Ghoulian

Have voted. Enjoyed a lot of these but tried to prioritise interesting picks in my votes, and included at least 2 from each of the 4 main decades.

I’ve always loved “Bonkers” - would be in my Top 5 at least. I think we’d have seen Ms Germanotta at least once by now in mine.

Week 17: 1 1 Olivia Dean Man I Need 933,000 2,030,000 2 2 Sam Fender and Olivia Dean Rein Me In 783,000 1,470,000 3 3 Dave featuring Tems Raindance 659,000 900,000 4 4 Raye Where Is My Husband! 640,000 1,250,000 5 5 Alex Warren Ordinary 576,000 2,760,000 6 6 Olivia Dean So Easy (To Fall In Love) 558,000 930,000 7 7 Taylor Swift The Fate Of Ophelia 549,000 1,300,000 8 8 Huntr/x, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Golden 548,000 1,880,000 9 9 Djo End Of Beginning 521,000 1,700,000 10 10 Zara Larsson Lush Life 492,000 3,530,000 11 11 Bella Kay Iloveitiloveitiloveit 488,000 12 12 PinkPantheress Stateside 466,000 600,000 13 13 Olivia Dean Nice To Each Other 436,000 1,210,000 14 14 Bruno Mars I Just Might 423,000 15 16 Sombr 12 To 12 395,000 920,000 16 15 Sienna Spiro Die On This Hill 394,000 560,000 17 17 Harry Styles Aperture 372,000 18 18 Taylor Swift Opalite 365,000 780,000 19 19 Sombr Back To Friends 335,000 1,250,000 20 21 Sombr Homewrecker 325,000 21 20 Disco Lines and Tinashe No Broke Boys 322,000 1,040,000 22 23 Tame Impala Dracula 306,000 440,000 23 25 Dominic Fike Babydoll 288,000 1,030,000 24 24 Sabrina Carpenter Manchild 285,000 1,090,000 25 22 Haven featuring Kaitlin Aragon I Run 282,000 380,000 26 26 The Killers Mr Brightside 272,000 7,070,000 27 27 Olivia Dean The Hardest Part 266,000 990,000 28 29 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 266,000 1,410,000 29 28 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 266,000 2,080,000 30 30 Olivia Dean A Couple Minutes 259,000 440,000 31 39 Alex Warren Fever Dream 259,000 32 34 Milky Just The Way You Are 256,000 370,000 33 31 Goo Goo Dolls Iris 256,000 4,820,000 34 32 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 253,000 3,180,000 35 33 Sombr Undressed 252,000 1,130,000 36 36 Fleetwood Mac Dreams 252,000 4,190,000 37 38 Harry Styles American Girls 251,000 38 37 Zara Larsson Midnight Sun 250,000 350,000 39 35 Olivia Dean Dive 247,000 910,000 40 40 Olivia Dean OK Love You Bye 236,000 740,000 41 48 Dominic Fike White Keys 228,000 240,000 57 77 Justin Bieber Daisies 194,000 700,000 58 67 Ella Langley Choosin' Texas 190,000 230,000 74 81 Sean Paul featuring Keyshia Cole (When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me 172,000 460,000 77 79 Vance Joy Riptide 169,000 4,910,000 78 80 Sam Fender Seventeen Going Under 169,000 2,820,000 100 - The Cure Boys Don't Cry 153,000 1,250,000 - 94 Esdeekid Century 152,000 280,000

