Hits 21 - 2007 (6): The Race for Christmas Number 1

Episode Date: March 24, 2024

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] Vault: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5O5MHJUIQIUuf0Jv0Peb3C?si=e4057fb450f648b0 Piehole: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2FmWkwasjtq5UkjKqZLcl4

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do Hi there everyone, welcome back to Hits21 where me, Rob, me, Andy. And me, Lizzy. Or 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, you can just send it on over to hits21podcast at gmail.com Thank you so much for joining us again, and thank you for waiting while I was away We are currently looking back at the year 2007 but this week will be covering the race for Christmas number one in 2007 and we'll be taking a look back at the year

But before we look back at the year. But before we look back at the year, we just have to focus on a little period at the end of December and it's time for some news and pop culture headlines from around the time that the race for Christmas number one was going on. So in the news at this time, one man dies after a tiger escapes from an enclosure in a San Francisco zoo. Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is shot and killed along with 22 other people when a suicide gunman attacks an election rally.

Hundreds of people are killed during riots following the 2007 elections in Kenya. In slightly better news, Michael Parkinson and Kylie Minogue are included in the New Year's Honours list. In pop culture and TV and such like, boxer Joe Calzaghe wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Former Mystique member Alicia Dixon wins the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing and subsequently replaces Arlene Phillips as a judge on the show. Christopher Begins wins the 7th series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and most

crucially for this episode, Leon Jackson wins the 4th series of The X Factor beating Rydian in the final. Do we have any album stuff to round out the year? No it's still Spirit at number one by Leona Lewis which went to number one in November and stays there until January. Lizzy you tend to give us a year review from the US at this time so what have we got? First up the US Christmas number one single for 2007 which is No One by Alicia Keys. Oh god. Yeah. It spent five weeks at number one at the end of 2007 and was her third US number one single where it was eventually certified nine times platinum. Here in the

UK it peaked at number six while Bleeding Love was at number 1. Time for some end of year admin. First up, the best performing album of 2007 in the US was Daughtry by Daughtry, the band formed by American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry. It spent 2 weeks at number 1 in the US and was certified 6 times platinum, but it only got to number 13 in the UK. Lastly from me we have the year-end hot 100 singles. Any guesses at this year's number one? It's an artist we've covered on the podcast in 2007, I'll give you a hint. I will have a guess at... is it Beautiful Liar perhaps? I will go with Rihanna having a similar dominant period in the US as she did in the UK. Okay, alright

let's have a look then. So at number 10 we have Glamorous by Fergie featuring Ludicrous. Number 9 Say It Right by Nelly Furtado another great song. Yeah good start. At number 8 Not So Great Song I Wanna Love You by Akon featuring Snoop Dogg. Yeah. And at number 7 Hey There Delilah by Plain White Tees. I know a couple of you like it. I don't. I kind of like it. I just kind of look back and roll my eyes at it now.

In at number six is Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood. I've never heard of that. I mean, my partner's a big fan, but also Carrie Underwood won American Idol, didn't she? And I followed her season, her and Bo Bice in the final One of the members of the karaoke team that Rob and I are in quite often sings before he cheats So I've heard that a few times. Yeah. Oh Okay. Yeah. Well, I don't know if you've heard this on the karaoke league

And at number five is buy you a drink shorty snapping by T fame featuring young jock Shorty Snapping by T-Fame featuring Young Jock. Funnily enough, no. At number four, it's Fergie again with Big Girls Don't Cry. Ooh, big game for Fergie. Number three is The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani. So, top two. At number two is Rihanna with Umbrella featuring Jay-Z. Ooh! Brianna with Umbrella featuring Jay-Z. Ooh. Which means the number one is Beyonce with Irreplaceable.

Oh no. Of course. I mean, not Oh No, but it's a good song, just Oh No because I hit the post. So that's my ear in the mask. Well excellent, thank you very much and we look forward to the 2008 review in a few episodes time. Andy, Christmas TV, how are we looking?

Yes, sit yourself in front at the telly, stick kettle on love, I'm gasping. I'm going to stop doing that voice now. There's some really classic Christmas TV this season, certainly a lot of rubbish as usual, that's become part of the course really, but there's also some real sort of Christmas titans and big classic things that are on this year. So BBC anchors it's Christmas Day evening with two really big events. First of all it's the now traditional Doctor Who Christmas special but this is a big one this year it's titled Voyage of the Damned it's a sort of sci-fi spin on Titanic and playing the role of companion for one episode only is none other than Kylie Flippin' Monogue.

Definitely the biggest guest star the Doctor Who's ever had and this it would have been a big deal no matter what obviously but this was also one of the very first things that Kylie did after returning to her career after recovering from cancer which created even more hype around it and it also was sort of unofficially tied into her then current single, Two Hearts, because the doctor has two hearts. It was a sort of unofficial lead in there. Yeah. So all of that meant there was a big promo campaign around it.

