1968: Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann. (video)
1978: Take A Chance On Me - Abba. (video)
1988: I Should Be So Lucky - Kylie Minogue. (video)
1998: Doctor Jones - Aqua. (video)
2008: Mercy - Duffy. (video)
Listen to a short medley of all five songs.

Have I really wasted 20 years of my life hating this record? Listening to it now, it all seems so...so... innocuous. How could I have expended so much passion loathing something that is ultimately this harmless?

I was too old for this back in 1988. Now, I'm not.

Running totals so far - Number 1s.

1978: Take A Chance On Me - Abba (155)

Like an express train to the heart. Almost too perfect. (betty)

There isn't a single phrase of praise about this group or song I can think of that hasn't already been said. (asta)

There is no chance of objectivity or shocking revisionism when it comes to me and Abba. This record's genius is so easy to love because its art seems so carefree - which is never to be confused with "careless." The sudden explosion of frank emotionalism from the general subtly tantalising vocal delivery on Frida's part ("'cos you know I've GOT...") are the difference between living and existing and the thought of Agnetha and Frida amiably and simultaneously winking with their "I ain't gonna let ya" and "soon I'm gonna get ya" inspire thoughts in me which are inappropriate for a blog family audience. (Marcello Carlin)

The girls are singing the words that the boys want to hear, but it seems clear that these are boy's words, of vulnerability and patience and longing, the pitiful cajoling of the spurned. When she finally realises she's made a mistake, he'll have moved on to an inferior version and he'll be too polite to abandon her. I hear missed opportunities and unhappy relationships. With a disco beat. Probably the best song of the fifty. (imsodave)

I remember noting at the time that it was the best thing they’d ever done in my opinion, and although nowadays I’d give that palm to “Winner Takes It All”, this is still up there. (Remember a song called “I’m A Train” by Albert Hammond, father of one of The Strokes? – it sounds like Benny and Bjorn did.) The video shows that Agnetha is no great shakes as a dancer, but as I’ve said before in Another Place, was there ever a woman more beautiful than she was in the late 70s? (Easy? – who did your schoolmates think they were?!!) (Erithian)

Yadda yadda yadda classic. I was surprised how 2008 their clothes look! Of the fifty songs there are only ten I would wish to hear again, and only Abba would be in contention for my Top One Hundred (but even then it's not my favourite Abba song!) (Gert)

Used to hate Abba, but there's a great craftmanship behind its arrangement. (Simon)

Total closet Abba head. Will watch Muriel's Wedding repeatedly for the soundtrack and to hear Toni Colette say ABBA in that twisted Australian way she has. (jo)

No searing critique from me (so what's new). My very first musical memory is Abba winning the Eurovision song contest, and the first album that was bought for me was Abba's Greatest Hits vol 1. I'll always have a huge soft spot for them. Have they ever won a God-like genius award? (Sarah)

I played Take a Chance on Me two nights ago as I DJed for a friend's 30th (this being the number one when he was born). And, as a peek at my last.fm profile implies, the Swedes can get five points from me without breaking a sweat. (Will)

Despite being the Abba song that always reminds me most of French and Saunders' spoof it really is rather good. (NiC)

Despite rediscovering Abba slightly before the rest of the world in the early 90s, they've fallen from favour of late. I think it's time for me to re-rediscover them. (Adrian)

3 pts. Seems unkind to rate it in midfield but, well crafted as the arrangement is, it's by no means one of their better songs. (Z)

Abba have pretty much always left me entirely cold, but as I've got older I've come to appreciate their clinical pop genius. It's alright, but it still doesn't get me up and dancing. And I loathe Dancing Queen too. Sorry. I must be missing the Abba gene. Even I can't deny that this is clearly the classiest thing here though. (SwissToni)

Having moved from Bowie/Mott/Alice Cooper onto punk and metal, I was immune to Abba at the time and legally obliged to hate them. I think this gives the more mature me a far more objective view on them that most people who are viewing them through rosy nostalgia tinted spectacles, and I can recognise them for what they really were, which is a very average pop band with a few good tunes who lucked into capturing the zeitgeist of the times. This song is not unpleasant, but really a bit bland and dull, and that's as much as I can say for it. (Alan)

2008: Mercy - Duffy (113)

I love her voice and I enjoyed the song. It's a whole lot more classy than most chart-toppers are nowadays. (Z)

I think in time this will turn out to be a classic. My sort of music. (Tina)

Sorry. I. Love. Duffy. The voice, the retro vibe, the Dusty feel. The 60's girl group sound. I. Can't. Help. It. Tom Jones, Sterophonics, Shirley Bassey, Cerys Mathews, Bonnie Tyler...maybe I just like Welsh voices. (jo)

Damned original stuff, and one of the few modern number 1s we're still going to remember in ten years time. (diamond geezer)

This one is simply the best Number 1 for a long while, and good luck to her. Incidentally, when the New Amys (or rather the Channelling Dustys) have big hits I get a bit indignant on behalf of Candie Payne, whose voice is up there with theirs and whose songs have the edge, but who hasn’t had quite the promotional push. (Mike, I saw Carmel live back in the 80s and she was terrific.) (Erithian)

I wasn't sure about Duffy, but this track made me think that perhaps there is something in the hype. And whenever I've seen her perform live she's been amazing. (Oliver R)

I definitely like this. Lulu vocals, yes, but then in the background it's referencing Ben E King and The Doors, and putting all that together somehow it works fantastically well. (Alan)

This is a great song and given most other competition would be flying high at the top of my list. I'd never seen the video before though. What's with the flame-grilled dancer? (Sarah)

No she's not the next Amy. Amy's a better lyricist, and sings from the core of the genre. This song is from the 60s song book of R&B catch phrases. It's like somebody loaded up her Ipod with Ann Sexton, Peebles and Sharon Jones and said," write me a song from that". I see your Carmel and raise you a Marianne Rosenberg. But don't think I don't like this. I think it's terrific, in it's way. (asta)

I think she's more straight retro and less original than Amy and the arrangement is indeed a bit tame (more Lulu?) but it's still pretty good. (NiC)

It's not quite the authentic, dusty fingered soul classic that it purports to be, and it's not even as good as Rockferry, but it's solid and catchy and danceably laid-back. I'm surprised how nasal she sounds on this though. She's hardly Mahalia Jackson, is she? (imsodave)

Heard this on a radio in a doctor's waiting room last week without knowing what it was and was surprised to find I didn't mind it as much as I thought I did (or maybe that was because of all the Century 106 schlock around it). Straight up revision without progression, of course, but tellingly not produced by the terrible joy-sucking Bernard Butler but by someone who appears to have done nothing of note past album tracks for Natalie Imbruglia and Heather Small before this but appears to understand that instantaneousness was the key to great soul. (Simon)

Good, high quality work. Inventive, but I don't think it carries it all the way to the finishing line. (Simon C)

Hmm. A large part of me wants to cry out that this is simply trying too hard; that the song is too retro and ultimately too repetitive.... but I simply can't deny the power of that voice and the fact that this song has got hooks. I'm sure she'll get better material than this in her career, but this will probably do for starters. The Social is going to be a great place to see her, that's for sure. (SwissToni)

Looking forward to seeing her. The B side of the 7" suggests that there is a genuine soul girl there (and she's 22 for crissake - at 22 you think you've seen everything, and certainly have a right to sing the blues) I could listen to this more often than Kylie or Abba but it's not that memorable. (Dymbel)

There are hints of Motown in this. If I didn't know they were in order, I'd suspect it was the 60s track. It's reasonable enough, but not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. (Adrian)

I was feeling rather pleased about the fact that I'd realised that she was the new Carmel, and was going to drop that into the comment in a very smug and self satisfied way, only to find out that other people have got there instead. Harumph. Perhaps they should do a duet, compare bleached hair and black shift dresses, that sort of thing. This single isn't quite as bad as I would have expected after her appearance on Later last year. At least she didn't go to the Brits School. (betty)

The introductory Stand By Me meets Human Behaviour bedrock motif promises little and yes it sounds moderately enhancing, if not enchanting, but it sounds spliced together by committee and Duffy really needs to do some more living before we can begin to believe (in) her. That is, if her management will allow her to live. (Actually, the Duffy riff is "Time Of The Season" innit? Paging Mr Argent...) (Marcello Carlin)

The Duffy album is such a mixed bag. I first heard a 5 track sampler, which sounded pretty decent - but it now seems as though all the best songs were on it. "Warwick Avenue" is an attractive piece of work, which might make a good follow-up single, but then we have tedious non-songs like the one where tells us, over and over and over again, that she doesn't want to be a stepping stone. And bearing in mind his asset-stripping reductio ad tedium job on the third Sons & Daughters album, having Bernard Butler as your closest collaborator is nothing to shout about, either. (mike)

The Lambrettas to Amy Winehouse's Jam. (Nottingham's 'Mr Sex')

This is getting more and more play on Heart. It'll soon be played more than Valerie. Duffy will replace Sam Brown when she's kicked out of Jools Holland's big band in a few years. (Geoff)

Her voice really grates after half a dozen seconds. I ought to like this a helluva lot more, considering the classy support of inter alia McAlmont and Butler. I'd just rather it was David McAlmont on vocals. (Gert)

1968: The Mighty Quinn - Manfred Mann (100)