30/4: 1 - Drop Dead (1) 2 1 Rein me in (1) 3 3 Man I need (1) 4 2 Iloveitiloveitiloveit (2) 5 21 Beauty and a beat (5) 6 4 Dracula (4) 7 29 Daisies (2) 8 5 Ordinary (1) 9 9 Fever dream (4) 10 6 Where is my husband! (3) 11 10 Homewrecker (10) 12 11 So easy (5) 13 7 Raindance (2) 14 8 Stateside (5) 15 14 White keys (14) 16 13 Lush life (3) 17 12 Babydoll (12) 18 15 Golden (1) 19 17 The fate of Ophelia (1) 20 18 I just might (7) 21 19 Nice to each other (5) 22 16 American girls (1) 23 20 12 to 12 (8) 24 - Elizabeth Taylor (24) 25 22 Just the way you are (8) 26 23 End of beginning (2) 27 24 Choosin’ Texas (24) 28 - Baby (3) 29 25 Manchild (1) 30 26 Back to friends (7) 31 31 Midnight sun (27) 32 35 Dreams (22) 33 27 Die on this hill (12) 34 48 Yukon (20) 35 33 No broke boys (3) 36 - Confident (33) 37 34 Opalite (1) 38 36 Mr Brightside (10) 39 - Sorry (1) 40 - Love yourself (1) 41 36 House tour (11) 42 39 Love me not (2) 43 32 Aperture (1) 44 43 Undressed (4) 45 40 Beautiful things (1) 46 38 Iris (3) 47 28 Pinky up (28) 48 42 Pink pony club (2) 49 50 Give it up to me (31) 50 44 The hardest part (23)

Week 17: 1 1 Olivia Dean The Art Of Loving 278,000 560,000 2 2 Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. 265,000 3 3 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 144,000 1,970,000 4 4 The Weeknd Highlights 119,000 1,700,000 5 5 Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend 114,000 420,000 6 7 Michael Jackson The Essential 113,000 2,210,000 7 6 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 110,000 620,000 8 8 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 103,000 410,000 9 10 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 91,000 980,000 10 11 Noah Kahan Stick Season 91,000 980,000 11 9 Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl 89,000 730,000 12 12 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 88,000 2,500,000 13 13 Linkin Park Papercuts 87,000 480,000 14 14 Tate McRae So Close To What 83,000 340,000 15 15 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 83,000 3,640,000 16 18 Raye This Music May Contain Hope 82,000 17 16 ABBA Gold 82,000 6,220,000 18 17 BTS Arirang 81,000 19 19 Elton John Diamonds 75,000 2,000,000 20 20 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 72,000 5,690,000 21 21 Arctic Monkeys AM 72,000 2,400,000 22 22 Sombr I Barely Know Her 69,000 160,000 23 23 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 67,000 3,600,000 24 26 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 63,000 1,310,000 25 25 50 Cent Best Of 50 Cent 62,000 830,000 26 24 EsDeeKid Rebel 61,000 140,000 27 27 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 60,000 760,000 28 28 Pitbull Greatest Hits 58,000 680,000 29 29 Maroon 5 Singles 57,000 1,050,000 30 31 Queen Greatest Hits 54,000 3,260,000 31 30 Mumford & Sons Prizefighter 53,000 32 32 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 53,000 650,000 33 33 Sam Fender People Watching 52,000 330,000 34 34 Red Hot Chili Peppers Greatest Hits 52,000 2,360,000 35 35 Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Hooligans 51,000 2,480,000 36 37 Oasis Definitely Maybe 51,000 3,070,000 37 40 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 50,000 550,000 38 38 Zach Bryan With Heaven On Top 49,000 39 36 Gorillaz The Mountain 49,000 40 43 Calvin Harris 96 Months 49,000 280,000 42 45 Katy Perry Teenage Dream 48,000 2,080,000 53 54 Lady Gaga The Fame 45,000 3,640,000 55 57 Green Day Greatest Hits: God's Favorite Band 45,000 790,000 63 64 Britney Spears The Singles Collection 43,000 760,000 67 69 Phil Collins The Singles 41,000 920,000 69 72 Avicii Avicii Forever 41,000 110,000 72 73 Kanye West Graduation 40,000 1,100,000 82 91 The Cure Greatest Hits 37,000 1,260,000 91 95 Madonna Finally Enough Love - #1s Remixed 35,000 330,000 98 99 Nirvana Nirvana 33,000 1,590,000

Think the position for “Bulletproof” is about right. Shame La Roux faded away so quickly as they were a breath of fresh air. I also think I’d have “The Fear” a good few places higher. It’s comfortably her best song and I was very glad ABBA didn’t have to face it in the Pop Factor final.

