Julian_

It’s not fake news I’m afraid: Javine is out. After finishing 6th in “Popstars: The Rivals” and narrowly missing out on a place in Girls Aloud, she had 5 Top 20 solo hits, and represented the UK in Eurovision 2005. “Real Things” was her biggest hit, reaching #4 in July 2003. 7th: Javine - Real Things 8/29 votes (28%) 8th: Pink - There You Go 8/30 votes (27%) 9th: Steps - Here And Now / You’ll Be Sorry 14/30 votes (47%) 10th: Basshunter - Angel In The Night 14/33 votes (42%)

Go on then I’ll join the incoming “Satisfy You” pile on: not a bad chorus but quite a meh use of the sample nonetheless.

It’s only May but I hear Santa has already taken Cliff of his list for past crimes against music. Cliff has had an astonishing 120 Top 40 hits in his career, but only 10 of them have come this century. “Santa’s List” reached #5 in December 2003, making it his 3rd biggest hit of the century. 10th: Cliff Richard - Santa’s List 18/30 votes (60%)

Went for MØ and PinkPantheress. 2 Dove Cameron 3 Selena Gomez

1 Skunk Anansie 2 Nilüfer Yanya 3 Car Seat Headset

1 Subtronics 2 Jorja Smith 3 Robin Schulz

Nothing show-stopping here but I love that Paul Weller could still get a Top 10 hit and this has such a vintage quality to it. 8 Paul Weller It's Written In The Stars His 1st hit for a while: a really beautiful song and I love its classic feel with the trumpet fanfares and the poetic lyrics 8 Underworld Two Months Off A great track with effects to be used later in "Caliban's Dream" and the stream of consciousness style of "Born Slippy" 7 Jurgen Vries The Theme 1st hit for UK producer Darren Tate with a more exotic alias, which lives up to its name as a very anthemic dance track 7 The White Stripes Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground It's their usual very enjoyable style with a thumping beat, a bit like their more well known hit to come "My Doorbell" 6 Appleton Fantasy Debut solo hit for the All Saints twins with a fun swampy sounding looping guitar accompaniment: it's a very nice track 6 Weezer Keep Fishin' Featuring a video of them with The Muppets, this isn't their most memorable but a very serviceable power pop song 5 N-Trance Forever Their last big hit and it fits well into the dance pop sound of the moment with its big emotive melody: a decent track 4 Incubus Are You In A fan favourite of theirs but I find it slightly pedestrian and it doesn't grab me: apparently the lyrics are about an orgy 4 Tweenies Have Fun, Go Mad! Last of their 5 Top 20 hits: they've been surprisingly fun and this is not a bad cover of a '90s Blair MacKichan pop tune 3 4 Strings Diving They won't have any Top 40s after this: this type of hit needs a soaring melody to work and this one isn't strong enough 2002 Week 38: #1479 21/09/2002 Liberty X Got To Have Your Love 2 {2}-6-11-20-24-27-37-38-49-56-65-70->12 #1480 21/09/2002 Kelly Osbourne Papa Don't Preach 3 {3}-11-15-30-34-46-59-70-68R(2)-72->10 #1481 21/09/2002 Scooter Nessaja 4 {4}-8-10-17-22-26-40-47-70->9 #1482 21/09/2002 Ronan Keating I Love It When We Do 5 {5}-18-29-46-61-65-72-62R(2)-46-75R(6)-72->11 #1483 21/09/2002 Sarah Whatmore When I Lost You 6 {6}-12-12-19-21-24-34-43-63->9 #1484 21/09/2002 Milk Inc Walk On Water 10 {10}-21-23-36-50-63->6 #1485 21/09/2002 N.O.R.E. Nothin' 11 {11}-27-38-47-59-66-74-72R(81)->8 #1486 21/09/2002 Anastacia Why'd You Lie To Me 25 {25}-57-67-73R(3)-73->5 #1487 21/09/2002 Hampenberg Duck Toy 30 {30}-54->2 #1488 21/09/2002 Sean Paul Gimme The Light 32 {32}-47-56-64-62-73R(3)-74->7 #1489 21/09/2002 Death In Vegas Hands Around My Throat 36 {36}->1 #1490 21/09/2002 Korn Thoughtless 37 {37}-65->2

This is very up my street so definitely guest voting. Really enjoying the first half especially.

Love this show! Good series so far. I saw a potential mini spoiler regarding who gets eliminated - apparently in the opening sequence 4 of the teams were shown separately in what looked like an Indian setting oops.

I sort of feel like if you aren’t doing at least 10k you don’t deserve Top 40 and if you’re doing less than 40k you don’t deserve #1, and it’s not like the thresholds are that high at the moment. In other words it’s the stagnant market that’s the issue rather than ACR not churning the songs quickly enough. “Ordinary” not going to ACR and staying at #1 feels fair really when it’s doing nearly double everything else.

