|
Post by Earl Purple on Jan 25, 2020 23:01:05 GMT 1
8 more:
32 The Austerity Of Love - Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott
The 3rd consecutive number one for Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott with a run starting from 2014. Prior to this Paul Heaton had not reached #1 since 1996 when "Don't Marry Her" was my Christmas #1 and Jacqui Abbott had sung lead vocals on that too, but he had reached #2 three times in the 2000s.
They have one higher placed and this is the highest placed second song by any artist in the chart of the 2010s, reaching #1 in 2015.
31 Mr Perfect - Tailormade
Debut hit for one of the most promising bands to emerge in 2018 and they had a few other hits in the year. This spent 5 weeks at #1, and wasn't quite the biggest hit of the year. (Well the 8 months anyway)
30 Anna Sun - Walk The Moon
Eventually topped my chart in 2012 after an unusual run, it came 2nd in Hidden Indie Treasures then won the "champion of champions" round, and then later they released "Shut Up And Dance" which finally gave them a UK chart breakthrough.
29 Action Man - Hafdis Huld
She peaked at #2 with Kongulo in 2009, a year later she got all the way to #1 with this song from the album Synchronised Swimmers. I met her once when she performed at a small venue in London.
28 This Girl - Sam Gray
A number one hit in 2012, he then reached #2 with "One Night Stand" a year later, and attempted an entry into Eurovision through Denmark but wasn't successful. He has also written songs for other artists.
27 Purple Hearts - Jeremy Messersmith
Don't watch the video if you're scared of monsters. He wrote an album for ukulele players but this one is just a great pop song (not ukulele based) and reached #1 in 2018, and is the top single of that year, albeit an 8-month one.
26 Do All Dogs Go to Heaven? - Bombskare
Number one ska song for 5 weeks in 2013, I found later this was a great song for spin (i.e. exercise bike) because of when it goes slow (you put resistance really high) and then speeds up (and you turn the resistance down again but pedal like crazy).
25 G.I.R.L.F.R.E.N (You Know I've Got A) - Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now!
When Eddie Argos from Art Brut heard "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne he was shocked by the lyrics of her trying to "steal" away a man who had a girlfriend so he wrote this as an answer song. This is the most successful "answer" song ever in my chart, usually I don't like the concept! Answer songs have been around for a long time, I remember hearing one in 1960 as an answer to "He'll Have To Go" by Jim Reeves. And as well as Lydia Murdock's "Superstar" in 1983 there was of course Frankee with F.U.R.B.
In any case for this one Eddie Argos paired up with Dyan Valdes and it reached #1 for 5 weeks in 2010. The intentional mis-spelling makes it even better.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Jan 27, 2020 23:58:49 GMT 1
6 more today:
24 Plastic City - Ellie Rose
This song is also about a relationship break-up, doesn't appear to be a personal experience for her but it's a great song. This reached #1 for 5 weeks in 2017.
23 That's The Man I'm Going To Be - Charlie Khan
This was the first #1 in 2011 after a slow climb and has thus made it up to #23 but that's a flattering position for this song. It did have a funny video with him sitting in a room and people getting clothes out of a closet and dressing him up. This song is also not on Spotify so the live performance at 12Bar is the best you'll get.
22 Hey Bartender! - Judas Bunch
This reached #1 in 2014 and because of the way he shouts the first few lines, it nearly didn't make it onto my playlist but when it did it stormed to the top of it and stayed on top for 4 weeks.
21 Sneak Into My Room - James Levy And The Blood Red Rose
There is also an "audio" of this which has the studio version, but the original video got removed from youtube. It is still on Spotify. The Blood Red Rose is actually Alison Pierce from the Pierces. Song reached #1 for 4 weeks in 2012.
20 A Song About Love - Jake Bugg
This was a slow-paced song and it got him to #1 for 5 weeks in 2014.
