Monday, 29 September 2025

ARIA Singles Top 50 Chart Review: 29th September

So very little changed this week that I almost wondered whether it was worth doing this episode but turns out we got two pretty good brand new entries so I guess that makes this worth doing but let's get through this top ten quickly because there really isn't a lot to say. 

"Golden" from K-Pop Demon Hunters remains at number one for yet another week as it as strength on sales, Youtube and even still some strength on streamng although that has ebbed a little bit courtesy of "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean at number two which with the album release on Friday could make a strong play for the number one spot. 

These top two don't look like being knocked off at this point right now, there's a healthy gap back to "Ordinary" by Alex Warren which held steady at number three, it was a similar case for "No Broke Boys" by Disco Lines and Tinashe at number four, "Soda Pop" from K-Pop Demon Hunters at number five and "12 to 12" by sombr at number six. 

Then we get to the little bit of movement in the top ten with "You Idol" from K-Pop Demon Hunters up one to number seven, it pushed back "Back to Friends" by sombr to number eight. 

:How It's Done" from K-Pop Demon Hunter jumped three places to numnber nine while "Daisies" by Justin Bieber remained at number ten for another week (go figure, it's one of the better songs in the top ten). 


Losers 

Not too much in the way of losers this week although we did see a twelve place slide for album cut "Go Go Juice" by Sabrina Carpenter to forty eight and a seven place dip for "Jealous Type" by Doja Cat to forty seven (this should get something of a rebound next week thanks to the album dropping on Friday)

"House Tour" by Sabrina Carpenter slipped seven to thirty. 


Gains

The biggest gain of the week belonged to "Sailor Song" by Gigi Perez which got an eight place rebound to forty one but that's the one major gain this week.

Re-Entries

Three re-entries this week with "Good Luck, Babe!" back at forty two and "The Subvway" at fifty both for Chappell Roan.

While "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter returned at forty eight.

Drop Outs

Five drop outs this week headlined by "The Door" by Teddy Swims taking its exit to the on replay singles chart. 

Also gone is "The Dead Dance" by Lady Gaga and three Sabrina Carpenter album cuts with "My Man on Willpower", "Sugar Talking" and "Goodbye"/


New Entries

Two new entries this week, starting with...

45. "Folded" by Kehlani

About time this turned up on the Australian charts,  this song is becoming a sleeper hit in the US and I got to be honest, I am glad it is because I think this is Kehlani's best song to date with swell of the multi tracked vocals doing a masterful job with the gentle guitar touches and Kehlani actually sounding fantastic  The content of this song is pretty much Kehlani telling this guy that she has his clothes folded and they are ready for him to come over and collect if he is ready but there's this undercurrent of sexual tension that serves this song well...I dig it either way...good song.

31. "Where Is My Husband?" by RAYE

So I am going to bust out some disappointment that "Suzanne" with Mark Ronson wasn't the hit it should have been earlier this year, come on folks, that song is great and deserved all the acclaim...ugh...moving on because we have Raye's new single here and man, I have never seen a song that feels like it's equipped to be absolutely huge as the year winds down especially with that monster hook and how the song feels like a throwback to the soul of the 60s just given a new lick of paint from Raye to make it fresh and modern, it's a fascinating song even with her singing verses quick in parts that I am not always convinced works but when the song is this infectious,,,who cares.


Raye is getting best of the week for "Where is My Husband?"/ No worst of the week because I don't think "Folded' by Kehlani deserves that, that song is good too!



Saturday, 20 September 2025

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart Review: 22nd September

 A slow week on the chart with no new entries this week and for as much as ARIA brought in these changes I do have to wonder how much these changes have fixed anything. No new entries and the very top of the charts haven't changed so let's get stuck into the top ten where for yet another week "Golden" from K-Pop Demon Hunters remained at number one but streaming is starting to slip so a lot is on that sales margin. 

