Hits 21 - 2003 (8): The Race for Christmas Number 1

Episode Date: June 4, 2023

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every UK #1 hit single of the 21st century - from January 2000, right through to the present day. Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail]

Hi there everyone, welcome back to Hits 21 where me, Rob me, Andy and me, Livy all look back at every single UK number one of the 21st century from January 2000 right through to the present day if you want to get in touch with us, you can find us over on Twitter. We are at Hits21UK.

That is at Hits21UK. And you can email us too. Just send it on over to Hits21Podcast at gmail.com. Thank you so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 2003. And, oh, I tell you on this podcast, it's Christmas every three months. It's another Christmas special. This time we'll be covering the race, a very, very hotly contested race, for Christmas number one in

2003. I've been looking forward to this episode for quite a while for a few reasons, which will hopefully become clear over the next hour and a bit. Before we get ahead to this week's episode, we're just going to take a look back at last week, at the week that was, and there was a clear poll winner on both the Spotify and Twitter polls. So congratulations to Will Young and leave right now. What? Yes.

I'm so shocked. How Changes didn't win. He was wrong. Shut up! So well done to Will for winning our final song of the week of 2003 because there's only one song that gets to

number one in this week's episode so there will be no vote as usual. So on to this week's episode. Big Christmas episode so vote as usual so on to this week's episode big christmas episode so the format's going to be a little different as always but it's always the same at the beginning we're going to give you some news headlines from around the time that the songs in this episode or the song in this episode was at number one in the uk on On Christmas day NASA loses contact with its space probe the Beagle 2 which had been due to land on Mars. The probe would only be able to survive its first night on Mars if it could recharge its batteries but without contact NASA had no idea of its whereabouts. Beagle 2 wasn't

heard from again until it was inadvertently spotted in photographs taken by another space probe sent to Mars in January 2015 that's so lovely that's so lovely it is a little bit adorable isn't it getting all happy about

inanimate objects surviving the harsh winds of Mars it makes me feel like it feels like WALL-E. Like this little guy out there. Yeah. Well, in less lovely news, it's announced that 153,000 divorces were finalised in the UK during 2003.

Meanwhile, car sales reach a record high of 2.6 million sales. I wonder if there's any midlife crises that are kind of responsible for both things there. And also the DVD becomes the dominant format in the British home video market for the first time, accounting for more than 70% of total home video sales over the last 12 months.

Yeah, that rings true. 2003, yeah. Yeah, definitely. It's the last time I remember buying a VHS. And the United States government orders all foreign airlines to deploy armed sky marshals on flights into America that are deemed, quote, a risk. Some EU countries strongly oppose the measure, and talks held in January 2004 resulted in the Bush administration softening its position. So, that's the news headlines out of the way. Usually at this moment in time I would be giving the box office update, but there's nothing to update you on. I'd normally be looking for stories in TV or pop music, but it's a pretty quiet end to 2003.

or pop music but it's a pretty quiet end to 2003 so we're gonna go ahead and go across the channel for a brief visit with lizzy in the states and then andy's gonna crack on with some tv stuff and then lizzy's gonna run down the games of the year and the toys of the year and whatnot so lizzy you said you had one number one left of uh 2003 I think on the US album chart so go ahead. I do. Yeah. The US Christmas number one album is Soulful by American Idol winner Ruben Studdard. Oh Ruben.

Yeah Ruben. This is his sorry for 2004. It stayed at number one for one week in the US and was certified platinum but presumably wasn't released in the UK as there are no chart figures for it. Sorry, Ruben. You might have also noticed, if you don't skip these segments, that I've stopped doing the year-end list mentions in my rundowns

as I figured I'd do the year-end top ten singles for 2003 on this episode instead. So before I jump in, would either of you like a guess at what will be the number one? Is this the number one single in America of 2003? Yes, it is. Okay, I'm going to go with Baby Boy by Beyonce and Sean Paul

because I remember you mentioning that a lot. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, same guess yeah okay well from what I can see we have one two we only have two songs

that we've no three songs that have been number one in the UK two that we've actually covered you probably know what that means but anyway in at number ten we have Bring Me to Life by Evanescence. Oh. At number 9, we have Picture by Kid Rock featuring Sheryl Crow.

Wow. At number 8, we have Miss You by Aaliyah. Okay. At number 7, we have Right There by Chingy. What? Oh, what a tune. At number 6, we have Unwell by Matchbox20 wow okay number 5 When I'm Gone

Three Doors Down oh okay wow yeah number 4 Crazy in Love Beyonce okay yep and number 3 it's Get Busy by Sean Paul okay yeah and number 2 it's Ignition by Robert Sylvester Kelly

And so at number one, you were both wrong It's In The Club by 50 Cent Oh of course, I forgot that completely Yeah, and just on that note The best performing album of 2003 in the US was, of course Get Rich Or Die Trying by 50 Cent Yeah, well done well done 50

Andy a big year for Christmas TV apparently based on your messages that you've sent to us this week so go ahead with your TV segment I don't know if I'd describe it as a big year rather than just a year that I have found interesting because I think of all the

Christmas TV offerings that we've covered so far, this is the one that's the most of its time. There's some stuff here that you really would be astonished to hear was making it to the Christmas primetime slots on British TV. So I'll reserve judgement on the quality of it,

I don't really mean anything by that, but you know, draw your own conclusions. Over on BBC One, Christmas Eve's main offering is the EastEnders Christmas Party, in which the cast of EastEnders, led by recent number two hit Shane Ritchie, and including Jill Halfpenny and Pam St Clement, perform songs in Albert Square,

along with celebrity guests including Suggs, Lulu, Liberty X and Richard E Grant okay yeah it sounds quite funny I'll have to dig this out on Christmas Day the main highlight is the final of the three Only Fools and Horses

specials yeah but that's followed by Posh and Bex's Big Impression which is a full hour edition of Alistair McGowan's Big Impression that is just Posh and Bex's Imagined Christmas

I mean wow Jesus what were we going through otherwise the big film premiere on BBC is Stuart Little, and Boxing Day also sees the TV premiere of Mulan, a banger of a film there. Boxing Day and New Year's Day also see the final two episodes of The Office broadcast, which I'm sure you'll remember very well, Rob.

Oh, yeah. Yes. Yeah. On ITV. So Christmas Eve on ITV gives us something on a similar theme. Wait for it. It's a 90-minute programme at 9pm entitled The Real Beckhams, which follows Posh and Becks through their recent trip to Spain.

90 minutes of that at Christmas. More Beckhams. We were really having a moment there, weren't we? We were. Yeah. More Beckhams. We were really having a moment there, weren't we? We were.

