Julian_

Week 18: 1 1 Olivia Dean The Art Of Loving 293,000 570,000 2 2 Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. 272,000 3 3 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 153,000 1,980,000 4 4 The Weeknd Highlights 125,000 1,710,000 5 5 Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend 120,000 430,000 6 6 Michael Jackson The Essential 119,000 2,220,000 7 7 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 117,000 630,000 8 8 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 111,000 420,000 9 9 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 97,000 990,000 10 10 Noah Kahan Stick Season 96,000 820,000 11 12 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 94,000 2,500,000 12 11 Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl 93,000 730,000 13 13 Linkin Park Papercuts 92,000 490,000 14 16 Raye This Music May Contain Hope 88,000 15 15 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 87,000 3,640,000 16 14 Tate McRae So Close To What 87,000 350,000 17 17 ABBA Gold 87,000 6,230,000 18 18 BTS Arirang 86,000 19 19 Elton John Diamonds 80,000 2,010,000 20 20 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 76,000 5,690,000 21 21 Arctic Monkeys AM 75,000 2,400,000 22 22 Sombr I Barely Know Her 72,000 160,000 23 23 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 71,000 3,600,000 24 24 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 67,000 1,320,000 25 25 50 Cent Best Of 50 Cent 65,000 830,000 26 27 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 64,000 760,000 27 26 EsDeeKid Rebel 63,000 140,000 28 28 Pitbull Greatest Hits 61,000 680,000 29 29 Maroon 5 Singles 61,000 1,050,000 30 30 Queen Greatest Hits 57,000 3,260,000 31 32 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 56,000 650,000 32 - Noah Kahan The Great Divide 56,000 33 34 Red Hot Chili Peppers Greatest Hits 55,000 2,370,000 34 31 Mumford & Sons Prizefighter 54,000 35 33 Sam Fender People Watching 54,000 330,000 36 36 Oasis Definitely Maybe 54,000 3,070,000 37 35 Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Hooligans 54,000 2,480,000 38 40 Calvin Harris 96 Months 53,000 290,000 39 37 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 53,000 550,000 40 41 Charli XCX Brat 52,000 580,000 41 42 Katy Perry Teenage Dream 52,000 2,080,000 43 44 Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad 51,000 2,580,000 45 46 The Beatles 1967-1970 50,000 1,380,000 52 53 Lady Gaga The Fame 48,000 3,640,000 67 69 Avicii Avicii Forever 43,000 110,000 71 72 Kanye West Graduation 43,000 1,100,000 83 85 The Killers Rebel Diamonds 39,000 280,000 88 - Michael Jackson Bad 38,000 4,490,000 99 - Michael Jackson Thriller 35,000 4,780,000 - 96 Raye My 21st Century Blues 35,000 270,000 - 99 Ariana Grande Eternal Sunshine 35,000 380,000 - 100 Lewis Capaldi Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent 35,000 1,910,000

Not sure I’d quite put “Love Is All Around” last but fairly low certainly.

I would prefer Human League not to win even though I did like the track. There were plenty of great less obvious choices in here.

There are a quite a few where I agree with Jim’s placing exactly or very close, but a few winners and losers in mine. 1 Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden - Bonkers 2 Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name 3 Lady Gaga - Bad Romance 4 Calvin Harris - I'm Not Alone 5 The Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling 6 Lily Allen - The Fear 7 La Roux - Bulletproof 8 Lady Gaga - Poker Face 9 The Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow 10 David Guetta feat. Akon - Sexy Chick 11 Lady Gaga feat. Colby O'Donis - Just Dance 12 The Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway 13 Dizzee Rascal - Holiday 14 Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love 15 David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland - When Love Takes Over 16 Jay-Z feat. Rihanna & Kanye West - Run This Town 17 Cascada - Evacuate The Dancefloor 18 JLS - Beat Again 19 Pixie Lott - Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh) 20 Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band - The Official BBC Children In Need Medley 21 Flo Rida feat. Ke$ha - Right Round 22 Tinchy Stryder feat. N-Dubz - Number 1 23 Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart 24 Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You 25 Chipmunk - Oopsy Daisy 26 Tinchy Stryder feat. Amelle - Never Leave You 27 Alexandra Burke feat. Flo Rida - Bad Boys 28 JLS - Everybody In Love 29 Pixie Lott - Boys And Girls 30 Joe McElderry - The Climb 31 Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah 32 Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West feat. Sir Tom Jones and Robin Gibb - Barry Islands In The Stream 33 X Factor Finalists 2009 - You Are Not Alone

