Populist
I’m marking each of the singles out of 10. Marks will vary according to my mood and circumstances as well as by the quality of the record. No consistency is intended and none should be assumed – take them as seriously as you like. If you’re registered and logged in, you can give your OWN mark out of 10 to each record, and the aggregate shows up on the FT Readers Top 100 view.
Chronological | by score | FT reader top 100
- 1987
- 24th January 8 STEVE “SILK” HURLEY – “Jack Your Body”
- 1986
- 27th December 7 JACKIE WILSON – “Reet Petite”
- 20th December 5 THE HOUSEMARTINS – “Caravan Of Love”
- 6th December 7 EUROPE – “The Final Countdown”
- 8th November 5 BERLIN – “Take My Breath Away”
- 18th October 1 NICK BERRY – “Every Loser Wins”
- 11th October 6 MADONNA – “True Blue”
- 13th September 5 THE COMMUNARDS – “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
- 23rd August 4 BORIS GARDINER – “I Want To Wake Up With You”
- 2nd August 1 CHRIS DE BURGH – “The Lady In Red”
- 12th July 9 MADONNA – “Papa Don’t Preach”
- 28th June 4 WHAM! – “Edge Of Heaven”
- 7th June 3 DOCTOR AND THE MEDICS – “Spirit In The Sky”
- 17th May 2 SPITTING IMAGE – “The Chicken Song”
- 10th May 6 FALCO – “Rock Me Amadeus”
- 19th April 8 GEORGE MICHAEL – “A Different Corner”
- 29th March 4 CLIFF RICHARD AND THE YOUNG ONES ft HANK MARVIN – “Living Doll”
- 8th March 6 DIANA ROSS – “Chain Reaction”
- 8th February 5 BILLY OCEAN – “When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going”
- 25th January 8 A-HA – “The Sun Always Shines On TV”
- 11th January 9 PET SHOP BOYS – “West End Girls”
- 1985
- 28th December 2 SHAKIN’ STEVENS – “Merry Christmas Everyone”
- 14th December 7 WHITNEY HOUSTON – “Saving All My Love For You”
- 30th November 6 WHAM! – “I’m Your Man”
- 16th November 3 FEARGAL SHARKEY – “A Good Heart”
- 12th October 4 JENNIFER RUSH – “The Power Of Love”
- 5th October 2 MIDGE URE – “If I Was”
- 7th September 3 DAVID BOWIE AND MICK JAGGER – “Dancing In The Street”
- 31st August 2 UB40 and CHRISSIE HYNDE – “I Got You Babe”
- 3rd August 9 MADONNA – “Into The Groove”
- 27th July 7 EURYTHMICS – “There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)”
- 29th June 4 SISTER SLEDGE – “Frankie”
- 15th June 3 THE CROWD – “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
- 11th May 6 PAUL HARDCASTLE – “19″
- 4th May 6 PHYLLIS NELSON – “Move Closer”
- 20th April 3 USA FOR AFRICA – “We Are The World”
- 23rd March 6 PHILIP BAILEY (DUET WITH PHIL COLLINS) – “Easy Lover”
- 9th March 9 DEAD OR ALIVE – “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”
- 9th February 5 ELAINE PAIGE AND BARBARA DICKSON – “I Know Him So Well”
- 19th January 5 FOREIGNER – “I Want To Know What Love Is”
- 1984
- 15th December 6 BAND AID – “Do They Know It’s Christmas”
- 8th December 7 FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD – “The Power Of Love”
- 1st December 4 JIM DIAMOND – “I Should Have Known Better”
- 10th November 9 CHAKA KHAN – “I Feel For You”
- 20th October 6 WHAM! – “Freedom”
- 8th September 3 STEVIE WONDER – “I Just Called To Say I Love You”
- 18th August 7 GEORGE MICHAEL – “Careless Whisper”
- 16th June 10 FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD – “Two Tribes”
- 2nd June 6 WHAM! – “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”
- 5th May 7 DURAN DURAN – “The Reflex”
- 24th March 5 LIONEL RICHIE – “Hello”
- 3rd March 8 NENA – “99 Red Balloons”
- 28th January 8 FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD – “Relax”
- 14th January 5 PAUL MCCARTNEY – “Pipes Of Peace”
- 1983
- 10th December 5 THE FLYING PICKETS – “Only You”
- 5th November 6 BILLY JOEL – “Uptown Girl”
- 24th September 8 CULTURE CLUB – “Karma Chameleon”
- 3rd September 3 UB40 – “Red Red Wine”
- 13th August 6 KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND – “Give It Up”
- 23rd July 6 PAUL YOUNG – “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)”
- 2nd July 3 ROD STEWART – “Baby Jane”
- 4th June 4 THE POLICE – “Every Breath You Take”
- 28th May 6 NEW EDITION – “Candy Girl”
- 30th April 7 SPANDAU BALLET – “True”
- 9th April 7 DAVID BOWIE – “Let’s Dance”
- 26th March 6 DURAN DURAN – “Is There Something I Should Know”
- 12th March 8 BONNIE TYLER – “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”
- 5th March 9 MICHAEL JACKSON – “Billie Jean”
- 19th February 5 KAJAGOOGOO – “Too Shy”
- 29th January 5 MEN AT WORK – “Down Under”
- 15th January 4 PHIL COLLINS – “You Can’t Hurry Love”
- 1982
- 18th December 1 RENEE AND RENATO – “Save Your Love”
- 4th December 6 THE JAM – “Beat Surrender”
- 13th November 4 EDDY GRANT – “I Don’t Wanna Dance”
- 23rd October 7 CULTURE CLUB – “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?”
