THIS SOUNDS SO INEVITABLE, IT SURELY CAN'T BE TRUE?: We're obviously hoping that there really is an album project uniting Franz Ferdinand and Sparks, of course we are. But surely it can't be anything more to it than a thing to fill a quiet Friday entertainment page, can there?

IS THIS PUNK ENDORSING BUSH, OR BUSH ENDORSING PUNK?: As if Iraq wasn't an awful enough place, the choice of The Vandals as band to play in the New Year for American squadies caught in Rumsfeld's "it's nothing like Vietnam" experience must have just been adding confusing insult to ever present risk of fatal injury. Apparently the band have done eight gigs for soldiers across the middle east.

ROCK SICK LIST: Masters of Reality singer and ghost member of Queens of the Stone Age Chris Goss spent Christmas in a California hospital. Goss suffered some serious bad infection and lapsed in and out of consciousness for much of the festive period. Sprouts are not believed to have been involved.

PETE PULLS IT OFF: It's probably only fair to record that Pete Doherty managed to arrive at, and play, all four new year gigs, blessing the peoples of Birmingham, Stoke, Oldham and Manchester.

2004: THE YEAR IN ONE POST

Select a week from the last 52:
04 January 2004
11 January 2004
18 January 2004
25 January 2004
01 February 2004
08 February 2004
15 February 2004
22 February 2004
29 February 2004
07 March 2004
14 March 2004
21 March 2004
28 March 2004
04 April 2004
11 April 2004
18 April 2004
25 April 2004
02 May 2004
09 May 2004
16 May 2004
23 May 2004
30 May 2004
06 June 2004
13 June 2004
20 June 2004
27 June 2004
04 July 2004



11 July 2004
18 July 2004
25 July 2004
01 August 2004
08 August 2004
15 August 2004
22 August 2004
29 August 2004
05 September 2004
12 September 2004
19 September 2004
26 September 2004
03 October 2004
10 October 2004
17 October 2004
24 October 2004
31 October 2004
07 November 2004
14 November 2004
21 November 2004
28 November 2004
05 December 2004
12 December 2004
19 December 2004
26 December 2004

CHEGGERS PLAYS OP: Member of not-really-seminal joke group Brown Sauce and presenter of one of the 80s key pieces of music TV Cheggers Plays Pop, Keith Chegwin spent Christmas afternoon having his appendix removed. He was expecting to be discharged sometime this week.

BIGBANDOBIT: Clarinet-playing, bandleading, composing, multi-marrying Artie Shaw has died. Never comfortable as a celebrity, and always refusing to fall back on cloning earlier success, Shaw was such a huge star that as America finally got round to entering the Second World War, Time magazine told its readers that to Germans, the US meant "sky-scrapers, Clark Gable, and Artie Shaw."

Shaw was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1910; he started with the saxophone as a fourteen year-old before moving after a few months to the clarinet. He took to the instrument so quickly that he was touring and playing across the US before his sixteenth birthday. He settled in Cleveland, where he worked under Austin Wylie. A fascination with "race records" lead to a deep respect for Louis Armstrong, and provided Shaw with the influences he would take with him to a position in the Hollywood-based Aaronson band and on to a further relocation to New York in 1930. The tensions between Shaw's interest in the work of modern classicists Bartok, Stravinksy and Ravel, and the commercial demands of his employers (he was a sax and clarinet for hire in the New York radio and studio scene) lead to disillusionment with the music business. Shaw withdrew to Pennsylvania to try and carve a new career as an author.

He would return to music as a sideline: trying to complete his formal education, Shaw moved back to New York to study and did studio work to pay his way through college. In 1936, Artie made his first appearance as a bandleader in what is generally accepted to be the first ever Swing Concert. Invited to fill in the gaps between more established acts, Shaw pulled together an octet to play his composition Interlude in B-flat (in a style now known as Third-Stream Music).

