The toppest top of all the tops
The recent BBC celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Official UK Singles Chart included a vote by 188,357 listeners to determine the Top 100 No 1’s from all of that period. Each voter had to choose 50 songs from a list of all 942 – so they deserved a pat on the back for their persistence at least. David emerged with three songs in the popular Top 100, one of which was in the Top 10:-
1 Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
2 John Lennon – Imagine
3 Beatles – Hey Jude
4 Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
5 George Harrison – My Sweet Lord
6 Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade Of Pale
7 Animals – The House Of The Rising Sun
8 Abba – Dancing Queen
9 Beach Boys – Good Vibrations
10 Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure
25 David Bowie – Space Oddity
75 David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes
The Guardian have the Top 100 in it’s entirety, listed in this article, and The Times said:-
The chart of No 1s, compiled to mark the 50th anniversary of the UK charts, reveals the enduring popularity of Lennon, McCartney, David Bowie and the Beach Boys.
Not to be outdone, NME, who of course ‘invented’ the charts and published the first list on November 14th 1952, followed with their own Top 100, voted for by the current NME staff. They say:-
Our list is not based on sales. It’s simply the singles that have touched us deepest, the 100 singles of the last half-century that have indelibly marked our souls. Voted for by NME staff, our chart brings together innovators, outsiders, superstars, people in torment and people on top of the world. Artists, in other words, with nothing in common but the immortality of their music.
David had two songs in this critic’s chart and once again, one in the Top 10:-
1 Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
2 Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
3 The Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The UK
4 The Rolling Stones – Paint It, Black
5 David Bowie – ‘Heroes’
6 The Stone Roses – Fools Gold
7 The Smiths – This Charming Man
8 Oasis – Live Forever
9 Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
10 The Clash – London Calling
56 David Bowie ? Starman
In celebration of this 50th anniversary, a 42 track double CD ’50 Years of the Greatest Hit Singles’ (cover above) is available now, featuring both “Heroes” and ‘Under Pressure’.
If all of this talk of lists has whetted your appetite, then Virgin Radio is the place to go next. They have just announced an online vote to find the Top 100 Great British Artists, the results of which will be announced on air on New Year’s Eve. Check it out, here.
:))