- 2nd October 7 MUSICAL YOUTH – “Pass The Dutchie”
- 4th September 6 SURVIVOR – “Eye Of The Tiger”
- 7th August 10 DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS – “Come On Eileen”
- 17th July 5 IRENE CARA – “Fame”
- 3rd July 3 CAPTAIN SENSIBLE – “Happy Talk”
- 26th June 7 CHARLENE – “I’ve Never Been To Me”
- 12th June 7 ADAM ANT – “Goody Two Shoes”
- 29th May 7 MADNESS – “House Of Fun”
- 15th May 2 NICOLE – “A Little Peace”
- 24th April 1 PAUL MCCARTNEY AND STEVIE WONDER – “Ebony And Ivory”
- 17th April 5 BUCKS FIZZ – “My Camera Never Lies”
- 27th March 3 GOOMBAY DANCE BAND – “Seven Tears”
- 6th March 4 TIGHT FIT – “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
- 13th February 6 THE JAM – “A Town Called Malice”/”Precious”
- 6th February 8 KRAFTWERK – “The Model”/”Computer Love”
- 30th January 2 SHAKIN’ STEVENS – “Oh Julie”
- 16th January 7 BUCKS FIZZ – “The Land Of Make Believe”
- 1981
- 12th December 9 THE HUMAN LEAGUE – “Don’t You Want Me”
- 5th December 5 JULIO IGLESIAS – “Begin The Beguine”
- 21st November 8 QUEEN AND DAVID BOWIE – “Under Pressure”
- 14th November 6 THE POLICE – “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
- 17th October 4 DAVE STEWART AND BARBARA GASKIN – “It’s My Party”
- 19th September 8 ADAM AND THE ANTS – “Prince Charming”
- 5th September 9 SOFT CELL – “Tainted Love”
- 29th August 4 ANEKA – “Japanese Boy”
- 1st August 4 SHAKIN’ STEVENS – “Green Door”
- 11th July 10 THE SPECIALS – “Ghost Town”
- 27th June 5 MICHAEL JACKSON – “One Day In Your Life”
- 13th June 5 SMOKEY ROBINSON – “Being With You”
- 9th May 9 ADAM AND THE ANTS – “Stand And Deliver”
- 18th April 5 BUCKS FIZZ – “Making Your Mind Up”
- 28th March 4 SHAKIN’ STEVENS – “This Ole House”
- 14th March 7 ROXY MUSIC – “Jealous Guy”
- 21st February 3 JOE DOLCE MUSIC THEATRE – “Shaddap You Face”
- 7th February 2 JOHN LENNON – “Woman”
- 10th January 2 JOHN LENNON – “Imagine”
- 1980
- 27th December 1 ST WINIFRED’S SCHOOL CHOIR – “There’s No One Quite Like Grandma”
- 20th December 6 JOHN LENNON – “(Just Like) Starting Over”
- 29th November 7 ABBA – “Super Trouper”
- 15th November 6 BLONDIE – “The Tide Is High”
- 25th October 5 BARBRA STREISAND – “Woman In Love”
- 27th September 5 THE POLICE – “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”
- 13th September 6 KELLY MARIE – “Feels Like I’m In Love”
- 6th September 7 THE JAM – “Start!”
- 23rd August 9 DAVID BOWIE – “Ashes To Ashes”
- 9th August 10 ABBA – “The Winner Takes It All”
- 26th July 7 ODYSSEY – “Use It Up And Wear It Out”
- 12th July 6 OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN AND ELO – “Xanadu”
- 21st June 2 DON MCLEAN – “Crying”
- 30th May 4 MASH – “Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless)”
- 17th May 3 JOHNNY LOGAN – “What’s Another Year?”
- 2nd May 6 DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS – “Geno”
- 26th April 7 BLONDIE – “Call Me”
- 12th April 6 THE DETROIT SPINNERS – “Working My Way Back To You”
- 22nd March 9 THE JAM – “Going Underground”/”Dreams Of Children”
- 15th March 5 FERN KINNEY – “Together We Are Beautiful”
- 1st March 10 BLONDIE – “Atomic”
- 16th February 2 KENNY ROGERS – “Coward Of The County”
- 2nd February 8 THE SPECIALS – The Special AKA Live! (EP)
- 19th January 5 THE PRETENDERS – “Brass In Pocket”
- 1979
- 15th December 5 PINK FLOYD – “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)”
- 8th December 7 THE POLICE – “Walking On The Moon”
- 17th November 5 DR HOOK – “When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman”
- 27th October 2 LENA MARTELL – “One Day At A Time”
- 29th October 9 BUGGLES – “Video Killed The Radio Star”
- 29th September 5 THE POLICE – “Message In A Bottle”
- 22nd September 8 GARY NUMAN – “Cars”
- 25th August 6 CLIFF RICHARD – “We Don’t Talk Anymore”
- 28th July 2 THE BOOMTOWN RATS – “I Don’t Like Mondays”
- 30th June 7 TUBEWAY ARMY – “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”
- 16th June 8 ANITA WARD – “Ring My Bell”
- 26th May 6 BLONDIE – “Sunday Girl”
- 14th April 6 ART GARFUNKEL – “Bright Eyes”
- 17th March 7 GLORIA GAYNOR – “I Will Survive”
- 3rd March 7 THE BEE GEES – “Tragedy”
- 3rd February 9 BLONDIE – “Heart Of Glass”
- 27th January 9 IAN DURY AND THE BLOCKHEADS – “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”
- 6th Janary 8 VILLAGE PEOPLE – “Y.M.C.A.”
- 1978
- 9th December 3 BONEY M – “Mary’s Boy Child/Oh My Lord”
- 2nd December 4 ROD STEWART – “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?”