The Artie Shaw orchestra rapidly had a hit with Begin The Beguine, and Shaw took the then unprecedented step of hiring a black female singer as a full-time band member when he hired Billie Holiday. Although able to command massive paydays, Shaw was uncomfortable with his status as King of Swing. What appears to have disgusted him most was the focus on him rather than his music: "The jitterbugs were a pack of morons" he said, "I hate selling myself. I hate the fans. They won't even let me play without interrupting me. They scream when I play. They don't listen. They don't care about the music." He took another break, visiting Mexico and again rethinking his sound. His comeback, Frenesi, used a large studio band and included a full string section.

After Pearl Harbour, Shaw thought he was again quitting the music industry when he enlisted in the navy, only to be asked to create a service band to tour the Pacific theatre. Although not fighting, his proximity to some of the bombing raids lead to a medical discharge and, returning to civilian life, Shaw divorced his first wife Betty Kern and created a new band.

In 1949, Shaw shifted direction again, with a tour and album based on non-jazz (or long-form) classical music for the clarinet. The Modern Music for the Clarinet set drew on Shostakovich, Debusst and Poulenc as well as Gershwin and Porter, finally giving Shaw the chance to directly pay homage to those formative influences.

As you'd expect, Shaw's response to the acclaim this new venture received was to head to the exit; he bought an upstate New York dairy farm and finally completed his first book, a autobiographical-ish work called The Trouble With Cinderella: An Outline of Identity. He did continue to create a number of big and small bands including the still-popular Gramercy 5.

He quit the clarinet in 1954, and the US a year later, living in Spain for five years. A second book came in 1964, shortly after a return to Connecticut. Brief returns to showbusiness notwithstanding (he distributed movies in the mid-fifties and made a one-off return to launch a new orchestra in 1983) Shaw spent most of the second half of the century away from the public eye. "I got out of the Artie Shaw business" was his wry take on his retirement.

Amongst it all, he found time for eight marriages - as well as Betty, his eternal troth was also pledged to Ava Gardner and Lana Turner - and to win plaudits as a marksman and fly-fisher. Earlier this year, he was given a lifetime achievement Grammy Award.

THE STATE OF THE BRITISH MUSIC INDUSTRY: While we can understand the mawkish sentiment that has lead the organisers of the Brits to seek a Bono-Bob Geldof duet to round off next year's event, wouldn't it make more sense to round off the 25th celebration of British muscial talent by, well, asking some British musical talent to do the closing number? Or is this merely the Brits organisers admitting that after a quarter-century of their efforts to promote and nurture UK musical talent, things are so bad we have to go next door to find anyone with a profile that would make the rest of the world take any notice of their party?

THE YOUNG YEAR: We're delighted to hear that Will Young is going to piss away ten grand on a New Year's Eve party at some gormless place Richard Branson's built in the Atlas Mountains; it's just that since The Tall Guy we've never been able to hear of anyone going to Morocco without appending the words "... where Joe Orton used to go to pick up young boys."

AND THEY TRY TO TELL YOU SHE'S TALENTLESS: Both Ashlee and Jessica Simpson are able to belch the alphabet. "Oh yes" says Ashlee, "I really can... A, B, C, D, um... H, T... P? F?..."

DOCK THE HALLS?: The rapid increase in the number of Halls of Fame for specific genres and styles and subgenres of music may have reached its apex: the hideous prospect of needing a Hall of Fame Hall of Fame, to recognise the best Halls of Fame may yet be averted. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame (no, we hadn't, either) is collapsing in on itself. It's based in Sharon, Pennsylvania and was founded by James E Winner Jr, who made his cash from The Club anti-car theft device. Oddly, the chance to see the gowns worn by The Supremes on Ed Sullivan didn't really tempt that many people to make the 65-mile trip from Pittsburgh and, as the debts mounted, Winner pulled out and the new operators attempted to keep the dream alive through donations. When that failed, they tried sponsorship.

Things got worse this month, when Winner returned waving lawsuits - he reckons he's owed ten grand by the Hall, and he's unhappy that the pop tat collection has been taken away from the museum. Now, the dream is going to end up in court.

I HOPE I DIE BEFORE I MAKE LORD: Although, to be honest, it's hard to even raise any sarcasm about the singer of My Generation accepting a CBE from the Queen (the citation for Roger Daltrey reads "close personal friend... lot of good work for charity"); any credibility he might have had disappeared into his trout pool with the American Express adverts - Daltrey's CBE isn't a sell-out; it's merely the establishment stuffing a trophy they claimed years ago.