Christmas Day's big feature is the first and only attempt at World Idol, where winners and memorable contestants from different editions of the Idol international franchise, they come together for a sort of champion of champions competition. It's very much like Eurovision, but with no original songs. So not that much like Eurovision. Our entry was Will Young, who sang Light My Fire. The US entered their winner, Kelly Clarkson, who performed You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman. Will did well, he came fifth, but the contest was won by Norway's Kurt Nilsson, who performed Beautiful Day by U2.

For some reason, World Idol was never repeated, I'm not sure why. Anyway, over in the land of soaps there's a big Christmas reveal in Coronation Street when Tracy Barlow reveals that Steve MacDonald is the father of her baby, not Roy Cropper as previously believed. You had to be there to understand that one. On EastEnders it's a very very rare thing it's a happy christmas on the square as kat and alfie get married despite a last minute hitch where it's revealed that alfie's divorce from his previous marriage hasn't been finalized um but all is well somehow in the end and it ends with a party outside in the snow um a second albert square party two days on the run there and on emmerdale it's a quiet

but sad Christmas where Trisha Dingle decides that she can't forgive her husband Marlon for his affair and leaves him. Another item to mention, you may remember that our special guest from earlier this year, Brian Caprom, discussed a Christmas special from this year that he appeared on. He had a starring role in, actually, and that busted Christmas for Everyone, in which the boys' instruments are kidnapped by Brian Capron's mysterious mall Santa, and they must follow a trail of clues and special guests, including Pete Waterman,

before they find their guitars at a surprise party that's been arranged to thank them for all their hard work this year. Aww. Yeah, that special aired on ATV on the 23rd of December and, as far as I can tell, has never been repeated. So yeah, I'll have to give that a watch. Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas message emphasised the need to support those who are alone or separated from their families at Christmas including the armed forces who are in Afghanistan and Iraq at this time Channel 4 went for a very different thing though

with the alternative Christmas message that was given by Barry and Michelle Seaborn a couple made famous for their appearance on Wife Swap so yeah something very different so yeah that's something very different there so it's a very mixed picture this year with some good stuff like the office and you know maybe if it's your sort of thing only fools and horses but a lot of trash this year it was not a vintage tv year so there you go there's your tv christmas hope you enjoy it i probably didn't so there you go, there's your TV Christmas hope you enjoy it, I probably didn't

God not a vintage year really I don't know I don't know when it's going to happen but one of these years that comes by I'm going to remember every second of it and I'm going to be like oh yeah whereas I have no recollection of a 90 minute documentary

about the Beckhams in Spain because I think this is about 6 months after Beckham signed for Real Madrid as part of their whole Galacticos FC thing but still bloody hell 90 minutes on the Christmas weekend

maybe they're trying to do the Osbournes like you know let's follow the Beckhams instead and then you find out that Beckham's David Beckham is just too normal Like he's just He's too normal to make a TV series out of I think

He's not the most dynamic chap I think he was a bit of a bad boy In the 90s but then Very much cooled down And calmed down and tried to Sort out his image In the mid2000s but thank you very much andy for that tv roundup lizzie it's um time for that guessing game again where

you have you ask us like oh do you think the best games were me and andy guess and we're sort of close but not quite for yeah so have you got video games and toys for us? Yeah, I'll go through the toys first So we've got the Toy Retail Association Awards for 2003 First off Company of the Year goes to Flare I have no idea what they made

Board Game of the Year is Cranium by Recreation It is pretty good, Cranium I like Cranium Girls Toy of the year is Bratz. I think this one last year as well. Big time for Bratz.

Big time for Bratz. With a Z for those who are uninitiated. The boys toy of the year is Turtles. I'm assuming that's Teenage Mutant Hero. Just actual turtles Just turtles It's like that kid who says I like turtles

I like turtles The creative toy of the year is Badget by Bandai Anyone? Nope, lost Preschool toy of the year Leap Pad by Leapfrog Again?

So we know the preschool one But not the actual kids one Preschool toy of the year, Leap Pad by Leap Frog. Again? Pretty sure they still make these. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So we know the preschool one, but not the actual kids one. And we were kids at the time. Were we, like, a bit young for our age? Yeah, maybe. Or they just had a better ad budget.

I don't know. The electronic game of the year is Bop It's Extreme. Oh, that's a banger of a toy, that. Yeah. I didn't have that, but I did have this, which is a banger of a toy, that. Yeah. I didn't have that, but I did have this, which is the outdoor toy of the year, Swing Ball. Yes!

Oh, Andy, me and you at the... Oh, yeah, we saw Swing Ball. We went to the park last week and we saw a little girl playing with a swing ball. Really? Yeah. Yeah, and I was saying how I used to love it. I used to get it going as fast as I possibly could, like back and forth one way or the other,

and it would invariably end with the ball striking me in the face, and I never learnt my lesson. It was just Darwinism in action, that. The craze of the year is Yu-Gi-Oh! Yep, that sounds really well. The innovative toy of the year is Live Steam Train by Hornby. Oh, great. Never heard of that, but I'd be curious to have a look.

Sounds quite interesting. Hornby Steam Trains are, like, they are, like, popular. Oh, yeah, yeah. I used to work in a toy shop about five, six years after this. It was my first job. And they were the most expensive thing we sold with a super, like, wow, Hornby train set. They were like 500 pounds.

And we got shoplifted once by a guy who, he just, he said, oh, can I take one down to have a look at it? He just walked out, hidden in plain sight, and we all assumed that he paid. So we just got to just walk out with a Hornby train set. we realized half an hour later he didn't pay for that no one charged him so i say we got shoplifted we just let him leave with the most expensive hornby train set in the store and that man's name was rod stewart just on the subject of um yugioh cards yeah um which is it for some reason it's triggered something in my memory of a of an episode from 2005 of um all grown up which is that rugrats

oh god spin-off thing where they have a whole episode where um there's kids playing with you gotta go cards try their own i don't know why this has triggered a really specific thing in my memory but the plot of the episode is the whole school has caught you gotta go fever a role-playing card game except chucky when he finally starts playing it becomes an obsession and he's hired by Angelica, who's been grounded for an excessive phone bill, to do her chores in exchange for more cards, and he becomes overwhelmed by the hopes of finding the rare card called the Red Mirror Dragon.

Aww. Shameless. Oh, my God. Absolutely shameless stuff. Talking about Yu-Gi-Oh! has made me have a random flashback. I left primary school in the summer of 2003, and I went to a school quite far away, so I wasn't with any of my friends.

When I was saying goodbye to one of my best friends in primary school, he was a big Yu-Gi-Oh! fan, and I wasn't really, but he gave me the Blue Eyes card. Oh, Blue Eyes, White Dragon. And he was like, oh, yeah, just take that with you. And I was just like, oh, what a sweet thing. And we did keep in touch. That was a treasured possession

in 2003 as well. It was a big deal to give your friend that. Yeah, it was nice of him. Oh, how sweet. Anyway, Lizzie, sorry to derail that. Yeah, sorry Lizzie. Trip down memory lane. But yeah. Yeah, I mean, we've got two more categories to go. We've got the collectible toy of the year, which is Lord of the Rings. That's all right. Trip down memory lane, but yeah. Yeah, I mean, we've got two more categories to go.

