Julian_

I’m also not really expecting that to be enough for Raye to pass Taylor officially unfortunately, though hopefully she can carry the momentum through to next week.

It still won’t be up by much for the whole week surely - will have been down before yesterday I’m assuming?

I’d be happy to take up to one from each decade. (And thanks Rich for this one - sorry I didn’t get chance to follow closely.)

Thanks for this! Haven’t checked everything by any means but a couple of things that jumped out: “Someone Like You” only did 1,242k in 2011 1.3M for “She Loves You” in 1963 seems too low given it did nearly 2 million in total, but I appreciate it’s terribly hard to work out how its sales were split over 63/64

All Japan’s hits are great but they really perfected their style with this one. 9 Japan Ghosts Only the 3rd single from "Tin Drum" but their biggest and likely best hit; a wonderfully minimalist, personal and arresting track 8 Classix Nouveaux Is It A Dream This UK band had 7 Top 75s but only this Top 40 which reached a frustrating #11: a powerful piece of music with tortured lyrics 8 Visage Damned Don't Cry Named after a 1950 film, this is another beautifully artistic piece of synth pop from them: my favourite after "Fade To Grey" 8 Dollar Give Me Back My Heart Another big hit for them: this is really emotionally strong and the Trevor Horn production gives the track a powerful intensity 7 Pluto Your Honour Last appearance for this Jamaican reggae singer: this took a few listens to hit but I think it's an excellent song with great lyrics 7 Chas And Dave Ain't No Pleasing You By far their biggest hit and one of their more serious ones but still with the Mockney style: a lovely, sincere and charming track 6 Bucks Fizz My Camera Never Lies 498th #1: it's another well written quite complex song from them that's catchy, endearing and stays just the right side of naff 6 Bill Wyman A New Fashion His 2nd and final solo hit: like the other this has a rather deadpan feel to it which I enjoy, and it's a rather catchy little number 5 Barbra Streisand Memory She does a dramatic performance here, but we didn't need another hit version so soon after Elaine's and it doesn't eclipse that 5 Derek And The Dominos/Eric Clapton Layla/Wonderful Tonight (Live Version) It's a classic love song certainly and I feel the need to give some credit for that, but this live version is rather slow and plodding 4 Leo Sayer Have You Ever Been In Love This is his last Top 10 hit this century: it's not bad and he gives it plenty of welly, but it's a rather syrupy and overblown song 3 Status Quo Dear John They've had a few pleasantly surprising singles lately but this one is back to their usual cheery sound that doesn't do a lot for me 3 Kool And The Gang Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It) They have a few big classics but I find their lesser known songs not very distinctive or memorable: this one just passes me by 2 The Nolans Don't Love Me Too Hard Their last Top 40: unfortunately I feel that after a strong debut they became stuck with this one style without much development 2 Foster And Allen A Bunch Of Thyme 1st hit for this Irish duo that topped their home chart: it's a traditional folk style ballad that sounds rather out of place in 1982 1982 Group 6: #709 27/03/1982 Altered Images See Those Eyes 11 41-17-17-{11}-19-27-58->7 #710 03/04/1982 Roxy Music More Than This 6 18-{6}-6-7-14-28-58-72->8 #711 20/03/1982 The Boomtown Rats House On Fire 24 66-44-30-{24}-26-29-42-71->8 #712 27/03/1982 Elton John Blue Eyes 8 60-31-23-17-{8}-10-19-28-38-70->10 #713 03/04/1982 Motorhead Iron Fist 29 33-{29}-30-38-68->5 #714 27/03/1982 Shalamar I Can Make You Feel Good 7 57-35-27-20-10-{7}-9-16-25-44-65->11 #715 03/04/1982 Shakatak Night Birds 9 37-16-15-{9}-15-24-32-67->8 #716 10/04/1982 Paul McCartney With Stevie Wonder Ebony And Ivory 1 19-3-{1}-1-1-2-9-25-40-62->10 #717 03/04/1982 Pigbag Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag 3 50-30-9-{3}-3-7-17-27-40-53-70->11 #718 10/04/1982 Haircut One Hundred Fantastic Day 9 32-19-12-{9}-10-14-23-51-59->9 #719 03/04/1982 Rainbow Stone Cold 34 42-{34}-37-44->4 #720 10/04/1982 England World Cup Squad This Time (We'll Get It Right) 2 35-25-11-4-{2}-8-15-26-37-43-70-64-57->13 #721 10/04/1982 Bananarama With Fun Boy Three Really Saying Something 5 37-24-17-{5}-5-6-12-23-39-51->10 #722 03/04/1982 Monsoon Ever So Lonely 12 57-39-28-18-16-{12}-20-29-38->9

That’s getting pretty unlikely now with other streaming giants like Fleetwood Mac and Ed’s tour collection outdoing it every week.

