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Channel Orange 2x Platinum! What a debut!

I just put mine in orange because it's difficult to judge its chances objectively.

Fair! Tbh the top 2 are pretty much on par with each other in my affections but the #1 on this list captured me in a way no other song did at the time. More on that later of course!

I think a traffic light system is in order for such a stacked list. Take with a pinch of salt. 1 République d'Áskorza :: Satine – C'Est Toi 2 Scotland 2 :: underscores – Do It 3 POPHub :: Le Manou – Fille À Papa 4 Zephyra Continuum :: Electrotête – I Love You (Cubic 22 Remix) 5 Skall :: Octo Octa – Spin Girl, Let's Activate! 6 Séyetana :: Myuk – yukiuta 7 Trifoski :: LustSickPuppy – RIDE IT 8 Sovarasma :: DAVID BORING – Jenny Rotten 9 Yehesi :: Suzane – Champagne 10 D'yermak'er :: TĀLĀ – Ghosts 11 Aelandor :: Pom Pom Squad – Villain 12 Baleghde :: BANKS – Contaminated 13 Greenfroze :: ZETAK – ARALARKO DAMA 14 Zanmatony :: Hot Chip – Devotion 15 Niceland :: Cephas Azariah & Elle Limebear – you're gonna be okay 16 FSR Rontvia :: DJ Suzy – White Rabbit 17 Ojnoj :: Déyyess – Lips Like Sugar 18 The Spodic Empire :: Wubble-U – Petal (English Rose Pruned) 19 Altyr Muunilinst :: RABO – Stuck In November 20 Taahino :: mi.a – Ophelia 21 Summericia :: Denis Dekay – Don't Leave 22 Lentyll :: Hiro Shinosawa – SUNFADED 23 Jadakissnia :: TRAITRS – The Lovely Wounded 24 Fljótavík :: Faouzia – DON'T EVER LEAVE ME 25 Cheiron :: First Aid Kit – Out Of My Head 26 New Lexico :: girlish figure – Please Her For Pleasure 27 Macromia :: Franc Moody – Bloodlines 28 Dobago :: Jamie Duffy – Solas 29 Harmonica :: Dan Black – Wonder 30 Elëdan :: Ö – Garden Extra wet 31 Persephonia :: Sr. Falla De Origen – SQFML 32 Thelonia :: LÖNA – I Never Wanna Be In Love