We've got the collectible toy of the year, which is Lord of the Rings. What's the toy aspect of it? I don't know. I'm guessing it's like figurines. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, little collectibles. Yeah. Yeah.

And finally, the toy of the year, which is Beyblades. Again. Two years running. Wow. They're so great I can understand that so yeah it's Beyblades and Yu-Gi-Oh at the moment, they're the big things

yes and Bratz as well mustn't forget Bratz and now video games yeah, any guesses at what's coming in at number one this year? I mean I can't just guess FIFA again You can

GTA, I'm sure there's a GTA this year I don't know which one Is it 3 or San Andres? No, Vice City San Andreas, maybe I will also guess the Return of the King game Or the Two Towers game Because they were both out

Okay Simpsons Hit and Run That came out this year Okay guess the Return of the King game or the Two Towers game because they were both out. Okay. Simpsons Hit and Run. That came out this year. Okay. Let's go. Let's get into it. Alright, well you guessed the Lord of the Rings games. They actually came in at number 12 and number 11 respectively. Oh, bollocks.

Very close though. I'll start with number 10. It is of course FIFA 2003 by EA Sports. Number nine, Simpsons Hit and Run. Oh, we're doing well here. Yeah. Yeah. Number eight, we have iToy Play.

Oh, I had that. Yeah. I didn't. I do not have any recollection of that at all. It was a PS2 game, but it had a camera that could sort of see, the game could sort of sense what you were doing it was a bit like an early wii or an early very early vr i guess like a connect sort of thing yeah yeah you could sort of like there was one where you had to wash windows and there was one where you had to like pick things up and put them in other places

um really kind of basic menial stuff that's all you could do but it was amazing for the time yeah you had to be there number 7 Tom Clancy Splinter Cell oh yeah good game number 6 one I rented

and didn't enjoy Enter the Matrix oh yeah I think we've still got that on the shelf, Enter the Matrix. Oh, yeah. I think we've still got that on the shelf somewhere, Enter the Matrix. Yeah, I think it's had a bit of a cult following over the years, but I wasn't very into it.

At number five, it is Grand Theft Auto Vice City. Ooh, okay. So that means San Andreas is a bit higher than if San Andreas is out. Let's see. We'll see. We'll see. At number four it is The Sims.

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Number three, Medal of Honor, Rising Sun. Another one. At number two, we definitely played this one, Need for Speed Underground. Oh, yes. See,, Need for Speed Underground. Oh, yes.

See, the Need for Speed thing, that lasted long enough for a film to be made involving Aaron Paul. Everybody's forgotten about it. It was like ten years ago. Aaron Paul was in a Need for Speed

film. Wow. The first time you boost it off and you hear get low it's like, yeah. You're in. Now, Andy, last year on our Christmas episode you had a guess

at Pop Idol the game. Oh, you're joking. Is it this year? Well, I'm going to tell you that this year Pop Idol, I'm going to tell you that this year, Pop Idol is number 80, which means that number one is, of course, FIFA 2004. Of course it is. Oh, Lizzie, I'm so good at this.

San Andreas must be next year then. Yeah, San Andreas must be next year then. It is 2004, but I don't know whether it gets number one. We'll see. Oh, I think it will. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Wonderful report as always. We'll see if like, I think now, you know how

we're entering that period of the charts where it's going to be X Factor as Christmas number one basically every year. I wonder if we're also going to get a situation where, like, someone's going to have to beat a FIFA game to number one each year because it's like, oh, another FIFA number one at Christmas, is it? Yeah.

But, yeah. In that sense, this kind of feels like the end of an era because it's the last time, I think, where the Christmas number one isn't either an X Factor song or a charity song. where the Christmas number one isn't either an X Factor song or a charity song. Yes, this is something I'm going to discuss in this episode, actually. It's a thought I've not put down on paper,

but it's a thought I've been having as we've looked ahead to this week. So, like always, we're now going to run down the Christmas top ten, well, the top ten on christmas day for 2003 but instead of going straight into number one we're going to have a bit of a chat about this particular race for christmas number one because i don't know about youtube or anybody listening maybe you will disagree but for me this feels like the last actual race for christmas number one yeah like the last proper where like there's four or five artists who are going for it are all releasing christmas songs or are yeah you know have some kind of marketing campaign behind them where, like you say Lizzie it's not just the X Factor or a charity single

or something in response to the X Factor being number one this was the last one where it felt like anybody could get to number one it was an even playing field yes, and now because of the advent of streaming, it's not quite the same either because

now if mariah carey happens to be first in lots of christmas playlists then she just gets to number one and it's the same with wham and lad baby and whatever so yeah this is a big deal um this is a very big deal so we're going to run down the top 10 well nine of the top 10 and then we're going to have a discussion about it so forgive me again if my impression of generic radio one chart reader doesn't you know doesn't quite suffice but go for it i really want to give it a shot. I'll break out my Tony Blackbird if it gets really desperate. Okay.

At 10, it's a brand new entry for Sugar Babes and Too Lost in You. At 9, it's down 4 for Shane Ritchie and I'm Your Man. A new entry at 8, it's Atomic Kitten with Ladies Night. At 7, down 3 from 4, it's Shut Up by Black Eyed Peas. Number 6, down 2 from 4, it's a former number 1, Leave Right Now by Will Young. Into the top 5, it's a new entry for the Pop Idol finalists,

new entry for the pop idol finalists happy christmas war is over at number four so exciting you might weep proper crimbo by bow selector opening the top three is last week's number one changes by ozzy and kelly osbourne and number two it's a huge new entry for the darkness with Christmas time don't let the bells end but in 2003 it was not quite enough to make it to Christmas number one so there's some songs in here that I have zero recollection of but I also have some songs where I'm sort of like oh that's a shame that didn't get to number one But then I also have songs like I'm Your Man by Shane Ritchie Which I'm so relieved we never had to talk about that

But So Was Crimbo in the Cultural lexicon Before this song Yes Not the phrase proper Crimbo it did coin yeah i was young so i wondered whether crimbo bow selector was a like an invention no no no that existed already

here okay so out of these that didn't get to number one lizzie were you like particularly invested in any any of these songs that didn't quite make it well i was a stupid kid so i wanted proper crimbo to get to number one and i remember listening to this chart actually at my nan's house and i was like oh bloody hell i was like right i guess i'm cheering for the darkness then and then i was like oh bloody hell it's like i just can't win but yeah like do you remember a couple of years ago i think it was 2000 i said that on the christmas charts there was only like two christmas songs and they barely cracked the top 30 and yeah yeah you look outside the top 10 there's loads of them there's like santa's list by cliff richard have a cheeky christmas by

the cheeky girls i love christmas by the fast food rockers christmas is all around by billy mack from oh they released that i didn't know they released that as a single yeah they did it got in the top 30 oh there was also one that didn't quite crack the top 40, Boom Boom slash Christmas Slide by Basil Brush. Oh, no. It's this huge comeback of Christmas songs. I don't know where it's come from, because a couple of years ago, you would have been forgiven for thinking that it was just dead.

