Ghoulian

I do have a soft spot for “Fairground” because it’s attached to childhood memories, but absolutely irks only the sample that makes it any good and generally Simply Red are tedious. YANA bleugh. “Boom Boom Boom” is fun trash I guess.

17Fatman Scoop Featuring The Crooklyn Clan - Be FaithfulScore: 4/10 01/11/2003 Fatman Scoop Featuring The Crooklyn Clan Be Faithful 1 Chart run: {1}-1-3-5-9-14-16-24-30-24-27-37-44-50-55-65->16 American hip hop artist Fatman Scoop was affectionately given the nickname because he loved ice cream as a child, and he died only last year. Other than this he had a rather gimmicky follow up Top 10 “It Takes Scoop” the following year, but he also featured later on “Lose Control” by Missy Elliott and “It’s Like That” by Mariah Carey. “Be Faithful” was in fact a 1999 single re-packaged in 2003. The main melody samples “Love Like This” by Faith Evans, but there are various other samples throughout including the “engine engine number 9” section which is a Black Sheep sample. Fatman’s shouting over the record is an acquired taste to say the least; I’m not sure if the “FATMAN SCOOP! CROOKLYN CLAN!” section inspired the likes of DJ Khaled or even Jason Derulo to tediously boom their names over every record. However this reminds me so much of rubbish uni discos that I can’t dislike it: there’s definitely a so bad it’s good element and I get more guilty pleasure from it than from anything else revealed so far.

30 Tyler, the Creator (feat. Kali Uchis) - See You Again 29 Bicep - Glue 28 alt-J - 3WW 27 Steps - Scared of the Dark 26 LCD Soundsystem - Oh Baby 25 Sufjan Stevens - Mystery of Love 24 Wolf Alice - Don't Delete The Kisses 23 Rita Ora - Anywhere 22 Lorde - Green Light 21 Disciples - On My Mind 20 ZAYN (feat. Sia) - Dusk Till Dawn 19 Dua Lipa - Be The One 18 Drake - Passionfruit 17 Jamiroquai - Automaton 16 MGMT - Little Dark Age 15 Calvin Harris (feat. Frank Ocean & Migos) - Slide 14 Arcade Fire - Everything Now 13 Adele – Water Under The Bridge 12 Sam Fender - Play God 11 Clean Bandit (feat. Zara Larsson) - Symphony 10 CamelPhat & Elderbrook - Cola 9 Little Mix - Touch 8 French Montana (feat. Swae Lee) - Unforgettable 7 Katy Perry (feat. Skip Marley) - Chained To The Rhythm 6 Kendrick Lamar - Humble. 5 alt-J - Adeline 4 Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still 3 Lana Del Rey - Lust For Life (feat. The Weeknd) 2 Big Shaq - Man's Not Hot 1 Post Malone (feat. 21 Savage) - Rockstar

All pretty rubbish so far - nothing really to add!

18Gareth Gates And The Kumars - Spirit In The SkyScore: 4/10 22/03/2003 Gareth Gates And The Kumars Spirit In The Sky Peak: 1 Chart run: {1}-1-2-2-5-8-13-18-29-42-45-53-59-66-62->15 Gareth’s 1st #1, “Unchained Melody”, is the only song to have been #1 in 4 different versions, and this is one of only a few songs that have been #1 in 3 different versions. Norman Greenbaum’s 1969 version was the original, and Doctor And The Medics covered it in 1986, so it’s neat that this cover was another 17 years on. It was the lead single from Gareth’s 2nd album “Go Your Own Way”, and the official Comic Relief single for 2003. “The Kumars At No. 42” was a very popular sitcom about a British Indian family which ran from 2001 to 2006, and The Kumars teamed up with Gareth to provide the single’s comedy elements. The result was a huge #1, and its 1st week sale of 273,508 was the highest single week sale of the year. For much of the year it looked like it would be the year end #1, but was ultimately pushed down to 2nd. I’m not a fan of Gareth’s voice in general which I find a bit thin, but it suits this kind of more upbeat song better. All in all this is a fairly decent cover and the comedy elements aren’t bad. It doesn’t bear very many listens before becoming tedious, but as ‘00s charity records go there were certainly very much worse.

I think yes it would still go to ACR. But I’m pretty sure “Your Idol” is still well ahead across all platforms. Great for RAYE! Here for her getting a second big solo hit.

Going for Amy - “This Is The Life” is brilliant but can take or leave this one.

Leaving it all behind is Anastacia. She was unlucky to have a few relatively long running hits that just missed the Top 10, and this spent 7 weeks in the Top 40 after reaching #11 in March 2002. Her biggest chart success would come a couple of years later. 4th: Anastacia - One Day In Your Life 11/31 votes (35%) 5th: Wombats - Moving To New York 13/35 votes (37%) 6th: Janet Jackson - Doesn’t Really Matter 12/31 votes (39%) 7th: The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale Of New York 8th: A1 - No More 15/29 votes (52%) 9th: Akon - Belly Dancer (Bananza) 10/26 votes (38%) 10th: Ronan Keating - The Long Goodbye 18/28 votes (64%)

I’m moving to Snow Patrol now - nice but forgettable.

Oops! There goes the bird. This was the only big hit for American RnB star Charlene Keys who had previously been a backing singer for Missy Elliott. It reached #5 in May 2002, but the follow up singles chatted outside the Top 20.