No surprise, either, that Pete Waterman will be happily accepting an OBE; he's always seemed the type. You can just bet he'll be using it in his production credits, too.

Also saying "Go on, then, Queenie" are Tom and Jack Alexander, who, as the Alexander Brothers - their MBEs are presumably a recognition for the big 1960s depressohit Nobody's Child:

I'm nobody's child, I'm nobody's child/ I'm like a flower just growing wild/ No mommy's kisses, and no daddy's smile/ Nobody wants me, I'm nobody's child.

PARK LIFE: You wouldn't have perhaps expected it, but the first big name to try to help out in the face of the tsunami is Linkin Park. They've hooked up with the Red Cross to establish Music For Relief, setting up the fund with a USD100,000 payment.

MEASURING CRAZY: We are especially taken with the opinon of Wade Jones, they guy who's auctioning three teaspoons of water from a cup Elvis used in 1977. He doesn't think he's in any way odd to have kept the cup and water for the past twenty-five years, but does think the people trying to buy it might be a bit loopy. It's always the other guy on the bus, isn't it, Wade?

AND ANOTHER THING... POLICEMEN ARE SO UNTIDY THESE DAYS...: The increasingly boring Bob Geldof has managed to get hold of another bugaboo, blaming charity shops for being responsible for the decline in British high streets. Although Bob seems to realise that the appearance of rows of charity shops usually follows the opening of a large out-of-town supermarket, he seems to think that if you stopped the thrift shops from opening up, the high streets would remain vibrant places. In other words, Bob's world is one where Scope forces the local baker to closedown so they can be a few miles from a giant Asda.

Of course, Bob's antipathy towards second-hand shops would be in no way connected with the massive oversupply of copies of Is That It? most of them tend to offer.

ANAIS NIN USED TO KEEP A CARD INDEX FILE OF HER LIES, LABELLED 'LIES': Before Christmas, you'll doubtless recall, Sharon Osbourne was somehow trying to claim that the jewel theft at her house (where someone somehow gained entry to the bedrooms and made off with rings and things) had left her potless, unable to afford so much as a plasma-screen television. Now, oddly, she's throwing a lavish new year's eve party. It's all very confusing.

WILL THE MINNIE DRIVER MADNESS NEVER END?: And yet another bloody actor turns up with a TDK D90: "I've been writing some songs... silly little things really, but I wonder if you'd be interested in..." This time, it's Anthony Hopkins who's decided to have a crack at being a pianist. Oh, brilliant.

EMI GET SOMETHING RIGHT: We're always quick to slag off the major labels, so we're happy to applaud EMI management's wisdom in telling Robbie Williams that nobody wants to see his pubes. If only they also realised that most people aren't that keen on seeing his nipples, either. Or the face. Especially the face.

IT'S LIKE THE SEWAGE OUTFLOW COMPLAINING THE SEA HAS FLOWED INTO IT: Not quite grasping the concept of irony with a full grip, sources close to Geri Halliwell have muttered that Simon Cowell slagged her single 'just to get his show in the papers'. Yes, Geri, nobody was covering the X-Factor at all until he mentioned your record.

THAT WAS THE YEAR, THAT WAS, MORE OR LESS: Just added to our 2004 uberpost: ACME calculates what Peel loved the most; the Worldwide awards don't stretch much beyond North-West England.

BUT SHE DOESN'T ROCK AND SHE'S NOT MUCH OF A PERSONALITY: We've always wondered quite who listens to Virgin Radio these days, and having heard the listener's choice of rock personality of 2004, we're more bemused than ever. Sharon Osbourne? Chat-show host (failed) and judge on a karaoke competition? Even by the standards we've come to expect of the station, that's a pretty weak winner.

THIS WAY, TO SEE 'HOPE' TRIUMPH AGAIN OVER 'EXPERIENCE': Good lord, Kelly Osbourne is readying another single and album, is she? We've heard of not being able to take a hint, but this is ridiculous.

