Julian_

The bridge is the best part - absolutely beautiful.

It’s an interpolation rather than a direct cover:

1 David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes (addiction anthem - my 5th favourite hit of 1980) 2 HAIM - If I Could Change Your Mind (a gorgeous track with their charm and chugging rhythms) 3 ABBA - Super Trouper (stage fright anthem - my 16th favourite hit of 1980) 4 Nelly Furtado - Big Hoops (Bigger the Better) (really like this - has an interesting mix of styles to it) 5 ROSALÍA - PIENSO EN TU MIRÁ - Cap.3: Celos (a hypnotic quality to this) 6 Florence + the Machine - Hurricane Drunk (a lovely track and I enjoy the twinkly harp) 7 Delta Goodrem - Believe Again (another pretty convincing track from her with an epic feel) 8 Conan Gray - Maniac (a good song well performed) 9 Lily Allen - Madeline (this one works fairly well as a standalone and I enjoy the acting) 10 Scissor Sisters - She’s My Man (I quite enjoy the rocky vibe and stompy rhythm but there’s nothing to make it unique) 11 Atomic Kitten - Be With You (this isn’t bad but the ELO original is much better) 12 Kelly Clarkson - Never Again (find this a bit overblown and lacking light and shade) 13 Chappell Roan - Red Wine Supernova (I’ve never enjoyed the lyrics and I didn’t think theirs enough going on musically to compensate) 14 Troye Sivan - Bloom (this grew on me with repeat listens but still felt a little formulaic: certainly didn’t bloom) 15 The Corrs - Irresistible (can see why this did quite poorly as the “Breathless” follow up: just a little bit limp)

“Spinning Around” is pretty ordinary: she did have a very strong run of singles to come though.

Buzzjack loving it less and less

Don’t sell out to the TikTok generation Raye - leave the track as it is!

This is just fabulous. ❤️

Very solid Top 10 so far but nothing that’s a big favourite.

Went for Shania, though there are plenty of contenders.

Also Mis-Teeq

“Reet Petite” is fantastic - one of my favourite 50s songs.

“Wonderful Life” takes on a whole new meaning when you realise that the lyrics in the chorus are sarcastic.

Not sure Bowie or Rosalía’s mentors will be coming to you for ideas based on those numbers!

But why would anyone want to send their 3rd best option chosen by someone else rather than their best option chosen by them? 😝

Far from clear at this stage how the battle between “Rein Me In” and “Man I Need” will unfold, so that will be interesting.

Week 12: 1 1 Olivia Dean Man I Need 675,000 1,770,000 2 2 Dave featuring Tems Raindance 491,000 730,000 3 4 Sam Fender and Olivia Dean Rein Me In 487,000 1,170,000 4 3 Raye Where Is My Husband! 472,000 1,080,000 5 5 Taylor Swift The Fate Of Ophelia 422,000 1,170,000 6 6 Djo End Of Beginning 416,000 1,600,000 7 7 Huntr/x, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Golden 415,000 1,750,000 8 8 Alex Warren Ordinary 406,000 2,580,000 9 9 Olivia Dean So Easy (To Fall In Love) 401,000 780,000 10 10 Zara Larsson Lush Life 350,000 3,390,000 11 11 Olivia Dean Nice To Each Other 313,000 1,090,000 12 14 PinkPantheress Stateside 305,000 430,000 13 12 Bruno Mars I Just Might 304,000 14 13 Sienna Spiro Die On This Hill 295,000 470,000 15 15 Sombr 12 To 12 281,000 810,000 16 16 Taylor Swift Opalite 276,000 690,000 17 17 Harry Styles Aperture 274,000 18 19 Sombr Back To Friends 241,000 1,150,000 19 18 Disco Lines and Tinashe No Broke Boys 238,000 960,000 20 24 Bella Kay Iloveitiloveitiloveit 234,000 240,000 21 20 Haven featuring Kaitlin Aragon I Run 221,000 320,000 22 21 Sabrina Carpenter Manchild 200,000 1,010,000 23 22 Olivia Dean A Couple Minutes 194,000 370,000 24 23 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 190,000 2,000,000 25 26 Olivia Dean The Hardest Part 189,000 910,000 26 25 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 189,000 1,330,000 27 27 The Killers Mr Brightside 188,000 6,990,000 28 29 Olivia Dean Dive 180,000 850,000 29 28 Goo Goo Dolls Iris 178,000 4,740,000 30 30 Sombr Undressed 178,000 1,060,000 31 31 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 177,000 3,110,000 32 39 Sombr Homewrecker 177,000 33 33 Fleetwood Mac Dreams 170,000 4,110,000 34 32 Saja Boys, Andrew Choi Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Soda Pop 169,000 890,000 35 34 Olivia Dean Baby Steps 169,000 350,000 36 35 Olivia Dean OK Love You Bye 167,000 670,000 37 36 Sonny Fodera, D.O.D. and Poppy Baskcomb Think About Us 161,000 260,000 38 41 Bad Bunny DtMF 159,000 340,000 39 44 Zara Larsson Midnight Sun 159,000 260,000 40 40 Teddy Swims Lose Control 159,000 2,960,000 48 63 Dominic Fike Babydoll 147,000 50 57 Milky Just The Way You Are 145,000 260,000 51 66 Tame Impala Dracula 143,000 280,000 54 59 Noah Kahan The Great Divide 138,000 77 78 Alex Warren Carry You Home 124,000 1,170,000 82 85 Vance Joy Riptide 116,000 4,860,000 85 90 Sam Fender Seventeen Going Under 115,000 2,770,000 89 91 Kings Of Leon Sex On Fire 113,000 4,540,000 93 - Harry Styles American Girls 110,000 98 99 Florence And The Machine Dog Days Are Over 109,000 3,470,000 - 100 Fred Again…, Sammy Virji and Reggie Talk Of The Town 106,000