19Daniel Bedingfield - Never Gonna Leave Your SideScore: 3/10 02/08/2003 Daniel Bedingfield Never Gonna Leave Your Side 1 Chart run: {1}-4-8-13-18-24-28-40-48-52-52->11 I did really enjoy the run of singles from his debut album, and Ioved that he had 6 releases and reached #1 with all the odd ones. But this has to be my least favourite of the 6. Even the #28 flop “Friday” which followed this was more interesting. Slushy ballads are not my thing in general, but as I’ve said elsewhere “If You’re Not The One” is up with the very best of them, and is a unique song that only he would have released. This isn’t too bad but I feel like it falls into many of the traps that managed to avoid. The over-sentimentality, the clichéd lyrics, the overuse of falsetto and the lack of anything to really distinguish it from hundreds of other Heart FM worthy songs. Still, I think he’s an interesting performer and it’s a shame his later material was largely ignored.

Biggie definitely

Ne-Yo - find the Kelly one a bit clichéd

Comical though it is watching this venture implode, I’m almost finding myself feeling sorry for Jez. Has there ever been such a bratty politician as Sultana?!

Oops a tie!

Not such a bright idea following up a #1 with this, Buzzjack says. The power pop band was Americnan but had more success in the UK, and the album “Bright Idea” topped the chart as well as the single “No Tomorrow”. However this follow up only reached #11 in May 2006 and subsequent singles missed the Top 20. 10th: Orson - Bright Idea 8/27 votes (30%)

Agreed. I think “How It’s Done” would have been #10 this week so might still just about have a shot at low Top 10.

It will be interesting if there is a big clear out after this week as it’s already a very ACR heavy Top 100, so you could end up with a situation where the bar for Top 40 and Top 20 is very low. That could give some current hits that are struggling a leg up but inevitably will also help the likes of “Beautiful Things” and “Lose Control”.

20Busted - You Said NoScore: 3/10 03/05/2003 Busted You Said No Peak: 1 Chart run: {1}-4-9-14-19-25-33-41-55-65->10 Their 3rd single and it was a satisfying 3-2-1 progression for their peak positions. But this was a classic example of a single doing well on the strength of its predecessor, the great fun “Year 3000”, rather than on its own merits. This is an inoffensive pop rock number with a fun little story about teenage rejection, but overall I think it feels a bit throwaway. Of the 4 Top 3 hits from their self titled debut album this is my least favourite: even the 4th single “Sleeping With The Light On” had more oomph. At the time this was one of the lowest selling #1s of all time, selling just over 100,000 in total. There was an even lower selling chart topper later in the year though, and even lower sales would come in the following few years.

“Back To Friends” must be acing it in @Maestro ’s Spotify YTD - shame it still lags behind so much elsewhere.

21Westlife - MandyScore: 2/10 29/11/2003 Westlife Mandy Peak: 1 Chart run: {1}-3-5-6-14-16-45-54-75->9 The most interesting thing about this is the song’s history. It was originally called “Brandy” and was first recorded by US singer Scott English. It was thought to be a love long addressed to his dog, although later he said this was false and it was in fact inspired by the drink. It was covered by Barry Manilow whose version became a US #1 and reached #11 in the UK. He renamed the song “Mandy”, apparently to avoid confusion with the early ‘70s song “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass. And of course it was Manilow’s version that inspired Westlife’s cover. This became the Irish group’s 12th #1. They had reached the point now where #1 certainly wasn’t guaranteed for them, although they wouldn’t have any Top 5 misses until 2008. The song fitted nicely into the Westlife formula, and given that I don’t have all that much fondness for the original song, and especially not the best known version, I can forgive them for covering this. That said, it’s very uninspired and beige like many of their hits. And with that we’ve already reached the end of the rubbish: everything in the Top 20 is at least mediocre.

A 6 week #1 and a #19 hit from 2020 going double platinum together…

I expect the gap would be 100k+ now.

I think morbid curiosity is a natural human reaction to an extent.

22Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne - ChangesScore: 1/10 20/12/2003 Ozzy And Kelly Osbourne Changes Peak: 1 Chart run: {1}-3-2-2-4-6-8-14-11-14-20-27-37-53-61-57->16 “Changes” was originally a 1972 Black Sabbath album track. Very unusually for them it featured neither drums nor guitars. The original is a very lovely heartfelt ballad. This was right in the middle of Kelly Osbourne’s fairly short lived pop career, and she had reached #3 with a “Papa Don’t Preach” cover and the Top 20 with “Shut Up”. By far her best single, the synth laden “One Word”, wouldn’t come until 2005. Anyway she had said to her father that he had done some songs for her siblings and should do something for her. This led to the decision to re-record “Changes” as a duet about their relationship, which Ozzy hoped would boost her career. So this was very much a case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions. Unfortunately the vocals on this cover managed to be fist clenchingly ghastly. You’d have thought the producers could have improved them somehow. Maybe they didn’t see the need. After all the single was a huge commercial success, reaching #1 the week before Christmas and making the year end Top 10. It also reached the download Top 10 just a couple of months ago following Ozzy’s passing. Fortunately it didn’t make the official chart as the streaming public thankfully listened to some of Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s good songs instead.