Ghoulian

Taking a risk with this one: feeling a bit more daring following some stronger results haha.

Maybe if they’d had a better name they’d have done better: it would make finding their output easier certainly. This is a second very fine single from The Music: I even went and checked out the album which I very rarely do in conjunction with these reviews and it sounded great. 8 The Music Getaway I love how this starts like an electronic track and explodes into a wonderfully catchy rock anthem with raw vocal energy 8 Royksopp Poor Leno {2002} Another excellent track based around a beautifully sung repeated melody: the video with a captive creature is cute too 7 Suede Obsessions Their second hit in quick succession: as usual it's very enjoyable with strong storytelling and I love the harmonica part 6 Jennifer Lopez Jenny From The Block Clearly she isn't what the title claims, but it's probably her signature song and it is well written with strong production 6 Will Young Don't Let Me Down/You And I His 1st original material: I find "Don't let Me Down" slightly dreary but "You And I" is a lovely song and well performed 5 Paul Weller Leafy Mysteries This isn't striking like "It's Written In The Stars" and quite easy to forget, but it's another charming and wistful track 5 Lasgo Pray This is a guilty pleasure as it's another strong tune, but the recycling of ideas is extreme and the success diminishing 4 Snoop Dogg From Tha Chuuuch To Da Palace Another early uncredited Pharrell appearance: this has quite a good beat but overall I don't think it's a Snoop highlight 4 S Club Alive Their 1st hit as a sextet in a similar style to "Don't Stop Movin'", and it's fine but you can tell the sparkle has gone here 3 Kelly Llorenna Heart Of Gold This was originally a happy hardcore track by Force & Styles and she's now recorded her own rather tame version of it 3 Mariah Carey Through The Rain It's a big slushy ballad that's never going to do a lot for me, though it's a really good and restrained vocal performance 2 Sum 41 Still Waiting An Iraq war protest lead single: I find the main tune quite unpleasantly repetitive and there isn't much else to the song 2 Rikki And Daz Featuring Glen Campbell Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up) Only hit for this duo including Daz Sampson of future Eurovision fame: it's just an odd more upbeat version of the song 1 Sound Bluntz Billie Jean Only hit for this Canadian DJ duo: I find the distorted vocals a little unsettling and otherwise I'm not getting anything 2002 Weeks 49 and 50: #1619 07/12/2002 Daniel Bedingfield If You're Not The One 1 {1}-3-4-6-6-4-4-7-8-11-12-7-14-14-18-26-34-38-45-58-72->21 #1620 07/12/2002 Atomic Kitten The Last Goodbye/Be With You 2 {2}-7-12-17-15-13-22-30-39-45-53-70->12 #1621 07/12/2002 Ronan Keating Featuring Lulu We've Got Tonight 4 {4}-8-9-12-13-15-24-31-35-50-52-60-70->13 #1622 07/12/2002 Darius Rushes 5 {5}-14-26-34-28-33-49-71-75R(3)-57-61-74->12 #1623 07/12/2002 Liam Lynch United States Of Whatever 10 {10}-13-19-21-23-25-36-46-53->9 #1624 07/12/2002 Enrique Iglesias Maybe 12 {12}-21-30-35-38-42-52-58-70-> #1625 07/12/2002 Scooter Posse (I Need You On The Floor) 15 {15}-26-32-40-41-52-71->7 #1626 07/12/2002 Alicia Keys Girlfriend 24 {24}-37-50-65-73->5 #1627 07/12/2002 Nickelback Never Again 30 {30}-45->2 #1628 07/12/2002 Anastacia You'll Never Be Alone 31 {31}-49-67->3 #1629 07/12/2002 Bjork It's In Our Hands 37 {37}-74->2 #1630 07/12/2002 Celine Dion Goodbye's (The Saddest Word) 38 {38}-60->2 #1631 14/12/2002 Eminem Lose Yourself 1 {1}-3-5-5-3-3-6-6-7-6-9-6-10-14-19-29-35-40-47-60-74-67R(317)-62R(88)-63-65R(49)-64-70R(51)-71-42R(32)-48-49->31 #1632 14/12/2002 The Cheeky Girls Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) 2 {2}-2-3-2-2-6-11-12-20-23-39-46-65-71->14 #1633 14/12/2002 Robbie Williams Feel 4 {4}-7-10-10-11-19-24-30-29-31-37-43-57-67-75R(2)->15 #1634 14/12/2002 Liberty X Holding On For You 5 {5}-14-18-17-17-23-34-41-58-64-74->11 #1635 14/12/2002 Rainbow (DJ George And MC Zippy) It's A Rainbow 15 {15}-23-28-30-39-53->6 #1636 14/12/2002 Ms Dynamite Put Him Out 19 {19}-33-41-39-38-50->6 #1637 14/12/2002 TLC Girl Talk 30 {30}-49->2 #1638 14/12/2002 Matt Darey And Marcella Woods U Shine On 34 {34}-55->2 #1639 14/12/2002 Bruce Springsteen Lonesome Day 39 {39}-68->2

