Chez Wombat

01; Jessie Ware - The Kill 02; Kate Bush - Reaching Out 03; MARINA - Teen Idle 04; Leona Lewis - Outta My Head 05; Dido - Mary’s in India 06; Adele - Can I Get It 07; Zara Larsson - Blue Moon 08; Agnes - Loaded 09; Robyn - Time Machine 10; Sophie Ellis-Bextor - New York City Lights Great round here, I didn't dislike anything. Fantastic stuff from Jessie, must get round to that album. I was hoping for something from the Ninth Wave section of Hounds of Love from Kate Bush, but this was lovely too x Never been the biggest fan of Leona but my parents did used to buy her albums and that track, while dated, was one of the few songs I liked off it. Poor Dido, I rather liked it x

01; Gary Numan – M.E. 02; Damien Rice – Amie 03; Roosevelt - Forget 04; Sam Smith - Lose You 05; Calvin Harris feat. Tinashe - Dollar Signs 06; Tom Grennan - If Only 07; Darin - Om du var min 08; Sam Fender - The Treadmill 09; Lewis Capaldi - Heavenly Kind of State of Mind 10; HRVY - Never Be Us I do hope Damien's not at risk, that was my favourite I've heard from him so far.

01; M83 - Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun 02; iamamiwhoami – shadowshow 03; Sade - Pearls 04; Depeche Mode - Photographic 05; Ultravox - Accent on Youth 06; Years & Years - Ties 07; Fontaines D.C. – Sundowner 08; New Order - Love Vigilantes 09; Bananarama - Bad For Me 10; Texas - Like Lovers (Holding On) Wonderful to hear another one of those glorious soundscapes from M83 <3 shadowshow certainly sounds like a big blog hit with a video so surprised that wasn't a single! I liked everything here to some extent, stop all the shade to this category xx

M83's same album inspiring three different people to make topics, how impactful can one band be (I do intend to listen to this!)

Yes, wonderfully entertaining as he's been in his short time, Richard should definitely go here and I think that will work out much better for the traitors as they can recruit someone less of a liability, the other two definitely need to jump ship though or they'll immediately look suspicious. This lot seem a bit more switched on than last year's so I think they'll have a harder fight on their hands. Poor Hannah, that feels like a gift for the traitors to murder a smart one so early, unless they try to move suspicion onto her.

I do remember the real hype that was surrounding Band Aid 30 at the time, and even thought they could do something quite distinctive or put a modern twist on it like 20, but it seems after all that hype they just...didn't bother at all, because the final product just seems so half-arsed, if they were trying to recreate the DIY feel of the original, it definitely didn't work as well! I would rank it between 20 and 2 overall but all of them feel totally unnecessary after the original. I did quite like Rude at the time, it was quite distinctive and came out of nowhere, but I wouldn't put it on these days, it's not a style or sound that have really aged that well. I actually prefer Money on My Mind to the Sam Smith song still to come although still wouldn't put it that high, they lost me quite quickly when they turned into a dull balladeer after their brilliant features leading up to it.

