There was a brief moment, around the turn of the century, when there was a glut of decent number ones. Songs would be plucked, either from the record box of a UK Garage night in Hounslow, or the shores of the Balearic islands, and end up at the top spot. Between 1999 and 2001 Armand Van Helden’s "You Don’t Know Me", Shanks and Bigfoot’s "Sweet Like Chocolate", Craig David’s "Fill Me In", Oxide and Neutrino’s "Bound 4 Da Reload", Spiller’s "Groovejet", Modjo’s "Lady", Rui Da Silva’s "Touch Me", DJ Pied Piper’s "Do You Really Like It" and So Solid Crew’s "21 Seconds" were all number one. And if you don’t think that is a collection of some of the most joyous music ever released, you can’t sit with us at lunch.Since then, the No1 spot has been a fairly derelict urban wasteland, controlled by kingpins David Guetta and Simon Cowell, with occasional insurrections by novelty holiday-resort hits and Cee-Lo Green. In 2007 the Official Charts Company tried to make things more exciting by making any song from history chart elligible, but this backfried when it transpired the only song from history people were buying was 'Don't Stop Believing' by Journey. But 2013 is about to see a return to the golden age of the number one, with inventive electronic music from young producers making it to the top spot. I’m not saying the charts are suddenly perfect, but compare things to April last year, when the only number ones came from Katy Perry, Chris Brown and Carly Rae Jepsen, and you’ve got to admit we’re heading in the right direction. Suddenly people with Resident Advisor profiles are selling more singles than Pitbull.Why does it matter which record people bought the most in a given week? Well first, it suggests people in their 20s must be buying singles again and that means the music industry might sign fewer artists that exclusively appeal to people who think Jeremy Clarkson “tells it like it is” or cried at the end of Call The Midwife. Second it feels like British music has finally unstitched itself from America’s 20-years-too-late obsession with the worst vestiges of Euro house. Even a hundred thousand Swedish House Mafia fans in Milton Keynes can be silenced by people in more cultured metropolitan cities listening to Duke Dumont.Disclosure ft. Aluna George - "White Noise"Number 2 - 16th FebuaryAlright this isn’t the strongest start to an argument. Disclosure never quite made it to number one, kept off the top spot by overlord of the morons Macklemore and his song about being proud of being a moron. But that was a song so terrible someone was viciously assaulted by their wife for singing it too much. And besides this is a perfect example of the shift that’s been happening in British pop. Two acts who both got their first plays on pirate radio, collaborating on a big club tune that's just weird enough to not be classed as EDM, but still catchy enough that you sing it on the little walk from the bus stop to your front door.
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