UK Top 20 Ranked (Spring 2021)

Greetings fellow machines, this is DalekTurret32 with my UK Top 20 ranking of the season!

The success of Driver’s License meant that more breakup songs came to the charts from the likes of Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter. TikTok is continuing to give chart boosts to all things interesting, such as hyperpop from ElYotto, indie rock from Beach Bunny, Duncan Laurence’s winning song of Eurovision in 2019 and an atmospheric song from AURORA that originally came out in 2015. We also have witnessed chart comebacks from ATB, Rag N Bone Man, Boney M, Fat Joe and JLS. Except for the last one, that was just a drill single by Switch x J9 misattributed to “Time” by JLS.

The albums chart has been amazing to me this year so far, in terms of what hit the top spot. There have been a lot of surprises, from already established acts Mogwai and Architects getting their first number one albums to relative newcomers like Celeste, Slowthai and The Snuts. Plus, You Me At Six did the impossible by having their number one album drop out a week after its peak. The last time this happened (that I can think of) was with Now That’s What I Call Music 13 in 1989, which occurred due to the introduction of the Compilation Charts.

This week, we’ve got two remixes of 90s club classics, sea shanties and a 70’s R&B/soul throwback

Here are the tiers ranked from worst to best, for those who are new to my ranking

BAD

Poor

Mediocre

(↑the three ratings above won't pop up a lot)

Mixed

Okay

Solid

Swell

Excellent

GOLDEN

Okay tier

#20. Commitment Issues by Central Cee

I liked Central Cee’s first two charting hits. I already talked about “Loading” in my last ranking, “Pinging (6 Figures)” switches the typical dark synth for some traditional Asian instruments and it sounds quite nice. Shame it didn’t break the Top 40. Then he scored another Top 20 hit, and it’s disappointing in comparison to the other two.

The guitar beat sounds good, and the concept behind Cee having commitment issues sounds quite interesting, with a part where his girlfriend hates his lyrics revolving around other women. But the execution is a mixed bag. He gets caught cheating and says that he could have resolved this by deleting his texts rather than own up to his mistakes, and he even says that he will love her better than her ex can.

#19. Friday by Riton and The Nightcrawlers feat. Mufasa and Hypeman

We’ve got two remixes of 90’s club classics in this ranking. Here’s the first one!

I have been aware of Riton since his first charting hit “Rinse & Repeat”, a pretty fun minimal house single. I especially like his works with Kah-Lo that I’ve listened to (“Fasta”, “Fake ID”). I was quite surprised to find out he’s been producing music since 1999. I checked out “Take Control” and “One Night Stand” back when I was in 6th form and they have become tracks I occasionally come back to. They’re pretty infectious.

Now we have his first Top 10 hit “Friday”, which is based on a sample of MK’s Dub remix of the Nightcrawlers track Push The Feeling On, and turns it into a song about getting hyped for the weekend as you’re in the club. Alas, I don’t like it as much as the other Riton songs I listed.

I do like the part in the second verse where a bass synth gets added, it especially makes for some good word painting in ‘Wanna feel the bass vibrating through the floor’, because at that point, I do feel the vibrations.

That last pre-chorus with the repetition of ‘again’ to the tune of the sample sounds pretty messy and I’m not feeling the chorus where it just announces days of the weekend.

#18. Body by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne

You may be surprised to hear that I haven’t talked about either of Russ Millions’ previous two Top 20 hits (“Gun Lean, “Keisha & Becky”) in any of my Top 20 rankings of 2019. Both of them are okay, but I find myself preferring the remixes of both a fair bit. Now here he is, with his 2nd collab with Tion Wayne.

The strings blend well with this drill beat, and our two artists have some solid flows. I especially like the last part where the strings change up the rhythm. However, It does come with the ‘naming names of girls’ gimmick that was on “Keisha & Becky”, as well as some weird lines like this woman’s body being ‘shaped like Cola’ (which reminds me of a similar line from Taio Cruz’s oddly amusing “Troublemaker”) and Tion Wayne going ‘What the fuck?’ everytime he sees a woman’s ‘arse’.

