Julian_

Agree with the consensus that “Take A Bow” is dull. “Closer” is so infectious and I enjoyed its long climb to #1. “Sex On Fire” is a great song but I did get very sick of it with the huge chart run. 2 stinkers left for me but otherwise a strong Top 10!

Can see why Ruel feels like that after beating Shawn.

5/3: 1 1 Man I need (1) 2 2 Rein me in (2) 3 3 Raindance (2) 4 4 Where is my husband! (3) 5 5 So easy (5) 6 6 Ordinary (1) l 7 8 Golden (1) 8 9 The fate of Ophelia (1) 9 16 Stateside (9) 10 45 Iloveitiloveitiloveit (10) 11 14 Homewrecker (11) 12 7 Lush life (3) 13 12 I just might (7) 14 11 End of beginning (2) 15 13 Nice to each other (5) 16 15 Opalite (2) 17 17 Die on this hill (12) 18 18 12 to 12 (8) 19 10 DtMF (5) 20 22 Just the way you are (8) 21 26 Chains of love (21) 22 21 Back to friends (7) 23 23 No broke boys (3) 24 20 The great divide (13) 25 19 Aperture (1) 26 25 Manchild (1) 27 30 A couple minutes (20) 28 37 Babydoll (28) 29 28 Pink pony club (2) 30 32 The hardest part (23) 31 34 Beautiful things (1) 32 29 Mr Brightside (10) 33 31 I run (14) 34 38 Love me not (2) 35 39 OK love you bye (31) 36 33 Midnight sun (33) 37 36 Dive (28) 38 35 Iris (3) 39 41 Baby steps (34) 40 - Drag path (40) 41 49 Dying for you (41) 42 43 Undressed (4) 43 44 Dreams (22) 44 42 Think about us (26) 45 24 NUEVAYoL (21) 46 47 Lose control (2) 47 - Dracula (45) 48 46 Everywhere (4) 49 40 Soda pop (4) 50 - The chain (43)

Week 9: 1 1 Olivia Dean Man I Need 498,000 1,600,000 2 2 Dave featuring Tems Raindance 376,000 610,000 3 3 Raye Where Is My Husband! 365,000 970,000 4 4 Djo End Of Beginning 342,000 1,530,000 5 5 Taylor Swift The Fate Of Ophelia 341,000 1,090,000 6 6 Huntr/x, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Golden 326,000 1,660,000 7 9 Sam Fender and Olivia Dean Rein Me In 302,000 990,000 8 7 Alex Warren Ordinary 301,000 2,480,000 9 8 Olivia Dean So Easy (To Fall In Love) 292,000 670,000 10 10 Zara Larsson Lush Life 261,000 3,300,000 11 11 Olivia Dean Nice To Each Other 232,000 1,010,000 12 12 Sienna Spiro Die On This Hill 221,000 390,000 13 13 Bruno Mars I Just Might 215,000 14 14 Taylor Swift Opalite 208,000 620,000 15 15 Sombr 12 To 12 205,000 730,000 16 19 PinkPantheress Stateside 185,000 310,000 17 16 Disco Lines and Tinashe No Broke Boys 183,000 900,000 18 18 Sombr Back To Friends 176,000 1,090,000 19 17 Haven featuring Kaitlin Aragon I Run 176,000 280,000 20 20 Harry Styles Aperture 171,000 21 21 Sabrina Carpenter Manchild 151,000 960,000 22 24 Olivia Dean A Couple Minutes 144,000 320,000 23 22 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 143,000 1,960,000 24 23 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 142,000 1,280,000 25 26 The Killers Mr Brightside 137,000 6,940,000 26 27 Olivia Dean The Hardest Part 137,000 860,000 27 25 Saja Boys, Andrew Choi Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Soda Pop 135,000 850,000 28 28 Goo Goo Dolls Iris 132,000 4,690,000 29 29 Olivia Dean Dive 132,000 800,000 30 30 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 130,000 3,060,000 31 31 Sombr Undressed 128,000 1,010,000 32 32 Fleetwood Mac Dreams 127,000 4,060,000 33 33 The Police Every Breath You Take 124,000 2,920,000 34 35 Sonny Fodera, D.O.D. and Poppy Baskcomb Think About Us 124,000 220,000 35 37 Olivia Dean Baby Steps 124,000 300,000 36 34 Prince & The Revolution Purple Rain 124,000 1,900,000 37 36 Olivia Dean Let Alone The One You Love 123,000 300,000 38 38 Lola Young Messy 119,000 1,730,000 39 39 Teddy Swims Lose Control 118,000 2,920,000 40 42 Olivia Dean OK Love You Bye 118,000 620,000 47 65 Bad Bunny DtMF 109,000 290,000 51 56 Zara Larsson Midnight Sun 106,000 210,000 68 69 Myles Smith Stargazing 96,000 1,910,000 71 85 Noah Kahan The Great Divide 93,000 79 80 Alex Warren Carry You Home 88,000 1,130,000 86 97 Tame Impala Dracula 84,000 220,000 87 88 Vance Joy Riptide 84,000 4,830,000 92 96 Sam Fender Seventeen Going Under 83,000 2,740,000 93 95 Kings Of Leon Sex On Fire 83,000 4,510,000 98 - Sombr Homewrecker 81,000 99 - Florence And The Machine Dog Days Are Over 80,000 3,440,000 100 - Milky Just The Way You Are 80,000 - 99 The Neighbourhood Sweater Weather 79,000 2,580,000 - 100 Addison Rae Fame Is A Gun 79,000 320,000 - 98 She & Him I Thought I Saw Your Face Today 78,000