Remaining at number two is "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean which took the lead on Spotify streaming through the week but does need to start closing that sales margin. Also holding steady at number three is "Ordinary" by Alex Warren and "No Broke Boys" by Disco Linea and Tinashe at number four. 

Also sready this week is"Soda Pop" from K-Pop Demon Hunters, there's questions around the use of AI around the writing of this song which is pretty disappointing to say the least.

Rising seven places to number six is "12 to 12" by Sombr...so glad the public have realized that this song is absolutely fantastic, hope it goes higher. Sombr also saw "Back to Friends" rebounded four places to number seven. 

"Your Idol' from K-Pop Demon Hunters slipped one spot to number eight while "Tears" by Sabrina Carpenter slumped three places to number nine (this song definitely will fall faster than a lot of people expect).

Dropping two places to number ten is "Daisies" by Justin Bieber which is on the down swing.


Gains

So outside of the gains for Sombr in the top ten, we saw a six place gain to twenty for "Just Keep Watching" by Tate McRae while "The Door" rebounded eight spots to thirty for Teddy Swims while "Gabriela" by Katseye got a nine place boost to thirty one.

"Sapphire" by Ed Sheeran rode a twelve place album boost to thirty four for Ed Sheeran and that was about it for our big gains this week. 

Re-Entries

Three retirrns this week, just a shame that none of them are precisely good, "Mystical Magical" by Benson Boone is back at fifty, "What I Want" by Morgan Wallen and Tate McRae at forty eight and "Sports Car" by Tate McRae returned at twenty seven. 


Losers

Most of the big losers are Sabrina Carpenter "Man's Best Friend" cuts so lets start with "Sugar Talking" which fell eleven to forty five, "My Man On Will Power" lost all it's will power this week tumbling seventeen spota to forty four, "Goodbye" waved down eight spots to thirty nine and "Go Gio Juice" lost it's mojo down twelve to thirty six,


Drop Outs

So we lost "The Subway" by Chappell Roan which I think is a fucking travesty for the charts in a lot of ways.

Also gone are two Sabrina Carpenter album tracks, those being "Never Getting Laid Again" and "We Almost Broke Up Again Last night".


And with there being no new entries this week that will wrap things up, lets hope we get some new songs injected into chart.



Thursday, 18 September 2025

All 4 1994. 18th September Black Book of Endless Love Chains Selling Drama Out of My Pocket

 Well, things just got interesting...it's been a duopoly at the rop for the past couple of weeks and now that duopoly is out on its ear because we do have a new number one, rising a massive thirty places to hit the top spot...it's "Confide In Me" by Kylie Minogue at number one and it got there on those massive sales numbers in a surge so big that previous number one "I Swear" by All-4-One was never going to match as it slipped back to number two. 

The same happened for "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet at number three and "Swamp Thing" by The Grid at number four. 

"7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry remained at number five and "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories followed suit at number six. 

The big victim in all of this is "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters which slumped three places to number seven while "Rhythm of the Night" by Corona climbed two spots to number eight. 

Finally we have two new entries to wrap up the top ten for this week with "Hands Out of My Pocket" by Cold Chisel entering at number nine as our biggest debut of thr week while Luther Vandross has teamed up with Mariah Carey for "Endless Love" which enters the chart at number ten. We'll talk about both songs later.

Losers

Stone Temple Pilots are on the precipice of slipping out of the top fifty this week with "Vasoline" sliding from thirty seven to fifty. 

Green Day's "Long View" fell ten to forty eight (this song really just hasn't gotten going at all). Kulcha's "Don't Be Shy" slumped seven spots to forty seven while "The Ballad of Oz" by Daddy Cool tumbled eleven slots to forty six. 

"Wild Night" isn't going to last much longer for John Mellencamp and Me'shell N'degeocello as it folded fifteen spots to hit forty five. It was also a rough week for "That's The Thing About Football" by Greg Champion as it fell eleven to hit forty four (then again I don't expect this song to stick around).

