Ghoulian

Eve and Alicia but it’s not bad.

Getting outta here is Esmée Denters. This was the Dutch singer’s only solo Top 10 hit though she would appear on a collaboration with Chipmunk that reached #3 the following year. In 2015 she appeared on “The Voice Uk” and was coached by will.i.am. 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%)

50 Cent now - bit of a lousy follow up to “In Da Club”.

Eliminated before it gets in our heads is Geraldine. This reached #5 in December 2008. Geraldine would be back in 2011 in a SuBo duet, though Peter Kay would hit #1 as himself the following year. 9th: Geraldine - Once Upon A Christmas Song 14/27 votes (52%) 10th: Brian Kennedy & Peter Corry - George Best - A Tribute 13/29 votes (45%)

“Revolving Door” is at #60 so must have done a few k more than I had thought.

I don’t exactly like “Babycakes” but it would nonetheless escape my bottom few here. Ditto Eamon - I don’t like it but it would beat Frankee at least.

Week 40: 1 1 Alex Warren Ordinary 1,751,000 2 2 Lola Young Messy 1,279,000 1,460,000 3 3 Rosé and Bruno Mars APT. 1,194,000 1,540,000 4 4 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 1,182,000 1,630,000 5 5 Gracie Abrams That's So True 1,037,000 1,470,000 6 6 Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars Die With A Smile 967,000 1,600,000 7 7 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 951,000 2,740,000 8 8 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 927,000 940,000 9 9 Chrystal The Days 881,000 1,050,000 10 10 Billie Eilish Birds Of A Feather 865,000 2,080,000 11 11 Chappell Roan Good Luck, Babe! 848,000 2,050,000 12 12 Teddy Swims Lose Control 796,000 2,630,000 13 13 Sabrina Carpenter Espresso 753,000 2,500,000 14 14 Gigi Perez Sailor Song 743,000 1,340,000 15 15 Sabrina Carpenter Taste 733,000 1,530,000 16 16 Teddy Swims Bad Dreams 727,000 970,000 17 17 Teddy Swims The Door 701,000 1,370,000 18 25 Huntr/x, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Golden 701,000 19 18 Myles Smith Nice To Meet You 694,000 800,000 20 19 Tate McRae Sports Car 691,000 21 20 Myles Smith Stargazing 677,000 1,690,000 22 21 Sombr Undressed 671,000 23 24 Sombr Back To Friends 661,000 24 22 Shaboozey A Bar Song (Tipsy) 658,000 1,990,000 25 23 WizTheMc & Bees & Honey Show Me Love 653,000 26 26 Hozier Too Sweet 628,000 2,080,000 27 27 Alex Warren Carry You Home 622,000 920,000 28 28 Noah Kahan Stick Season 604,000 3,120,000 29 30 Sabrina Carpenter Manchild 598,000 30 29 Ed Sheeran Azizam 585,000 31 32 The Killers Mr Brightside 569,000 6,630,000 32 33 Goo Goo Dolls Iris 568,000 4,380,000 33 31 Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & D.O.D. Somedays 568,000 1,040,000 34 34 Fleetwood Mac Dreams 555,000 3,780,000 35 36 Sabrina Carpenter Please Please Please 546,000 1,690,000 36 35 Kendrick Lamar Not Like Us 545,000 1,160,000 37 37 Lady Gaga Abracadabra 529,000 38 39 MK featuring Chrystal Dior 522,000 39 38 Sabrina Carpenter Busy Woman 518,000 40 40 Calvin Harris And Clementine Douglas Blessings 517,000 55 59 Olivia Dean Nice To Each Other 449,000 59 62 Disco Lines & Tinashe No Broke Boys 438,000 65 70 Sam Fender & Olivia Dean Rein Me In 409,000 69 71 Ed Sheeran Sapphire 405,000 70 87 Saja Boys, Andrew Choi Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Soda Pop 403,000 72 - Olivia Dean Man I Need 401,000 86 94 Saja Boys, Andrew Choi Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Your Idol 378,000 98 - Justin Bieber Daisies 346,000 - 100 Tate McRae Greedy 343,000 1,610,000 - 98 Sabrina Carpenter Juno 342,000 580,000