19 Pack Up - Eliza Doolittle
The highest placed single in the chart of the decade that was also a UK top 40 hit, in fact it reached #5 in the UK. There is a top 75 hit further up. This stayed at #1 for 6 weeks in 2010. One single topped the chart for 7 weeks during the decade and 6 others did for 6 weeks. This is the lowest placed of those 7 hits.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Jan 29, 2020 23:07:12 GMT 1
18 Fire - Echo Train
This band are actually from Greece, and this was a one-hit wonder in 2014 but it spent 5 weeks at number one, and was listed as the number one of the year although there are 2 other songs, one at the start that first entered in 2013, and one that entered right at the end of the year, that are higher placed than this.
17 On Our Way - Royal Concept
Perhaps surprisingly this Swedish band are also one-hit wonders. This also topped the chart for 5 weeks one year earlier, in 2013. The song it replaced at number one is next, although the Yearning should have been number one between them...
16 It Could've Been Me - Boy Least Likely To
What separated this song and the one that replaced it (Royal Concept) at #1 was the Three Weeks and so this reached #1 just before that period and remained at #1 during catch-up. It was quite an advantage to be #1 during this period as I'd compile 2 charts in a week and they'd add up before you got tired of the songs. But the worst time to enter is the last week before the gap, because then I see a high entry but am less familiar with the song. The Yearning did indeed enter that week. In 2018 it was "Quitters Anonymous" by Moment 44 that had the highest entry ont hat week. But anyway Boy Least Likely To are not one-hit wonders but they didn't chart after this song, which spent 4 weeks on top in 2013.
15 Truth Is - Levellers
This was a real "comeback" as they had had limited success in my chart in the 2000s (after Happy Birthday Revolution reached #3 in 2000, but they had three #1s in the 1990s) and this topped the chart for 4 weeks in 2012. They had another #1 in 2013, and I saw them live in 2014 where they played all their NM #1s except "The Recruiting Seargent" but they did play this song.
14 A Year A Week And Half A Day - Hans On The Bass
In 2015 Carol got ill and was in hospital for 4 weeks from June 2015 until mid-July 2015 and she came out during the 3 weeks, so I didn't get to play her the charts then. This song was number one for 5 weeks and she did get to see and hear it. The break-up happened the day after the 3 weeks ended at which point I had Blur as the #1 in the latest compiled chart but never got to complete playing that countdown for her, so the last song that was #1 in my chart that she knew about was this, which is a song about a break-up but we were still together when this was in my chart, it was simply a good song. Band are from Finland and earlier in the year had a minor hit "Loveshine", which was a candidate for Finland's Eurovision entry. It wasn't picked, instead some terrible song was selected in its place that I think came last in its semi-final. After this song they had a top 10 hit "People Are The Same" but a #2 hit with "The Game Is On".
13 Tea & Toast - Lucy Spraggan
Lucy Spraggan had performed this on the X-Factor but it was formally released in 2013 and was my first #1 of 2014 staying on top for 5 weeks, after "Lighthouse" had reached #3 and "Last Night (Beer Fear)" also reached the chart. I have actually seen her live and she is very good. She played this and the other two I mentioned but didn't play "Dear You".
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Jan 31, 2020 1:10:35 GMT 1
Let's have 4 more:
12 Sex With An X - Vaselines
Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee. They were around in the late 80s and Nirvana even recorded one of their songs then split but got back together and as well as this being #1 for 5 weeks in 2010 they had two #2 hits in the 2010s as well. This finished as the #1 single of the year.
11 World's End - Army Navy
Bit of a silly video, but it's a great song. Was number one for 4 weeks in 2012 and was the #1 of the year within the year itself, but a song that entered late in 2011 and one that entered the very last week of 2012 are both much higher than this.
10 Grown Ups - :PM
Number one for 6 weeks in 2017, the last single to spend that long at the top. They had a #2 "Feel Like A Fool" in 2018. (In between they actually had a single that totally flopped).