Oops at already being featured as a low scorer when I gave several lower ones. 😅

Thanks very much for this Jim! Great to have Rage as high as #2 and it’s hard to argue with that winner. I’ll do my own ranking in due course. I’m pleased to announce the continuation of the series with some more lovely posters: 2010 @Iz様 🌟 2011 @Paddington James 2012 @RabbitFurCoat 2013 @Jaz13music

This might be my 2nd favourite Ultravox song after the obvious, but the winner of this group was never in doubt and I’m going to have to bring out the 10 paddle again. 10 New Order Blue Monday An enormous chart run and a million seller with the later remix; it's the ultimate indie disco hit and synth perfection 9 Ultravox Visions In Blue One of their very best hits here and that's a high bar: this has a stark, wonderfully intense and dramatic feel to it 8 David Bowie Let's Dance 519th #1: Nile Rodgers helped produce this and turn it from a folk number into a funky and very striking dance track 8 Altered Images Don't Talk To Me About Love The lead single from a new album giving them another Top 10: this is such a pretty track and excellently performed 7 Nick Heyward Whistle Down The Wind 1st solo hit for the former Haircut One Hundred lead: it's a rather lovely, gentle and wistful track with lovely strings 6 The Style Council Speak Like A Child 1st hit for Paul Weller's new group: not as great as most of the Jam's big hits but nice and in a similar style to those 6 Duran Duran Is There Something I Should Know? 518th #1: unfortunately their 1st chart topper isn't as great as many of the hits that came before it, but still good 5 JoBoxers Boxerbeat 1st hit for this UK group: it's new wave pop but has a slight rockabilly flavour with its relentless rhythm: not bad 5 Mari Wilson Cry Me A River Quite an interesting version of the jazz classic with nice instrumentation, but I prefer Julie London's from 1957 5 Mezzoforte Garden Party Only Top 40 for this Icelandic instrumental jazz fusion band, which indeed would be a pleasant party backing track 4 Leo Sayer Orchard Road His last solo Top 40: I like the warm production and the vocals are strong, but the song itself is quite forgettable 4 Japan All Tomorrow's Parties Their last Top 40 and unfortunately much weaker than all the other ones: a Velvet Underground cover that's only OK 3 Foster And Allen Maggie An old folk tune given a new lease of life by this duo who won't appear here again: it's sweet but nothing inspiring 3 Band AKA Joy The only Top 40 for this changing line up of session musicians with a serviceable but not a memorable funk track #1017 19/03/1983 Tracey Ullman Breakaway 4 48-38-18-6-{4}-5-10-18-25-39-66->11 #1018 19/03/1983 Wah! Hope (I Wish You'd Believe Me) 37 54-39-{37}-44-59->5 #1019 02/04/1983 Kajagoogoo Ooh To Be Ah 7 20-{7}-7-8-16-27-40-70->8 #1020 02/04/1983 U2 Two Hearts Beat As One 18 24-{18}-22-42-68->5 #1021 26/03/1983 Kenny Everett Snot Rap 9 56-27-10-{9}-13-26-45-67->8 #1022 26/03/1983 Twisted Sister I Am (I'm Me) 18 45-32-29-19-{18}-18-20-31-56->9 #1023 02/04/1983 Kevin Rowland And Dexys Midnight Runners The Celtic Soul Brothers {1983} 20 36-24-{20}-22-32-54->6 #1024 26/03/1983 Tracie The House That Jack Built 9 61-38-23-12-{9}-15-22-39->8 #1025 02/04/1983 F.R. David Words 2 39-21-8-4-{2}-2-4-9-17-22-39-50->12 #1026 12/03/1983 Sunfire Young Free And Single 20 58-45-43-40-34-28-{20}-21-23-38-65->11 #1027 09/04/1983 Culture Club Church Of The Poison Mind 2 9-{2}-2-5-10-16-29-43-63->9 #1028 09/04/1983 Michael Jackson Beat It 3 30-5-{3}-3-4-11-16-26-38-52-72-72->12 #1029 05/03/1983 Kissing The Pink Last Film 19 69-52-51-49-44-39-32-29-24-{19}-19-19-36-57->14

I actually think the chorus of “Just Dance” is a little weak and lets it down - the verses and middle eight and the production are brilliant though. I know you’ve said several times that it’s your favourite Gaga song so I’m surprised to see it behind the other one - but not complaining as I agree that one is the best.

Both #5 and #4 are very much late 00s records. I don’t think they’re as ageless as some other songs here, but both very much bangers. Not sure which of “Just Dance” and “Poker Face” I prefer these days but I was always more of a “Paparazzi” girl.

