dandy*

01 Blondie - Sunday Girl - the #1 when I was born, can't not put this one at the top! 02 Erasure - Chorus - probably my favourite here really but not my birthday #1 so tough 03 HAIM - Want You Back - good memories of this from seeing them live. Wasn't huge on it at first but it's really grown on me over the years 04 Florence + the Machine - My Love - Strong choice again, so consistent that she has material up with her best from so many albums in 05 ABBA - Take a Chance on Me - fun track, one of their better ones 06 The Corrs - Summer Sunshine - not a bad choice, it's a bit MOR radio for me but it is definitely pleasant 07 Scissor Sisters - Let’s Have a Kiki - not my fave from them, it's fun but it's quite throwaway 08 The Chicks - Julianna Calm Down - sorry Chicks, I've liked a lot of the things sent so far but this one doesn't do it for me as much 09 Atomic Kitten - Eternal Flame - apologies to whoever is behind the Kittens, I've never been a fan of this cover. The album track choice remains my favourite pick so far

01 Nelly Furtado - Try - I've always loved the sound of Nelly's first two albums, and this was a definite high point 02 ROSALÍA - Reliquia - great choice, one of the absolute highlights of Lux 03 LiSA - Akeboshi (明け星) - probably my favourite choice of hers so far so wanted to reward it 04 FKA twigs - Stereo Boy - Brave choice but one I like! 05 Chappell Roan - After Midnight - Not one of my favourites of hers tbh, but it's okay 06 Delta Goodrem - Eclipse - I haven't warmed to this yet, but again it's okay 07 Kesha - RED FLAG. - production better than vocals on this one for me 08 Kelly Clarkson - Haunted - I've never managed to get on board with this era from Kelly, and this doesn't change my mind much. I think I prefer her pop moments. 09 Lily Allen - 22 - this has always been my least fave of Lily's singles I'm afraid

01 David Bowie - Lazarus - I get why this doesn't appeal to everyone but it's a wonderful song imo, once I had the tragic realisation that it was a man dying it made so much more sense. 02 The Weeknd feat. Daft Punk - Starboy - back to good stuff from him again this round, his tracks with Daft Punk were great 03 Romy & Fred again.. - Strong - Love Romy, her vocals can lift anything for me 04 Ruel - I Can Die Now - This was my favourite of his to date I think, I enjoyed the production in particular 05 George Michael - Jesus to a Child - I like this a lot more now than I did when it was out, I thought it was so dull at the time - still only mid George for me though. 06 Les Rythmes Digitales feat. Nik Kershaw - Sometimes - thought I was going to like this more than I ended up doing, it didn't really do a lot for me at all 07 Tone Damli feat. Eric Saade - Imagine - not my kind of pop really, but the duet element rose it above the ones below 08 Conan Gray - Caramel - think this was my least favourite of his so far I'm afraid, it didn't have the same magic as some of his earlier entries 09 Troye Sivan - Angel Baby - Wasn't a fan I'm afraid, I'm not huge on this style of song and I didn't really like the lyrics either

ALTHOUGH what a song to be paired with in 11th <3

Not me missing the top 10 by one place 😢

Downloaded! 🙌🏻

Breaking the Circle deserved better. The production is my favourite thing about it but it’s definitely among the best of her later singles

I voted for all of the original top 3 so good results on the whole - and the K Rep track was good too so happy to see that be the one that was promoted to third. Admittedly I was hoping for my 18 to win but it did seem unlikely once they got a deduction - Haute and Freddy were a good winner regardless though so congratulations John! Love Rob’s observation that there’s been 20 different countries in the first two top 10s of the year, great to see a variety of people getting success <3

I think we've been massively over predicted in the odds thread, I don't think I'd even put it in my own votes oooops. I'll try to follow along but primarily to see how my faves do, I hope one in particular manages to do really well

This is a bit of a let down for me after I really liked Aperture, it's just a little bit boring for me

Didn’t Loreen win with a deduction?

You know we are waiting, hey, you know we are waiting (for you)

I’d also add that not everybody plays to win, maybe some people just want to send things that they really like rather than what will guarantee doing well. Even if I haven’t liked all the songs from them, I’ve still liked that some people have chosen acts that are not staple site favourites. It would be a more boring game for me if I already knew all the songs because everyone was sending big hits from typical acts all the time. The only thing that would make me sad is if I went out on a song I’d chosen for popularity reasons that I didn’t also really like myself.

That's a decent enough top 10 on the whole. I'd definitely have Sex on Fire in there over some of them - another one here who finds Greatest Day the lest good of TT's big comeback songs (the way it's ended up a typical wedding song doesn't help either) but I'm good with the other 9

I think Calum said just 1 act this week

Very impressive sales from Whitney when the climate is taken into account and the fact the soundtrack has been available

Try <3

Hmmm the Bowie pick is great - but equally could be risky, intrigued to see how it pans out

Hmmm I think Atomic Kitten have a fair amount of fans, my gut is they will be just fine

Re the thread title - isn’t it more accurate to say ‘UK number ones if songs were limited to one week at the top’

Do all the acts even have that many songs? 🤭

Oooops sorry, Kesha was supposed to be 6th!