9 Real Hope - Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott
This was also #1 for 6 weeks, I think Carol got bored of it by the end, topping the chart right at the end of 2014 and then into 2015. I wouldn't have known 2015 was going to be our last year together. In any case this is their highest placed single.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Feb 2, 2020 22:26:47 GMT 1
8 Young And Wild - Sarah Hollins
This song was on a playlist at a time I was actually thrown out of my home for just over a week - well it was on a double playlist because I was in catch-up, but it rather touched me at the time. It reached #1 for 6 weeks in 2015 and was the biggest hit of the year, and even adding in the previous year's week it still finishes higher than "Real Hope", but a song released right at the end of 2015 that didn't chart until 2016 does finish higher.
Sarah Hollins is not a name I had heard of before but I started following her. She's a female singer-songwriter from California (although her profile suggests she was once based in New Jersey) and apparently making music since about 2011.
Following on from this she has made some new music but has not been prolific and it has covered different styles and not all been that good (sorry if she is reading this as I come across as a huge fan). Her very recent song "This High" is probably the best thing she's done since this song but by that point I've stopped doing charts but she isn't quite a one-hit wonder as "Heartbeat" also just about made it into my chart.
7 Hard To Believe - Records And Tapes
This was only 4 weeks at #1 in 2013 when it was embroided in a battle for the top with Damn Jammage "Hormone Soup" but this one eventually prevailed. It was their second single "Best Kind Of Regret" was the first and doesn't have a video and didn't make it onto my playlist but not just for that reason. This was the highest placed single of 2013, although a song released at the end of 2012 that had most of its chart run in 2013 is higher placed.
After this song they split and the male vocalist Fernando Perdomo had a #13 hit with "Girl With A Record Collection" in 2014.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Feb 4, 2020 1:40:17 GMT 1
Ok, perhaps the biggest criticism people may have of my 2010s choices is they are not contemporary but sound more like bands of the 80s or other eras. So one that sounds like The Smiths and another that sounds a bit like Madness for example coming up...
6 Suppression Starts At School - New Old World
The feel of this song is just like The Smiths and even the lyrics have that kind of depressing feel to it, and the title is somewhat similar to Barbarism Begins At Home I guess. So I guess they were big fans. They didn't last long as a band though, splitting not long after and the video was taken off youtube, though the song is still on Spotify, so you'll have to listen to it there, I have no video to show.
Had that been the case at the time it would not have charted as this came out right at the start of 2017 by which point proper videos were mandatory, and stayed on top for 6 weeks, although it felt that after Dropkick Murphys appeared and didn't quite topple it, that it took a while for anything else worthy to show up.
5 Dave - Missing Andy
Maybe they don't sound like Madness or maybe a bit in part. In any case this band were far more popular, they were on a TV show "Must Be The Music" and had a song for England's 2010 world cup campaign then reappeared with that song and "Song For The Deaf" and an NM #2 "Kings For The Weekend" in 2011 before this one came out right at the end of 2011 and reached #1 in 2012 where it was listed as the 2nd biggest hit of the year but actually was the biggest single by far released in 2011. (However the single released right at the end of 2012 is higher than it). This single spent 5 weeks on top, keeping out Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" which peaked at #2 behind this.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Feb 4, 2020 23:03:32 GMT 1
Firstly I don't know how this came 4th rather than 3rd, or rather I don't know how the song that came 3rd finished that high.
But this is all done on points.
4. Breathe In Breathe Out (Candlelight EP version) - Tich
This is how the song sounds when done properly. But then she sold out in 2014 and disappeared around the same time. In 2012 there was an event at Hyde Park with Jive Aces performing and so I went and this young singer came on stage among the many and performed a song that was just so good I had to take notice and start "following" her and someone was handing out cards for her too with a ladybird on it.
So 29 November 2012 there was a special launch event in Highbury for which you needed an invite if you were following her and I managed to get one. And so I also got a photo taken with her - I think that's still my profile photo here.
Her real name is Rachel Furner. She had a huge year in my chart in 2013, not quite as big as Skinny Lister had in 2015 but this hit was bigger than anything they did, staying on top for 6 weeks, and she co-wrote it with Nick Jonas.
