Julian_

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.

🐰 ❤️

Moving to Alphabeat - I do really like them but think their style ther singles were stronger.

3rd: Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God 13/31 votes (42%) 4th: Robyn - Be Mine 10/33 votes (30%) 5th: The Killers - Read My Mind 10/32 votes (31%) 6th: Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor 9/32 votes (28%) 7th: Andreas Johnson - Glorious 7/30 votes (23%) 8th: Bob Sinclar featuring Gary ‘Nesta’ Pine - Love Generation 10/29 votes (34%) 9th: Jamelia - See It In A Boy’s Eyes 11/33 votes (33%) 10th: Kelly Clarkson - Because Of You 8/32 votes (25%)

Herbs will be sorry that leaving here and now are Steps. This was one of their lower selling singles, but nonetheless became the 12th of their run of 14 straight Top 5 hits. It reached #4 in June 2001. 9th: Steps - Here And Now / You’ll Be Sorry 14/30 votes (47%) 10th: Basshunter - Angel In The Night 14/33 votes (42%)

The naughty girl has been sent down. After the chart topping “Kiss Kiss” this was her 1st fully original hit, reaching #2 in October 2002. She would have some more hits but wouldn’t reach the Top 5 again. 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%)

Amended

1/5: 1 1 Ordinary (1) 2 2 Pink pony club (2) 3 3 Messy (1) 4 4 APT (2) 5 5 Azizam (3) 6 9 Show me love (6) 7 6 Anxiety (4) 8 8 Sports car (7) 9 10 Beautiful things (1) 10 7 That’s so true (1) 11 14 Birds of a feather (3) 12 12 Die with a smile (3) 13 11 Busy woman (11) 14 17 Love me not (14) 15 13 The days (5) 16 16 Bad dreams (13) 17 42 Steve’s lava chicken (17) 18 18 Good luck, babe! (2) 19 20 Abracadabra (4) 20 15 Taste (1) 21 22 The door (13) 22 19 Espresso (1) 23 25 Lose control (2) 24 24 Carry you home (17) 25 32 Undressed (25) 26 23 Nice to meet you (12) 27 26 Sailor song (2) 28 21 The giver (2) 29 30 Mutt (29) 30 27 Nokia (18) 31 28 A bar song (2) 32 44 Back to friends (32) 33 29 Stargazing (6) 34 43 Sorry I’m here for someone else (34) 35 33 Too sweet (1) 36 37 Revolving door (17) 37 40 Stick season (1) 38 31 Twilight zone (9) 39 34 Please please please (1) 40 - Headphones on (40) 41 36 Bed chem (13) 42 41 Mr Brightside (10) 43 38 Somedays (10) 44 49 Hot to go! (10) 45 - Dreams (22) 46 48 I had some help (2) 47 - Iris (3) 48 45 Not like us (1) 49 - Shake it to the max (49) 50 - Tell me (49)

Week 17: 1 1 Lola Young Messy 737,000 920,000 2 2 Rosé and Bruno Mars APT. 699,000 1,050,000 3 3 Gracie Abrams That's So True 625,000 1,060,000 4 4 Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars Die With A Smile 577,000 1,210,000 5 5 Alex Warren Ordinary 534,000 6 6 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 493,000 940,000 7 7 Chrystal The Days 473,000 640,000 8 8 Billie Eilish Birds Of A Feather 446,000 1,670,000 9 9 Chappell Roan Good Luck, Babe! 436,000 1,640,000 10 11 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 431,000 2,220,000 11 10 Gigi Perez Sailor Song 426,000 1,020,000 12 12 Sabrina Carpenter Espresso 398,000 2,150,000 13 13 Sabrina Carpenter Taste 394,000 1,190,000 14 14 Teddy Swims Lose Control 390,000 2,220,000 15 15 Kendrick Lamar Not Like Us 355,000 980,000 16 16 Teddy Swims Bad Dreams 354,000 590,000 17 17 Teddy Swims The Door 348,000 1,020,000 18 18 Myles Smith Nice To Meet You 330,000 440,000 19 20 Tate McRae Sports Car 325,000 20 19 Shaboozey A Bar Song (Tipsy) 324,000 1,660,000 21 21 Hozier Too Sweet 312,000 1,780,000 22 22 Myles Smith Stargazing 312,000 1,320,000 23 23 Sabrina Carpenter Please Please Please 311,000 1,450,000 24 24 Lady Gaga Abracadabra 305,000 25 25 Noah Kahan Stick Season 299,000 2,820,000 26 26 Sabrina Carpenter Bed Chem 293,000 680,000 27 28 Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & D.O.D. Somedays 280,000 750,000 28 27 Kendrick Lamar & Sza Luther 278,000 370,000 29 29 Gracie Abrams I Love You, I'm Sorry 271,000 750,000 30 30 Chappell Roan Hot To Go! 266,000 930,000 31 32 Alex Warren Carry You Home 265,000 570,000 32 31 The Weeknd and Playboi Carti Timeless 258,000 480,000 33 33 Sam Fender People Watching 250,000 360,000 34 34 Doechii Denial Is A River 249,000 250,000 35 35 Kendrick Lamar & Sza All The Stars 247,000 2,160,000 36 39 Sabrina Carpenter Busy Woman 244,000 37 36 Billie Eilish Wildflower 244,000 760,000 38 37 The Killers Mr Brightside 242,000 6,310,000 39 38 Bl3ss & CamrinWatsin featuring BbyClose Kisses 234,000 890,000 40 40 Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen I Had Some Help 234,000 1,140,000 41 46 Doechii Anxiety 222,000 56 59 Drake Nokia 185,000 57 62 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 185,000 69 71 Tate McRae Revolving Door 165,000 72 - WizTheMc & Bees & Honey Show Me Love 157,000 75 88 Chappell Roan The Giver 155,000 88 - Leon Thomas Mutt 148,000 “CRG” and “BMF” have left.