I do of course love the synth pop style of “12 To 12”, but I think it’s the way the layers of production build in “Back To Friends” that gets me - and it has the best bridge ever.

Ian Van Dahl though it was a nice second hit.

Were you being taken over by the fear?

Aww but being mean is more fun x

Definitely fits with my guess that super quizzer dandy* is Erasure. My guesses fir those eliminated so far: Girlicious - Lee_J11 Ace Of Base - Addy The 1975 - Calum Markus Riva - AllStarBySmashMouth Guitarricadelafuente - Ansel Shawn Mendes - JosephStyles Nadia Oh - awardinary Toni Braxton - vibe

Thanks dandy* - didn’t comment much towards the end but it’s a fabulous top half and expect my ranking wouldn’t be very much different.

1 HAIM - Days Are Gone (great choice here - what a vibrant track) 2 ABBA - Keep an Eye on Dan (love the unusual lyrical theme and the nod to “SOS”) 3 Erasure - Sono Luminus (this is so warm sounding and gently bubbles away beautifully) 4 Blondie - Shayla (Debbie’s vocals make this but it’s good lyrically too) 5 The Chicks - Lullaby (a very nice wistful track) 6 Scissor Sisters - Skin Tight (good though does feel like an album track to me) 7 The Corrs - Hideaway (starts promisingly but doesn’t get beyond lukewarm) 8 Florence + the Machine - Howl (a bit Florence by numbers for me) 9 Atomic Kitten - Walking on the Water (find this a little formulaic) 10 The 1975 - Pressure (Artful Remix) (I don’t get much from this remix and it certainly doesn’t showcase the band)

I’m pretty convinced Herbs is The Chicks.

1 ROSALÍA - Divinize (this is so delicate and beautiful) 2 LiSA - TA, I, SE, TSU Pile up (た、い、せ、つ Pile up) (a fireball of energy) 3 FKA twigs - Kicks (as usual she takes us into an interesting sound world) 4 Delta Goodrem - Electric Storm (this has a lovely soaring feel to it; the piano is very effective) 5 Lily Allen - Tennis (the storytelling on the album as a whole was great and this works fairly well on its own) 6 Kesha - Cannibal (another trash bop) 7 Toni Braxton - Sex & Cigarettes (not entirely memorable but quite like the mood of this) 8 Kelly Clarkson - Judas (pleasant but ordinary) 9 Chappell Roan - Picture You (has quite a nice rhythm but doesn’t really go anywhere) 10 Nelly Furtado - Wait For You (really quite dull RnB)

As I said in relation to Ian Watkins this sort of thing hardly inspires confidence in the system. If it can happen to Huntley presumably it could just as easily happen to a member of staff. More minor assault no doubt does happen to staff all the time and doesn’t make the news.

There’s 1 song I like a lot here and it’s close between the other 4. Went for Bowling For Soup which is fun but a little silly.