Julian_

In its release week there was hype about “Not Such An Innocent Girl” going up against “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”, also in its release week. The latter sold around 10 times more in its first week and became a million seller, while the former isn’t even silver. The latter has 830 million Spotify streams to the former’s 3 million. I wonder if this will be the first week the former has ever outperformed the latter, 25 years on.

“All Summer Long” might be a couple of places higher than last for me but no real complaints - at best it’s bland country pop.

“Come On Eileen” is one of those songs that I could happily never hear again, but objectively I do feel I have to give it a high score as it’s wonderfully crafted. The other two in that brace of three consecutive classics are my top two picks here. 9 The Clash Rock The Casbah It will reach the Top 20 in 1991: the drummer composed it which makes sense as it's a very instrument driven, brilliant song 9 Yazoo Don't Go Very different to "Only You", this is rather a synth pop masterclass with the commanding riff and sharply delivered drama 8 Dexys Midnight Runners And The Emerald Express Come On Eileen 506th #1: a hugely streamed transatlantic chart topper that's a little brash and overplayed but still a brilliant piece of writing 7 Trio Da Da Da Only hit for this German band: it's a very simple record but delightfully silly and captivating with an infectious rapped hook 7 Hot Chocolate It Started With A Kiss The last time they'll reach the Top 5 and one of their most enduring hits: a very emotive and well performed piece of soul pop 6 Pigbag The Big Bean The only follow up to their smash hit: this isn't catchy enough to be a big success, but it's a really delightful instrumental 6 Cliff Richard The Only Way Out This is definitely among the superior Cliff hits which crop up periodically: nothing extraordinary but a lovely feel good song 5 Donna Summer Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger) Her 1st Top 40 of the decade: she has moved in a funk direction with this and while not entirely my thing it is quite dynamic 5 Paul McCartney Take It Away Certainly a big improvement on "Ebony And Ivory", this is fairly typical Macca with its warmth and nice well crafted melody 4 Japan I Second That Emotion An interesting choice for this band to cover a Motown song: I don't think it quite works and the whole thing feels a little flat 4 Junior Too Late He'll have 6 more Top 75s but no further Top 40s: this doesn't have the hook of "Mama Used To Say" but is pleasant enough 3 Patrice Rushen I Was Tired Of Being Alone Her 2nd and last Top 40: one of those songs that's no nondescript you can listen to 10 times and still not remember a thing 2 David Essex Me And My Girl (Night-Clubbing) An odd reggae flavoured track: musically it isn't bad but the lyrics about a heavy night out with the girlfriend are terribly naff 1 Brat Chalk Dust - The Umpire Strikes Back Only hit for this act making a rap style record based on John McEnroe's umpire interactions: this is an utterly ghastly listen 1982 Group 13: #811 24/07/1982 Madness Driving In My Car 4 6-{4}-4-4-8-18-42-51->8 #812 24/07/1982 Kid Creole And The Coconuts Stool Pigeon 7 26-11-8-{7}-9-17-38-45-75->9 #813 24/07/1982 The Stranglers Strange Little Girl 7 35-19-11-8-{7}-13-23-39-61->9 #814 17/07/1982 The Belle Stars The Clapping Song 11 66-36-23-19-12-{11}-16-27-43->9 #815 17/07/1982 Elkie Brooks Nights In White Satin 33 43-38-{33}-33-49->5 #816 17/07/1982 The Firm Arthur Daley (E's Alright) 14 56-39-28-17-16-{14}-25-35-66->9 #817 24/07/1982 The Cure The Hanging Garden 34 42-{34}-45-69->4 #818 24/07/1982 Talk Talk Today 14 49-37-35-36-28-26-15-{14}-14-16-23-31-35->13 #819 10/07/1982 Wavelength Hurry Home 17 68-47-41-38-27-27-{17}-21-21-32-39-74->12 #820 24/07/1982 Blondie War Child 39 56-{39}-44-66->4 #821 31/07/1982 Bad Manners My Girl Lollipop (My Boy Lollipop) 9 42-21-{9}-10-15-31-56->7 #822 24/07/1982 Haysi Fantayzee John Wayne Is Big Leggy 11 71-43-26-22-16-{11}-11-18-26-49->10 #823 31/07/1982 Survivor Eye Of The Tiger 1 54-29-6-2-2-{1}-1-1-1-4-11-19-32-45-63->15 #824 31/07/1982 Fun Boy Three Summertime 18 56-31-26-{18}-24-26-34-71->8 #825 07/08/1982 Associates 18 Carat Love Affair/Love Hangover 21 34-25-{21}-27-24-33-35-75->8

Certainly the best Kate Bush cover I know, but it still isn’t Kate.

“Summer In The City” and “National Express” were both biiiig losses for me 😔

Good Top 5 - the only one I’m not fussed on is “FUFN”, but I do really like “Plastic Box”. Thanks for running Calum!

The longer voting period works well for me. It gives me time to have a couple of listens, feel horribly overwhelmed by the whole thing, move to something else and then come back to it a week later and feel more on top of it.

Nelly & Justin to leave a strong 8

Moving to Louise

Nope up to you. Only rule is that you cover them all. Also up to you whether you re-rank the #1 carried over from the end of the previous year, as some have and some haven’t.