#17. Latest Trends by A1 x J1

This was originally going to be in the Mixed tier, but the Aitch remix, as well as a few more listens, helped this grow on me a bit. The guitar beat does sound good, and our two artists fit with it, but like “Commitment Issues”, the lyrics are mixed for me. I do like how A1 x J1 look at heartbreak and homelessness, but there are points where they are quite dismissive of women. There’s also this weird line where A1 asks this woman to ‘clap for the NHS’. 

#16. Let’s Go Home Together by Ella Henderson and Tom Grennan

I assumed this song was set in a pub, because the cover art had a beer coaster on it. I looked at the music video and, yep! Definitely set in a pub! Boy, would I like to have an ice cold Coke the next time I visit one. Now where was I? Oh yes!

Ella Henderson has had a short chart career from 2014 to 2015. She is mainly known for her number one hit “Ghost’, a soul-influenced song which aged better than I initially thought. But between this song, Jax Jones’ This Is Real and her uncredited vocals on Nathan Dawe’s Lighter, there are signs that point to a possible chart resurgence for her.

This is a typical love song with the minor four chord progression on the guitars. There’s not too many low points I can think of, but not too many high points either. I do give credit to Henderson and Grennan for introducing some perspectives to the song. 

I’ve come across a few comments on Buzzjack that said the vocals in the chorus are similar to that of “Too Little Too Late” by JoJo, and after hearing the JoJo song, I can see where they’re coming from. I do like the sound of this little interpolation.

#15. Your Love (9PM) by ATB, Topic and A7S

The other remix of a 90’s club track. The sample comes from ATB’s 1999 smash hit “9pm (Till I Come)”. I like that song, but not enough for it to have made it onto my Top 10 UK Hits of 1999.

I do prefer this sample integration over the Nightcrawlers one on Friday. The beat sounds pretty good with it. However, the lyrics can get clingy, like when A7S says that, ‘even if the love was hurtin’, he’ll come back to this girl.

Solid tier

#14. Little Bit Of Love by Tom Grennan

I first heard of Tom Grennan when he was on the Chase & Status song “All Goes Wrong”. He also collaborated with Bugzy Malone a year after that. The first song of his as a lead artist I listened to in full was “Found What I’ve Been Looking For”, which I thought was pretty great.

If I were to rank “Little Bit Of Love” upon my first listen, I would have put this in the Swell tier, but, alas, it shrunk on me after listening to Grennan’s Evering Road album.

The song sees Grennan trying to find this girl he once loved. It does get clingy at points, such as the line where he knocks on every door after hearing she moved, but his voice and melody in the pre-chorus sounds beautiful. It feels like a Lewis Capaldi ballad, but Grennan doesn’t reach notes too high for his range and manages to sell most of the emotion because of it.

#13. Calling My Phone by Lil Tjay & 6LACK

Lil Tjay has been blowing up for a few years now since Pop Out, his collab with Polo G (who recently got a surprise smash with RAPSTAR). I think he’s decent. From the songs of his I’ve heard, he seems to have an emotional tone in both his lyrics and vocals. This Top 10 hit isn’t as good as “Losses” or “Headshot” (the latter also having Polo G), but it’s a decent one.

The song looks at a post-breakup situation where an ex of Tjay keeps calling his phone, but he declines. In the verse, he wants to move on from the pain of the breakup rather than wallowing in the past. It’s a decent verse, despite the out of place Dora reference, but I prefer 6LACK’s verse. It’s a little more gripping where he reflects on what he and his ex used to do and how he’s trying to process his feelings after they split up. That high-pitched vocal in the post-chorus sounds weird but it didn’t bother me that much.

#12. Hold On by Justin Bieber

Two Justin Bieber songs in this Top 20. While I haven’t listened to the album, the Justice era seems to be an improvement over Changes. “Hold On” isn’t my fave of the singles I’ve heard from this era (we’ll get to that later), but I still think it’s pretty good.