Possibly the second ever Number 1 I can remember from the time (the first being “Bonnie and Clyde”) and an instant time-travel back to growing up in Stretford, just down the road from an older lad called Stephen Morrissey. As Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, they were the first band I went to see live several years later. Of course drug references – “everybody’s gonna want a dose” and Anthony Quinn went right over my head, it was just a fun song and still is. (Erithian)

I've never understood what the lyrics are about for this, but I've always had a soft spot for this song. I'll give it the nod over Abba because I'd be less likely to skip it if iTunes chose it on party shuffle. (Adrian)

Slightly odd and silly but no sillier than singing about Yellow Submarines or Bullfrogs with names. (asta)

The slight oddity of it adds to its attraction. (Z)

The Mannfreds were always a blues rock outfit that had been shoehorned into a pop role. Their live performances were purportedly bizarre because they played in a much harder, rockier style that half the audience, who had only heard the singles, hated. They wanted to be like the Stones, but they were hamstrung by their record company who wanted a more commercial sound, and it's the reason Paul Jones couldn't take it any more and quit. This one, from the Mike D'Abo era, was one time that the rockier sound started edging its way into the singles, if only a little, and was deservedly their biggest hit. It's a stepping stone between singles chart fodder and the more innovative music that was being created elsewhere at the time, and any band who could take an obscure Dylan song and make the public think it was pop magic are always going to get the thumbs up from me. (Alan)

I will always say yes to MM, they are one of my faves. When husband first moved over and I was touring him around the states we spent a lot of time with Roaring Silence in the CD player. (jo)

It reminds me a little of a rotund footballer with a big moustache, but it's a great song isn't it? The production has dated a bit, but the song stands up okay I reckon. One point seems very harsh when this would have topped most of the other day's selections for me. Them's the breaks though, eh? (SwissToni)

Remarkable how these jazzbo rep reliables managed three number ones in the sixties when the Small Faces managed only one and the Who none at all, and even more remarkably this was the first Dylan-related (as composer) UK chart topper; all very affable and the "Eskimo" angle ensured some Junior Choice play even if the producers chose to turn their back on the subtext (if there be any, depending on whose memories you trust).

Oh, and if anyone wants to know where Spiritualized copped it all from, check out the two extremely scarce albums released by "Manfred Mann Chapter Three" after the pop Manfreds split in two; maybe if Jason Pierce had been doing the vocals instead of the rather wobbly Mike Hugg, these records would get proper props. (Marcello Carlin)

Very minor Dylan. I'm humungously fond of the Basement Tapes,which I have in every incaranation and play from time to time but not especially this version, though, yeah, full marks for making such a throwaway a pop hit. (Dymbel)

I didn't know any of the meta stuff. This exercise is quite interesting because if this song came on in the pub, I would be like, yeah, I know this, great song. But actually, it isn't, really. (Gert)

Just sounds a bit generic 60s novelty song to me. Can't summon up an opinion on this one. (Sarah)

People like songs they can hum and whistle, I suppose. Quite why they would then want to buy it in such numbers I have no idea. (imsodave)

Erm, it's the Generation Game theme tune, isn't it? Life, is the name of the game, and I want to play the game with you. The Eskimo version, obviously. (diamond geezer)

I'm sure they were mouthing "Mighty Quim" on TOTP the other week. (Geoff)

1988: I Should Be So Lucky - Kylie Minogue (90)

I hate to disagree with you, but this is bloody brilliant. It may be cheesy, it may be over-bubbly, but it's still perfect pop. And I'm not ashamed to replay it, over and over... (diamond geezer)

Ahhh...London '88, sparkling and new, Kylie in the original video (not the more famous and infinitely naffer second one) streaking through Melbourne in her open-topped car (the same one in which Morley takes his journey?) as if the world's opening up just for her, the Australian sun recreated in a gloomy studio in Warrington, the light, the hope, the promise, and no it wasn't Rick Astley sped up. Elegantly loving even if a little too aware of the pressures of mortality. (Marcello Carlin)

Love it. Classic. What's to be ashamed of? And how many costume changes? (NiC)

I Should Be So Lucky was a big hit when I was at primary school (for which I apologise), and I remember it being quite popular in the playground. The boys who liked it all ended up gay, of course - she had that effect even then... (Will)

When this was out I was just that bit too old for this to be anything other than terribly uncool. Now it's got a kind of quaint charm. (Adrian)

I dismissed this at the time, but I think it's held up pretty well. (Z)

Really hated this at the time. Repetitive, squeaky nonsense - but with the maturing of Kylie (and myself) I guess I've forgiven her a lot over the years. It's nowhere near as bad as my sneery teenage self believed 20 years ago. I was probably just hacked off that she had left Neighbours. (Sarah)

If your birthday had been a week later we’d have had the odd outcome (has it happened in Which Decade before?) of the same artist featuring in different decades, 20 years apart – as “Wow” entered the top ten last week. 20 years of hits, who’d’a thunk it? That first single wasn’t for me back in the day – wasn’t pitched at the likes of me in any case – but now both her and Jason’s opening singles exude all the healthy escapism of the soap that spawned them, along with SAW’s sense of just how to create a massive hit. (Mind you, listening to Kylie and Jason’s duet can actually rot your teeth.) (Erithian)

Now, it's a bit of a dog this song, but... I get the feeling they knew, and didn't care. There's a happiness and carelessness that is really endearing. (Simon C)

This is chirpy Kylie. I much prefer the more mature pouty, vampy Kylie. (asta)

I'm not a fan. Only like a handful of her songs. This has a certain yearning quality. No doubt it's a result of Pete Waterman deciding that the teenage demographic has to empathise with the words if they're going to buy the single. (betty)

It feels somewhat harsh to only give this a mere two points. I remember this affectionately for some reason, but I think that's bound up in how I feel about "Our" "Brave" Kylie than about the quality of the music. We've grown up with her, haven't we? Pretty generic SA&W nonsense really, isn't it? I'm not sure I can forgive the whole "Hair Hat" thing on the album cover, to be honest. (SwissToni)

I'm supposed to like NeighboursKylie, I know, but this hasn't got any better in the twenty years since we all stood smugly folding our arms and glowering. (Simon)

I don't like anything she's ever done, especially this. (Geoff)

It is really irritating isn't it. I can't say I cared for very much of the Stock Aiken Waterman stuff. This was amongst the best. NiC mentions French and Saunders spoof of Abba, but they also spoofed this. (Gert)

I don't get Kylie. At. All. Cute? Sure. Hot? Maybe. But all in all, useless. (jo)

No amount of redressing can disguise the fact that this is a turkey of the highest order. (imsodave)

Another artist I have never had any feel for in any of her various incarnations. She always seems to me like she spends her career playing catch up and being a cut-price version of whoever was popular six months ago. But worse still, I saw Pete Waterman interviewed on a show recently and he described himself and cohorts Stock and Aitken as "we were the real punks" which had the effect of making me loathe their collective output even more than I already did, which was quite a considerable amount to begin with. Engineered tripe of the worst kind, it's become a laughing stock of a song since and rightly so. (Alan)

1998: Doctor Jones - Aqua (67)

I do like aqua, it's what 'pop' is supposed to be, completely silly and with a "it's got a beat and you can dance to it" vibe. (Clair)

Surprisingly fresh ten years on considering how played to death it was at the time. (NiC)

I read an unbelievably po-faced review of "Barbie Girl" not so long ago, I think on the captions of one of those music channels that tried to take the piss out of the silly scandinavians.... apparently completely missing the point that they were taking the piss out of themselves far more effectively, and as they were at number one, the joke was on us. I actually like this. Harmless pop fun, and nothing wrong with that, eh? eh? (SwissToni)

Huge in Denmark. When Love with Arthur Lee were touring the UK, they had Danish roadies and a sound man who had worked on Aqua tours and were very positive about their professionalism and musicianship (I kid you not). (Tina)

AquaFact 1: I once saw the hunky guy, Rene I think, come out of a dry cleaner's in Copenhagen and jump into a black Ferrari with a big load of clean clothes. I never see celebrities, so found this pretty cool. AquaFact 2: A year or two later, some friends and I thought it would be a really great idea to go and see Aqua live (this was the era of irony, and we were its children). As I ordered (standing) tickets, everyone thought it very hilarious when I had to confirm to the ticket agent on the phone "yes, we are all over five feet tall". (Simon C)

3 pts. Now I have to confess something here, this isn't purely a musical decision. But I don't think it is possible to be. Aqua were a band who understood that in the modern era, the visual was equally important. Take away the video and there's nothing much here. With the video, however, it's brilliant kitschy fun and makes you grin from ear to ear. (Alan)

You could win a pub bet on this – the biggest selling single in the UK by a Scandinavian act was “Barbie Girl” and not anything by Abba. In the sales boom of late ’97 there were two huge hits with possibly the youngest target audience of any Number 1 ever – this and the Teletubbies – and although the follow-up was more listenable, it’s still out of its depth in ths company. (Erithian)

I prefer this one to Barbie Girl, which isn't saying much. The Bloke Out Of Aqua was the '90's Bloke Out Of The Sugarcubes. (betty)

Fun like bubble gum. Is bubble gum really fun though, or just annoying? (Geoff)

This is the 90s novelty group with surprise, surprise- novelty songs. Dr. (Indianna) Jones, isn't even as good as Barbie Girl, which at least could be thought of as biting social comment.