Yeah, I think some of them were pitched a bit too early, because Santa's List and Have a Cheeky Christmas both got in the top ten, but were in the top ten last week and so have dropped out because they haven't had the push from first week sales and so they've ended up dropping back out of the top 10 because i think they've just been pitched a bit too early and so when it comes to the actual christmas day chart which is what people will look at they just won't feature like cliff richard and cheeky girls and such being outside the top 10 now true yeah yeah i don't think they ever had a chance anyway because santa's list is awful like really boring and cheeky christmas

is fun but it was never going to get number one so um yeah i don't think they really had a chance but it would have been nice to see them in the proper top ten. So Andy, I think you've mentioned to us before, maybe not on the show, that you also got very much invested in this run for Christmas number one. Yeah, well, this is probably the chart race, not just Christmas, the chart race of all time that I remember the most. By far the one I've got the most memories of and was most invested in. Partly because it was genuinely, as we've all said, a really exciting Christmas chart.

It was the last really great race to Christmas number one where there was no obvious favourite. And there was a lot of discussion on various TV shows and radio shows about which one it might be there was sort i think there was daily updates coming in um and the reason i know all that the reason i was following it so closely well not just because it was really good but um it was a really tough time that was happening um in my family life where my nana who we were all very very close to to she had cancer and she was passing away at this time like gradually and we knew it was like gonna happen in Christmas week and she ultimately ended up dying on Christmas Day and so it was a really sad Christmas for us and I was only 11 years old and I needed an escape basically I am like I couldn't really process what was going on and

because I particularly couldn't process it because Christmas means happiness to a kid, like it's like going to Disneyland and not being happy, it's just not something that your head can compute and so I couldn't really process it so I just doubled down on the Christmas side of things and I had my headphones on all the time listening to the radio and listening to chart stuff and got really overly invested in the Christmas number one race. So I could have told you that top five right off the top of my head without having to look it up. The one I personally wanted to get number one was proper Grimbo, because like Lizzie,

I was also a stupid kid. And I liked the funny one. I wasn't at all happy with the one that did get Christmas number one but I just didn't really enjoy the race for Christmas number one that year and it was, yeah, a kind of personal important thing and I think it shows the power of the charts and it shows the power of music really that it makes you feel part of something

when you might want to escape from other things that it's just, yeah, it's a nice special thing that I've when I've seen this date coming in terms of our episodes. It's something I've wanted to mention because it's like, you know, whenever we've talked about doing this show and looking at what was number one and stuff, my mind always goes to, oh, remember that time I was obsessed with Christmas number one in 2003. So, yeah, it's sort of a defining thing for me with the charts. And like I say, it was the last great Christmas number one race, and that played a part in it as well. But for a variety of reasons, yeah, I just got really, really into this. And it was a very special thing.

So it's been really nice hearing that top ten and talking about them all again because it's quite a long time ago now, 20 years ago. But I still look back on it. I'm able to look back on it fondly to be fair you know because it's all ancient history now and yeah it's a lovely thing yeah i maybe slightly disagree that it's the last great one i think there's obviously the the other one later in the decade but that's for a different reason yeah yeah it's a different kind of context yeah Well, I have mixed feelings about that because I feel like it was more stage managed than anyone let on at the time.

But yeah, in terms of like Rob said, anyone could do it. Like anything could get Christmas number one. I think this was the last great one where no one knew what it was going to be. And there was like five clear contenders. Yeah, this is like 1973 or something where you've just got all of these

like classic Christmas songs all just like there yeah it does feel like a 70s top of the pops renaissance actually with the nature of this top 10 and just with the amount of people that were putting singles

out for christmas um i think maybe there's a think piece in this maybe there's an article about it why why 2003 i think in retrospect it's really shocking that the darkness didn't get it that just seems like the stars aligned for it like it's a cracking christmas song the darkness were really popular at the time and they've got that 70s glam vibe Which we in Britain associate with Christmas music Just why did that not get it? How did it not manage it?

It's a huge, huge shock That that doesn't get there, I think I wonder if it's like the Wogan effect Where if something gets played on the radio a lot It will just get bought up by people. Maybe, yeah. Well, there was a bit of a push for the Christmas number one that we're about to discuss as the alternative Christmas number one,

where it was like, oh, don't buy what everyone else is buying, buy the cool song instead, because it got a bit of a push from alternative radio stations and stuff so I think we should get in and discuss the Christmas number one

for 2003 which we will play in full as we always do so the Christmas number one for 2003 was this. me are familiar faces worn out places worn out faces bright and early for their daily races going nowhere going nowhere their tears are filling up their glasses No expression, no expression Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow No tomorrow, no tomorrow And I find it kinda funny, I find it kind of funny

I find it kind of sad The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take When people run in circles

it's a very, very mad world When people run in circles it's a very, very Mad world Mad world Children waiting for the day they feel good Happy birthday, happy birthday And I feel the way that every child should Sit and listen, sit and listen

Went to school and I was very nervous No one knew me, no one knew me Hello teacher, tell me what's my lesson Look right through me, look right through me And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take The people run in circles, it's a very, very

Mad world a very very mad world mad world enlarging your world okay this is Mad World by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules released as the only single from the Donnie Darko film soundtrack and as the only single from Gary Jules' second studio album titled Selling Snake Oil for Wolf Tickets, Mad World is the first single to be released by either Michael Andrews or Gary Jules in the UK. It is the first and only single by either of them to get to number one. The song

is a cover of the song originally performed by Tears for Fears which reached number three in the UK in 1982. Mad World was originally recorded and released in 2001 but was not released as an official single until 2003. The song went straight in at number one as a brand new entry knocking Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne off the top of the charts. It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week at number one, when it became Christmas number one, it sold 228,000 copies, beating competition from the songs that you heard earlier. In its second week at the top it sold 167,000 copies in a week where there were no new entries to the top 40 and in its third and final week at the top it sold 46,000 copies beating competition from This Groove by Victoria

Beckham which got to number three, Bring It On by Alistair Griffin which got to number five and I Won't Change You by Sophie Ellis-Bexter which got to number nine. When it was knocked off the top of the charts Mad World dropped one place to number two. It then initially left the charts in April 2004 but re-entered the charts again in 2004 for a second time. 2007, 2010 and 2012. The song was certified platinum in the UK

in January 2004. So it beat The Darkness to number one. So Andy have you forgiven it over time? It also beat Vogue Selecta to number one Andy, have you forgiven it over time? It also beat Vote Selected to number one. But have you forgiven it over time?