51st: 27 points Lou Monte - Doninick The Donkey 31/12/2011 {3}-41->2 Voters: chartjack2 (11), jimwatts (7), dancember (5), Michael Bubré (2), GreyAsh (1), Chez Wombat (1) Christmas number one: Wherever You Are - Military Wives / Gareth Malone Christmas number two: Cannonball - Little Mix This had a whopping 6 voters, much more than anything else outside the Top 50, but they were mostly low scores. Italian American singer Lou Monte had recorded this in 1960, but it re-emerged in 2011 due to Chris Moyles campaigning on Radio 1 for it to be Christmas #1, and had a rather un-graceful 3-41 chart run. What a fun and cute track it is though.

52nd: 21 points Juke Box Jive - The Rubettes 16/11/1974 23-8-4-{3}-8-3-3-3-10-18-32-33->12 Voters: Sausage Rollo (14), Scone1 (5), dandy* (1), DaTilt (1) Christmas number one: Lonely This Christmas - Mud Christmas number two: You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive The Rubettes are an English band that are still going, who fused pop with glam rock. They had already reached #1 with their debut, “Sugar Baby Love”, and this catchy number was their 2nd biggest hit.

53rd: 21 points Cracklin’ Rosie - Neil Diamond 17/11/1970 40-29-10-5-{3}-3-3-3-6-6-7-14-10-18-20-23-40->17 Voters: Severin (14), Roba. (6), Julian_ (1) Christmas number one: I Hear You Knocking - Dave Edmunds Christmas number two: When I’m Dead And Gone - McGuiness Flint This was the first chart appearance for American singer Neil Diamond, who had hits throughout the 1970s and later. Surprisingly it remains his highest peaking hit, as by far his best known song, “Sweet Caroline” only reached #8. I don’t care for that but I think this is lovely.

54th: 19 points I’m Gonna Be Strong - Gene Pitney Voter: Scone1 14/11/1964 34-16-6-{2}-2-4-3-4-6-12-15-23-36-44->14 Christmas number one: I Feel Fine - The Beatles Christmas number two: Downtown - Petula Clark American singer Gene Pitney had more than 20 hits over the 1960s and early 1970s. This one had in fact already peaked at #2 before it was #3 for Christmas. That made it Gene’s most successful hit for a very long time, until Marc Almond reworked his song “Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart” and it reached #1. For me that and “Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa” are his best songs and this one isn’t quite as good, though he always gave very striking, dramatic performances.

54th: 19 points Especially For You - Denise And Johnny Voter: Last Dreamer Chart run: 26/12/1998 {3}-5-7-16-30-45-52-55-57-48-66R(6)-53->12 Christmas number one: Goodbye - Spice Girls Christmas number two: Chocolate Salty Balls (ps I Love You) - Chef Johnny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen presented Channel 4’s “The Big Breakfast” together back in the 1990s. They recorded this cover of “Especially For You” which had been the Christmas #1 for Kylie and Jason exactly 10 years before. The track featured Steps on backing vocals, and was the official Children In Need single for 1998. This version doesn’t do a lot that the original doesn’t and it’s obvious that Denise is by far the better singer.

Finally some estimates for certified recent albums that didn’t make it: Tyler, The Creater - Chromakopia 85k (total 157k) Linkin Park - From Zero 69k (total 150k) Playboi Carti - I Am Music 84k Lily Allen - West End Girl 84k Myles Smith - A Minute… 83k Esdeekid - Rebel 75k Avicii - Avicii Forever 71k Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS 68k Yungblud - Idols 65k Wolf Alice - The Clearing 63k Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal 63k Addison Rae - Addison 62k Pulp - More 62k Thanks all for following this year! A decade to date countdown will follow.

Think Frank Ocean - Blonde was #101 with 90k and Stereophonics - Decade In The Sun was #102 with 89k Some of the decade’s biggest albums that didn’t make it this year: 89k Sam Fender - Hypersonic Missiles 89k Nirvana - Nevermind 87k Guns ‘n’ Roses - Greatest Hits 87k Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under 86k Adele - 25 85k Taylor Swift - 1989 84k The Weeknd - Starboy 83k Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia 83k Bee Gees - Timeless 82k Adele - 21 82k Ed Sheeran - = 81k Pink - Greatest Hits… So Far!!! 80k Harry Styles - Harry’s House 79k Drake - Certified Lover Boy 79k Eminem - The Eminem Show 78k Ed Sheeran - X 74k Taylor Swift - Evermore 72k Harry Styles - Fine Line 71k Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare 70k Taylor Swift - Red (Taylor’s Version)

“Ordinary” is average rather than hateful. Its main crime is being much bigger than it deserves, but that’s it really. But I don’t think there were many strong contenders this year in general. Thanks for running though Dan!