Not a patch on "Barbie Girl"; a rather hackneyed variant on the old Goodness Gracious Me/Dr Kiss Kiss/Doctor Love sex-as-medicine template, naff rather than "ironically great." (Marcello Carlin)

No fond memories of anything by Aqua. Were this later in the year, I'd assume it was the hangover from our yearly exodus to dodgy Mediterranean resorts...ugh! (Sarah)

The power of the tweenie market in full effect. Well and truly on the crest of the Barbie Girl wave here. Presumably they suffered a painful crushing death on the descent. Shame. (imsodave)

Music for shop mannequins to smile to. (diamond geezer)

Decade scores so far (after 9 days).
1 (2) The 1960s (32)
2 (1) The 1970s (30)
3 (3) The 2000s (27)
4 (4) The 1990s (25)
5 (5) The 1980s (21)

"It was often a letdown, because the records I really liked tended to get to Number Eleven, not Number One. I would much rather have seen Mott The Hoople do All The Young Dudes than Don McLean singing bloody Vincent again."

1968: Cinderella Rockefella - Esther & Abi Ofarim. (video)
1978: Figaro - Brotherhood Of Man. (video)
1988: I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany. (video)
1998: All I Have To Give - Backstreet Boys. (video)
2008: Rockstar - Nickelback. (video)
Listen to a short medley of all five songs.

Running totals so far - Number 2s.

1988: I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany (147)

Ah yes. Pop genius, and following on from Debbie Gibson the other day, another of this year's wholesome 80s starlets who got'em out for Playboy. God love her. There's a great song in here underneath that production. It still sounds alright today, I reckon. (SwissToni)

Yay! I think this may actually be the best version of this song. (And before anyone says anything, this movie is not about me, OK?) (jeff w)

5 points, since out of this singularly sorry lot this is the only record which truly deserves any points. I liked the shopping mall marketing plan, though (and what was our equivalent in the UK of the late eighties? The late, lamented Don Estelle flogging his tapes and singing along to them in Arndale Centres up and down the land!), and she grasps the "children BEHAVE" motif in a way that Tommy James or the Rubinoos (being boys) wouldn't have been able to do. Harmless fun and an obvious number one, although the Tommy James original with its hesitant pauses of chirping crickets - what happened to the concept of spaces and silence in pop? - is overall architecturally and aesthetically better as a pop record. (Marcello Carlin)

The first version of 'I Think We're Alone Now' that I heard was by The Rubinoos and I still love their take on it, though I later acquired the fine original. (I always first think of Tommy James as 'Crimson and Clover' though, a key early record for me). I once named a short story after this song and, by implication, the mediocre Tiffany version is playing in the story's final paragraph, so I guess I owe her. (Dymbel)

Proof that good music transcends genre. You see, it has all the Eighties trademarks (except scratching) that have pissed me off throughout this exercise, but actually it is a good song. Not great, but almost certainly in my top five for this year's WD (which is damning with faint praise). I like her voice, especially the richness at the bottom of her range. Towards the top she's a bit of a poor person's Cyndi Lauper. (Gert)

Not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but at least it's reasonably well produced and inoffensive. (Adrian)

Like you said, it’s very difficult to screw up with a song like this. (Erithian)

Really never imagined that I'd ever give this 5 points. No-one who knows me in real life comes here do they? A bit of remixing and this could be quite something actually. (NiC)

5 Points - solely on the grounds that it wasn't anything like as bad as I remember it. It's still pretty f**king bad though! (Alan)

5 points to Tiffany, and I never thought I would say that, as I've alwas thought it unbelievably naff, but compared to the rest of this lot, it's fantastic. (David)

Almost irresistibly catchy. Talking of comedy clubs, as Alan does below, I was in one of Nottingham's scuzziest last Friday night and they played this track - the hen party from Barnsley and the big group of blokes from Hucknall did jiggy to it all over the place - complete with imitation lurex microphone which all and sundry sang into. (Tina)

The song may have its moments, but I don't like her delivery at all. (Z)

1 point, because I've discovered she posed topless and I'm totally against that sort of thing. Oh, and it was a stinking pile of 80s turdiness. (Geoff)

1968: Cinderella Rockefella - Esther & Abi Ofarim (107)

5 points, because it reminds me of being tucked up in bed during one of my never ending childhood illnesses, feeling safe, secure, and best of all, listening to the radio because I'd had time off school. Plus, I'm still likely to start singing it when I'm drunk, so it *must* have a special place in my heart. Stands head and shoulders above the other four songs, gawd help 'em. (betty)

I've only got good memories of this. Genuinely strange and wonderful. Tiny Tim crossed with Lee Hazlewood. (Geoff)

Everyone I know, including my mum, still assumes this to have been a Eurovision entry, but no, that year's winner, even beating Mr Forever Guy Cliff into second place, was Spain's Massiel with the memorable "La La La" (although whoever wrote Andy Williams' "Happy Heart" obviously remembered it).

Still, it can't be under-emphasised that in a year when CBS were more prepared to put marketing resources behind Solomon King than the Zombies (can you believe that "Time Of The Season" was never a hit single in its native country?), that when the US number ones of '68 included not only the aforementioned Archie Bell & the Drells ("from Houston TEXAS!") and Hugh Masekela but the Rascals ("People Got To Be Free"), "Love Child" (top 20 only in Britain) and "Dock Of The Bay" (#3 in the UK), serious questions have to be raised in the house about the misleading (?) picture of music that the success of trifles like "Cinderella Rockafella" would seem to have indicated.

It is perhaps excusable in the light of the song's author, Mason Williams, also having a much better hit in the same year with "Classical Gas" (which sounds like a lost Forever Changes backing track), and the excellent work that Esther Ofarim has done elsewhere (see for instance "Any Day Now," her "guest" appearance on side one of Scott Walker's 'Til The Band Comes In), but really these 4 points are in Monopoly money. (Marcello Carlin)

They've chosen a direction and gone all out for it. In company like this such conviction, even if mis-placed, can lift you above the rest. (Adrian)

This amused me when I was fourteen, which allows me to give it a modicum of tolerance. (Z)

A fondly-remembered novelty rather than anything of great value (although their “One More Dance” had a haunting quality).(Erithian)

I don't like novelty records. I wonder who was buying the records back in the Sixties, because I don't see the chart being particularly Teens or even Twenties oriented. Unless young people were prematurely middle-aged. (Gert)

I really was hoping for a " Young Girl" or Baby Come Back" or even "Lady Madonna" but no, this is what we get. Another f*^#*ing novelty act. I really think it's got to be February. When we finish all the Februarys will you consider a comparison with July/August? Pretty please? (asta)

I always thought it was Mike Moran & Lynsey du Paul. (David)

Blimey. There's not enough yodelling in the charts nowadays, is there? **seconds pass** Ah, okay, now I'm bored of this. The joke isn't funny anymore. En Suivant! (SwissToni)

2008: Rockstar - Nickelback (103)

Hmm, you were praising with faint damns there, weren’t you Mike? I like this – not sure I’d ascribe profundity or wryness to it (and I hated “We Didn’t Start The Fire” as much as the next man) but it’s refreshing to hear a rock band intentionally sending up both itself and the "raaawwk" lifestyle. In the tradition of “Life’s Been Good” by Joe Walsh or Dr Hook’s early material (if you only know them for gloopy ballads try “Cover of the Rolling Stone”). And it’s still fun after it becomes familiar. Nice vid as well. (Erithian)

Just what is happening with the creepy voiceover stuff? Nickelback were never that good, but I was hoping they'd provide some guilty-pleasure-style respite. (Adrian)

Take your point, Erithian. It's not for me in any shape or form, but I can see that it's a reasonably accurate lampoon on an awful lot of people's fantasies of the rock star lifestyle - but they could have taken it so much further, so I can't help feeling that it's a waste of a decent premise. (Those creepy voice-overs that Adrian mentioned were provided by a member of ZZ Top, by the way.) (mike)

For the first few bars I thought 'not bad' but then I just fell asleep, it is so boring. An unusual reaction, if I don't like something, I still tend to react. (Gert)

I'm giving this 4 points? Oh sweet lord above. Now, the thing about this is that I'm absolutely convinced that although this is being seen as ironic, it was written with a perfectly straight face. Chad Kroeger has cut his hair. He has many cars. He is a rockstar (and is there any sadder an indictment of music than that?). I don't know about the hookers and the dealers and stuff, and I know he's canadian and all (sorry asta), but I'm prepared to take a wild guess that he didn't have to look very far for his inspiration. (SwissToni)

Should be number one for 26 weeks in a Bryan Adams way. Would have been in the 80s. And the 80s were great, weren't they? (Geoff)

I was in a comedy club a few weeks back, Tom Stade was headlining and because I was sat in the front (and because I look like, well, me) he naturally made me his buttmonkey for the night. And one of the first things he said was "I don't know anything about you, except that you smoke a lot of dope and like Nickelback." I really wanted to put him right on that second one. This is a band who started out by distilling everything that was great about bands like the Pixies, Nirvana, Soundgarden and the Smashing Pumkins, and then discarding that and using what was left over. Like I said with Rod Stewart, I'm a die-hard rocker from way back, and that's exactly why I don't like this. It isn't rock music, it's what someone who has had rock music described to them but has never actually heard it would create. (Alan)