I have because, you know, the great thing about the charts is that it's never really an injustice because the people get what they buy. The people get what they voted for as number one. So, you know, fine. I can accept the result. I don't hold a grudge against it. At the time when I listened to the song and knew it was in the running for number one,

and especially when it got number one, my reaction was kind of like, what, really? This is fine, but I don't get it, to be honest. I don't get the fuss. And my feelings haven't changed, I'm afraid. That's still how I feel about this song. I don't dislike the fuss and my feelings haven't changed I'm afraid. That's still how I feel about this song. I don't dislike it, I want to make that clear that I actually think it's all right, it's decent, it's a very imaginative cover of a very different original

song from Tears for Fears but I much prefer the Tears for Fears version and this is I kind of get what it's going for and I know that it's more up your street Rob um than mine in terms of like the kind of tone that it's going for and what its reinterpretation of the lyrics mean um but I just find it bland I just I just think it's a little bit insipid and dull to be honest, and not at all appropriate for Christmas. And okay, if it's people, you know, going for the kind of alternative choice instead of the darkness, then that's fine. But what I want from Christmas is just a proper nice big bop. I'm uncomplicated in my Christmas tastes. And this sort of stands out to me as like, oh, no, no, no, no. This is not the sort of thing I want at number one at Christmas.

Yeah, and even aside from the Christmas thing, just as a song, it's just not something I would ever really choose to sit and listen to. Like, again, it's not that I dislike it. It's just sort of beige. I think that it needs more development throughout. It's too thin. It's too quiet. I think that it needs more development throughout it's too thin, it's too quiet I do like

the sort of fading mad world bit at the end where it gets a little bit bigger and there's some reverb on the voices and I do like that kind of sense of space that it feels like it's being sung in a massive empty room but those are kind of my only things that I find sort of cool

about it I've not seen Donnie Darko, and that might make a difference. Maybe it's better in context, and maybe I would get the fuss about it then. Like I say, it's fine. It's not like my least favourite Christmas number one that we've had so far, and there's plenty worse to come. But it's not for me. Not for me, this one, really.

It's just bland. Yeah. Yeah, I don't love this. Admittedly, like, I think it's better than both Mandy and Changes from last week. And I'll admit that I haven't seen Donnie Darko, so I don't have that additional context to go off. But yeah, overall, like you, Andy, I just found this to be a bit of a chore to listen to after some time with it this week.

I think my biggest problem with this is probably, is it Gary Jules is singing on this? Yeah. Yeah, I just find his voice a little bit too simpering and not really strong enough to hold my attention for the song's runtime. So much so that I almost want to drown him out so we can hear a bit more of the instrumental but it's still just there it's right at the forefront you can't really ignore it and like there's a similarly sparse piano ballad coming up in 2004 which I like a lot more than this purely because to me the performance of that song is much more memorable and affecting and I also think of things like I don't know Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap I

think it is possible to strip everything back and still have something that's engaging and emotional but I just this doesn't really do that for me. You've got the very minimal production on here and while I'll admit that there are a few nice touches here and there I can't help but compare this to the Tears for Fears original and find this to be quite dull in comparison because that original is so much more exciting and vivid, but also tense and anxiety-inducing, which is a quality common among those big 80s Cold War pop hits. Like, this sits comfortably next to, you know, 99 Red Balloons and Two Tribes, songs which are at once

thematically tied to that period but also terminally present and like if i was being really unfair i'd accuse this of being patient zero for the trend of 80s and 90s pop songs being stripped down to the bare minimum and slapped onto adverts and trailers to you know emphasize the emphasise the seriousness of it all. Like, sure, they didn't make this song with that intention, but the use of this in the Gears of War trailer in 2006 is considered by quite a few people to be the start of something they call trailerisation. And that effect clearly isn't their fault,

but it does make it a lot harder to look at this song without being reminded of a decade's worth of this exact sort of thing being put out by unimaginative ad execs and movie industry types and even when I do manage to look past that I still just find this this doesn't move me all that much nor does it excite or nerve me in the way that the original does which is a shame like yeah I'll say that we've covered much worse recently but yeah this one isn't one I can see myself going back to very often I think you've got a real shout there about the sort of John Lewis Christmas music, that this is the genesis point for that.

I think that's a really good shout, that we are a good five or six years away from that starting, but this is probably what they were going for. And definitely that trailerisation of songs, 100%. It's such a cliche now that um I always just laugh at it when I see it one of my favorites recently was when I saw the trailer for John Wick 4 and that did the solemn piano thing with seasons in the sun and it just didn't work at all it was laughable apparently the film's really good but that was a laughable trailer um yeah I think you've

got a real shout with that yeah I'm trying to think of like the most unsuitable 80s song that you could do like I'm gonna do do do everybody's doing the crap oh god oh god he just brought that back

into my mind you can dance if you want to you can keep your friends behind Oh, God. Oh, God, he just brought that back into my mind. You can dance if you want to. You can leave your friends behind. Your friends behind. Come on, Eileen. The other one, Lizzie, that I was sort of thinking of was Disturbed doing the Sound of Silence for Gears of War. Oh, Jesus.

That's another prominent example of this trailerisation if you will well this is an odd one it's rare that I think we disagree on this show I think we all generally have similar-ish opinions

about various songs I can think of times where we've disagreed like Rolling for example where that was disagreed like rolling for example where that was vaulted and also pie hold and stuff like that but yeah so this could make for an interesting next few minutes if you couldn't tell everyone who's listening my feelings about this are sort of at the other end of the spectrum to Lizzy and Andy. Like, I don't think this is, like, one of my favourite songs ever or anything like that, but... So,

to talk about the original for a second, the Tears for Fears version, I love the Tears for Fears version. I think if we were discussing that, I'd just say I'm putting it in the vault right now, and then whatever I said afterwards would be relatively immaterial you know like you were saying Lizzie it was written during a particularly fraught period of the cold war and you can really feel it in those icy

synths and the juddery arrangement and the sudden switches in atmosphere I think it has a distinctly British sense of paranoia of that era as well the kind of listlessness and disaffection amongst the youth that is so prominent in the pop music of uh margaret thatcher's like first term it also kind of reminds me of things like ghost town just like you know that kind of yeah like do nothing as well yeah yeah it's like you know that kind of windy kind of cold soundscape that um ghost town

opens with yeah yeah and just the general sense of like eeriness that kind of hangs over it and i think that mad world has the same feel. And like you were saying, Two Tribes, those kinds of songs from around that period really, really stick out. Because I think that the original is written, you know, within the context of kids growing up in a world where they weren't sure if they were going to see tomorrow before it was blown up. You know, like, because, I mean,

