Human Nature

The highest new entry in the Top 40 this week is "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson. That's right, the most popular new record from a chart perspective is a 44 year old song by an artist who died 17 years ago.

The reason it's the highest new entry is due to the Michael Jackson biopic coming out and the fact it was never released as a single in the UK when it was a new song.

OK renewed interest in old music because of films is nothing new. We had "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers top the charts in 1990 because of it's inclusion in the film "Ghost" for example. The Temptations didn't make the Top 40 with "My Girl" until 1992 when a film of the same name came out.

The difference is these were the main songs from those films which got rereleased as singles. "Human Nature" may be the only new entry as such but more of his previous Top 40 hits are re-entering the Top 40. If it was for the 3 song cap there would no doubt be more Michael Jackson songs in the Top 40 at the moment.

It comes back to the question of is it really a singles chart anymore?

The fact of the matter is that "Human Nature" appears on the "Thriller" album which is the biggest selling album of all time. Given the sheer quantity of people who own the album its quite possible that on a given week back in the day more people were listening to "Human Nature" than whatever was number one in the charts that week.

We'll never know if that is the case because there was no way of tracking what people were listening to on their record player. Now we have streaming so we can measure, but is this really what should be reflected in the singles chart?

I don't have the answer. The fact is "Human Nature" is 1 of just 2 new entries in May so far to make the Top 10. The other is a Chemical Brothers record from 2015.

RIP Dennis Locorriere

Dennis Locorriere, the lead singer of Dr Hook sadly passed away at the weekend. Some of you will know that Dr Hook were a band I was particularly fond of.

I never got to see Dr Hook in concert but I came close. In 2018 it was announced that Dennis was bringing back Dr Hook albeit with a different line up on tour in 2019 to celebrate 50 years. I bought tickets to see them in London and I don't think I'd bought tickets so far in advance before. Shortly after the tour began the remaining dates got postponed including London because Dennis had to have a medical procedure.

We all know what happened in 2020, then a revised tour got under way at the end of 2021 but did not include a London date. I had hoped the opportunity would present itself again but sadly it wasn't to be.

A lot of music I got into when I was younger came from musicians I knew absolutely nothing about. More often than not once I got to know more about said musician as a person it was more off-putting if anything. With Dennis though it had the opposite affect.

Having seen him in interviews he always came across as entertaining and a pretty down to earth sort of bloke. He would tell it how it is and I found that refreshing.

He also used to blog on his website, not just about music but lots of random things too. One post that stands out is when he talked about one thing he found amusing about life in England was the dividers we use at the checkouts in supermarkets. He pointed out when you put it behind your shopping the person behind you thanks you like you've done something really nice for them, but the reason he does it is so he doesn't accidentally have to end up paying for someone else's crap.

Although he posted lots about what was on his mind he did point out that he never posts about his personal life. I have a similar philosophy with this blog, I talk about my musical journeys but never post anything about my personal life.

He was asked a lot about a possible Dr Hook reunion and he gave several different answers as to why it wouldn't happen. Whilst the general public were more interested in Dr Hook material than his solo material it sounded like he got more joy from performing as a solo artist.

In one interview he said that going on tour means spending hours on buses and planes and sitting in hotel rooms, none of which is enjoyable. The 2 hours he spends on stage on the other hand is what makes it worthwhile, therefore it's important he's getting joy from that aspect.

Perhaps not what the public wanted to hear, but as I've pointed out he told it how it was. He'll be sadly missed.

Record of the Year Revisited: Conclusion

I've reached the end of this series of posts. I could of course pick a record of the year for the years that have passed since but I know I'm going to struggle to find something I like. Either that or Eminem will win each year he has a Top 40 hit.

In the end 40 of my original picks remained and 27 lost their crown. That's quite a significant number when you consider the music hasn't changed and the playing field is still the same. That said, I knew there would be several I'd change my mind about which is the reason why I decided to do this.

The most significant change were the 1950s years where I changed my mind for 7 of the 8 years. The 1960s years were also significant with me changing my mind for 6 of the 10 years.

The most common them in these years were to do with me learning new songs. If not learning new songs, it's becoming more familiar with certain songs. Even in the 90s which I lived through and also listened to and reviewed every Top 30 hit I still find myself looking back at certain songs and don't remember how they go. With the 50s and 60s I wasn't alive and I've not done too much focus on those charts so in another 10 years my picks could change again though me becoming more familiar with certain songs.

In the 70s I changed my mind for 3 of the 10 years with my new picks being songs I'd already known for years when I made my original picks. 