With all the fabulously talented Canadian singer/songwriters out there, Nickelback is sitting in the number 2 spot? Outrageous. They've been recording the same paint-by-numbers song for seven years. Only the lyrics change. Oh lucky us, this one is a self-indulgent whine about MTV kids and rock star life. (asta)

Peter Robinson's recent piece in the Guardian Guide was the definitive study of Nickelback's true awfulness. Hey, even though he's a rock star who lives the rock star lifestyle, he's slagging off other people who want to be rock stars and live the rock star lifestyle! Way to go, dude! Gets three points because the singer is quite funny ... for a few seconds. (betty)

At least BoM have the decency to be bland and know it (I imagine). This is bland posing as rock. Begone. (Stereoboard)

Thank goodness for Duffy, eh? Otherwise this might have got to #1. I knew there must be some reason for her existence... (jeff w)

1 point, because they're Canadian and therefore should know much, much better. Because really I don't care whether it's supposed to be ironic or not. It's a lump of overspent Mothers' Pride bread blocking up the orchard of popular music development. I can't abide Duffy but I do applaud her for keeping this muck off the top. Now come down, dear, and give H(two)) a chance. (Marcello Carlin)

1978: Figaro - Brotherhood Of Man (65)

It could be down to the fact that I've got a bad headache, but I'm now imagining what Brotherhood Of Man's version of I Think We're Alone Now would sound like. Oh, and I can remember The Barron Knight's spoof version, which then leads me to remember The Barron Knights' Boney M send up There's A Dentist From Birmingham. It's terrible and I'm probably having some sort of meltdown. (betty)

Pure nostalgia. This was the very first pop record I bought, for 69p. Objectively, I have to say it is pretty bad, low-rent Abba, over-produced vocals blah de blah, but the tune is so etched on my mind, it has the comfort of the familiar. And now I'm freaked out that Betty's mentioned "Dentist in Birmingham", because I brought this into conversation today at work, sight unseen, as a follow-on from a discussion of the Wurzels (you had to be there) but I couldn't remember the name of the band so I googled it. (Gert)

I never liked Abba, so a second rate middle-class English imitation with mumsy looking women is quite painful. For some reason, watching the video made me think of Abigails Party. (Alan)

If you're going to rip off ABBA could you at least put some effort into it? God, a highschool production of Mamma Mia could outdo this. (asta)

oh crikey! Amateur hour. Bjorn Again are probably deeply offended by this. I don't even like Abba and I know I am. (SwissToni)

Motherhood of Bran, as we used to refer to them at school (why couldn't it have been the Brotherhood of Breath, my all time favourite band in any genre of music?), and this was a truly terrible number one in a chart which also contained "What Do I Get?" and "Shot By Both Sides" (now THERE would have been a top-of-the-chart battle worth following). The subtext here: watch out for all those greasy foreigners who'll steal your wife/your job/your house/swamped by alien culture &c. They were rightfully swept away one week later by the Harold Wilson to their Mike Yarwood (or, if you know your seventies Brit impressionists, the David Frost to their Peter Goodwright) - Abba. And if you think this was bad, what about the follow-up to "Save Your Kisses" - "My Sweet Rosalie" which seems to promote canophilia. (Marcello Carlin)

Yes, the horror that was "My Sweet Rosalie" - an earlier (and more metaphorically apposite!) example of BOM deploying the dog-returning-to-its-own-vomit, "if you thought the other one sucked, try sucking on THIS you suckers" trick. I am still scarred by the memory of their "Seventies medley" at the Royal Centre last year, in particular the segue from "Remember You're A Womble" (complete with GLOVE PUPPET) to "My Ding-A-Ling"... (mike)

3 points: Brotherhood Of Man. Because I like the sentiments behind the group's name. (Geoff)

1998: All I Have To Give - Backstreet Boys (58)

I dislike "production-line boy-band ballads" as much as the next man, but the Brit and Irish variants are 10 times worse than this. the BBoys are dodgy singers but the arrangement is lovely and the song's OK; the melody in the chorus is pretty strong, actually. (jeff w)

I think you're being unfair here Mike, they're much better than Westlife. Mind you, so is having major bowel surgery without an anaesthetic. This is dull, bland and pointless, but it's not awful, hence the four points, because frankly everything else is. (Alan)

Aside from the half-strangled mimicking of Prince singing a ballad, they're not that bad. Let me be more precise- they're better than a lot of other boy bands. O Town anyone? (asta)

I can't believe that I'm placing this shit so high. Hmmm. There was a time when I was in Florida with a friend that every time I touched the radio dial, the Backstreet Boys came on with "I Want It That Way". Now, I didn't much like that song, but compared to this one, it's Ivor Novello winning stuff. Lazy, unimaginative tripe of the kind now cranked out by Westlife. You can see them standing up as the song cranks up for a big finish. Awful. (SwissToni)

Oh god, painting my numbers. You'd have thought, when he wobbles, they'd have gone for another take. (Gert)

Completely unmemorable. Louis Walsh must indeed have been taking notes. A real letdown if compared to the awesome Everybody (Backstreet's Back), the band's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. (betty)

I wasn’t paying a great deal of attention to the charts at this period, but just the thought that this was an influence on the likes of W------e is enough to earn them a place in the bowels of hell. (Erithian)

Decade scores so far (after 8 days).
1 (2) The 1970s (29)
2 (1) The 1960s (29)
3 (3) The 2000s (24)
4 (4) The 1990s (23)
5 (5) The 1980s (16)

1968: She Wears My Ring - Solomon King. (video)
1978: If I Had Words - Scott Fitzgerald & Yvonne Keeley with the St. Thomas More School Choir. (video)
1988: Tell It To My Heart - Taylor Dayne. (video)
1998: Never Ever - All Saints. (video)
2008: Now You're Gone - Basshunter. (video)
Listen to a short medley of all five songs.

Running totals so far - Number 3s.

1998: Never Ever - All Saints (149)

One of the greatest of number ones and the competition which the Spice Girls direly needed at the turn of '97/8; so patient a record, so effortlessly hip an approach (their Woody Allen-style hands-in-pockets/shrugging-shoulders routine), and the red alert sign for New Pop Mk II (Cameron McVey changes music for the third time in less than a decade) - a wonderful Shangri-Las in W11 intro (as Brit-born, Canadian-raised expats I think we can accommodate the Appletons' AC/DC accents - the magic lies in the accentual instability), a sublime shuffle of a pop song which turns into a near-gospel hymn at the end (that organ) without descending into Jools Holland worthiness and then SNAP! the beats break up and they become even hipper as the song fades. (Marcello Carlin)

5 points. Totally has to be, and not just because I’ve been mates with Melanie Blatt’s dad for 20 years or so. (Check out his book “Manchester United Ruined My Wife”, the Old Trafford answer to “Fever Pitch”.) Yes, it’s a little patchy with that spoken intro, but a deserved massive hit. Marcello will confirm it holds the record for the most copies sold before the week it reached number 1. (Erithian)

Confirmed - 770,000 copies sold before it topped the chart, and it ended up selling just short of one-and-a-half million. (Marcello Carlin)

This is how you do 'slow' without 'plod'. Quite what the formula for success here is I couldn't say, but the ladies stumbled on it here. (jeff w)

Well yes, there's really no choice but All Saints is there? Head and shoulders and pretty much all other parts above the rest of these selections. Never really liked them much, but this one was palatable and easily the best of their singles. Pity they chose to follow it up with their execrable wimpy cover of Under the Bridge. (Alan)

One of the best pop groups of the 90s who hardly put a foot wrong. They even made a silk purse out of a plodding Red Hot Chilli Peppers sow's ear. (Geoff)

Not as good as "Black Coffee" but an awful lot better than their cover of "Under the Bridge" and any of the rest of this motley selection. It's classy sounding, for heaven's sake, even if I seriously dislike the alternating pronunciation of Ay to Zee and Ay to Zed. (SwissToni)

The almost pseudo-Shangri-Las spoken intro is a bit dubious but once that's over it's pure pop genius (though very much a slow grower on me at the time I recall). (NiC)

Not even my favourite song by them, but gets the most points by default. Always had a soft spot for that wobbly thing Shaznay does with her vocals ... (betty)

Never ever have I ever liked this song. Clearly written by someone with a limited vocabulary. It's the sound of a toddler having a lazy tantrum. (imsodave)

When Shaznay sings: I'll take a shower, I will scour... am I the only one who pictures her cleaning under her arms with a green scouring pad and some fairy liquid? (Oliver R)

1988: Tell It To My Heart - Taylor Dayne (118)

Haven't heard this in years. It's held up better than I remember, and although it's not fantastic, it's easily top here. (Adrian)

Blistering vocal performance from TD and again a breakbeat which seems to skate right through the walls of Streathamm Ice Rink; furiously busy, completely 1988, as tinny as any Carnaby Street Acieed smiley T-shirts but it still feels exciting. I wonder if McCartney might want to have a word apropos "No Reply," though. (Marcello Carlin)

While I sit at home and say "ah yes, very fine specimen of 80s pop, that", sipping my wine, I know that if I somehow found myself at an 80s disco night and it came on, I'd be on my feet in seconds. (Simon C)