- 18th November 6 THE BOOMTOWN RATS – “Rat Trap”
- 30th September 6 JOHN TRAVOLTA AND OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN – “Summer Nights”
- 23rd September 4 10cc – “Dreadlock Holiday”
- 19th August 3 THE COMMODORES – “Three Times A Lady”
- 17th June 6 OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN AND JOHN TRAVOLTA – “You’re The One That I Want”
- 13th May 5 BONEY M – “Rivers Of Babylon”
- 29th April 7 THE BEE GEES – “Night Fever”
- 8th April 3 BRIAN AND MICHAEL – “Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs”
- 11th March 10 KATE BUSH – “Wuthering Heights”
- 18th February 8 ABBA – “Take A Chance On Me”
- 11th February 2 BROTHERHOOD OF MAN – “Figaro”
- 4th February 9 ALTHEA AND DONNA – “Uptown Top Ranking”
- 1977
- 4th December 2 WINGS – “Mull Of Kintyre”/”Girls School”
- 5th November 7 ABBA – “The Name Of The Game”
- 29th October 7 BACCARA – “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie”
- 8th October 6 DAVID SOUL – “Silver Lady”
- 3rd September 5 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Way Down”
- 27th August 4 THE FLOATERS – “Float On”
- 20th August 5 BROTHERHOOD OF MAN – “Angelo”
- 23rd July 9 DONNA SUMMER – “I Feel Love”
- 2 July 6 HOT CHOCOLATE – “So You Win Again”
- 25th June 6 THE JACKSONS – “Show You The Way To Go”
- 18th June 4 KENNY ROGERS – “Lucille”
- 7th June X THE SEX PISTOLS – “God Save The Queen”
- 21st May 5 ROD STEWART – “I Don’t Want To Talk About It”/”The First Cut Is The Deepest”
- 7th May 7 DENIECE WILLIAMS – “Free”
- 2nd April 8 ABBA – “Knowing Me Knowing You”
- 12th March 4 MANHATTAN TRANSFER – “Chanson D’Amour”
- 19th February 5 LEO SAYER – “When I Need You”
- 12th February 8 JULIE COVINGTON – “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”
- 15th January 4 DAVID SOUL – “Don’t Give Up On Us”
- 1976
- 25th December 3 JOHNNY MATHIS – “When A Child Is Born (Soleado)”
- 4th December 3 SHOWADDYWADDY – “Under The Moon Of Love”
- 13th November 5 CHICAGO – “If You Leave Me Now”
- 11th October 4 PUSSYCAT – “Mississippi”
- 4th September 10 ABBA – “Dancing Queen”
- 24th July 5 ELTON JOHN AND KIKI DEE – “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
- 17th July 3 DEMIS ROUSSOS – The Roussos Phenomenon (EP)
- 26th June 6 THE REAL THING – “You To Me Are Everything”
- 12th June 5 THE WURZELS – “Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)”
- 2nd June 2 JJ BARRIE – “No Charge”
- 8th May 7 ABBA – “Fernando”
- 27th March 2 BROTHERHOOD OF MAN – “Save Your Kisses For Me”
- 6th March 6 TINA CHARLES – “I Love To Love”
- 21st February 6 FOUR SEASONS – “December 1963 (Oh What A Night)”
- 14th February 6 SLIK – “Forever And Ever”
- 31st January 7 ABBA – “Mamma Mia”
- 1975
- 29th November 8 QUEEN – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
- 22nd November 5 BILLY CONNOLLY – “D.I.V.O.R.C.E.”
- 8th November 8 DAVID BOWIE – “Space Oddity”
- 25th October 6 ART GARFUNKEL – “I Only Have Eyes For You”
- 4th October 2 DAVID ESSEX – “Hold Me Close”
- 6th September 3 ROD STEWART – “Sailing”
- 16th August 7 THE STYLISTICS – “I Can’t Give You Anything But My Love”
- 9th August 2 TYPICALLY TROPICAL – “Barbados”
- 19th July 3 BAY CITY ROLLERS – “Give A Little Love”
- 12th July 5 JOHNNY NASH – “Tears On My Pillow”
- 28th June 8 10cc – “I’m Not In Love”
- 7th June 2 WINDSOR DAVIES AND DON ESTELLE – “Whispering Grass”
- 3rd May 6 TAMMY WYNETTE – “Stand By Your Man”
- May 3rd 4 MUD – “Oh Boy”
- 22nd March 5 BAY CITY ROLLERS – “Bye Bye Baby”
- 8th March 3 TELLY SAVALAS – “If”
- 22nd February 9 STEVE HARLEY AND COCKNEY REBEL – “Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)”
- 1st February 5 PILOT – “January”
- 25th January 6 THE TYMES – “Ms. Grace”
- 18th January 6 STATUS QUO – “Down Down”
- 1974
- 21st December 7 MUD – “Lonely This Christmas”
- 7th December 7 BARRY WHITE – “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything”
- 16th November 4 DAVID ESSEX – “Gonna Make You A Star”
- 26th October 6 KEN BOOTHE – “Everything I Own”
- 19th October 5 SWEET SENSATION – “Sad Sweet Dreamer”
- 12th October 4 JOHN DENVER – “Annie’s Song”
- 21st September 7 CARL DOUGLAS – “Kung Fu Fighting”
- 31st August 6 THE OSMONDS – “Love Me For A Reason”
- 12th August 9 THE THREE DEGREES – “When Will I See You Again?”
- 27th July 8 GEORGE McCRAE – “Rock Your Baby”
- 29th June 3 CHARLES AZNAVOUR – “She”
- 22nd June 5 GARY GLITTER – “Always Yours”
- 15th June 3 RAY STEVENS – “The Streak”
- 18th May 8 THE RUBETTES – “Sugar Baby Love”
- 4th May 9 ABBA – “Waterloo”
- 6th April 6 TERRY JACKS – “Seasons In The Sun”
- 16th March 4 PAPER LACE – “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero”
- 9th March 4 ALVIN STARDUST – “Jealous Mind”
- 23rd February 7 SUZI QUATRO – “Devil Gate Drive”
- 26th January 6 MUD – “Tiger Feet”
- 19th January 5 THE NEW SEEKERS – “You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me”
- 1973
- 15th December 9 SLADE – “Merry Xmas Everybody”
- 17th November 4 GARY GLITTER – “I Love You Love Me Love”
- 27th October 6 DAVID CASSIDY – “Daydreamer”/”The Puppy Song”
- 29th September 4 THE SIMON PARK ORCHESTRA – “Eye Level”
- 22nd September 7 WIZZARD – “Angel Fingers”
- 25th August 4 DONNY OSMOND – Young Love
- 28 July 4 GARY GLITTER – “I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am)”
- 21st July 4 PETERS AND LEE – “Welcome Home”
- 30th June 6 SLADE – “Skweeze Me Pleeze Me”
- 23rd June 5 10CC – “Rubber Bullets”
- 16th June 7 SUZI QUATRO – “Can The Can”
- 19th May 6 WIZZARD – “See My Baby Jive”
- 21 April 3 TONY ORLANDO AND DAWN – “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree”
- 7th April 5 GILBERT O’SULLIVAN – “Get Down”
- 31st March 4 DONNY OSMOND – “The Twelfth Of Never”
- 4th March 8 SLADE – “Cvm On Feel The Noize”
- 27th January 9 THE SWEET – “Block Buster”
- 1972
- 23rd December 1 LITTLE JIMMY OSMOND – “Long Haired Lover From Liverpool”
- 4th November 2 CHUCK BERRY – “My Ding-A-Ling”
- 11th November 3 GILBERT O’SULLIVAN – “Clair”
- 14th October 9 LIEUTENANT PIGEON – “Mouldy Old Dough”
- 30th September 6 DAVID CASSIDY – “How Can I Be Sure?”
