21 July 2005 In 1999 Captain James Blount was part of a British Army squadron deployed with the NATO peacekeeping mission to war-torn Kosovo. This sounds like the right amount of preparation for the flak he copped six years later as soft-rock troubadour James Blunt singing 'You're Beautiful'. In a year of unloved chart-toppers whose … Continue reading James Blunt – ‘You’re Beautiful’ →

30 June 2005 The UK had two posthumous chart-topping acts in 2005: Elvis Presley with three number ones and Tupac Shakur with one. In Ireland only the 2Pac single made the top spot. Of course, some would dispute whether those Elvis or Tupac releases could be called 'posthumous', but that's another story. The post mortem … Continue reading 2Pac – ‘Ghetto Gospel’ →

5 May 2005 We should have seen it coming. The warped, squeaky voice right at the start of Akon's 'Lonely' is an unerring harbinger of a particular hit single to come. We are entering one of the worst streaks of number ones in Irish chart history. Since you got fair warning of this on my … Continue reading Akon – ‘Lonely’ →

31 March 2005 Just to clarify, Peter Kay doesn't feature on the actual single, nor is this a bespoke charity re-recording. It's the exact same 1971 version of '(Is This The Way To) Amarillo' that gave Tony Christie a no. 3 hit in Ireland, topped the charts in Germany and Spain, but oddly only peaked … Continue reading Tony Christie ft. Peter Kay – ‘(Is This The Way To) Amarillo’ →

17 March 2005 If, like me, you sometimes have trouble telling your McFlys from your Busteds, that's not necessarily a failing on your part. Tom Fletcher, lead singer of McFly, had auditioned for Busted and was still involved with them behind the scenes when McFly were formed. The two bands remained close personally. Most pertinently, … Continue reading McFly – ‘All About You’ / ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ →

24 February 2005 For all our collective mania-slash-eejitry over Garth Brooks concerts, we've never had much country music at the top of the Irish singles chart. Whether 'Over And Over' counts as country music for its purist fans is another thing. Still, the country side of this collaboration certainly toes the traditional party line. Tim … Continue reading Nelly ft. Tim McGraw – ‘Over And Over’ →

17 February 2005 It's funny how sometimes an act's number one singles aren't their best-known tracks. If ever Songs By Jennifer Lopez comes up on Family Fortunes, the big scorers would surely be the likes of 'Jenny From The Block', 'If You Had My Love' and 'Love Don't Cost A Thing', none of which topped … Continue reading Jennifer Lopez – ‘Get Right’ →

10 February 2005 You can't say Brian McFadden, newly-hatched singer-songwriter, wasn't racking up the chart-topping hits: 'Almost Here' is the fourth Irish number one in two years where he was holding the biro. This one happens to be turbo-charged with the nitro of celebrity gossip, as Brian and Delta were a recently-constituted item at the … Continue reading Brian McFadden & Delta Goodrem – ‘Almost Here’ →

3 February 2005 At the start of 2005 I emigrated. What this means for our Irish number ones over the next eight and a half years—the length of my exile—is that in some cases I won't have my own local context for a home-grown star or Irish pop-cultural trend. Of course, it also means I … Continue reading Zoo – ‘Poison’ / ‘I Believe’ →

6 January 2005 Chester Bennington's sad demise takes the edge off my feelings on Linkin Park. It will suffice for me to say that I wasn't a fan of any '00s US nu-metal bands, or '00s US nu-metal as a genre. Out of fairness, I'll point out that our upcoming 2005 number ones hold far, … Continue reading Jay-Z & Linkin Park – ‘Numb/Encore’ →