I certainly enjoy this more now than at the time. But enough about me. This is a cracker. Crackles and fizzes with sexual energy. Hang on, that's me again. The song is good. The best of a poor bunch today. I like it. Cheers. (imsodave)

I've always felt that this would be better without the tinny computer drumtrack; I'd like to hear it done as Rock Anthem, and I think her voice makes her a Rock Belter. It's not bad, but don't need it in my collection. (Gert)

My mother would have called her rough. We all thought she was scary. Song's nothing all that special- but better than the dregs to follow. (asta)

This drips testosterone, oddly. (SwissToni)

Is this where Stock Aitken & Waterman got that irritating keyboard sound from? Curse you, Taylor. (jeff w)

I assume she was a former backing singer for Foreigner or Toto. That's where she should've stayed. (betty)

2008: Now You're Gone - Basshunter (86)

As this genre goes, I find I can live with this track – effective use of the big beats, and it’s even got a tune you can whistle. Loses a point for deploying the old “chewed-up cassette tape” effect. (Erithian)

Went home to celebrate midsummer the right number of years ago for this to be The Song in Sweden at the time. Was horrified. Now I would say, well, fair enough. Untz untz fodder for the masses. (Simon C)

Formulaic... even when the beat kicks in it hasn't got any energy. (Adrian)

A sort of Bachman-Turner Overdrive to the Guess Who of the superb Swedish original. (Marcello Carlin)

Will have to have a listen to the Swedish version then. Doesn't really go anywhere, does it? Reminds me of Snap!'s Rhythm Is A Dancer, but nowhere near as good. (betty)

Not sure I agree with you about Nena, but this is clearly the most disastrous attempt to anglicise a eurohit since Las Ketchup. This did so well in the end, I'm sure 'Boten Anna' could have been a hit in its own right here. (jeff w)

Are you sure this is from the Noughties because it even has Eighties Big Hair and Sinclair Spectrum drum track. At least it doesn't scratch. (Gert)

This must have taken all of 1 minute to write. I bet Chris Moyles probably took longer writing his parody. Is that chorus bit meant to be euphoric? It fails and only serves to depress. (SwissToni)

Look at any edition of the Now series from the last fifteen years. They're packed full of garbage like this. I think it was existential philosopher-lover-poet Haddaway who said it best when he sang "What is love? Baby, don't hurt me". Alright? Quite. This nonsense is essentially just a ringtone. Basshunter indeed! We know where the f*cking bass is. It's all over this mess of a tune. (imsodave)

1978: If I Had Words - Scott Fitzgerald & Yvonne Keeley (80)

I do like this song. I liked it way back when I was 10. And I continue to like it, I think there is a very bright mood about it. I don't think the 'reggae' bit ever really came through a valved radio tuned to Medium Wave (although obviously, the Top 20 on Sunday did also go out on Radio 2 VHF). Someone on YouTube has made some comment about it not being shown on TOTP, and I have to admit I have always assumed the male singer was black. White men shouldn't sing falsetto. (Gert)

I have always liked it despite itself - better known these days for its use in the film Babe, I guess, but I like the fugal/spiritual construct, the French/reggae fusion which hasn't been properly followed through, and the bells at the end - undeniably corny, but as a 14-year-old boy with a doomed classmate crush it spoke directly to me. The missus heard it for the first time when Dale played it on Pick Of The Pops the other Sunday and she loved it! (Marcello Carlin)

Nice bit of cod reggae with a James Last feel. (Geoff)

A pleasant surprise after your build up. I do like cod-reggae in general though. (jeff w)

Never heard this before, and it's not as completely horrendous as the other options today, despite the weird, choral, reggae-lite nature of it. Yvonne is not a sexy name. (imsodave)

4 Points - Oh dear, none of them deserve it, do they? I'm going for Scott & Yvonne just because, well they tried to do something. I'm not sure what though. This could have at least been inoffensive if it weren't for the falsetto screeching. That man cannot possibly have any testicles to be able to sing that high. (Alan)

I didn’t care for it much at the time, and since then it’s been tainted even further by being used to the point of nausea on the soundtrack to “Babe”. (Erithian)

What was it with the late 70s and school choirs? Did people think that was the good bit from Pink Floyd's Wall? Or is my timeline completely out. Still, trying to work that out will help me ignore this track. (Adrian)

Is this a really rubbish attempt by an uncool white woman to do reggae? I do believe it is. What was Fitzgerald thinking? And I can only assume that a white person wrote this too, with all that talk of "moonshine". (SwissToni)

I wish someone had been there at the time to say, "Please step away from the microphone, and no one will get hurt". (asta)

1968: She Wears My Ring - Solomon King (62)

Superb opening, kind of sinister, but then he starts singing, and it sounds like its being played about 10% too slow. (Stereoboard)

I've actually got a copy of this, on a 3CD compilation called The Greatest Voices. Good thing it didn't say greatest songs, or greatest lyrics... (Adrian)

See what he did with the name there, clever huh? Even my mum would think this was too old fashioned, and she's nearly eighty and likes Perry Como. (Alan)

Memories of drunken family party choruses of “She wears my ring, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling…” Ugh. (Erithian)

So they DID have a cure for insomnia in the 60s then? Dreadfully tedious crap. Oh, perhaps I'm just being unfair and it's aged badly. Maybe in the 60s it made perfect sense. (SwissToni)

t's astonishing that, in any week of any year, this could be deemed to be more popular than The Love affair or Amen Corner. People will buy any old rubbish. And this is both old and rubbish. (imsodave)

The bad bit of Sixties Music already (over) represented by EngHump. "She belongs to me" - ha ha ha, the Seventies were just round the corner. (Gert)

"THIS TINY RING IS A TOKEN OF TENDER EMOTION!" Subtle. (Geoff)

Deeply creepy with the added potential to induce vomiting. (asta)

I've reached the stage of finding twisted humour in it, but context is everything, and perhaps the smirks are ultimately misplaced. (mike)

Even as a four-year-old this record gave me the creeps (and this involves personal, family-related reasons which I'm not going to go into here)...Solomon King, nee one-time (and future) Jordanaire Allen Levy from Kentucky, standing at 6 ft 8 out of his polished shoes, who belted out this genuinely frightening belch of proprietorial pride, curiously written by the generally placid Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. "She belongs to ME!" "She's MINE - ETERNALLY!" he intones like Victor Mature following a steroid overdose; he begins at Engelbert level but quickly progresses to Mario Lanza skyscraper-shattering high Cs so dementedly immense that they actually drown out the music. Like Jerry Vale's similarly-themed "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife" this record was especially popular among prospective wife beaters in Scotland and the North of England. Number three this got to in our charts, where it stayed for the best part of half a year. Meanwhile, America got things like "Tighten Up" and "Grazing In The Grass." No wonder Radio 2 is now so ardent to rewrite its own history and hopefully make its audience forget that this was the sort of Brylcreemed drivel they played endlessly at the time, rather than "Brown Eyed Girl" or "Piece Of My Heart" or whatever. Oh, and for examples of how to do the big ballad thing and carry it off, please investigate the collected works of the late, great Roy Hamilton. (Marcello Carlin)

Decade scores so far (after 7 days).
1 (1) The 1960s (28)
2 (1) The 1970s (27)
3 (3) The 2000s (21)
4 (4) The 1990s (17)
5 (5) The 1980s (12)

1968: Everlasting Love - The Love Affair. (video)
1978: Come Back My Love - Darts. (video)
1988: Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car - Billy Ocean. (video)
1998: My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion. (video)
2008: Sun Goes Down - David Jordan. (video)
Listen to a short medley of all five songs.

Running totals so far - Number 4s.

1968: Everlasting Love - The Love Affair (146)

This is miles ahead of anything else so far this year. (chris)

The kind of timeless greatness that WDITFP should ultimately be about (but, alas, that would be too hard to judge for the more recent decades) (Simon C)

5 points: it just has to be. For me a beginning of time; it was number one the day I started primary school (and therefore the day where my memory really begins) and it felt like the whole world in all its bizarre colours had been suddenly opened up for me - I think of FAB ice lollies, Tintin books, the kiddies' crazy golf course in our local park, Glasgow with everyone still wearing hats and suits, the transistor radio blaring while playing on swings and roundabouts, my first piano lessons - it feels, in short, like waking up on a brilliant day when there have been no previous day.