- 9th September 6 SLADE – “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”
- 2nd September 7 ROD STEWART – “You Wear It Well”
- 12th August 8 ALICE COOPER – “School’s Out”
- 8th July 3 DONNY OSMOND – “Puppy Love”
- 1st July 5 SLADE – “Take Me Bak ‘Ome”
- 17th June 1 DON McLEAN – “Vincent”
- 20th May 8 T REX – “Metal Guru”
- 15th April 5 THE PIPES AND DRUMS AND MILITARY BAND OF THE ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON GUARDS – “Amazing Grace”
- 11th March 6 NILSSON – “Without You”
- 19th February 8 CHICORY TIP – “Son Of My Father”
- 5th February 6 T REX – “Telegram Sam”
- 8th January 2 THE NEW SEEKERS – “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing”
- 1971
- 11th December 6 BENNY HILL – “Ernie, The Fastest Milkman In The West”
- 13th November 5 SLADE – “Coz I Luv You”
- 9th October 8 ROD STEWART – “Maggie May”
- 18th September 5 THE TAMS – “Hey Girl, Don’t Bother Me”
- 21st August 6 DIANA ROSS – “I’m Still Waiting”
- 24th July 8 T REX – “Get It On”
- 19th June 4 MIDDLE OF THE ROAD – “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep”
- 15th May 4 TONY ORLANDO AND DAWN – “Knock Three Times”
- 1st May 8 DAVE AND ANSEL COLLINS – “Double Barrel”
- 20th March 10 T REX – “Hot Love”
- 6th March 4 MUNGO JERRY – “Baby Jump”
- 30th January 7 GEORGE HARRISON – “My Sweet Lord”
- 9th January 2 CLIVE DUNN – “Grandad”
- 1970
- 28th November 5 DAVE EDMUNDS – “I Hear You Knocking”
- 21 November 6 THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE – “Voodoo Chile”
- 31st October 7 MATTHEWS SOUTHERN COMFORT – “Woodstock”
- 19th September 8 FREDA PAYNE – “Band Of Gold”
- 12th September 8 SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES – “Tears Of A Clown”
- 1st August 3 ELVIS PRESLEY – “The Wonder Of You”
- 13th June 7 MUNGO JERRY – “In The Summertime”
- 6th June 6 CHRISTIE – “Yellow River”
- 16th May 4 ENGLAND WORLD CUP SQUAD 1970 – “Back Home”
- 2nd May 7 NORMAN GREENBAUM – “Spirit In The Sky”
- 18th April 2 DANA – “All Kinds Of Everything”
- 28th March 5 SIMON AND GARFUNKEL – “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
- 7th March 5 LEE MARVIN – “Wand’rin Star”
- 31st January 6 EDISON LIGHTHOUSE – “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes”
- 1969
- 20th December 3 ROLF HARRIS – “Two Little Boys”
- 25th October 8 THE ARCHIES – “Sugar, Sugar”
- 18th October 6 BOBBIE GENTRY – “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”
- 11th October 5 SERGE GAINSBOURG AND JANE BIRKIN – “Je T’Aime…Moi Non Plus”
- 20th September 7 CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL – “Bad Moon Rising”
- 30th August 5 ZAGER AND EVANS – “In The Year 2525 (Exordium And Terminus)”
- 26th July 6 THE ROLLING STONES – “Honky Tonk Women”
- 5th July 5 THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN – “Something In The Air”
- 14th June 4 THE BEATLES – “The Ballad Of John And Yoko”
- 7th June 4 TOMMY ROE – “Dizzy”
- 26th April 5 THE BEATLES WITH BILLY PRESTON – “Get Back”
- 19th April 10 DESMOND DEKKER AND THE ACES – “Israelites”
- 29th March 9 MARVIN GAYE – “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”
- 1st March 3 PETER SARSTEDT – “Where Do You Go To My Lovely?”
- 15th Feburary 4 AMEN CORNER – “(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice”
- 8th February 6 THE MOVE – “Blackberry Way”
- 1st February 8 FLEETWOOD MAC – “Albatross”
- 4th January 3 MARMALADE – “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
- 1968
- 14th December 3 SCAFFOLD – “Lily The Pink”
- 16th November 6 HUGO MONTENEGRO AND HIS ORCHESTRA – “The Good, The Bad And The Ugly”
- 9th November 3 JOE COCKER – “With A Little Help From My Friends”
- 28th September 6 MARY HOPKIN – “Those Were The Days”
- 14th September 4 THE BEATLES – “Hey Jude”
- 7th September 4 THE BEE GEES – “I Gotta Get A Message To You”
- 31st August 6 THE BEACH BOYS – “Do It Again”
- 17th August 6 THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN – “Fire”
- 3rd August 6 TOMMY JAMES AND THE SHONDELLS – “Mony Mony”
- 27th July 3 DES O’CONNOR – “I Pretend”
- 6th July 7 THE EQUALS – “Baby Come Back”
- 22nd June 9 THE ROLLING STONES – “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
- 25th May 5 GARY PUCKETT AND THE UNION GAP – “Young Girl”
- 27th April 4 LOUIS ARMSTRONG – “What A Wonderful World”
- 13th April 3 CLIFF RICHARD – “Congratulations”
- 30th March 8 THE BEATLES – “Lady Madonna”
- 23rd March 8 DAVE DEE, DOZY BEAKY MICK AND TICH – “The Legend Of Xanadu”
- 2nd March 2 ESTHER AND ABI OFARIM – “Cinderella Rockefeller”
- 17th February 7 MANFRED MANN – “Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)”
- 3rd February 8 THE LOVE AFFAIR – “Everlasting Love”
- 27th January 3 GEORGIE FAME – “The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde”
- 1967
- 9th December 6 THE BEATLES – “Hello Goodbye”
- 25th November 5 LONG JOHN BALDRY – “Let The Heartaches Begin”
- 11th November 7 THE FOUNDATIONS – “Baby Now That I’ve Found You”
- 14th October 6 THE BEE GEES – “Massachusetts”
- 9th September 1 ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK – “The Last Waltz”
- 12th August 6 SCOTT MCKENZIE – “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)”
- 22nd July 5 THE BEATLES – “All You Need Is Love”
- 10th June 5 PROCUL HARUM – “A Whiter Shade Of Pale”
- 20th May 4 THE TREMELOES – “Silence Is Golden”
- 29th April 5 SANDIE SHAW – “Puppet On A String”
- 15th April 5 FRANK AND NANCY SINATRA – “Something Stupid”
- 4th March 4 ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK – “Release Me”
- 18th February 1 PETULA CLARK – “This Is My Song”
- 21st January 7 THE MONKEES – “I’m A Believer”
- 1966
- 3rd December 3 TOM JONES – “Green Green Grass Of Home”
- 19th November 9 THE BEACH BOYS – “Good Vibrations”
- 29th October 9 THE FOUR TOPS – “Reach Out I’ll Be There”
- 24th September 2 JIM REEVES – “Distant Drums”
- 17th September 4 THE SMALL FACES – “All Or Nothing”
- 20th August 10 THE BEATLES – “Eleanor Rigby”/”Yellow Submarine”
- 6th August 4 THE TROGGS – “With A Girl Like You”
- 30th July 9 CHRIS FARLOWE – “Out Of Time”
- 23rd July 3 GEORGIE FAME AND THE BLUE FLAMES – “Get Away”
- 9th July 8 THE KINKS – “Sunny Afternoon”
- 25th June 9 THE BEATLES – “Paperback Writer”
- 4th June 5 FRANK SINATRA – “Strangers In The Night”
- 28 May 9 THE ROLLING STONES – “Paint It, Black”
- 7th May 5 MANFRED MANN – “Pretty Flamingo”
- 30th April 6 DUSTY SPRINGFIELD – “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”
- 16th April 5 SPENCER DAVIS GROUP – “Somebody Help Me”
- 19th March 8 THE WALKER BROTHERS – “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”
- 19th February 10 NANCY SINATRA – “These Boots Were Made For Walking”
- 29th January 3 THE OVERLANDERS – “Michelle”
- 22nd Jan 8 SPENCER DAVIS GROUP – “Keep On Running”
- 1965
- 18th December 7 THE BEATLES – “Day Tripper”/”We Can Work It Out”
- 27th November 4 THE SEEKERS – “The Carnival Is Over”
- 2nd October 2 / 9 KEN DODD – “Tears” / THE ROLLING STONES – “Get Off Of My Cloud”
- 25th September 6 THE WALKER BROTHERS – “Make It Easy On Yourself”
- 11th September 9 THE ROLLING STONES – “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
- 28th August 7 SONNY AND CHER – “I Got You Babe”
- 7th August 7 THE BEATLES – “Help!”