Mind you, she describes her new single, One Word, thus:

"It has a little to do with Nostradamus and how he predicted all the things that were gonna happen and that did end up happening."

And we guess anyone who can swallow the bollocks that Nostradamus "predicted things that did happen" would have no problem in believing a music industry wonk when they tell her "this time we're getting a great pre-buzz from radio and with marketing providing a push we see this being a top ten, probably top five both sides of the Atlantic."

IF IT HAD BEEN A BIT BIGGER, NOBODY WOULD HAVE SPOTTED YOU WERE LIP-SYNCHING THE WRONG SONG: We're not sure if it was in response to her Dad-manager's creepy enthusiasm for her sister's breasts, but Ashlee Simpson has been singing the praises of her "large" nose.

INTO THE SAUSAGE MACHINE: If you were left with any lingering doubts as to how far Coldplay count as proper musicians, you need look no further than the next act that their manager, Dave Holmes, is working with. He feels that the Coldplay marketing model will work just as well for Delta Goodrem. Pretty face, inoffensive songs.

04 TO THE FLOOR: As 2004 slowly packs away its belongings and promises it'll call, so the annual year-end lists come out. We'll be featuring some of them here over the next few days, but if you require a massive round up already, right now, Ur music has scooped up a whole slew of Revs of The Year in several easy to use pieces. (Now we feel like we're Slashdot or something).

As we mentioned a while back, Edward at Enthusiastic But Mediocre battled not just Christmas but also internet cafes to bring the top 125 singles of the year: he's still around the 70-point, but you can tell where the quality bar has been set because Ruslana only makes number 113.

DECEMBER 28TH UPDATE:
Rob DaBank is going to be in charge of the Festive Fifty this year, but it takes someone truly dedicated to fire up Excel to produce the chart Peel would have wanted. Dan at ACME has done the required number crunching to discover the tracks Peel played most often...

Meanwhile, ACME also offer an album-of-the-year-omatic selection device thingy doobery that tells me my album of the year was the Albert Ayler boxset.

The 2004 Worldwide Music Awards (not to be confused with the World Music Awards) took place on that day which nobody is entirely sure if it's meant to be called Boxing Day or not when it falls on a Sunday; amongst the winners was Mr Scruff for Keep It Solid Steel. A John Peel 'Play More Jazz' award went to SA-RA Creative Partners and Booty La-La was a deserving winner in the Cuts of the Year category.

DECEMBER 31ST UPDATE:
K-Punk's review of the year is a little too kind to Natasha Bedingfield, but is most acute (although depressingly so) when they observe that Roisin Murphy's brand of popstarriness is old-fashioned.

As it should be: The Fall top the Festiva Fifty - and, as the list shows, fears that non-Peel listeners might have been tempted to swamp the charts with Maroon Five have been proved baseless (or else they've mucked about with the rankings):

