Happy new year, chart watchers!
I thought the Christmas TOTP was a big improvement this year. In recent years the main complaint has been too many slots given to acts who haven't had chart hits, either album-oriented ones or BBC-anointed up and comers. This year that was cut back a lot and most of the featured tracks were at least mid-level hits. Highlights were Mimi Webb, who in particular might have won a lot of new fans, and surprisingly KSI. The biggest downside was that drill, which had its chart breakthrough as a genre this year, wasn't represented at all - but maybe in the real world it's not so easy to get those artists on a mainstream show.
Back to fantasy land, and it's time to run down the top ten artists of the year. There's a good mix of different genres, old and new faces, UK and US. Enjoy.
In joint eighth place with nine appearances is Tom Grennan. One of two artists in this top ten who made their debut this year, Tom first appeared performing his cute duet alongside Ella Henderson, but quickly followed up with his solo hit A Little Bit Of Love and then a Calvin Harris guest appearance. All three tracks had impressive chart runs and multiple appearances on the show.
Also in joint eighth place with nine appearances is Central Cee. UK drill was one of the chart stories of the year, with Tion Wayne, Russ Millions and Digga D all doing well, but Central Cee surpassed them to be the genre's biggest flagbearer, at least in TOTP terms. Including guest spots with D-Block Europe and Fredo, he performed five different songs on the show, his biggest hit being Obsessed With You, which sampled another low-key story of 2021, Pinkpantheress.
And also in joint eighth place with nine appearances is Lil Nas X. Number 1 hits were hard to come by outside a select group of mega-names this year, but after a quiet 2020, Lil Nas X came roaring back with a big one. Two smaller hits added to the many performances of Montero to put him in the year's top artists.
In joint fifth place with eleven appearances is Anne-Marie. Having quietly built herself a place in the top tier of British artistes, Anne-Marie performed five different songs on the show this year, all with a variety of collaborators including Little Mix, KSI, Niall Horan and Nathan Dawe. She perhaps didn't have a year-defining hit, but she was always in the mix and never far from the upper reaches of the chart.
Also in joint fifth place with eleven appearances is The Weeknd. Now a veteran friend of the show, The Weeknd brought us his pervy RnB stylings on six different songs this year, both solo and as a feature. His songs tend to hang around a long time even if their peaks are lowish, and Blinding Lights in particular is still on the countdown after well over a year.
And also in joint fifth place with eleven appearances is Dua Lipa. Even in a relatively quiet year by her standards, Dua was frequently featured on a mix of still-popular tracks from her Future Nostalgia album and left-field guest appearances with Miley Cyrus, Pop Smoke and Elton John. The last of these even nicked her (and Sir Elton) an unexpected number 1 towards the end of the year.
In joint third place with fourteen appearances are Little Mix. It was a turbulent year in which the ever-popular friends of the show lost a member, but they started it with a number one hit and kept hitmaking despite the drama. They also branched out a bit, collaborating with Galantis, Nathan Dawe and Anne-Marie to keep things fresh.
Also in joint third place with fourteen appearances is Doja Cat. The highest-placed performer not to have a number 1 hit, Doja Cat built on her success in 2020 and featured on the show in each of the first ten months of the year with eight different chart hits.
In second place with nineteen appearances is Olivia Rodrigo. Way ahead of the next-placed debuting artist, Olivia Rodrigo made things look very easy, dominating the top of the chart for most of the first half of the year. The history-making Drivers License started it all but she was no one-hit wonder, performing a total of five songs on the show throughout the year.
In first place with twenty appearances is Ed Sheeran. If the first half of the year belonged to Olivia Rodrigo, the second half was Ed's. The Sheeranmobile fired up in July and never really dropped below top gear as one number 1 followed another with a relatively brief interlude to accommodate Adele (who started too late in the year to quite make this top ten). Hats off to him, he did it again. What a performance.
Finally, here's the updated all-time Fantasy TOTP list:
1 Ed Sheeran (100)
2 Little Mix (71)
3 Dua Lipa (66)
4 Ariana Grande (59)
5 Drake (54)
= The Weeknd (54)
7 Justin Bieber (50)
8 Clean Bandit (45)
9 Calvin Harris (43)
= Sam Smith (43)
11 Camila Cabello (39)
12 Stormzy (38)
13 Anne-Marie (37)
14 Rita Ora (36)
15 Jess Glynne (35)
16 George Ezra (34)
17 Jason Derulo (33)
== Ellie Goulding (33)
19 Coldplay (30)
== Mabel (30)
== Jax Jones (30)
King Ed Sheeran reached triple figures of appearances and surely cannot be challenged for years to come, if ever. Little Mix hold on to second place and Dua Lipa rounds out the top three, while Sam Smith clings on to a top ten spot despite not appearing this year. Anne-Marie at 13 is the highest-placed new entrant to the top twenty.
Thanks for reading and we'll see you throughout 2022.