I’m voting for Mis-Teeq now: think this is one of their weaker singles.

There Pink goes with the 1st of 38 Top 40 hits to date. It reached #6 in June 2000 and was the lead single from her debut album “Can’t Take Me Home”. It is an RnB track with a harpsichord instrumental and quite different in sound from her later work. 8th: Pink - There You Go 8/30 votes (27%) 9th: Steps - Here And Now / You’ll Be Sorry 14/30 votes (47%) 10th: Basshunter - Angel In The Night 14/33 votes (42%)

I really like them all so I’m gonna for “Up” now, which has won before.

They may be so ooh and so aah but Alphabeat are out. The retro pop group had 5 hits between 2008 and 2010. This one peaked at #16 in June 2008 and had a 16 week run. 5th: Alphabeat - 10,000 Nights 15/30 votes (50%) 6th: Holly Valance - Down Boy 19/31 votes (61%) 7th: U2 - City Of Blinding Lights 16/30 votes (53%) 8th: Jaimeson - Complete 10/31 votes (32%) 9th: ATB - Killer 9/30 votes (30%) 10th: P Diddy featuring Christina Aguilera - Tell Me 19/28 votes (68%)

Has to be Cliff bless him

Despite her winning the Mercury prize and being the critical darling of the year I’ve never really got into Ms Dynamite’s music. “Dy-Na-Mi-Tee” is the exception though and wins this week. 8 Ms Dynamite Dy-Na-Mi-Tee Her highest peaking hit and a great song full of quirky personality; nice that she isn't moaning about a man this time 7 Harvey Get Up And Move Only Top 40 for the So Solid Crew member: this is rough and ready but in fact it's a really strong and high octane track 6 Tweet Call Me A 30 places lower peak than her debut but I slightly prefer it; the soft vocals and Middle Eastern production work well 6 Mint Royale Sexiest Man In Jamaica Only their 2nd Top 40: this is repetitive but oddly hypnotic with a nicely used funky '80s sample under the spoken lines 5 Ash Envy After 5 brilliant "Free All Angels" singles this was the next lead: it's nice but quite safe and understandably fell a bit flat 4 Atomic Kitten The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling) 934th #1: this doesn't have the charm of Blondie's version or the original but it's not bad and I like the added bridge 4 Nickelback Too Bad Both the follow up singles to "How U Remind Me" are dark pieces about a broken family: this does have a decent hook 3 JamX And Deleon Can U Dig It Only hit for this German trance project: a curious dance track with a tune based on the verse of 1984 hit "Self Control" 3 Enrique Iglesias Love To See You Cry He's going back to the Latin sound with this one: beyond some nice production it plods and doesn't make me feel alive 2 3SL Touch Me Tease Me Their 2nd and last hit: a cover of a Case 1996 single peaking higher than the original, but it's a rather laboured version 2002 Week 37: #1469 14/09/2002 Appleton Fantasy 2 {2}-8-19-24-37-43-55-63-63-65->10 #1470 14/09/2002 N-Trance Forever 6 {6}-13-29-37-43-51-67-72R(2)->8 #1471 14/09/2002 Paul Weller It's Written In The Stars 7 {7}-27-59->3 #1472 14/09/2002 Underworld Two Months Off 12 {12}-33-58-75->4 #1473 14/09/2002 Jurgen Vries The Theme 13 {13}-22-42-72->4 #1474 14/09/2002 Tweenies Have Fun, Go Mad! 20 {20}-24-34-44-67-70-72->7 #1475 14/09/2002 The White Stripes Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground 25 {25}-56->2 #1476 14/09/2002 Weezer Keep Fishin' 29 {29}-54->2 #1477 14/09/2002 Incubus Are You In 34 {34}-53->2 #1478 14/09/2002 4 Strings Diving 38 {38}-62->2

Muse by a mile on this one - a brilliant reinvention whereas that Lighthouse Family cover is very dreary.

A lot of them are blending together for me - it’s all a bit 50 Shades Of Rae. Interesting that Rollo’s entered but impossible to guess which is his track. 🧐

I think I’ve noticed a general pattern over the years of Amazon liking commercial radio friendly stuff, Spotify liking hip hop and Apple liking dance a bit more than the other platforms (huge generalisation obviously).

