* NM Top 50 singles, 6 March 2004 *

[Earl Purple]

1 ( 1 ) I'm A Cuckoo - Belle & Sebastian < 2nd week at #1 >
2 ( 2 ) Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
3 ( 4 ) Creatures - obi
4 ( 14 ) Sit Up - Riley
5 ( 7 ) Change My Mind - Blueskins
6 ( 6 ) Plastic Lions - Eberg (#4)
7 ( 11 ) Man Bites Man - Dogs Die In Hot Cars
8 ( 3 ) Til The Day - Easyworld (#1[3])
9 ( 15 ) The New Year - Death Cab For Cutie
10 ( 8 ) Real - Plumb (#8)

11 ( 21 ) Cakes And Pies - Cinnamon
12 ( 16 ) Maybe Someday - Ordinary Boys
13 ( 5 ) Run - Snow Patrol (#2[3])
14 ( 23 ) Followed The Waves - Auf Der Mar
15 ( 25 ) Mysterious Girl [RE] - Peter Andre ft Bubbler Rank (#5 in 1996)
16 ( 17 ) For Your Love - Ram
17 ( 12 ) Spinning - Clarkesville (#12)
18 ( 30 ) Tropical Ice-Land - Fiery Furnaces
19 ( 13 ) The Wild Son - Veils (#13)
20 ( -- ) So Says I - Shins

21 ( 26 ) No Need - Alfie
22 ( 18 ) What Was Her Name - Dave Clarke (#18)
23 ( 27 ) The Recluse - Cursive
24 ( 31 ) Lola Stars And Stripes - Stills
25 ( 20 ) School Of Rock - School Of Rock (#20)
26 ( 9 ) Hit That - Offspring (#4)
27 ( 32 ) Bigger Than My Body - John Mayer
28 ( 10 ) Long Time Coming - Delays (#5)
29 ( -- ) I Miss You - Blink 182
30 ( 38 ) Foodchain - 10000 Things

31 ( 35 ) Suburban Rock N Roll - Space
32 ( 28 ) Here She Comes Again - Stands (#28)
33 ( 41 ) California Waiting - Kings Of Leon
34 ( -- ) Thru The Glass - Thirteen Senses < DEBUT >
35 ( 39 ) Lie In The Sound - Trespassers William
36 ( 24 ) Don't Bring Me Down - Sia (#24)
37 ( -- ) Amazing - George Michael
38 ( -- ) You Were Always The One - Cribs < DEBUT >
39 ( 44 ) Not A Job - Elbow
40 ( 42 ) Cry - Alex Parks

41 ( 33 ) 45 rpm - Poppy Fields (#33)
42 ( -- ) Home - Zero 7
43 ( -- ) Saffron - Eastern Lane
44 ( 43 ) Moviestar - Stereophonics (#43)
45 ( 36 ) Beautiful - Fun Lovin' Criminals (#36)
46 ( -- ) Cold Cold Heart - Woodstar
47 ( -- ) My Girlfriend's Boyfriend - Her Space Holiday < DEBUT >
48 ( 50 ) The Same Way - Lowgold
49 ( -- ) Rocket Brothers - Kashmir < DEBUT >
50 ( -- ) Black Cherry - Goldfrapp
_________________________________________________________

-- ( 19 ) Truck On - Simple Kid (#17)
-- ( 22 ) I'm On Standby - Grandaddy (#3)
-- ( 29 ) Me And My Love - David Kitt (#8)
-- ( 34 ) Pressure Point - Zutons (#10)
-- ( 37 ) Love Is All - Rapture (#32)
-- ( 40 ) Volcano - Damien Rice (#31)
-- ( 45 ) Reptilia - Strokes (#40)
-- ( 46 ) I'll Be There - Emma Bunton (#19)
-- ( 47 ) Harder To Breathe - Maroon 5 (#15)
-- ( 48 ) Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand (#5)
-- ( 49 ) Dance With My Father - Luther Vandross (#49)
___________________________________________________________

-- ( -- ) Close My Eyes - Open
-- ( -- ) Red Blooded Woman - Kylie Minogue
-- ( -- ) Four To The Floor - Starsailor
-- ( -- ) English Summer Rain - Placebo
-- ( -- ) Televators - Mars Volta
-- ( -- ) Toxic - Britney Spears
-- ( -- ) Silver Apples / Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Jeevas
-- ( -- ) Your Love Goes On - Hothouse Flowers
-- ( -- ) Startin To Feel - Engine
-- ( -- ) This Is What We Do - Crackout
___________________________________________________________

Belle & Sebastian hold on at #1 with Keane at #2 and Obi at #3. The top 3 artists therefore line up exactly the same way as they did exactly 3 months ago on 6 December 2003, now all with their follow-ups. Alex Parks lets us down this time - she was #4 on that chart but her follow-up falls short by 36 places.

Once again, a great list of songs, too many to choose from. 11 did make it in, Goldfrapp for the first time since "Pilots" in 2001. Their biggest NM hit "Utopia" reached #4 in 2001.

George Michael has featured on 9 #1 singles, a joint record, and was personally credited on 8 of them. Only "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" did not directly credit him. He wrote or co-wrote 8 of his 9 #1s - he did not write any of the songs on the Five Live EP. He's also had many #2 hits, and "Listen Without Prejudice" was one of the best albums of the 1990s. "Older" was a decent album, and the title track gave him his biggest NM hit off it, peaking at #3. Since his break from Sony though, that album has been pretty much all he's done, but for a handful of singles and a covers album. Now he is releasing his last studio album and says all his remaining music will be give away free over the net but he hopes people will donate money to charity instead.

The Shins have the highest entry - their only previous hit "Know Your Onion!" reached #2 in 2002, and this one has potential to match it and possibly go one better.

[Melian]

Earl said:

-- ( -- ) Silver Apples / Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Jeevas

Is 'Have you ever seen the rain' a cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, by any chance?

[Earl Purple]

yes, it's a cover, and is the A-side. I belatedly added "Silver Apples" to my playlist in case it could get the song into the chart but it missed.

[frag]

good top 5 ;D and nice to see riley rising - potential #1 next week?

of your new entries, only the shins, blink182 and goldfrapp have made it into my chart, but i put the shins below the other two, with blink182 the highest of the three new entries.

[Earl Purple]

I don't think Riley are likely to actually reach #1. Possibly will pass obi next week though and move to #3.

On the subject of obi, I was thinking how that song reminded me a bit of "Auberge" by Chris Rea, which then got me to download Auberge and suddenly put me into Chris Rea appreciation mode - I may even buy Chris Rea's "Best of.." album - quite a lot of great songs on it. I originally bought "Road To Hell" on cassette.