I speak to my parents about it sometimes and i think you know history has kind of not erased it but you know because nothing really happened with the cold war it was like oh what was all that fuss about but the threat of nuclear armageddon was was pretty real like you know it was always it was an ever-present thing and i think people who didn't grow up in that generation like myself you know we've had to be told this and we have to pick it i mean like the of all the horror films i've seen down the years none of them have ever scared me more than threads same threads is the scariest film i have ever seen it really is i wish i'd never watched it nightmarish horrible it's horrible really really fantastic movie and like there's so

much that is so closely aesthetically tied with that film and that era and mad world slots really nicely into that i think it's a great great track um so with that in mind i think what i really appreciate about the gary jules and michael andrews version is that it transposes that kind of British Cold War paranoia and puts it in the context of American middle-class suburban paranoia in the late 1990s which has a different kind of listlessness and apathy and paranoia living underneath it you know like where the UK 1980s paranoia of Tears for Fears was this kind of harsh, immediate thing brought on by the threat of nuclear weapons, the paranoia underneath the late 90s, early 2000s, American middle class suburban thing is a kind of opioid-dazed paranoia

that seeps through very slowly, this kind of general eerie feeling that something isn't quite right um like obviously as everybody knows mad world was on the soundtrack to donnie darko so a lot of the aesthetics and images from that film um they come into my mind and so my opinion of mad world is informed by its relationship with that movie, because the thing about Donnie Darko is that obviously everybody remembers it for the rabbit costume, and for the voices, and for the weird thing with the plane, and the time loop thing, and you know, like, the sort of, like, the kind of juvenile perspective that it has, like the the sort of like the the kind of juvenile perspective that it has is like what if that obnoxious mouthy know-it-all kid in your class at school was actually jesus on a sacrificial mission

to save the universe you know because the whole thing is like donnie darko has to accept that he needs to sacrifice himself in order to reset the universe and send it back to where it was and all of that to kind of reverse the events of the film and the whole thing is kind of like a coming of age sci-fi thing but i think watching it really recently just in preparation for this i think what it's really about is trying to explain why american teenagers in the 90s were so the way they were, and why things like Columbine and Woodstock 99 happened, why, like, apathetic and bored teenagers do the crazy shit that they do,

but also why adults were kind of bored of themselves and scared of their children. Because I think that there are a lot of texts from the 90s that observe the the shadows of suburbia and of the darkness and the unhappiness and the dissatisfaction that resides behind all the white picket fences and the bright smiles and the ostensibly idyllic existences that play out away from all the chaos of the big cities, you know, everybody's got a perfect lawn, and everybody's got sprinklers, and big custom-built houses that are like 60 years old, and they've got like, you know, wings to the house, you know, because the doorways are central, and the stairway goes up to six bedrooms,

and they've got three kitchens and a massive garden because that's what american houses are like because by january 2001 which is when donnie darko was originally released uh at film festivals and when its soundtrack was originally recorded america had gone so long without being invaded as a as, you know, like, or like having wars fought on its own soil, and without ever needing to assemble an army en masse in panic, you know, like, the idea of joining the army was like a voluntary thing that you could do, and obviously there's loads of propaganda that goes towards making sure that the numbers stay up but a lot of the wars that america fought between well in modern history have all been fought in the east they've all been fought in you know like what i mean

obviously like you know the cuban missile crisis like that's a long time ago now and even vietnam is beginning to fade into the rearview mirror and so I think America at large started to wonder whether the threat and discontent that they still felt for some reason because teenagers were still unhappy and adults still felt like they lacked a purpose despite all the heaps of social change that had occurred over the years, I think they started to wonder whether, like, the threat and the discontent was coming from within. And so, like, you know, it's like the calls coming from inside the house sort of thing, where it's like, you know,

the American middle classes and the religious right, they point at violent video games or extreme music or drugs or the satanic panic. And you start to get films like Donnie Darko, but also films like The Virgin Suicides and Ghost World and American Beauty and Fargo. And to an extent, Starship Troopers, which is a future hyper-parodical look at that whole thing. a future hyper-parodical look at that whole thing, and things like The Blair Witch Project, which is about urban legends and darkness lurking in woods behind so many towns and historic villages in America.

And you get TV shows like Twin Peaks and The X-Files, which work to interrogate and shine a light on the mysteries and the evil that sort of lingers in the oxycodone induced haze of the american middle classes and it's about the you know all these texts that are really about the slow death of white american exceptionalism and it all starts to feel a bit like one big adam curtis documentary and i always think about that line um bright and early for the daily races, going nowhere. And I think that position in history is where the Gary Jules version of Mad Men is written from. This kind of complacent, but uncomfortable, everyday, convenienced, but unhappy, you know, of having roughly the same

day repeat over and over, but with this sense that every repeated day brings society at large and you yourself closer to downfall of whatever downfall that may be this sense of degradation um and i think this really emerges through that slightly dazed uncomfortable piano arrangement and i love the delicate quiver of panic in gary jules's voice um this this sense that the way that he performs the lyrics feel like they suit this context really really really well because on all he's really done is kind of stripped away all of the harsh, icy coldness from the original Mad World. And instead he's added in, with Michael Andrews as well, these ambient soundscapes, especially towards the end where he says the word Mad World and it kind of echoes around him,

but not in a way where it's like, Mad mad world or anything like that it's when he says mad world it's like this this cloud of dust just kind of emanates from mad world and it also happens where he sings the lines like enlarging your world towards the end um and the way the words kind of twist and mutate um really really uncomfortable um compositionally i can see why like you andy this would leave people feeling a bit bereft because you know it is very minimal and the development is it's restrained i think and so like if you don't buy into the atmosphere and the aesthetics of the song then the arrangement isn't going to leave much to chew on because I feel like the the the actual substance of the song it comes through in the music's relationship with the aesthetics and

it's surrounding you know it's like you know, it's sort of like surrounding aura, if you will, but in the end, it is just the guy with a piano, and if you're not into that vibe, then it's not going to pull you in, because I don't think it tries to necessarily do that, it just kind of, it just sort of goes along and does its thing and if you're not into its thing then it there isn't going to be a moment in the song halfway through that's going to make you go ah now i see where you're going with this because like you know and i don't think it's the case of like once you've listened to the first minute you've heard it all i do think there are little tricks down the road but there's no sudden gear shift that would make you go wow i think about this totally differently now um and i also can see why people would feel the same way about this

as i do whenever gary lightbody opens his mouth which is just like oh he's doing his thing again isn't he well like he has that one voice and he uses it for everything he does. And oh well. And it's like if you're not into that, then you never... If you don't like a couple of Snow Patrol songs, it's like, well, they all sound like that. They do their thing. So it's like if you're not into the first minute of this, it's like, well, it's not changing. engine. I only found out recently this week that there is an alternative version which kind of has 90s down-tempo trip-hoppy drums behind it the whole time and I don't get that really. I prefer the version that was released as a single but I think despite its slight shortcomings I think

