The Week in Number Ones: David Guetta, Nicky Youre, and Steve Miller climb the charts
Welcome back to The Week in Number Ones, where all the biggest movers from the US and UK charts get condensed into one article. Last week, we took a look at the comeback of one Ms. Britney Spears after finally being freed of her conservatorship. Who better to pair up with than living legend Elton John for the interpolation-heavy new single ‘Hold Me Closer’? We also dove into what can only be described as the sexiest song of all time: Marvin Gaye’s instant classic ‘Let’s Get It On’.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are staring down one of the biggest pop culture car crashes of recent memory. Of course, I’m talking about Don’t Worry Darling, the only movie of the year where the drama behind the camera is twice as juicy as any of the drama on screen.
As the reviews begin to trickle in, the mixed bag that is Olivia Wilde’s second directorial effort has had almost all of its focus shifted to going-ons behind the scenes. That’s not quite fair, considering how even a movie with a tumultuous production can still be quite good. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Don’t Worry Darling, and much of the criticism is being pointed at the world’s biggest pop superstar, Harry Styles.
Is Harry Styles a good actor? That’s a complex question. He certainly has had his moments, including a solid-yet-minimal turn in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. He’s about to be a major part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Thanos’ brother, Eros. The first advertisements for My Policeman seem pretty good. But from what we’ve gathered testing the early waters on Don’t Worry Darling, it seems like Styles has a long way to go before any acting accolades get thrown his way.
Still, you have to admit that the notoriety of possibly spitting on Chris Evans is doing wonders for his pop music career. Styles is number one in America this week with ‘As It Was’, but ‘Late Night Talking’ is making a return to the top five on both sides of the Atlantic as well, settling at number three in the US and number five in the UK. There’s no such thing as bad press, but when you do get bad press, you might as well have your own songs soundtracking it.
This week, David Guetta scores a number two hit by reworking one of the dumbest songs of all time. Meanwhile, over in America, Nicky Youre takes summery sunshine pop to the next level on ‘Sunroof’. We’ll also look at how Steve Miller’s controversial number one hit that did away with an archaic chart rule as we round up all the best chart news of the modern-day and recent past.
Current UK Number One: ‘B.O.T.A.’ – Eliza Rose / Interplanetary
British DJ Eliza Rose stays on top this week with her house hit ‘B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)’, a track that somehow hasn’t crossed over to American audiences at all yet. It’s strange to see how different the US and UK still are in terms of pop music: only three songs this week are shared between the top tens of the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.
But this week, I really want to talk about the number two song in the UK, David Guetta’s ‘I’m Good’. Featuring hook singer extraordinaire Bebe Rexha on vocals, the song is actually one of two Guetta songs currently in the top ten this week. His other track, ‘Crazy What Love Can Do’, is a catchy enough dance-pop song. ‘I’m Good’, on the other hand, is pure devil spawn.
That’s because Guetta (and Rexha, who actually has to sing the damn thing) has opted to interpolate one of the worst songs of all time, thereby resurrecting one of the most baffling number one hits of all time. Of course, I’m talking about ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ by Italian Eurodance one-hit wonders Eiffel 56.
Now, if you’re about to get up in arms with how much you actually like ‘Blue’, just do me a quick favour: go listen to the song. The entire song. All the way through. Now try to do anything else you were planning on doing today. You know what’s going to be bouncing around your head? That’s right: the goddamn “I’m blue, da ba dee da ba die” hook line.
Weaponized earworms are the Midus touch of music: coveted by many, but misunderstood and ultimately dangerous. Any song that’s too catchy will eventually face a backlash, so it’s important to have some substance behind the words or the music in order to combat this. ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ doubles down on its own meaninglessness and stupidity until it becomes actual torture to try and listen to for more than a few minutes.
Guetta is the musical Icarus who is flying too close to the sun, with dumbass DJ headphones wrapped around his neck creating the noose that will hang him. Sure, ‘I’m Good’ has awoken that monster hookline from ‘Blue’, but at what cost? Is a number two hit worth the torture that surely follows having to play that damn song live at any point in the future? David Guetta doesn’t exactly come off as a character with a ton of foresight (this is still one of the funniest videos on the internet), but heed my words: listening to enough of the ‘Blue’ hook will make you want to “da ba dee da ba” die a painful death.
UK Singles Top Ten (Week of September 15th, 2022):
- ‘B.O.T.A’ – Eliza Rose/Interplanetary
- ‘I’m Good’ – David Guetta ft. Bebe Rexha
- ‘I Ain’t Worried’ – OneRepublic
- ‘Not Over Yet’ – KSI ft. Tom Greenan
- ‘Late Night Talking’ – Harry Styles
- ‘Super Freaky Girl’ – Nicki Minaj
- ‘Ferrari’ – James Hype/ Miggy Dela Rosa
- ‘Hold Me Closer’ – Elton John & Britney Spears
- ‘Big City Life’ – Luude & Mattafix
- ‘Crazy What Love Can Do’ – David Guetta/Hill/Henderson
Current US Number One: ‘As It Was’ – Harry Styles
Another week of Harry Styles domination. With two of the three top positions on the Billboard Hot 100 belonging to the current Mr. Olivia Wilde, Styles is living the American dream. For the record, I’m team Jason Sudakis on this one (congrats on the Emmys, Ted Lasso), but Styles domination is undeniable.
