Julian_

Busy this evening unfortunately - love the live Synctube reveal idea!

Feel a bit silly voting for the same track in both this and the Indie poll but there we are. 1 Pendulum 2 Sammy Virji 3 Christoph

Such awful news. I only got into the show last year and watched back Series 1 to 4 at that point, so I also saw Series 2 quite recently. Jo and Sam were great to watch. He was working out his place in the world and navigating his ADHD, and she was a fantastic mum, battling with cancer as well. Must be absolutely devastating for her.

Definitely Bastille - the 5SOS thing might as well be karaoke.

The Creed version is nothing original but surprisingly well done.

To be clear you’d still get the 9 week grace period - could even make it slightly more, say 12 weeks. If you’ve had a very big 1st week you’ve almost certainly hit your peak position straight away, so no harm in being moved aside after a while? Assuming the main point of ACR is clearing songs which have no further chance of peaking.

Thanks Dan and everyone for having me as your house guest. I always really enjoy listening and voting whereas I find participating slightly stressful, so I’m going down the route of only participating in the retro contests but voting more or less anywhere that will have me. I had no idea whether my votes would be way out of line with anyone else’s so pleased they weren’t and that I gave the top two 10 and 7 respectively. Congratulations leww.

I’ve said before but I don’t think going to ACR should need 3 CONSECUTIVE weeks of anything - should be once the total decline is more than (say) 20%. Then no reset unless you’re back to within 10% of your peak would avoid these ridiculous 2nd runs for former #1s.

1 Pendulum 2 HAIM 3 Wet Leg

1 Addison 2 Tate 3 Gracey Renée

It’s a strong field - all the current tracks are pretty good and there are just 3 older tracks that I’m personally not keen on, though even those have their merits. 1 Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A Changin’ (I genuinely prefer Nina Simone’s version now but this is still outstanding lyricism) 2 Pet Shop Boys - Heart (their underrated #1 ❤️) 3 Chvrches - The Mother We Share (still gorgeous) 4 A-ha - Manhattan Skyline (great ‘80s drama) 5 Elton John - Bennie & The Jets (love the stomping piano rhythm) 6 Ellie Goulding - Lights (a sparkling song with so much personality) 7 James Blake & Rosalía - Barefoot In The Park (so gently atmospheric) 8 Disclosure & Mary J Blige - F For You (clever choice for Mary; a thumping dance track) 9 Rina Sawayama - Hold The Girl (has an epic dramatic feel) 10 Addison Rae - Headphones On (love her sound world) 11 Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer (surprised by this - particularly enjoy the tempo change) 12 Christina Aguilera - Hurt (she has lungs and she’s gonna use them) 13 Damiano David - Voices (more very solid pop) 14 Sasami - Slugger (enjoyable again) 15 Enhypen - Drunk-Dazed (sort of K-pop meets Eurovision) 16 Charlie Puth & Selena Gomez - We Don’t Talk Anymore (quite of its time but decent) 17 Tom Aspaul - Cabin Fever (nothing new but not bad at all) 18 Enrique Iglesias & Nicole Scherzinger - Heartbeat (enjoyed this at the time: now it’s OK) 19 Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi (could the lyrics be any more obvious and it’s musically quite basic) 20 Walk The Moon - Shut Up And Dance (I quite liked their Round 1 song but this was always meh and has become irritatingly inescapable over time) 21 The Saturdays - Issues (it’s a slap not a kiss from me)

Yep that “Downtown” version does nothing for me.

Being sent to the places where the sun don’t shine is George Michael. Despite selling nearly 50,000 copies in its first week “Freeek!” only reached #7 in March 2002. He went on to have more success with “Amazing” from the same album. 8th: George Michael - Freeek! 11/32 votes (34%) 9th: Geraldine - The Winner’s Song 13/30 votes (43%) 10th: Peter Andre - Insania 13/33 (39%)

Leaving a disillusion glow are Razorlight. This was the lead single from their 3rd album “Slipway Fires”. Although it did well, peaking at #5 in October 2008, it turned out to be their last ever hit. 5th: Razorlight - Wire To Wire 21/31 votes (68%) 6th: Ordinary Boys - I Luv U 14/32 votes (44%) 7th: Abs - What You Got 12/31 votes (39%) 8th: N Dubz - I Need You 11/28 votes (39%) 9th: 50 Cent - Just A Lil’ Bit 10/31 votes (32%) 10th: Ronan Keating - I Hope You Dance 14/27 votes (52%)

Yes “Chop Suey”! 👏 Some greats coming out on top here.