9/10: 1 2 Man I need (1) 2 1 Golden (1) 3 4 Where is my husband! (4) 4 5 Ordinary (1) 5 10 Nice to each other (5) 6 6 Soda Pop (4) 7 - Tit for tat (7) 8 9 12 to 12 (8) 9 7 No broke boys (3) 10 8 Your idol (7) 11 - So easy (11) 12 11 Tears (3) 13 13 Back to friends (7) 14 12 Manchild (1) 15 14 When did you get hot? (9) 16 15 Love me not (2) 17 17 Undressed (4) 18 16 How it’s done (13) 19 18 Rein me in (7) 20 20 Pink pony club (2) 21 19 What it sounds like (18) 22 3 Something in the heavens (3) 23 28 Beautiful things (1) 24 25 Eternity (5) 25 - Lady lady (25) 26 22 Daisies (2) 27 21 Sapphire (8) 28 24 The subway (1) 29 29 Dior (2) 30 27 Takedown (22) 31 - Let alone the one you love (31) 32 40 Dive (32) 33 36 Iris (3) 34 33 Messy (1) 35 23 House tour (11) 36 35 Lose control (2) 37 34 Victory lap (5) 38 - Baby steps (38) 39 37 Blessings (5) 40 - Something inbetween (40) 41 32 Free (28) 42 30 The dead dance (24) 43 39 Just keep watching (6) 44 41 Mystical magical (18) 45 26 Nobody’s son (14) 46 47 Mr Brightside (10) 47 31 Survive (1) 48 45 Breakin’ dishes (45) 49 - Loud (49) 50 - Close up (50)

Week 40: 1 1 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 450,000 820,000 2 2 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 324,000 430,000 3 3 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 307,000 2,340,000 4 4 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 283,000 1,750,000 5 5 The Weeknd The Highlights 259,000 1,490,000 6 7 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 224,000 5,530,000 7 6 Sam Fender People Watching 223,000 8 8 Chappell Roan The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess 221,000 520,000 9 9 Elton John Diamonds 216,000 1,870,000 10 10 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 212,000 230,000 11 11 SZA SOS 204,000 690,000 12 12 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 203,000 550,000 13 13 Charli XCX Brat 198,000 490,000 14 14 Noah Kahan Stick Season 195,000 670,000 15 15 Tate McRae So Close To What 190,000 16 16 Michael Jackson The Essential 189,000 2,030,000 17 17 ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits 186,000 6,090,000 18 23 Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend 180,000 19 18 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 176,000 3,490,000 20 19 Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department 174,000 960,000 21 20 Arctic Monkeys AM 173,000 2,270,000 22 21 Oasis Definitely Maybe 172,000 2,970,000 23 22 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 170,000 3,490,000 24 24 Linkin Park Papercuts 166,000 340,000 25 25 Lady Gaga Mayhem 161,000 26 26 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 161,000 650,000 27 27 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 156,000 1,210,000 28 28 Gracie Abrams The Secret Of Us 155,000 290,000 29 29 Central Cee Can't Rush Greatness 146,000 30 30 Calvin Harris 96 Months 132,000 200,000 31 31 Queen Greatest Hits 130,000 3,170,000 32 34 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 129,000 460,000 33 32 Benson Boone Fireworks & Rollerblades 128,000 250,000 34 33 Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine 128,000 310,000 35 36 Pitbull Greatest Hits 123,000 590,000 36 35 Ed Sheeran ÷ 123,000 4,450,000 37 37 Billy Joel Piano Man: The Very Best Of Billy Joel 123,000 1,670,000 38 38 Fontaines D.C. Romance 120,000 240,000 39 39 PartyNextDoor & Drake $ome $exy $ongs 4 U 117,000 40 41 Maroon 5 Singles 115,000 950,000

Absolutely fine to post it @Mack ! I’m just struggling a little to understand what it means.

Hi Mack. Would you mind explaining how this chart works? For example how does “Who Feels Love?” get a run of 6-10-29-39? Presumably it’s not based on how you felt at the time (I’m guessing you’d have been very young).