In the 80s it's the same story for 3 of my new picks but the other new pick of that decade is one that I've only come to know in more recent times.

In the 90s I've changed my mind 6 times, the same as the 60s but for different reasons. The 90s had so much choice if anything because of the sheer quantity of records that made the Top 40, but there were so many records I liked it was difficult to single out one.

It reminded me of Jeremy Clarkson applying a similar logic to cars in the videos he would bring out each year. The first one was a quest to find the best car in the world ever where he decided the best car had to be new and a Ferrari and picked the Ferrari 355. Then 5 years later he did a countdown of the 100 best cars and number one was a Jaguar E-Type which was neither new or a Ferrari.

Music and cars do have their similarities in that there's no one size fits all. It's difficult to draw comparisons between a Ferrari, Rolls Royce and Range Rover because they all serve completely different purposes. By the same token its hard to say whether a banging rave tune is better than a chill out record, depends on the mood really.

Once we hit the 21st century it's pretty much as you were with just one change which incidentally is an uplifting dance tune replacing a chill out one. As the years go on though we reach the territory of records that wouldn't stand a chance had they been released in the 90s.

It's been interesting revisiting this but the biggest learning has been to not make a post every other day, it was hard to keep up at times. Will aim for every 3 days in the future.  

Record of the Year Revisited: 2018

Original Record of the Year: Eminem - Fall

In my post about my 2018 pick I said that choice had become very limited. It had become a rarity for a 20th century act to have a Top 40 hit in the 2018 charts. 

One act bucking that trend was Eminem, though even he only just qualifies as a 20th century act having made his Top 40 debut in 1999. The fact he's still able to have Top 40 hits is one of few positives I can say about the charts in the modern era.

Of course the record I picked was not a patch on his earlier work, but still a decent tune nonetheless.

What about the other 20th century acts?

Well in terms of ones having a genuinely new Top 40 hit of their only accord the only other one was Kylie Minogue and she's hardly going to be a contender for record of the year.

What about the newer acts? not a chance.

Record of the Year Revisited: 2017

Original Record of the Year: NF - Let You Down

I told myself I wouldn't look at what I originally picked as my record of the year until after I'd made my pick this time around. However this time I felt I had no choice but to check.

I was looking through the list of Top 40 hits and had no idea what most of them were and those I could remember I didn't like. 

I couldn't even remember what my pick for record of the year sounded like. That's not good for a record that's supposed to be better than all the other Top 40 new entries of the year.

In my original post I detailed my train of thought and said what the competition was. I therefore decided to listen to the 4 candidates to remind myself how they all went and make my pick.

As a result NF retains the crown and here's an extract from the original post explaining why, I've not changed my mind in that respect:

There was "Bad Things" by Machine Gun Kelly ft Camila Cabello, great backing track but the rapping was too slow and too much singing for my liking. Then there was "Mask Off" by Future, sounded good but was a load of meaningless drivel. Also in the running was "1-800-273-8255" by Logic ft Alessia Cara & Khalid but that was ruined by the featured artists.

Record of the Year Revisited: 2016

Original Record of the Year: Craig David ft Big Narstie - When The Bassline Drops

Craig David was there at the start of the UK garage explosion at the turn of the century. He then went on to making R&B records which weren't as good as his garage ones and as the years went on he was putting out records that weren't any good at all before fading into obscurity.

Then in 2016 he made a big comeback with a garage record which was the best thing he'd done since he was doing garage music originally.

He's kept on going since but I can't say I'm a fan of the more recent music he's been making.

This one still sounds decent though and retains its crown.

Record of the Year Revisited: 2015

Original Record of the Year: Galantis - Runaway (U & I)

When I picked my record of the year for 2015 I said that it was pretty much the only candidate because it's the only Top 40 hit of 2015 I've listened to of my own accord.

That's no longer true because I've now listened to 80 of them in my search for the best year. It included this record because it appeared in the first Top 40 of July. 

There was however another record I liked in that particular Top 40 which was "Are You With Me" by Lost Frequencies. For the Christmas chart there wasn't any records I liked.

It looks like a 2 horse race then, so who has won?

I'd say Galantis still. I'm not going to dress it up to be anything it's not. It's a cheesy EDM record, very catchy and very much a guilty pleasure. 

The Lost Frequencies record is a tropical house one which at the time seemed a refreshing alternative to the cheesy EDM hands in the air nonsense. Then it became apparent tropical house lacks substance in the same way EDM does, it's just less in your face because it's slow. The Lost Frequencies record however has something about it that I can't put my finger on, but lacks the excitement of the Galantis record.

