6 May 2016 Entertaining as the Kendrick - Drake beef has been, I have one teensy reservation: it's only Drake. Surely there a worthier foe for the lacerating rhymes of Pulitzer Prize laureate Kendrick Lamar than Toronto's most prominent rapper since Snow. Drake is hardly the Napoleon of rap, not least because the Napoleon of … Continue reading Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla – ‘One Dance’ →

9 December 1971 This seems to be the first number one single anywhere for Andrew Lloyd Webber, although Jesus Christ Superstar had topped the US album charts the previous year. (Earlier in 1971, Helen Reddy's version of the song had cracked the top twenty Stateside but neither it nor a rival cover by Petula Clark … Continue reading Tina and The Real McCoy – ‘I Don’t Know How To Love Him’ →

25 November 1971 Bolan was the first. Bowie was the hippest. Roxy were the artiest. The Sweet were the campiest. Sparks were the edgiest. Slade, though, could claim to be the glam act that were the most popular. After all, they had six UK number ones—the same amount as in Ireland—and were the biggest-selling British … Continue reading Slade – ‘Coz I Luv You’ →

1 April 2016 Sia's public standing doesn't seem to have recovered from the controversial depiction of autism in Music, the 2021 movie she co-wrote, co-produced and directed. Matters weren't helped by Sia's initial response to such criticism: effing and jeffing at disgruntled autistic people on her socials. Her 2017 Christmas single 'Snowman' returns to the … Continue reading Sia ft. Sean Paul – ‘Cheap Thrills’ →

25 March 2016 Back in 1992 The Shamen had to invent a spurious Dickensian oddball called Ebeneezer Goode to get their ode to ecstasy onto the radio, TV and top of the charts. No subterfuge required in free-thinking 2016 - at least not in the lyrics. I felt a bit hoodwinked, though, to discover that … Continue reading Mike Posner – ‘I Took A Pill In Ibiza’ →

18 November 1971 Taking an early lead over Brendan Shine in the race to be Ireland's most prolific Irish chart-topper of the '70s, here's An Camán Dearg with his second number one of 1971. 'Kiss Me Goodbye' had previously been recorded by Petula Clark, for whom it was a US top twenty hit in 1968, … Continue reading Red Hurley and The Nevada – ‘Kiss Me Goodbye’ →

7 October 1971 Two total ledgebags at number one with 'Did You Ever' - not Linda Martin and Mick McCarthy with their unlikely 1991 duet, but Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood twenty years earlier. The Nancy n' Lee songbook of sunkissed and sometimes sinister country-pop still sounds thrilling and sophisticated today. In particular, 'These Boots … Continue reading Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood – ‘Did You Ever’ →

19 February 2016 You may recall the Irish connection here. Lead singer Lukas Forchhammer had an Irish father - a Mr Graham, hence the band name. '7 Years' is about him. You may therefore also recall '7 Years', unfortunately. Nizlopi's 'JCB Song' mashed up with 'In The Year 2525' and The Script, performed by an … Continue reading Lukas Graham – ‘7 Years’ →

5 February 2016 Well, here we are now: the first One Direction solo single and chart-topper, and it's not by Harry. With hindsight, even with 1D mania and the sensation of Zayn's departure the stakes here were quite low; all his first freelance track has to be is better than the solo debuts by Robbie … Continue reading Zayn – ‘Pillowtalk’ →

30 September 1971 There ain't nothing like shaggin'. My baby sure can shag. Hey, what's the matter? I'm only telling you the names of the 1987 comeback hit by The Tams and its 1988 follow-up single! The shag was the name of an early-'60s dance style which formed the basis of a 1988 US retro … Continue reading The Tams – ‘Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me’ →