15 November 2003 'Me Against The Music' was Madonna's first Irish number one in 14 years, since 'Like A Prayer' in 1989. (Yes, that means Madonna had no number one singles in Ireland in the '90s.) In the grand scheme of things this doesn't mean much by itself; she had four UK number ones in … Continue reading Britney Spears ft. Madonna – ‘Me Against The Music’
Billie Eilish – ‘Therefore I Am’
20 November 2020 There's a sequence halfway through CMAT's video for 'Euro Country', where she's skipping across an upper-floor walkway in the Omni Park in Dublin, that's almost identical to a shot at the start of Billie Eilish's video for 'Therefore I Am' in the Glendale Galleria in California. The two settings just happen to … Continue reading Billie Eilish – ‘Therefore I Am’
David Essex – ‘Gonna Make You A Star’
21 November 1974 If you were a mid-'70s pop fan whose taste in male teen idols ran to something more mature and worldly than David Cassidy or some random Osmond, then doe-eyed David Essex would well have been your pin-up of choice. And since his mother was from an Irish family, we can also claim … Continue reading David Essex – ‘Gonna Make You A Star’
Ariana Grande – ‘Positions’
30 October 2020 In what I've been calling the 2019-20 mini-renaissance in chart pop, we've already seen Dua Lipa discover a winning sound and Lady Gaga rediscover her 'Just Dance' form. Now here's Ariana Grande with her best hit yet. As 'Don't Start Now' did with Dua, 'Positions' succeeds by working out how best to … Continue reading Ariana Grande – ‘Positions’
Ken Boothe – ‘Everything I Own’
31 October 1974 It's not a great sign for the track as a whole when the singer keeps getting the chorus lyric wrong. But that's what happens here on 'Everything I Own', which Ken Boothe insists on singing as "anything I own". Maybe it's intended as a tweak to suggest the narrator owns little or … Continue reading Ken Boothe – ‘Everything I Own’
John Denver – ‘Annie’s Song’
17 October 1974 'Annie's Song' gets a renewed burst of witticism-fuelled attention every five years in Ireland when we're asked to fill in our census. Aside from that quinquennial project of theirs, the Central Statistics Office also confirms we have plenty of Annies among us; in 2025 it was the 37th most popular girl's name … Continue reading John Denver – ‘Annie’s Song’
Paul Woolford and Diplo ft. Kareen Lomax – ‘Looking For Me’
16 October 2020 On the Covid pandemic timeline, mid-October 2020 was when Ireland moved to Level 5 restrictions: no household visitors; a 5km confinement for outdoor movement; restaurants and bars limited to takeaway service; clubs and cultural venues closed. Ironically, since the start of the pandemic and lockdown in March 2020 Ireland's number one singles … Continue reading Paul Woolford and Diplo ft. Kareen Lomax – ‘Looking For Me’
Carl Douglas – ‘Kung Fu Fighting’
3 October 1974 Well now. Whatever this record's motivation at the time—perhaps mere cultural appropriation to cash in on the martial arts movie craze of the era—it's now to our ears full of the sort of sonic tags that would get thrown at anyone of Asian heritage, or fuel "hilarious" depictions of their community in … Continue reading Carl Douglas – ‘Kung Fu Fighting’
Dermot Hegarty – ‘Nineteen Men’
12 September 1974 'Nineteen Men' is the sixth number one song in Ireland in the space of just three years about someone in prison, and the eleventh in eight years. What's more, Dermot Hegarty's previous Irish chart-topper was also a jailbird story, 'Twenty One Years'. Was this really such relatable pop-culture content at the turn … Continue reading Dermot Hegarty – ‘Nineteen Men’
24kGoldn ft. Iann Dior – ‘Mood’
18 September 2020 I'm not greatly into this track's proximity to the tired and sexist trope of a woman being grumpy or irritable; I feel we're just around the corner from a quip about the time of the month. In fairness to those involved, the lyrics here don't go that far. That reticence of mine … Continue reading 24kGoldn ft. Iann Dior – ‘Mood’
Brendan Shine – ‘Abbeyshrule’
22 August 1974 And why not Abbeyshrule? Surely every village, parish, sráidbhaile and townland in the country has its own celebratory ballad, right? What's more, Abbeyshrule in Co. Longford is in the heart of what the nearest tourist office would call Goldsmith Country, so perhaps Brendan Shine is waxing lyrical here about his favourite 18th … Continue reading Brendan Shine – ‘Abbeyshrule’
