Ghoulian

Buggin’ us no more are the True Steppers. This was the garage duo’s debut hit featuring Dane Bowers formerly of 911. It reached #6 in April 2000, but of course their biggest hit would come later in the year with Victoria Beckham. 10th: True Steppers featuring Dane Bowers - Buggin’ 14/34 votes (41%)

I guess we don’t know yet whether “Shake It To The Max” is silver. It will need to be there or very close to enter. “Arm’s Length” is gone I think, meaning there’s a small chance “Prada” could survive. They might both be out though.

Spoiler I love Caroline and Tom. He’s so sweet, and she’s the quintessential posh British housewife with a surprising killer instinct. Delighted they won, but I do like all the others a lot too. But yes they totally must encourage (if not compel) whoever’s leading to pull back and whoever’s trailing to push forward to make it as exciting as possible. Which is fine really - it’s more fun when they’re all getting in at roughly the same time. When a pair is leading by miles they always say “we need to take some time out and recharge”, or they do a job that waylays them for a day and only makes them like £10. I reckon they also encourage the teams to take different routes so they can get more variety of scenery and cities in. It’s all good: it’s still a great show.

1 Ethel 2 Creeper 3 Turnstile

This is going to be brutal - some acts bringing their best just at the right time I see. Good luck all!

Slightly off topic but the discussion about prison made me think of a really interesting talk from someone who heads up a charity whose purpose is going into prisons. They get ADHD diagnoses for those who have it, get them the medication and then continue to support them after that including after they’ve been released. She finds firstly that a staggering proportion of prisoners have ADHD (like 70-80%) and secondly that the medication is transformative for most of these (usually) young men. It calms them right down and stops whatever triggers them to offend. I guess there are 3 main objectives of prison: 1) Rehabilitation 2) Restraint - stopping someone committing further crimes by locking them away 3) Punishment - like a humane but drawn out version of torture I think 1) surely has to be the aim in pretty much all cases. It’s morally the best of the 3 aims and it saves the taxpayer a huge amount in the long run. If you’re only doing 2 or 3 really that has a huge cost for everyone, both human and financial. And that’s when you start having the debate about capital punishment - well why do we bother if nobody is really getting anything back from this resource spend? Are any criminals really so depraved that 1 is impossible? Not sure. But I think the main focus should be putting more into that.

And before that it was Adele in 2011 (aside from the Calvin & Dua collaboration in 2018), so it’s actually not been a pop girl that often.

Poor Bob losing so narrowly - not his very best song but that Enrique track really is next level naff. 😅 Commiserations Rina and Walk The Moon too!

I don’t dislike “Buggin”” really though I won’t mind if it goes first. Went for Jamelia - thought that was such a limp lead to follow a brilliant era.

Agreed that “Someone You Loved” isn’t budging any time soon given the weakness of the bottom end and all the ones you mentioned are struggling more. Of course there’s something tanking much harder than anything else that may not even make the half year point too. “Another Love” sounds like a good shout for a return and maybe “Don’t Stop Me Now” by default. Otherwise not sure.

It’s a 50-50 between Lemar and Akon for me: the latter is a little bit of a guilty pleasure so went for the former.

It’s an emotional goodbye for Destiny’s Child. Despite being the 4th single this Bee Gees cover reached #3 in November 2001, making “Survivor” by far their most successful run of singles. The first hit version of the song wasn’t in fact by the Bee Gees but Samantha Sang, which reached #11 in 1978. 5th: Destiny’s Child - Emotion 10/30 votes (33%) 6th: Mariah Carey - Get Your Number / Shake It Off 9/30 votes (30%) 7th: Cast Of High School Musical - Breaking Free 8/31 votes (26%) 8th: George Michael - Freeek! 11/32 votes (34%) 9th: Geraldine - The Winner’s Song 13/30 votes (43%) 10th: Peter Andre - Insania 13/33 (39%)

Next to be sent packing in the poll that never lies are McFly. This reached #3 in October 2007 and was the follow up to possibly the lowest selling #1 ever, “Baby’s Coming Back”/“Transylvania”. Whereas that moved 1-20 in its 2nd week this had a better hold, moving 3-10. 8th: McFly - The Heart Never Lies 10/31 votes (32%) 9th: Emma Bunton - Downtown 12/31 votes (39%) 10th: JoJo featuring Bow Wow - Baby It’s You 9/33 votes (27%)

Just noticed “Back to Friends” overtaking “Undressed” on Spotify. I know the latter is likely still ahead across all platforms but I wasn’t expecting to see that.

