Happy new year to everybody in fantasy land!
The bad news is that 2023 marked the second year in a row with no real life Christmas Top of the Pops - just a review of the year, with not even any studio performances this time. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't TOTP at all. Give the public the studio pop performances that they surely crave!
The good news is that in our fantasy world it was another bumper year. Here are the top ten most featured performers...
In joint eighth place with eight appearances are Chase & Status. 2023 was the best chart year ever for drum and bass music, so it's apt to see these veterans of the scene, with only a handful of scattered appearances up to now, take advantage. They had four different hits alongside a host of collaborators, most spending long stretches in the top 20.
Also in joint eighth place with eight appearances is RAYE. It was a dream twelve months for her, as she leapt to the top of the chart in January and went on to have her best year ever, with big hits alongside Stormzy and Casso keeping her on the TOTP stage.
And also in joint eighth place with eight appearances is Anne-Marie. It was another good year for the perennially popular singer, as collaborations with Aitch, David Guetta and most memorably Shania Twain all scored solid chart runs.
In joint fifth place with nine appearances is Olivia Rodrigo. After only three years in the game (and a year and a half of that off) Rodrigo is already in the top 40 most featured all time performers. In the second half of the year she released hit after hit in quick succession and generally had at least a couple in the top ten at once.
Also in joint fifth place with nine appearances is Doja Cat. The bulk of those were for her long run at number 1 with Paint The Town Red, including several memorable TOTP moments, but Agora Hills got a bit of love as well.
And also in joint fifth place with nine appearances is Ellie Goulding. This longtime friend of the show had her best TOTP year ever thanks to repeated performances of her Calvin Harris-assisted monster smash Miracle.
In joint third place with twelve appearances is Dave. Most of those were for his summer smash Sprinter alongside Central Cee, with a couple of other hits here and there.
Also in joint third place with twelve appearances is Miley Cyrus. Flowers had an incredible run at the start of the year, and she also came on to perform River and Used To Be Young to round out an impressive total.
But in joint first place with fourteen appearances is Central Cee. Dave's sprinting partner managed to add a couple more to his total thanks to a feature with Pinkpantheress and his own hit Me & You. A third great year in a row for UK drill's number one poster boy.
And also in joint first place with fourteen appearances is Taylor Swift. Unlike the other names in the top five Taylor lacked a long run at number 1, but that was no impediment for Queen Taylor. She appeared with hits both old and new, performing an unmatched nine different songs to achieve pop dominance.
And finally, it's time to check in on the all-time top 20:
1 Ed Sheeran (120)
2 Dua Lipa (74)
3 Little Mix (71)
4 Drake (66)
5 Ariana Grande (63)
6 The Weeknd (61)
7 Calvin Harris (53)
8 Sam Smith (52)
9 Justin Bieber (50)
10 Anne-Marie (48)
11 Stormzy (47)
== George Ezra (47)
13 Clean Bandit (45)
14 Becky Hill (43)
15 Ellie Goulding (42)
== Camila Cabello (42)
17 Taylor Swift (41)
18 Dave (39)
19 Rita Ora (38)
20 Harry Styles (37)
== Jax Jones (37)
Dua Lipa is now in second ahead of the inactive Little Mix, with only the surely uncatchable King Ed Sheeran above her. Taylor Swift's brilliant year propels her into the top 20, while Jess Glynne drops out. And it might be worth noting that the most-featured artistes to debut this year were Coi Leray and Kenya Grace, with five appearances each.
Thanks for reading and let's see what happens in 2024.