1. The Fall - 'Theme from Sparta FC Part 2' (CD Single) - (Action Records)
2. Bearsuit - 'Chargr' (7") - (Fortuna Pop!)
3. Caroline Martin - 'The Singer' (LP- I Had A Hundred More Reasons To Stay By The Fire) - (Small Dog Records)
4. Aereogramme - 'Dreams and Bridges' (LP- Seclusion) - (Undergroove)
5. Sluts of Trust - 'Leave You Wanting More' (LP- We Are All Sluts of Trust) (Chemikal Underground)
6. The Delgados - 'Everybody Come Down' (LP- Universal Audio) - (Chemikal Underground Records)
7. Sons & Daughters - 'Johnny Cash' (mini LP- 'Love The Cup') - (Domino)
8. Half Man Half Biscuit - 'Joy Division' (Peel Session)
9. Graham Coxon - 'Freakin' Out' (Split CD Single thing) - (EMI)
10. Jawbone - 'Hi De Hi' (LP- Dang Blues) - (White Label)
11. Bloc Party - 'Helicopter' (LP- Promo) - (Wichita)
12. Texas Radio Band - 'Chwareon Bwtleg Pep Le Pew' (LP- The North South Divine) - (FF Vinyl)
13. Martyn Hare - 'Do Not Underestimate' (4.55) (12") - (Designer)
14. Cinerama - 'It's Not You It's Me' (7") - (Go Metric! Records)
15. Aereogramme - 'The Unravelling' (LP- Seclusion) - (Undergroove)
16. PJ Harvey - 'The Letter' (CD Single) - (Island)
17. Laura & Ballboy - 'I Lost You But I Found County Music' (CD Single 'Past Lovers) - (Sl Records)
18. Jawbone - 'Jack Rabbit' (LP- Dang Blues) - (Loose)
19. DJ Distance - 'Ritual' (EP- Closer Than You Think) (CDR) - (Lix Recordings)
20. Bloc Party - 'Banquet' (LP- The Silent Album) - (Wichita)
21. Ballboy - 'The Art of Kissing' (LP- The Royal Theatre) (SL Records)
22. The Black Keys - 'Ten AM Automatic' (CD Single) - (Fat Possum)
23. PJ Harvey - 'Shame' (CD Single) - (Island)
24. Decoration - 'It Tried It, I Tried It, I Loved It' (CD Single) (White Label)
25. 65 Days of Static - 'Retreat! Retreat! (LP- The Fall of Math) - (Monotreme)
26. McLusky - 'That Man Will Not Hang' (LP- The Difference Between Me And You Is That I'm Not On Fire') - (Too Pure)
27. Listen With Sarah - 'Animal Hop' (White Label)
28. XBooty - 'O Superman' (12") - (White Label)
29. Digital Mystikz - 'B' (12") - (DMZ)
30. The Black Keys - 'Girl Is On My Mind' (CD Single) - (Fat Possum)
31. Art Brut - 'Formed A Band' (CD Single) - (Rough Trade)
32. The Delgados - 'I Fought The Angels' (LP- Universal Audio) - (Chemikal Underground Records)
33. Shitmat - ''There's No Business Like Propa' Rungleclotted Mashup Bizznizz' (LP- Full English Breakfast) - (Planet Mu)
34. Magic Band - 'Bug Eyed Beans from Venus' - (Peel Session)
35. Jon E Cash - 'International' (12") - (Black Ops)
36. Wedding Present - 'Interstate 5' (CD Single) - (Scopitones)
37. Tunng - 'Tale from Black' (LP- This is…. Tunng - Mother's Daughter and Other Songs) - (Static Caravan)
38. Melys - 'Eyeliner' (CD Single) - (Sylem)
39. Decoration - 'Joy Adamson' - (Peel Session)
40. Cornershop presents Bubbley Kaur - 'Topknot' (CD Single) - (Rough Trade Records)
41. Calvin Party - 'Northern Song' (LP- Never As Black) - (Probe Plus)
42. Plasticman - 'Cha' (12") - (Terrorhythm)
43. Kentucky AFC - 'Be Nesa' (LP- Kentucky AFC) - (Boobytrap)
44. Bloc Party - 'Little Thoughts' (CD Single) - (Witchita)
45. Aphrodisiacs - 'If U Want Me' (CD Single) - (SL Records)
46. Mountain Goats - 'Your Belgian Things' (LP- We Shall All Be Healed) - (4AD)
47. Magic Band - 'Electricity' - (Peel Session)
48. Ella Guru - 'Park Lake Speakers' (LP- The First Album) - (Banana Recordings)
49. Ballboy - 'I don't have time to stand here with you fighting about the size of my dick' (LP- The Royal Theatre) - (SL Records)
50. The Vaults - 'No Sleep No Need' (10") - (Red Flag)

... plus, of course, it's a mainly white, mainly guitar-based chart, which means up in heaven, Peel is enjoying his annual whinge about how conservative the Festive Fifty is.

Simon Reynolds has weighed 2004 and found grime most mighty over at Blissblog; and, contradicting K-Punk's judgement of "over-rated", has lots of praise for what The Streets did.