This batch is somewhere between the 1st and 2nd overall with a brilliant winner. 9 Talking Heads Once In A Lifetime 1st hit for the group: an incredible track with a mesmerising chorus, sermon style spoken verses and twinkling accompaniment 8 The Jam That's Entertainment This only peaked at #21 because it was an import single: a marvellous simple and psychedelic track about working class life 8 Adam And The Ants Kings Of The Wild Frontier {1981} This was re-released following the success of other singles: a great pulsing track that has a feel of being about to go into battle 7 The Pretenders Message Of Love This isn't as immediate as the likes of "Brass In Pocket" but it's a lovely and wistful track with a driving rhythm and sweet lyrics 7 Gillan Mutually Assured Destruction Not a big hit but a really great apocalyptic track from the hard rock band with big production and slow dramatic vocal lines 7 Adam And The Ants Cartrouble "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" may have impeded the chart performance for this, which is another great pulsing track from them 6 Freeez Southern Freeez 1st hit for this UK group: the instrumental elements of this and the gentle vocals are lovely, but it' more pleasant than great 6 Roxy Music Jealous Guy 476th #1: they added this cover to their set following John's death and it's very well done but I prefer John's more raw version 6 Motorhead/Girlschool St Valentine's Day Massacre EP The 2 rock bands came together to record this EP with the 1st track together and then covering each other: it's a fun listen 5 Stray Cats Rock This Town I assumed this was a '50s cover but it's an original rockabilly song: it's a very decent example of its genre but not remarkable 5 Sheila Hylton The Bed's Too Big Without You Only Top 40 for this British Jamaican singer with a cover of the Police song: it's well performed but fairly similar to the original 4 Barbara Jones Just When I Needed You Most Only hit for this Jamaican singer: it's a very mellow ballad that isn't really my thing but she has a sweet voice and performs well 4 Coast To Coast (Do) The Hucklebuck Originally from 1949, it's a dance craze style rock and roll song giving this UK band their only big hit: it's quite a fun novelty 3 Beggar And Co (Somebody) Help Me Out 1st hit for this UK jazz funk group: I quite like the trumpet parts and it's well sung but doesn't have a hook or anything memorable 3 Kelly Marie Hot Love Her last Top 40 and it's a very similar kind of high energy pop track for the 3rd time though with bagpipes this time: fairly naff 2 Barry Manilow I Made It Through The Rain Originally by Gerald Kenny, it's an easy listening song in any form but the original has more character and this does little for me 1981 Group 4: #373 28/02/1981 Status Quo Something 'Bout You Baby I Like 9 19-{9}-9-12-22-28-54->7 #374 14/02/1981 Toyah Four From Toyah EP 4 59-42-26-16-11-8-{4}-6-8-16-27-33-58-58->14 #375 31/01/1981 The Teardrop Explodes Reward 6 61-43-45-41-29-25-13-{6}-8-15-21-42-51->13 #376 21/02/1981 Kool And The Gang Jones Vs Jones/Summer Madness/Funky Stuff 17 64-39-31-21-{17}-18-20-25-27-52-67->11 #377 21/02/1981 Kiki Dee Star 13 55-40-27-17-{13}-15-19-28-51-67->10 #378 21/02/1981 Kim Wilde Kids In America 2 62-43-18-6-3-{2}-2-4-11-14-23-43-60->13 #379 28/02/1981 Shakin' Stevens This Ole House 1 64-29-7-2-{1}-1-1-2-3-7-19-28-41-50-65-56-71->17 #380 28/02/1981 The Jacksons Can You Feel It 6 57-34-31-28-26-23-11-8-7-{6}-8-11-27-39-56->15 #381 07/03/1981 The Who You Better You Bet 9 35-16-{9}-9-14-23-44-64->8 #382 28/02/1981 Yoko Ono Walking On Thin Ice 35 50-37-{35}-40-64->5 #383 07/03/1981 Phil Collins I Missed Again 14 45-20-{14}-17-24-30-66-75->8 #384 21/02/1981 Duran Duran Planet Earth 12 67-52-47-26-20-{12}-16-22-23-40-47->11 #385 07/03/1981 Stevie Wonder Lately 3 57-27-18-6-4-{3}-3-5-10-25-35-59-73->13 #386 14/03/1981 Visage Mind Of A Toy 13 32-24-14-{13}-16-21-32-52->8 #387 28/02/1981 Sharon Redd Can You Handle It 31 60-43-37-33-{31}-38-56-74->8

Chi Mai Reward Kids In America Einstein A Go-Go Walking On Thin Ice Public Image Ltd and New Order just missing Vienna

“Return Of The Mack” is the only song I really like so far - I’d have that quite a bit higher too.

Thanks very much to all who have commented or followed my journey through 2003. I now pass the baton to @Popchartfreak who will be covering 2004 when he’s back from holiday. My full ranking: 1 t.A.T.u - All The Things She Said 2 Beyoncé featuring Jay Z - Crazy In Love 3 Evanescence - Bring Me To Life 4 Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground 5 Tomcraft - Loneliness 6 Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - Mad World 7 Will Young - Leave Right Now 8 Blu Cantrell featuring Sean Paul - Breathe 9 Christina Aguilera - Beautiful 10 Sugababes - Hole In The Head 11 Kylie Minogue - Slow 12 The Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love? 13 Elton John - Are You Ready For Love 14 R. Kelly - Ignition (Remix) 15 Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheetham - Make Luv 16 Busted - Crashed The Wedding 17 Fatman Scoop featuring The Crooklyn Clan - Be Faithful 18 Gareth Gates and the Kumars - Spirit In The Sky 19 Daniel Bedingfield- Never Gonna Leave Your Side 20 Busted - You Said No 21 Westlife - Mandy 22 Ozzy Osbourne & Kelly Osbourne - Changes 23 David Sneddon - Stop Living The Lie My Top 5 #2s: 1 Dido - White Flag 2 Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River 3 Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage 4 Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love 5 Mis-Teeq - Scandalous My Top 5 #3s: 1 Junior Senior - Move Your Feet 2 50 Cent - In Da Club 3 Jamelia - Superstar 4 Christina Aguilera - Fighter 5 Richard x Vs Liberty X - Being Nobody