Of course nothing else was going to be your number 1! Another Chance is a beautiful song, a great example of a single line repurposed carrying the full weight of the song's meaning and it shows how emotional dance music can be. I love the video as well and think it has an, ahem, heart-warming message. Feel Good Inc. is one I've always really liked, but have come to appreciate the lyricism and themes even more, and it still manages to be a real bop either way, I do think I prefer DARE overall, but both are fantastic from a time they were quite a force, it's a shame Gorillaz don't have as much commercial success these days but it's great that what was initially meant to be a temporary side-project for Albarn has blossomed into one of the most creative and versatile musical groups out there over two decades on. Bad Romance is obviously great, I listened to the Fame Monster (with the Fame alongside) as part of my second albums project and it did make me appreciate how sophisticated and creative her sound became in a short space of time following what was a nice but slightly dated pop album, with it working as quite a good ying and yang. It shamefully took me ages to recognise they were Hitchcock references in the lyrics, but that obviously is a huge bonus x Welcome to the Black Parade is probably my favourite in the top 10 and an all time favourite for me as well, that was one of the first songs I remember really loving and I remember how different it sounded to pretty much everything else played on the pop music channels (Exemplified by the fact I heard it almost as much on Kerrang! as I did on Chart Show TV!), I still absolutely love the epic nature of the song, the beautiful, tear-jerking piano intro and anthemic chorus and it getting to number 1 was so unexpected but a real moment. I definitely get how they're a band that sound a bit 'deeper' in your teens that you grow out of, but that one has always stuck with me. The album holds a lot of good memories for me as well. Also love Hoppipolla, I'm naturally a big fan of Planet Earth and so that soundtracked it beautifully, but the song works independently of that with it's gorgeous piano riff and crescendo at the end, I also really like the music video with the old people playing as children and it complements the emotional, hopeful message really well. Moi...Lolita is a surprise here as I didn't know how much you liked that! I've discovered that fairly recently and do really like it, it's got a really ominous vibe to it and has some great production and string section backing it up, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is on my reading list so I'm interested to see when I do, how it links up to it lyrically x This would obviously be the hardest decade for me to be accurate about a top 10 with as it's the decade I grew up in and where I developed my chart and musical obsessions, but I'll try x 01. Coldplay - Fix You 02. My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade 03. Elbow - One Day Like This 04. Daft Punk - One More Time 05. Snow Patrol - Run 06. U2 - Beautiful Day 07. Johnny Cash - Hurt 08. Muse - Hysteria 09. Linkin Park - Numb 10. MGMT - Time to Pretend And I think I have to leave it there as I could genuinely list about 100 more! I was much more of a rock/alt-kid, yet did still avidly follow the charts in the last part of the decade. I think going forward, like you, this would be the most mainstream it gets though, I got increasingly disillusioned with chart music and was in my own little world musically!

That is a...choice of a strategy from Richard, I can't see him lasting long but he is entertainment gold with his theatrical cackles and absolute commitment to the role. A shame to lose either of James or Amol this early, think the former would make the most sense to keep though as there'd be too much heat on Richard otherwise. Lovely to have this back, Autumn is great again x

Will Smith managed two of them with Just the Two of Us and Will 2K both peaking at number 2!

2014 was the last of my uni years before my Masters and also the first year I travelled as I did some volunteering in Australia, it was an exhausting but very significant year and I have very fond memories of the music alongside it, it was also probably the last I was really into the charts before streaming took over, the Sunday slot went and made me rapidly lose interest (as well as y'know, having to actually start working when it was on), the lower sales did allow for some really unique number 1s and I was very into the deep house style of dance that would chart highly (something that has changed dramatically now!) Definitely some absolute crap got to the top though - Ben Haenow is a contender for most faceless and bland winner from X Factor, I don't actually mind the original but he adds nothing to it, not surprised he was very quickly shafted. It's My Birthday is amusing, it's almost shameless in how bad it is, but I can't give it too much leeway. I probably would put that Wake Me Up cover below them both though purely on song quality - it really doesn't work in that choir style arrangement and I don't think a single line is sung in tune! I can't hate it given it's intentions, but I'd be more than happy to never hear it again x

This is my thoughts too, I'm generally against censorship of media unless it's targeted hate speech or openly discriminatory not in the name of comedy, I think some things are naturally going to age worse as time goes on and I think leaving them up with a warning is a good compromise. Ultimately, things like Little Britain or the many examples of gay stereotypes, blackface, the casual use of misogynistic language etc. can be positive to show how far we've come since then. It's the same with the old Looney Tunes and Disney cartoons that contain quite overt racism and propaganda, no one's going to be seeking them out but they were just a product of their time and deserved to be seen as that. I do also think there is a case for separating art from artist, especially if the actor was hardly the biggest part of the show like in Noel Clarke's case, although likewise things like Jimmy Saville presented shows where they're front and centre, I can see the case for censoring. I think the BBC don't have consistency and will just take the best path to try to please everyone...and yet they still somehow manage to please no one x

The reactions for Digger seem polarising to say the least, and the marketing has been quite baffling, intriguing to me certainly but I could easily see how it could put some off just because it looks so bizarre and not in the most endearing way!

or whatever the equivalent of battles is then x

aww, I quite liked this one from Milica as well, but it would've took a miracle for her to make it probably even to the battles. Can't even think who'll be the next to go from there, anyone would be an upset!

