Chart Attack

2024 has been nothing short of a pop cultural earthquake, and Chart Attack's end-of-year special is here to measure the aftershocks. In a year where Charli XCX painted the charts green, Sabrina Carpenter became AAA-list, and even a few of the boys made some effort, we're diving deep into twelve months of chart action that rewrote the rulebook on what pop can be. From viral sensations that actually deserved the hype to surprise smashes that had us gleefully checking our calendars, it's been a year where the guard didn't just change - it staged a full-scale musical revolution. Join us as we celebrate the triumphs, dissect the flops, and raise a glass to the chart-toppers that made 2024 feel like the future of pop properly arrived.

For our final bonus track before we get stuck into season 2 we’re taking a look at one of pop’s icons as they celebrate a landmark career moment. As Usher gets set to perform the legendary Super Bowl half-time show we take a look at his 3 number one singles from the 21st century. From his monster hit generating magnum opus album ‘Confessions’ to his late period EDM boom we look at all things Usher and his relationship with the UK charts as well as his legacy as a much-loved pop legend. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

As we’ve discovered, the chart would be nothing without a bit of a curveball, and for Chart Attack’s final bonus episode of 2023, that’s just what we’re giving to you. Although the singles chart of yesteryear is the focus of our podcast’s attention, we’ve still got our eye on the current ranking. So, as an end-of-year wrap-up, we’re presenting to you Chart Attack’s Top 10 Number 1s Of 2023. Featuring the biggest pop stars, soundtrack surprises, exciting new artists and long-time-coming eventual chart toppers, it’s proof enough for us that the UK chart is still worth following. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Well, we’ve brought back Chart Attack for a very special Christmas episode of course. With the Band Aid series due a revamp in 2024, we revisit the third version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, released in 2004. A middling time for the British music scene, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ (Band Aid 20’s Version) saw the track embrace bore-core, in a Chris Martin-led critics choice fest. Our first Christmas special also sees us discuss an ideal Christmas Day, dream up our Band Aid 40 fantasy league, and in the absence of Gail Platt, Martyn watches an episode of cd:uk, you know, for a Christmas twist. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

Abi and Martyn are guesting on the Really Very Good Pick A Disc pod, to talk about Charli XCX's peerless masterpiece 'Pop 2'. Here's a trailer.

Episode 10 of Chart Attack sees us finally take on the monolithic giant of 21st-century pop that is Ed Sheeran and his enormous record-breaking number 1 ‘Shape Of You’. We’ll explore just why this odd little extremely catchy pop song became the phenomenon that it was while asking the ultimate pop question: is Ed Sheeran unfairly maligned? We also try to unpack the way this song and his enormous third album truly changed the way we would look at the charts forever and give an explainer of the extremely complex way the chart is now worked out. Along the way we’ll say hello to Max Branning and Barry from Eastenders, commiserate the inauguration of Donald Trump and pay our final visit to the street where Kevin Webster has lost his stapler. All that and more on the SERIES FINALE!! of Chart Attack. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

In the penultimate episode of Chart Attack season 1, we’re taking it back to 2014 and discussing the explosive beginnings of 5 Seconds Of Summer. We look at their rapid rise as their debut single ‘She Looks So Perfect’ hit the top spot on release, almost unheard of for a rock single in the 2010s. But their popularity came with its pitfalls, and we explore the backlash that followed their success as the year went on. Elsewhere, we delve into the world of science as we explore ‘the viability of arriving like a wrecking ball’ with Miley Cyrus, ask just what is a ‘conscious uncoupling’, and Gail Platt is having some trouble with the law. All that plus more pop nonsense than you can shake a stick at. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

In this week’s episode of Chart Attack, we’re hurtling forward into the 2010s as we approach the final stretch of this season. Crashing in at number 1 in July 2013, Icona Pop’s Charli XCX featuring hit single ‘I Love It’ had conquered the globe before its official release finally took it to the top in the UK. It may have been the pair’s only number 1 hit, but this hedonistic club banger dominated the airwaves - and the telly, and the adverts, and the festival stages - all summer, also marking the start of its writer’s complicated relationship with the mainstream. Elsewhere this week, we reminisce about the Tumblr years, discuss the end of pop’s kooky era, and celebrate Leanne Battersby’s birthday on the street. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