Agree the only one so far that might have made my Top 10 is Kanye. I do quite like “Transylvania” too but that isn’t enough to save the whole package. Eva and Katie was a great and unique chart moment, but not really a track with high replay value.

The way she’s going Top 10 next year looks almost guaranteed though. More gutted at Fontaines missing the Top 40 by a whisker!

Week 52: 1 1 Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl 642,000 2 2 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 519,000 890,000 3 3 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 410,000 510,000 4 4 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 378,000 2,410,000 5 5 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 363,000 1,830,000 6 6 The Weeknd The Highlights 350,000 1,580,000 7 7 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 313,000 5,620,000 8 8 Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend 305,000 9 9 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 285,000 310,000 10 10 Sam Fender People Watching 279,000 11 12 Olivia Dean The Art Of Loving 278,000 12 11 Elton John Diamonds 274,000 1,930,000 13 13 Chappell Roan The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess 263,000 560,000 14 14 Michael Jackson The Essential 261,000 2,100,000 15 15 Tate McRae So Close To What 259,000 16 16 Noah Kahan Stick Season 250,000 720,000 17 17 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 249,000 600,000 18 18 Charli XCX Brat 241,000 530,000 19 20 ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits 240,000 6,140,000 20 21 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 240,000 3,550,000 21 19 SZA SOS 238,000 720,000 22 22 Arctic Monkeys AM 227,000 2,330,000 23 23 Linkin Park Papercuts 222,000 390,000 24 24 Oasis Definitely Maybe 219,000 3,010,000 25 25 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 218,000 3,530,000 26 26 Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department 207,000 990,000 27 27 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 203,000 700,000 28 28 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 199,000 1,250,000 29 29 Lady Gaga Mayhem 193,000 30 30 Gracie Abrams The Secret Of Us 183,000 320,000 31 31 Queen Greatest Hits 166,000 3,210,000 32 32 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 164,000 500,000 33 33 Calvin Harris 96 Months 163,000 230,000 34 34 Central Cee Can't Rush Greatness 159,000 35 35 Pitbull Greatest Hits 158,000 620,000 36 36 Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine 158,000 340,000 37 37 Benson Boone Fireworks & Rollerblades 157,000 280,000 38 38 Billy Joel Piano Man: The Very Best Of Billy Joel 157,000 1,700,000 39 39 Ed Sheeran ÷ 156,000 4,480,000 40 42 50 Cent Best Of 50 Cent 153,000 770,000 41 40 Fontaines D.C. Romance 152,000 270,000 42 41 Maroon 5 Singles 152,000 990,000 43 43 George Michael Twenty Five 144,000 1,890,000 44 44 Taylor Swift Folklore 143,000 980,000 45 45 Katy Perry Teenage Dream 139,000 2,030,000 46 46 Lady Gaga The Fame 138,000 3,590,000 47 48 Ed Sheeran Play 138,000 48 47 Red Hot Chili Peppers Greatest Hits 138,000 2,310,000 49 50 Bob Marley Legend 137,000 3,410,000 50 49 PartyNextDoor & Drake $ome $exy $ongs 4 U 136,000 51 52 Lana Del Rey Born To Die 132,000 1,820,000 52 51 Green Day Greatest Hits: God's Favorite Band 132,000 740,000 53 53 Eminem Curtain Call 2 131,000 510,000 54 54 Taylor Swift Reputation 129,000 1,080,000 55 57 Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad 129,000 2,520,000 56 56 Elvis Presley E1vis: 30 Number 1 Hits 128,000 2,480,000 57 58 Kendrick Lamar GNX 127,000 190,000 58 55 The Weeknd Hurry Up Tomorrow 127,000 59 59 CoCoMelon Nursery Rhymes By CoComelon 126,000 350,000 60 60 The Beatles 1967-1970 126,000 1,330,000 61 61 Whitney Houston I Will Always Love You: The Best Of Whitney Houston 126,000 630,000 62 62 Taylor Swift Lover 125,000 1,000,000 63 63 Lewis Capaldi Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent 124,000 1,880,000 64 64 The Smiths The Sound Of The Smiths 123,000 460,000 65 65 Hozier Hozier 122,000 1,030,000 66 66 David Bowie Legacy 120,000 1,150,000 67 67 Britney Spears The Singles Collection 117,000 720,000 68 68 Drake Take Care 116,000 1,000,000 69 72 Radiohead OK Computer 114,000 1,760,000 70 73 Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not 114,000 2,550,000 71 69 Dua Lipa Dua Lipa 113,000 1,220,000 72 71 Taylor Swift Midnights 113,000 1,080,000 73 70 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy, Part 1 113,000 270,000 74 74 Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Hooligans 112,000 2,430,000 75 75 Kanye West Graduation 111,000 1,060,000 76 76 Billie Eilish Happier Than Ever 111,000 510,000 77 77 Little Mix Between Us 110,000 660,000 78 80 Dave The Boy Who Played The Harp 108,000 79 79 Taylor Swift 1989 (Taylor's Version) 108,000 640,000 80 78 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy, Part 2 107,000 81 81 Phil Collins The Singles 106,000 880,000 82 82 Billie Eilish When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? 104,000 1,090,000 83 83 Nirvana Nirvana 104,000 1,560,000 84 84 Sleep Token Even In Arcadia 102,000 85 85 Sam Smith In The Lonely Hour 101,000 3,130,000 86 87 Amy Winehouse Back To Black 100,000 4,580,000 87 86 Sabrina Carpenter Emails I Can't Send 100,000 250,000 88 88 The Beatles 1962-1966 99,000 1,110,000 89 90 50 Cent Get Rich Or Die Tryin' 98,000 1,750,000 90 89 Rolling Stones Forty Licks 97,000 1,380,000 91 91 Morgan Wallen I'm The Problem 97,000 92 92 Stevie Wonder The Definitive Collection 96,000 1,720,000 93 93 The Killers Rebel Diamonds 94,000 240,000 94 94 Linkin Park Hybrid Theory 94,000 2,030,000 95 96 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Complete Edition) 93,000 96 100 Sombr I Barely Know Her 92,000 97 97 Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler Private Investigations - The Best Of 91,000 1,420,000 98 95 Foo Fighters The Essential Foo Fighters 91,000 350,000 99 99 The Cure Greatest Hits 90,000 1,220,000 100 - Celine Dion My Love - The Essential Collection 90,000 1,520,000 - 98 Frank Ocean Blonde 90,000 590,000