Sorry to whoever mentored him, but the Mackenzy song was verging on a bit parodic with its lyricism x Ooh nice theme choice x

I mean, it would've been a bit insulting to the other groups for anyone else to have gone, let's be real x Maybe they can still boom back into the room of the live shows though.

Nice to see Shelter get a decent end, that's always either flopped or done surprisingly well depending on the voterbase x Oh no at that xx fall though </3 Won't be sorry to lose this year overall as with many of these late teen years, it was a very poor time for mainstream music.

Prince - Little Red Corvette The Art Of Noise - Close (To The Edit) David Bowie And The Pat Metheny Group - This Is Not America The Smiths - How Soon Is Now? Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) Killing Joke just missing out, that was a very good discovery, as was The Art of Noise which I'm not sure I'd heard of before now.

30; Alan Walker (feat. Iselin) - Faded 29; Porter Robinson & Madeon – Shelter 28; Weeknd (feat. Daft Punk) - I Feel It Coming 27; xx – On Hold 26; Christine And The Queens - Tilted / Christine 25; Glass Animals - Life Itself 24; Anna Meredith - Nautilus 23; 1975 - The Sound 22; Rihanna - Same Ol' Mistakes 21; Christine And The Queens - Saint Claude 20; Clean Bandit (feat. Anne-Marie & Sean Paul) - Rockabye 19; Bruno Mars - 24k Magic 18; Rihanna - Love On The Brain 17; Elle King - Ex's And Oh's 16; Jorja Smith – Blue Lights 15; Weeknd (feat. Daft Punk) - Starboy 14; Paradis - Toi Et Moi 13; Blossoms - Charlemagne 12; Chainsmokers (feat. ROZES) - Roses 11; Ariana Grande - Into You 10; Beyonce - Formation 09; Rihanna - Kiss It Better 08; Kungs vs. Cookin On 3 Burners – This Girl 07; Twenty One Pilots - Heathens 06; Mike Posner – I Took A Pill In Ibiza (Seeb Remix) 05; Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman 04; Danny L Harle (feat. Carly Rae Jepsen) - Supernatural 03; Sia - Cheap Thrills 02; Galantis - No Money 01; Zara Larsson - Lush Life

I wasn't sure which number 1 was still to come for your top pick, but then it was a relatively minor number 1 that's more known for being the one that finally relieved us all from Bryan. It's a great choice though, they're always typecast for their stadium style songs but The Fly showed how experimental and daring they could be and it still sounds really striking for the time. I'm a bit basic in that my favourite from Achtung Baby is still One, but this is great too. It's a bit ironic that an anti-establishment group like The Clash got their biggest hit through it being featured on a Levi Jeans advert, but it is a classic song, if we ignore the Brexit associations it picked up x 3 and 4 are great too - The KLF feel like such a unique phenomenon with the mythology entwined lyrics, publicity stunts and then just abruptly disappearing, but they're fascinating to explore and the music was some of the best of it's genre, I do prefer Last Train to Transcentral and Justified and Ancient and wish they'd have made number 1, but they were all wonderful so at least one got there! Innuendo was a really striking and experimental last outing for Queen, I get why it's not really ranked amongst their classics these days as it's very inaccessible compared to their other work, but I'm glad Freddie still had it in him to really push the boundaries. Great countdown, Jim, this is quite a hard year for me to rank as there's no absolutely clear winner and it changes day to day, but I think my attempt at a top 10 would be pretty much the same as yours with some positions reshuffled, certainly one of the top 5 would be my favourite.