this captures that unease that lies at the heart of the american middle class existence at the point right before 9-11 which kind of smashed all the middle classes back into attack mode and gave them a focus and a focal point miles away from the cities you know like it still restored some order where like i think if you watch something like fahrenheit 9-11 the michael moore documentary where it's like there are people who are millions and millions of well not millions of miles away but you know like hundreds of miles away from big cities because america is so spaced out and so it sprawls so far that there were people in small villages in backwater towns in the sticks who were worried that they were going to be the

victim of terrorist attacks it was like you know that that was the sudden shift from like kind of drifting through life a little bit oh all the wars are happening somewhere else to then suddenly like bam like you know all of a sudden there's a disaster movie happening in new york and we can't think about life in the same way that we used to you know 9-11 kind of changed everything um which I find kind of ironic because apologies for the spoilers but the film is over 20 years old Donnie Darko begins with a plane smashing into a building or part of a plane anyway which I find kind of ironic but um yeah I don't like I don't think that this is like absolutely amazing

but I think that it's shortcomings are more than made up for by the feeling that it gives me and so I guess you two are either of you going to piehole this maybe I don't know probably not this maybe

I don't know probably not actually probably not going to pie hole it no me neither just only because we've seen that there's been worse and also like the trailerisation thing I can't really blame them

for it it's just an unfortunate side effect yeah you can only view it through your perspective and stuff and that's completely, I totally get where you're coming from and I agree, to be honest I really like I really applaud

all of your points there, to be honest Rob I don't quite agree just because I just think it doesn't land with me as strongly as it does with you so although I agree to a large extent with what you're saying it just doesn't like capture me as much as it has with you but you know

I very much respect your opinion on it and certainly when you know expressed with that level of conviction yeah so I'm definitely feeling kinder towards it than I was. So to that extent, somewhat mission accomplished. So yeah. Well, I would say the same to you two as well,

because as much as I don't agree either, I totally see why you could just turn this on and be like, because the way I'm talking about it, it feels like it needs all of this extracurricular extra textual context for me to appreciate it the way that i do which could be a criticism of the song itself yeah and i i do think it kind of does need that like i don't really think there's any getting away from that and i would i would put that as a criticism um i kind of question whether it would have that as a criticism I kind of question

whether it would have landed as hard with you if not for Donnie Darko which again I would count as a criticism To be honest I only watched Donnie Darko like a week ago for the first time just in preparation for this but

I think that I already liked this a lot anyway because i remember years ago speaking with my dad about this and obviously he's old enough to remember the original and i remember us having a conversation where it was like the lyrics of the original version we we were really impressed with how the the lyrics of the original had been transposed over to this new atmosphere without really feeling like they were out of place. We were both struck by it. Years after this,

I can't remember why we were talking about it. I remember being at least 20 when I was discussing this with my dad. So it's happened within the last 10 years. But yeah, it's one of those where like before this week i was gonna come on and talk about like you know how i appreciated that it took the the lyrics and vague melodies of the original and then applied them to a totally new context i always feel the same about comfortably numb by scissor sisters where it's

like you know that's a great cover yeah it's a really really great reimagination of a song from years gone by and i feel the same way um about this but i also agree with you two in the sense that like if you're not like you know if it doesn't have that extra textual thing for me i it would be stood on the edge but would not make it into the vault but i am gonna put it in so do we have any further thoughts on mad world just one more thing from me because i do find it very interesting that a lot of your analysis rob is about american suburban life and and how this sort of plays into it but this didn't really do all that much in america it was big in europe i find it so interesting yeah um and the fact that as well that when it was originally released everyone was just sort of like oh okay i mean

to be honest as well donnie darko as well it bombed it did at the box office it made like no money it was only through dvd sales and word of mouth yeah definition of a cult classic yeah yes and this like insane online fandom i did not know the extent of the online fandom that this film has but oh my god there are entire websites dedicated to just like the book in the film that they read to explain the theory of the time travel in it and then there's like a director's cut where like the book becomes more important and now everything's explained on wiki pages and fandom wiki pages and things like that and i just i was staggered looking at you know like after watching the film last week and sort of looking it up on the Internet and stuff.

And apparently, yeah, through DVD sales, there was a bigger push for this song to be released. And so it was like this song that plays at the end of the film when everybody's waking up from the dream. Like, you know, is that like going to be released as a single or anything? And then eventually, you know, they got word of it, the label bosses and whatnot, and they were like, ah, yeah, let's give this a go and see how it does, and it does really well in lots of places and not so well in others.

Yeah, fair. Okay, so it's time for a new feature on Hits 21. It is Born to Runner Up, where we've decided if you probably didn't notice we've decided to

refine our order for the Christmas episodes because I think to be honest we were sort of listening back to our Christmas episodes and we were sort of like we talk about the year that's just gone and we're like just repeating points that we've said already

so um we thought we'd cut that bit because you already kind of know how we feel about 2003 and add in this new section uh based on a simpsons joke it wouldn't be hits 21 without a simpsons reference now would it um andy you've taken the lead on organizing this i don't know if you want to tell everybody what Born to Runner Up is Yes, so It wasn't me who came up with the original idea I think it was something we came up with between us Where we decided, because we always kind of moan and groan

At the stuff that got beat to number one We thought, what if we look at all of the number two songs For this year And instead of doing the crazy thing of launching a second podcast called It's 21 Mark 2, where we look at every single number two. We thought, no, we're not going to do that. We thought we will just recognize one number two single that gets our Born to Runner Up trophy that we never quite got to discuss on the program but deserves recognition and so what we did was um i took your votes and my own votes privately for every song that got number two this year i asked for your top five top ten whatever you like number two singles from this year i have tabulated the votes and it's come out like this. Rob and Lizzie don't

know this, by the way. This is a genuine surprise for them. So, in fifth place is Pretty Green Eyes by Ultra Beat. Aww. In a shared second, third and fourth place, so we have a three-way tie between

Scandalous by Mystique, I Believe in a Thing Called Love by The Darkness, and Danger High Voltage by Electric Six. Okay. I adore Danger High Voltage. I'm glad that name's in there. But actually, number one really, really ran away with it. All three of us named it as our favourite of the year.

The Born to Run a Rock Trophy 2003 goes to Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake. Yes! Which we all absolutely loved. So yes, the first of an annual tradition there, hopefully. Well done, Justin Timberlake. We've never quite

managed to cover you on the show, but there's a little bit of recognition. Yeah. Well, Andy, we're going to stay with you, actually, because now it is time to do the bit that I think everybody looks forward to, which is to name our bottom five songs of the year and our top ten songs of the year, and we crown a new winner for song of the year.