The hardest fall of the week belonged to Des'ree as "You Gotta Be" utterly fell into a hole down from twenty six to forty two. Roachford was hit with a ten place fall to thirty nine for "Only to Be With You".

Ten place slide for "Absolutely Fabulous" by Absolutely Fabulous as it hit twenty nine while "I Like to Move It" by Reel 2 Real Stuntman probably hated to move it down nine to twenty three. 

We did have three songs fall out of the top ten with "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain falling five spots to number twelve, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John slumping from nine to thirteen and " Son of a Gun" by JX crumbled eight spots to fourteen. 

Gains

We had some decent sized gains this week starting with the huge boost for "I Like the Nightlife (Disco Round)" by Alicia Bridges which boogied all the way up from it's debut of forty one up to twenty thanks to the impact of "Priscilla: Queen of the Desetrt"

Another noted boost off the debut was for Jaki Graham's great cover of "Ain't Nobody" wbich got a well deserved bump up from forty three to twenty eight while "Dreams" by The Cranberries also had a decent boost off it's debut as it climbed from fotty two to thirty six.

"Wild Flowers" by Things of Stone and Wood jumped from from forty nine to forty one.

Sadly not all the last week debuts having gains this week are good with "My Enemy" by Culture Shock getting a seven place gain to forty three,


 New Entries.

Six new entries this week, let's get the show rolling with...

49. "Selling the Drama" by Live

We're leading off with Live's lead single from "Throwing Copper" and my god this song is way too on the nose for it to be a 1994 song with lyrics ained at how political and religious leaders try to control the public and yeah, I get it especially if we're looking at the political scene in Australia and around the world. I guess my criticism would come in on the production where sometimes the vocals can get a bit smothered by the guitar riffs etc but still damn good song.

35. "One Night A Day" by Garth Brooks

Like, I said last time when "Stnading Outside the Fire" charted, it's impossible to get a decent quality version of a Garth Brooks song and this one is no different so unfortunately I am not able to review this particular song. 

30. "Black Book" by E.Y.C

So lets go another round with E.Y.C and I guess this is fine if you can ignore how lethargic the production and instrumentation is forcing you to pay attention to the lyrics which are just...wow...toxic much" You tell this girl she can open up to you and tell you whats going because she can trust you then on the hook say "Well girl, I'm taking you out of my black book". Toxic and manipulative garbage..,next!

21. "Chains" by Tina Arena

So the next two songs are ballads and we begin with the lead single from "Don't Ask" and my god, we have a powerhouse of a love song here that just builds and builds into that crescendo at the end. Tina sells the pure joy of being in love with this guy and  being spellbound by being in chains or in love with the incredible backing harmonies that join in on the verses and choruses plus the instrumentation is just perfect here. Phenomenal song.

10. "Endless Love" by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey

Genuine question here: Who was asking for this cover of Lionel Ritchie and Diana Ross's sappy 1981 ballad? Mariah's got a good song on the charts right now so this cover feels a little unnecessary but I will give Luther Vandross this, he can sell this even if he is going to get outsung by Mariah Carey...I wish they'd learnt how to harmonise properly on this. At the end of the day, it's just two people declaring their endless love for each other, nothing more nothing less, now can we move on from the sappy please?


9. "Hand Out of My Pocket" by Cold Chisel

Oh here we go...this is more like it, time for some Cold Chisel even if this song doesn't sound like a typical Cold Chisel rocker and  Barnesy isn't screaming his lungs out. It's claimed by Australian music historian Glenn A. Baker that the song was inspired by a horrible incident on Christmas Day where a ousin of Jimmy Barnes who is Hare Krishna decided to hold a self immolation rite in a bathtub...yowsers. Either way while this is good, this really does sound like the band are indifferent to the song, there's not quite the same energy that typically gets Chisel going. That's all I'll say,