As a pop record it stands up brilliantly and I would argue better than the Robert Knight original (though this also marks, in tandem with Felice Taylor's "I Feel Love Coming On," the early onset of Northern Soul crossover; and also Carl Carlton did a very fine cover in the mid-seventies) - Steve Ellis always wanted to be his great personal mate Steve Marriott, really, and he more than holds his own against Keith Mansfield's opulent orchestration and Clem Cattini's characteristically clattering drums (and Mike Smith's production - with that last cymbal/backing vocal/drum roll sequence it's hello, Trevor Horn). Great b/vox also (Sue and Sunny) which sometimes threaten to overtake Ellis. Who cares who played on the record, especially since one of the people who didn't - Morgan Fisher - went on to Mott, Lol Coxhill and much, much else? (Marcello Carlin)

1968 seems to have been the year for these big, orchestrated numbers. This packs so much punch compared to whatever the modern equivalent would be (I dunno, The Kooks?!). Love the follow up, Rainbow Valley, as well. Is it worth the £6 to get the Best Of compilation in HMV, I wonder? (betty)

One of my favourite songs of all time, in whatever incarnation. Possibly prefer this above Robert Knight's (original?) as it's more frenzied and less mannered. Bass, drums, horns and soul. "Need a love to last forever". Indeed. (imsodave)

Soaring chorus, this is far far above any of the rest of today's offerings. (Adrian)

Love the bass, as up in the mix as Chris Squire's. The only decent song today. (Geoff)

Good to find that fond memories of 1968 aren't simply nostalgia. (Z)

I absolutely have to give this five points, plus another five bonus points, because this is my birth song. Can you believe it, what a wonderful song to have as the number one on the hit parade when I made my auspicious start in the world. I didn't actually find this fact out until I was sixteen - for some reason it didn't matter to my parents - so I was delighted to discover it was a really ace song. At that point I knew another version, by Rachel Sweet and I was going to write Rex Harrison, but that would be so so wrong, so I w'k'p'd it and it's actually Rex Smith, but thinking about it, a Rex Harrison version would have a certain something. (Gert)

Generally I listen, review and then read your commentary so as not to be SWAYED. It's a good thing I read the top paragraph because there I was again thinking...yet again, another version that is different from the one I knew. Husband and I went through this also in the summer when I was playing Seals and Crofts Summer Breeze when the night blooming jasmine was smelling up the entire back garden and he told me about the version he had known all along by The Isley Brothers, of course I had never heard that version. (jo)

Brilliant. Right from the 'woo-ooo-ooh' bit, the brass and the bass line. Even the limp singing can't ruin that kind of a start. Just think of that chorus people.... hang on for the chorus! Sadly not the best version of this song, but it's still a great song, innit. (SwissToni)

They were a moddy little bunch weren't they - I seem to think Steve Ellis was about 14 at the time (actually looking at Wikipedia he was 17). (Tina)

Solid 60s fare, always great to hear again. Another favourite from my personal dawn of time. (Erithian)

Great song, but while it's playing, I'm wishing it was Carl Carlton singing. (asta)

Yes it's a decent song and a big epic sweeping production but it's all a bit soulless. (Alan)

Tries too hard for significance. And the singer reminds me of hotel bar performers in the Balearics in the 70s. (jeff w)

1978: Come Back My Love - Darts (111)

5 points – if only for the way that, one second after I read the title, my bonce was reverberating with “WOP! (do-de-doo) DO THE WANG! (do-de-doo) DO THE WOP, DO THE WANG…” I might not have given them more than a passing thought for 20 years, but the names of the four singers - Den Hegarty, Rita Ray, Bob Fender and Griff Fish - spring to mind like a Proustian madeleine… (Erithian)

Ooooo I was raised on Doo Wop. My Dad was a city boy with leather jackets, the hair and the cars and doo wop played a lot into my later years when he would come home from work, start pouring Manhattans and playing music. PURE nostalgia - not that I ever heard this version...but Doo Wop..she is the doo wop universally. (jo)

This happens to be my favourite Darts song and such a shame that's it up against such a fabulous song from the Sixties, otherwise it would be worthy of 5 points. It is okay to have a favourite Darts song isn't it? I can't believe that we have just missed the 30 year reunion :-( nor can I believe that I am now watching Duke Of Earl as well. And I never knew that Darts had common DNA with Rocky Sharpe and the Replays. Obviously not cool enough for a Smash Hits Family Tree. Interestingly, someone has said they bought Boy from NY city for 65p but in February 1978 singles cost 69p. (Gert)

Them and Rocky Sharpe must have been the only band to split up due to 'musical similarities'. (Nottingham's 'Mr Sex')

I'd forgotten them but this one got my feet doing a hand jive (maybe you had to be there). Unreconstructed reconstructed rock'n'roll-be-bop or something. They were sort of a cool Showadiwadi weren't they? (NiC)

Darts were essentially the cool alternative to Showaddywaddy and this is agreeable enough if not quite "Boy From New York City" or "Daddy Cool Oblique Stroke The Girl Can't Help It Open Brackets Medley Close Brackets Ten Points Dignified Don" since there's not enough Den Hegarty on it and a little too much of the guy who looked like Simon Cadell Out Of Hi-De-Hi. (Marcello Carlin)

And again the watchword is fun. I was a confused punk/metaller when this came out so of course I hated it. And yet I kind of secretly liked it, even then. And amazingly it holds up really well. Also, I have the right voice to sing the "doh doh doh doh doh" bits. (Alan)

Were Showaddywaddy part of a scene then? On second listen it redeems itself a bit - my foot was even tapping. (Adrian)

Thought that there may be more here than meets the ear, but there's not, is there. I'd rather listen to Showaddywaddy. (imsodave)

The Boy From New York City is far superior to this. They used to be played so much on Radio One that their singles usually became extremely irritating after a while. I'm surprised that Geoff didn't share his Rocky Sharp And The Replays anecdote with you. (betty)

I'm going to go and listen to Jive Bunny now! (Rebecca)

It's Doo Wop. Sha-Na-Na killed Doo Wop for me. Sorry. (asta)

Whatever happened to the Flying Pickets anyway? (SwissToni)

2008: Sun Goes Down - David Jordan (98)

Did somebody say "hello, Trevor Horn"? Well, this is he producing, and Jordan seems to be set (up) to become a soberer Seal for the noughties. Good record, this, with lots of subtle approaches and divergences - a real slow burner (the album is also recommended). (Marcello Carlin)

I'm as surprised as anyone about me giving top points to a current hit, but despite not having heard it before, this is great. Okay, it sounds a bit like it should be an Eastern European entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, but it's lively, fun, quirky and I think I'm now going to earworm it for about a week. (Alan)

5 points: I've surprised myself here looking at the competition but I think it's great, should be the Turkish Eurovision entry or something of that ilk. (Tina)

My kids are (hopefully) too young to be embarrassed by Daddy, but I can see myself à la Hugh Dennis’s character in The Mary Whitehouse Experience, dad-dancing and saying “This has got a good beat!” I still find myself wanting to sing Stop The Cavalry to the tune of that chorus though. (Erithian)

Love, love, love this, and this is the first time I've heard it. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned that this is essentially a work song ( slave work- prison chain gangs) one of the original American Roots beats. At the end it's got the flavour of Eastern Europe and Klezmer. (asta)

I heard this on the radio this evening for the first time, and it struck me then as it strikes me now: as an interesting song that gets less interesting and more repetitive the longer it goes on. I was interested enough to sit in the car to see who it was, but Scott bloody Mills thought it would be more entertaining to blather on with his crew instead. Now I know, eh? Oh, I've forgotten his name already. (SwissToni)

I wouldn't rush out and 'borrow' it from Limewire, but it's passable. (chris)

I'm slightly perturbed by how easily this morphs into Cotton-eye Joe in my head. I was hoping for something to bolster a poor selection, but now I have to work out which comes last... (Adrian)

This is the first time that I've heard more than a few seconds of this, because whenever it's on TV/Radio I change channels. I've got this idea into my head that some record company has signed him up as The Sensible Mika, which has put me off. Actually, as said before, it sounds like a Eurovision entry, although minus the fifteen tribal drummers and flame throwers. Not much going for it. (betty)

I've had a quick thunk, and I don't think I like it. It's all a bit incongruous. Shimmering pop with vaguely Turkish overtones. A eurovision song looking for a contest. I hear this and I want to smash something. Is that right? (imsodave)

Bland and featureless, I've already forgotten it. (Stereoboard)

1988: Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car - Billy Ocean (87)

It's so utterly, utterly ridiculous that it's brilliant. I stupidly adore this silly, naff little record and I don't care who knows it. I'm rolling up the sleeves on my linen jacket as we speak. (SwissToni)

He was far better in the 1970's of course. Even my dad, who hated virtually all music, thought Billy Ocean had a lovely voice! This is inoffensive enough. He now looks like The Old Man Of The Sea, which is quite a good way to grow old gracefully. (betty)

My dad was a big fan, but he preferred the "go and get stuffed" song. (Alan)

4 points: Because I like his silver dreads and Everybody Hates Chris wouldn't be the same without him. (Geoff)

I was on the point of damning it below Darts, then the power-chorus kicked in. Good work William. (Stereoboard)

I wasn't overly enamoured with this first time round, and it hasn't improved with age. (Adrian)

I was never a fan of "When the Going Gets Tough", so Billy Ocean doesn't help himself by remaking it under a different name, although it does benefit from not actually being the same song. (Will)

Props for the seventies stuff (someone really needs to do a proper appraisal of Ben Findon and Pete "Not The Buzzcocks One The Dulux Dog One" Shelley and why are you all looking at me all of a sudden?) and for his surprisingly Billy MacKenzie-like vocal support on Scott's "Track Three" but the hi-gloss thrusting Thatcherkid eighties stuff I couldn't take to at all (including all the carefully worked out geographic demographic versions of "Caribbean/European/African/Antartica Queen") and this ghastly effort perhaps least of all. The title instinctively draws me back to Ringo's "You're Sixteen" from '74 which is everything this isn't - warm, funny and spontaneous. Plus he kept Sigue Sigue Sputnik off number one the bastard. (Marcello Carlin)

