Hello! I’m listening to every number one from the official Irish singles charts, then writing about them and giving them marks out of 10. On a whim (and because the data is more reliable) I started with the 1980s, and now I’m also filling in the erratic ’60s and ’70s in parallel. If you want to know the number one in Ireland on the day you were born and if it was any good [hint: probably not] or if you just like reading about pop songs, you’ve come to the right place. I was inspired to do this by similar enterprises for the UK charts in Popular on Freaky Trigger and for the US charts by The Number Ones on Stereogum, and you should definitely check out those excellent sites.

As well as visiting here, follow @irishnumberones on Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon and Instagram to get the latest post along with related videos, factoids, what else of note was in the charts at the same time, and wherever the rabbit-hole of each song leads us. In addition, on the socials every Friday afternoon I feature the brand-new Irish singles chart: what’s number one in Ireland today, other singles of note in the charts, and where the ever-present ‘Mr Brightside’ is this week.

Resources

For reference and consistency, I’m using the Irish number ones and their date as listed on Wikipedia. I’m aware, though, that at times in the ’60s and ’70s the Irish singles charts were compiled in a rather haphazard way. For example, the dates can vary by one or two days depending on the source, which is why for clarity I’m sticking with the Wikipedia date throughout. If your birthday number one is affected, just pick the cooler song; I’ll back you up.

I also use the excellent irishcharts.ie and Irish Charts Discussion thread on ukmix.org – all hail the good people behind those much-appreciated enterprises.

Not so long ago I wrote for an Irish music website called CLUAS, most notably a long-running column and blog called ‘French Letter’ during my years living in Paris. Bits and pieces by me have popped up in other online and onpaper publications too.

Contact

You can email contact@irishnumberones.com or comment on any post or page and I’ll see it pre-moderation, plus follow and message at @irishnumberones on your socials.

Thanks, and enjoy!

All posts and text on this site © 2022-24 Aidan Curran