dandy*

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...

01 ROSALÍA - Divinize 02 Lily Allen - Tennis 03 Delta Goodrem - Electric Storm 04 FKA twigs - Kicks 05 LiSA - TA, I, SE, TSU Pile up (た、い、せ、つ Pile up) 06 Kesha - Cannibal 07 Toni Braxton - Sex & Cigarettes 08 Nelly Furtado - Wait For You 09 Chappell Roan - Picture You 10 Kelly Clarkson - Judas

01 Scissor Sisters - Skin Tight 02 The Chicks - Lullaby 03 Erasure - Sono Luminus 04 HAIM - Days Are Gone 05 Blondie - Shayla 06 Florence + the Machine - Howl 07 Atomic Kitten - Walking on the Water 08 ABBA - Keep an Eye on Dan 09 The Corrs - Hideaway 10 The 1975 - Pressure (Artful Remix)

01 David Bowie - Warszawa 02 Troye Sivan - IN A DREAM 03 Fred again.. - Sabrina (i am a party) 04 Nik Kershaw - You Might 05 Eric Saade - It’s Gonna Rain 06 Conan Gray - Miss You 07 George Michael - Precious Box 08 The Weeknd - Nothing Compares 09 Shawn Mendes - Where Were You in the Morning? 10 Ruel - SITTING IN TRAFFIC

03 | Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive Weeks at number one: 4 End of year position: 6 Rating: 10/10 By 1979 disco was starting to fade out as new wave began to take over, and to be honest I'm not the biggest fan of disco anyway... but the genre still had one more huge moment to come in the form of this classic from Gloria Gaynor that perhaps appropriately knocked the Bee Gees from the top. This is an absolute powerhouse of a track and I'm tempted to say that it's the highlight of 70s disco for me. It opens with the iconic line of at first I was afraid I was petrified which surely has to be up there as one of the most instantly recognisable openings ever, with Gloria delivering that first line with a slight breathiness to her vocal that hints at a picture of a victim... before she then makes it absolutely clear that this isn't the case as the tremble disappears and she turns to a confident and strong vocal as she belts out and I grew strong and I learned how to get along and you know this is much more than you thought. What follows is the ultimate anthem of empowerment as Gloria makes it clear that she doesn't need that man and she's living life for herself - and again I love the delivery of the song, she's not overhanging it or relying on vocal gymnastics, she just delivers such a confident and assured vocal with a bit of bite that just matches the energy of the song and lyrics perfectly. I particularly love the string sections that follow the first chorus but then also come back altogether for the final section of the track, it's all just so majestic. The track was re-released in 1993, when it made the top 5 again, and this was the first version I knew. Whilst in retrospect it isn't anywhere near the original, I do feel that Phil Kesley updated it in a way that stayed true to the classy feel of the original - although he removed the piano intro which is clearly sacrilege! I did buy the remix single and my main memory is it's one of the first times I realised that certain songs could be associated with gay culture - I had taken it on the school bus for my then and girlfriend to listen to (I used to regularly subject her to my music on the bus, bless her!) and one of the kids in the fifth year really took the p*** out of it saying it was such a gay song etc - consequently for such a long time afterwards I never played it again and hid it away at the bottom of my ever growing collection of singles. But today it's making its way firmly back out of the bottom of that pile to its rightful place as a 10/10 track and land itself a position in my top 3 of the year <3

This was a nervy read this morning, the predictions thread had virtually every possible outcome for FLJ I think so wasn’t sure what to expect. I lost a few of my votes though so not everything was ideal. Also sad to see Freeze’s great streak come to an end </3

I can’t see Memori DNQing at all!

I’m not sure I can get over @gooddelta having never heard the Scissor Sisters’ debut album. How has that happened?!!

Noooooooooo at Remember Me and Supernature dropping out, gutted!