The Christmas number one is a big thing in the UK charts, but the Easter number one is a bit of a non entity. Likewise, we don't really get Easter songs, the only UK top 40 hit ever to have the word Easter in the title was "Easter" by Marillion which reached number 34 in 1990.
I thought it would be interesting to find out what has been Easter number one each year. Seems like many years ago the people at everyhit.com had the same idea. The list can be found here. However, it only goes up to 2004 so I thought I'd list the Easter number ones we've had since.
2005: Tony Christie ft Peter Kay - Is This the Way to Amarillo
2006: Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
2007: Beyoncé ft Shakira - Beautiful Liar
2008: Duffy - Mercy
2009: Lady Gaga - Pokerface
2010: Scouting for Girls - This Ain't a Love Song
2011: LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem
2012: Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe
2013: PJ & Duncan - Let's Get Ready to Rumble
2014: Mr Probz - Waves
2015: Jess Glynne - Hold My Hand
2016: Mike Posner - I Took a Pill in Ibiza
2017: Harry Styles - Sign of the Times
Sunday, 16 April 2017
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Top of the Pops: 13/04/2017
Here is the Top 40 Countdown
I think now is the time to say that Bryan Adams record of 16 consecutive weeks at number one is under threat with Ed Sheeran spending his 13th week at number one with "Shape Of You". Also Right Said Fred and The Smurfs equal record of 6 weeks at number two is under threat with Ed Sheeran spending his fifth week at number two with "Galway Girl". The latter won't appear again until it reaches number one.
The highest climber is at number three from the group Ed Sheeran knocked off number one, Clean Bandit.
There is a re entry from Little Mix having previously peaked at number 39 several weeks ago. We have four new entries, the highest being by Kendrick Lemar at number 21. So that's 7 eligible records this week.
New (21) Kendrick Lemar - Humble
⬆ (3) Clean Bandit ft Zara Larsson - Symphony
New (25) Calvin Harris ft Young Thug, Pharrell Williams & Ariana Grande - Heatstroke
Re (17) Little Mix - No More Sad Songs
New (33) Future - Mask Off
New (34) Jason Derulo ft Nicki Minaj & Ty - Swalla
(1) Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You
I think now is the time to say that Bryan Adams record of 16 consecutive weeks at number one is under threat with Ed Sheeran spending his 13th week at number one with "Shape Of You". Also Right Said Fred and The Smurfs equal record of 6 weeks at number two is under threat with Ed Sheeran spending his fifth week at number two with "Galway Girl". The latter won't appear again until it reaches number one.
The highest climber is at number three from the group Ed Sheeran knocked off number one, Clean Bandit.
There is a re entry from Little Mix having previously peaked at number 39 several weeks ago. We have four new entries, the highest being by Kendrick Lemar at number 21. So that's 7 eligible records this week.
New (21) Kendrick Lemar - Humble
⬆ (3) Clean Bandit ft Zara Larsson - Symphony
New (25) Calvin Harris ft Young Thug, Pharrell Williams & Ariana Grande - Heatstroke
Re (17) Little Mix - No More Sad Songs
New (33) Future - Mask Off
New (34) Jason Derulo ft Nicki Minaj & Ty - Swalla
(1) Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You
Wednesday, 12 April 2017
New Number One?
According to the official charts midweek update we may have a new number one on Friday, the debut solo single from One Directions Harry Styles.
I'll be honest, it's all a bit of a mystery to me as to what will succeed in the charts these days and what won't. Initially I stopped following the charts many years ago, but I started following them again at the start of the year if anything to see just how ridiculous they had become.
These days you get the likes of Little Mix reaching positions in the charts which would have got them dropped from their label if they were around 10 years ago, but as far as I can tell they are the biggest girl group around at the moment. Last year we had Drake at number one for 15 weeks, but whilst he flooded the charts with several tunes a few weeks ago, he seemed to pose no threat to Ed Sheeran. This is also despite most his tunes not being on YouTube, presumably because YouTube views don't count towards the charts.
I was aware Harry Styles had a new single but didn't know if it would pose a threat or not. Yes he was a member of the most popular boyband of this decade, but aside from Robbie Williams who would try and distance himself from his Take That days, what other British boyband members have had a solo career of any significance.