And it was the highest rated episode of the modern era for Doctor Who, with 13 million people watching on Christmas night. But despite all of that, it's not even the highest rated program of the day. Over on ITV, a lot of the primetime fare of the era gets a Christmas special, so some of these, I mean you'll remember all of them probably, this is kind of what it's like in this era on ITV. Some of them kind of cult classics, some of them best forgotten. Harry Hill's TV burp gets a big long Christmas special. Used to really like that show actually. Yeah me too. Yeah. Yeah. As does All Stars Family

Fortunes and Heartbeat. We get an hour of Heartbeat at Christmas. Different times. Different times. Not my jam but you do you, ITV. There's also a bit of an oddity called Lights Camera the Queen which goes behind, I know yeah, which goes behind the scenes of the Queen's Christmas message and somehow rings a full hour out of that topic. Amazing really. And even though that's quite a big deal to get a documentary about the Queen on Christmas Day, the BBC nearly blew that out of the water with that Doctor Who episode again because the Queen was in negotiations to make a cameo in that episode. She's a big fan of Doctor Who, well she was a big fan of Doctor Who and was nearly in it but it fell through at the last second. Yeah so away from that so the BBC for its movies for its movie premiere I say

movies because it takes the unusual step of doing not one but two animated movie premieres back to back on Christmas Day. Finding Nemo and Shrek 2 both get their first airing on British TV, while ITV puts up the Polar Express against them, sort of sandwiched in the middle. So of those three, what's this year's winner do we think? Finding Nemo, Shrek 2, Polar Express, who's the winner? I want to say Shrek 2 because I have a feeling that they usually schedule that after the Queen's speech. Yeah.

That was... Finding Nemo was the one directly after the Queen's speech. Oh, okay. Fair enough. Shrek 2 did get the highest ratings. In terms of what's the best... Oh, difficult to decide. I do love Shrek 2 but Finding Nemo is lovely.

Yeah. I think they're just... I think in terms of my preferences, they just go in order of how you said them really finding Nemo is one of my favorite films of all time Shrek 2 is a worthy sequel to another one of my favorite films of all time and then there's the Polar Express which has freaked me out since the first day I saw it and I hate it. The Polar Express is a film it's a creepy film creepy film yeah so I still haven't mentioned what the highest rating of the year was not just of of the day, of the year. And it happened in Soapland,

specifically EastEnders. It aired one of its most famous episodes ever on Christmas night. It's the episode where Stacey Slater's affair with her father-in-law Max is revealed on video in front of their entire family on Christmas day. It's one of the show's most iconic scenes and it got an unbelievable 15 million viewers on the night. On Corrie, the main storyline sees teacher John Stape's affair with his student, Rosie Webster, discovered, leading to a brawl in the street between Stape and Kevin Webster. And on Emmerdale, it's revealed that missing character Rosemary is alive and well, ending the police investigation into her disappearance.

The Queen's Christmas Message marked 50 years since the first one, so it paid tribute to that, and also spoke about the importance of family supporting each other through hardship, noting that Jesus himself had a bit of a rough start. Of course institutional poverty and poor life chances being something the Queen can surely relate to. And finally, the alternative Christmas message is delivered by Major Andrew Stockton, a British soldier who lost his arm fighting in Afghanistan. So that's your lot this year. Kylie defeated by Max Branning, the Queen appear in everywhere you fucking look and Nemo and Shrek teaming up to defeat Tom Hanks. Who needs the Avengers when you have those kinds

of showdowns? So yeah that's it, see you next time. I'm still waiting for that cup I love. Thank you very much Andy. Lizzie, time for the toys and games. Yeah well I will kick us off with the toys of the year for 2007, courtesy of the Toy Retailers Association of the UK. So, starting off with the preschool toys, I'll just quickly mention these because it'll kind of give you an idea

of where we are at the timeline. So the toy of the year is Rory the racing car, and the range of the year for preschool is Peppa Pig. Oh, yeah, it's a start of that. Speaking of which, the film license of the year is Transformers made a big comeback in 2007. That early?

Yeah, the Michael Bay. Gosh, that long ago. Wow. The girls toy of the year is the Rose Petal Cottage Playhouse. I've never heard of it. Yeah, I'm a little bit worried about this, where the further we go through time about toys of the year, we're just going to be like, nope, not got a clue. Oh, I like it. Every day is a learning day. I like to imagine what that looks like.

Yeah. Yeah. I like to imagine that the house is literally made of flowers, which would be fun. Yeah. Well, the girls collectible toy of the year is a bit more familiar to us, Sylvanian families. Ah yes again. We've had that before haven't we? Probably yeah. The innovative toy of the year was a joint winner this year with Flytech Dragonfly and

Piku ZRC helicopter. I know what the Flytech Dragonfly is because when we get there in a few years time, I did work at a toy shop for my first job and I used to demo these. It's literally like a little dragonfly that's remote control that goes and flies around a bit like a drone, but really short

and looks like an insect. It's more, it's better than it sounds. I've not sold it very well there, which is why I didn't stay in that job very long but yeah. Oh shame. So we go to boys toys of the year we have the boys toy of the year which is the Ben 10 Omnitrix. Oh my god Ben 10 was that the animated series or something? It was it was. Benjamin Timberman. The collectible toy of the year for boys is Doctor Who figures, which Andy I'm sure you had some. I actually didn't, but I kind of wish I did.

I was in that kind of weird midground between being both too old and too young to collect action figures. I feel like you do that either as a kid or as an adult fanboy and I was 15 so I fell right through the crack there. Yeah fair enough. The creative toy of the year I definitely remember this one. Moonsand Sandcastle set. Oh wow I don't remember that. What was that? It was like this weird multicoloured sand and you could build stuff with it I think. I sort of remember the adverts. The game of the year, this is a weird one. High school DVD board game. I don't know if the website means high school musical. Then why would that be a DVD board game? I don't understand.