I thought this had a dubious message when it was a hit, and it only makes me think of a criminal case that concluded this week. (Dymbel)

Never really understood what he was going to do to her if she ever got into his car, but it didn't sound healthy. More dreadful 80's production, but it's bouncy enough to get away with it. A slowed down, acoustic version of this would sound very seedy indeed. (imsodave)

When the going gets tough, somebody brings out a crap record like this. (Tina)

1998: My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion (53)

You remember when Tomorrow's World would regularly tell us that in the future songs would be written by computers by analysing the elements of previous successes. If it ever happened, this is the song they would come up with. It doesn't miss a trick, from the big soaring choruses to the little riverdance touches. Everything calculated for maximum effect, nothing left to chance. And utterly devoid of any artistic merit whatsoever. (Alan)

Titanic ruined it a bit, but it's a good song. Although now it reminds me of slow dances at discos. (Rebecca)

Michael I fear you may be grievously wrong about La Celine but equally I think we both need 1 x CRASH COURSE in her singing in French as I am told by the missus that the French stuff is absolutely magical and I can believe it. Can't really abide this with or without the Sigur sealions and as with "Think Twice" she has the fatal habit of climaxing too soon (usually midway through the second verse) instead of waiting for natural emotional build-up. I speed-read Carl's book and it's a fair-ish try but he should never have apologised for writing it. I think I could write a better book about her but I'd have to write it in French as well. (Marcello Carlin)

I forget this song every time I hear it. I read the whole Wilson book without any recollection of what Dion's voice sounded like and had to dl this to remind me. He says a lot about the songs in French. That Las Vegas mash up is excellent and rather endeared her to me. It also reminded me to track down this post-Katrina clip, which is discussed extensively in Wilson's thought provoking book. Looting's OK with Celine.(Dymbel)

She's done many things better than this, esp. (as others have mentioned) in French, but I don't hate it. Titanic is 90% of a great movie too. (jeff w)

Don't be fooled. Celine in French is just as execrable as she is in English. She just emotes more and uses more bizarre hand gestures. No really. It's been more than 15 years since its release, and I still can't shake Je Danse dan ma Tete. I live in Quebec where she is worshipped. I keep mum. (asta)

The oddest thing is that there are so, so many people who don't find her, or her songs, appalling. It's the dreadfully 'authentic' flute that really crowns this plodding monstrosity. (imsodave)

I actually think that this is so bad it makes Katherine Jenkins' version sound listenable. I do like that Celine Dion is amazing video, found it few weeks ago. It's mesmerising. Amazing. I wonder if Celine will outdo EngHump and get an entire clean sweep on the bottoms. (Gert)

I would like to listen to your dirge fairly but I can't. I hate it. (NiC)

I tried to give this a fair hearing. But I can't. Wasn't this used in some film that I haven't seen? (Adrian)

I fail to understand why I still hate this tripe even a decade later. Does that make me a bad person? (chris)

In my darker moments I wonder if there's a parallel universe in which I am less cynical, and can enjoy this sort of thing. I think I might be happier. But no, it's just not me. (Stereoboard)

Ah, Celine. I remember going to watch Titanic (a film I remember enjoying at the time but can't imagine now ever wanting to watch again) and as this song began at the end being struck by just how much it didn't belong there. It is, as you rightly say, a dirge. My beloved 1990s are let down again. (Will)

I can't hear this without also hearing The Dame Edna Experience imitating a foghorn. (David)

Another act rightly torpedoed by French and Saunders in their Titanic spoof – “go wooooorrn”… (maybe torpedoed isn't quite le mot juste) (Erithian)

Robbie's Angels plus this would make for the funeral of a lifetime. (Geoff)

I'm sorry to break this to you, Geoff, but it is not at all unusual to get requests for both the Celine Dion track and Robbie's Angels at the same funeral. I haven't yet been asked for Eric Clapton's 'Tears In Heaven' as the third track with those two, but I expect it's only a matter of time. (Zinnia)

Oh Jesus, the last thing anyone needs is to hear sealion honking all over this neverending pile of sentimental rubbish. Climb back into your trunk and don't bother us with this vocally gymnastic claptrap ever again matchstick woman! And don't even get me started on that appalling Oirish pipe music either. Come back Michael Flatley, (nearly) all is forgiven. Never seen the bloody film either. Life's definitely too short for that. (SwissToni)

Somehow that Celine Dion seems like it's been around for a lot longer than those 10 years. And if it gets stuck in my head this evening, I'm holding you responsible! (Clair)

OK, head over parapet, I like My Heart Will Go On. It's the only English-language Dion I do like, and indeed the French ones I like best are her Jean-Jacques Goldman collaborations. So I suppsoe I love MHWGO despite Celine rather han because of her, perhaps with a feeling of relief that she doesn't fire up her afterburners and start belting it out until the last verse. When she can be bothered to sing sensitively, she's surprisngly good at it. But no, this one's all about James Horner, who until "Titanic" was an unsung (though not unplayed) hero of Hollywood. Field Of Dreams, Willow, Sneakers, The Mask Of Zorro: you've heard a lot of his music. I feel no need to apologise for liking MHWGO, which has as good a melody as any ballad of the past 50 years. The words are only so-so, but so-what? More here.

And why all the carping about the tin whistle? The whistle, and that tune fragment, are an idée fixe in the film score (remember the film?), and here simply serve as a link with the rest of it. To complain about them is as irrelevant as moaning about the manic laughter at the start of the Bonzos' "Urban Spaceman" (a link from the previous album track)("Monster Mash")(on "Tadpoles")(I'm starting to sound like Mike, aren't I?). Anyway, yes, 5 points for Celine. (Rob)

Decade scores so far (after 6 days).
1= (2) The 1960s (23)
1= (1) The 1970s (23)
3 (4) The 2000s (18)
4 (4) The 1990s (16)
5 (5) The 1980s (10)

1968: Bend Me Shape Me - Amen Corner. (video)
1978: Hot Legs - Rod Stewart. (video)
1988: Beat Dis - Bomb The Bass. (video)
1998: Cleopatra's Theme - Cleopatra. (video)
2008: Chasing Pavements - Adele. (video)
Listen to a short medley of all five songs.

Running totals so far - Number 5s.

1968: Bend Me Shape Me - Amen Corner (157)

Have to admit I’m slightly biased towards ’68 as the time I first became aware of TOTP and pop music in general, and a lot of these songs take me back to that joyful, innocent time. This one’s no exception – love the brass. (Erithian)

I love finding out that the rest of the world knows an entirely diferent version of a song than me. I grew up with this version by American Breed - regardless of which version, I like the song and I'm rooting for the 60's and this point. (jo)

Always liked this band and Andy Fairweather-Low's vocals in particular. A good tune in a great era for chart music. (Stu)

Top marks to the brass section. They sound like they're loving it. And who wouldn't? Was a suitably geometric dance performed whilst listening to this? I hope so. (imsodave)

I'd never really thought what this was about before but it is a bit risque (for the time) now that you mention it, isn't it? (NiC)

Smile Andy, you're on the telly! Although it reminds me of the King Cone advert at the cinema, still a lovely bright pop song. (Geoff)

Ah, a classic 60s soul sound, and a classic 60s soul classic. Digging that groovy brass from these cool cats. (SwissToni)

Nice and bubblegummy. Way better than the extremely punchable "If Paradise Is Half As Nice". (jeff w)

There's something quite endearing about the fact that someone must've thought that it would be possible to make a pop version of a Stax soul review, with some weedy voiced Welsh singer, and it actually works. (betty)

Not the best that 1968 had to offer, but the best of today's batch. (Z)

Listening to this takes me right back to childhood - but only as far as the 80s (IIRC). For some reason this can instantly summon memories of watching the Golden Oldie Picture Show - a rather poor and overly-literal cartoon video had been crafted for this, if memory serves. Doesn't set my world alight, but doesn't grate either. (Adrian)

4 points; not because I particularly like it but because the competition is so inordinately weak. Sticking points: (a) not as out there as the American Breed original; (b) Andy Fairweather-Low's wino with asthma voice has always been a barrier for me. Good horn charts though. (Marcello Carlin)

I suspect I keep going on about how similar so many of the Sixties Merseybeat-inspired ditties are, and in a sense this is no exception. However, it is sufficiently different and catchy to make it almost memorable. (Gert)

Interesting to hear American Breed's orginal for the first time. I have to say that I miss the "ooh, cheeky!" brass parps, but then I'm vulgar like that. As for Andy Fairweather-Low's voice, I've long been rather partial. His 1976 hit "Wide Eyed And Legless" (wonder if they played that at Paul McCartney's second wedding?) was a big favourite of my father's, and a rare single purchase of his (along with Dr Hook's "If Not You" - he liked the line about having somebody else iron all his shirts!), and so every time I hear it, fond memories are evoked. (mike)

I was all set to bop along to the sample- but it's the wrong one. No, No, No -- The American Breed did the better cover. (asta)

Spirited and not without charm, but really this is one of innumerable attempts at making British soul/Merseybeat records with equal eyes on the dancefloor and TOTP and falling between both stools. (Simon)

I saw Andy Fairweather-Low at a blues club in Brussels about ten years back and he was superb. But this was just an identikit of all those sixties stomp-a-longs. (Alan)

