourite xmas number one, with the grand final on 16th December. The votes start at 12 noon every day, and so far in the first round it looks like there will be two sets of 4 songs competing each day, though they haven't said how many will go through from each one. The 26th November's results are as follows (I've calcuated the total votes in brackets myself, though the exact percentages Twitter gives don't tend to yield whole numbers) Vote 1 - 730 votes cast 1952 - Al Martino - Here In My Heart - 2.3% (17 votes) 1970 - Dave Edmunds - I Hear You Knockin' - 10.1% (74 votes) 1988 - Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine - 41% (299 votes) 2006 - Leona Lewis - A Moment Like This - 46% (340 votes) Vote 2 - 589 votes cast 1953 - Frankie Laine - Answer Me - 4.6% (27 votes) 1971 - Benny Hill - Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West - 17% (100 votes) 1989 - Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas - 65.6% (388 votes) 2007 - Leon Jackson - When You Believe 12.6% (74 votes) The 27th November voting is currently still open Vote 3 - 1954 - Winifred Atwell - Let's Have Another Party 1972 - Little Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover From Liverpool 1990 - Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day 2008 - Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah Vote 4 - 1955 - Dickie Valentine - Christmas Alphabet 1973 - Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody 1992 - Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You 2009 - Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name So far both of those polls have already gained more total votes than the previous two, and so far Rage Against The Machine is absolutely slaying Slade, whilst I expect most Buzzjackers will say a hallelujah when they learn that Alexandra Burke is currently well ahead of her three competitors. One thing I have noticed is that they have skipped 1991, rather than use These Are The Days Of Our Lives, which leaves only 68 number ones, a number divisible by 4, implying that will NOT be skipping over the 1969 xmas number one, despite who it is by.

In the case of the 1987 one there wasn't a missed broadcast though, it was just that the source chart being used skipped forward a week during October (from that point playing the incoming chart just announced, rather than the outgoing one that was just about to be out of date, as had previously been the case), leaving one week's chart unused by the Sunday chart show, despite there not being Sunday that had no chart show broadcast. The 1988 xmas chart was announced and broadcast on Boxing Day Monday, with the industry still agreeing to consider it as the xams chart despite being announced afterwards. This was done to avoid having to calculate, distribute and broadcast e a new chart on a day that was both Christmas Day AND a Sunday (when Sunday working was still unsual outside of the most essential roles, and either Christmas Day or Sunday would have attracted at least double time on their own, and both together would have probably led to at least triple time being paid out to those who worked it). The chart for New Year's week was often times either not broadcast at all, or run down very quickly in passing, to allow for a chart of the year to be broadcast in the relevant Sunday slot instead (though other times they have been separate shows from the weekly chart show).

Excuse the late reply, but I only just saw this thread when searching for something else. The spreadsheet idea is a good one, but bear in mind that before 1969 there was no official chart and that the ones that were subsequently used by Guinness (and then others) afterwards (NME 1952-1960 and Record Retailer 19660-1969) were just one of multiple magazine charts available in those days, which didn't even all get compiled on the same day or used the same sales periods to each other. The BBC would average all (or as many as they could get hold of in time) of the charts to create their own chart which didn't necessarily match any of the others, so for any line in the spreadsheet before February 1969 the chart being unveiled by the named chart show presenter would have a been a different one to the 'official' one in the books and databases you would probably be referring to for the other statistics on that line. As far as identifying who each week's chart show presenter was, there is a thread that sm1ffj and I worked on that attempted just that for the entire run of the show, which you could use, and I which I occasionally spend time searching for and then updating. Searching for it is tricky as the search engine on here doesn't like words of 5 or less letters, so whenever I want to find it I use the tactic of searching for a very obscure guest presenter, but then first have to use genome to establish who that is, as he is so osbcure that I never remember his name (Clive Warren in case anyone is wondering). Even then the correct thread was somehow on the second page of search results when I did this just now, even though Clive Warren isn't someone that is likely to be written about all that often on this forum. The link for that thread is: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=159682

Funnily enough I always go through a cycle of hearing it and thereby knowing it, then a while later (usually when seing it somewhere within a chart) forgetting what it sounds like and having to stream it to find out, only to then think 'duh, of course it's that song'. If only they had called it 'blinded by the lights', which is the phrase they actually use in the song, then it would probably be enough of a memory jogger for me to the be able to recall the song from its title without having to stream it for the nth time to yet again remind myself what the song sounds like. Perhaps that even explains how it continues to chart, if it somehow causes amnesia and the continued streaming is just people repeatedly forgetting the song and wanting to be reminded of it again.

How many weeks did Chasing Cars potentially lose though from being inelligible when the chart rules allowed labels to 'strike out' their releases, before the rules changed again at new year and allowed all the struck out songs back in? Would it be enough weeks that it could potentially have still been on top otherwise?