- 24th July 8 THE BYRDS – “Mr. Tambourine Man”
- 26th June 5 THE HOLLIES – “I’m Alive”
- 19th June 2 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Crying In The Chapel”
- 29th May 4 SANDIE SHAW – “Long Live Love”
- 22nd May 3 JACKIE TRENT – “Where Are You Now (My Love)?”
- 15th May 7 ROGER MILLER – “King Of The Road”
- 24th April 8 THE BEATLES – “Ticket To Ride”
- 17th April 4 CLIFF RICHARD – “The Minute You’re Gone”
- 10th April 6 UNIT FOUR PLUS TWO – “Concrete And Clay”
- 20th March 6 THE ROLLING STONES – “The Last Time”
- 13th March 4 TOM JONES – “It’s Not Unusual”
- 25th February 4 THE SEEKERS – “I’ll Never Find Another You”
- 20th February 6 THE KINKS – “Tired Of Waiting For You”
- 6th February 8 THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS – “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”
- 30th January 7 THE MOODY BLUES – “Go Now”
- 16th January 5 GEORGIE FAME AND THE BLUE FLAMES – “Yeh Yeh”
- 1964
- 12th December 6 THE BEATLES – “I Feel Fine”
- 5th December 6 THE ROLLING STONES – “Little Red Rooster”
- 21st November 8 THE SUPREMES – “Baby Love”
- 24th October 6 SANDIE SHAW – “Always Something There To Remind Me”
- 10th October 8 ROY ORBISON – “Oh, Pretty Woman”
- 26th September 6 HERMAN’S HERMITS – “I’m Into Something Good”
- 12th September 7 THE KINKS – “You Really Got Me”
- 29th August 8 THE HONEYCOMBS – “Have I The Right?”
- 15th August 2 MANFRED MANN – “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”
- 25th July 8 THE BEATLES – “A Hard Day’s Night”
- 18th July 7 THE ROLLING STONES – “It’s All Over Now”
- 11th July 6 THE ANIMALS – “House Of The Rising Sun”
- 27th June 9 ROY ORBISON – “It’s Over”
- 30th May 3 CILLA BLACK – “You’re My World”
- 23rd May 6 THE FOUR PENNIES – “Juliet”
- 9th May 5 THE SEARCHERS – “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”
- 25th April 5 PETER AND GORDON – “A World Without Love”
- 4th April 6 THE BEATLES – “Can’t Buy Me Love”
- 21st March 2 BILLY J KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS – “Little Children”
- 29th February 4 CILLA BLACK – “Anyone Who Had A Heart”
- 22nd February 4 THE BACHELORS – “Diane”
- 1st February 6 THE SEARCHERS – “Needles And Pins”
- 18th January 7 THE DAVE CLARK FIVE – “Glad All Over”
- 1963
- 14th December 7 THE BEATLES – “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
- 2nd November 3 GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS – “You’ll Never Walk Alone”
- 12th October 6 BRIAN POOLE AND THE TREMELOES – “Do You Love Me?”
- 14th September 8 THE BEATLES – “She Loves You”
- 24th August 7 BILLY J KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS – “Bad To Me”
- 10th August 4 THE SEARCHERS – “Sweets For My Sweet”
- 3rd August 6 ELVIS PRESLEY – “(You’re The) Devil In Disguise”
- 20th July 5 FRANK IFIELD – “I’m Confessin’”
- 22nd June 3 GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS – “I Like It”
- 4th May 7 THE BEATLES – “From Me To You”
- 13th April 4 GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS – “How Do You Do It?”
- 30th March 4 THE SHADOWS – “Foot Tapper”
- 16th March 6 CLIFF RICHARD AND THE SHADOWS – “Summer Holiday”
- 23rd February 6 FRANK IFIELD – “The Wayward Wind”
- 2nd February 6 JET HARRIS AND TONY MEEHAN – “Diamonds”
- 26th January 5 THE SHADOWS – “Dance On!”