As a result, best and worst of the week fall out quite easily. Worst is going to "Black Book" by E.Y.C and best of the week to "Chains" by Tina Arena

Monday, 15 September 2025

ARIA Singles Top 50 Chart Review. 15th September. The Sabrina Fallout of Dead Dance

 A much more muted week than I'd expected even the recedation of the Sabrina Carpenter album bomb to be slower than normal for most album bombs but also the mere fact Spotify charts were down for a large chunk of the week which meant that we were spared any impact from Justin Bieber's "Swag II" but anyway enough horsing around, lets jump into the top ten where for yet another week "Golden" from K-:Pop Demon Hunters remains at number one much to my frustration, this song has only gotten actively worse over the last couple of weeks especially with that god awful shrill hook.

However we do have an emerging contender to possibly take over the number one spot, it's "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean which climbed four spots to number two thanks gains on streaming and sales. 

It pushed past former number one "Ordinary" by Alex Warren which fell back one place to number three. "No Broke Boys" by Disco Lines and Tinash held steady at number four while the same is true of "Soda Pop" from K-Pop Demon Hunters at number five.

Sabrina Carpenter's "Tears" fell back three spots to number six after it's debut last week. Kind of curious to see how this song holds up in  the weeks ahead.

"Your Idol" from K-Pop Demon Hunters climbed one spot to number seven whole "Daisies" by Justin Bieber returned to the top ten climbing three places to number eight.

The last two spots in the top ten are songs from K-Pop Demon Hunters holding their places in the top ten with "How it's Done" at nnumber nine and "what It Sounds Like" at number ten. 


Losers

Alright let's blow thtough the songs from the Sabrina Carpenter album bomb that lost big this week as they really were the only songs to lose big  "Manchild" dropped five spots to number twelve, "My Man On Will Power" by Sabrina Carpenter slipped twelve spots to twenty seven, "Goodbye" collapsed five spots to number thirty one, "Sugar Talking" lost fourteen spots to thirty four, "Never Getting Laid" slumped thirteen to forty one and thankfully the biggest loss of the week belonged to "We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night" which utterly went into a twenty place frree fall to number forty seven. 

Aside from that the continued heart breaking losses for "The Subway" by Chappell Roan this week down another six places to forty four.


Gains

So in a way the chart did reset a bit but I am not overall happy with a few of these gains especially for "Gabriela" by Katseye whicb climbed seven places to forty. Teddy Swims celebrated the news he will headline the NRL's Grand Final pre game entertainment by "The Door" rising seven spots to thirty eight. 

What did surprise me is the twelve place rebound for "Die With a Smile" by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars to twenty eight, might have to do with the new entry that we will get to but still. pretty weird to me. 

"Just Keep Watching" by Tate McRae climbed seven spots to twenty six while "Nice to Each Other" by Olivia Dean jumped nine to twenty one. 

Re-Entries

Just one return this week with"Messy" by Lola Young back at forty nine.


Drop Outs

Only two songs left this week with "What I Want" by Morgan Wallen and Tate McRae gone and likely locked on the year end list unfortunately.

The other to go is "Don't Worry, I'll Make You Worry" by Sabrina Carpenter. 


New Entries

Just one new entry this week so lets dive into...

50. "The Dead Dance" by Lady Gaga

The only new entry comes from the soundtrack of the season 2 Netflix show "Wednesday" and if there was somebody who could pull off a somewhat scary song for a show based off the Addams family than it is going to be Lady Gaga, right? Well, yes and no, this song has some seriously tight grooves and is a bunch of fun to dance to but it doesn't quite pull off the spooky aspect as well as it could  so much so it comes across as more campy and maybe too close to the sound that pervaded Gaga's last album "Mayhem". Overall, I don't hate it but I do get the feeling it should be better. 