The effects placed on the guitar in the verses sound good, but the bass guitar that comes in during the chorus is better, even if it’s a bit too similar to the one in Sucker by Jonas Brothers. I do have mixed feelings on the line in the chorus ‘We all know I should be the one’, but the lyrics, for the most part, are fine.

Swell tier

#11. BED by Joel Corry, David Guetta and RAYE

David Guetta has had a lengthy chart career, having at least one Top 40 hit each year from 2009 to 2018. He just missed out in 2019 with “Stay (Don’t Go Away)” only peaking at #41 (still bummed at that fact). He has now returned to the Top 40 thanks to his team-up with Joel Corry and RAYE.

This has the typical piano driven house instrumentation you’d expect from Joel Corry, and with a few synths in the beginning of the song. We have RAYE looking for love, and pointing out that she’d rather be in this lover’s bed than hers. This forms a chorus line I initially thought was ridiculous, still is in some way, but I got used to it upon further listens. Her vocal presence is welcome, and the piano staccatos hit at the right marks.

#10. Astronaut In The Ocean by Masked Wolf

This 2019 song from a relatively newcoming Australian rapper blew up out of nowhere thanks to TikTok. 

The song opens up with some tense guitars before switching to short silence to let Wolf take over the mic (‘What you know about rollin’ down in the deep?’ has stuck with me since first listen), then comes a trap beat mixed with a bass guitar and a minimal synth pattern. The guitars do pop up now and then, and when they do, they help return the tense feel of the intro. Masked Wolf has some gripping flows, especially in that last verse where he goes frantic, mentions Kendrick Lamar and even has you walking the plank. Reminds me of Kamikaze era Eminem.

#9. Leave The Door Open by Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak)

I’ve been waiting for Anderson .Paak to have a smash hit. I listened to Malibu in the Autumn of 2016, and I was impressed by the smooth R&B that was on it. It also became an essential Summer listen for me in the coming years. Paak followed it up with Oxnard and Ventura, both of which looked more into his life and culture, and had legends of R&B and hip hop working on them including Dr. Dre, Smokey Robinson and Q-Tip. Now, he is teaming up with Bruno Mars for a collaborative album and I’m looking forward to it.

The song gives us a good taste of what is to come for the album, a smooth, romantic throwback to the R&B and soul music of the 70’s. Anderson .Paak is his usual charming self as he sips his wine in a robe. Bruno Mars’ chorus is fantastic, with his call and response between him and the backing vocals. I especially like the part where the vocal harmonies say ‘Tell me that you’re comin’ through’ and the snare drums come in to make this moment feel climactic.

#8. Up by Cardi B

Cardi B comes through with an assertive personality while being backed by a minimal piano line. The refrain, pre-chorus and chorus are all infectious, despite a line where Cardi excludes ‘broke boys’ from the ‘pussy’. The pre-chorus and chorus have enough energy to make their uses of repetition stand out. My favourite part of the song that isn’t from the three sections I mentioned might be the ‘Capanese’ part.

#7. Don’t Play by Anne-Marie, KSi and Digital Farm Animals

After the success of “Really Love”, KSi and Digital Farm Animals team up again for another UK garage throwback, and I’ve got to say, I prefer this one over “Really Love”. The song also features Anne-Marie. Last year, there was the mess that was “Birthday”, but I did like “To Be Young” (the charting song that came after it) and even better was the collab with Rudimental and Tion Wayne, “Come Over”. Between that song and “Don’t Play”, it sounds like she is a good fit for the UK garage style. 

Her chorus focuses on her calling out an ex of hers for ‘play[ing] games’ with her heart. KSi sings from the perspective of the ex, who is lamenting her absence. He thinks of the time they played Call Of Duty together and listens to the music of the late XXXTENTACION in order to cope with his heartbreak. As he wants her back, Anne-Marie gives a kiss-off in the 2nd verse. I like how the lyrics add a sense of perspective to this scenario. The production is also good too, with the 2-step pattern and harp instrumental that are common features of the UK garage style.

