A few days ago the one billionth song was downloaded in the UK only ten years after the legal download was first launched. Now that is quite a phenomenal performance isn’t it? The top 10 most downloaded songs in the UK are;
1. Adele – Someone Like You
2. Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger
No real surprises there really, all artists of the modern age. Of course there have been the campaigns to get old songs in the chart via downloads. Some of these have been successful and many haven’t. We now have the annual let’s stop X Factor getting to the top at Christmas. That probably peaked with the success of Rage Against The Machine‘s “Killing In The Name”. There have also been the slightly more ridiculous campaigns which probably culminated in the arrival of Judy Garland’s “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” from the Wizard Of Oz at number two in the charts this week aimed at ‘celebrating’ the death of Margaret Thatcher. I was in two minds about this plan, but frankly right now I don’t think it feels right. The whole idea of celebrating anyones death is odd. Why not just get out on the streets to protest against what the current government is doing to the country. That makes more sense doesn’t it?
Spotify recently announced it’s top ten most played songs for 2011, but wait a minute it’s not over for a few more hours! Anyway I suspect that the Spotify plays on the last day of the year are unlikely to have a significant impact on the top tunes. Adele is top with “Rolling In The Deep“.
It’s an incredibly female dominated list too (on that note it also includes “S & M” from Rihanna). Eight of the songs are from the ladies. Rihanna has three entries, Jessie J and Adele have two each and Katy Perry has one. LMFAO and Bruno Mars make up the ten. “Pumped Up Kicks” from Foster The People was top in the USA.
Here is the full UK list and enjoy the top three below;
Coming home from work today I was listening to Jessie J’s song “Price Tag” Ever since I first heard it I have liked it. But today I must have listened with a different head on, as scary as that sounds! I began wondering whether the lyrics to this little nugget of great pop music were actually Jessie J’s successful attempt to predict the current Euro zone financial crisis. Let me tell you about it by taking small excerpts of the lyrics to explain my reasons. please note that my tongue is lodged somewhat firmly in my cheek ok!
Okay, Coconut man, Moon Heads and pea; you ready Clearly Coconut Man is George Papandreou the current Greek Prime Minister (well at least for tonight anyway). He looks like a coconut and clearly he is nuts. The Moon Heads must therefore be the heads of the G20 nations currently working hard/ living it up in Cannes. As for Pea, that must be a special nickname for President Sarkozy of France, because he is very small isn’t he?
Seems like everybody’s got a price, I wonder how they sleep at night. Obviously the banks and Greece seem to have a price, although I’m not sure what it is. Bankers have no morals so it does make me wonder how they sleep at night
When the sale comes first, and the truth comes second, just stop for a minute and smile. Because when you’ve sold or lost all you have (for the Greeks read dignity and the Elgin Marbles) and the lies of financiers and politicians have dropped you six feet deep in poo you can’t do anything but smile can you?
Why is everybody so serious? Acting so damn mysterious? Got your shades on your eyes and your heels so high. That you can’t even have a good time. This part is about Berlusconi I believe. He is seriously mysterious, wears shades and as a short man I reckon he wears Cuban heels. I think our Jessie got it wrong on the having a good time front, Mr Berlusconi seems to like a bit of Bunga Bunga
Everybody look to their left (yeah), Everybody look to their right (uh) This must refer to the fact that it doesn’t matter what flavour your political party is you’re pretty much all in the shit
Can you feel that (yeah) We’re paying with love tonight. More on Mr Berlusconi methinks only I think it probably should read he’s paying for his ‘love’ tonight.
It’s not about the money, money, money. We don’t need your money, money, money. We just wanna make the world dance,
Forget about the price tag. Well looking at the way Greece appears not to want to accept a massive debt write off from those incredibly generous bankers (NOT!) it can’t really be about the money can it? I’d bloody accept an offer like that. In fact if Greece don’t take it can I have it please? But maybe the Greeks do want to make the world dance, anyone fancy the twelve-inch vinyl DJ Bouzouki remix of ‘Zorba The Greek’ Yo’r probably want to forget about the price tag too if your wages were cut. What’s a Grecian earn? It’s a big old vase isn’t it?
Ain’t about the (uh) Cha-Ching Cha-Ching. Ain’t about the (yeah) Ba-Bling Ba-Bling Back to Berlusconi again, the political leader with the most bling!
Wanna make the world dance, Forget about the price tag. We need to take it back in time, When music made us all unite!
And it wasn’t low blows and video hoes, Am I the only one getting tired? Why is everybody so obsessed? Money can’t buy us happiness. Can we all slow down and enjoy right now. Guarantee we’ll be feeling alright. This is a plea to take us back to the days when we all loved Greek music. How could we forget that classic slab of rock music “Forever And Ever” from the King of Kaftans himself Demis Roussos. The money can’t buy us happiness reference is a topical pointer to Macca’s recent nuptials.
[B.o.B rap]
Yeah yeah. Well, keep the price tag and take the cash back. Just give me six strings and a half stack
And you can, can keep the cars leave me the garage and all I, yes all I need are keys and guitars
And guess what, in 30 seconds I’m leaving to Mars. Yeah we leaving across these undefeatable odds
It’s like this man you can’t put a price on a life. We do this for the love so we fight and sacrifice every night
So we ain’t gonna stumble and fall never waiting to see a sign of defeat Uh uh
So we gonna keep everyone moving their feet
I feel that Mr B.o.B’s rap has missed the point or perhaps he just hasn’t got that same Nostradamus gene that Ms J has. Although he does mention those Bouzoukis and perhaps the dancing is more about Zorba. As for the mention of Mars, well that’s a schoolboy error from Mr B.o.B isn’t it; Mars is a Roman God and a chocolate bar, nothing to do with Greece!
Jessie likes a bit of Greek bubblegum, because the bubble is always about to burst
What do you think and do you know of any pop songs that might predict the future? I won’t accept “I Predict A Riot” from those nice boys from Leeds, the Kaiser Chiefs. That is just too obvious!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 