“Hold On To Our Love” is a Cliff style ballad and there was nothing interesting at all about the staging or anything: I don’t really rate it at all but yes a relief to have a competent performance. I do like the studio version of “My Last Breath”: it would surely have scored some points but it’s hard to escape the feeling that the whole package still wouldn’t have been that inspiring. I’d also put “I Wrote A Song” a bit higher and “Dizzy” a bit lower. The latter was always boring long before we knew it was going to have weak vocals and divisive staging. But “I Wrote A Song” is one of the few songs on this list that would still get a reaction in the Euroclub - even in the Swiss Euroclub 2 years later it was played. I don’t personally love it and think it’s pretty basic, but it definitely achieved something. Agree “Even If” would be long gone now in my version.

“Bigger Than Us” would be bottom three for me, probably above “That Sounds Good To Me” and “Embers”. It’s just so cheesy and superficial and lacking in anything interesting musically for me. As for “Storm”: nice girl, pleasant track and valiant performance but that’s still quite embarrassing when up against the likes of “Toy” and “Fuego”. I think the position for that is more or less fair; maybe slightly low.

I can’t say I enjoyed either but went for Delta based on a strong vocal performance.

Yes there are techincally a few, but “Sound Of Silence” is obviously recently viral so doesn’t really counter Jim’s point. “Pink Pony Club” as well. “The Night We Met” is sort of a late drip discovery by the public but yes that is becoming a genuine classic.“Shut Up + Dance” is in danger of dropping out and “Seventeen Going Under” is only there because of Sam’s comeback. When I did the top 200 sellers of all time I definitely noticed that while it was dominated by 2014-19 hits from the early days of streaming, they were pretty much universally falling down the list while older songs were climbing. There’s definitely a sense of that first streaming period slowly being consigned to history.

I think Wardy means please can the Avicii rip off not win. 😅

Picking up again on this - it’s a testament to the strength of 2024 but amazingly nearly half way through this year we still have FIVE tracks on course to exceed a million for the 2nd year in a row. That’s something that fewer than 5 tracks have done before ever! Assuming they continue to do last week’s sales for the rest of the year these are the projections: Beautiful Things 1.26m Birds Of A Feather 1.25m Good Luck, Babe! 1.18m Lose Control 1.10m Espresso 1.04m That’s assuming they don’t decline at all which of course they probably will. They will all likely fall some way short of the above projections but it’s now looking quite likely the Top 3 at least and possibly “Lose Control” will make the million, even if “Espresso” ends up short. Amazing.

I’ve always thought “Never Forget You” is a very special song that makes me think about old friends I’ve drifted away from over time. So I’m voting for that, but Dandy would be a very fine winner too.