Why are the public lapping up this rubbish from Justin when he does actually have a fair number of decent songs?

Of course “The Doors” not played 🫠

“Porch Light” is growing on me actually - maybe his best from this campaign.

Aww “Baby Steps” has to wait 9 months for its moment and is skipped. 😔

“Potential” is slowly growing on me - certainly not a bad track at all but not quite good enough to really keep up the momentum of interest.

The Sienna tracks seem to have all dropped away pretty quickly.

It’s the 00s indie darlings for me! Muse, Strokes and Weezer.

My mum is an unlikely fan of “I Gotta Feeling” and I can see why. It’s one of those songs like “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “Mr Blue Sky” that’s just so effortlessly happy. The verses are quite messy but I don’t mind that. It would probably be in a similar position for me. “I’m Not Alone” is beautiful - one of his very best for me and would be in my Top 5.

1983 continues to deliver: big power ballads aren’t especially my thing but “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” is absolutely one of the very best, and it makes sense to find out that it has the same writer as Meatloaf. But it is popped by the glorious “Waves”. 9 Blancmange Waves A stunning, emotionally powerful and reflective track with a rich building orchestral sound and expressive vocals 9 Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse Of The Heart 517th #1: her 1st hit of the decade and a wonderful power ballad by Meatloaf's writer James Steinman done her way 8 Orange Juice Rip It Up 8 Top 75s but only this Top 40 for the Scottish group and an excellent, jangling, bright and breezy piece of guitar pop 8 Joan Armatrading Drop The Pilot She'll have more minor hits but this is her last and 2nd highest peaking Top 40: it's a really lovely heartwarming song 7 Big Country Fields Of Fire (400 Miles) 1st hit for this Scottish rock band: the bagpipes give it an authentically Celtic sound and it's a lovely dynamic track 7 The Stranglers Midnight Summer Dream A broody track with mostly spoken poetic vocals: it's very effective though perhaps didn't fully pay off commercially 6 Soft Cell Numbers/Barriers Neither of these tracks reach the lofty heights of earlier big hits but both are enjoyable and beautifully performed 6 Malcolm McLaren Soweto Quite a minor 2nd hit for him: this isn't as good as the 1st but has interesting and eclectic international influences 5 Bananarama Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye A higher peaking cover of Steam's 1970 hit: it is a polished up to date version but the original sounds more authentic 5 Bucks Fizz Run For Your Life This is very similar in style to "My Camera Never Lies" but not as compelling as that: still it's quite a pleasant listen 4 Modern Romance High Life It's their usual jolly and Latin inspired sound, and a Top 10 hit thanks to the catchy melody, but not remotely special 4 Forrest Rock The Boat 1st hit for this US singer with a cover of the 1974 #6 hit: this outperforms the original but doesn't really add anything 3 David Joseph You Can't Hide (Your Love From Me) 1st solo hit for this UK soul singer who had led the band Hi Tension: like many hits of this style it isn't very distinctive 2 Kenny Rogers And Sheena Easton We've Got Tonight The Bob Seger original only reached #41 though will re-chart in future; this soppy cover lacks the original's soul 1983 Group 5: #1003 05/03/1983 Band AKA Joy 24 59-38-{24}-25-26-36-46->7 #1004 19/02/1983 Foster And Allen Maggie 27 47-46-43-39-{27}-28-33-38-65->9 #1005 05/03/1983 Mezzoforte Garden Party 17 61-40-29-{17}-19-26-30-50-72->9 #1006 19/03/1983 The Style Council Speak Like A Child 4 6-{4}-4-4-11-23-36-68->8 #1007 19/03/1983 Ultravox Visions In Blue 15 30-{15}-22-31-45-74->6 #1008 19/02/1983 JoBoxers Boxerbeat 3 62-61-51-42-32-21-6-{3}-6-7-19-25-27-47-70->15 #1009 12/03/1983 Leo Sayer Orchard Road 16 61-35-27-{16}-19-26-35-61->8 #1010 19/03/1983 Altered Images Don't Talk To Me About Love 7 36-12-{7}-11-17-33-55->7 #1011 19/03/1983 New Order Blue Monday 9 37-24-17-14-14-12-13-17-18-26-32-45-51-57-65-62-62-74R(5)-57-60-53-44-37-20-12-10-{9}-12-15-18-25-38-50-58-65R(5)-52-57-75->38 #1012 12/03/1983 Japan All Tomorrow's Parties 38 41-{38}-42-56->4 #1013 26/03/1983 Duran Duran Is There Something I Should Know? 1 {1}-1-2-3-11-27-34-44-66->9 #1014 26/03/1983 David Bowie Let's Dance 1 5-2-{1}-1-1-6-9-13-24-37-44-54-61-74->14 #1015 19/03/1983 Nick Heyward Whistle Down The Wind 13 43-26-15-15-{13}-17-30-47->8 #1016 19/03/1983 Mari Wilson Cry Me A River 27 42-36-30-{27}-27-38-58->7

