Since 1992 I've been writing a weekly column about the UK charts. Dedicated to telling the story behind each hit, putting chart moves and records in their full context, this has been essential reading for music fans since the very earliest days of the internet. Each week I've tried to tell the full story behind this week's UK charts. Who is Number One, and why? What are this week's biggest new entries? And who is this Drake guy anyway?
The site's primary purpose is to house the archives of my past work, a library of columns dating back to October 1992 and culminating in the final pieces from March 2020 when I inherited the mantle from the great Alan Jones as Music Week's official chart analyst.
But here you can also read some of my other writings, from retrospective pieces on old chart countdowns through to memories of favourite songs and other more in-depth looks at issues relating to the British music charts. Updates to these tend to be rather more sporadic than I would sometimes wish, but the latest articles can be found on the feed below, or in a more structured form by clicking on the blog link above.
Latest Blog Posts
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I Know You're Out There Somewhere
A brief history of the Moody Blues, and the frustrating way they narrowly missed having one final valedictory hit at precisely the time when everyone would have welcomed it.
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Asking For Another (Sale)
The story of how a cosmopolitan group of musicians from New York briefly became the sensation of summer 1990 and how their iconic debut single caused a row which led to the brief peeling back of the layers of just how the singles chart was compiled.
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Long Live The King?
Change is upon us, as the legendary creator of the whole idea of chart commentary steps down. And they are very big shoes to fill.
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1990 In Motion: Part Three
July 1990 reaches its climax with even the Top 10 proving that the nation had gone completely football crazy.
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1990 In Motion: Part Two
Songs 18-11 of the Top 40 show from July 1990.
