h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

49 Shaggy - It wasn't me

An ad that's why it seemed familiar but I couldn't place it

50. a US new wave band;

Blondie Heart of Glass

That extra smiley gives it away

If I'm Right if not

55 Steps - Heartbeat/Tagedy

*Stuffs an 'r' into previous post*

Tagerdy?

I think the last one

56. A US actor, now based in the UK;

Must be our old mate from Starkers and Crutch.

David Soul - Don't give up on us.

You did it!

49. Shaggy - It Wasn't Me (1.181m)
55. Steps - Heartbeat/Tragedy (1.151m)
56. David Soul - Don't Give Up On Us (1.145m)

all round

And the final scores are...

We have a tie!

Magwitch & Bluebottle
Beatrice
TC
Lanzababy & Bald Bloke
Gnomon
Recumbentman


Thanks for playing - hope you enjoyed that!

Buggaration, I thought I whipped Bluebottle into a cocked hat.

Good game, good game.

Enjoyed it loads.

Thanks, Icy

55 - Has to be Steps - Heartbeat / Tragedy

Still not sure about 49 - probably not Snoop Dogg or 'Who Let the Dogs Out'

<BB<

Didn't look at the last page.

Well done Magwitch

<BB<

Many thanks Icy for a great quiz! Twas a real workout for zee leetle grey cells, and brought back some lovely memories to boot.

Yes - thanks! Good start to the year, coming in the top 5 like that

A lot of them were very UK-based, some I hadn't even heard *of*, let alone heard! Others I was surprised that they had even been heard of in the UK!

So the Final Countdown is

1. Elton John - Candle in the Wind (4.865m)
2. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? (3.575m)
3. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (2.176m)
4. Wings - Mull of Kintyre (2.050m)
5. Boney M - Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl in the Ring (1.985m)
6. John Travolta/Olivia Newton John - You're the one that I Want (1.975m)
7. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax (1.91m)
8. The Beatles - She Loves You (1.89m
9. Robson & Jerome - Unchained Melody (1.844m)
10. Boney M - Mary's Boy Child (1.80m)
11. Will Young - Evergreen (1.787m)
12. Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around (1.785m)
13. Stevie Wonder - I Just Called (1.775m)
14. The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand (1.75m)
15. Aqua - Barbie Girl (1.723m)
16. Cher - Believe (1.673m)
17. Various artists - Perfect Day (1.548m)
18. Bryan Adams - Everything I Do I Do It For You (1.545m)
19. Ken Dodd - Tears (1.521m)
20. The Beatles - Can’t Buy Me Love (1.520m)
21. John Travolta/Olivia Newton John - Summer Nights (1.520m)
22. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes (1.510m)
23. John Lennon - Imagine (1.497)
24. Wham - Last Christmas (1.485m)
25. Britney Spears - Hit Me Baby One More Time (1.453m)
26. Human League - Don’t You Want Me (1.43m)
27. Puff Daddy - I'll be Missing You (1.427m)
28. The Beatles - I Feel Fine (1.410m)
29. Culture Club - Karma Chameleon (1.41m)
30. The Seekers - The Carnival is Over (1.4m)
31. Bill Haley - Rock Around the Clock (1.392m)
32. The Beatles - Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out (1.387m)
33. Village People - YMCA (1.38m)
34. George Michael - Careless Whisper (1.368m)
35. Englebert Humperdinck - Release Me (1.365m)
36. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You (1.361m)
37. Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On (1.347m)
38. Gareth Gates - Unchained Melody (1.336m)
39. Jennifer Rush - The Power of Love (1.322m)
40. Spice Girls - Wannabe (1.276m)
41. The Fugees - Killing Me Softly (1.270m)
42. All Saints - Never Ever (1.255m)
43. Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise (1.253m)
44. Elvis Presley - It's Now or Never (1.246m)
45. Paul Anka - Diana (1.240m)
46. Celine Dione - Think Twice (1.238m)
47. Tom Jones - Green Green Grass of Home (1.205m)
48. Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen (1.201m)
49. Shaggy - It Wasn't Me (1.181m)
50. Blondie - Heart of Glass (?m)
51. Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child (1.175m)
52. Englebert Humperdink - The Last Waltz (1.160m)
53. Tony Christie - Amarillo (1.16m)
54. Art Garfunkel - Bright Eyes (1.155m)
55. Steps - Heartbeat/Tragedy (1.151m)
56. David Soul - Don't Give Up On Us (1.145m)
57. Gary Glitter - I Love You Love Me Love (1.14m)
58. Band Aid 20 - Do They Know it's Christmas? (1.138m)
59. Soft Cell - Tainted Love (1.137m)
60. Acker Bilk - Stranger on the Shore (1.130m)
61. Run DMC - It's Like That (1.120m)
62. The Teletubbies - Teletubbies say 'Eh oh' (1.108m)
63. Babylon Zoo - Spaceman (?m)
64. Frank Ifield - I Remember You (1.096m)
65. Robson & Jerome - I Believe (1.09m)
66. Whigfield - Saturday Night (1.092m)
67. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of my Head (1.087)
68. Spice Girls - 2 Become 1 (1.083m)
69. Hearsay - Pure and Simple (1.08m)
70. Boyzone - No Matter What (1.075m)
71. Shayne Ward - That's My Goal (1.07m)
72. Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody (1.059m)
73. Cliff Richard & The Shadows - The Young Ones (1.052m)
74. Michael Jackson - Earth Song (1.040m)
75. Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee) - (1.024m)
76. Oasis - Wonderwall (1.015m)
77. Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It? (1.01m)
78. Natalie Imbruglia - Torn (1.01m)
79. Brotherhood of Man - Save Your Kisses For Me (1.007m)
80. Simon Park Orchestra - Eye Level (1.005m)
81. Bing Crosby - White Christmas (1.005m)
82. New Order - Blue Monday (1.002m)

There's a couple there that I don't recognise the name of artists and songs too...

<BB<

There are definitely some there I missed, and some more I wish I had missed

I confess I didn't recognise a few, but recognised the tunes after I'd located them on Youtube. That nice Whigfield gyrating in her towel was a pleasant surprise, and I might look up more of her vid-sorry-songs later

I have a musical knowledge gap in the 1990s when I was getting married and raising a family.

It would be nice to add the year of release to that list. But that is going perhaps too far.

Also - how long it took them to reach the million. Some may have just sold a few thousand every Christmas, or intermittently (if they appeared in a TV ad, for example), some may have rocketed past the million in a couple of months.

You don't want much, do you!

I can't get over the fact that Natalie Umbrella's there, but not Kylie. And as for David Soul....

I know that when John Lennon's 'Imagine' was first released in the UK, it only got to number 6. Yet after Lennon's death in 1980 it became a posthumous no 1 in early 1981, and has been re-released at least twice since then, becoming a no 3 hit when released as 'song of the century' in December 1999.

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Kylie's there - at no 67.

I can get you those dates, TC. I'll post a definitive list when I can.

I hate that Kylie song, I was living in (quite literally) shit town in a one bed flat and my idiot downstairs neighbour used to play it all the bloody time as well as sand his doors at 3, 4, 5am .

I got my revenge two days before I moved out, by placing my speakers on the floor and playing Motorhead for several hours while I went to work. Double cassette deck. Four albums. Constant repeat. Sweet!