Ghoulian

Tied 😮

Edited my votes in. Hoping to make the first part today but can’t make it all sadly.

Yep agree almost completely - “Yeah!” might have pipped “Everytime” and “Mad World” in mine but not by much and I agree with the Top 2. Not a Britney fan but those back to back chart toppers really were her finest hour and a world removed from the schoolgirl style of her first couple of albums.

Sorry edited

The sales for “How It’s Done” this week are a bit more than I had expected so its total may be a bit higher than my 339k. Interesting that “What It Sounds Like” actually overtook HID on audio streaming this week, but it’s way behind on video streaming which may make the difference. Anyway should be another Top 15 hit for them with “Your Idol” going to ACR. I suspect there’ll be no new or re-entries this week.

“Yeah!” is Usher’s greatest moment by miles and would be in my Top 5 too. “Radio” has also crept up on me over time - I didn’t think much of it at the time but I now really like the swaggy performance and the retro feel.

It seems putting a trigger warning on the poll increases the number of voters! Maybe I should come up with some other clickbait header for the others.

Sam’s music is generally in the pleasant category for me but yeah would have much preferred Fontaines or CMAT.

I wonder if the Top 3 could all be quite close next week if “Golden” avoids ACR. “…Ophelia” does seem to be holding up better than the other Taylor songs though.

“Elizabeth Taylor” must have dropped by 50% plus from 90k then. It’s the most immediately catchy on the album for me, though not sure about its replay value.

Why is Olivia Dean being at #8 “ironic”? Impressive performance for this album track anyway.

I wish I liked Tate’s voice more as the music is pretty interesting.

Q: What’s the opposite of a pineapple air freshener? A: “Lose Control” re-entering at #40.

9 weeks at #22 and #23 combined for this!

Except “Crazy” was a great song.

“Eyes Closed” is very meh but Top 40 freshness is pretty much always welcome at the moment. Great that “Dracula” is on the rise. Ugh at Teddy and Benson climbing but I did warn that would be a side effect of an ACR clearout.

