Ghoulian

“The Bad Touch” is one of my favourite songs of the year! “Don’t You Worry” is pretty good for a 2000 girlband hit though.

I haven’t had any #1 hits topping a group so far this year but “Ghost Town” is a very clear choice and fitting for a 31 October post. 9 The Specials Ghost Town 482nd #1: amazingly their last Top 40 but the best with brilliant social commentary, ghoulish backing vocals and guitar effects 8 The Jam Funeral Pyre I love the frenetic opening as the bassist and drummer jam with each other, and it's another great social commentary track 8 Odyssey Going Back To My Roots An excellent cover of a song about genealogy with an African American influence: I find this an incredibly soulful disco track 8 Ultravox All Stood Still A 4th hit from "Vienna" and all but the title track have been in a similar style, but it's another spiky and bouncy new wave track 7 Elaine Paige Memory From the "Cats" musical, this is one of the most iconic powerful showtune ballads, and Elaine does an excellent job with it 7 Third World Dancing On The Floor (Hooked On Love) Last Top 40 for this Jamaican reggae fusion band and their 2nd #10: this is a real earworm and a joyous well performed track 6 Linx Throw Away The Key I've rather enjoyed all their hits and this is another classy and well performed slice of soul funk, if not especially memorable 5 Imagination Body Talk 1st hit for this UK soul trio: it's a long track that I feel doesn't quite get going, though I like the dramatic violin bits in the chorus 5 Bucks Fizz Piece Of The Action I quite enjoy this as a rather understated follow up to "Making Your Mind Up": it's catchy and not so naff, but doesn't stand out 4 Gillan No Laughing In Heaven The spoken verses on this take some getting used to although I think it's meant to sound like crazy ramblings: it's intriguing 4 Kool And The Gang Take It To The Top Another of those funk songs that no matter how many times you listen you can never quite remember: fine but not distinctive 3 Whitesnake Would I Lie To You A 2nd hit of the year for them in a blues rock style: the "would I lie…" hook is repetitive and it all feels a little disinterested 2 Dead Kennedys Too Drunk To f*** Only Top 40 for this US punk band after "Kill The Poor" missed: the lyrics are meant to be silly but I don't really enjoy this at all 2 Phil Collins If Leaving Me Is Easy Unusual for an artist to receive a 10 and a 2 in the same year but this really is a turgid and sluggish track and a slog of a listen 1 Red Sovine Teddy Bear Only hit for this US country singer with a recitation track about truck drivers and a boy: it's very much not enjoyable for me 1981 Group 11: #477 30/05/1981 Randy Crawford You Might Need Somebody 11 67-55-47-34-28-17-12-{11}-14-17-24-32-63->13 #478 13/06/1981 The Evasions Wikka Wrap 20 59-35-31-{20}-23-23-32-59->8 13/06/1981 Bob Marley And The Wailers No Woman No Cry {1981} 8 63-38-20-12-9-{8}-12-18-23-43-60->11 #479 13/06/1981 Showaddywaddy Multiplication 39 60-{39}-42-51->4 #480 23/05/1981 Landscape Norman Bates 40 72-54-54-44-{40}-46-62->7 #481 27/06/1981 Bad Manners Can Can 3 18-{3}-3-3-3-6-6-16-26-36-48-58-71->13 #482 20/06/1981 Quincy Jones Razzamattaz 11 56-26-16-{11}-13-21-29-48-70->9 #483 20/06/1981 Rainbow Can't Happen Here 20 41-29-29-24-{20}-26-31-65->8 #484 20/06/1981 Tom Tom Club Wordy Rappinghood 7 66-30-14-10-{7}-8-16-22-38->9 #485 20/06/1981 The Beat Doors Of Your Heart 33 45-{33}-33-33-44-71->6 #486 20/06/1981 Dave Edmunds And The Stray Cats The Race Is On 34 52-{34}-39-35-46-53->6 #487 13/06/1981 Bruce Springsteen The River 35 69-43-{35}-35-41-57->6 #488 13/06/1981 Kirsty MacColl There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis 14 71-47-40-22-16-{14}-24-32-62->9 #489 04/07/1981 Starsound Stars On 45 (Volume 2) 2 15-4-{2}-2-5-9-27-31-54-67->10 #490 13/06/1981 Depeche Mode New Life 11 55-54-43-27-21-19-15-12-{11}-15-18-31-42-57-74->15

Back to 0 weeks of decline: Feel Good Inc. Golden The Dead Dance Folded Waterfalls

I knew it had fallen away quite a bit but 6k SCR seems terrible for it. And what a strange time to re-set it, rather than when it was actually doing well.

99k as of this week!

I bet “Golden” is back to 0 weeks of decline for good measure.

“Elizabeth Taylor” is an earworm. That and “Ophelia” are the only tracks I really enjoyed from a couple of plays of the album.

A ____ Palace Reminds me of “Wet And Gushy”.

Good vocal performance on “FU and UF”. And nice to see 7 new entries in the Top 20 - that doesn’t happen very often these days.

Would need to average about 30k per week for the rest of the year, so would need to stabilise and stop dropping off very soon.

All of 38-40 have dropped 2 since Wednesday…

You can see how accurate it is. (The positions I post are official and only the sales are estimated.)

“Out Of Your Mind” for me - “Rock DJ” is not a Robbie highlight.

Can’t see them making it - they’re on about 310k and 340k respectively. There could be a few 2025 releases going gold before the year is out and still not making it: Chappell alone could end up with 2.

Thrown out with quite some velocity is Maximo Park. The Newcastle band had quite a string of hits in the period from 2005 to 2007. This was their only Top 10, reaching #9 in March 2007. 4th: Maximo Park - Our Velocity 16/28 votes (57%) 5th: The Script - Breakeven 12/30 votes (30%) 6th: Sarah Whatmore - When I Lost You 12/29 votes (41%) 7th: George Michael - Flawless (Go To The City) 10/28 votes (36%) 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%)