Blancmange - Waves Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart Kissing The Pink - Last Film Ultravox - Visions In Blue New Order - Blue Monday Copying Rollo but I’d have “Beat It” in 6th

A 3rd straight very strong group to kick off the year. “Sweet Dreams” was always going to come top but I’m very surprised I’ve ended up dropping “Africa” to 3rd place. “Genetic Engineering” is just that little bit more exciting overall. 9 Eurythmics Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) 1st Top 40 after some misses for the UK duo about the break up of their band The Tourists: a synth pop masterpiece 9 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Genetic Engineering This broke their Top 10 run, probably because it's so unusual, but a fabulous, zany and slightly distopian feeling track 8 Toto Africa One of the most streamed songs from the whole '80s with beautiful soft production and an impassioned chorus 8 Fun Boy Three The Tunnel Of Love Their previous single failed to chart but this takes them back into the Top 10: a great song and I love its tango style 7 Depeche Mode Get The Balance Right They have a new member for this track exploring the contradictory demands of life with a jangly electronic sound 7 Thompson Twins Love On Your Side 1st Top 40 for this UK group and a bit success after their last single only reached #67: an interesting pensive song 7 Icehouse Hey Little Girl 1st and biggest hit for this Australian band: a compelling and well produced track and I enjoy the deep lead vocal 6 Marillion He Knows You Know Their 2nd single and 1st Top 40: no central hook to this but an enjoyable, foreboding and dramatic slice of prog rock 6 Thin Lizzy Cold Sweat Their big hits are behind them and this is a surprisingly heavy lead single, but it's a strong one with a great guitar solo 5 Spandau Ballet Communication Their transition to a pop sound is complete and although it's catchy and serviceable I think they've lost their edge 5 Madness Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)/Madness (Is All In The Mind) The 1st side is a fairly typical Madness style track, while the 2nd has a slower more bluesy feel: not a bad double A 4 Musical Youth Never Gonna Give You Up Their 3rd hit and 2nd biggest eclipsing the previous one: still not fully buying into the project but this is a decent tune 4 Phil Everly And Cliff Richard She Means Nothing To Me Phil's 1st solo Top 40 with this collaboration that has a fairly typical Cliff sound: bland and radio friendly but not bad 3 Patti Austin With James Ingram Baby, Come To Me A US #1 after being featured in a soap and Patti's only Top 40 here: nicely performed but a little dull and soppy for me 1983 Group 4: 989 19/02/1983 Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse Of The Heart 1 49-14-2-{1}-1-2-3-8-16-27-34-63->12 #990 19/02/1983 Blancmange Waves 19 41-30-26-21-{19}-19-25-32-53->9 #991 26/02/1983 Forrest Rock The Boat 4 35-12-{4}-4-6-10-17-24-43-66->10 #992 26/02/1983 Bananarama Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye 5 40-21-7-{5}-7-9-16-21-40-71->10 #993 26/02/1983 Modern Romance High Life 8 57-28-18-{8}-10-23-33-50->8 #994 26/02/1983 David Joseph You Can't Hide (Your Love From Me) 13 51-30-24-16-{13}-14-25-31-56->9 #995 19/02/1983 Orange Juice Rip It Up 8 50-42-31-22-10-9-{8}-12-18-32-49->11 #996 26/02/1983 Malcolm McLaren Soweto 32 47-{32}-33-40-57->5 #997 12/02/1983 Kenny Rogers And Sheena Easton We've Got Tonight 28 56-42-41-34-{28}-33-55->7 #998 26/02/1983 The Stranglers Midnight Summer Dream 35 62-38-{35}-55->4 #999 19/02/1983 Joan Armatrading Drop The Pilot 11 70-59-39-29-28-{11}-12-22-29-57->10 #1000 05/03/1983 Soft Cell Numbers/Barriers 25 40-{25}-31-46->4 #1001 12/03/1983 Bucks Fizz Run For Your Life 14 31-21-{14}-21-28-33-65->7 #1002 26/02/1983 Big Country Fields Of Fire (400 Miles) 10 64-49-37-34-31-13-13-{10}-15-29-42-73->12

It’s possible that the Olivia and Sombr songs will grow on me, but for now I’m only voting for Lana.