5 Dracula 4 Lush Life 3 Homewrecker 2 White Keys 1 Babydoll -1 Daisies -2 Drop Dead -3 Rein Me In -4 Fever Dream -5 Beauty And A Beat

Have voted. Enjoyed a lot of these but tried to prioritise interesting picks in my votes, and included at least 2 from each of the 4 main decades.

I’ve always loved “Bonkers” - would be in my Top 5 at least. I think we’d have seen Ms Germanotta at least once by now in mine.

Week 17: 1 1 Olivia Dean Man I Need 933,000 2,030,000 2 2 Sam Fender and Olivia Dean Rein Me In 783,000 1,470,000 3 3 Dave featuring Tems Raindance 659,000 900,000 4 4 Raye Where Is My Husband! 640,000 1,250,000 5 5 Alex Warren Ordinary 576,000 2,760,000 6 6 Olivia Dean So Easy (To Fall In Love) 558,000 930,000 7 7 Taylor Swift The Fate Of Ophelia 549,000 1,300,000 8 8 Huntr/x, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami & KPop Demon Hunters Cast Golden 548,000 1,880,000 9 9 Djo End Of Beginning 521,000 1,700,000 10 10 Zara Larsson Lush Life 492,000 3,530,000 11 11 Bella Kay Iloveitiloveitiloveit 488,000 12 12 PinkPantheress Stateside 466,000 600,000 13 13 Olivia Dean Nice To Each Other 436,000 1,210,000 14 14 Bruno Mars I Just Might 423,000 15 16 Sombr 12 To 12 395,000 920,000 16 15 Sienna Spiro Die On This Hill 394,000 560,000 17 17 Harry Styles Aperture 372,000 18 18 Taylor Swift Opalite 365,000 780,000 19 19 Sombr Back To Friends 335,000 1,250,000 20 21 Sombr Homewrecker 325,000 21 20 Disco Lines and Tinashe No Broke Boys 322,000 1,040,000 22 23 Tame Impala Dracula 306,000 440,000 23 25 Dominic Fike Babydoll 288,000 1,030,000 24 24 Sabrina Carpenter Manchild 285,000 1,090,000 25 22 Haven featuring Kaitlin Aragon I Run 282,000 380,000 26 26 The Killers Mr Brightside 272,000 7,070,000 27 27 Olivia Dean The Hardest Part 266,000 990,000 28 29 Ravyn Lenae Love Me Not 266,000 1,410,000 29 28 Chappell Roan Pink Pony Club 266,000 2,080,000 30 30 Olivia Dean A Couple Minutes 259,000 440,000 31 39 Alex Warren Fever Dream 259,000 32 34 Milky Just The Way You Are 256,000 370,000 33 31 Goo Goo Dolls Iris 256,000 4,820,000 34 32 Benson Boone Beautiful Things 253,000 3,180,000 35 33 Sombr Undressed 252,000 1,130,000 36 36 Fleetwood Mac Dreams 252,000 4,190,000 37 38 Harry Styles American Girls 251,000 38 37 Zara Larsson Midnight Sun 250,000 350,000 39 35 Olivia Dean Dive 247,000 910,000 40 40 Olivia Dean OK Love You Bye 236,000 740,000 41 48 Dominic Fike White Keys 228,000 240,000 57 77 Justin Bieber Daisies 194,000 700,000 58 67 Ella Langley Choosin' Texas 190,000 230,000 74 81 Sean Paul featuring Keyshia Cole (When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me 172,000 460,000 77 79 Vance Joy Riptide 169,000 4,910,000 78 80 Sam Fender Seventeen Going Under 169,000 2,820,000 100 - The Cure Boys Don't Cry 153,000 1,250,000 - 94 Esdeekid Century 152,000 280,000