Nelly’s run has been good but it’s gone the way of all good things. This was the 3rd of 4 huge hits from the “Loose” album, reaching #4 in December 2006. It appears here on the strength of its 2007 sales: I wonder whether it also made the 2006 list…? 3rd: Nelly Furtado - All Good Things (Come To An End) (44%) 4th: Lily Allen - LDN 15/33 votes (45%) 5th: T2 featuring Jodie Aysha - Heartbroken 14/28 votes (50%) 6th: Avril Lavigne - Don’t Tell Me 15/33 votes (45%) 7th: Eminem - When I’m Gone 8/30 votes (27%) 8th: Stereophonics - Handbags & Gladrags 10/31 votes (32%) 9th: Puff Daddy featuring R. Kelly - Satisfy You 27/29 votes (93%) 10th: Cliff Richard - Santa’s List 18/30 votes (60%)

I hadn’t realised until the last few survivors how much opprobrium there was for Razorlight. I really like “Wire To Wire” and I’m switching to S Club, which is quite sweet for a slushy charity ballad but not something I care to revisit.

So good to know ya but it’s bye bye Ordinary Boys. “I Luv U” peaked at January 2007 and was one of the first bunch of hits to chart a couple of weeks before its physical release. It followed Preston’s “Big Brother” stint in 2006 and subsequent relationship with Chantelle Houghton. However the Ordinary Boys would never chart again after this. 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%)

I hope Geraldine also prepared a 9th place song. This was the first of 3 hits for the Peter Kay alias, reaching #2 in October 2008. Of course Peter Kay had 2 charity #1s in his own name too, so all in all a chart history most actual musicians could only dream about. 9th: Geraldine - The Winner’s Song 13/30 votes (43%) 10th: Peter Andre - Insania 13/33 (39%)

A tie! 😮

Commiserations Lemon Demon, YVA and Louise!

I’ve just no idea what “Back To Friends” sold before it entered the Top 100, but it can’t have been doing much as it’s shifted 156k since then. Could the 6.5 year run for “Someone You Loved” be coming to an end? Moved 92-96 this week.

Week 21: 1 1 Lola Young Messy 867,000 1,050,000 2 2 Rosé and Bruno Mars APT. 816,000 1,170,000 3 3 Alex Warren Ordinary 799,000 4 4 Gracie Abrams That's So True 721,000 1,150,000 5 5 Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars Die With A Smile 667,000 1,300,000 6 6 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 641,000 1,090,000 7 7 Chrystal The Days 575,000 740,000 8 8 Billie Eilish Birds Of A Feather 541,000 1,760,000 9 9 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 531,000 2,320,000 10 10 Chappell Roan Good Luck, Babe! 525,000 1,730,000 11 11 Gigi Perez Sailor Song 499,000 1,100,000 12 12 Sabrina Carpenter Espresso 475,000 2,230,000 13 13 Sabrina Carpenter Taste 473,000 1,270,000 14 14 Teddy Swims Lose Control 472,000 2,310,000 15 15 Teddy Swims Bad Dreams 441,000 680,000 16 16 Teddy Swims The Door 428,000 1,100,000 17 17 Tate McRae Sports Car 422,000 18 19 Myles Smith Nice To Meet You 413,000 520,000 19 18 Kendrick Lamar Not Like Us 403,000 1,020,000 20 20 Shaboozey A Bar Song (Tipsy) 396,000 1,730,000 21 21 Myles Smith Stargazing 386,000 1,400,000 22 22 Hozier Too Sweet 379,000 1,850,000 23 23 Lady Gaga Abracadabra 375,000 24 25 Noah Kahan Stick Season 360,000 2,880,000 25 24 Sabrina Carpenter Please Please Please 360,000 1,500,000 26 28 Alex Warren Carry You Home 349,000 650,000 27 26 Sabrina Carpenter Bed Chem 343,000 730,000 28 27 Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & D.O.D. Somedays 343,000 810,000 29 34 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 330,000 30 30 Sabrina Carpenter Busy Woman 327,000 31 29 Kendrick Lamar & Sza Luther 325,000 630,000 32 31 Chappell Roan Hot To Go! 319,000 980,000 33 33 Doechii Anxiety 316,000 34 32 Gracie Abrams I Love You, I'm Sorry 316,000 800,000 35 36 The Killers Mr Brightside 304,000 6,370,000 36 35 The Weeknd and Playboi Carti Timeless 303,000 530,000 37 38 Kendrick Lamar & Sza All The Stars 295,000 2,210,000 38 37 Sam Fender People Watching 295,000 400,000 39 45 WizTheMc & Bees & Honey Show Me Love 293,000 40 39 Billie Eilish Wildflower 292,000 810,000 54 57 Tate McRae Revolving Door 234,000 57 70 Ed Sheeran Azizam 227,000 65 69 Leon Thomas Mutt 213,000 230,000 78 81 Morgan Seatree featuring Florence + The Machine Say My Name (Remix) 192,000 89 100 Benson Boone Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else 180,000 93 - Sombr Undressed 179,000 94 - Sonny Fodera & Clementine Douglas Tell Me 178,000 Leaving this week: We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love) GBP