The latest news today is that it's very close between Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles so could go either way, presumably the Ed Sheeran fans heard the mid week chart update and have put him on repeat on Spotify.
I did discover an advantage Harry Styles has though. Yesterday I was searching for some music completely unrelated and found something from Deezer in the search results. I clicked on it and the new Harry Styles song automatically started playing. I'm not sure how much of the track you need to listen to for it to count, I stopped it as soon as I could but I may have unwillingly contributed to Harry Styles chart position.
I'll be honest, it's all a bit of a mystery to me as to what will succeed in the charts these days and what won't. Initially I stopped following the charts many years ago, but I started following them again at the start of the year if anything to see just how ridiculous they had become.
These days you get the likes of Little Mix reaching positions in the charts which would have got them dropped from their label if they were around 10 years ago, but as far as I can tell they are the biggest girl group around at the moment. Last year we had Drake at number one for 15 weeks, but whilst he flooded the charts with several tunes a few weeks ago, he seemed to pose no threat to Ed Sheeran. This is also despite most his tunes not being on YouTube, presumably because YouTube views don't count towards the charts.
I was aware Harry Styles had a new single but didn't know if it would pose a threat or not. Yes he was a member of the most popular boyband of this decade, but aside from Robbie Williams who would try and distance himself from his Take That days, what other British boyband members have had a solo career of any significance.
The latest news today is that it's very close between Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles so could go either way, presumably the Ed Sheeran fans heard the mid week chart update and have put him on repeat on Spotify.
I did discover an advantage Harry Styles has though. Yesterday I was searching for some music completely unrelated and found something from Deezer in the search results. I clicked on it and the new Harry Styles song automatically started playing. I'm not sure how much of the track you need to listen to for it to count, I stopped it as soon as I could but I may have unwillingly contributed to Harry Styles chart position.
Monday, 10 April 2017
Record of the Year 1974: Act One - Tom the Peeper
Each year between 1961, the first full year we had a top 40, and 1974 there have been somewhere between 200-300 records per year in the top 40. Obviously I haven't listened to every record for every year, there simply isn't enough time to do that. I do listen to the number ones I don't know, or records by artists I know that I'm not familiar with and than in itself takes enough time.
My record of the year for 1974 is a record which reached number 40 and was the only hit for a group that doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, so given this and the fact I wasn't even born in 1974 you may wonder how I even know this record in the first place.
There is one man I have to thank for this, the late great John Peel who featured this track on his Fabriclive mix.
It's a funk track in the roots of disco music and was played in the Northern Soul clubs at the time. It just has one of those funky grooves you can listen to again and again, when I saw it listed on everyhit.com I pretty much knew that would be my choice.
Sunday, 9 April 2017
UK Singles Chart: 1974
Although they wouldn't add to their number ones this year, it was a solid year for Slade with all three of their hits reaching the top 3. The year though was the turn of Mud to enjoy their greatest success. They were the only act to have two number ones with "Tiger Feet" and the Christmas number one "Lonely This Christmas". They also had a number two with "The Cat Crept In" and a number six with "Rocket".
Elvis and Cliff continue their streaks of hits every year since 1956 and 1958 respectively with Elvis having three more hits bringing his total to 88 and Cliff adding one more to his total bringing it to 64. Lonnie Donegan and Frank Sinatra still both remain in third place for most top 40 hits.
From the 50s we have Slim Whitman returning to the charts for his final hit with "Happy Anniversary" and Paul Anka returning with his final hit "You're Having My Baby". Meanwhile, the comeback from Perry Como would end this year with his final hit "I Want to Give".
The Hollies had a number two hit with "The Air That I Breathe" keeping up their run of hit every year since 1963. This would however be the end of this run, the only future top 40 hits they would have are a medley of their hits called "Holliedaze" and a re issue of "He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother" both in the 80s. Their total number of hits would stand at 27.
The Rolling Stones had a top ten hit with "It's Only Rock n Roll" this year. Despite having top 40 hits every year except 1970 since 1963, their total hits only stood at 20.