Thursday, 11 September 2025

All 4 1994. 11th September. My Wild Flowers Dreams Confide In Me: I Love Football and Nightlife

A busy as hell week here and I have to say, things look like they may be headed for a bit of a shake up as we got the return of Kylie Minogue to deal with but she isn't a player in our top ten so let's get to that where for another week "I Swear" by All-4-One ruled the roost but the question is for how much longer. 

"Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet continues to be a like a pimple on a backside remaining at number two, can people please just be done with this gooey nonsense clogging the charts?

"Swamp Thing" by The Grid climbed one spot to number three, it ultimately pushed back "100% Pure Love" bv Crystal Waters back to nunber four

"7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry moved up two spots to number five which was nice to see while "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories lived up to it's name and remained at number six and "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain slumped two spots to number seven.

Rest of our top ten are gains with "Son of a Gun" by JX u[ one to number eight, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" by Elton John up one to number nine and finally "Rhythm of the Night" by Corona climbed one to number ten.

Losers

"Snake Skinned Shoes" by The Black Sorrows as done well to stick around for as long as it has but it's down sevcn place to forty seven and appears to be headed on it's way out likewise for "Alone Like Me" by The Sharp which collapsed ten spots to number forty four.

"Don't Turn Around" by Ace of Base suffered a six place fall down to twenty seven while "Hey D.J" by Lighter Shade of Brown is shouting for the D.J a little less loudly as it slipped eight to twenty four.


Gains

Not much in the way of gains this week with "Regulate" by Warren G and Nate Dogg up eleven spots to twenty but other than that...pretty quiet, most movement stymied by the new entries this week so let's get to that, shall we?


New Entries

A whopping seven new entries this week, let's begin with...


50. "My Enemy" by Culture Shock

Starting off with a weekly dose of Eurodance and its already a bad sign when I am greeted what sounds like a casio keyboard playing a painfully gerneric melody along with vocals that are absolutely buried in the mix and sounds terrible. I won't be revisiting this song anytime soon. Can we do better please?


49. "Wild Flowers" by Things of Stone and Wood

Well this is better.. a piano led song from Things of Stone and Wood that's actually pleasant with the drums really doing a lot of heavy work with the song's content appearing to be a running commentary on how we as humans always seem doomed to repeat past mistakes and the rise of racism with the line that hits asnd resonates the hardest being "Why do Nazis seem to grow like wild flowers?", a troubling question in 1994 and probably even more timely in 2025! Good song all up. 


43. "Ain't Nobody" by Jaki Graham

Now for our regularly scheduled cover of the week, this time this cover is of Rufus and Chaka 1983 song "Ain't Nobody" which went on to become something of a medium hit in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 but didn't cross over to Australia so now we've got a version released by British singer/songwriter Jaki Graham hittinng the charts and I will say I like this a fair bit more because Graham has some real distinctive power and presence on the microphone, she sounds phenomenal here and I love how fresh it sounds, the original does hasn't aged as well as some might hope it as especially sound wise. I'll take this though!

42. "Dreams" by The Cranberries

So The Cranberries are an Irish rock act that apparently released this song in late 1992 and went on to appear on the band's debut album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We" and yeah, this song is legitimately great, I love how distinctive in sound to the point the melody washes over you and then there's frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan who vocally just makes her presence on the mic known, she sounds so good here and given the song is about her first love back in Ireland it makes sense that she sounds lovestruck and to a point giddy. Yeah, check this out!

41. "I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round)" by Alicia Bridges

Well here we go, this is here because of the movie "The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert", this song originally was a decent sized hit in 1979 saw the song reach number nine on the Kent Music Report chart and reach number forty six on the year end chart for the same year now it's being re released in line with the release of "The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert"...I got to say it's a song that's very much of it's time and does feel out of place on a chart that's smothered in euro-dance, pop and grunge rock with hints of r'n'b and hip hop given this is a disco song and Alicia Bridges does have a terrific voice even if she sounds way too casual about loving the nightlife and wanting to boogie, it's good fun but I don't see this disco revival lasting.