Not having a participant list made the guessing even more interesting I think. But it was generally fairly clear that almost everyone voting regularly was either a participant or became a judge in the live shows. Actually if the voting was made private all the way through you could then get a shock reveal after the final which would be fun!

Yeah I’d have expected “Baby Steps” to be around the bottom of the Top 40 in any case on streaming (but starred out by “Nice To Each Other”). So it can’t have done many vinyls at all.

Surprised at the Scanty Sandwich pile on. I’m going for the nondescript Saturdays debut.

Would be nice for “Baby Steps” to finally get a moment. She still has a few others that have never charted at all in the YTD Top 100 and will still be a first if any of them hang on until the end of the year without charting.

7 Girls Aloud - Wake Me Up 1 Britney Spears - My Prerogative 2 Rachel Stevens - More, More, More 11 Beyoncé - Crazy In Love (feat. Jay-Z) 9 Natasha Bedingfield - These Words 10 Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending 6 Ashlee Simpson - Pieces Of Me 9 Sugababes - Freak Like Me 5 JoJo - Leave (Get Out) 7 The 411 - Dumb 4 Jennifer Lopez - Play 5 Ashanti - Only U 3 Christina Aguilera - What a Girl Wants 1 Christina Milian - Whatever U Want (feat. Joe Budden) 8 Nina Sky - Move Ya Body (feat. Jabba) 3 Dannii Minogue vs. Flower Power - You Won't Forget About Me 2 Verbalicious - Don't Play Nice 8 P!nk - Don't Let Me Get Me 0 Kim-Lian - Teenage Superstar 10 Anastacia - Left Outside Alone 4 Lucie Silvas - Breathe In 6 Kylie Minogue - Better the Devil You Know

This is the first time I’ll have to leave 9s out. Men At Work - Down Under Michael Jackson - Billie Jean Echo And The Bunnymen - The Cutter Toto - Africa Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