Week 21: 1 1 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 301,000 670,000 2 3 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 173,000 280,000 3 2 Sam Fender People Watching 168,000 4 4 The Weeknd The Highlights 140,000 1,370,000 5 5 Chappell Roan The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess 138,000 440,000 6 7 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 137,000 1,600,000 7 6 SZA SOS 136,000 620,000 8 8 Elton John Diamonds 128,000 1,780,000 9 9 Central Cee Can't Rush Greatness 118,000 10 10 Lady Gaga Mayhem 118,000 11 12 Charli XCX Brat 117,000 410,000 12 11 Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department 117,000 900,000 13 13 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 117,000 460,000 14 14 Tate McRae So Close To What 111,000 15 15 Noah Kahan Stick Season 108,000 580,000 16 17 ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits 102,000 6,010,000 17 18 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 101,000 2,130,000 18 16 Gracie Abrams The Secret Of Us 101,000 240,000 19 19 Michael Jackson The Essential 100,000 1,940,000 20 20 Arctic Monkeys AM 98,000 2,200,000 21 21 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 96,000 3,410,000 22 22 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 90,000 2,630,000 23 23 The Weeknd Hurry Up Tomorrow 87,000 24 24 Kendrick Lamar GNX 85,000 140,000 25 25 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 84,000 580,000 26 26 Linkin Park Papercuts 83,000 250,000 27 27 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 82,000 1,130,000 28 28 Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine 80,000 260,000 29 30 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 76,000 5,380,000 30 29 PartyNextDoor & Drake $ome $exy $ongs 4 U 76,000 31 31 Calvin Harris 96 Months 73,000 140,000 32 33 Benson Boone Fireworks & Rollerblades 71,000 190,000 33 34 Queen Greatest Hits 71,000 3,110,000 34 35 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 71,000 90,000 35 32 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy, Part 2 70,000 36 36 Pitbull Greatest Hits 67,000 530,000 37 37 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 66,000 400,000 38 38 Fontaines D.C. Romance 65,000 180,000 39 39 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy, Part 1 64,000 220,000 40 40 Ed Sheeran ÷ 64,000 4,400,000