My version: 1 Robyn - With Every Heartbeat 2 Rihanna featuring Jay-Z - Umbrella 3 Timbaland and Keri Hilson - The Way I Are 4 Mika - Grace Kelly 5 Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby 6 Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado - Give It To Me 7 Kanye West - Stronger 8 Take That - Shine 9 Beyonce and Shakira - Beautiful Liar 10 Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love 11 Sugababes - About You Now 12 McFly - Baby's Coming Back / Transylvania 13 Katie Melua and Eva Cassidy - What a Wonderful World 14 Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls 15 Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) 16 Leona Lewis - A Moment Like This 17 Sugababes and Girls Aloud - Walk This Way 18 Leon Jackson - When You Believe

You could say that Jay Z got a very cheap 10 weeks at #1 for very little effort, but in truth his 30 seconds are a crucial part of the record. And the song is absolutely a one off - a huge commanding chorus, but as you say at the same time there’s something slightly ominous in the production fitting the wet summer we had. Thank you very much Scene. It’s @Herbs next!

Thanks for this. I’ve gone back and added a review for the 1956 one. All my numbering will now be out by 1 and it’s too much effort for now to go through and correct it all. For now I’ve numbered the 1956 Mario Lanza “Serenade” as #4095 which comes immediately at the end of 1972, so from 1973 the numbering will be correct again.

I only really knew Bucks Fizz by their chart toppers until recently, and I certainly didn’t expect that I would be giving one of their tracks a 9 but this is a very special ballad indeed. However it just loses out to a more long standing favourite. 9 The Steve Miller Band Abracadabra They formed in 1966 and their few hits are very spread out: this is a wonderful, gentle but mesmerising electronic rock track 9 Bucks Fizz Now Those Days Are Gone An astoundingly good largely a capella ballad with an orchestral build; Mike Nolan leads this and he sells it really beautifully 8 Dollar Videotheque Their 4th Trevor Horn produced hit, and the least commercial but most musically interesting with special backing vocal effects 8 Irene Cara Fame 505th #1: the film was in 1980 but this was re-released with the TV series and it's a stonking, very powerful and uplifting song 7 Visage Night Train Already the last of their 5 Top 40 hits: this isn't as synth heavy as the others but nonetheless very enjoyable with a strong riff 7 Lynyrd Skynyrd Free Bird Their 2nd and last Top 40: the album version is 9 minutes and this has excellent guitar work and an epic, timeless feel to it 7 Captain Sensible Happy Talk 504th #1: it originates from "South Pacific" in 1949, and this lovely version is the 1st hit for this musician from The Damned 6 Bananarama Shy Boy Their 3rd Top 5 hit and 1st on their own: the Fun Boy Three hits had slightly more bite but this is catchy and I like the vocal blend 6 Imagination Music And Lights I think their hits suffer a little from sounding too similar, and they will struggle after this but it's another well constructed one 5 The Jam Just Who Is The 5 O'Clock Hero They're in a hugely successful period so #8 is relatively poor, and I think it's nice but has little distinct from their usual sound 4 Leo Sayer Heart (Stop Beating In Time) This was written by the Gibb brothers: he sings it very well with plenty of feeling, but I don't find it an exciting ballad in any way 4 Shakatak Streetwalkin' This has a jazzy feel to it and it's a pleasant track, but very much background hotel style music rather than for active listening 3 Cheri Murphy's Law Only hit for this Canadian pop dance duo: it has promising production but scratchy vocals and some chipmunk style noises 3 AC/DC For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) They do have some classic singles but also plenty of not very good ones: this is lyrically fairly turgid and overall not enjoyable 2 Status Quo She Don't Fool Me A small hit by their standards: it's very throwaway and similar to the previous one, and I can't pinpoint any distinctive featur 1982 Group 12: #797 03/07/1982 Trio Da Da Da 2 54-30-7-{2}-5-6-13-22-44-60->10 #798 03/07/1982 Japan I Second That Emotion 9 56-31-20-14-{9}-9-11-20-38-50-73->11 #799 26/06/1982 David Essex Me And My Girl (Night-Clubbing) 13 61-42-32-28-20-15-{13}-17-32-36->10 #800 03/07/1982 Paul McCartney Take It Away 15 47-33-30-25-20-{15}-15-23-33-62->10 #801 10/07/1982 Hot Chocolate It Started With A Kiss 5 36-12-8-7-{5}-5-5-12-17-35-48-65->12 #802 26/06/1982 The Clash Rock The Casbah 30 68-43-38-33-31-32-{30}-32-40-59->10 #803 17/07/1982 Yazoo Don't Go 3 24-5-{3}-3-3-4-8-22-30-42-53->11 #804 03/07/1982 Dexys Midnight Runners And The Emerald Express Come On Eileen 1 63-41-31-9-2-{1}-1-1-1-2-3-9-14-20-36-52-66->17 #805 17/07/1982 Cliff Richard The Only Way Out 10 35-17-14-{10}-14-25-34-59-74->9 #806 10/07/1982 Brat Chalk Dust - The Umpire Strikes Back 19 47-36-30-24-20-{19}-30-37->8 #807 10/07/1982 Junior Too Late 20 64-37-28-25-25-{20}-29-35-73->9 #808 10/07/1982 Donna Summer Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger) 18 67-38-32-27-22-{18}-24-23-30-36-72->11 #809 10/07/1982 Patrice Rushen I Was Tired Of Being Alone 39 46-{39}-40-45-74->5 #810 10/07/1982 Pigbag The Big Bean 40 58-{40}-44->3

Went for “Appetite” and “Punk Rocky”