A lot that I like but don’t love in this group, and on paper “Ceremony” should be the top pick but I’m actually slightly more taken by the quirky “Einstein A Go-Go”. 8 Landscape Einstein A-Go-Go 1st hit for this UK synth pop group using a wind instrument called a lyricon, and a wonderfully unusual and forward looking track 8 New Order Ceremony 1st hit for this UK band that was written by Joy Division with moody Ian Curtis lyrics: a very strong synth laden opening statement 7 Hazel O'Connor D-Days Her last one only made #41 but she's back in the Top 10 with another very enjoyable track that has an energetic marching feel 7 Ultravox Slow Motion A low peaking hit to follow up "Vienna" and quite different from the lush sound world of that, but another strong synth led track 7 Dave Stewart With Colin Blunstone What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted A cover of the Jimmy Ruffin '60s song with some synths and up to date touches: not my favourite song but a beautiful version 6 Linx Intuition Only atop 10 for the Britfunk duo: although I prefer the more catchy "You're Lying" this works well and I like the instruments 6 The Whispers It's A Love Thing Their 2nd Top 10 hit: I really enjoy the instrumental introduction and it's nothing new but a good and well sung disco soul track 6 Heatwave Jitterbuggin' Their last Top 40 and an enjoyable funk track with some particular nice instrumental touches like a wind solo and the brass 5 Bucks Fizz Making Your Mind Up 478th #1 and Eurovision winner: it's supremely catchy and very well written for its purpose, but I can't exactly say that I enjoy it 5 Iron Maiden Twilight Zone/Wrathchild I think both sides of this are decent, especially "Wrathchild": their best hit so far though nothing very memorable from them yet 4 Tony Capstick And The Carlton Main/Frickley Colliery Band Capstick Comes Home/The Sheffield Grinder A curious novelty double A from this UK actor about working in Yorkshire mines: quite effective, especially the spoken 1st side 4 The Polecats John I'm Only Dancing/Big Green Car 1st hit for this UK rockabilly covers band with a Bowie and a Jimmy Carroll song: both competent versions but nothing special 3 Elton John Band Featuring John Lennon And The Muscle Shoals Horns I Saw Her Standing There The only hit version of this and a nice tribute to John done as a live recording, but it doesn't really add a great deal to the song 3 Gillan New Orleans Their 2nd Top 20 hit with a call and response style: I much prefer the dramatic style of their last hit and don't get much from this 2 The Nolans Attention To Me It's the usual upbeat pop with harmonies from them, but I find the needy lyrics quite off putting and it's my least favourite so far 1981 Group 6: #403 21/03/1981 Graham Bonnet Night Games 6 69-43-26-12-{6}-8-8-11-31-33-57->11 #404 28/03/1981 Children Of Tansley School My Mum Is One In A Million 27 75-{27}-49-48->4 #405 28/03/1981 Bad Manners Just A Feeling 13 54-29-20-15-{13}-16-18-32-44->9 #406 28/03/1981 Sugar Minott Good Thing Going 4 57-31-14-7-{4}-4-7-13-29-40-58-74->12 #407 28/03/1981 David Bowie Up The Hill Backwards 32 42-{32}-32-36-42-66->6 #408 11/04/1981 Ennio Morricone Chi Mai (Theme From 'The Life And Times Of David Lloyd George') 2 19-4-{2}-2-3-5-9-20-28-39-62-70->12 #409 11/04/1981 Saxon And The Bands Played On 12 27-19-{12}-15-16-30-52-61->8 #410 04/04/1981 Spandau Ballet Musclebound/Glow 10 53-29-18-15-13-{10}-15-22-46-69->10 #411 04/04/1981 Public Image Ltd Flowers Of Romance 24 50-31-{24}-26-24-35-40->7 #412 04/04/1981 John Lennon Watching The Wheels 30 54-33-{30}-34-41-67->6 #413 28/03/1981 Shalamar Make That Move 30 60-42-36-32-33-{30}-37-41-61-69->10 #414 04/04/1981 Dire Straits Skateaway 37 55-{37}-38-46-64->5 #415 28/03/1981 Light Of The World I'm So Happy/Time 35 63-45-38-{35}-44-60->6 #416 04/04/1981 Keith Marshall Only Crying 12 60-39-25-21-14-{12}-17-17-29-36->10

I actually like all these to some extent. Going for George Michael though it isn’t a bad remake.

Will we love him when he’s down and out? Probably not as 50 Cent is eliminated. This was his 2nd hit, following up the huge “In Da Club” and reaching #6 in July 2003. It’s Nate Dogg’s 2nd highest peaking hit after “Regulate”. 8th: 50 Cent - 21 Questions 10/26 votes (34%) 9th: Geraldine - Once Upon A Christmas Song 14/27 votes (52%) 10th: Brian Kennedy & Peter Corry - George Best - A Tribute 13/29 votes (45%)

Going for Divine Inspiration now, but it’s a nice uplifting dance track.

Rocked so much that they’ve fallen out are Eve and Alicia. The track was based on “Don’t Stop The Music” from 1981 by Yarbrough And Peoples which was a #7 hit. This went 1 place better, peaking at #6 in September 2002. 5th: Eve featuring Alicia Keys - Gangsta Lovin’ 12/26 votes (46%) 6th: Esmée Denters - Outta Here 11/28 votes (39%) 7th: Five - Don’t Wanna Let You Go (12/27 votes (44%) 8th: The Script - We Cry 8/28 votes (29%) 9th: Nickelback - Rockstar 11/31 votes (35%) 10th: Orson - Bright Idea 8/27 votes (30%)

Difficult as “Rooftops” is in my top half based on song quality but I still have no desire to see it progress. 🤷‍♂️

Apologies for the delay in getting this one up. Obviously it’s very spooky timing for the first poll involving Lostprophets, but I’ve decided to run it as normal and only include video features for the other 9.

The top 6 is now very aligned with my taste. Not sure “Mysterious Girl” would have quite made my Top 10 but I do think it’s one of the best pop reggae crossovers of its kind. U2 are very hit and miss for me but “Vertigo” is a really strong bit of mid 00s rock.