DVD board games were really big at this time. You know, like seeing it. Oh they were, yeah. I'm pretty sure we had one this Christmas for like, there was a deal or no deal one, there was a catchphrase one. But you would get actual box board games that had a DVD element to them that is totally needless. It would be like you land on a certain square and it's like put the DVD on for this question and the question will be asked by Sharpay or whoever. It's just totally unnecessary. Yeah you press the button and it takes like 20 seconds to load the next click. It is High School Musical. Yeah it is High School Musical as well. There you go. Thank you, Rob.

All right, Puzzle of the Year. We're going back to the 80s for this one. Rubik's Cube Original. Oh, a bit of a revival. I probably bought one. Yeah, I like to think they'll never go away. They're one of those things that's just, it's just a great toy, isn't it? That you still see people playing with them now. They're just wonderful toys then. Yeah, I've never solved one. No, no, me neither. Okay, we have the outdoor toy of the year, which is the flashing storm scooter.

Oh, sounds fun. I probably didn't own one, but some kids on my street probably did. And finally the toy of the year for 2007, again, real sign of time, In the Night Garden Blanket Time Higgle Higgle. Oh my god. That's it for toys, moving on to video games. It goes without saying at this point, the number one game of 2007 is C4-08 and Pro Evolution Soccer is also in the top 10. So what do you think is the highest ranked game not including those two? I feel really sure this year. I feel really confident. I can't remember whether this really came up in 2006 because I know the Wii got released at the end of 2006 so I want

to think surely Wii Sports for this year. I'm not sure though, because Wii Sports came with the console, so maybe... Well, it depends if you count it, because isn't Wii Sports, if you include it with the consoles, isn't Wii Sports like the highest selling game ever? So... But it's a big if. I'm pretty sure it was bundled with the console. I've just checked, spoiler alert alert it's not in the list damn it well okay now back to the drawing board I've got no ideas cuz I staked everything come back well let's

say yeah let's get ahead with it I'll go for some kind of Wii golf game like a Tiger Woods PGA or something like that well in at number 10 we have WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008. At number 9, the first Assassin's Creed game. Oh! See we're coming into this period now where I'm sort of like I am old enough to remember most of this and old enough to go I had friends who played that game etc etc yeah we're into the ps3 era now so there's a couple of games I can see on this that would fit into that. In at number eight definitely not a ps3 game it is Wii

play. Oh okay so there is a Wii game in there. Yeah definitely not as good as Wii sports I think a lot of people bought it on that premise and didn't quite hold up. Give a little shout to Wii Sports Resort though, don't know if that's going to turn up, but Wii Sports Resort was quite good. Yeah that was 2010 I think. Was it? Oh alright. Something like that. Was Wii Play the one with the, was it fishing? You could go fishing on it or something like that. Yeah. Not as exciting. It was real diminishing returns. Then you had Wii music and that was even worse. But anyway, back to 2007 where we have at number 7, The Simpsons Game. Oh, because The Simpsons movie came out, didn't it this year? It did. At number 6, Halo 3. Oh, wasted many, many hours on, not, I didn't own it,

but a friend of mine did, wasted many, many hours on what I think was called Firefight, where it was a survival mode, and you just had to survive wave after wave of aliens going to try and kill you, and we spent hours and hours and hours trying to reach like level 50 or something. And did you? Maybe once but I can't really remember.

So at number five we have more brain training from Dr. Kawashima. Oh yeah Nintendo DS and stuff. Yeah it was around this time. At number four is Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. Bit of a slip down. Used to be number two pretty consistently but I think FIFA is starting to really dominate this sphere. Yeah, a little change in branding there as well from Pro Evo because they went from Pro Evo 6 to Pro Evo 2008.

They didn't bother doing seven. They just jumped straight up to the years. That kind of thing makes me so angry. Really, I just, I hate that when they abandon a number in the system and start a new one. It's just, sorry, this is my problem my problem that's fine I'll deal with it number three this feels like the start of an era Call of Duty for modern warfare yeah of course yeah okay one yeah and number two so our highest non-fever

entry is dr. Kawashima's Brain Training. Oh gosh. The original. It's not really that popular. Wow. Yeah it was. That's great. It was one of those like real casual games that they put in like the tabloid newspapers

saying, yeah you should play this to stave off such and such and it was all rubbish for shifted units didn't it? I don't know if it's a coincidence. It almost certainly is or whether it's something to do with Brain Train I don't know but this was pretty much the time that Sudokus really took off as well. Yes! So maybe people were just in the mood for some puzzles in a way they hadn't been for decades. Definitely, but that's it for me. Yeah, because number one is FIFA.

Okay! Of course. but that's it for me. Yeah because number one is FIFA. Okay so we've just paid quite a lot of focus there to the number two selling game of the year which is very appropriate because it's time for Bourne to run her up which is where we look back at the songs that reached number two on the charts in the UK that we didn't get to talk about that we wish that we could and we vote for our favourites so Andy give us the the top 10 that segue was as smooth as silk Rob yeah so we had 21 entrants this year 21 songs that peaked at number two on the chart this year a very very mixed bag of stuff and we once again like last year not as dramatically as last year but we didn't really agree too much but there is a pretty clear winner we all

had a different favorite but we all had a least favorite which I'm gonna acknowledge at the start loads of really good ones this year but not this our least favorite number two hit of the year was Any Dream Will Do by Lee Mead who won the shite Lloyd Webber show of the same name and then went on to marry Denise Van Outen and join Holby City. He's got a very storied life but anyway so that was our least favorite song of the year which all of us agreed on but everything else is kind of up in the air so this is our top 10 for Born to Run or Up in 2007. Just a reminder by the way that The Killers won last year with When You Were Young so they'll be handing it over this year. Just a reminder by the way that The Killers won last year with When You Were Young

so they'll be handing it over this year. In at 10th place is Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie. Oh okay, yeah nice to see that actually. Yeah. In 9th place which was torpedoed by one of us is Valerie by Amy Winehouse. Sorry, yep I know that's me. I know I can I get where you're coming from I like the song but yeah justice for the Zutons. It wouldn't have won it wouldn't have won but it would have got a little higher than that if not for Rob's slating of it. So in eighth place it's Let Me Think About It by Ida Core featuring Freddie LeGrand. Yeah, a much better showing of what he's capable of I think.