But where are the new artists? Well, there’s an awesome one sitting just below Styles. That’s Steve Lacy, the guitarist and R&B singer whose ‘Bad Habit’ is stuck for another week at number two behind ‘As It Was’. Maybe next week Lacy will get that final push up to the top spot, but Styles’ stranglehold on culture is just too strong at the moment.
There’s another brand new artist floating around the top ten this week: Nicky Youre, the po-faced singer whose single ‘Sunroof’ has blown up on (what else?) TikTok. ‘Sunroof’ has actually been kicking around the upper tier of the chart for a while now, with the breezy sunshine pop single becoming the perfect soundtrack for summer.
The only problem with ‘Sunroof’ is that it’s pretty damn boring after the first listen. It’s the kind of pop song so light and airy that it floats right out of your brain the second it stops playing. This is the delicate balance that we were talking about earlier with ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’: if you’re too catchy, you become annoying, but if you’re not catchy enough, you’re not memorable.
‘Sunroof’ is a perfectly fine song that hit at the perfect time: right at the tail end of the summer. But as the leaves start to change colour and a cool wind starts to float around the air, Nicky Youre is going to have to come up with something else to lean his still-early career on, because nobody can live in the sunshine forever.
US Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten Singles (Week of September 17th, 2022):
- ‘As It Was’ – Harry Styles
- ‘Bad Habit’ – Steve Lacy
- ‘Late Night Talking’ – Harry Styles
- ‘Sunroof’ – Nicky Youre & Dazy
- ‘About Damn Time’ – Lizzo
- ‘I Like You (A Happier Song)’ – Post Malone ft. Doja Cat
- ‘Super Freaky Girl’ – Nicki Minaj
- ‘I Ain’t Worried’ – OneRepublic
- ‘Running Up That Hill’ – Kate Bush
- ‘You Proof’ – Morgan Wallen
This Week in Number Ones: ‘The Joker’ – Steve Miller Band (#1 on the UK Singles Chart, September 15th, 1990)
By 1990, Steve Miller had fully transitioned into the classic rock stahlwart that he remains to this day. Any FM station in the world is sure to play some of his music, whether it’s ’70s rock hits like ‘Fly Like an Eagle’ or ’80s pop hits like ‘Abracadabra’. Miller even has a signature song in his back pocket: ‘The Joker’, Miller’s charmingly goofy ode to his own back catalogue.
Featuring the made up word “pompatus” and a tounge-in-cheek slide guitar line, ‘The Joker’ also has a hell of a hook at the centre of its chorus that elevates the song beyond novelty. After a few psychedelic rock albums (and even a collaboration with Paul McCartney), the Steve Miller Band began their transition into pop-rock superstars, landing ‘The Joker’ at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1974.
Hit singles have interesting afterlifes: they bounce around the public consciousness and occasionally return to the top of the charts whenever a new piece of media dusts off their cobwebs. We’re seeing that same phenomenon happen right now with the convergence of Stranger Things and Kate Bush’s awesome 1980s smash ‘Running Up That Hill’, but Steve Miller might have been the first to truly ride a second wave of pop culture relevance.
In 1990, Levi’s were the most popular blue jeans in the world. It didn’t take much to get the general public to shell out some of their hard-earned money on Levi’s, but the company still produced some entertaining advertisements anyway. One of them was “Great Deal”, an ad where a Levi-clad motorcycle rider interrupts a stock trade. It’s a nonsensical commercial, but the message was easy: Levi’s were cool. To help underscore that coolness, the company decided to use ‘The Joker’ as the ad’s theme music.
The renewed public profile shot ‘The Joker’ back up the charts in the UK, and during the week of September 15th, the single became the highest-selling single in the country. There was only one problem: it was actually tied for the highest-selling single in the country. Groovy throwback disco-dance trio Deee-lite had reportedly sold the exact same number of singles with their infectiously catchy pop smash ‘Groove Is In The Heart’.
Despite the bonkers notion that two singles sold the exact same amount, there was actually a solution in place for just such an occasion. According to a rule change implemented in the 1980s, if two singles were tied for the number one spot (or any other position on the chart), the single that climbed up the most positions was granted the number one spot. ‘The Joker’ went from number six to number one, while ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ went from number four to number one. Therefore, ‘The Joker’ was granted the top spot while ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ landed at number two.
Elektra Records were so disgruntled by the decision that they petitioned the UK Singles Chart to change the rule. They were successful, but when sales data was reviewed due to Elektra’s complaints, it was found that the data had been rounded up, causing the tie in the first place. In reality, ‘The Joker’ had sold eight more copies that ‘Groove Is In The Heart’, making Miller the true holder of the number one spot. ‘The Joker’ would spend the following week at number one as well, giving the Steve Miller Band their one and only number one hit in the UK.
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