Record of the Year Revisited: 2014

Original Record of the Year: Frankie Knuckles - Your Love

It was the tragic death of Frankie Knuckles in 2014 which got one of his best known records into the Top 40 for the first time. The record in question was originally released in 1989 during the acid house era.

I said it was a no brainer to pick Frankie Knuckles because even the better EDM records of 2014 are nowhere near as good as this Frankie Knuckles classic. 

That said it's always possible to make a new record that's better so have I now decided that there was a better Top 40 new entry of 2014?

No. Looking at the list I'm struggling to identify any of the EDM records I thought were any good.

Record of the Year Revisited: 2013

Original Record of the Year: Daft Punk - Get Lucky

For many years now I've kept a list of all the CDs I own because it reached the point where it became too big to remember every CD. More recently I added the year the CD is from to the list to see how they span the years.

After doing that I don't own any CDs which came out after 2013. One CD from 2013 I do own is "Random Access Memories" by Daft Punk. 

The only track from any of the CDs I own from 2013 to make the Top 40 was "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk which was my pick for record of the year.

When searching for the best year it was 1 of just 2 records from the 2013 sample Top 40 that I liked with the other being "Pompeii" by Bastille.

The Bastille was a record I didn't discover until later, but is it better than the Daft Punk record?

Not at all. Neither record is outstanding, but the Daft Punk record is good enough to go out and buy and the Bastille record isn't.

Top 40 May 2026

Now we're around a third of the way through 2026 I thought I'd have a look to see how the charts are taking shape this year. OK the real reason is I have a music quiz coming up which may feature modern music and I'm struggling to think of a song from 2026 let alone identify it.

These days the official charts website has a play button next to each song where you can listen to a 30 second clip which is quite handy. In terms of new songs they all sound rubbish, but there's not too many of them.

The current number one is "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean and has been number one for 9 weeks, not consecutively but they've all come this year. However the song first hit the charts in June last year so not a 2026 song as such.

Despite one song spending ages at number one there are currently 11 songs in the Top 40 which have topped the charts at some point. Furthermore precisely half the current Top 40 has been in the Top 3.

In addition to the number one, Olivia Dean has 3 other songs in the Top 40 which puts a question mark over the cap of 3 songs per artist in the charts. The rule clearly doesn't work though because just 18 of the songs in the Top 40 are by artists with just a single current Top 40 hit, the other 22 places being occupied by artists with multiple songs in the Top 40.

Also lacking though are authentic 2026 songs. Just using chart entry as a basis just 18 of the current Top 40 records are 2026 ones. Most of the remaining 22 are ones sticking around from 2025 but there are 8 which originally charted prior to that including 3 Michael Jackson songs from the 20th century.

Is 2026 music so bad that people are still listening to the older tunes or are the charts so bad that songs that would have charted in yesteryear don't stand a chance of getting in now? Either way I'm less worried about 2026 questions coming my way in the music quiz.

Record of the Year Revisited: 2012

Original Record of the Year: Public Enemy - Harder Than You Think

In 2012 I don't think I looked at a single new Top 40 let alone listen to the music that was in it. I'm pretty sure I'd given up on music channels by that point too. I was vaguely aware of the sort of music that was getting into the charts and it was awful.

Since then I've done my series of posts to find the best year and see how the Christmas charts compare which basically means I've listened to to sample Top 40s each year which were around 6 months apart. Combine this with the dwindling number of new entries and it means I've listened to approximately a quarter of the new entries in 2012.

I found 2012 to be the worst year for the Top 40 with all 40 songs in my sample scoring zero. In the Christmas Top 40 I awarded a point to "Girl On Fire" by Alicia Keys and awarded zero to the rest. On reflection I think that Alicia Keys record is average at best and just sounds better in amongst the rubbish.

Fortunately thanks to the Paralympics a Public Enemy record from 2007 hit the Top 40 for the first time. This is an act who still make good music and are popular enough to not have a need to jump onto the whatever's popular bandwagon.

There may be a better Top 40 new entry from 2012 but I don't want to trundle through the rubbish to find it.

Record of the Year Revisited: 2011

Original Record of the Year: Martin Solveig - Hello

A few months into 2011 I said that this was the only commercial record of the year to date that I actually liked.

Looking at the list of the whole year it's not the only decent Top 40 hit but I can count the number of records I like on one hand.

Are any of the other records I like better?

Not really. I do like this record but it's nothing special and wins simply because 2011 was so poor for chart music.