Definitely. In 7th place it's Icky Thump by The White Stripes. Oh okay, you know I was always so surprised that got to number 2 though. I can't even believe that's even up for consideration. In 6th place it's The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani. Good chance yeah. Which we all liked, we all at least liked it. My mum used to hate that song more than anything else on Earth. A big top five really that we've got here. So in fifth place is Stars in Their Eyes by Just Jack.

Okay, yeah. That's a little higher than I expected actually, but fair play to him for getting that high. In fourth place it's Foundations by Kate Nash. She's not made the top three but I hope that doesn't make her bitter. I would have loved it if it had made number two on Born to Rock. In third place, which is my favourite of the year and I kind of wish it had won, it is Rule the World by Take That. I'm not the world's greatest Take That fan, but I do think that is by far their best song and it is an absolutely amazing power ballad. It's an amazing song. Into our top two, so in second place, it is Heartbroken by T2 featuring Jody Aisha. Unlucky, unlucky.

It was pretty close and that was Lizzy's favourite song of the year. Rob's favourite song is the one that comes out on number one from our average scores. The winner of Board to Runner Up 2007 is actually a previous record of the year winner from Hits 21 so they've got both trophies now which I believe is the first time it's happened. It is Brian Storm by Arctic Monkeys. Hey! I'm okay with that. Yeah, I'm fine. That rock and roll thing eh? Just won't die. Yeah I'm very pleased about that.. I remember listening to that for the first time, just the intro alone of just being like, wow. It is a proper intro that really, really arrests your attention. It's a great album opener, but a favourite worst nightmare too.

I'm happy with it. We all ranked that really high. It was a really good one. Yeah. So congratulations, Arctic Monkeys. Next year is an interesting one. I'm just gonna say that. It's interesting. Yeah. I maybe don't mean that in a very positive way. There's gonna be some songs next year that you're like, Oh God, I wonder how I didn't remember that. Oh, I'm glad I didn't remember that. There's gonna be a lot of that next year. Yeah.

Well congratulations to our team Monkeys, but what we are gonna do now is look at the top 10 on Christmas Day in 2007. And I'm going to do my best Mark Goodyear impression as always. So get ready for it, here we go. At 10, down four places for number six, it's Timbaland and OneRepublic letting us know it's too late to apologise. Girls are louder at 9 with Call the Shots down 4 places from number 5. At 8 it's up 3 places, and back in the top 10 it's Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse with Valerie. They wanted to rule the world and rule the charts as well, but take that are a non mover

this week, stuck at number 7. At 6, it's down 2 places for a number 4, but it's still going strong after more than a decade on the chart. All I want for Christmas is you, Mariah Carey. Up next, he's still supermanning around the top 10, and he's been all the rage on the ringtone market this year. It is Soldier Boy Tellem, and his breakout hit Crank That. At four, it's up four places from number eight, The Pogues and Kirstie McColl are still a Christmas favourite,

with Fairy Tale of New York. Into the Christmas 2007 top three, and it's a former number one, it's last year's X Factor winner Leona Lewis with bleeding love And at number two just missing out on the Christmas number one this year It's another former number one Katie Melua and Eva Cassidy with what a wonderful world Which means that the Christmas number 1 for 2007 is this. Our hearts a hopeful song we barely understood Now we are not afraid, although we know there's much to fear We were moving mountains long before we knew we could There can be miracles when you believe

Easy to despair When all you hear is fear and lies Easy just to run and hide Too frightened to begin But if we dare to dare don't wait for answers from the skies each of us can look inside and hear this song within There can be miracles when you believe Though hope is rare, it's hard to kill Who knows what miracle you can achieve when you believe Somehow you will You will when you believe

They don't always happen when you ask And it's easy to give in to your fear But when you're blinded by your faith Can't see your way clear through the rain A small but still resilient voice Says hope is very near Oh, hope is very near And I hope you will believe

No hope is for ever It's hard to kill Who knows what miracles you can achieve When you believe, somehow you will, now you will, now you will, you will when you believe Okay this is When You Believe by Leon Jackson. Released as the lead single from his debut studio album titled Right Now, When You Believe is Leon Jackson's first single to be released in the UK and his first to reach number 1, however as of 2024 it is his last. The single is a cover of the song originally recorded by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey which reached number 4 in 1998. When You Believe went straight

in at number 1 as a brand new entry knocking Katie Melua and Eva Cassidy off the top spot. It stayed at number 1 for 3 weeks. In its first week at number 1 it sold 291,000 copies in a week where there were no new entries or new climbers in the top 10. In week 2, it sold 120,000 copies in another week when there were no new entries or new climbers in the top 10. And in week 3, it sold 32,000 copies, beating competition from Rockstar by Nickelback which climbed to number 8. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, When You Believe fell 4 places to number 5. By the time it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 104, 10 weeks.

