About

Firstly, a little bit about me. I’m probably no different from many of you reading this blog in so much that I love music. No specific kind of music, yeah, I have my favourite genre’s of music and my favourite artists and even my favourite year of music, but on the whole I like most types of music.

Probably unlike a lot of you reading this I have a fascination about the charts, Top Of The Pops, The Hit Parade, The Top 40, call it what you will, but I am fascinated by the many different styles and types of music and artists that have graced the UK charts over the years.

Like you, and like most people, probably all over the world, music has played and will continue to play a part in our lives. We dance, sing, get married, make love, fall in love, split up, remember the good and bad times, get buried and much more to music, it is quite simply the soundtrack to our lives.

This soundtrack has been charted over the years and many books have been written by many experts on the songs and artists that have graced the charts since they started way back in 1952. These books, very informative though they are, can be a little mundane in their approach and although they contain all the information we need regarding writer, producer, weeks at number 1 they tell you very little about the song itself, was it any good? Now I know many of you now will be saying “it got to number 1, it must be good!” but really, think back to 1981 when a guy called Joe Dolce hit the top spot with a catchy but cringeworthy number called ‘Shaddap You Face’.

So this blog is my take on the first 1000 singles to top the UK charts. At the time of writing there have been 1314 UK number ones and obviously this number will continue to grow, unfortunately nowadays, quantity presides over quality in terms of the number one hits. It took 53 years and 2 months to rack up the 1000 UK number ones, since then, we have had 314 number ones in just over 11 years meaning that when we hit 2000 UK number ones it could only be another 23 or 24 years. No staying power these new singles!

Back to my take on the hits. I’m going to review each song that has topped the UK charts up to and including the 1000th. I’ll tell you what it’s about, course I’ll tell you the stuff you need to know and I hope I’ll tell you stuff you didn’t know, obscure facts, quirky tales and loose connections. Remember, these are my opinions, as I see it or hear it, I just hope I whet your appetite enough for you to have a listen on Spotify or YouTube or you may even have the vinyl version and a record player. Feel free to give me your opinion.

So let me take you on a musical journey that starts way back in 1952……