Also from the class of 1963 saw Cilla Black return to the charts with her final hit "Baby We Can't Go Wrong". Their was also a return for The Tymes with "You Little Trustmaker". At this point it was just the third hit from The Tymes, their second being in 1969, and all three had failed to reach the top 10. They would fair better on their fourth and final hit this year with "Ms Grace" which was a number one.
The year also marked the end of a run of a hit every year since 1965 for Tom Jones with the hit "Something Bout You Baby I Like". He would return 3 years later before having a 10 year absence from the charts.
After enjoying hits for most years since 1961, this would be the end of Gene Pitneys solo chart career with "Blue Angel". He would return 15 years later as part of a duet with Marc Almond on "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart".
The year saw the beginning of Donny Osmonds chart career as part of a duo with his sister Marie with the number two hit "I'm Leaving It (All) Up To You", and the end of his 70s solo career with "Where Did All the Good Times Go".
It was the turn of the British teen idols to enjoy chart success though with David Essex scoring his first number one with "Gonna Make You A Star". We also saw a return to the charts for the Bay City Rollers with the number six hit "Remember (Sha-La-La)" followed by a further three top 10 hits.
Despite the chart careers of some Motown acts now being over and other acts now gone from the label, they would still be present on the charts via Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross, who would have a couple of duets with Marvin Gaye. Their were also a couple of new acts for Motown in the charts this year. There was the solo career of Smokey Robinson who had now left The Miracles with "Just My Soul Responding". Then there was the debut of The Commodores with "Machine Gun".
There was a new style of music making its way into the charts this year, disco music. There were several tunes which you could say were disco or funk/soul, but the first record to hit the top 40 which could only be really described as disco was "Loves Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra.
The first disco number one came this year from George McCrae with "Rock Your Baby". Other disco number ones included "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas and "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" by Barry White.
We saw the chart debut this year of Queen with number ten hit "Seven Seas of Rhye" followed by the number two hit "Killer Queen".
Another chart heavyweight making their debut was Abba with the number one "Waterloo". Quite surprisingly their follow up hit "Ring Ring" only made number 32. They were the first act from Sweden to top the charts.
There was a rare chart appearance from the Peter Gabriel era Genesis who got to number 21 with "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)". The next time we would see them in the top 40, Phil Collins would have taken over as lead singer.
After being absent from the charts since early 1973, the latter part of the year saw reggae music return to the charts with Ken Boothe scoring a number one with "Everything I Own". We would also have reggae top 10s from Rupie Edwards with "Ire Feelings (Skanga)" and from John Holt with his reggae cover of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" which had been a hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips a couple of years earlier.
Despite the fact there were still 50s acts in the charts, the rock n roll revival in the charts began this year with Showaddywaddy making their debut with the number two hit "Hey Rock n Roll".
The year saw the first act from the Bahamas on the charts with Beginning Of The End having their only hit with "Funky Nassau".
So although glam rock and the teen idols were still very much present in the charts, there was plenty of other music having its say. Would it still be around in 1975 and would we continue to see the rise of disco? and will there be any more chart heavyweights making their debut?
Elvis and Cliff continue their streaks of hits every year since 1956 and 1958 respectively with Elvis having three more hits bringing his total to 88 and Cliff adding one more to his total bringing it to 64. Lonnie Donegan and Frank Sinatra still both remain in third place for most top 40 hits.
From the 50s we have Slim Whitman returning to the charts for his final hit with "Happy Anniversary" and Paul Anka returning with his final hit "You're Having My Baby". Meanwhile, the comeback from Perry Como would end this year with his final hit "I Want to Give".
The Hollies had a number two hit with "The Air That I Breathe" keeping up their run of hit every year since 1963. This would however be the end of this run, the only future top 40 hits they would have are a medley of their hits called "Holliedaze" and a re issue of "He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother" both in the 80s. Their total number of hits would stand at 27.
The Rolling Stones had a top ten hit with "It's Only Rock n Roll" this year. Despite having top 40 hits every year except 1970 since 1963, their total hits only stood at 20.
Also from the class of 1963 saw Cilla Black return to the charts with her final hit "Baby We Can't Go Wrong". Their was also a return for The Tymes with "You Little Trustmaker". At this point it was just the third hit from The Tymes, their second being in 1969, and all three had failed to reach the top 10. They would fair better on their fourth and final hit this year with "Ms Grace" which was a number one.