01; Ultravox - The Voice 02; Sade - Your Love is King 03; M83 - Kim & Jessie 04; New Order - Age of Consent 05; iamamiwhoami - chasing kites 06; Depeche Mode - Ghosts Again 07; Fontaines D.C. - Jackie Down the Line 08; Texas - I Don't Want a Lover 09; Years & Years - All For You 10; Bananarama - Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango) 11; Vengaboys - 1999 (I Wanna Go Back) Yeah, this category's still great x The Voice was a great discovery from the Synctube sessions and Your Love is King is one I'm quite fond as it was a real favourite of my parents, some great new finds from the next few as well. I guess it's nice that the Vengaboys sound like they're having fun with that cover and...I'll leave it at that x

01; Jessie Ware - If You're Never Gonna Move 02; Dido - Take My Hand 03; Adele - Rolling in the Deep 04; Robyn - Hang With Me 05; MARINA - Froot 06; Kate Bush - The Man With the Child in His Eyes 07; Milica Pavlović - Crna jutra (Balkan S&M) 08; Leona Lewis - Come Alive 09; Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Me and My Imagination 10; Agnes – EGO 11; Zara Larsson - Ain't My Fault Much better from Jessie, my favourite song from her <3 I really liked that Dido song when I heard it in Bop Idol and it was sounding beautiful now as well, hope it can withstand all these last places x Adele obviously great too, though definitely feels a bit too early for that! Robyn and Marina also very good ones I wasn't that familiar with. Feel a bit bad putting Kate that low, but I still really like it. Sorry Zara, this still isn't it x

01; Calvin Harris – Summer 02; Gary Numan - I Die: You Die 03; Sam Fender – Saturday 04; Roosevelt - Take Me Back (Midnight Version) 05; Damien Rice - Woman Like a Man 06; Calvin Harris & Sam Smith – Promises 07; Tom Grennan - Before You 08; Darin feat. Kat DeLuna - Breathing Your Love 09; Lewis Capaldi - Forget Me 10; HRVY - 1 Day 2 Nights 11; Mackenzy Mackay - London Not much changes in my top picks (Calvin still sending some nostalgic favourites <3 I do like Promises too but it did tire on me quite quickly), but did enjoy this Sam Fender song a lot more, Super Hans in the video was a nice surprise as well x I didn't know Mackenzy Mackay was also a rapper, I think he should probably stick to singing...

Will replace with these x 2024 Vampire Weekend - Mary Boone 2025 Florence & The Machine - Everybody Scream

Excellent top 2, that would probably be my own as well! Royals is still one of my favourite songs and it was a real moment seeing that go all the way to number 1, the minimalist sound was very unique and lyrics very pointed ('tigers on a gold leash' in none too veiled a reference) so I'm not surprised it blew up and it's great she's continued to make good music since even without as much mainstream success in comparison, and yes it finished second to last all the way back in the 53rd BJSC, although I'm proud to say I did point it them (all of 3 points) so no following trends for me x (Suffice to say, the best of the year that followed saw quite an improvement in it's position). Get Lucky is bittersweet to hear now as apart from the Weeknd collaborations, it was the last solo project they ever did (and seemingly will ever do) before their abrupt end, but it was a wonderful way to go out, it's such a brilliant merging of their robot sound and the retro glam-disco kind of sound, it never got old for me either despite how long it hung around, and the parent album was really good too, I especially liked Instant Crush. Quite insane that it stayed as big as it did without an official music video as well. Thanks Jaz, this has been really interesting to follow, this would be my own estimate at a top 10: 01. Daft Punk feat. Pharrel Williams - Get Lucky 02. Lorde - Royals 03. Justin Timberlake - Mirrors 04. Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith - La La La 05. Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX - I Love It 06. OneRepublic - Counting Stars 07. Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball 08. Calvin Harris feat. Hurts - Under Control 09. Storm Queen - Look Right Through 10. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - Thrift Shop