Before we move on, I like to point out that in the chorus, Anne-Marie says ‘oo-wee’. And whenever I hear an artist say this term in a song of theirs, I immediately think of Mr. Poopy Butthole from Rick And Morty. I heard Redman say it (“Da Goodness”), I heard T-Pain say it (Chris Brown’s “Kiss Kiss”), and now I heard Anne-Marie say it.

#6. MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) by Lil Nas X

Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road was the defining song of US chart music in 2019. When Billboard removed it from its country charts, it not only helped boost its popularity, but also sparked a conversation on racist bias coming from critics when it came to evaluating works by non-white artists in the country genre, with legendary music critic Robert Christgau being one of the voices who called out the racism running through country radio.

Now we have another huge musical moment from Nas X in the form of “MONTERO”. The music video of the song sparked controversy, particularly due to a scene where Nas X slides a pole down to Hell and performs a lap dance on the devil. It’s an interesting topic to discuss, but we’re here to talk about the song.

The instrumentation consists of some nice flamenco touches on the guitar paired with handclaps and a reggaeton style triplet rhythm to give off a romantic vibe. The lyrics see Nas X talking to a guy who has fallen victim to peer pressure. He sees that he may be ‘livin’ the life’, but, in reality, he is living ‘in the dark’, thus keeping his true self secret. He then tells him to call him if he needs him. At this point, we see him referencing the LGBT-themed book/film Call Me By Your Name and cleverly flipping the Bible story of Adam & Eve in which he replaces Eve: ‘‘If Eve ain’t in your garden, you know that you can…’.

Lots of good things to note, but I prefer the ‘SATAN’S EXTENDED VERSION’ edit which has a longer outro and has a little fiddle ditty near the end.

#5. The Business by Tiesto

More of DJs who have been around for a long time. Once started out as a hardcore DJ going by the name Da Joker, before moving to trance by the end of the 90’s. Back in the 2000’s, he was more popular In his native country The Netherlands than in the UK, but since “C’mon (Catch ‘Em By Surprise)”, a collab with Diplo and Busta Rhymes, he has been occasionally popping up in the Top 40. That song, “Jackie Chan” and “The Right Song” are probably my favourites of his 2010’s hits (oh, and “We Own The Night”, but that only peaked at #82). I vaguely remember finding out about Tiesto’s popular remix of Samuel Barber’s Adagio For Strings back in 2007, but I only really listened to like one second of it. The first song of his that I remember listening to in full was “Louder Than Boom” back in the Summer of 2010, a fond Tap Tap Revenge 3 memory of mine. 

Now let’s get down to “The Business”, I’ve got no time to play around, so what is this?

This has some moody synths and a pitched down vocal from James Bell that is reminiscent of what MEDUZA usually do when they work with Goodboys, and it manages to have a similar groove that made MEDUZA’s music click with me. There’s not much of the lyrics to talk about, but they look at a guy wanting to spice up his relationship by… getting ‘down to business’.

#4. My Head & My Heart by Ava Max

I already talked about this song in my last ranking when I gave it a shoutout in the future hits section, so check that out if you want to see my thoughts. Happy to see it become a hit. Hope we can have one more charting single from Heaven & Hell to close off the era. I would love for “Take You To Hell” to get the push, I’m frequently coming back to this song. If not, then “Rumours”, “Salt” or “Born To The Night”.

#3. Peaches by Justin Bieber feat. Daniel Caesar and Giveon

Of the charting singles I’ve heard from this era of Bieber, this is easily my favourite. Going for a smooth R&B vibe with the nicely produced guitars. We also see two relative newcomers in R&B, Daniel Caesar and Giveon (though the former has been getting a bit of buzz for a few years now). They fit this beat fantastically. I especially like the vocal harmonies in their verses. Bieber’s chorus has this call and response between him and the ad-libs to help maintain the chill vibe of the song.

Excellent tier

#2. Save Your Tears by The Weeknd

Pretty impressive to see The Weeknd gain chart success for a post-album single. I didn’t go back to this song as much as some other cuts from After Hours, but its success has resulted in further exposure. It’s another addition to the great 80s throwbacks that were on that album thanks to the lush sounding synths. 