We really are being spoiled with this year so far. “Billie Jean” was always going to get a perfect score: it’s the absolute peak of that style of dance pop. “The Cutter” and “Change” are both outstandingly dynamic new wave tracks, and there’s quite a bit more greatness below that. 10 Michael Jackson Billie Jean 516th #1: his biggest and very best song; an inspired lyrical story meets a wonderfully performed and funky pop track 9 Echo And The Bunnymen The Cutter Their 1st Top 10 and a wonderful relentless and angst ridden track with enigmatic lyrics and Eastern influences 9 Tears For Fears Change Their 2nd Top 5 hit in quick section and a very exciting and frenetic track that's really made by the xylophone part 8 Prince 1999 He had a #41 in 1980 and only now breaks the Top 40 with this fine track putting an optimistic spin on the future 8 Kajagoogoo Too Shy 515th #1: debut for this UK group with a great song, produced by Colin Thurston who had worked with Duran Duran 7 China Crisis Christian 1st Top 40 for this UK new wave band: this has a very lovely dreamy atmosphere to it helped by the sliding bassline 7 Indeep Last Night A DJ Saved My Life Only Top 40 for this US electro hip hop group, and a classic extensively covered song that seems ahead of its time 6 Rockers Revenge Featuring Donnie Calvin The Harder They Come A dynamic cover of a Jimmy Cliff song giving them their 2nd hit: it's very nicely done but future singles won't chart 6 Central Line Nature Boy 6 chart hits but only the 1 Top 40 for this UK soul band: it sounds rather like Stevie but it's a very nice soulful track 5 Level 42 The Chinese Way They've had a few bubbling under hits but this one goes a little further: a nice but unremarkable new wave song 5 Wham! Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do) A 2nd overly exuberant and boisterous hit for them: it certainly shows promise but isn't an essential in the canon 4 Joe Cocker And Jennifer Warnes Up Where We Belong Joe's 1st Top 40 in more than a decade and Jennifer's 1st: as soppy ballads go it is effective and well remembered 3 Haysi Fantayzee Shiny Shiny Their 2nd and last Top 40, and like the other one it's a rather odd track with nonsense themes, but briefly intriguing 3 Sharon Redd In The Name Of Love A 3rd hit for her and again it's a long disco track that gently bubbles along without anything distinctive happening 1983 Group 3: #975 29/01/1983 Thompson Twins Love On Your Side 9 58-38-27-15-12-{9}-9-12-22-34-40-51->12 #976 05/02/1983 Toto Africa 3 39-19-6-{3}-4-5-7-23-35-48->10 #977 05/02/1983 Fun Boy Three The Tunnel Of Love 10 68-26-14-11-{10}-13-18-34-50-69->10 05/02/1983 Elvis Presley Jailhouse Rock {1983} 27 51-29-{27}-37-57-68->6 #978 12/02/1983 Depeche Mode Get The Balance Right 13 32-22-22-{13}-15-26-40-62->8 #979 12/02/1983 Thin Lizzy Cold Sweat 27 33-28-{27}-33-50-> #980 12/02/1983 Marillion He Knows You Know 35 {35}-39-49-74->4 #981 12/02/1983 Patti Austin With James Ingram Baby, Come To Me 11 38-35-19-18-{11}-11-18-28-37-69->10 #982 05/02/1983 Icehouse Hey Little Girl 17 48-39-34-{17}-17-17-20-33-48-66->10 #983 12/02/1983 Musical Youth Never Gonna Give You Up 6 40-16-8-{6}-10-17-35-46-62-73->10 #984 19/02/1983 Madness Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)/Madness (Is All In The Mind) 8 24-9-{8}-8-15-30-43-51-63->9 #985 12/02/1983 Spandau Ballet Communication 12 41-33-24-15-{12}-13-20-29-35-58->10 #986 19/02/1983 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Genetic Engineering 20 37-25-25-{20}-22-32-55-71->8 #987 12/02/1983 Eurythmics Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) 2 63-38-21-5-3-{2}-3-5-5-15-25-33-50-60->14 #988 19/02/1983 Phil Everly And Cliff Richard She Means Nothing To Me 9 40-29-19-14-{9}-16-31-41-60->9

Poor BEPs looking like they were heading for 3 in the Top 10, only to end up with only 1. Beyond 2009 they became very hit and miss, if not miss and miss, but I do really like this trio of #1s and especially how different from each other they are. I hadn’t realised “Meet Me Halfway” sampled “Maps”; I really like the futuristic feel to it and it’s a great vocal performance from Fergie. It was an amazing chart moment not only that it beat Leona but managed a 6 figure sale that week after having climbed up the chart which is very rare. “Boom Boom Pow” was my least favourite of the 3 at the time, though I still liked it. Now I think it’s right up there and would definitely be well inside my Top 10. It was pretty bold to go with something so sparse and hard edged, and the lyrics are fun. Speaking of 2000-and-late we’re definitely going to be extending this series of threads into the next decade! More on that to come.

I’m not really a fan of “My Life Would Suck…”. I think it’s too similar to “Since U Been Gone” and the others in that week’s Top 3 (“Poker Face” and “Love Story”) are much more iconic for me. “When Love Takes Over” has a euphoric quality but I think you’ve placed it about right and the other Guetta track is better. “Run This Town” is good - thanks for drawing attention to the battle clap which is definitely one of its best features. “Empire State Of Mind” is absolutely far superior though. “Fight For This Love” is really strong though quite straightforward. I wouldn’t say it bears huge numbers of repeat listens. So nothing that I’m really sad to see out.

I recommend the “Voulez-Vous” album. It works well as a unit and all the album tracks are great. “Kisses Of Fire” and “Lovelight” are a couple of other lesser known highlights from it.