Two big ‘80s classics: I’ve put “Party Fears Two” at the top because it feels less polished and more of a one off. 9 Associates Party Fears Two 1st hit for this Scottish post punk band: this has a wonderful riff and a very powerful angst ridden vocal that builds beautifully 9 ABC Poison Arrow Their 2nd hit and 1st Top 10 with Trevor Horn production: a brilliant archetypal 1980s track that's immaculately delivered 8 David Bowie Baal's Hymn EP A collection of tracks for the BBC "Baal" adaptation where he played the lead: all excellently performed interesting tracks 8 Bow Wow Wow Go Wild In The Country After 4 Top 40 misses they're back with their highest peaking hit: an excellent and punchy track about going back to basics 7 Gary Numan Music For Chameleons The lead from his "I, Assassin" album that he wrote while flying around the world: another great piece of moody synth pop 7 Abba Head Over Heels This broke their run of 18 Top 10 hits as they fell out of fashion, but it's a fun track that's lighter than most of their later output 6 Imagination Just An Illusion Their biggest hit, and like the others it's a funk track with a strong bassline and an intensity that gently builds: it's enjoyable 6 Robert Palmer Some Guys Have All The Luck His biggest hit to date: this doesn't quite have the quirkiness of "Looking For Clues" but it's also a good and well performed song 5 Modern Romance Queen Of The Rapping Scene (Nothing Ever Goes The Way You Plan) More interesting than some of their others, this does go on a bit but it's rather catchy and the rapped parts are quite good fun 4 Adam And The Ants Deutscher Girls Already their last Top 40 as a group after only 18 months: this is pleasant enough but quite ordinary and feels a little perfunctory 3 UB40 I Won't Close My Eyes Unfortunately after "One In Ten" they've gone back to this slow and languid style, that could blend into many of their other hits 3 Adrian Gurvitz Classic Only Top 40 for this UK singer: the lyrics almost seem like a parody and it's a not very exciting radio friendly soft rock ballad 2 Goombay Dance Band Seven Tears 497th #1: only Top 40 for this German calypso band and it's grimly catchy but doesn't really go anywhere and has terrible lyrics 2 Starsound Stars On Stevie Their last hit with another medley: these Stevie tracks are good and blend reasonably well together, but they won't be missed 1 Julio Iglesias Quiereme Mucho (Yours) A Cuban track from the 1910s: this translated to English version is terribly turgid and more of a chore even than his chart topper 1982 Group 5 (omitting “Layla” which has already been a Top 40 hit on its own): #694 06/03/1982 Derek And The Dominos/Eric Clapton Layla/Wonderful Tonight (Live Version) 4 68-30-16-7-{4}-8-18-24-48-72->10 #695 06/03/1982 Kool And The Gang Take My Heart (You Can Have It If You Want It) 29 53-32-30-{29}-38-55-69->7 #696 13/03/1982 Visage Damned Don't Cry 11 33-23-18-{11}-12-22-25-65->8 #697 06/03/1982 Pluto Your Honour 19 59-36-26-22-{19}-28-36-59->8 #698 27/02/1982 Foster And Allen A Bunch Of Thyme 18 56-43-37-32-28-24-{18}-21-32-39-73->11 #699 20/02/1982 The Nolans Don't Love Me Too Hard 14 62-48-46-38-29-26-21-{14}-14-20-30-62->12 #700 13/03/1982 Chas And Dave Ain't No Pleasing You 2 61-31-14-7-4-{2}-5-12-22-36-61->11 #701 13/03/1982 Leo Sayer Have You Ever Been In Love 10 52-35-21-14-{10}-13-23-45-74->9 #702 13/03/1982 Classix Nouveaux Is It A Dream 11 58-36-23-16-{11}-12-21-40-75->9 13/03/1982 Elvis Presley Are You Lonesome Tonight? {1982} 25 42-37-27-28-{25}-29-37->7 #703 20/03/1982 Japan Ghosts 5 42-16-9-{5}-7-14-25-54->8 #704 27/03/1982 Bucks Fizz My Camera Never Lies 1 33-5-2-{1}-2-11-26-46->8 #705 27/03/1982 Dollar Give Me Back My Heart 4 35-15-7-5-{4}-8-20-29-54->9 #706 27/03/1982 Status Quo Dear John 10 36-25-13-{10}-16-20-38-70->8 #707 20/03/1982 Bill Wyman A New Fashion 37 54-{37}-41-53->4 #708 20/03/1982 Barbra Streisand Memory 34 74-38-{34}-36-39-53->6