So, first of all, we have to get the negatives out of the way. The bottom five songs of 2003 that we have covered on this podcast, what are they? Yeah, so our fifth worst song of the year, I actually think this is a bit of a shock. I think it's really harsh. Our fifth worst

song of the year is Stop Living the Lie by David Sneddon. I didn't think it was that bad. I liked it. I think the worst thing I felt about it was it was boring, but as I thought that about Mad World. Well, it got an average score

of 5.3, which is not that bad. I wouldn't have seen it in the bottom five in most of the years. Wow, a score of over half being in the bottom five has been a good year. Yeah, a score of over half being in the bottom five has been a good year. Yeah, it's been a very strong year. Well, it's a big drop down from there

because the next one got an average score of 4.0 between all three of us. We all gave it a four, and it's Spirit in the Sky by Gareth Gates and the QMars. That was rubbish. At number three, with an average score of 3.7, and put in the pie hole by me, but not Robin Lizzie, it's Never Gonna Leave Your Side by Daniel Bedingfield.

Rubbish. Yeah. Our second worst song of the year, with an average score of 3.2, and put in the pie hole by all three of us, it's Mandy by Westlife. I love how this is just like such a race to the bottom now. Yeah.

No surprises for guessing what is our worst song of the year. It's a big drop, though, with an average score of 2.3. All three of us, and all put in the pie hole the worst song of the year is of course Changes by Kelly and Ozzy Osbourne of course

absolute rubbish yeah getting in just at the end what a load of shite so we have to look thankfully now at the opposite end of that table and we're gonna do our top 10 songs of the year our 10 favorite number ones and i think the competition is gonna be high this year i think the number one is pretty obvious if anybody's been really

paying attention but i think that like that i think there were some songs that are going to miss out on the top 10 it's cruel I think so take it away well some of the songs that have missed the top 10 an honourable mention to Hole in the Head by Sugar Babes which got number 11 Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

Where is the Love, Black Eyed Peas they all missed the top 10 and we liked all of them on the whole so yeah, our tenth highest rated song of the year with an average score of 7.5 is Leave Right Now by Will Young

Oh he got in! Just squeaked in the end Excellent stuff, good Our ninth highest rated song of the year again with an average score of 7.5 but it's higher because me and Rob put this in the vault it is Crash the Wedding

by Busted I'm quite pleased about that actually at number 8 with an average score of 7.7 and put in the vault by no one, actually, is Are You Ready for Love by Elton John.

Actually, that's not true. I put that in the vault, but Are You Ready for Love by Elton John. Aw. That's appropriate as well. You saw him this week, didn't you? I did. He didn't do that, unfortunately,

but he has a lot of hits. Really? Yeah. He did both the other number one that he's had in the 21st century one of which was Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word and sadly not featuring Blue and the other one

which we'll get around to at some point anyway at number 7 on this year's chart Put In The Vault by Rob and Lizzie but not by me, average score of 7.7 it's Loneliness by Tom Craft celebrated because I celebrated afterwards average score of 7.7 it's Loneliness by Tom Craft hell yeah

celebrated afterwards by me finding it on 12inch in a charity shop so this is where it starts to get quite tight not much separating the rest of these and number 6 with an average score of 8.2 and put in the vault by all three of us

it's Be Faithful by Fat Man Scoop featuring the Gugly Clan and if you don't like it then all the chicken heads be quiet into our top five at number five for the year with an average score of 8.3

put in the vault by Rob and Lizzie it's Breathe by Blue Cantrell featuring Sean Paul. Nice high placement for that one. Yeah. And I'm quite surprised, but happily surprised that this one made it so high at number 4

with an average score of 8.7, put in the vault by Rob and Lizzie. It's Slow by Kylie Minogue. Aww. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Alright then. Happy with this so far. Put in the Vault by Rob and Lizzy It's Slow by Kylie Minogue Aww Good, yeah, alright then Happy with this so far It's our top three, all three of these were Put in the Vault by all three of us

We all absolutely loved all of these songs Wow, stacked And I think we all called at the start of the year That it was going to be these three Were going to be our top three Just what order they were going to take So with an average score of 8.7, but put in

the vault by all three of us, which puts it ahead of Kylie At number three it's Bring Me To Life by Evanescence Yes! Oh my god, I'm so glad that got in the top three Yeah And at number two, with an average score of 9.3

really it would have won any other year with an average score of 9.3 it's Crazy in Love by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z god that is I mean it's good but it's also heartbreaking because I'm looking ahead to future years and I think both of

Beyonce and Evanescence would have won in future years that we're going to get to. Even Kylie might have done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there was really no competition. The number one could not possibly have been beaten because it had an average score of 10. All three of us gave it a perfect 10,

the very first song to ever achieve that on this podcast so i'm bringing on an imaginary um version of the sugar babes to hand over the trophy this year this year thanks girls this year's 21 record of the year our favorite song of the year goes to All The Things She Said by Tattoo. Yay! Yes! Absolutely incredible, seismic piece of pop music, which we all talked about at length how fantastic it was, but I'm particularly happy to see it there.

It needs so much to be that song. It's an incredible, incredible song. So yes, Tattoo takes the crown for this year, just to point out that once again still, four years in every song that's won our record of the year has been entirely by female artists and

it's our third out of four by a girl group, actually that's been at the top and yeah great, great chart this year year what a top 10 that was really really strong yeah so well done to everyone yeah you couldn't accuse us of uh being anti-pop could you with uh three girl groups of uh having our favorite songs of each year wonderful well um that's it for this week's episode, and that's it for 2003.

Thank you so much for listening as we've covered the year. When we come back, we'll actually have a little bonus episode for you next time, because 2003 marked the end of an era in British pop when S Club 7, S Club, called it a day. when S Club 7, S Club, called it a day. And so to mark that occasion in 2003, and also as well to give our own little tribute to Paul, we are going to be watching and covering Miami 7 as a little special bonus episode for you. I'm going to sit down and watch all episodes of it just for the first time since I was a kid. I'm going to sit down and watch all episodes of it just to

like for the first time since I was a kid like I haven't watched them recently and we're just going to sit and discuss them and have a laugh and also the week that we recorded this podcast was also the final episode of Succession and I'm pretty sure Lizzie that one of the writers

from Succession made their start on Miamiami 7 no yes they did which i actually found out in an article by a writer called robert oliver you may have heard and i only included that in the article because you told me so yes um yeah so it felt like a perfect time to do it when we get back to covering the charts we're going to be covering the period between the 1st of January and the 21st of February 2004

I should say that for the first two weeks of 2004 Gary Jules was still at number one so technically we'll be starting from mid January but in terms of the news that we'll be covering and the films and all of that stuff, we just consider 2004 a fresh start.

So thank you very much for listening to all our 2003 episodes. We'll see you first in Miami and then in 2004. See you there. See you.