30/4: 1 - Drop Dead (1) 2 1 Rein me in (1) 3 3 Man I need (1) 4 2 Iloveitiloveitiloveit (2) 5 21 Beauty and a beat (5) 6 4 Dracula (4) 7 29 Daisies (2) 8 5 Ordinary (1) 9 9 Fever dream (4) 10 6 Where is my husband! (3) 11 10 Homewrecker (10) 12 11 So easy (5) 13 7 Raindance (2) 14 8 Stateside (5) 15 14 White keys (14) 16 13 Lush life (3) 17 12 Babydoll (12) 18 15 Golden (1) 19 17 The fate of Ophelia (1) 20 18 I just might (7) 21 19 Nice to each other (5) 22 16 American girls (1) 23 20 12 to 12 (8) 24 - Elizabeth Taylor (24) 25 22 Just the way you are (8) 26 23 End of beginning (2) 27 24 Choosin’ Texas (24) 28 - Baby (3) 29 25 Manchild (1) 30 26 Back to friends (7) 31 31 Midnight sun (27) 32 35 Dreams (22) 33 27 Die on this hill (12) 34 48 Yukon (20) 35 33 No broke boys (3) 36 - Confident (33) 37 34 Opalite (1) 38 36 Mr Brightside (10) 39 - Sorry (1) 40 - Love yourself (1) 41 36 House tour (11) 42 39 Love me not (2) 43 32 Aperture (1) 44 43 Undressed (4) 45 40 Beautiful things (1) 46 38 Iris (3) 47 28 Pinky up (28) 48 42 Pink pony club (2) 49 50 Give it up to me (31) 50 44 The hardest part (23)

Week 17: 1 1 Olivia Dean The Art Of Loving 278,000 560,000 2 2 Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. 265,000 3 3 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years: Don't Stop 144,000 1,970,000 4 4 The Weeknd Highlights 119,000 1,700,000 5 5 Sabrina Carpenter Man's Best Friend 114,000 420,000 6 7 Michael Jackson The Essential 113,000 2,210,000 7 6 Ed Sheeran +-=÷x (Tour Collection) 110,000 620,000 8 8 Alex Warren You'll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) 103,000 410,000 9 10 Sabrina Carpenter Short n' Sweet 91,000 980,000 10 11 Noah Kahan Stick Season 91,000 980,000 11 9 Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl 89,000 730,000 12 12 Oasis Time Flies... 1994-2009 88,000 2,500,000 13 13 Linkin Park Papercuts 87,000 480,000 14 14 Tate McRae So Close To What 83,000 340,000 15 15 Fleetwood Mac Rumours 83,000 3,640,000 16 18 Raye This Music May Contain Hope 82,000 17 16 ABBA Gold 82,000 6,220,000 18 17 BTS Arirang 81,000 19 19 Elton John Diamonds 75,000 2,000,000 20 20 Oasis (What's The Story) Morning Glory 72,000 5,690,000 21 21 Arctic Monkeys AM 72,000 2,400,000 22 22 Sombr I Barely Know Her 69,000 160,000 23 23 Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits 67,000 3,600,000 24 26 Olivia Rodrigo Sour 63,000 1,310,000 25 25 50 Cent Best Of 50 Cent 62,000 830,000 26 24 EsDeeKid Rebel 61,000 140,000 27 27 Olivia Rodrigo Guts 60,000 760,000 28 28 Pitbull Greatest Hits 58,000 680,000 29 29 Maroon 5 Singles 57,000 1,050,000 30 31 Queen Greatest Hits 54,000 3,260,000 31 30 Mumford & Sons Prizefighter 53,000 32 32 Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard And Soft 53,000 650,000 33 33 Sam Fender People Watching 52,000 330,000 34 34 Red Hot Chili Peppers Greatest Hits 52,000 2,360,000 35 35 Bruno Mars Doo-Wops & Hooligans 51,000 2,480,000 36 37 Oasis Definitely Maybe 51,000 3,070,000 37 40 Post Malone The Diamond Collection 50,000 550,000 38 38 Zach Bryan With Heaven On Top 49,000 39 36 Gorillaz The Mountain 49,000 40 43 Calvin Harris 96 Months 49,000 280,000 42 45 Katy Perry Teenage Dream 48,000 2,080,000 53 54 Lady Gaga The Fame 45,000 3,640,000 55 57 Green Day Greatest Hits: God's Favorite Band 45,000 790,000 63 64 Britney Spears The Singles Collection 43,000 760,000 67 69 Phil Collins The Singles 41,000 920,000 69 72 Avicii Avicii Forever 41,000 110,000 72 73 Kanye West Graduation 40,000 1,100,000 82 91 The Cure Greatest Hits 37,000 1,260,000 91 95 Madonna Finally Enough Love - #1s Remixed 35,000 330,000 98 99 Nirvana Nirvana 33,000 1,590,000