1t.a.T.uScore: 10/10 08/02/2003 t.a.T.u. All The Things She Said 1 Chart run: {1}-1-1-1-3-5-13-19-26-28-33-34-43-56-66->15 They began in a Russian children’s group Neposedy, which many Russian stars have been through including Sergey Lazarev who has represented Russia at Eurovision twice. Their 1st album in Russian had been a commercial success in Eastern Europe in 2001. This was from their 1st English album in 2002, which included many tracks that were reworked from their debut, including this one which was originally “Ya Soshla s Uma” or “I’ve Lost My Mind”. One of the writers, Elena Kiper, had based it on a dream about kissing another woman while at a dental surgery. Trevor Horn, one of the most famous producers, particularly of ‘80s music, was brought in to work on the English version of the track. It became a #1 in many countries and was the first American Top 20 hit by a Russian act. This was my favourite song of the year at the time and is still right up there. I’m a huge ABBA fan and for me much of the pop music produced this century doesn’t have the emotional depth from the songwriting, production or vocals that ABBA’s songs have. But I feel like this could easily have been an ABBA song - you can totally imagine Agnetha selling the part about being all mixed up, feeling cornered and rushed for example. The way the repeated rhythm works of a thought being stuck in your head, which Trevor Horn apparently only added to the track after the recording sessions had finished, is masterful. And that’s why it’s my #1 here.

Actually I haven’t allowed for the first couple of days for “Victory Lap” before its first proper week. I have 339k without that so with it we might be similar. I could still see both that and “Daisies” just missing this time.

In The Air Tonight (10) Vienna (10) Fade To Grey (9) Once In A Lifetime (9) Rapture (9)

2Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z - Crazy In LoveScore: 9/10 12/07/2003 Beyonce Featuring Jay-Z Crazy In Love Peak: 1 Chart run: {1}-1-1-2-5-10-12-16-19-25-36-35-40-46-64->15 Beyoncé’s solo career had had a slightly faltering start with the rather forgettable #7 hit “Work It Out”. She then had featured on future husband’s Jay-Z’s “‘03 Bonnie And Clyde”, which again wasn’t a particularly memorable record. So this was what really lit the fire for her. It’s surprising that this wasn’t that big a seller at the time. It was the 15th biggest of 2003 but with less than 300,000 sales, and was outsold by relatively forgotten hits such as “Turn Me On” by Kevin Lyttle. However it now has more than 1.6 million streams on Spotify, only beaten by “Halo” in Beyoncé’s catalogue. Rolling Stone magazine ranked this the best song of the century. While I wouldn’t quite go that far I do think it’s one of the finest pop rap crossover records ever, with an outstanding riff and timeless sounding production.