JANUARY 1ST UPDATE:
Rolling Stone elect to not try and pretend that there's a "best" record of the year, and so just produce a list of alphabetical order Top 50 that includes The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and The Streets - if you haven't compiled your albums of the year list yet, you can find sheets available at WH Smiths which have these albums pre-printed to save you the effort. Nice to see Tegan and Sara's So Jealous on there, although the dull, worthy thud of U2 is also there. Oh, and Velvet Revolver? It's okay to admit that its pisspoor, you know. You don't have to pretend to like it just because they've got a profile.

Metafilterites (or is that Meta-osexuals?) respond to lists by making more lists. Infinite Jest reminded us that we'd much enjoyed The Kleptones Yoshimi Battles The Hip-Hop Robots, which approached the Flaming Lips and hiphop (in its widest and most general sense) in much the same way Dangermouse took on the Beatles and Jay-Z; every bit as culturally significant, a lot more musically interesting.

Entertainment Weekly's Ten Most Overlooked Albums of 2004:
Various - Unclassics
Mark Lanegan Band - Bubblegum
The Hidden Cameras - Mississauya Goddam
Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
Haika d'Etat - Coup de Theatre
Various - Watt Stax: Highlights from the soundtrack
Ambulance Ltd - LP
Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama - There Will Be A Light
Amp Fiddler - Waltz of a Ghetto Fly
DJ/Rupture - Special Gunpowder
- it's worth remembering that Heat was going to be the British Entertainment Weekly when it started out.

Tiny Mix Tapes takes 2004 from a variety of angles - The B-sides list could broadly be described as 'experimental best of' but would rather be (PEEL + LATE JUNCTION) - (XFM * VH2); Matt Weir presents his fifteen top songs which he could draw - although, to be honest, "draw" is stretching it a bit; Marti provides a white boy take on hip hop of the year - like Rolling Stone, the Mercury Awards people and Band Aid 20 he's suffering from the collective delusion that Dizee Rascal is some kind of genius. And there's an appreciation of the top 20 album covers, too. Yes, there's also a more mundane writer's poll if that's what you want.

JANUARY 2ND UPDATE:
The Canton Repository [registration required, tell 'em you're from Azerbaijan] has compiled its list of best albums, a task performed by Dan Kane. This is what's moving them in Ohio:
To The 5 Boroughs - Beastie Boys
Twentysomething - Jamie Cullum
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
The Libertines - The Libertines
American Idiot - Green Day
Pretend You're Alive - Lovedrug (the "record of the year"; it's from a local band)
Careless Love - Madeleine Peyroux
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
Contraband - Velvet Revolver
... if it wasn't for that local band, you might think this had been compiled by the AP.

JANUARY 4TH UPDATE:
Oh Columbus lists the fifty best-selling albums at their local, Magnolia Thunderpussy - extract:
1 The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
2 Modest Mouse - Good News For People.
3 Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs
4 Lovedrug - Pretend You're Alive
5 The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
6 Jet - Get Born
7 Interpol - Antics
8 Bjork - Mudulla
9 The Postal Service - Give Up
10 Mastodon - Leviathan

JANUARY 9TH UPDATE:
The official end-of-year UK sales charts:

2004’s Top-Selling Albums

1, SCISSOR SISTERS, SCISSOR SISTERS
2, HOPES AND FEARS, KEANE
3, GREATEST HITS, ROBBIE WILLIAMS
4, SONGS ABOUT JANE, MAROON 5
5, CALL OFF THE SEARCH, KATIE MELUA
6, ANASTACIA, ANASTACIA
7, CONFESSIONS, USHER
8, FEELS LIKE HOME, NORAH JONES
9, FINAL STRAW, SNOW PATROL
10, IL DIVO, IL DIVO
11, NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 59 , VARIOUS ARTISTS
12, GREATEST HITS, GUNS N' ROSES
13, NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 57 , VARIOUS ARTISTS
14, 10 YEARS OF HITS, RONAN KEATING
15, A GRAND DON'T COME FOR FREE, STREETS
16, NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 58 , VARIOUS ARTISTS
17, HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB, U2
18, ENCORE, EMINEM
19, THE SOUL SESSIONS, JOSS STONE
20, FRANZ FERDINAND, FRANZ FERDINAND