The year also marked the end of a run of a hit every year since 1965 for Tom Jones with the hit "Something Bout You Baby I Like". He would return 3 years later before having a 10 year absence from the charts.
After enjoying hits for most years since 1961, this would be the end of Gene Pitneys solo chart career with "Blue Angel". He would return 15 years later as part of a duet with Marc Almond on "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart".
The year saw the beginning of Donny Osmonds chart career as part of a duo with his sister Marie with the number two hit "I'm Leaving It (All) Up To You", and the end of his 70s solo career with "Where Did All the Good Times Go".
It was the turn of the British teen idols to enjoy chart success though with David Essex scoring his first number one with "Gonna Make You A Star". We also saw a return to the charts for the Bay City Rollers with the number six hit "Remember (Sha-La-La)" followed by a further three top 10 hits.
Despite the chart careers of some Motown acts now being over and other acts now gone from the label, they would still be present on the charts via Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross, who would have a couple of duets with Marvin Gaye. Their were also a couple of new acts for Motown in the charts this year. There was the solo career of Smokey Robinson who had now left The Miracles with "Just My Soul Responding". Then there was the debut of The Commodores with "Machine Gun".
There was a new style of music making its way into the charts this year, disco music. There were several tunes which you could say were disco or funk/soul, but the first record to hit the top 40 which could only be really described as disco was "Loves Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra.
The first disco number one came this year from George McCrae with "Rock Your Baby". Other disco number ones included "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas and "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" by Barry White.
We saw the chart debut this year of Queen with number ten hit "Seven Seas of Rhye" followed by the number two hit "Killer Queen".
Another chart heavyweight making their debut was Abba with the number one "Waterloo". Quite surprisingly their follow up hit "Ring Ring" only made number 32. They were the first act from Sweden to top the charts.
There was a rare chart appearance from the Peter Gabriel era Genesis who got to number 21 with "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)". The next time we would see them in the top 40, Phil Collins would have taken over as lead singer.
After being absent from the charts since early 1973, the latter part of the year saw reggae music return to the charts with Ken Boothe scoring a number one with "Everything I Own". We would also have reggae top 10s from Rupie Edwards with "Ire Feelings (Skanga)" and from John Holt with his reggae cover of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" which had been a hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips a couple of years earlier.
Despite the fact there were still 50s acts in the charts, the rock n roll revival in the charts began this year with Showaddywaddy making their debut with the number two hit "Hey Rock n Roll".
The year saw the first act from the Bahamas on the charts with Beginning Of The End having their only hit with "Funky Nassau".
So although glam rock and the teen idols were still very much present in the charts, there was plenty of other music having its say. Would it still be around in 1975 and would we continue to see the rise of disco? and will there be any more chart heavyweights making their debut?
Thursday, 6 April 2017
Top of the Pops: 06/04/2017
Here is the Top 40 Countdown
Now 12 weeks at number one for Ed Sheeran, but this is the only eligible song from him this week.
After last weeks show was dominated by Drake we have no appearances from him this week. He had one record eligible but no YouTube video therefore he won't feature.
So just 6 records on this week, 4 of which (including Ed Sheeran) were on two weeks ago and another three weeks ago. This leaves just one new entry coming from Zayn ft Partynextdoor.
⬆ (11) Zedd ft Alessia Cara - Stay
⬆ (13) Julia Michaels - Issues
⬆ (15) Bruno Mars - That's What I Like
New (24) Zayn ft Partynextdoor - Still Got Time
⬆ (26) Lorde - Green Light
(1) Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You
Monday, 3 April 2017
Now 96
Back in 1988 I received my first Now album, Now 11. A lot has changed in the world of music since then, not just in terms of the actual music itself.
Things that were popular in the music world back in 1988 included Top of the Pops, The Chart Show, Smash Hits, Cassette Tapes, Walkman, Our Price, Andy's Records, all of which are no more. But one thing which has managed to survive all these years still going is the Now compilations.
The latest in the series, Now 96, comes out this Friday. The question is how has it managed to survive?