A novelty record, surely - and only brings to mind those dodgy hot dog adverts at the local cinemas. (Sarah)

1988: Beat Dis - Bomb The Bass (129)

A clear winner. Much overlooked these days, but ground-breaking at the time. (Adrian)

Much imitated, rarely bettered. Loving their use of samples, like, er.... a digital alarm clock. (SwissToni)

5 pts. This is one of the rare ones I base on importance to myself, nostalgia and such. The song was around just as I graduated from liking what the radio fed me, and moved into the new and exciting realm of searching out and defining myself through music. Regardless, it's a good one, still. (Simon C)

An urtext in the Jeffosphere of pop. If we could play one joker in any one round each year (now there's an idea), this is probably where I'd play mine. (jeff w)

Clearly of its time, and already edging into "oh no not again" sample cliche territory but it still sounded excitingly less than legal when it came straight into the chart at number five (and back in '88 that was still an achievement), plus Simenon changed music at the other end of '88 with the aid of Neneh Cherry and Morgan McVey. I think it stands up. (Marcello Carlin)

I'd rather be listening to M.A.R.R.S or Coldcut, but I suppose I've got to give credit to this one because it reminds me of some good times when clubbing became fun again (pretty naff excuse, but there you go). (betty)

Seems delightfully amateurish in comparison to some of the 'big beat' dance anthems that were to emerge in subsequent ten years, but it has a playful charm that's not often evident these days. (imsodave)

Music by numbers but in a good way. (Geoff)

A period piece and nothing wrong with that. (Z)

I like some of the samples, and it shows at least some attempt at originality. (Alan)

It now sounds more Big Beat than the acid house movement it helped usher in, and it's certainly post-M/A/R/R/S and Coldcut, but all these hits from the early, less litigously/obviously minded sampling days are very much fine by me. (Simon)

Well, it's got the requisite Big Hair sound, the computer-generated drum track, the necessary scratching. In fact it's exactly the reason why 1988 was the beginning of the end for chart-oriented pop radio for me. (Gert)

1 pt, because there was proper hip-hop knocking about at the same town that didn't even scrape the top 40, and when you could buy Marley Marl broadcasts on WBLS behind the counter at Arcade Records, why bother with tunes like this? (and it automatically remind me of Janet Street-Porter every time I hear it) (Nottingham's 'Mr Sex')

2008: Chasing Pavements - Adele (117)

Love her voice and if she manages to avoid Amy's pratfalls she could be around for a long time to come. Who knew I would put a sung from 08 this high up in the ratings? (jo)

Five points. I forgive her an accent so thick it makes anywhere sound like anyway. The voice is an raspy echo of 60s soul singers. This isn't a whole song; it's a chorus with a couple of bridges- but it's a really catchy chorus. (asta)

Hints of Amy Winehouse and Regina Spektor... I quite like this. (Adrian)

I like her voice; I loved Hometown Glory; I'm not enamoured of the Brit School (it's all about creativity, right); I haven't got a clue what she's trying to say...but it still beats three of the choices today. Gawd help us! (Sarah)

There's a decent song somewhere in there struggling to get out. (Alan)

I quite like her voice and it's a not bad song. It's not exactly making me rush out to buy the album, but this brief clip is enough to explain why she is getting so much attention. Although, I can't help thinking that if she really is the best that contemporary pop music can offer, I'm well out of it... (Gert)

Has the sheen of quality and an undeniably fine voice, but am I alone in thinking this has started to grate surprisingly quickly? I agree with you about the over-reliance on a big chorus, and the video is utterly macabre. (Erithian)

Pleasant enough, but what the hell does "Chasing Pavements" mean exactly? It means bloody nothing, does it? It's all too obviously all about the chorus too, even from the first chorus you can hear them cranking the volume up to get their hooks into you. Enough Amy Winehouse-lites already (not that you can get much liter than Ms Winehouse already is... certainly not if you're Adele, anyway) (SwissToni)

Starts well, pity about the chorus. (Z)

I hate everything she (or the hype at least) stands for, and the lyrics are apalling. But the monster chorus, brilliantly sung, almost saves it. Almost. (jeff w)

Is it just me that thinks this could easily be a Melanie C song? It's got the same kind of overly cheap and cheerful string arrangement and key change and there's something in her voice that reminds me of Never Be The Same Again. (Simon)

3 points: See to what base uses I am come. I detest this prematurely pleased with itself photocopy of emotion. Not as bad as "Chasing Cars" but this is being measured on an Aitken/Archer scale. (Marcello Carlin)

Horrible. The Pat Butcher of the 1983 revival "actually, I don't listen to hoary old rock music, I listen to qualidee singers such as Etta James" movement. I wonder who the new Sade is going to be ? (betty)

Brit School Die Now. (Geoff)

1978: Hot Legs - Rod Stewart (97)

5 points: I'm sure I thought it was his career low at the time, but it is surprisingly actually quite boogily good. (NiC)

Reminds me of Bruce Springsteen on his River album for some reason. A lot better than I remember. (Geoff)

Ludicrously dumb, encapsulating a fantasy image that you suspect he has been attempting to live up to ever since. But if I ever wanted a boogified soundtrack to a suggestive swagger, then this would be a good choice. As would Rod be for a f*ck buddy, it seems. (imsodave)

Yeah, the video is a corker. I feel a bit cheap and nasty for liking this, but there you go. (betty)

A tad embarrassing but fun. Rod had left The Faces and things were beginning to change big time. Not for the better generally. (Stu)

Not one of his best, not by a long chalk. OTOH, it's quintessentially Rod, love him or hate him. (Gert)

He’d hardly put a foot wrong since “Maggie May”, but the road to self-parody started in earnest here. (Erithian)

Already memories of mike twirling, kickabouts and John Peel on mandolin were fading fast. (Simon)

God. Sorry. I loved Rod in the 70's and 80's...LOVED HIM. After this though it was a long downhill slide to crapliness. (jo)

This one gets the "pushing past 60" crowd on the dance floor at the social club. Enough. (asta)

Not even after a skinful. Not even after a leopard-skinful. (Z)

1 point. "I love you ho-NAAAAAAAAYYYYYYA!!" = anti-Christ. (Marcello Carlin)

Oh, heavens, but he's such a plonker. Oasis are largely modelled on the Beatles, it's true, but there's a hefty chunk of Rod in Liam too. Oh wait, that sounds like I'm starting a rumour... (SwissToni)

I don't know if it's just because it's by Rod or if it's because it's called "Hot Legs" but I hate it. (Rebecca)

I think my abject loathing of Rod Stewart probably stems from the fact that he was my older brother's favourite in the seventies, but also being a rocker from way back Rod was always like a cartoon character version of a rock star rather than a real one. Rock music for golf players. Utter shite. (Alan)

1998: Cleopatra's Theme - Cleopatra (54)

Bless their cotton socks, these girls had a freshness and talent that I thought would last them longer than it did. Precocious without being stage-school brattish (yes, I’m thinking of the front few rows at the Brits). (Erithian)

3 points to them for that rhyme. There's not enough ancient Egyptian inspired rhyming going down these days is there? (NiC)

The lead singer has a decent stab at some early Michael Jackson vocals, but the song is absolutely devoid of hooks, a decent chorus or any other distinguishing features. Probably not the best selling points for an out and out pop song. (betty)

The main one, who may even have been called Cleopatra, has been trying to relaunch herself as a post-Beyonce R&B diva for a couple of years now. Fair to say it hasn't worked out as well as Billie Piper's reinvention. Good on them for trying, but essentially it's 'street' teens shouting. (Simon)

I'm very partial to girl bands with cleverly crafted but ultimately bland songs. This is more of the latter though. (Simon C)

Whenever I find the first couple of tracks on the medley a little uninspiring, I'm always excited that this will mean the more recent decades will have a chance to catch up. And then I hear Cleopatra. (Oliver R)

If the Spice Girls had been Elvis, Cleopatra would have been Tony Crombie and his Rockets. (Marcello Carlin)

Was Akon dressed as a girl and recording in the 90s? (Sarah)

Little girl groups can't help looking like precocious novelty acts- because that's what they are. (asta)

Haha oh dear, my girlpop love only goes so far, you know? (jeff w)

There is nothing to it at all. Is this the 1998 version of Debbie Gibson? I really actively dislike that tiny sound of over-over-over produced backing vocals (Gert)

Comin atcha, indeed! A band concept seemingly revolving around a very bad slogan. I had no memory of the verses or melody, so I suppose at least there was something that got its hook in me. It's out now though, so i'm fine. Just fine. I'm ok. Thanks. (imsodave)

Truly awful. Noteworthy only for the "comin' 'atcha" thing. She can't sing and the backing vocals are shockingly and charmlessly amateur. (SwissToni)

Dreadful. Children showing off their lack of talent. (Z)

The worst thing is, I'm sure I've danced to this with enthusiasm. (Rebecca)

Are you kidding me? This was a hit? I could have been FORCED to listen to this in my car? Get me the novocaine now! (jo)

Decade scores so far (after 5 days).
1 (2) The 1970s (21)
2 (1) The 1960s (18)
3= (3) The 1990s (15)
3= (3) The 2000s (15)
5 (5) The 1980s (6)