I've just finished comparing my version of the list against Adrian's and found only a few periods where we disagree, and only then from 2016 onwards: 15/12/2016 to 12/01/2017 I let Mariah have the first of these weeks, because I allow previously listed songs to become re-eligible after having been excluded for 52 weeks. Adrian’s list have the other four songs I have in that period, but his fifth week has Daft Punk (who were only at #13 in that week) to compensate for not having Mariah initially 21/12/2017 Mariah’s 52nd week of ineligibility was the week before, so she became eligible for my list again in the same week she climbed to #2, thus getting relisted on my list. Adrian again steps over Mariah, and has to go down as far as #11 to find NF (also stepping over Wham! and The Pogues in the process). 04/01/2018 Similarly I gave it to Wham! this week, who had climbed to #2, but Adrian steps over them and travels down the chart to Brenda Lee at #9, who was last in the top ten with the track at Xmas 1962, It does look like she would not quite have made the list back then, so would have still been eligible for Adrian’s list at this point. 05/04/2018 to 12/04/2018 I have Freak Friday then Weeknd’s Call My Name, where Adrian has Zedd then Freaky Friday. In the first of these weeks Freaky Friday was definitely higher in the chart, and we both agree it was eligible at the time (as Adrian lists it the following week), so not sure why we have a discrepancy. 19/07/2018 to 26/07/2018 As with the first difference I allowed an old song to be relisted, this time 3 Lions, which was number one that week. Adrian stepped over 3 Lions, listed Drake a week early, and thus gave Ariana an extra song on the list. 03/01/2019 to 17/01/2019 In the first of these weeks I once again relisted Mariah, who had once again climbed to #2. Adrian steps over her and 3 other xmas oldies, and finds Michael Buble at #7, in his first top ten week with that track. In the second week there were 2 Post Malone tracks in the top 5, and the higher of the two was Sunflower, which I listed, whilst the other was Wow, which Adrian lists in the same week. The following week Wow had overtaken Sunflower, but if you had, in error, listed Wow the previous week then Sunflower would still be the highest unlisted track, as it is still above Headie One, which Adrian thus promotes to his list at the expense of Sunflower. 21/03/2019 to 11/04/2019 In the first of these weeks the top 7 are ineligible, and 3 of the next 4 are by Dave. I list Disaster, which was at #8 that week, whilst Adrian lists Location, which was lower, at #11. In week two of this period Adrian list Lauv at #8, thought Tom Walker had just climbed to #4 and made my list. In week 3 I list Location, now at #6, whilst Adrian now lists Tom Walker, who is up to #3, so we have both played catch-up a bit with each other’s lists. In week 4 I list Bad Guy, which is new at #2, but Adrian lists Bury A Friend, which climbed to #6. 25/04/2019 After agreeing on Old Town Road the previous week, when it shot up to #2, we diverge again, with Adrian listing Bad Guy, at #3 that week, and me, having already listed Bad Guy, listing Maduza at #4. This week is the last week I listed when I last updated my page, so I would need to calculated the rest from scratch to compare them, which I may do after Xmas.

I actually once did this very same list, but starting from the first chart in 1952. The only bit I ever put online was from 2010 onwards. which is on my private website here http://www.spanglefish.com/webbyswonderful...p?pageid=288578 although I haven't updated it for a while.

Ladbaby was originally just him, and the tagline was something like 'transitioning from lad to dad one sausage roll at a time', but by now it is really more a brand name that encompasses Mark, Rox and both kids.

I'm just going to mention the Goodies, who had a few novelty hits in the 70s. Has anyone got "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me" on their xmas playlist? No? Thought not. What we now know about many of the light entertainment and music stars of the 70s does rather put a different light on that particular xmas hit. Come to think of it I think the Goons were also a comedy three piece in th charts a generation before The Goodies.

Erm both Bjork and I mentioned them back on page 1! I've also thought of N-Dubz (unfortunately... not really my cup of tea, and I ended up leaving the tent when I saw them live at the Radio 1 weekend in 2009).

I very nearly accidentally pressed it too. It's kind of in the wrong place intuitively I think.

I really want them to get a massive sales figure, I'm just not sure they'll get it this time. They apparently only pressed 3000 CDs, which I'm assuming have already long since sold out as preorders as I can't find a way to order one anywhere, and there are plenty of others commenting on their videos and posts that they would still like to order a CD too, so that is lost sales right there even before the sale week had begun. I'm sure there will still be those who download once, or multiple times, but how many still bother with any kind of downloading these days, which makes me think the download sales won't be any higher than previous years, and may in fact be somewhat lower. Which leaves everything hanging on streaming, where a chunk of the ladbaby supporters are now less able to count as they have a free streaming account which has a worse ratio than in the past. I really hope my pessimism is totally unfounded, but I'm a bit nervous for them this year and with stronger oppostion in the chart race than in previous years whether or not they get xmas no1 feels a lot more in the balance to me this time. I'm editing this to add that a kind lady called Lorraine Barnes saw one of my comments on the facebook group about the lack of any way to order the CD, and has sent me the link, and I have been able to buy one now. https://www.musicglue.com/ladbaby-store/pro...top-me-eatin-cd?

Bros were a three piece the first time around (the Goss twins plus one non-brother). And although there were other lesser members intially the core line-up for the Bee Gees was a 3 piece (again twins, but plus one actual brother). I think 5ive were rather ironically down to a 3 piece at the very end, and it was one of the remaining 3 suffering a nervous breakdown that led to the band's eventual demise. The Supremes were a 3 piece as well IIRC, as I think were Bananarama first time around. Also if the Three Degrees weren't a 3 piece then someone should let trading standards know.

To find out what the song was in the first place if they had just heard it somewhere but had never heard it before.