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

It’s time for my 3rd and final 10/10 of the year. Not everything Coldplay have done in the last 25 years has been brilliant, and lately it’s mostly been quite bland. But this was when their sound, Chris’s voice and the storytelling came together to make something incredibly moving. The reverse car crash video is exceptional too. We also have a couple of the best pop songs of the period here in “Dirrty” and “Stronger”. 10 Coldplay The Scientist A beautiful lyrically heartbreaking song delivered with one of Chris Martin's finest most vulnerable vocal performances 9 Christina Aguilera Featuring Redman Dirrty 940th #1: she steps right out of the pop girl bubble and does something very exciting and gritty, enhanced by Redman 8 Sugababes Stronger/Angels With Dirty Faces "Stronger" is a wonderfully powerful and introspective track with great production; the other side is more ordinary 7 Santana Featuring Michelle Branch The Game Of Love An excellent track whose vocals were tried by several others before passing to Michelle: last Top 20 for both artists 7 Shakira Objection (Tango) Originally in Spanish, the tango style of this seems really authentic and it's another delightful quirky track from her 6 Kylie Minogue Come Into My World Another "Can't Get You…" style track: not as good as that but has a hypnotic quality and is very strong for a 4th single 6 Rammstein Feuer Frei The title means "fire freely" and it's a slightly demonic track: doesn't quite grab me like "Ich Will" but also powerful 5 Tenacious D Wonderboy 1st hit for this US band about a made up superhero: I love some of it but the story needs too much spoken explanation 4 De Nuit All That Mattered (Love You Down) Only hit for this DJ with "Do You Really Like It" style production sampling '80s song "Love You Down": it's not bad 3 Ashanti Happy I quite like the flute riff that accompanies this: beyond that it's quite a dull RnB track that fades into the background 2 Shy FX And T Power Featuring Di And Skibadee Don't Wanna Know This samples J Lo's "Let's Get Loud" and lacks a strong hook: very little about it that "Shake Ur Body" doesn't do better 2 Blazin' Squad Love On The Line This samples Another Level's "Freak Me", and like their chart topper is fairly raucously performed and lacking originality 2002 Week 48: #1605 30/11/2002 Will Young Don't Let Me Down/You And I 2 {2}-9-16-27-33-26-32-44-61-71-73R(5)-74-75->13 #1606 30/11/2002 Jennifer Lopez Jenny From The Block 3 {3}-8-11-18-24-18-20-29-47-54-55-54-67->13 #1607 30/11/2002 S Club Alive 5 {5}-14-25-34-38-35-35-47-66-74-63R(3)-55-63-68-72-70R(6)->16 #1608 30/11/2002 Mariah Carey Through The Rain 8 {8}-21-28-36-45-42-44-58->8 #1609 30/11/2002 Rikki And Daz Featuring Glen Campbell Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up) 12 {12}-25-31-42-54-54-60-64->8 #1610 30/11/2002 Sum 41 Still Waiting 16 {16}-26-32-41-53-53-65->7 #1611 30/11/2002 Lasgo Pray 17 {17}-28-35-44-63-56-59->7 #1612 30/11/2002 Kelly Llorenna Heart Of Gold 19 {19}-33-46-72->4 #1613 30/11/2002 Paul Weller Leafy Mysteries 23 {23}-58->2 #1614 30/11/2002 The Music Getaway 26 {26}-55->2 #1615 30/11/2002 Snoop Dogg From Tha Chuuuch To Da Palace 27 {27}-39-47-58-67-68->6 #1616 30/11/2002 Suede Obsessions 29 {29}-69->2 #1617 30/11/2002 Sound Bluntz Billie Jean 32 {32}-49->2 #1618 30/11/2002 Royksopp Poor Leno {2002} 38 {38}-67->2

1 Pulp 2 Elbow 3 Twin Atlantic

I also think of “Don’t Play That Song Again” and “No Dream Impossible” together even though they aren’t that similar. They’re both from that period when we started to become a little bit rubbish and obviously stuck in the ‘90s in our approach when others had moved on. Neither is particularly bad but the whole package was lacklustre. NDI is the better song but DPTSA the more competent performance. “Embers” was a lot worse than either of those for me. The song does sound perfectly nice on radio and seems to come from the same fixing mindset as “Dizzy”. I saw an interview with him where he said he’d really worked on his physical fitness, but then he was out of breath from the beginning. I felt so bad for him. Still it remains the only double 0 since the 2016 format change so legendary for that.

Nelly now, though it’s a lovely atmospheric track.

If you look with your eyes you’ll see that Lily has been eliminated. “LDN” was her 2nd single after the chart topping “Smile”, reaching #6 in September 2006. It includes a Colombian porro style sample. 4th: Lily Allen - LDN 15/33 votes (45%) 5th: T2 featuring Jodie Aysha - Heartbroken 14/28 votes (50%) 6th: Avril Lavigne - Don’t Tell Me 15/33 votes (45%) 7th: Eminem - When I’m Gone 8/30 votes (27%) 8th: Stereophonics - Handbags & Gladrags 10/31 votes (32%) 9th: Puff Daddy featuring R. Kelly - Satisfy You 27/29 votes (93%) 10th: Cliff Richard - Santa’s List 18/30 votes (60%)

Switching to Ordinary Boys - a rather drippy track and those lyrics are something else.