Chart Attack continues this week with Beyoncé’s iconic debut single ‘Crazy In Love’. In episode seven, we meet the superstar at a crucial turning point in her career, as she departs girl group Destiny’s Child and takes her first step to becoming the godlike figure she is today. Our highest-scoring single yet, we explore the career of a true pop legend and the song that started it all. In 2003, Beyoncé was a very different artist, and as we go back in time again, we also talk Channel 4’s The Salon, Gareth Gates’ fling with Jordan, and doing poppers at T In The Park. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

This week on Chart Attack we continue the chart battle theme of last week’s Girls Aloud episode with a classic of the genre. A titanic war between an unheralded DJ and a super niche indie star against a pop giant. Yes, it’s Sophie Ellis Bextor vs Victoria Beckham and the story of how Spiller’s eternal summer anthem ‘Groovejet’ spoiled Posh Spice’s solo party. Chart battles are never quite so straightforward, though. We’ll explore the circumstances around this surprise Number 1 and how Victoria and Dane Bowers’ actually-quite-good-y’know Number 2 is unfairly maligned. Elsewhere in summer 2000, we talk the launch of Big Brother, summer club classics, and it’s a bumper week for our Corrie queen Gail Platt. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

What would a post-millennium number ones podcast be without a little reality show? One of the first of its kind, Pop Stars: The Rivals gave birth to Girls Aloud, the girl group who were put together in real time on the show in 2002, and their debut single ‘Sound Of The Underground’, which went on to reshape British pop throughout the decade. This week’s episode also sees us dip into chart battles (more next week) and cast our minds back to Christmas 2002. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

This week on Chart Attack, we fill you in on the beginnings of Craig David’s career, his meteoric rise to the top and almost immediate fall. Episode 4 sees us dig deep into the music press of the millennium and the notorious treatment of a star on the rise as he hit number 1 with his debut single ‘Fill Me In’, plus a look at his grand return many years later as he was embraced as a true British icon. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

Episode three of Chart Attack is all about serial bop merchant and Scottish DJ legend Calvin Harris, as we explore his 2009 number 1 ‘I’m Not Alone’. This was a pivotal period for Calvin as he transitioned from oddball indie electro maverick into massive global star pumping out hit after hit, becoming the king of the summer banger. We’ll talk about that journey from the bonkers and frankly iconic ‘Calvin In Dumfries’ to just how this song became his first number 1 single. We’ll also chat a bit about the events of 2009, including The Horrors, pigeons and pineapples, as well as taking a trip to Dino Park and pondering the question, ‘Why do all DJs seem to be so tall?’ Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

There comes a time for every pop star when something magical happens. A time when all the stars align, and they create a moment that launches them from mere promising talent to household name in an instant. This week on Chart Attack, we explore certified pop icon Rihanna’s massive ‘summer’ anthem ‘Umbrella’ and how it shaped her legend for years to come. We also say hello to Jay-Z, meet one of soap's most dastardly villains, and revisit a bonkers Eurovision moment for the ages, as we dive into all things summer 2007. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

The number 1 is very important to this podcast, so for our first episode, we had to start big. Going all the way back to 2005, we revisit the debut single of one of the UK’s most iconic bands, Arctic Monkeys. Back when indie bands dominated the charts, Smash Hits was still in print, and chips were sold out of a hatch in the club, the mid-2000s also saw the success of four lads from Sheffield, and their chart topping single ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’. Chart Attack is brought to you by Dork. It’s hosted by Abigail Firth and Martyn Young and produced by Patrick Gunning. Chart data is sourced from the Official Charts Company. You can follow us or get in touch across socials @chartattackpod or via the Dork accounts @readdork and @dorkradio. Thank you for listening!

Welcome to Chart Attack! Join hosts Abigail Firth and Martyn Young in this little teaser as they introduce the show, giving you a taste of what's to come. Delve into classic hits and hidden gems, exploring the highs and lows of the 21st-century UK chart. Discover cultural milestones, captivating stories, and take a delightful trip down memory lane as we answer the ultimate question: Is this a good song?