So horrified I was in 2014 when she decided to make a dance version of this song, and at the same time withdraw the first Candlelight EP from Spotify, where it has never been put back, but the video above shows you how good she was. "Secret Love Song" was given to Little Mix to perform and whilst she may have co-written a few hits the "Tichfam" has disappeared.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Feb 5, 2020 22:36:10 GMT 1
We'll continue with the official number 3.
3: Road To Rome - Cherry Head Cherry Heart
Surprised to see this so high, but then it was only the #3 of its year, but all the top 3 of the decade come from the same year i.e. 2016, and this stayed 5 weeks at #1. Has a lyric "Christmas Eve and we're half way home" but it was released in October and reached #1 in its 3rd week at the start of November and then when Christmas Eve did actually fall on a Saturday that year it climbed up into the top 10 again which probably led to it being so high.
It is a good song, and like the one immediately above (which is a better song that this in spite of its lower placing) it was given a remix or a new version etc, this time a Christmas version, having clearly claimed this was a Christmas song.
Also memorable for being my #1 at the time of my giving the Get (the official divorce in Jewish law) whilst Shout Out To My Ex was also in my chart at #4 (and I thought that one would get to #2 but it didn't).
I even discussed with another woman I knew at the time going on holiday with her to Rome because of this song but it never materialised.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Feb 7, 2020 1:24:19 GMT 1
2: From The Fire To The Frying Pan - Sonic Boom Six
After topping my chart with Sunny Side Of The Street, I got into Sonic Boom Six even though that wasn't really how most of their songs sounded, and they had regular top 5 hits in my chart but it took them 5 years from the first hit to get back to #1.
When they did, it was massive. Far bigger than Sunny Side.. even though it was not #1 of the year. As you can see how much higher up it is placed!
In any case, this is lyrically the greatest song of the 2010s, and it was #1 in my chart at the time of the Brexit vote. Also when Jo Cox was murdered. And also during Euro 2016 keeping the Manics out among others. But Euro 2016 aside, it's about a man who gets in with the wrong crowd, the dislike of foreigners and anyone who isn't pure "English" and that includes of course the lead singer Laila K (not the rapper who recorded with Rob N Raz).
It stayed at #1 for 6 weeks in total.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Feb 8, 2020 21:08:08 GMT 1
1. Time Of My Life - Lost Van Goghs
Very overblown, sounds a lot like Queen. This is yet another one-hit wonder from my chart, entered at #5 on the first week of 2016 then spent the next 7 weeks at #1 and the only single to stay on top for 7 weeks during the 2010s so hardly surprising really it is also the top single of the decade.
The man behind this is called Lennart Ostlund and he's from Sweden. A few weeks ago I messaged him on facebook to let him know his major achievement and I got a thumbs-up back.
This gem seems to have been lost on so many - what a shame... Haven wasn't that keen on it either when I entered it in the end of 2016 song of the year nor did it do that well in non-hit single of the month.
|
|
|
Post by Earl Purple on Feb 25, 2020 15:35:53 GMT 1
Most number ones in the 2010s
Skinny Lister topped my chart 6 times during the 2010s more than any other artist. 4 of them were from the album "Down On Deptford Broadway". Their first was in 2012 and then 2014 and all the remainder in 2015, the last 5 coming in just over a year. Their 6 number ones were consecutive hits.
Paul Heaton failed to top the chart the entire 2000s being involved in three #2s during that time, but topped my chart 4 times in the 2010s with Jacqui Abbott. 2+1+1 regarding albums.
I think Tich is the only other artist to have managed 3 NM #1s ones in the 2010s.
Quite a few managed 2, including the Levellers who also resurrected themselves as a #1 act having failed to get any in the 2000s. Sonic Boom Six as both hits were massive, Slow Club had 2 to go with their 2 in the 2000s but they weren't as big. Damn Jammage, Lucy Spraggan, Josh Woodward and Eliza Doolittle all had 2. Need to think if there are others.
Quote a lot had one #1 and at least one #2.
|
|