2004’s Top-Selling Downloads

1, VERTIGO, U2
2, WHAT YOU WAITING FOR, GWEN STEFANI
3, LOSE MY BREATH, DESTINY'S CHILD
4, AMERICAN IDIOT, GREEN DAY
5, DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS, BAND AID 20
6, THESE WORDS, NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
7, SHE WILL BE LOVED, MAROON 5
8, JUST LOSE IT, EMINEM
9, I BELIEVE IN YOU, KYLIE MINOGUE
10, CAR WASH, CHRISTINA AGUILERA FT MISSY ELLIOTT
11, THIS LOVE, MAROON 5
12, IF THERES ANY JUSTICE, LEMAR
13, DOGZ DON'T KILL PEOPLE WABBITS DO, MOULDY LOOKIN STAIN
14, FLASHDANCE, DEEP DISH
15, LOVE MACHINE, GIRLS ALOUD
16, NUMB/ENCORE, JAY-Z & LINKIN PARK
17, DROP IT LIKE ITS HOT, SNOOP DOGG
18, MARY, SCISSOR SISTERS
19, UNWRITTEN, NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
20, I'LL STAND BY YOU, GIRLS ALOUD

2004’s Top-Selling Singles

1, DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS, BAND AID 20
2, F**K IT (I DON'T WANT YOU BACK), EAMON
3, CHA CHA SLIDE, DJ CASPER
4, CALL ON ME, ERIC PRYDZ
5, YEAH, USHER FT LIL' JON & LUDACRIS
6, ALL THIS TIME, MICHELLE
7, LEFT OUTSIDE ALONE, ANASTACIA
8, MYSTERIOUS GIRL, PETER ANDRE
9, TOXIC, BRITNEY SPEARS
10, F.U.R.B. (F U RIGHT BACK), FRANKEE
11, I DON'T WANNA KNOW, MARIO WINANS FT ENYA & P DIDDY
12, BABY CAKES, 3 OF A KIND
13, TAKE ME TO THE CLOUDS ABOVE, LMC VS U2
14, MILKSHAKE, KELIS
15, LOSE MY BREATH, DESTINY'S CHILD
16, MY BAND, D12
17, THESE WORDS, NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
18, EVERYTIME, BRITNEY SPEARS
19, THUNDERBIRDS/3AM, BUSTED
20, DRY YOUR EYES, STREETS

2004’s Top-Selling Music DVDs

1, LIVE AID, VARIOUS ARTISTS
2, ON FIRE - LIVE AT THE BOWL, QUEEN
3, DEFINITELY MAYBE, OASIS
4, DREAM CAST - LES MISERABLES IN CONCERT, CAST RECORDING
5, CASTLES IN THE AIR, CLIFF RICHARD
6, WHAT WE DID LAST SUMMER, ROBBIE WILLIAMS
7, WELCOME TO THE VIDEOS, GUNS N' ROSES
8, 68' COMEBACK SPECIAL, ELVIS PRESLEY
9, LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM, QUEEN
10, ALOHA FROM HAWAII, ELVIS PRESLEY
11, THE TURNAROUND TOUR - LIVE, WESTLIFE
12, THE FAREWELL TOUR, CHER
13, LIVE AT DONINGTON, AC/DC
14, HELL FREEZES OVER, EAGLES
15, THIS LEFT FEELS RIGHT - LIVE, BON JOVI
16, THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, WHO
17, LIVE AT THE ALBERT, ROBBIE WILLIAMS
18, GREATEST VIDEO HITS - 2, QUEEN
19, LIVE AT SLANE CASTLE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
20, THE STONE ROSES, STONE ROSES

YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK HOME: John Mayer was touched that his old high school wanted to induct him into their Hall of Fame - a nice honour to sit besides his Grammy. So he was happy to change his schedule to get to the ceremony. He was a little surprised, though, when he turned up at Fairfield Warde High School. Rather than being delighted to find their most famous son returning, the school went into a funk, detained Mayer in an office and then marched him to his car, claiming that they had "security concerns" about his attendance. Luckily, they didn't know about the smoking behind the bike shed incident, otherwise they'd probably have given him detention as well.