The Beatles were in a league of their own in terms of popularity, and the quality just kept on improving, therefore people would rush out on the day of release to get the latest record, knowing it would be a winner.

I cant recall whether the songs were played on the radio before release, but they probably were a week in advance or similar.

Most singles did climb the charts for a few weeks before peaking though, and then gradually slid away. The Beatles were a real exception to the rule.

Alright, that makes UMH now eligible. Kept off by a ghastly forgettable piece of Louis Walsh cheese.

A-Ha's Take On Me beaten to number one by that friggin Jennifer Rush and her friggin Power Of Bloody Love!

It only made Number 2 once, it also made Number 3 in 2005

I know I'll be derided for this but in 1986, for a period of four weeks Sinitta's So Macho was kept off the top first by Chris De Burgh's Lady In Red and then Boris Gardner's I Wanna Wake Up With You, which in my opinion were a much bigger pair of 'number twos'.

I'm pretty sure the Hump had made quite an impression on the Great British housewives when he appeared on Sunday Night At The Palladium singing 'Release Me'. He was a handsome chap with a strong voice singing the type of country tinged ballad that was popular back then (Green, Green Grass Of Home, Distant Drums etc).

I think by '67 the Monkees had stolen the teenybopper's hearts and Beatles' 45s weren't selling in quite the humungous quantities that they had in their 'Fab Four' 63-65 heyday.

The Saturdays - Just Can't Get Enough. Although not a great song but it would have been much better than Flo Rida's Right Round and it would have given The Saturdays their first number 1.

The ones that stick are Ultravox , Coldplay etc but here's some other occasions where the better song has been kept off IMO.

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc kept off Number 1 by Akon - Lonely

Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now kept off Number 1 by 3 of a Kind - Babycakes

Kelis - Milkshake kept off Number 1 by Michelle McManus - All This Time.

Britney/Madonna - Me Against The Music kept off Number 1 by Busted - Crashed The Wedding.

Justin Timberlake - Cry Me a River kept off Number 1 by TATU - All The Things She Said.

Kelly Rowland - Stole kept off Number 1 by TATU - All The Things She Said.

Oasis - Little By Little kept off Number 1 by Will/Gareth - Long and Winding Road (and I say this as a Will fan!)

Destiny's Child - Bootylicious kept off Number 1 by Atomic Kitten - Eternal Flame.

Blink 182 - All The Small Things kept off Number 1 by Geri Halliwell - Bag It Up

Eminem - My Name is kept off Number 1 by Mr Oizo - Flatbeat

Natalie Imbruglia - Torn kept off by Aqua- Barbie Girl

Oasis - Wonderwall kept off by Robson and Jerome - I Believe

Bon Jovi - Always kept off by Whigfield - Saturday Night

Kylie's - I Believe in you kept off by Band Aid 20 (yes it was great Band Aid 20 got number 1 for the charity reasons, but it was still a god awful remake/cover).....

This I like the Saturdays

also Stole by Kelly Rowland and Torn by Natalie Imbruglia

Supermen Lovers' Starlight kept off number 1 by Bob The Builder's Mambo No 5

One cover version keeping another cover version off the top doesn't seem much of a travesty really though

Oh come on, someone must remember the great 'eee-yeah-o, eee-yeah-o, eee-yeah-o byaaaaah' chorus?

I'm gonna have A Different Beat in my head all evening now!

I agree.

Pet Shop Boys~Go West (7th September 1993) charted at #2, when the #1 was Mr.Vain by Culture Beat, not a very good song in my opinion

In 1998, George Michael's Outside, with its tongue in cheek video following on the back of 'that' incident in a LA toilet, spent 2 weeks at No2. What was at No1? Only mutton dressed as lamb Cher with her vocoder assisted single Believe which ended up being the biggest selling single of that year as well as of her career

R Kelly's Ignition kept Girls Aloud - No Good Advice of the top

Westlife - Mandy kept Girls Aloud - Jump from No.1

Eric Prydz - Call on Me stopped Love Machine by Girls Aloud reaching number 1

On a separate note, Fedde Le Grand and McFly left Girls Aloud - Something Kinda Oooh to settle for no. 3

Maybe this should be another thread entirely, but this got me thinking about groups/singers whose no.1 songs aren't really their most well known. If you mention A-ha, most people would know them for Take On Me than The Sun Always Shines On TV, which was No.1. The same goes for Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy is more well known that their No.1 Deeply Dippy. Bros's When Will I Be Famous didn't get to No.1, but I Owe You Nothing did. I'm sure there are loads of other examples.

While I don't think many people would say that You're The One That I Want is poorer than The Smurf Song, it must have been frustating for kids who loved the song and saw it kept in the no.2 spot for 6 weeks in 1978.

Well said...we were big Smurf fans in our house

It might seem like a random question but; Do you love Girls Aloud by any chance?

Oh, and you forgot The Show, that went to #2 Held of by Usher's Burn

Ye but you must admit, Love Machine, Jump & Something Kinda Oooh deserved number 1.
Not to mention Biology and Call The Shots.

Yeah, they have had lots of potential number one singles but there's always a song that beats them to it. I think Wake Me Up was also underrated, not to mention Untouchable earlier this year (#11 was a travesty)

Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World

No1 all over the planet apart from the UK. Kept from the top by USA For Africa's We Are The World.

I liked Wake Me Up. Should have done better than 4 though. Untouchable is good too, that should have gone top 10 really

Not only that but Vienna was no 5 in the chart of the year compared to no 8 for Shuddup Your Face. So in terms of sales Ultravox had the last laugh!

I agree with you Nicola37 that it was outrageous that Torn was kept off the no 1 slot by Barbie Girl. Torn sold 982000 copies and is one of the biggest-selling no 2s of all-time!