Milliways says something about every UK #1 2005-09

[Milliways]

2005

Steve Brookstein - 'Against All Odds'
Steve Brookstein won the first series of X Factor. He released his 3rd studio album in March 2014 - it was aptly titled Forgotten Man

Elvis Presley - 'Jailhouse Rock'
Was Elvis' 2nd UK #1 in 1958

Elvis Presley - 'One Night'
The 1000th UK #1, first reached the top as a double 'A'-side with I Got Stung in 1959

Ciara - 'Goodies'
Ciara was dubbed the "First Lady of Crunk 'n' B" after the success of this debut single

Elvis Presley - 'It's Now Or Never'
Originally #1 for 8 weeks in 1960

Eminem - 'Like Toy Soldiers'
Features a sample from Martika's 1989 hit Toy Soldiers

U2 - 'Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own'
U2's 6th and, up to now, last #1, was the 2nd from their How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb album, after Vertigo

Jennifer Lopez - 'Get Right'
Heavy on the horns, this R'n'B hit is built around a sample from Soul Power 74, an instrumental re-recording of a James Brown hit by Maceo and the Macks

Nelly feat Tim McGraw - 'Over and Over'
The second of four credited #1s in the 2000s for Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr - or Nelly for short

Stereophonics - 'Dakota'
"You made me feel like the one"... Dakota, from the Welsh band's 5th album Language. Sex. Violence. Other?, is one of those rare #1s that doesn't feature the title anywhere in the lyrics

McFly - 'All About You'/'You've Got A Friend'
This ballad, written by McFly vocalist Tom Fletcher, was the official Comic Relief single of 2005 - not the next #1...

Tony Christie feat. Peter Kay - '(Is This The Way To) Amarillo'
This unofficial Comic Relief single was the first song to achieve more than one week at #1 in 2005. It finished up with 7... and as the biggest-selling single of the year

Akon - 'Lonely'
The chipmunk-sounding samples in this, the first of Akon's three 2000s #1s, originate from Bobby Vinton's song Mr Lonely

Oasis - 'Lyla'
The first single from Oasis' sixth studio album, Don't Believe The Truth

Crazy Frog - 'Axel F'
Unbelievably, this contender for worst #1 ever achieved four weeks at the top in June 2005. 'Axel F' is Axel Foley, Eddie Murphy's title character in 1984 movie Beverley Hills Cop, while Crazy Frog was a computer-animated 'Annoying' character marketed by ringtone provider Jamba

2Pac feat. Elton John - 'Ghetto Gospel'
Posthumous hip-hop release sampling Elton's 1971 hit Indian Summer

James Blunt - 'You're Beautiful'
It's hard to believe from the sound of this maudlin hit, parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic as You're Pitiful, but James served the British Army in the 1999 Kosovo war

McFly - 'I'll Be OK'
The second single from McFly's second studio album, Wonderland

Oasis - 'The Importance of Being Idle'
This Kinks-inspired track is, to now, Oasis' last #1

Gorillaz feat. Shaun Ryder - 'DARE'
The only #1 hit for Damon Albarn's 'virtual band', but not their biggest seller... that's 2001 debut hit Clint Eastwood despite only reaching #4

Pussycat Dolls feat. Busta Rhymes - 'Don't Cha'
The first of two 2005 #1s for Nicole Scherzinger and co was written by Cee-Lo Green. He won't have to wait long for a mega-hit in his own right...

Sugababes - 'Push The Button'
Often, deservedly, named as one of the best pop singles of the 2000s, this upbeat electropop tune was the lead single from the 'babes' 4th album Taller In More Ways

Arctic Monkeys - 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'
The Sheffield band's debut single went straight in at #1, they went on to achieve 5 consecutive UK #1 albums in 2013 with AM the 5th

Westlife - 'You Raise Me Up'
Yet another Westlife #1. This one was written by Secret Garden, an Norwegian/Irish duo better known for winning the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest with Nocturne

Madonna - 'Hung Up'
Yet another reinvention for Madonna saw her achieve her 11th #1 single from her 10th studio album, Confessions on a Dance Floor

Pussycat Dolls - 'Stickwitu'
This drab love ballad gave PCD their 2nd of 2 #1s... though lead singer Nicole would find herself back at the top in 2011.

Nizlopi - 'JCB'
This low-key indie-folk song became the surprise pre-Christmas hit of 2005 after its animated video went viral - before that term was invented!

Shayne Ward - 'That's My Goal'
The winner of the 2nd series of X Factor and the first of four consecutive winners to take Christmas #1...

[Earl Purple]

I will comment on some of them. At this point I did actually make an effort to check-out the number ones. Bought many of them. 2005 was the year legal downloads were allowed into the chart for the first time, but I didn't start using that method until late 2006 and then as my only method from 2007.

Elvis: bought the entire collection of these and charted them all too. Often I discovered B-sides as a result. In particular one of the B-sides of Wooden Heart was "Tonight Is So Right For Love" which was never released on the GI Blues album in the UK at the time, I think due to different copyright rules meaning Offenbach's piece it sampled wasn't free to use here yet. So they used a Strauss waltz instead, but by 2005 it was of course clear to the original.

McFly: All About You reached #4 in my chart, their biggest hit in the 2000s and they were the 14th most successful act of that decade, and their biggest hit in my chart in all was in 2012.

Akon - Lonely: The song at UK #1 when Gamliel was born.

James Blunt: I think his first two songs were better. Downloads count from this song and aside from Westlife I don't think the remaining #1s that year are too bad.

Oasis: The Importance Of Being Idle is their last #1 in my chart too. Lyla wasn't a #1 though. I'm not even sure whether they had more #1s in my chart or the UK chart, but in my chart they definitely spent more weeks at #1, as in the UK all their #1s only stayed there one week.

Madonna: Hung Up: sampled Abba's "Gimme Gimme Gimme" and people seemed to love it but it didn't work for me. The only thing going for it for me was being better than the one it replaced. (A bit like Dr Hook in 1979 with regards to having that feat).