- 15th January 5 CLIFF RICHARD – “The Next Time”
- 1962
- 15th December 6 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Return To Sender”
- 10th November 4 FRANK IFIELD – “Lovesick Blues”
- 6th October 9 THE TORNADOS – “Telstar”
- 15th September 4 ELVIS PRESLEY – “She’s Not You”
- 28th July 7 FRANK IFIELD – “I Remember You”
- 14th July 7 RAY CHARLES – “I Can’t Stop Loving You”
- 30th June 2 MIKE SARNE WITH WENDY RICHARD – “Come Outside”
- 26th May 5 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Good Luck Charm”
- 19th May 6 B.BUMBLE AND THE STINGERS – “Nut Rocker”
- 24th March 8 THE SHADOWS – “Wonderful Land”
- 24th February 5 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Can’t Help Falling In Love”
- 13th January 3 CLIFF RICHARD AND THE SHADOWS – “The Young Ones”
- 1961
- 30th December 9 DANNY WILLIAMS – “Moon River”
- 9th December 8 FRANKIE VAUGHAN – “Tower Of Strength”
- 11th November 7 ELVIS PRESLEY – “His Latest Flame”
- 21st October 3 HELEN SHAPIRO – “Walking Back To Happiness”
- 14th October 6 THE HIGHWAYMEN – “Michael”
- 7th October 6 THE SHADOWS – “Kon-Tiki”
- 23rd September 2 SHIRLEY BASSEY – “I Reach For The Stars”
- 2nd September 9 JOHN LEYTON – “Johnny Remember Me”
- 12th August 4 HELEN SHAPIRO – “You Don’t Know”
- 5th August 5 EDEN KANE – “Well I Ask You”
- 22nd July 7 THE EVERLY BROTHERS – “Temptation”
- 1st July 7 DEL SHANNON – “Runaway”
- 3rd June 4 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Surrender”
- 27th May 5 THE TEMPERANCE SEVEN – “You’re Driving Me Crazy”
- 20th May 5 FLOYD CRAMER – “On The Rebound”
- 6th May 9 THE MARCELS – “Blue Moon”
- 25 March 2 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Wooden Heart”
- 4th March 5 EVERLY BROTHERS – “Walk Right Back”
- 25th February 4 PETULA CLARK – “Sailor”
- 28 January 8 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”
- 14th January 6 JOHNNY TILLOTSON – “Poetry In Motion”
- 1960
- 31st December 2 CLIFF RICHARD – “I Love You”
- 5th November 4 ELVIS PRESLEY – “It’s Now Or Never”
- 22nd October 6 ROY ORBISON – “Only The Lonely”
- 1st October 4 RICKY VALANCE – “Tell Laura I Love Her”
- 27th August 7 THE SHADOWS – “Apache”
- 6th August 8 JOHNNY KIDD AND THE PIRATES – “Shaking All Over”
- 30th July 3 CLIFF RICHARD – “Please Don’t Tease”
- 9th July 6 JIMMY JONES – “Good Timin’”
- 25 June 5 EDDIE COCHRAN – “Three Steps To Heaven”
- 7th May 7 THE EVERLY BROTHERS – “Cathy’s Clown”
- 30th April 4 ANTHONY NEWLEY – “Do You Mind?”
- 2nd April 1 LONNIE DONEGAN – “My Old Man’s A Dustman”
- 17th March 5 JOHNNY PRESTON – “Running Bear”
- 10th March 6 ADAM FAITH – “Poor Me”
- 5th February 2 ANTHONY NEWLEY – “Why?”
- 29th January 5 MICHAEL HOLLIDAY – “Starry Eyed”
- 1959
- 18th December 7 EMILE FORD AND THE CHECKMATES – “What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?”
- 4th December 5 ADAM FAITH – “What Do You Want”
- 30th October 6 CLIFF RICHARD – “Travellin’ Light”
- 16th October 7 BOBBY DARIN – “Mack The Knife”
- 9th October 6 JERRY KELLER – “Here Comes Summer”
- 11th September 2 CRAIG DOUGLAS – ‘Only Sixteen’
- 31st July 3 CLIFF RICHARD – ‘Living Doll’
- 3rd July 4 BOBBY DARIN – ‘Dream Lover’
- 19th June 4 RUSS CONWAY – ‘Roulette’
- 15th May 6 ELVIS PRESLEY – ‘A Fool Such As I’
- 24th April 7 BUDDY HOLLY – ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anymore’
- 27th March 4 RUSS CONWAY – ‘Side Saddle’
- 20th March 7 THE PLATTERS – Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
- 20th February 2 SHIRLEY BASSEY – ‘As I Love You’
- 30th January 6 ELVIS PRESLEY – ‘I Got Stung’ / ‘One Night’
- 23rd January 3 JANE MORGAN – ‘The Day The Rains Came’
- 1958
- 19th December 7 CONWAY TWITTY – ‘It’s Only Make Believe’
- 28th November 9 LORD ROCKINGHAM’S XI – ‘Hoots Mon’
- 7th November 6 TOMMY EDWARDS – ‘All In The Game’
- 26th September 7 CONNIE FRANCIS – “Carolina Moon”/”Stupid Cupid”
- 22nd August 5 THE KALIN TWINS – “When”
- 4th July 8 THE EVERLY BROTHERS – “All I Have To Do Is Dream”/”Claudette”
- 27th June 5 VIC DAMONE – “On The Street Where You Live”
- 16th May 7 CONNIE FRANCIS – “Who’s Sorry Now?”
- 25th April 4 MARVIN RAINWATER – “Whole Lotta Woman”
- 28th February 6 PERRY COMO – “Magic Moments”
- 14th February 5 MICHAEL HOLLIDAY – “The Story Of My Life”
- 24th January 7 ELVIS PRESLEY – “Jailhouse Rock”
- 10th January 8 JERRY LEE LEWIS – “Great Balls Of Fire”
- 1957
- 22nd November 3 HARRY BELAFONTE – “Mary’s Boy Child”
- 1st November 5 BUDDY HOLLY AND THE CRICKETS – “That’ll Be The Day”
- 30th August 4 PAUL ANKA – “Diana”
- 12th July 7 ELVIS PRESLEY – “All Shook Up”
- 28th June 8 LONNIE DONEGAN – “Putting On The Style”/”Gamblin Man”
- 7th June 6 JOHNNIE RAY – “Yes Tonight Josephine”
- 25th May 3 ANDY WILLIAMS – “Butterfly”
- 12th May 5 GUY MITCHELL – “Rock-A-Billy”
- 12th April 8 LONNIE DONEGAN – “Cumberland Gap”
- 22nd February 5 TAB HUNTER – “Young Love”
- 25th January 4 FRANKIE VAUGHAN – “The Garden Of Eden”
- 4th January 5 / 5 GUY MITCHELL – “Singing The Blues” TOMMY STEELE – “Singing The Blues”
- 1956
- 16th November 6 JOHNNIE RAY – “Just Walking In The Rain”
- 19th October 2 FRANKIE LAINE – “A Woman In Love”
- 21st September 3 ANNE SHELTON – “Lay Down Your Arms”
- 10th August 7 DORIS DAY – “Que Sera, Sera”
- 20th July 6 FRANKIE LYMON AND THE TEENAGERS – “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?”