The song is currently officially certified gold in the UK as of 2024 that stay on the charts and its certification is perhaps an indication of how things went for Leon Jackson after his time at the top was over. I should also say that we have been taken into January by this first two weeks of January taken up by some Leon Jackson. So Lizzy, Leon, I can't think of one, let's go, there you go, let's go. Oh just that top 10 rundown, it's really depressing that nobody's even trying to compete with this. trying to compete with this. Nope. It's all old shit.

Yep. Like even by winners single standards, this stinks. I'm sorry. Like last year's wasn't particularly good either, but it was clear to see that Leona Lewis was at least twice as talented as the next contestant. Poor Ray. I'm sorry, but I don't see Ray Quinn break in America, do you?

No I don't. Like Leon Jackson, like Ray Quinn, falls into that non-threatening boys category of X Factor contestant that they go back to way too often just because they come off well on reality TV. So, you know, they're always very popular with TV audiences, but much less so with the record buying public. This single is basically the same formula as the previous years, but this time they've actually chosen an actual Whitney Houston song rather than a pastiche of one. I find the original to be pretty dull as well, but I understand its appeal to some.

It's two of the biggest forces in late 20th century pop teaming up, or should that be squaring off, and belting out the lyrics like their life depends on it. It has a strong whiff of musical theatre about it, but that's perhaps unsurprising when you consider that the songwriter Stephen Schwartz went on to create the musical Wicked. Again not my thing but I can see why others might like it. On this version though I find Leon Jackson's performance to be quite unconvincing. You know having listened to a couple of other Leon Jackson songs this week, his comfort zone was more of a Michael Buble pop jazz kind of sound. The problem is, Buble could occasionally pivot over to this big emotional style and not sound out of place.

You'd think of something like home. But Leon, by comparison, he seems exposed and overwhelmed by it, and he's not able to soar over the track the way Whitney and Mariah do on the original. And that's ultimately the problem with this X-Factor one-size-fits-all approach. Otherwise good singers get awkwardly shoehorned into performing songs that don't fit their style. And because they're just another in a long line of talent show underlings, they have no say in the matter. Leon Jackson's album, Right Now, you've just mentioned, is closer to his comfort zone, but Psycho clearly had no interest in promoting him any further,

and he was dropped by the label before he'd even turned 21. And after all, what good is believing in miracles if nobody believes in you? Ooh! Pulling no punches there. Andy, how are we feeling? Yeah, I can't disagree with any of that to be honest. I think this is really quite strange in a lot of ways. It's quite awkward in a lot of ways because first of all, this was an unusual year for the X-Factor in that it didn't have a clear massive star in the making as they had with Leona and as they sort of had with Shane actually, but I know Shane didn't ultimately break out that big, but he was a ready-made pop star and he did have a decent go of it. There wasn't really one with this

season of the X Factor because the strange thing was that by far the best singer and by far the best performer was someone who was completely uncommercial and couldn't have made it as a pop star which was Riddian. He was like fantastic for the theatre, he definitely could have done like popera albums and something like that which I'm sure he did, but he was never going to make it as a pop star so they didn't really want him to win. The other finalist that year was Same Difference who, very likeable, they've interacted with the show a couple of times which is lovely, thank you Same Difference. Yeah. But they also were never really going to be viable, they were just kind of riding

the high school musical wave. There was no one else really that year and then we had Leon in the final as well, who was your typical kind of young pretty boy who just kind of pulled himself up by his bootstraps with just his voice and nothing else and he's doing it for his Nana, you know, he's like R Wayne from that Peter K show, you know, he is very, very much your textbook X Factor finalist really. And as often happened in the finals, the safe choice won, which was Leon. And I don't begrudge him anything, but it was a little bit of a fluke of circumstances that he won because Rydian was kind of half the villain, half a theatrical person, he Rydian was kind of half the villain, half a theatrical person, he was never really going to win on the night, same difference,

weren't going to win on the night. Leon just kind of snuck in there and I don't think many people actually really believed he was the best one in that series or that he ever really had any chance to be honest. And that's not me like being nasty about him or in any particular shade, it's just like the reality of it really is that he may have been a nice singer and nice to look at, but one thing he didn't have was the X factor. Weirdly, he was actually a demonstration of what the X factor isn't.

Which is kind of a condemnation of the show really that it really didn't work out the right way. Yeah, and the other awkward thing about it is this song. Like I agree with so much of what Lizzie said that for me it exists in this really weird place where it's both too big and too small for him. It's too small in terms of imagination obviously it's a really generic textbook X Factor Winners song that is you know a really lazy choice and it's even more lazy because it doesn't suit Leon at all. No. And that's in the sense that it's too big for him.

You know, this is sung by Whitney and Mariah. And there are parts of this that make me wince because he's struggling to get through it. And again, I don't blame him for that. That's not his fault. Like there are parts of the song that I think are written really badly. That first verse where the tune

just keeps on moving around like... really struggling to keep track of that melody and you can hear the different takes they must have plastered together with that one. He sounds so out of his depth and uncomfortable singing it and he looks out of his depth on the video as well. I really get the strong feeling this is not the kind of music he wanted to be making. I think he probably wanted to be a sort of Jamie Cullum type singer. He certainly dressed like him. Yeah, definitely. I think he was that type of person.