They might drop out some time in August and July respectively

Week 17: 1 1 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 255,000 630,000 2 2 Sam Fender People Watching 157,000 3 3 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 138,000 240,000 4 5 Chappell Roan The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess 118,000 420,000 5 4 SZA SOS 118,000 600,000 6 6 The Weeknd The Highlights 115,000 1,350,000 7 9 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 108,000 1,580,000 8 7 Central Cee Can't Rush Greatness 107,000 9 8 Elton John Diamonds 107,000 1,760,000 10 10 Lady Gaga Mayhem 102,000 11 23 Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department 102,000 890,000 12 11 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 97,000 440,000 13 12 Charli XCX Brat 96,000 390,000 14 13 Tate McRae So Close To What 90,000 15 14 Noah Kahan Stick Season 89,000 560,000 16 15 Gracie Abrams The Secret Of Us 87,000 230,000 17 16 ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits 83,000 5,990,000 18 17 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 82,000 2,120,000 19 18 Michael Jackson The Essential 82,000 1,920,000 20 19 Arctic Monkeys AM 81,000 2,180,000 21 22 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 79,000 3,390,000 22 20 The Weeknd Hurry Up Tomorrow 77,000 23 21 Kendrick Lamar GNX 77,000 140,000 24 24 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 73,000 2,620,000 25 25 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 69,000 560,000 26 26 Linkin Park Papercuts 67,000 240,000 27 27 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 66,000 1,120,000 28 28 PartyNextDoor & Drake $ome $exy $ongs 4 U 65,000 29 30 Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine 64,000 250,000 30 29 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy, Part 2 62,000 31 31 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 61,000 5,370,000 32 32 Calvin Harris 96 Months 58,000 130,000 33 33 Queen Greatest Hits 58,000 3,100,000 34 34 Benson Boone Fireworks & Rollerblades 57,000 180,000 35 36 Teddy Swims I've Tried Everything But Therapy, Part 1 55,000 210,000 36 37 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 54,000 390,000 37 38 Pitbull Greatest Hits 53,000 520,000 38 35 Robbie Williams Better Man (OST) 53,000 39 39 Fontaines D.C. Romance 53,000 170,000 40 41 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 52,000 70,000 87 97 Elton John & Brandi Carlile Who Believes In Angels? 35,000 Doechii’s “Alligator Bites Never Heal” is back, replacing “Dreams On Toast” by The Darkness.

I was amazed to find that The Music were barely 18 when they released their eponymous debut album. Apparently they received ridicule for having a pretentious band and album name which is understandable, but I really think this debut single is incredible. The way the guitars build up, the majesty of the one line chorus and then towards the end with the more distorted sound when he almost starts scatting. 9 The Music Take The Long Road And Walk It 1st hit for this UK rock group and what a powerhouse of swirling guitars with incredibly strong and clear lead vocals 8 Truth Hurts Featuring Rakim Addictive Only hit for US RnB singer Shari Watson with rapper Rakim; a wonderfully unusual pulsing Middle Eastern styled track 8 Moby Extreme Ways Used in the Bourne films, I love the menacing violin riff and it's another incredibly atmospheric arresting track from him 7 Oakenfold Starry Eyed Surprise His biggest hit featuring Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town: it's a one off, delightfully quirky and effective rap dance track 7 Milky Just The Way You Are Only Top 40 for this Italian house group: the "doo doo doo" feels very dreamy and it's a repetitive but really sweet track 6 The Flaming Lips Do You Realize? 1st hit for this US psychedelic rock band: they'll have better but I really enjoy the slow and pensive vocal lines in this 5 3rd Edge In And Out 1st of a couple of hits for this UK garage boyband: not fussed about it as a whole but impressed by the rapid rapping 5 Celine Dion I'm Alive Not as good as "A New Day Has Come" but still one of her better songs: it has that similar beautiful dawn feeling to it 4 Boniface Cheeky Only hit for Bruce Boniface: this is not bad but a very standard early '00s RnB track that doesn't stick in the memory 3 Abs What You Got Debut solo hit for this Five member based on "Uptown Top Ranking" from 1977: this version is OK but doesn't add much 2 Blazin' Squad Crossroads 933rd #1: there's something quite charming about this unwieldy 12 piece group making it big, but it's a raucous cover 2002 Week 36: #1459 07/09/2002 Atomic Kitten The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling) 1 {1}-1-1-2-5-8-12-13-16-20-24-32-45-52-69-74->16 #1460 07/09/2002 Ms Dynamite Dy-Na-Mi-Tee 5 {5}-10-17-22-21-31-37-47-64-75->10 #1461 07/09/2002 Nickelback Too Bad 9 {9}-17-23-39-45-56-63-67R(2)-62->9 #1462 07/09/2002 Enrique Iglesias Love To See You Cry 12 {12}-26-28-40-50-66-72->7 #1463 07/09/2002 3SL Touch Me Tease Me 16 {16}-36-60-59R(5)->4 #1464 07/09/2002 Mint Royale Sexiest Man In Jamaica 20 {20}-35-49->3 #1465 07/09/2002 Ash Envy 21 {21}-44->2 #1466 07/09/2002 Harvey Get Up And Move 24 {24}-42->2 #1467 07/09/2002 Tweet Call Me 35 {35}-60->2 #1468 07/09/2002 JamX And Deleon Can U Dig It 40 {40}-63->2

Pink for me now - I don’t think anyone would have expected a 25+ year superstar career based on this debut.

🐰 ❤️