Back down to Earth with a bang with this group - some nice tracks but the winner wouldn’t have made the Top 5 in the last group. 8 Spandau Ballet The Freeze Another excellent and punchy single from them with a strong striking guitar riff, a powerfully emotive vocal line and synths 8 The Passions I'm In Love With A German Film Star Only hit for this UK new wave band: it has a gorgeous dreamy and wistful feel to it thanks to the vocals and Echoplex guitar 7 Susan Fassbender Twilight Cafe Only hit for this classically trained UK singer songwriter who died young: this is a rather lovely song about the power of music 7 Madness The Return Of The Los Palmas Seven Their 2nd instrumental hit after 1979's "One Step Beyond" which also reached #7: this is very enjoyable with a retro charm 6 Rainbow I Surrender Their highest peaking hit, it's a strong high energy piece of rock music but nowhere near as good as "Since You Been Gone" 6 Honey Bane Turn Me On, Turn Me Off Only hit for this UK singer and actress: this has a nice pulsing rhythm to it and it's a rather quirky track that's nicely performed 5 Cliff Richard A Little In Love I think I prefer Cliff's songs when he doesn't seem to be trying too hard: this is a pleasant bright and breezy easy listening track 5 The Boomtown Rats The Elephant's Graveyard (Guilty) Their period of big success is over and this is a fairly small hit: it's enjoyable but feels a bit frantic and thrown together to me 5 Heatwave Gangsters Of The Groove One of the later hits for this funk band who had been around for a while: feels like this is going out of style but it's a decent track 4 XTC Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me) Their highest peaking single to date but it's not anything like as compelling as their hits from last year and lyrically a little silly 4 Diana Ross It's My Turn The theme from the film of the same name and a return to emotive ballads after her disco era: not my thing but she does it well 4 Slade We'll Bring The House Down Their 1st Top 10 in a long time after they had fallen out of favour: a good one for chanting at a concert but not hugely enjoyable 3 Joe Dolce Music Theatre Shaddap You Face 475th #1: the most successful Australian single ever apparently and a 1 hit wonder; it's quite fun novelty apart from the talking 3 Odyssey Hang Together After 3 Top 10 hits this was rather an underperformance: there are some quite pretty vocals but otherwise it's quite forgettable 2 Light Of The World I Shot The Sheriff 1st time reaching the Top 40 for this UK jazz funk band: covering Bob Marley is unlikely to be a winner and indeed this is not 1 The Oldest Swinger In Town Only hit for this UK folk singer: I like that it was covered in German as "Der älteste Popper der Stadt" but otherwise it's awful 1981 Group 3: #357 07/02/1981 Stray Cats Rock This Town 9 35-14-{9}-11-12-19-29-44->8 #358 17/01/1981 Sheila Hylton The Bed's Too Big Without You 35 72-51-46-38-{35}-46-63->7 #359 31/01/1981 Barbara Jones Just When I Needed You Most 31 57-39-{31}-36-46-64-75->7 #360 24/01/1981 Adam And The Ants Cartrouble 33 69-51-40-{33}-40-38-38-50-58->9 #361 14/02/1981 The Pretenders Message Of Love 11 28-{11}-15-19-29-50-74->7 #362 07/02/1981 The Jam That's Entertainment 21 47-29-26-{21}-22-25-36->7 #363 14/02/1981 Gillan Mutually Assured Destruction 32 {32}-33-37-52-73->5 #364 07/02/1981 Freeez Southern Freeez 8 54-34-23-9-{8}-8-11-21-30-55-65->11 #365 07/02/1981 Talking Heads Once In A Lifetime 14 63-38-35-24-{14}-14-16-27-37-73->10 #366 31/01/1981 Coast To Coast (Do) The Hucklebuck 5 75-44-39-14-8-7-{5}-5-7-9-17-22-31-48-65->15 #367 07/02/1981 Barry Manilow I Made It Through The Rain 37 58-40-{37}-41-44-62->6 #368 21/02/1981 Motorhead/Girlschool St Valentine's Day Massacre EP 5 15-{5}-5-10-15-33-48-68->8 #369 21/02/1981 Roxy Music Jealous Guy 1 21-6-3-{1}-1-3-7-18-34-47-54->11 #370 07/02/1981 Beggar And Co (Somebody) Help Me Out 15 65-53-34-22-{15}-15-19-30-51-71->10 #371 07/02/1981 Kelly Marie Hot Love 22 73-54-38-31-24-{22}-23-28-39-61->10 #372 21/02/1981 Adam And The Ants Kings Of The Wild Frontier {1981} 2 39-17-6-{2}-4-5-18-26-31-38-40-71-66->13

We could get a whole Top 6 over 50k in the singles if RAYE is stable and the Taylor tracks do well! It’s not that long since the biggest song of the week was under 50k.

Highest single week sale of the year so far for “Man I Need” of 76,820!

Its chart run began 22-21-22 first time round as well.

There’s World Pineapple Day, but that isn’t until June 27th. 🤷🏻‍♂️

3Evanescence - Bring Me To LifeScore: 9/10 14/06/2003 Evanescence Bring Me To Life Peak: 1 Chart run: {1}-1-1-1-2-5-4-5-9-13-20-24-32-37-47-68-73->17 This was the American rock band’s debut single. Vocalist Amy Lee wrote it aged 19 about having been in an abusive relationship. The song is in the nu metal style that was popular at the time, partly using rap rock. The band were heavily influenced by Linkin Park, and I think it’s really interesting that Linkin Park’s 2024 comeback with a female vocalist in turn reminded me of Evanescence. This and the beautiful “My Immortal” are the only tracks from them I have loved. But I think this is a hugely important and inspirational track that set a precedent for what could be achieved with this style of music.