Went for Leona - she sounds really good in the chorus especially

1 Halestorm 2 Sleep Token 3 Lorde

Ah sorry - I think he was Norman’s protégé though and Norman was actively involved in the record. I remember him being asked about why it didn’t chart and saying basically because we screwed up.

Space Cowboy (another alias for Norman Cooke / Fatboy Slim) released a cover of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U” in 2002. It had loads of radio play and was on course for the Top 10 but disqualified due to having 3 remixes on top of a B side.

I don’t love any of them but “She Bangs” is probably Ricky’s best tune.

My top pick here is an obscure gem - a gorgeous reinvention of a 1976 track “Misty Blue” by Dorothy Moore. Having heard the original I really think this version is better. 8 Amillionsons Misti Blu Only hit for them with a soul cover: this has the most beautiful soundscape and the vocals are full of amazement and joy 8 Sugababes Round Round 932nd #1: so different from their early hits but a unique song with tempo changes and production like a motor whirring 7 Daniel Bedingfield James Dean (I Wanna Know) Doesn't quite have the magic of his debut but has a similarly homemade feel and I really enjoy the punchy starkness of it 6 Nukleuz DJ's DJ Nation Nukleuz was a group of DJs and "DJ Nation" a whole project of which this is one track: it's a strong piece of hard trance 5 Lasgo Alone Their 2nd hit which doesn't have the striking power of "Something" but it a nice dance track with soaring emotive vocals 5 Hear'Say Lovin' Is Easy Their last hit which obviously didn't really connect, but I quite like the production and overall prefer this to their #1s 4 Snap! Vs Plaything Do You See The Light They haven't had any original hits this century: this remix of a 1993 #10 hit is not bad but I prefer the original production 3 H And Claire Half A Heart A mid tempo duet very different from "DJ": you can see why H didn't get many solos in Steps as his parts aren't great 3 Mary J. Blige Featuring Ja Rule Rainy Dayz Two superstars collaboarating on a surprisingly boring track: Mary J's final vocals are the only enjoyable aspect of this 2 B2K Uh Huh 1st hit for this US RnB boyband who will be back with stronger material but this feels like all production and no song 1 Romeo Romeo Dunn 1st solo hit for So Solid Crew member Marvin Dawkins: as well as not enjoying it musically I find the lyrics terribly silly 2002 Week 35: #1448 31/08/2002 Blazin' Squad Crossroads 1 {1}-2-4-12-24-34-39-38-51-60-57-51-48->13 #1449 31/08/2002 Truth Hurts Featuring Rakim Addictive 3 {3}-4-5-9-17-19-27-30-35-50-69-73->12 #1450 31/08/2002 Abs What You Got 4 {4}-7-9-20-32-42-58-74->8 #1451 31/08/2002 Oakenfold Starry Eyed Surprise 6 {6}-10-14-16-28-36-45-55->8 #1452 31/08/2002 Milky Just The Way You Are 8 {8}-14-19-31-50-66->6 #1453 31/08/2002 The Music Take The Long Road And Walk It 14 {14}-32-54->3 #1454 31/08/2002 3rd Edge In And Out 15 {15}-30-37-51-75R(3)->5 #1455 31/08/2002 Celine Dion I'm Alive 17 {17}-26-28-40-55-69->6 #1456 31/08/2002 Boniface Cheeky 25 {25}-42-67->3 #1457 31/08/2002 The Flaming Lips Do You Realize? 32 {32}-68->2 #1458 31/08/2002 Moby Extreme Ways 39 {39}->1

This is tough - Florence is my favourite left and the other 2 are on a par. Went for Avril in the end as Florence-Kaisers would be a fun final.

I’m moving to Holly now, though it’s not bad, especially the production.