Week 23: 1 1 Lola Young Messy 921,000 1,100,000 2 2 Alex Warren Ordinary 920,000 3 3 Rosé and Bruno Mars APT. 868,000 1,220,000 4 4 Gracie Abrams That's So True 761,000 1,190,000 5 6 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 711,000 1,160,000 6 5 Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars Die With A Smile 707,000 1,340,000 7 7 Chrystal The Days 617,000 780,000 8 8 Billie Eilish Birds Of A Feather 585,000 1,800,000 9 9 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 577,000 2,370,000 10 10 Chappell Roan Good Luck, Babe! 565,000 1,770,000 11 11 Gigi Perez Sailor Song 531,000 1,130,000 12 12 Sabrina Carpenter Espresso 510,000 2,260,000 13 13 Teddy Swims Lose Control 510,000 2,340,000 14 14 Sabrina Carpenter Taste 508,000 1,300,000 15 15 Teddy Swims Bad Dreams 479,000 720,000 16 16 Teddy Swims The Door 464,000 1,130,000 17 17 Tate McRae Sports Car 464,000 18 18 Myles Smith Nice To Meet You 452,000 560,000 19 20 Shaboozey A Bar Song (Tipsy) 427,000 1,760,000 20 21 Myles Smith Stargazing 423,000 1,440,000 21 19 Kendrick Lamar Not Like Us 421,000 1,040,000 22 22 Hozier Too Sweet 409,000 1,880,000 23 23 Lady Gaga Abracadabra 401,000 24 27 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 401,000 25 26 Alex Warren Carry You Home 389,000 690,000 26 24 Noah Kahan Stick Season 388,000 2,910,000 27 25 Sabrina Carpenter Please Please Please 382,000 1,530,000 28 28 Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & D.O.D. Somedays 370,000 840,000 29 29 Sabrina Carpenter Bed Chem 365,000 750,000 30 30 Sabrina Carpenter Busy Woman 357,000 31 31 Doechii Anxiety 350,000 32 35 WizTheMc & Bees & Honey Show Me Love 349,000 33 32 Chappell Roan Hot To Go! 344,000 1,000,000 34 33 Kendrick Lamar & Sza Luther 338,000 430,000 35 34 Gracie Abrams I Love You, I'm Sorry 336,000 820,000 36 36 The Killers Mr Brightside 333,000 6,400,000 37 37 The Weeknd and Playboi Carti Timeless 323,000 550,000 38 38 Kendrick Lamar & Sza All The Stars 317,000 2,230,000 39 39 Sam Fender People Watching 314,000 420,000 40 40 Bl3ss & CamrinWatsin featuring BbyClose Kisses 314,000 970,000 48 50 Ed Sheeran Azizam 281,000 50 54 Tate McRae Revolving Door 267,000 58 59 Chappell Roan The Giver 245,000 59 72 Sombr Undressed 245,000 61 63 Leon Thomas Mutt 239,000 260,000 70 82 Sombr Back To Friends 221,000 74 75 Morgan Seatree featuring Florence + The Machine Say My Name (Remix) 216,000 82 85 Benson Boone Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else 206,000 84 89 Sonny Fodera & Clementine Douglas Tell Me 204,000 Indeed no new or re-entries.