Taking a risk with this one: feeling a bit more daring following some stronger results haha.

Maybe if they’d had a better name they’d have done better: it would make finding their output easier certainly. This is a second very fine single from The Music: I even went and checked out the album which I very rarely do in conjunction with these reviews and it sounded great. 8 The Music Getaway I love how this starts like an electronic track and explodes into a wonderfully catchy rock anthem with raw vocal energy 8 Royksopp Poor Leno {2002} Another excellent track based around a beautifully sung repeated melody: the video with a captive creature is cute too 7 Suede Obsessions Their second hit in quick succession: as usual it's very enjoyable with strong storytelling and I love the harmonica part 6 Jennifer Lopez Jenny From The Block Clearly she isn't what the title claims, but it's probably her signature song and it is well written with strong production 6 Will Young Don't Let Me Down/You And I His 1st original material: I find "Don't let Me Down" slightly dreary but "You And I" is a lovely song and well performed 5 Paul Weller Leafy Mysteries This isn't striking like "It's Written In The Stars" and quite easy to forget, but it's another charming and wistful track 5 Lasgo Pray This is a guilty pleasure as it's another strong tune, but the recycling of ideas is extreme and the success diminishing 4 Snoop Dogg From Tha Chuuuch To Da Palace Another early uncredited Pharrell appearance: this has quite a good beat but overall I don't think it's a Snoop highlight 4 S Club Alive Their 1st hit as a sextet in a similar style to "Don't Stop Movin'", and it's fine but you can tell the sparkle has gone here 3 Kelly Llorenna Heart Of Gold This was originally a happy hardcore track by Force & Styles and she's now recorded her own rather tame version of it 3 Mariah Carey Through The Rain It's a big slushy ballad that's never going to do a lot for me, though it's a really good and restrained vocal performance 2 Sum 41 Still Waiting An Iraq war protest lead single: I find the main tune quite unpleasantly repetitive and there isn't much else to the song 2 Rikki And Daz Featuring Glen Campbell Rhinestone Cowboy (Giddy Up Giddy Up) Only hit for this duo including Daz Sampson of future Eurovision fame: it's just an odd more upbeat version of the song 1 Sound Bluntz Billie Jean Only hit for this Canadian DJ duo: I find the distorted vocals a little unsettling and otherwise I'm not getting anything 2002 Weeks 49 and 50: #1619 07/12/2002 Daniel Bedingfield If You're Not The One 1 {1}-3-4-6-6-4-4-7-8-11-12-7-14-14-18-26-34-38-45-58-72->21 #1620 07/12/2002 Atomic Kitten The Last Goodbye/Be With You 2 {2}-7-12-17-15-13-22-30-39-45-53-70->12 #1621 07/12/2002 Ronan Keating Featuring Lulu We've Got Tonight 4 {4}-8-9-12-13-15-24-31-35-50-52-60-70->13 #1622 07/12/2002 Darius Rushes 5 {5}-14-26-34-28-33-49-71-75R(3)-57-61-74->12 #1623 07/12/2002 Liam Lynch United States Of Whatever 10 {10}-13-19-21-23-25-36-46-53->9 #1624 07/12/2002 Enrique Iglesias Maybe 12 {12}-21-30-35-38-42-52-58-70-> #1625 07/12/2002 Scooter Posse (I Need You On The Floor) 15 {15}-26-32-40-41-52-71->7 #1626 07/12/2002 Alicia Keys Girlfriend 24 {24}-37-50-65-73->5 #1627 07/12/2002 Nickelback Never Again 30 {30}-45->2 #1628 07/12/2002 Anastacia You'll Never Be Alone 31 {31}-49-67->3 #1629 07/12/2002 Bjork It's In Our Hands 37 {37}-74->2 #1630 07/12/2002 Celine Dion Goodbye's (The Saddest Word) 38 {38}-60->2 #1631 14/12/2002 Eminem Lose Yourself 1 {1}-3-5-5-3-3-6-6-7-6-9-6-10-14-19-29-35-40-47-60-74-67R(317)-62R(88)-63-65R(49)-64-70R(51)-71-42R(32)-48-49->31 #1632 14/12/2002 The Cheeky Girls Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) 2 {2}-2-3-2-2-6-11-12-20-23-39-46-65-71->14 #1633 14/12/2002 Robbie Williams Feel 4 {4}-7-10-10-11-19-24-30-29-31-37-43-57-67-75R(2)->15 #1634 14/12/2002 Liberty X Holding On For You 5 {5}-14-18-17-17-23-34-41-58-64-74->11 #1635 14/12/2002 Rainbow (DJ George And MC Zippy) It's A Rainbow 15 {15}-23-28-30-39-53->6 #1636 14/12/2002 Ms Dynamite Put Him Out 19 {19}-33-41-39-38-50->6 #1637 14/12/2002 TLC Girl Talk 30 {30}-49->2 #1638 14/12/2002 Matt Darey And Marcella Woods U Shine On 34 {34}-55->2 #1639 14/12/2002 Bruce Springsteen Lonesome Day 39 {39}-68->2