He didn't want to be doing power ballads. He did look like him, yeah. And I feel a little bit sorry for him that he ended up pigeon-holed in such a boring way by the X-Factor machine. But this is a bit of a line in the sand for me. All of them so far, I've sort of given them a little bit of a pass, but I've really had enough now. Against All Odds was totally naff, totally boring, but it was so forgettable that it just kind of washed over me. That's my goal. I don't think it was that bad. Like we had a good laugh talking about that one and it does have some interesting things about it. A moment like this is sort of the quintessential

X Factor Winners song, so I don't really like have too much of a problem with it. But now it's like, yeah, we're bringing nothing new to the table here. This is formulaic. Even when the formula clearly breaks down when presented with a singer like Leon, that it doesn't work for him at all. And there's just nothing new being brought to the table. It's really quite bad. Really really quite bad. Just I find very little good to say about it it except that I don't blame Leon at all

I don't want to be too harsh on it because he had no, like literally zero control over any of this so I'm not gonna absolutely throw it under the bus but it's really really poor one thing I do like about it is the video which is the version that we all have to watch by the way because it's not released on streaming like all the other songs is that we have that tradition which keeps on unfolding of was Kate Thornton now Dermot O'Leary screaming the winner's name before the final chorus which has become a tradition I've fallen in love with I really love it we had the Steve and then Shane and Leona and now that it's Dermot I was completely thrown when at that moment where I'd normally expect it and we got this gruff

like gravelly Gene Hunt style delivery of Leon He sounds really angry like Leon Next year's gonna be like Alexandra I really really enjoyed that that gave me a good laugh but otherwise no nothing else to say about it except for I say nothing else to say about it but Rob were you reading out those figures there about the sales? Wow I agree with you that my math says it sold about 440,000 or something in the first three

weeks and it didn't make platinum when it sold all that in the first three weeks It only needed to do 150 more out of the get platinum and it's had and it's had 17 years and hasn't done it That is a I know and in the chart for 10 weeks three of which it was at number one So that's basically seven weeks and out that's yeah. wow, that was a precipitous drop to say the least. And he never really came back, did he? I do remember actually his comeback single, Don't Call This Love, because in that toy shop that I worked in, they played it all the time, all the time. So I know that song really well. But yeah, I feel sad for Leon, as you can can tell I'm being really nice about him because I think he was a decent guy Who just genuinely wanted to be a singer had no idea what he was letting himself in for and they gave him this shite

So sorry. Yeah, I'm done if it was on streaming. It probably would have been like platinum by now Yeah, yeah, yeah one of these things where they've just not bothered to put it up for some reason it's a bit of a shame that Westlife did a cover of Home in October of this year because I feel like he could have done something with something like that do you know I think he might have sung that on the x-factor yeah he performed it at his audition and then he performed it in boot camp and then he performed it again during the live shows. Oh, right. Okay. So we have that cover. Why not? Then why not? Why not make that as a winner single?

This is the thing, rather than having this pre-determined it's this, no matter who the winner is. Yeah, give them a song that they are good at performing. Don't just like, now we're gonna get you to do the Birdie song. Why? Does that make any sense? It's like they used to do that because Gareth Gates' Unchained Melody was his signature song on Pop-Art. Of course, yeah. We did that a few times. And Light My Fire for Will Young. So they do let them do this. Though they did do back in the day and they used to be hits.

Bloody X Factor, eh? What's it like? Yeah, looking through the songs that he did on the X Factor. I think there's a little bit of confusion about what they wanted him to be and do because you get three because he gets his audition is Michael Buble. At boot camp he does Lost and Home by Michael Buble and then at Judge's Houses he does I Still Haven't Found What I'm looking for. And then in the live shows he does Can't Buy Me Love, Home Again, Fly Me To The Moon, Dancing In The Moonlight, Relight My Fire, You Don't Know Me by Eddie Arnold, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, The Long and Winding Road, The Very Thought of You by Ray Noble, How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You and then in the final he does White Christmas, Better the Devil You Know with Kylie Minogue, You Don't Know Me by Eddie Arnold Again because it was his favourite

song of the series and then When You Believe for his winner single. That's all over the place. He isn't even really being moulded into anything. That's just very scattergun approach. How many of those are really, really old songs though? Other than Better the Devil You Know and Dancing in the Moonlight, I think all of those were like pre-1980 or pre-1990 certainly.

That's just, oh God. Yeah. With When You Believe, I have, well, Ligon Jackson's anyway, I have very little to say about the song itself. I just think it is another middling ballad with a big key change. I quite like the first key change in this, the second one is the problem for me. The key change into the second chorus I think that feels really natural and he goes with

it fairly well, but then in the last chorus he doesn't even properly sing it, they get the whole choir in. Leon does a decent job with this and I think his baritone range makes like a nice change from Leona obviously last year but the tenor and obviously falsetto ranges of Shane Ward. This feels like a bit of a return to Steve in a way or even Andy actually Andy Abraham from Shane Ward's year. I also think that Leon and Rydian you know they were basically two singers in the kind of Barry Manilow, Tony Christie, Andy Williams mold, you know, being the finalists and stuff. And I think you sort of also have to look at Paul Potts winning Britain's Got Talent, the popularity of Russell Watson around this time as well,

to explain why the country just really seemed to be into these like male pop singers for some reason. You also had obviously a couple of years ago, G4 making it all the way to the final. You know this type of stuff is very much in at the moment and I think you know Leon being sort of like a pop friendly you know cheeky lad version of that benefits from it in a talent show format although I do think it's quite revealing that Shane Ward sold 700,000 in his first week two years ago and now Leon isn't shifting even half of that. I don't know if the X Factor was just going through a bit of a funny year but I also think that I just don't think people like you were saying they bought into Leon as a talent show competitor but not as a pop artist I think that this is a

