12 February 1972 You can still send a telegram today. Isn't that cute? Less cute is how anyone nicknamed Telegram Sam today is more likely to be an avid user of a certain social media site frequented by right-wing knuckle-draggers with lEgiTiMaTe qUeStIoNs. There are a few competing footnotes as to who the real-life Telegram … Continue reading T. Rex – ‘Telegram Sam’
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Little Mix – ‘Shout Out To My Ex’
28 October 2016 Going by the tepid take-up for their debut solo releases in 2024-25, next on the Little Mix agenda may well be the perfunctory reunion and greatest hits tour. That's a pity. Okay, Perrie's tracks were safe and unmemorable chart-pop, but I liked Leigh-Anne's dip into garage and Afrobeat, and Jade's intriguing 'Angel … Continue reading Little Mix – ‘Shout Out To My Ex’
Barleycorn – ‘The Men Behind The Wire’
22 January 1972 This chart-topping original of 'The Men Behind The Wire' has a spoken-word introduction: On Monday the ninth of August 1971 at 4:30 a.m., Irish men from all over the six counties were taken from their homes. Hundreds of these men are now imprisoned without trial. This song is borne of the civil … Continue reading Barleycorn – ‘The Men Behind The Wire’
James Arthur – ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’
14 October 2016 Getting done for copyright infringement by The Script feels ignominious, like losing a table quiz to a team of farmyard animals. Anyway, the law has spoken, and James Arthur's 'Say You Won't Let Go' is now obliged to show in the ingredients that it contains traces of creepy pushy-guy dad-rock anthem 'The … Continue reading James Arthur – ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’
The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – ‘Closer’
2 September 2016 It throws a wee bit more trap into the pot, but otherwise 'Closer' is yet another mid-'10s sad-boy trop-house number one. It topped the US charts for twelve weeks and the Irish charts for six, so the good folk of 2016 clearly couldn't get enough of that sound and vibe. Halsey gets … Continue reading The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – ‘Closer’
The New Seekers – ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)’
8 January 1972 Shannon Airport's role as the site of the real-life inspiration for Coca Cola's "I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke" jingle will turn out to be one of Ireland's more benign contributions to our chart-topping singles of 1972. Irish coffee was invented in the '40s at the nearby Foynes transatlantic seaplane … Continue reading The New Seekers – ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)’
Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber and MØ – ‘Cold Water’
29 July 2016 'Cold Water' gives Justin Bieber his fourth Irish number one single and a total of 22 weeks at the top of the Irish charts, all within twelve months. It's also the second chart-topper in Ireland for the partnership of Major Lazer and MØ in just over a year. All these tracks sound … Continue reading Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber and MØ – ‘Cold Water’
Larry Cunningham – ‘Slaney Valley’
1 January 1972 The most astonishing year in Irish chart history begins innocuously enough, with an old-fashioned waltz-time accordion ballad on the céilí wing of the country & Irish showband scene. Suffice it to say, Larry Cunningham won't be doing any of the astonishing that lies ahead. 'Slaney Valley' ploughs such a similar furrow to … Continue reading Larry Cunningham – ‘Slaney Valley’
Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – ‘This Is What You Came For’
13 May 2016 Nils Sjöberg here joins Bernard Webb, Christopher, Ann Orson, and Ron Dunbar & Edythe Wayne in the rank of hit songwriters who were pseudonyms of already-famous acts. While the Harris-Sjöberg writing team may have never, ever got back together for further hits, 'This Is What You Came For' at least reunites the … Continue reading Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – ‘This Is What You Came For’
Tommy Drennan and The Monarchs – ‘O Holy Night’
23 December 1971 Duetting with yourself as a child: must be some modern-day AI jiggery-pokery, right? No, it's Ireland's Christmas number one of 1971! How it's done: '70s showband singer Tommy Drennan had in his youth been '50s boy soprano Tommy Drennan, of whom there was a 1953 recording of him singing 'O Holy Night'. … Continue reading Tommy Drennan and The Monarchs – ‘O Holy Night’