33. "That's The Thing About Football" by Greg Champion

Oh this is timely especially with the AFL finals underway, Greg Champion is from ABC's Coodabeen Champions and is also a songwriter and guitarist, he co wrote this song with Mike Brady (the man behind "Up There Cazaly") and Paul Kelly...now that's some serious pedigree of Australian music talent there so what about the song? Well it's definitely written to be an anthem for going to the footy and it does have one killer hook even if it takes a bit to get there. It's definitely a novelty track but one that I can respect the hell out of. Nice.

31. "Confide In Me" by Kylie Minogue

And the biggest new song of the week is the lead single from Kylie Minogue's fifth studio album and I have to say this is a pretty daring choice of lead single mostly because this is a move away from the clean cut pop sound from the Stock Aitken and Waterman era and into something darker and dare I say edgier thanks to her signing with dance label Deconstruction records , there's elements of eastern music, indie music and even trip hop and Kylie's vocals on this are just...wow...she sounds absolutely incredible on the hook

That vocal delivery from Minogue makes sense for the content of the song to where she seduces and tries to manipulate people to confude in her, she can manipulate a situation between her and another person and that she holds the power. Yeah, this song is one of Kylie's best. Check this out,

However it's not the best of the week, that's going to "Dreams" by The Cranberries...it was a close run thing. 

However worst falls out easily...that's going to Culture Shock for whatever the hell "My Enemy" is.


Saturday, 6 September 2025

ARIA Singles Top 50 Chart Review. 8th September

 What do you get when you combine ARIA's brand new rules and a Sabrina Carpenter album bomb? The short answer is an absolute mess and one that doesn't actually answer as to whether ARIA's changes have worked and I suspect we're not going to find out next week because Justin Bieber decided to drop a whole second album/deluxe edition of "SWAG" that will inevitably mean further album bomb chaos on the chart next week. Ugh.

However we'll get to Justin Bieber next week, we've still got the matter of this week's chart to get through so let's get to our top ten where for yet another week, "Golden" from K-Pop Demon Hunters continues to rule the roost at number one and it is a dominant number one across the board here, nothing is touching this song right now.

Former number one "Ordinary" by Alex Warren remains at number two as a result but it's not matching the dominance of "Golden" and really is starting to look a weak number two at this point.

We hit our first sign of the Sabrina Carpenter album bomb at number three with "Tears" arrival, now I don't think this song has the streaming traction it needs to challenge "Golden",  I will have more to say about this song later.

It did push "No Broke Boys" by Disco Lines and Tiaashe back one spot to number four as while it has streaming on board, it's just not getting anywhere near the traction in other channels, the same applies for "Soda Pop" from K-Pop Demon Hunters as it slipped one to number five, 

Rising six places to number six and one of the biggest gainers of the week is "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean, I am happy about this one, glad to see the better song becoming a hit. 

The biggest gainer of the week though is "Manchild" by Sabrina Carpenter which climbed thirteen places to number seven off the back of the album dropping...wish the song was better. 

The rest of the top ten are all from K-Pop Demon Hunters with "Your Idol" down three to eight, "How It's Done" down two to nine and "What It Sounds Like" slipping two spots to number ten. 


Gains

So apart from "Manchild" by Sabrina Carpenter rising thirteen to return to the top ten and "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean up six to number six, there was not a lot in the way of gains thanks to the Sabrina Carpenter album bomb.

Re-Entries

So we did get one return this week with "Gabriela" by Katseye back at number forty seven. 


Losers

Given most of the chart lost hard this week, I am going to limit this to double digit losses this week. We begin with "Die With a Smile" by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars which slumped thirteen to forty while former number one hit "Birds of a Feather" by Billie Eilish slipped ten spots to thirty nine.

What worries me is the sevcenteen place collapse to thirty seven of "The Subway" by Chappell Roan..now I know it's triggered by the Sabrina Carpenter album bomb but this song has been going in the wrong direction for weeks now, we need to correct that, Australia...and urgently.