When I got Now 11, it was quite obvious what purpose it served. I was a kid who clearly enjoyed my pop music and this was a compilation of the latest popular songs which I could listen to at my leisure. Buying each song as a single would have been expensive business. Taping the top 40 on new tapes each week wouldn't have exactly been cheap either as it would require lots of blank tapes, and obviously there would be a lot of repetition. The Now compilations had the latest hits which cost no more than the average album and the whole thing could be listened to between 2-3 hours.
These days there are endless possibilities to listen to the latest hits at our leisure for free. Not only that, but when we go to YouTube we see the latest videos on their homepage. On streaming services we have playlists of the latest tunes. Not content with ready made playlists, we can create our own. Which raises the question, what purpose does any compilation, Now or otherwise, actually serve these days? Lets be honest, I don't think too many people, if anyone, can honestly say there is a Now compilation where they like every single track.
Aside from the possibilities we get from the internet now, another question is what exactly goes on the Now compilations these days given the lack of new material we get in the top 40?
Well to answer this I needed to look at the track list. There are 43 tracks in total and this can be broken down as follows:
The answer to the question of what do Now compilations contribute nowadays may lie in the 6 tracks which failed to reach the top 40. If you read my Top of the Pops posts you will know that most weeks I fail to find enough records in the top 40 to fill the show. In fact the only times I have had a full shows worth was the weeks Ed Sheeran, Drake or Stormzy had multiple new entries from their new albums in the top 40.
So basically, if you want to know what is happening in the world of pop nowadays, listen to the new albums from Ed Sheeran, Drake and Stormzy plus the latest Now album and you've got pretty much everything that's reached the top 40 plus a little bit more. So this is why Now compilations still have their place in the modern pop world and another reason why there's no need to bring back Top of the Pops.
Things that were popular in the music world back in 1988 included Top of the Pops, The Chart Show, Smash Hits, Cassette Tapes, Walkman, Our Price, Andy's Records, all of which are no more. But one thing which has managed to survive all these years still going is the Now compilations.
The latest in the series, Now 96, comes out this Friday. The question is how has it managed to survive?
When I got Now 11, it was quite obvious what purpose it served. I was a kid who clearly enjoyed my pop music and this was a compilation of the latest popular songs which I could listen to at my leisure. Buying each song as a single would have been expensive business. Taping the top 40 on new tapes each week wouldn't have exactly been cheap either as it would require lots of blank tapes, and obviously there would be a lot of repetition. The Now compilations had the latest hits which cost no more than the average album and the whole thing could be listened to between 2-3 hours.
These days there are endless possibilities to listen to the latest hits at our leisure for free. Not only that, but when we go to YouTube we see the latest videos on their homepage. On streaming services we have playlists of the latest tunes. Not content with ready made playlists, we can create our own. Which raises the question, what purpose does any compilation, Now or otherwise, actually serve these days? Lets be honest, I don't think too many people, if anyone, can honestly say there is a Now compilation where they like every single track.
Aside from the possibilities we get from the internet now, another question is what exactly goes on the Now compilations these days given the lack of new material we get in the top 40?
Well to answer this I needed to look at the track list. There are 43 tracks in total and this can be broken down as follows:
- 24 tracks can be listened through YouTube links on this blog courtesy of my Top of the Pops posts
- 8 tracks were featured in the post on this blog about why Top of the Pops shouldn't come back
- 4 tracks reached their chart peak before the Top of the Pops post
- 1 track is an old George Michael one included as a tribute
- 6 tracks failed to make the top 40
The answer to the question of what do Now compilations contribute nowadays may lie in the 6 tracks which failed to reach the top 40. If you read my Top of the Pops posts you will know that most weeks I fail to find enough records in the top 40 to fill the show. In fact the only times I have had a full shows worth was the weeks Ed Sheeran, Drake or Stormzy had multiple new entries from their new albums in the top 40.
So basically, if you want to know what is happening in the world of pop nowadays, listen to the new albums from Ed Sheeran, Drake and Stormzy plus the latest Now album and you've got pretty much everything that's reached the top 40 plus a little bit more. So this is why Now compilations still have their place in the modern pop world and another reason why there's no need to bring back Top of the Pops.
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