The song sees The Weeknd wanting to go back to a past relationship and trying to understand her pain, but compared to the similar lyrical concept running through the My Dear Melancholy EP, it feels more positive in both its production and sound. There is also a use of the vocoder in the end which I didn’t notice, but it was nice to hear it anyway.

#1. Wellerman (220 Kid x Billen Ted Remix) by Nathan Evans

Here’s a peculiar chart occasion! Earlier this year, a 2018 a capella adaptation of the 19th century sea shanty “Soon May The Wellerman Come” arranged by The Longest Johns entered the Top 40 thanks to TikTok. Soon after that, Scottish singer Nathan Evans covered the sea shanty and it got remixed by producers 220 Kid and Billen Ted. Evans’ unremixed version is similar to The Longest Johns’ version, except it contains the addition of bongos on each crotchet beat. Both versions told an interesting story about sailors on a boat and their encounter with a whale.

The remixed version takes snippets from the verses and combines them into a more textured verse-chorus song. It has the typical house tropes with a bass synth in the chorus and pianos covered in effects, but what sets it apart is the welcome addition of an accordion drop after the chorus.

I don’t know if this will mean more sea shanties on the charts to come, but if it doesn’t, then at least we’ll have this unusual, but memorable, chart moment to look back on.

Okay: 5

Solid: 3

Swell: 9

Excellent: 2

A step down from last season, with less excellent songs and more okay songs. But is still a good Top 20 overall.

Here are three songs in the lower sixty of the Top 100 that I would love to see break the top 40. Songs that were in the Top 100 in the week I was ranking the Top 20 I wanted to put in this section but sadly dropped out include “Dancing With The Devil” by Demi Lovato and “Dimension” by JAE5 feat. Skepta and Rema.

FUTURE HIT #3: Telepatia by Kali Uchis (#41, 9 wks)

It was either this or Twenty One Pilots’ “Shy Away”. I may like “Shy Away” more, but the Pilots already have a few Top 40 hits under their belt, while Kali Uchis has yet to get one. This may have reached its peak a while ago, but I still thought I’d give it a shoutout anyway since this may be the only time Uchis has a charting hit in the UK with enough staying power. 

The synths give off this wonderful psychedelic vibe and I like the way Uchis blends the English and Spanish languages together in her verses.

FUTURE HIT #2: Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing) by Fred Again feat. The Blessed Madonna (#55, 4 wks)

I’ve been aware of these two for a while now. I discovered Fred Again from his works with Headie One, and he has produced a few other UK rap hits (two of which made it onto my list for the Top 10 UK Hits of 2020). The Blessed Madonna is most known for her remix of Dua Lipa’s Levitating, which got the song its first chart run before the DaBaby remix came to give it a much needed boost. Both producers team up together to produce a calming electronic track reminiscent of Selected Ambient Works era Aphex Twin. 

Blessed Madonna talks about how COVID resulted in clubs shutting down and how we took all the things we’ve recently lost for granted. The sustained synths in the mix add to this feeling of longing for the day when we can return to the clubs.

FUTURE HIT #1: Starstruck by Years & Years (#56, 2 wks)

Years & Years started out doing EDM with a synthpop influence, but they started to move more towards the synth area later on in their career. Now it is just a solo project by lead singer Olly Alexander. But does that mean the music isn’t as good?

Well, no! Turns out it’s just as good as Y&Y’s usual stuff. It not only carries a synthpop influence, but also contains elements of disco and funk. Alexander sings about how he is ‘starstruck’ by this person and the glistening synths in the chorus that come right after he says it match that feeling perfectly.

Fun Fact: Alexander has also taken part in acting, with his most recent being in the Channel 4 show It’s A Sin. I have yet to see that show. As of today, the only thing I have seen with him playing a role is the 2010 remake of Gulliver’s Travels with Jack Black in it. This may not serve as a great first impression considering the remake’s generally negative reception, but I remember enjoying it despite the blockbuster cliches it fell into.

Chart used: https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/20210409/7501/