2 Leona Lewis Bleeding Love #2s kept off #1: Rule The World (Take That), Heartbroken (T2, Jodie Aysha) When Leona won the third series of The X Factor back in December 2006, it was instantly felt that she was going to break the mould of a talent show winner. The live finals saw Simon, Sharon and Louis gush over her exceptional vocal ability every week and often singling her out as a cut above the rest in the competition. Even after her duet with the newly-reformed Take That during the final, Gary Barlow remarked to Simon: “you’ve got a big responsibility, because this girl is probably 50 times better than any contestant you’ve ever had on this show. It’s your responsibility to make her the best record you can” (a comment he may have regretted 10 months later ). Fortunately, Simon could see Leona as a long-term investment (by Syco’s standards), and instead of spending Spring 2007 promoting a rushed Mother’s Day release full of covers, Leona was meeting with the American music bigwigs in order to sign a lucrative multi-million dollar deal. She settled with J Records, owned by Clive Davis – the man behind Alicia Keys and Whitney Houston to name a few, and was put straight to work in the studio, working with some big-name talent including Dallas Austin, Salaam Remi and Ne-Yo. With her album slated for a Q4 release, Leona kept a super low profile for most of the year while anticipation quietly built. There was one scare, however. During the Spring, Leona’s pre-fame recordings were leaked online, after previous label UEG were attempting to cash-in on her newfound popularity. The album Best Kept Secret was ultimately blocked from release but I remember stumbling upon It’s All For You on Limewire, believing it was her actual lead single for a month. It’s a cute, breezy R&B mid-tempo, but a laughable choice knowing what came instead. By the summer of 2007, recording was well under way with Leona’s debut album Spirit, but the lead single still remained elusive. At one point eventual-third single Better In Time was planned to be the lead but Simon was still uncertain. Meanwhile, then-unknown pop maestro Ryan Tedder was writing for ex-Dream Street member Jesse McCartney’s third solo album when they cooked up the behemoth Bleeding Love. McCartney’s label Hollywood disliked the track, which Tedder thought was crazy. Around this time, Ryan was shown clips of Leona singing and, despite refusing to work with American Idol talent, was taken by her voice. He decided to rework the track to fit Leona before sending it to Simon who instantly loved it. Bleeding Love premiered on the Radio 1 chart show in late September and quickly scaled the airplay charts ahead of its October 22nd release. There was one obstacle however. Rule The World, Take That’s first new song since the previous year’s comeback album, was being released the same day and was outperforming Bleeding Love on airplay in the weeks leading up to release It was without a doubt the chart battle of the year! Simon Cowell had an ace up his sleeve, however, utilising the week 1 results show of The X Factor’s fourth season as Leona’s Bleeding Love performance debut – a marketing tactic that would become an annual fixture for the show for the next decade or so. Bleeding Love became an absolute monster of a hit, selling 218,000 copies in its first week to debut at #1 and in the process beating Take That by 120,000 copies. It also managed to outsell the rest of the top 5 combined! The song spent 7 consecutive weeks at #1, selling in excess of 100k in each of its first three weeks and finished the year as the UK’s biggest-selling single, managing to sell 787,000 copies in just two months during a relatively low sales climate! The song would go on to dominate the world throughout the start of 2008, topping the chart in 35 countries – including a month at #1 in America (the first by a British female solo artist in 21 years)! The success of Bleeding Love propelled the phenomenal sales of her debut album Spirit, which opened in the UK with 375,000 copies sold – the fourth-fastest selling album ever at the time. Spirit also gave Leona a number 1 album in America and went on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide. Where do I start? This is just an incredibly constructed pop ballad through and through. It ticks all of the boxes of what a Leona Lewis career-launching single should be. It stays truthful enough to her 90s diva “brand” without ever coming off dated. The Tedder production that he would become oh-so-famous for by the end of the decade sounded fresh and original here. That organ at the beginning makes it known we're in for something big and then that stripped-back almost-acapella first verse as Leona sings about being disillusioned by love is gorgeously restrained. Then once that drumbeat hits, the story becomes one of a tortured romance: shifting to Leona finding love, only to be met with disapproval by those around her. The tortured lyrics paired with Tedder's haunting production really helped set it apart from the ballads it was looking to emulate and tbh it gives it a bit of a macabre edge. But the addition of Leona's vocals truly elevates it into something spectacular. She has this emotive, fragile quality to her tone that perfectly suits a song like this. There's something about it that hits an emotional spot in me the likes of Mariah, Whitney and Beyonce could never manage. The song is just everything a Leona fan of the time would've wanted as her popstar introduction to the world. Credible, polished, powerful, distinctive. The whole campaign remains one of my fondest music memories of the decade. She may not have set the charts alight for many years, but at this point in time it felt like she was on a one-way-ticket to superstardom. Unfortunately, label mismanagement, complacent US promo and a widely-perceived mediocre lead single would see Leona's sophomore era underperform on a worldwide scale. From then on, her career would never reach the same heights again, though festive bop One More Sleep keeps her name out there each year. I hope when late-00s nostalgia kicks in Leona can have a bit of a renaissance. Bleeding Love’s chart dominance coincided with an increasingly competitive market and unusually high sales. Take That, who managed two #1s with ease within the last year, had to settle for a month at #2 for what would have otherwise been a massive #1 for them. Usual shoe-ins for #’1, McFly, had to settle for #3 with their The Heart Never Lies. Sales were so competitive during the Leona/Take That battle week, the much-hyped comeback single from Britney, Gimme More, fell from 3 to 6 despite doubling its sales from the previous week, and the Sugababes fell from 1-4 despite sales of over 36,000! A truly wonderful time to be a chart fan!! While Take That sat at #2 for four of Bleeding Love’ seven weeks at the summit, the other three weeks saw the Number 2 occupied by T2 & Jodie Aysha’s Heartbroken, a bassline/garage track that was a part of a mini chart revival of sorts for the genre during late 2007/early 2008. Out of Rule The World and Heartbroken, my preference is 100% the latter. I think her voice grated on me at the time but it’s so infectious and always makes me want to break out into a dance. Rule The World is good enough but dare I say a bit bland, besides that fantastic chorus of course. A trip down Buzzjack memory lane: Sunday chart predictions:

Ok, I’m clearly too tired to write coherent sentences so will post the final 2 tomorrow PM. 🤦😂

Two #1s left to reveal and they just so happen to be the two biggest-selling singles of 2007 and the year's two longest-running #1s! Furthermore, the only two singles to sell over half a million copies during the year. I don't think an end-of-year top 2 has ever aligned so perfectly with my tastes - before or since. Anyway, with that said, Number 2 is coming imminently.

Not sure how reliable this is but

RobBot sent Zara? Just going by signature.

Oh please can this happen?!!

Yep I remember that playing out. 🥲 ISY could’ve been an easy top 10 hit for her for sure.

This from the Brokeback Mountain West End production, performed by Sinead Quinn from Fame Academy.

Oh I didn't know! Thanks for informing me on this. So are anniversary milestones just 50th and 100th, 200th etc? Allie will get her moment in BJSC 215 then!