- 15th June 2 PAT BOONE – “I’ll Be Home”
- 4th May 3 RONNIE HILTON – “No Other Love”
- 13th April 5 WINIFRED ATTWELL – “The Poor People Of Paris”
- 30th March 5 KAY STARR – ‘Rock And Roll Waltz’
- 16th March 7 DREAMWEAVERS – “It’s Almost Tomorrow”
- 17th February 4 DEAN MARTIN – “Memories Are Made Of This”
- 20th January 9 TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD – “Sixteen Tons”
- 1955
- 16th December 4 DICKIE VALENTINE – “Christmas Alphabet”
- 25th November 7 BILL HALEY AND THE COMETS – “Rock Around The Clock”
- 11th November 5 THE JOHNSTON BROTHERS – “Hernando’s Hideaway”
- 14th October 4 JIMMY YOUNG – “The Man From Laramie”
- 29th July 8 SLIM WHITMAN – “Rose Marie”
- 15th July 5 ALMA COGAN – “Dreamboat”
- 24th June 2 JIMMY YOUNG – “Unchained Melody”
- 27th May 5 EDDIE CALVERT – “Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White”
- 13th May 4 TONY BENNETT – “Stranger In Paradise”
- 29th April 6 PEREZ ‘PREZ’ PRADO AND HIS ORCHESTRA – “Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White”
- 11th March 3 TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD – “Give Me Your Word”
- 18th February 4 RUBY MURRAY – “Softly, Softly”
- 14th January 5 ROSEMARY CLOONEY – “Mambo Italiano”
- 7th January 5 DICKIE VALENTINE – “Finger Of Suspicion”
- 1954
- 3rd December 6 WINIFRED ATWELL – “Let’s Have Another Party”
- 26th November 4 ROSEMARY CLOONEY – “This Ole House”
- 5th November 2 VERA LYNN – “My Son My Son”
- 10th October 3 DON CORNELL – “Hold My Hand”
- 17th September 5 FRANK SINATRA – “Three Coins In A Fountain”
- 10th September 5 KITTY KALLEN – “Little Things Mean A Lot”
- 2nd July 2 DAVID WHITFIELD – “Cara Mia”
- 30th April 7 JOHNNIE RAY – “Such A Night”
- 16th April 8 DORIS DAY – “Secret Love”
- 12th March 1 THE STARGAZERS – “I See The Moon”
- 8th January 4 EDDIE CALVERT- “Oh Mein Papa”
- 1953
- 13th November 4 FRANKIE LAINE – “Answer Me”
- 6th November 2 DAVID WHITFIELD – ‘Answer Me’
- 23rd October 5 FRANKIE LAINE – “Hey Joe”
- 11th September 3 GUY MITCHELL – “Look At That Girl”
- 15th August 5 MANTOVANI – “Moulin Rouge Theme”
- 26th June 5 EDDIE FISHER – ‘I’m Walking Behind You’
- 24th April 3 FRANKIE LAINE – “I Believe”
- 17th April 4 LITA ROZA – “How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?”
- 10th April 4 THE STARGAZERS – “Broken Wings”
- 13th March 2 GUY MITCHELL – ‘She Wears Red Feathers’
- 6th February 3 PERRY COMO – “Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes”
- 30th January 5 EDDIE FISHER – ‘Outside Of Heaven’
- 23rd January 7 KAY STARR – ‘Comes A-Long A-Love’
- 16th January 6 JO STAFFORD – “You Belong To Me”
- 1952
- 14th November 4 AL MARTINO – “Here In My Heart”
Tom in FT • 39,986 views • Share/Save
I haven’t counted, but by eye you seem to mark on a sort of flattened, short-tailed bell curve.
Yes – there’s a kind of rough attempt at normal distribution being made (i.e. 10s should be rarer than 9s should be rarer than 8s – 5s and 6s should be the most common).
The average mark so far is 5.36.
The stats suggest that I should have made a couple more things 10 so far.
Is ‘Everlasting Love’ missing from this list? Can’t see it.
It’s not been updated since “The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde”. I’m going to update end of every month I think.
update please!
End of every Plutonian Space Month.
Tom, I’ve put in place the automatic index scheme i outlined to you. Let me know how you like it – and what you want to do with the ongoing Popular ‘meta data’. (I’ve got a copy of your old manual text, just in case)
Alan – sorry I didn’t reply – I wuv it!
I will try and conform to the meta data – of course I need to write moar entries first.
OK, clearly I will have to work out how to do the meta data
Don’t worry – yr golden. You were fooled by the aggressive caching we do on FT. I’ll see if I can work out a way to ‘expire’ this page when you do a new popular post.
(However, next time you want to do a ‘twofer’ – like dodd/stones – i might need to tweak the presentation of the post. though if you look at that post you can see how the metadata works for that.)
Introducing: the FT Readers’ top 100
Howe often is this updated as there are some with 5 votes or more and a higher than 5.8 average score and there not listed in this Top 100.
It was updating twice a day, but i just changed it to 4 times a day, which is still a bit stingy as the calculation isn’t all that resource greedy. still the data won’t change that often, so seems not too bad.
Highest ranked 10: “Israelites” (#2) – I’m amazed at this! Tho not displeased.
Highest ranked 9: “Good Vibration” (#1) – Fair enough
Highest ranked 8: “Space Oddity” (#9) – Hmmm
Highest ranked 7: “The Name Of The Game” (#17) – I can see why it’s loved so much.
Highest ranked 6: “Geno” (#23) – still wildly overrated I reckon.
Highest ranked 5: “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” (#34) – Hands up, I was wrong about this.
Not sure what the highest rated 4-3-2-1 are (not counting K Dodd obv!). I’m guessing “Imagine” and “Vincent” for the 2 and 1.
Highest ranked 4:”What A Wonderful World” (#100) – still too corny for me.
Highest ranked 3:”She” (#190) – was wrong about this one too.
Highest ranked 2:”Hold Me Close” (#305) – a bit harsh possibly.
Highest ranked 1:”Vincent” (#224) – bah!
And going the other way:
Lowest ranked 10:”Atomic” (#41) – would probably be my lowest too
Lowest ranked 9: “Out Of Time” (#152) – OK, I’m not sure why I gave it 9 either
Lowest ranked 8: “Lady Madonna” (#185) – surprised how relatively disliked this is
Lowest ranked 7: “I’ve Never Been To Me” (#329) – nor have you lot
Lowest ranked 6: “Summer Nights” (#342) – this is total fun hating
Lowest ranked 5: “Amazing Grace” (#374) – only I appreciate its dronelike qualities
Lowest ranked 4: “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero” (#368) – not as bad as all that
Lowest ranked 3: “Seven Tears” (#383) – harsh!