pretty forgettable cover of a pretty annoying and quite vapid song actually that was on the soundtrack to a pretty good pretty good film the Prince of Egypt is no it's not too bad but just all of this stuff this when you believe somehow you will just you know no explanation or plan just vague wishy-washy illusions to faith and courage and all that stuff which I can never usually be bothered with it's given it's given somehow Palpatine returned to me yeah no explanation just sort of like you do all the work to get somewhere when you yeah it's not it's not you know when you get help you will achieve or whatever. It's

when you believe. It's just all this like, oh, hyper religious like look within yourself to find the answer sort of thing. And it just like, it only works in films. It doesn't work in real life. And I get bothered with it. Yeah, well, it's not, I don't think it's just that though. I don't think it's just the fictional thing. I think it's part of the horrible, insipid, aspirational media that we have around this time. Because that's what X Factor was obviously, but everything, like all the fashion shows where you're basically told you look like crap, you know, and all the real estate shows and all of that, it's all what they used to call aspirational, isn't it?

The idea that willpower and wanting to be something is enough when it just isn't. All you're doing is filling people with false hope and sucking them into this media machine. It's not enough. And like I was a big fan of the X-Factor at the time. Like I got along with it in terms of entertainment in the way that everybody else did. So I'm not gonna get on my high horse about it. But there is a serious point in that songs like this like, oh you can do anything if you just believe. like it's not true and you're just kind of setting people up for a miserable life if you let them

think that to be honest it's just it's just not nice it's just not helpful to put that out there as a message and yeah I didn't really realize until I said it how much that bothered me but yeah I don't like that at all the only thing about this song that makes me feel even remotely curious is that the single version opens with many nights we pray or whatever and but the video version opens up with the many nights and I don't know why I don't know why they made this this split with the two of them I've never really worked it out and I've never understood. I actually don't care. I realized it was when I first heard it I was like, oh that could be something to think about and now I've said it out loud and I'm just sort of like, that is nothing. That is just nothing.

That's not a thing to think about. With this, I can't believe that I didn't mention this last year with Leona's A Moment Like This, but this feels like a continuation of the American influences which are now affecting Simon Cowell's production of the X Factor and his management of its winners, because obviously he's been on American Idol now for a few years. And so obviously he picked a moment like this for Leona after its success for American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson. Leona got success in America because of her association, I imagine, with Simon Cowell. Simon's picked a big American soundtrack song that sold a million over there for Leon Jackson.

And obviously next year we have Alexandra Burke. We all know the performance that wins her the competition in 2008 and who sings with her with that performance? Listen! Beyonce? Is Beyonce, exactly, big American star and she also does a vaguely religious song for her winner single as does Joe McElderry. But I think all of this creates a problem for Leon because it means his next single

ends up in that awkward place that I actually think a lot of Gareth Gates singles did where it felt like they were being written for someone like Michael Buble while also trying to mold him into like a fast changing market and then Leon gets dropped by the label, drops off a cliff, a tour alongside Sandy Tom in 2009 gets cancelled. Oh my god. It doesn't happen. And you can kind of tell, I think, these days, reading up on Leon Jackson, that either himself or a Leon Jackson superfan are the only people editing his Wikipedia page. And it sounds like the whole thing was a really bad experience that left him feeling jaded and tired because I think he that left him feeling jaded and tired because I think he clearly like you were saying Andy went into the X Factor thinking this is how to make it as a singer I want to be a singer but then you realize you have no control and it's

too late and you're already in and like no one wants to sign you or work with you and when you try and put yourself forward as a more serious artist that actually has something to say and something to write like he taught himself piano and guitar in order to be able to write his own music and it just I yeah it must be hard to be taken seriously when you've come from the X Factor and go I want to be a solo artist I want to write my own stuff I want and then labels are just, I want to write my own stuff, and then labels are just going, nah mate, everybody associates you with the X Factor.

And I just feel like he got typecast a bit because even his comeback single, his comeback single did fairly well, it gets to number three I think in 2008, but that's it, his next single after that is called Creative and it gets to number 96 in the chart. I don't know how but I actually know that and it's actually not bad it's okay. No yeah it isn't I don't think his material that he gets given after this is that bad at all but it's just no we're talking about how in 2008 there's some kind of seismic shift occurs and on the other side of that are you really gonna be able to plug people like Ray Quinn and the Abraham Jim? Leon Jackson were like they're kind of you know the pop singing the pop swinging kind of people I just don't think it works, and I feel a bit sorry for him

I just want to kind of put another coin in the fountain of a theory of Lizzie's which is you know you talked about how of a theory of Lizzy's which is you know you talked about how Simon has been inspired by this influence of songs with a vaguely religious bent and who takes over from Simon as a judge on X Factor in 2011? I wonder. Just endorsing that theory because I've loved that this year. And only one final word I wants to say on it, which is of course Leon So Andy our bottom five songs of the year it's time to announce them before we do our top ten But we'll get through the negative stuff first. So how is the bottom 5 looking? Our 5 worst number 1 songs of 2007? Well we have a first this year.