Final ranking: 01 Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric? 02 Blondie - Heart of Glass 03 Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive 04 The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star 05 Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick 06 The Boomtown Rats - I Don’t Like Mondays 07 Gary Numan - Cars 08 Blondie - Sunday Girl 09 The Police - Message in a Bottle 10 Bee Gees - Tragedy 11 Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall Part II 12 Village People - YMCA 13 Anita Ward - Ring My Bell 14 The Police - Walking on the Moon 15 Cliff Richard - We Don’t Talk Anymore 16 Art Garfunkel - Bright Eyes 17 Dr Hook - When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman 18 Lena Martell - One Day at a Time

01 | Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric? Weeks at number one: 4 End of year position: 7 Rating: 10/10 So I've finally made it to my favourite #1 of the year and Gary Numan takes it with his first single under the guise of Tubeway Army. I've already said a lot of what I think about him and his style of music in my commentary for Cars, but it all still applies here as well. This is one of those songs that I really wish I'd been around at the time to hear for the first time - I can just imagine hearing it and thinking whoa what the hell is this?!!! It surely must have felt like such a whiplash hearing this after anything else that was popular up to this point in 1979?!!! Blondie had pushed things with Heart of Glass but this track well and truly shoves music off into a new direction and for me this is the song that created the 80s. I guess Donna Summer had already been successful with I Feel Love (another 10/10 moment obvs) but that still very much felt like pushing disco into new electronic territories, where as this was different. This was dark, it was almost brutal and abrasive sounding and it was all delivered in a manner that feels completely disconnected from the audience, not something I can think of having previously occurred in any of the UK #1s that preceded it. The production has really stood the test of time, not least because of how seamlessly it transitioned into the public's consciousness all over again some 23 years later when it was used as the primary production for the Sugababes' Freak Like Me. It's one of the most impressive electronic singles of all time for me and one that I listen to on a weekly basis these days as it sits in most of the playlists I have. The reason this one sits so much higher than Cars is the lyrics. Where as the lyrics to Cars feel a bit basic, this one feels like it's so much more important as it tells a story between man and machine... now I've read that Gary himself just wrote it as a song about robotic prostitutes(!) but whether intentional or not, the lyrics feel even more relatable today than they probably did at the time - it's always been a dystopian tale of the future where technology takes over, but it feels like we're getting to a place where that type of vision isn't too far away. So many people already communicate with their friends almost exclusively via electronic means and similarly, like us, communicate with others exclusively via electronic means. The verse where he says "You know I hate to ask but are friends electric? Only mine's broke down and now I've no-one to love" is one of my favourites ever. So that's it - I've done! Hope everyone has enjoyed revisiting the year with me, I definitely enjoyed listening to everything and I've got a new found appreciation for a lot of the songs that I've featured. I'd be delighted to hear whether you agree with how I've ranked them, or equally if you think I've gone it way off the mark - your own rankings etc are all more than welcome. Thanks for everyone's comments along the way, much appreciated x

02 | Blondie - Heart of Glass Weeks at number one: 4 End of year position: 2 Rating: 10/10 Just missing out on the top spot are Blondie with Heart of Glass. The track set up an extraordinary year for the band who went on to have four hits and the biggest selling album of the year, with this particular track also shifting a million copies to finish as the second biggest seller. This must have felt like quite a departure for them at the time as, whilst the prior singles were all pretty great, none of their material had hinted at anything out of the ordinary for rock music. I remember watching a documentary where it explained how revolutionary this sound was for analogue recordings and the fusion of traditional rock music instruments with synthesisers and drum machines. As always Debbie Harry is coolness personified and her vocals remain restrained whilst also really delivering a strong melody - I've always been particularly in love with the verses where she floats all over the melody and the whole thing feels incredibly sensual, the way she sings the word 'blind' alone is simply to die for. But the rest of the band really play their part on it too, it all sounds quite simple but when you really pay attention there's so many layers going on in the track - the drum machine stays in place right from the beginning, but is joined by more traditional drums, and I think there's at least three different guitar elements going on one way or another (no pun intended before I just wrote that!)... and then throw in the synth lines and you've got so many elements weaving in and out of each other as the song progresses. What's amazing is that this isn't even their best track imo, I've never ranked them all but I'm not sure it would even be top 3 for me such is the strength of their back catalogue - the only thing I'm certain of is that Atomic would definitely be my #1. As mentioned, the parent album Parallel Lines was the biggest of the year and is surely one of the most stacked albums of all time. But despite being the undoubted darlings of the year in the real charts, they couldn't quite defeat one song that's still to come here...