Lowest ranked 2: “Figaro” (#384) – there are worse things
Lowest ranked 1: “Long Haired Lover” and “No-One Quite Like Grandma” (equal #385 – after 385 we’re in the land of <5 votes)
It’s not letting me vote on any songs at the moment or showing me what other people have averaged
Problem solved – now I’ve gone back to “pink”
oopsy. i will update the css with the new additions used by the voting feature
(We changed it so that you can’t see averages until you have voted)
Jacko into the Top 20 I see!
should the simple chronological list be reversed, so recent entries are at the top?
Let’s give it a go!
From the point of view of somebody trying to make a comment on the very first entry, this is inconvenient to say the least. Recent entries I can find easily, but I did think one of the points of this index was to be able to find older entries quickly…
Duly noted! Once we’ve had it this way for a month or so I’ll do some analytics fu and I can work out which is more effective for getting people to entries that have dropped off the front page.
Ooh – how about a “random entry” function?
The ‘?’ random link on the banner goes to a random FT post
it could be tied to a random popular post if clicked from a popular post or the /popular page.
No strong feelings either way, but I would have thought people were more likely to want to comment on fairly recent entries than on the very earliest entries, and if they want to comment on something from the 60s or 70s it doesn’t take long to scroll down whichever way the chronological list is ordered, once you get used to it.
#26 – it could be but I’d prefer keeping the “?” as is and having a separate random entry link I could put in the text box.
[...] If you’d like to read about these records (and everything else that topped the UK charts from 1952 forward), prepare to kill hours and hours reading Popular. The complete list of records Tom has covered so far is here. [...]
OMG go Doris Day!
hope you don’t mind me disclosing the current votes for the 2 exact ‘9’s currently on populist
secret love: 10 10 9 8 8
dancing queen: 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 8 6
they love to love, but our readers just equally love to dance
Hi Tom.
Fun idea you have here with just one little criticism of the scoring methods. Ideally you would have just asked everyone to ONLY score those songs they would give a 10 to, and no other score.
There are people out there who will truly love a great song and give it 10.
Other people however will absolutely HATE the same song and score 1 just to try and get it off the top 100 list.
An example will surely be “Bohemian Rhapsody” which, over the last 34 years has been shown to be loved and hated in equal measues! You will end up with a kind of tug-of-war going on over quite a few of the songs! Or maybe that was part of your intention – if so – tee hee.
there are strengths and weaknesses in any scoring system, but
“Ideally you would have just asked everyone to ONLY score those songs they would give a 10 to, and no other score”
would give an average of 10 for everything! we could only count the number of votes
Fair point, but you would still have a top 100, with the record scoring most 10’s being top of the list.
Ottersteve – we kind of do have this, in that we do polls at the end of each (chart) year which are binary yes/no ones (though based on 6 or above, not 10). I’ve not actually bothered running a comparison yet though (rubs hands in statistical glee…)
Hello everyone, we’re in The Times today. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6847964.ece
Very exciting, though the interview happened 2 weeks post-new-baby and I’m left wondering what I meant sometimes!
A few notes on comments – from the shiny new features Alan has installed:
The most-commented Popular post is “No Charge” by JJ Barrie, with 272.
Two other posts have got more than 200 comments – “Dancing Queen” and “Night Fever”.
25 more posts are comment centurions – most recently The Crowd – so that’s 28 in all that have got into triple figures.
At the other end of the scale, 8 posts have 0 comments, and 30 only have one (in some cases I know this to be a spambot that slipped through the net)
Tom.
Re your comment at 35. Your end of each year chart is a great idea, but not all of the years seem to have this feature. I’d love to see all years accounted for as I enjoy putting my ten pen’th in.
On the subject of the readers poll. I suspect that many of the voters have been swayed by your wise words on a few of the songs. It’s my guess that’s because many readers were simply too young or not even born when certain (high-ranked, on the above chart) tracks were at No.1
I was fortunate to be around to fully enjoy the 60’s “pop boom” and I believe most Beatles fans would not put down Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby as the best of the Beatles No.1’s. For me, personally, “She Loves you” was the true trigger of the wave of musical euphoria that swept the country at that time (I was 9 years old). Hey Jude comes a close 2nd for me. If you had given a high score of your own to these tracks – I’m convinced they would have been in the readers top 10 too.
Just an observation – not taking it all TOO seriously.
Steve
i’ve just tagged up the 14 ‘year-poll’ posts with ‘popular year poll’ so they appear here:
http://freakytrigger.co.uk/tag/popular-year-poll/
So, are we ever going to be able to vote in the outstanding year polls?
it won’t take a lot to set them up – but it’s Tom’s call. He was setting up the old ones as a way to take up comment crew slack when he’s busy.
Today would be a good day to put one up – though I’m too busy even to do a poll at the moment!
i’ll put up ’74 later on then if you like? it’s also a matter of bringing it to the attention of the crew. i guess by a comment on that (back in time) post and on the most recent popular post?
Cool, thanks Alan!
What I think I’ll do is frontpage it for a day or two so the regulars all see it, then it can be plunged back into the Mud.
I was doing a little playing around w/my scores today, having set up a better excel file for them (NON-NERDS LOOK AWAY). I wanted to answer the qn: what is the best run of #1 hits?
My answer (so far at least), if you take a 10-song average, is the stretch which starts inauspiciously with Boney M’s “Mary’s Boy Child” and runs until “Are ‘Friends’ Electric” (#430-439).
But, if you look at my best ERA for pop – defined as a 50-song average – it’s #171-#220 – starting with Roy Orbison’s “It’s Over” and ending with Chris Farlowe’s “Out Of Time” – so mid-64 to mid-66.
I want to do this with the reader marks and will pester the relevant ppl for a .csv file :)
Tom, i’ve sent a 40K tab file to freakytrigger gmail. it’s pop_no, post_title and scores.
the scores column has individual scores comma separated. if i get you right, you’re just after the average score, so i could have just given you the ave score, but i figured you might want to go wild on the stats, so you could get #of10 scores, #of9 scores, etc, and all manner of statpr0n.
if you can’t parse the data and you’d rather just have the ave, let me know.
quick fact: Come On Eileen has the highest number of votes by some distance.
(i have deleted all user ID info, so the scoring given in the file is anonymous BTW.)
I have been parsing away for about an hour. Lovely stuff.