The huge number of Christmas songs is also distorting things - they will fade of course and the likes of “Ordinary” will likely climb.

Next vote wins!

And as ever we don’t necessarily even know what order they’re really in on Spotify because they might have different premium to free proportions.

Wrenched apart from the other contenders is Jack Johnson. The American acoustic singer songwriter had a few hits in the second half of the 2000s. This was his highest peaking, reaching #24 in March 2006. 5th: Jack Johnson - Better Together 10/27 votes (37%) 6th: White Stripes - Blue Orchid 9/29 votes (31%) 7th: Samantha Mumba - Baby Come On Over 8/29 votes (28%) 8th: Shania Twain - Ka-Ching! 7/28 votes (25%) 9th: Lil Wayne - Lollipop 17/29 votes (59%) 10th: S Club Juniors - Puppy Love / Sleigh Ride 20/34 votes (59%)

Dizzee has been bankrupted in Round 3. The track followed up a hatrick of chart toppers for him, reaching #10 in October 2009. The original song reached #2 for The Adventures Of Stevie V in 1990, and a version by DJ Pawsa charted in the last 12 months. 8th: Dizzee Rascal - Dirtee Cash 11/28 votes (39%) 9th: City High - Caramel 11/29 votes (38%) 10th: Blue - Bubblin’ 15/31 votes (48%)

61st: 9 points Strawberry Fair - Anthony Newley Voters: Last Dreamer (8), chartjack2 (1) 43-12-8-{3}-7-3-5-9-12-34-48->11 Christmas number 1: I Love You - Cliff Richard Christmas number 2: It’s Now Or Never - Elvis Presley Anthony Newley was an all round English entertainer who also did acting and comedy. He had a dozen hits in the period from 1959 to 1962, and prior to this reaching #3 he had had two #1s in 1960 with “Why” and “Do You Mind?” This is a folk style number with innuendo laced and not very 2020s PC lyrics.

62nd: 9 points Oh Carol - Neil Sedaka Voter: Last Dreamer 13-10-5-4-4-{3}-3-4-3-3-6-7-9-20-24-27-29->17 Christmas number 1: What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For? - Emile Ford And The Checkmates Christmas number 2: What Do You Want? - Adam Faith American singer songwriter Neil Sedaka’s career began in 1957, but he is still performing at 86. He had 19 UK hits from 1959 to 1975, including two #3s of which this was one. He wrote the song about his schoolmate and fellow singer songwriter Carole King. It’s a pretty catchy track, although the spoken part tends to divide the crowd.