From the first time it appeared in Ross on Radio, “The Lost Factor” seemed like a pretty good measure of how well the hit singles of previous years endured today, dividing the number of points they amassed on a year-end chart by the spins they received at radio now. Even with radio’s shifting influence, big-market airplay remained a pretty good measure of mainstream tastes.
But I’ve still been intrigued by the daily song ratings on “What A F**ing Record” (redactions mine), a Bluesky account from the UK that celebrates the anniversary of major releases. Each of WAFR’s dozen or so daily postings get a widely varying number of likes, comments, and reposts from 3,400 followers. Songs can get two likes or 200.
Together, the interactions are a curious index of how songs’ reputations today stack up against each other. Not only does having been a radio hit in 1986 not guarantee you anything, neither does being a song that receives airplay today.
Unlike the Lost Factor, my enjoyment of WAFR is entirely unscientific. It’s not trying to be a representative poll. In the UK, Bluesky has made greater inroads among the mainstream media, but it’s still a particular type of music lover who would engage here.
That listener makes a lot of the choices I’d expect on a music critic’s best list. Radiohead’s “Just” (61 interactions) edged out “You Shook Me All Night Long” by a vote. But sometimes they don’t. In the week I looked at, Corona beat the Cure, and Sade found more fans than the Cocteau Twins. Among albums, Blur’s Leisure (107) handily beat Oasis’s Definitely Maybe (55), even now. So did Surf’s Up by the Beach Boys (60). “Do You Realize” by Flaming Lips got 105 interactions, but “Word Up” by Cameo had 135.
Most of the songs tallied here were UK hits. During the Top 40 doldrums of the early ’80s and ’90s, UK radio was kinder to both new wave and R&B crossovers. For that reason, the list is hipper than ours, but not quite hipster. Still, there’s a difference between what you see here and what you’d hear on the UK’s Greatest Hits Radio. There were 39 fans of Prince’s forgotten Batman hit “Partyman,” more than I remember liking it then.
It’s also a midpack showing, but I’m surprised by 44 interactions for “Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart” by Ottawan, best known in America as the Club Med song. When it was new, a review in Smash Hits noted that the single came with both acappella and instrumental versions, before suggesting a version with no vocal and no instrumental.
Here’s a sampling from eight days of WAFR and which songs received the most total interactions. The exact numbers will likely have changed if you decide to explore the feed. The placing of songs relative to each other is what interested me. This is not a full week’s list. In my effort to find a place for you between intrigued and exhausted, I’ve aimed for a sampling of songs that make a point about their standing in 2025, and that you might be familiar with.
Here are my rankings, as of August 30, of songs’ interactions on WAFR:
- Gary Numan, “Cars” (154)
- M/A/R/R/S, “Pump Up the Volume” (114)
- Depeche Mode, “Personal Jesus” (112)
- R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” (109)
- Technotronic, “Pump Up the Jam” (109)
- Japan, “Quiet Life” (101) — 1980 hit by a band with a two-year streak of singles before Duran Duran definitively claimed their category
- Inner City, “Big Fun” (100)
- Kylie Minogue, “Confide in Me” (97) — 1994 hit with an epic Middle-Eastern feel similar to Madonna’s “Justify My Love”
- Freda Payne, “Band of Gold” (95)
- Altered Images, “Happy Birthday” (92)
- Manic Street Preachers, “If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next” (90)
- Run-DMC, “Walk This Way” (89)
- Smiths, “William It Was Really Nothing” (86)
- Corona, “The Rhythm of the Night” (83)
- Sylvester w/Patrick Crowley, “Do You Wanna Funk” (81) — retroactively a party classic in America (and a radio hit in Philadelphia)
- The Cure, “Lovesong” (79)
- Sade, “Smooth Operator” (77)
- Beatles, “She Loves You” (73)
- Stevie Wonder, “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” (68)
- Moloko, “Sing It Back” (68)—from a late-’90s/early-’00s golden age of UK dance, even after the genre had been upstaged here by teen pop
- Donna Summer, “I Feel Love (1995 Remix)” (65)
- Depeche Mode, “Never Let Me Down Again” (65)
- Tears for Fears, “Sowing the Seeds of Love” (53)
- Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get It On” (63)
- Michael Jackson, “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” (62)
- AC/DC, “You Shook Me All Night Long” (60)
- Four Tops, “It’s the Same Old Song” (60)
- Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust” (58)
- Johnny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue” (56)
- Electric Light Orchestra, “Don’t Bring Me Down” (56)
- Paul Simon, “You Can Call Me Al” (56)
- Digital Underground, “Doowutchalike” (54)
- Scritti Politti, “Perfect Way” (49)
- Mary Hopkin, “Those Were the Days” (48)
- Diana Ross, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (47)
- Donna Lewis, “I Love You Always Forever” (46)
- Gorillaz, “Dare” (45)
- Rage Against the Machine, “Bombtrack” (44)
- Frankie Valli, “Grease” (42)
- Madonna, “Music” (41)
- Janet Jackson, “Miss You Much” (38)
- Elton John, “Are You Ready for Love” (37)
- Rihanna, “Pon de Replay” (37)
- Newcleus, “Jam on Revenge (The Wikki-Wikki Song)” (34)
- White Stripes, “My Doorbell” (33)
- Justin Timberlake, “Sexyback” (29)
- Air Supply, “All Out of Love” (25)
- Diana Ross & Lionel Richie, “Endless Love” (21)
- Elton John, “Honky Cat” (21)
- LL Cool J, “I Need Love” (20)
- Pussycat Dolls, “Don’t Cha”(17)
- Boyz II Men, “End of the Road” (15)
- Middle of the Road, “Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum” (6) — goofy early-’70s bubblegum about warring Scottish clans from the act who also had a worldwide hit with “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.” This is where I expected to find Ottawan, too.
You can check out WAFR’s own Spotify playlist of the songs measured here.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com