A real genuine first for the show. Which we'll get to when we get there. But just to say as well, I would normally give a shout out to like oh the one that just slipped out, just didn't quite fall into the bottom 5. But this year our bottom five are like a real clear distance away from all the rest there's a very clear bottom five and there's two points between the fifth and the sixth lowest two average points i mean so like six points overall so yeah a very clear bottom five this year all of which were pie-holed

by at least one of us so our fifth worst song of the year which was Pie Hold by Me and got an average score of 4.3 it is I'm Gonna Be brackets 500 miles by the Proclaimers with Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin and everybody else. That was our fifth lowest of the year. Our fourth worst song of the year which was Pie Hold by Me it's What a Wonderful World by Katie Melior and Eva Cassidy, which was so nearly Christmas number one and I'm glad we were spared that. Yeah So our bottom three this one got an average score of 3.7 and was Pie Hole by Robin Lizzie But not me it is Walk This Way by Sugar Babes versus Girls Aloud

Neither of those groups should be in the pie hole. I know. Why did they make that? So our second lowest rated song of the year pie-holed by all three of us and by the way the only song this year that's been pie-holed by all three of us, it is with an average score of 3.7 Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston is our second lowest song of the year who's new to that. Well back in 99 he went away for doing his first crime and then in 2007 he committed his second crime by releasing the song. But the first this year is that our worst number one of 2007 pie-holed by me and Lizzie, just to spoil it, with an average score of 3.3. It is in fact When You Believe by Leon Jackson.

Oh no. Sorry Leon. Only just, only one individual point in the whole thing there. But yeah, that's a first, the Christmas number one being the lowest rated of the year. It's nothing personal, I promise. By the way that tour that never happened with Sandy Tom and Leon Jackson both were bottom of their respective years. Oh my god. They should do like a proper pie hole tour like them two. What else would we have had? Hang on, let me look back. So if it was the full tour it would be... It would be Santi Tom, Leon Jackson, Crazy Frog, Frankie, Kelly and Ozzy Osbourne, Nelly and Tim McGraw, Ronan Keaton, Afro Man and Five and Queen.

Yeah, that... what a tour that'd be amazing coming to a race course near you so yes that's the negatives out the way should we get to the good stuff so our top ten of the year bear in mind actually there was only 17 songs this year so there's two in the middle which I'll just give a quick shout out 12th was Give It To Me by Timbaland with Nelly and Justin, and 11th was Bleed In Love by Leon Lewis. So our top 10 of the year. So with an average score of 6.8 and put in the vault by me,

it is Shine by Take That, Morrison's favorite. Yeah. Great value. Great value. In ninth place, put in the vault by Rob, and with an average score of 6.8 again, it is The Way I Are by Timbaland with Kerry Hilsen and DOE. It wasn't a struggle to fit it in the top 10, there you go. In 8th place, with an average score of 7, but it was only scored by Rob, it is Stronger by Kanye West,

and then in seventh place with a score of 7 from all three of us, three 7s across the board, quite pleasant, it is Beautiful Liar by Beyonce and Shakira. Okay yeah higher than I expected but do carry on. Yeah so in sixth place with an average score of 7.3 and vaulted by me, it is Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs. Okay. So our top five, I think this is a really, really good top five, you know. In fifth place, it's McFly again. They've turned up again. It's Babies Coming Back slash Transylvania.

I think Transylvania did some real heavy lifting there. Yes, it did. Yeah, with an average score of 7.3. So in fourth place, with an average score of eight, vaulted by all three of us, it is Umbrella by Rihanna. Okay. I'm just gonna do the same thing. It just shows you how instant that.

Great. In third place, with an average score of nine, and vaulted by all three of us it's about you now by sugar babes. Wow, Any Other Year. Yeah in second place also with an average score of 9 but the lowest score was slightly higher so I'll put it above our second highest rated song of the year it is Grace Kelly by Mika. Oh, any other year. Any other year. About you now and Grace Kelly I feel have been slightly underserved there.

So I'm going to bring on Nars Barkley to hand over the tiara, as fetching as it looked on CeeLo Green, to hand over the tiara to the winner of this year's trophy, which is with an average score of 9.3, vaulted by all three of us, it is With Every Heartbeat by Robin with Clear Up. Yes. Worthy, worthy winner. Really worthy winner. Definitely. A gorgeous song. Thank you for mentioning Clear Up as well because we barely did on the reviews. Sorry, Clear Up. No, we didn't.

I know. Well, I mean, Clear Up's won the reviews. Sorry, Clearup. No, we didn't. I know. Well, I mean, Clearup's won the whole year without even being mentioned. That's true. That's quite a drop. Yeah. Next year, I think it's pretty open field, so we'll see who wins. But yeah, well done, Robin. Congratulations. See you next year.

And well done, Clearup. And well done, Clearup. Thanks, I forgot them again. Well thank you both very much for taking us through 2007. Thank you to everybody who's listened to our stuff through 2007. Andy, thank you for those countdowns. Just double checking by the way. Andy and Lizzie, you have both pie-holed obviously, Leon, with him being in the bottom. Yes. The bottom of the bottom. Yes. The bottom of the bottom, actually. But you haven't.

I didn't, no. He's teetering just above it, though. To be honest, I just felt like if I put him in the pie-hole, I just felt like I'd be just compounding the misery. When we come back, we will be in January 2008. Thank you very much for listening through all of our episodes for 2007. Not that there's been many. In the first episode of 2008, there will be a bit of a Hits 21 first, which is that I will be revealing all of 2007's weekly poll winners in one go at the start of the episode. I

feel like that's the best way to do it. So thank you very much for being patient while we're off, thank you for listening through 2007 and we'll see you in the next calendar year so bye bye. See ya. Bye bye.