Hello, hello, hello and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I hope you all had a wonderful festive season despite the craziness that is the world right now. I have just about recovered from all of my New Year shenanigans and wanted to kick the year off with a rundown of what I was listening to throughout December.
First off, here are the top-line numbers!
As you can see, it was a much bigger month for sure, driven by having music playlists running a lot more throughout the day. Of course, this does mean that my Top 20 tracks have been slightly less prominent in terms of my overall music listening habits but they still make up just shy of one-fifth of everything I listened to throughout the month.
Much like in November, there have been quite a few 'New-Entries' for December, 12 to be exact. Three of those are not new songs to me and have been in my library for some time, they are simply songs that have never appeared in my recorded charts before. The rest are all brand new and just like last month, there has been a lot of influence from the Gaydio Breakfast Show. If you have never listened to Dean McCullough's show before I strongly recommend it. It is always a good mix of bangers and banter and a great start to the day. And no, I am not being sponsored, coerced or paid by Gaydio, I just genuinely love the show.
The biggest dropping track but still clinging into the chart was the Kari Kimmel version of 'Cruel Summer', down 10 places to Number 20. The song was featured in the show Cobra Kai at the end of Season 2. If you haven't watched the show and therefore haven't heard it, the song is a slower, darker and moodier version of the 1984 camptastic classic from Bananarama. I love hearing a staple of the '80s given a contemporary twist and this one works incredibly well both within the context of the TV show and as a standalone track.
Also dropping down the chart this month was Little Mix with 'Confetti' and Steps 'Something In Your Eyes'. I was curious how these tracks would do this month as mentioned in the previous chart. They were brand new so I was listening to them a lot. Interestingly to me though, is the fact that Steps didn't make up more of the chart for December. Their new album released right at the end of November so did not have much time to make an impact on the chart there and hasn't really appeared this month either with only one other track staying in the chart, 'To The Beat Of My Heart'.
Only one song actually climbed back up the chart and that was my favourite from the latest self-titled Melanie C album. 'Nowhere To Run' is actually a song about panic attacks and anxiety so the lyrics really resonate with me and I listen to it a lot, hence it climbing 5 places to Number 6. I will always be a huge Melanie C fan and champion her as one of the most underrated and underappreciated artists in British music. If you haven't listened to the latest album I really think you should. You may find yourself quite surprised by it.
Another artist who I will always champion and adore is Kelis. It doesn't matter what she releases or who she collaborates with, I am there for it. She is another of those artists that I actively follow so that I can download absolutely anything that she has her name on. 'Watch Your Step' is no exception and although it has been out for a while, it is definitely still a must-play for me, hence it being the top re-entry for the month. Kelis often features on other artists tracks as a vocalist and this Disclosure release is superb.
As I have already mentioned there have been quite a few new-entries this month and aside from this month's Number 1 the top performer was 'Forever Love' by Bingo Players & Disco Fries feat. Viiq. It is an incredibly feel-good type dance track that takes me back to the late 90s and early 00s without sounding dated. It is so much fun that I will even include the video:
I do want to include a special mention for an online friend and fellow SpiceFan who has just released his very own solo album that was all completely self-written, recorded and produced. It is a fantastic album and one of his tracks made the chart at Number 17. 'Slow Dance' is fantastic and if you get a chance to go check out the album it would be fantastic.
I am writing this and thinking that everything feels a bit all over the place, even by my standards. A big part of that comes from the weight of the new entries and also the fact that Christmas songs also get added into the mix for December. I have a hard rule when it comes to Christmas songs in that I refuse to play them until December 1st. After December 25th that is it, they get unticked for another year. In addition, I also have songs in my Christmas playlist that aren't exactly Christmas songs but were Christmas No.1 in the UK such as Spice Girls, '2 Become 1' which came in at Number 3 on the chart.
A few of my favourite Christmas songs naturally made the chart including 'Last Christmas' by Wham. I have never and probably never will play 'Whamageddon'. I love the song too much to join in the game of avoiding hearing it throughout December. I was really chuffed to hear that it also made it No.1 in the real UK charts for the first time since its release 36 years ago!
In all my 'basic-bitch' glory, Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' is my favourite Christmas song of all time and was almost my top listened to Christmas song for December. That was until Todrick Hall dropped another reworked version of his track 'Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels' in the form of 'Bells, Bows Gifts, Trees' which took my Number 1 spot this month. To me, it is everything that a contemporary, camp, fierce Christmas song needs to be. Obviously, I am writing this in January and to say that the moment has passed would be rather fitting. For that reason I'm not going to go into a whole discussion of its merits (and awesomeness), instead, I shall just see whether it makes an impact in the December 2021 charts...
Anyhow, that is going to do it for my musical musings this month. The full chart can be seen just below.
As always, if you have any music recommendations or tracks you think I really should be listening to, drop me comment below or drop me a line via Twitter...
Thank you for stopping by and reading xx
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