“Hold On To Our Love” is a Cliff style ballad and there was nothing interesting at all about the staging or anything: I don’t really rate it at all but yes a relief to have a competent performance. I do like the studio version of “My Last Breath”: it would surely have scored some points but it’s hard to escape the feeling that the whole package still wouldn’t have been that inspiring. I’d also put “I Wrote A Song” a bit higher and “Dizzy” a bit lower. The latter was always boring long before we knew it was going to have weak vocals and divisive staging. But “I Wrote A Song” is one of the few songs on this list that would still get a reaction in the Euroclub - even in the Swiss Euroclub 2 years later it was played. I don’t personally love it and think it’s pretty basic, but it definitely achieved something. Agree “Even If” would be long gone now in my version.

“Bigger Than Us” would be bottom three for me, probably above “That Sounds Good To Me” and “Embers”. It’s just so cheesy and superficial and lacking in anything interesting musically for me. As for “Storm”: nice girl, pleasant track and valiant performance but that’s still quite embarrassing when up against the likes of “Toy” and “Fuego”. I think the position for that is more or less fair; maybe slightly low.

I can’t say I enjoyed either but went for Delta based on a strong vocal performance.

Yes there are techincally a few, but “Sound Of Silence” is obviously recently viral so doesn’t really counter Jim’s point. “Pink Pony Club” as well. “The Night We Met” is sort of a late drip discovery by the public but yes that is becoming a genuine classic.“Shut Up + Dance” is in danger of dropping out and “Seventeen Going Under” is only there because of Sam’s comeback. When I did the top 200 sellers of all time I definitely noticed that while it was dominated by 2014-19 hits from the early days of streaming, they were pretty much universally falling down the list while older songs were climbing. There’s definitely a sense of that first streaming period slowly being consigned to history.

I think Wardy means please can the Avicii rip off not win. 😅

Picking up again on this - it’s a testament to the strength of 2024 but amazingly nearly half way through this year we still have FIVE tracks on course to exceed a million for the 2nd year in a row. That’s something that fewer than 5 tracks have done before ever! Assuming they continue to do last week’s sales for the rest of the year these are the projections: Beautiful Things 1.26m Birds Of A Feather 1.25m Good Luck, Babe! 1.18m Lose Control 1.10m Espresso 1.04m That’s assuming they don’t decline at all which of course they probably will. They will all likely fall some way short of the above projections but it’s now looking quite likely the Top 3 at least and possibly “Lose Control” will make the million, even if “Espresso” ends up short. Amazing.

I’ve always thought “Never Forget You” is a very special song that makes me think about old friends I’ve drifted away from over time. So I’m voting for that, but Dandy would be a very fine winner too.