At least "Yukon" by Justin Bieber slumped sixteen to thirty four and "Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone got slapped down twelve to twenty nine. 


Drop Outs

So given "Man's Best Friend" by Sabrina Carpenter entered the chart in its entirety. we have a sizeable list of drop outs and with the new rules in mind, I am going to start with the songs that dropped out and could return next week, let's begin with Alex Warren with both "Bloodline" feat Jelly Roll and "Carry You Home"  making their exits alongside "Mystical Magical" by Benson Boone and "Azizam" by Ed Sheeran.

Taking their exits and definitely won't be back though and we got major ones here in namely "Lose Control" by Teddy Swims and "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan, they are gone from the top 50 and are now on the new "On Replay" chart.

Joining both those songs on the new replay singles chart are the songs that I have been touting would like "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls, "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac, "Something in the Orange" by Zach Bryan, "All The Stars" by Kendrick Lamar & SZA, "Breakin' Dishes" by Rihanna and finally..."Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House. 


New Entries

We have a lot of Sabrina Carpenter to talk about so I will endeavour to keep this pretty short overall so not making the top twenty and are neither best or worst of the week..."Don't Worry I'll Make You Worry" at number thihrty two (this song was close to worst of the week), "Never Getting Laid" at number twenty eight, "We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night" at twenty seven, "Goodbye" at number twenty six, "House Tour" at twenty three and "Go Go Juice" at twenty one.

That still leaves us with a meaty chunk of "Man's Best Friend to talk about so let's dive in and get started with...

20. "Sugar Talking" by Sabrina Carpenter

So expect to hear me talk a lot about innuendo but here it's Sabrina getting fed up with men not speaking her love language to her and still trying to slide into her bed through charisma and look, I get it, I hate having guys get in my face and want love when it's not earned or I don't feel the same way about them but I don't know the instrumental just does nothing for me at all here, it just feels so downtuned and doesn't do much. Not bad but not good either...something I expect to be saying a lot lately. 

19. "Nobody's Son" by Sabrina Carpenter

So this song has caused a lot of anger with critics naming this as the worst song on "Man's Best Friend" so let's see if a pair of fresh ears can find something out of the song that's...uhhh, no...I cannot...this song is one of the worst songs I've ever heard from Sabrina Carpenter, it's actually as toxic as anything I heard put across on that godawful Jessie Murph album from earlier this year yet Sabrina Carpenter sells mens mental health and guy who needs space away from his girlfriend as him "crying in bed" with a chrous that sounds straight from a British comedy sitcom with instrumentation playing off very real toxicity in a relationship like its fucking camp...no...just no. Sabrina, you are better than this. 

15. "My Man on Willpower" by Sabrina Carpenter

So this is the song from the album that I mostly dislike because of how muddy and one note the production feels here all while Sabrina complains about this guy in her life having found some self control and disicipline to not go to water every time she wears "slutty pyjamas and that he isn't fawning over her anymore. Look, maybe it's part of the wider joke on the album but maybe dude has had enough of the toxicity and is just ready to move on because yeah, given how painfully dull this song is...I don't blame him

13. "When Did You Get Hot?" by Sabrina Carpenter

So this is one of the songs that goes vaguely close to working where Sabrina goes to a convention with her friends and meets up with a guy she's known for awhile and she realizes that this guy is actually now good looking instead of what he used to be. I think it's nice that a lot of the toxic dynamics that appeared in a few of the songs we discussed previously don't appear here and the line about naked twister back at his place was genuinely funny. Cool song.

3. "Tears" by Sabrina Carpenter. 