Week 23: 1 1 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 320,000 690,000 2 2 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 191,000 290,000 3 3 Sam Fender People Watching 175,000 4 4 The Weeknd The Highlights 152,000 1,390,000 5 5 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 151,000 1,620,000 6 6 Chappell Roan The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess 146,000 450,000 7 7 SZA SOS 144,000 630,000 8 8 Elton John Diamonds 138,000 1,790,000 9 9 Charli XCX Brat 127,000 420,000 10 10 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 126,000 470,000 11 14 Tate McRae So Close To What 124,000 12 12 Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department 124,000 910,000 13 11 Lady Gaga Mayhem 123,000 14 13 Central Cee Can't Rush Greatness 122,000 15 15 Noah Kahan Stick Season 117,000 590,000 16 16 ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits 112,000 6,010,000 17 17 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 110,000 2,140,000 18 18 Michael Jackson The Essential 109,000 1,950,000 19 19 Gracie Abrams The Secret Of Us 107,000 250,000 20 20 Arctic Monkeys AM 106,000 2,210,000 21 21 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 104,000 3,420,000 22 22 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 99,000 2,640,000 23 24 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 92,000 580,000 24 26 Linkin Park Papercuts 91,000 260,000 25 23 The Weeknd Hurry Up Tomorrow 90,000 26 27 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 90,000 1,140,000 27 25 Kendrick Lamar GNX 89,000 150,000 28 28 Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine 85,000 270,000 29 29 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 83,000 5,390,000 30 32 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 81,000 100,000 31 30 PartyNextDoor & Drake $ome $exy $ongs 4 U 80,000 32 31 Calvin Harris 96 Months 80,000 150,000 33 33 Benson Boone Fireworks & Rollerblades 78,000 200,000 34 34 Queen Greatest Hits 78,000 3,120,000 35 35 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy, Part 2 74,000 36 36 Pitbull Greatest Hits 73,000 540,000 37 37 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 72,000 410,000 38 39 Ed Sheeran ÷ 71,000 4,400,000 39 38 Fontaines D.C. Romance 71,000 190,000 40 41 Maroon 5 Singles 69,000 910,000 84 92 Sleep Token Even In Arcadia 46,000 “Hypersonic Missiles” is back, replacing “Who Believes In Angels?” by Elton John and Brandi Carlile.

12/6: 1 1 Ordinary (1) 2 3 Love me not (2) 3 2 Pink pony club (2) 4 4 Undressed (4) 5 6 Family matters (5) 6 - Just Keep Watching (6) 7 7 Blessings (7) 8 5 Show me love (4) 9 9 Azizam (3) 10 8 Messy (1) 11 13 Back to friends (11) 12 11 Bloodline (11) 13 12 Beautiful things (1) 14 10 APT (2) 15 15 Birds of a feather (2) 16 18 Shake it to the max (16) 17 33 Can’t decide (17) 18 16 The days (5) 19 14 Sports car (7) 20 19 That’s so true (1) 21 32 Mystical magical (21) 22 26 Hairdresser (22) 23 20 Die with a smile (3) 24 21 Good luck, babe! (2) 25 17 Carry you home (16) 26 22 Nice to meet you (12) 27 25 Lose control (2) 28 23 Bad dreams (13) 29 24 Stargazing (6) 30 29 Taste (1) 31 28 The door (13) 32 31 Espresso (1) 33 42 One thing (33) 34 30 Revolving door (17) 35 34 Sailor song (2) 36 35 A bar song (2) 37 37 Party 4 u (35) 38 36 Busy woman (11) 39 49 Dreams (22) 40 38 Too sweet (1) 41 27 Anxiety (4) 42 41 Iris (3) 43 39 Mr Brightside (10) 44 43 Nokia (18) 45 44 Stick season (1) 46 47 Somedays (10) 47 - Mutt (29) 48 50 The giver (2) 49 - Tell me (43) 50 46 Sorry I’m here for someone else (34)

Moving to The Music Lounge.

The Alphaville, Mr Oizo and Cicero versions have been changed on the Spotify playlist since it was first made.

1 Bicep 2 Kiesza (funny there’s a cover of “Hideaway” here too) 3 Sigma

Definitely “Supreme” of these two, which I do still like a lot though I agree it wouldn’t do brilliantly in a Robbie #4 rate.

I went for “Do Something” this time - I guess the retro production is quite good but I don’t think it comes together as an enjoyable listen.

Doing much better than falling apart to half time are Fall Out Boy. “Dance Dance” was their second consecutive #8 peak, following hot on the heels of “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down”, and both songs had good chart runs. They would have a couple of even bigger hits to come though. 3rd: Fall Out Boy - Dance Dance 15/30 votes (50%) 4th: Robbie Williams - Come Undone 12/32 votes (38%) 5th: Razorlight - Wire To Wire 21/31 votes (68%) 6th: Ordinary Boys - I Luv U 14/32 votes (44%) 7th: Abs - What You Got 12/31 votes (39%) 8th: N Dubz - I Need You 11/28 votes (39%) 9th: 50 Cent - Just A Lil’ Bit 10/31 votes (32%) 10th: Ronan Keating - I Hope You Dance 14/27 votes (52%)

Mariah has been shaken off just before the top half. This double A side was her 38th top 40 hit, and she’s crossed the 40 mark since. It reached #9 in October 2005 and was the third Top 10 hit from “The Emancipation Of Mimi”.