26/3: 1 2 Rein me in (1) 2 4 Iloveitiloveitiloveit (2) 3 3 Man I need (1) 4 1 American girls (1) 5 8 Raindance (2) 6 7 Stateside (5) 7 11 So easy (5) 8 15 Ordinary (1) 9 13 Where is my husband! (3) 10 5 Aperture (1) 11 20 Homewrecker (11) 12 23 Golden (1) 13 22 Lush life (3) 14 18 Fever dream (4) 15 - The visitor (15) 16 25 Nice to each other (5) 17 24 I just might (7) 18 26 The fate of Ophelia (1) 19 31 Babydoll (19) 20 30 Die on this hill (12) 21 28 12 to 12 (8) 22 35 Dracula (22) 23 6 Ready, steady, go! (6) 24 29 End of beginning (2) 25 9 Taste back (9) 26 33 Just the way you are (8) 27 34 Opalite (2) 28 38 White keys (28) 29 32 Back to friends (7) 30 - Porchlight (30) 31 39 Midnight sun (31) 32 12 Coming up roses (12) 33 14 Dance no more (14) 34 37 Into the groove (1) 35 40 The hardest part (23) 36 36 No broke boys (3) 37 41 Mr Brightside (10) 38 10 Are you listening yet? (10) 39 16 Pop (16) 40 43 Undressed (4) 41 - Iris (3) 42 42 A couple minutes (20) 43 47 Manchild (1) 44 46 OK love you bye (29) 45 21 Carla’s song (21) 46 50 Pink pony club (2) 47 45 Beautiful things (1) 48 48 Love me not (2) 49 49 Dive (28) 50 17 The waiting game (17)

Week 12: 1 2 Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. 210,000 2 1 Olivia Dean The Art Of Loving 209,000 490,000 3 3 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 101,000 1,930,000 4 4 The Weeknd Highlights 85,000 1,670,000 5 5 Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend 81,000 390,000 6 6 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 76,000 590,000 7 8 Michael Jackson The Essential 73,000 2,170,000 8 9 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 70,000 380,000 9 7 Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl 70,000 710,000 10 12 Tate McRae So Close To What 64,000 320,000 11 10 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 64,000 960,000 12 11 Noah Kahan Stick Season 64,000 790,000 13 13 Linkin Park Papercuts 61,000 450,000 14 14 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 61,000 2,470,000 15 15 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 59,000 3,610,000 16 16 ABBA Gold 58,000 6,200,000 17 17 Elton John Diamonds 53,000 1,980,000 18 18 Arctic Monkeys AM 52,000 2,380,000 19 19 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 52,000 5,670,000 20 20 EsDeeKid Rebel 50,000 120,000 21 22 Sombr I Barely Know Her 49,000 140,000 22 23 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 48,000 3,580,000 23 24 Mumford & Sons Prizefighter 46,000 24 21 Robbie Williams Britpop 46,000 25 25 50 Cent Best Of 50 Cent 44,000 810,000 26 26 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 43,000 1,290,000 27 31 Maroon 5 Singles 40,000 1,030,000 28 27 Lily Allen West End Girl 40,000 120,000 29 29 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 40,000 740,000 30 33 Pitbull Greatest Hits 40,000 660,000 31 30 Sam Fender People Watching 39,000 320,000 32 28 Zach Bryan With Heaven On Top 39,000 33 32 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 39,000 630,000 34 36 Gorillaz The Mountain 39,000 35 34 Bad Bunny Debí Tirar Más Fotos 38,000 100,000 36 37 Queen Greatest Hits 38,000 3,250,000 37 35 Charli XCX Wuthering Heights (OST) 38,000 38 39 Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Hooligans 37,000 2,470,000 39 40 Oasis Definitely Maybe 37,000 3,050,000 40 41 Charli XCX Brat 36,000 570,000 46 47 Calvin Harris 96 Months 33,000 270,000 50 52 Katy Perry Teenage Dream 32,000 2,070,000 53 55 Don Toliver Octane 32,000 63 71 Bruno Mars The Romantic 31,000 69 72 Whitney Houston I Will Always Love You 28,000 660,000 100 - Nirvana Nirvana 23,000 1,580,000 - 99 Taylor Swift Midnights 23,000 1,100,000

George and Blondie got my 5 and 4 points in the Paige round. It is a shame the retro fans now only have Bowie and ABBA really to cheer. I don’t think they could have done much better than “Careless Whisper” and “Call Me” respectively, certainly for the Pop Factor audience. The question is whether they could have won the original battles with those songs, but even then “Whole Again” and “Maneater” are pretty tough to beat. I do think “Save Your Tears” might well have got The Weeknd through the Paige round but we’ll never know.

Went for beabadoobee and James Blake but I quite like the Sienna and Noah songs too. Only 1 stinker here and everything else is decent.

“AM to PM” is good but not brilliant - feels fair that’s missed the Top 10 to me. “Maybe” is easily my favourite to have missed.

Can’t decide if you’re Laura or Mary

“That’s Not My Name” would be right up near the top for me too - wonderful and quirky. I am a fan of “The Promise” as well and was glad Girls Aloud had such a resounding return to form at the time. Will do a full ranking but thanks so much Herbs for this!

Don’t runaway now

I now have Wardy as a Nelly suspect too! Sorry Miss Marpling again. 😬