Now we finish the week off with a glossy retro disco song from Sabrina Carpenter where she admits to being horny by a guy doing the most basic of house duties to the point 'tears' run down her thigh. I do think its funny but I also wonder how the hell this song is getting radio airplay considering kids are going to ask how on earth tears can fall down thighs. It is the correct choice of single from "Man's Best Friend"

That was the week and yeah, "Tears" gets best of the week here, really didn't have that much competition. Worst is going to "Nobody's Son" even though "My Man on Willpower" is eye roll worthy. 




Thursday, 4 September 2025

All 4 1994: 4th September. You Mean Standing Outside the World, Enough is Enough

Alright, no mucking around, let's drive straight into things with the top ten this week because the top three didn't change at all, mostly down to margins being too big to close so "I Swear" by All-4-One at number one, "Love is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet at number two and "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters at number three.

"Swamp Thing" by The Grid climbed one spot to number four, its got decent momentum, it's just a question if that momentum can get bigger to catch the top three but for now, it was big enough to push past Big Mountain's "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain down one to number five.

Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories are starting to push for a spit in the top fove as "Stay (I Missed You)" climbed one to number six while "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry moved up three to number seven.

Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" remains in the number eight hole this week while "Son of a Gun" by JX slipped three places to number nine.

In the best and possibly best news on the charts for 1994, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John got a six place boost to join the top ten at number ten! So so happy to see it here. Let's hope it can rise higher in the weeks ahead. 


Losers

Not really that much in terms of big losers this week although we did see Kulcha's "Don't Be Shy" slide from twenty seven to thirty eight and former number one "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies slip ten to thirty.

"Only to Be With You" by Roachford slumped from twenty one to twenry nine...bit of a shame this song is on the downswing, it's not bad. 

Gains

Ir's on the gains front that things are interesting because rhere was an eleven place gain for Joshua Kadison's "Jessie" to number seventeen while "Rockin' For Myself" by Motiv 8 feat. Angie Brown rocketed with bullet points from forty one to eighteen,

Up seven splots to thirty is "American Life in the Summertime" by Francis Dunnery while "Regulate" by Warren G & Nate Dogg climbed nine to thirty one. 

Most annoyingly "Afternoons and Coffeespoons" by Crash Test Dummies climbed six places to forty two. 

New Entries

49. "You Mean the World To Me" by Toni Braxton

Surprised we didn't get an immediate follow up single to "Breathe Again" (a song that is good but has become kind of forgettable) and I got to admit I was curious what we'd get going in and yeah, we got a pretty sweet love song combining both piano and guitar but allowing Toni Braxton's vocals to shine and shine they do, there's a passion in the vocals from Toni that really make the song believeable. I dig it. 


48. "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" by Kym Mazelle & Jocelyn Brown

Ahh, it's been awhile since we dealt with a cover version on in one of these retro episodes but today we get to deal with Kym Mamzelle and Jocelyn Brown's take on the hit duet between Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer, the original hitting number 8 on the Kent Music Report charts in 1979,  

Now it starts out well enough, it starts out favouring soft but strong vocals then dives into this weird Eurodance/disco vibe that really doesn't work especially when in comparision the production helped both Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand but on this cover, it feels like both Kym Mamzelle and Jocelyn Brown are having to sing shout to be heard over the noisy production. 

I'll stick to the original...next!

47. Standing Outside the Fire" by Garth Brooks

So Garth Brooks on the charts and briefly stepping away from being in 1994 mode, I'm going to confess that I cannot find a decent enough version of the song to be able to review this properly. I may also have to do this with any future Garth Brooks songs that chart. Sorry.

43. "Alrabaiye (Take Me Up)" by Amadin feat. Swing

And we end the week with more eurodance because that's the way we want to finish with one of the more screechy and annoying songs I've heard in quite some time and when I say screechy I am talking about the vocals that get increasingly more annoying as the beat that never changes so yeah... this isn't good. Next!


That was our week and the best and worst fall out easily, for the first "Alrabbiaye (Take Me Up" by Amadin feat. Swing...obviously. Best of the week is going to "You Mean the World to Me" by Toni Braxton.