Well where to start - thanks so much all for the kind words. Thanks to those who voted for ABBA and gave them good rankings, but also to those who aren’t fans as all the participants make this event special. When I was about 5 my parents showed me their ABBA singles and Beatles blue and red vinyls, and I played them all until they were full of scratches and wouldn’t play anymore. And somehow no matter how much my taste has evolved over time they have never been topped as my two favourite acts. So after sitting out Season 1 I thought I’d have a bit of fun and submit the entry form this time. I wrote down ABBA and the opening track from one of my favourite ever pop albums, “As Good As New” from “Voulez-Vous”. I thought they would probably be either taken already or vetoed for being too big, and felt a bit apologetic about the whole thing. I said to Calum maybe I could enter them and only use album tracks? He came back and said sorry they’re already taken. I thought no bother - I’m happy to sit out again and follow along anyway. Then Calum came back again and said aerially I was going to take ABBA but feel bad that they aren’t going to an actual participant, so you can have them. So thank you very much again for the generosity @Calum . And what a stunning job you do with this of course: it really is quite extraordinary. I could absolutely have entered 13 deep cuts that I love: they honestly have so many and such a variety of gems. But of course it became clear by Week 2 that the album only strategy would get me eliminated fairly quickly, especially with the groups section being so competitive. I didn’t want to be forever known as the person who somehow managed to crash ABBA out of the competition, and I was aware that others would have loved to mentor them so I didn’t think they’d be very impressed if I went out early. I owed it to ABBA to take them as far as I could. So I had to come up with a different strategy that included hits. But I was still clear that I was representing ABBA and not just “Gold”. Tracks like “Waterloo”, “Mamma Mia” and Dancing Queen” are great pop songs but I know nobody really needs to hear them again. Instead I wanted to show all ABBA’s different styles, and I think I managed that. Only 6 of the 13 tracks I used were UK Top 5 hits and of their 9 #1s I used only the last 3. We had disco ABBA, rock and roll ABBA, prog rock ABBA, bubblegum ABBA, acoustic ABBA, heartbreak ABBA, early ABBA, later ABBA and 2020s ABBA. As some of you clocked the plan had always been to use “The Day Before You Came” in the flops round and that was foiled by the criteria being stricter than expected. Luckily “Eagle” fitted the criteria and it was lovely to rediscover that, and it did the job. “Knowing Me, Knowing You” was the song lined up to get me safely through the semifinal and the path to the end seemed to be right there. But suddenly I felt an overwhelming sense of loss at not being able to use “The Day Before You Came”. To me it’s one of the most extraordinary pop songs of all time, but I know it’s very subtle and not a song anyone would love on first hearing. I knew it was a huge risk for the semifinal. I hoped it woild have enough fans to avoid last place and then the chances of winning a judge vote seemed decent. But ultimately I realised the journey would feel incomplete without it and it simply had to be used whether it got me through or not. Thanks of course to the judges for saving ABBA, and as for @Lee_J11 , well thank you baby for being you. x I’ll leave you with one song to say thank you for the musical journey. No not that one… this would have been my deep cut for the final if one had been required. We’ve just had possibly Agnetha’s finest vocal performance and this might be Frida’s. Listen to how she delivers these beautiful words, how the song twists and turns and how it unravels into a bizarre little dance before she takes control again. Hopefully I made the music speak for you a little!

And I can finally say sorry now - both for taking the act you wanted and then knocking you out for good measure!

Thanks Iz and thanks for your encouragement regarding my ABBA taste. In particular your very kind comment in the semi final thread when I sensed it wasn’t going too well for “The Day Before You Came” was a lovely boost.

I clicked on it expecting to hear a Tina Turner cover

Many congratulations Joseph for improving into the Top 3 after an unlucky 4th with the Saturdays. And Scene you’ve done it again… amazing how on the pulse you are with all these pop best of and pop factor contests! It’s been quite the ride… I don’t think I’ve ever had so many emotional highs and lows on Buzzjack as in the last 12 weeks or so!

Agree on Tinchy - some really good stuff here otherwise.