Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
1986
The big development this week is that imeem has been integrated into myspace, so the playlist functionality has had to change.
Not helped by the fact that I can’t find some of these songs on myspace – although given that the second biggest song in 1986 was Mr Nick “Heartbeat” Berry, perhaps it’s not a major surprise.
As a result, I’m trying a video playlist this week. Perhaps you’d have rather I missed number 2 and 4 in the list though…
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
1990
Isn’t it nice when a relatively modern Top 5 features some old-style songs, and some newer classics too? Pity about Vanilla Ice though…
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
1979
Let us, together, spare a thought for some rabbits and the biggest selling single of 1979.
To be fair though, it is an exceptionally written song by Mike Batt (much better than the Wombles) - which bewilderingly never got to America's Billboard Top 100.
Also featuring is one of Bob Geldolf's hits (not the one about Rats, but the other one) and a bit of Cliff. Not a bad year all in all though.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
1999
Ah, the terrible period between the mid-90s and early 00s.
That said, there's some pretty good numbers in the top 5. A bit of Lou Bega and Eiffel 65 are both very enjoyable. And it could be worse - imagine if Britney's hit was Oops I did it again...
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
2001
I love the way that the random year generator came up with 2002 - nope, done that, try again, so it said 2001 instead...
The advantage in being a recent year is that I can also tell you that the top single in this list sold 1,180,700 singles - and the top three sold over a million.
How that was possible with the second in the list will have to remain as a mystery...
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
1956
Sorry, I've become slack lately - blame holidays that have put me out of sync.
Still, I only really recognise two of these tracks - which is in some ways worrying, but at the same time, I definitely wasn't around at the time!
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
1958
Even though it's from the 1957 film, Jailhouse Rock was the first ever single to enter the charts straight in at No1 on the 24th January 1958. No great surprise it ended up being the biggest seller of the year...
It's a nice and familiar top 5 though - sadly a really enjoyable release from the year ending up at No6. All together now, "There's Juice loose about this hoouse"
(This post is brought to you in association with Wine Gums, obviously)
1958
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
1955
Given the age of this rundown, I've been struggling with getting a top 5 together. There's also some conflict as to what the best selling song was of that year - the charts in those years not being as clear and regularised as they are today.
I'm going for Slim Whitman being the top seller, because until 1991, his solitary appearance in the charts held the record for the longest time at number 1 - 11 weeks with the song from the musical of the same name.
There's a definite country-bent though - and it's incredible to think that Bill Haley (the one everyone will recognise) was only at number 5.
Anyway, I'm afraid because of the problems with finding the tracks there's no embedded playlist today, but click here to have a listen!
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
2002
It's not as easy as I thought finding the 5 best selling singles of a given year. Even for a modern year like this, loads of the "Top 5" are just people's opinions. Still, I think that this is right.
What's clear from 2002 is that we're at the start of the reality talent show era. So, we have Gareth Gates crucifying a classic Jimmy Young song and Will Young at the top. Still, at least Will Young is now producing decent-ish records and showing talent. Whatever happened to Gates though? At least Elvis makes it!
2002
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
1968
Time for a top 5 again!
The biggest selling single is somewhat predictable - not forgetting it's B-Side of Revolution.
The No2 may be a bit more difficult to recall - but it's got a very memorable chorus to refresh your memories!
No5 is definitely a black spot though...
