Paul Gambaccini’s “Pick of the Pops” show earlier today on BBC Radio 2 featured a couple of charts that are well worth a listen. That’s true most weeks, but occasionally there’s a horror-show from the 1990s or some year earlier in this century that I do not need to revisit. You can hear today’s programme for the next 30 days here, with the charts from this week in 1967 and 1983.
The show includes a few notable songs that reached #2 but didn’t make it all the way to the top, among them “Excerpt from a Teenage Opera” (Keith West) and “Flowers in the Rain” (the Move) from 1967 and “They Don’t Know” (Tracey Ullman) and “Modern Love” (David Bowie) from 1983. It got me thinking of other songs that were “Stuck at 2”, something I wrote about here in 2016 but haven’t revisited for a while.
There are many sites that list the songs that reached the top of the chart but very few that list those that only reached #2. Everyhit.com is my usual destination for songs that reached #1: click here for their 1960s page or here for the 1980s. Below, prompted by today’s “Pick of the Pops”, are the songs that reached #2 in 1967 and 1983, and the songs that kept them off the top. Like many previous pop trivia pieces on this Blog it took a surprisingly long time to put together these fairly simple lists.
Stuck at #2, 1967
| Month | Act, Title | Weeks at #2 | Act and song that kept it at #2 |
| Jan-67 | Seekers, Morningtown Ride | 2 | Tom Jones, Green Green Grass of Home |
| Jan-67 | Move, Night of Fear | 1 | Monkees, I’m a Believer |
| Feb-67 | Cat Stevens, Matthew And Son | 2 | Monkees, I’m A Believer |
| Mar-67 | Beatles, Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever | 3 | Engelbert Humperdinck, Release Me |
| Mar-67 | Vince Hill, Edelweiss | 1 | Engelbert Humperdinck, Release Me |
| Apr-67 | Harry Secombe, This Is My Song | 1 | Engelbert Humperdinck, Release Me |
| May-67 | Mamas & The Papas, Dedicated To The One I Love | 1 | Tremeloes, Silence Is Golden |
| May-67 | Kinks, Waterloo Sunset | 2 | Tremeloes, Silence Is Golden |
| Jun-67 | Engelbert Humperdinck, There Goes My Everything | 4 | Procol Harum, A Whiter Shade Of Pale |
| Jul-67 | Monkees, Alternate Title | 1 | Beatles, All You Need Is Love |
| Jul-67 | Vikki Carr, It Must Be Him | 1 | Beatles, All You Need Is Love |
| Aug-67 | Tom Jones, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again | 2 | Scott McKenzie, San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair) |
| Sep-67 | Tom Jones, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again | 2 | Engelbert Humperdinck, The Last Waltz |
| Sep-67 | Keith West, Excerpt From A Teenage Opera | 2 | Engelbert Humperdinck, The Last Waltz |
| Oct-67 | Move, Flowers In The Rain | 1 | Engelbert Humperdinck, The Last Waltz |
| Oct-67 | Move, Flowers In The Rain | 1 | Bee Gees, Massachusetts |
| Oct-67 | Traffic, Hole In My Shoe | 1 | Bee Gees, Massachusetts |
| Dec-67 | Dave Clark Five, Everybody Knows | 1 | Long John Baldry, Let The Heartaches Begin |
| Dec-67 | Dave Clark Five, Everybody Knows | 1 | Hello Goodbye, Beatles |
| Dec-67 | Tom Jones, I’m Coming Home | 1 | Hello Goodbye, Beatles |
| Dec-67 | Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour EP | 3 | Hello Goodbye, Beatles |
Stuck at #2, 1983
| Month | Act, Title | Weeks at #2 | Act and song that kept it at #2 |
| Jan-83 | David Essex, A Winter’s Tale | 1 | Phil Collins, You Can’t Hurry Love |
| Feb-83 | Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue | 1 | Men At Work, Down Under |
| Mar-83 | Eurythmics, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) | 1 | Michael Jackson, Billie Jean |
| Apr-83 | Culture Club, Church Of The Poison Mind | 2 | David Bowie, Let’s Dance |
| Apr-83 | F R David, Words | 2 | Spandau Ballet, True |
| May-83 | Human League, (Keep Feeling) Fascination | 1 | Spandau Ballet, True |
| May-83 | Heaven 17, Temptation | 1 | Spandau Ballet, True |
| Jun-83 | Wham!, Bad Boys | 2 | Police, Every Breath You Take |
| Jun-83 | David Bowie, China Girl | 1 | Police, Every Breath You Take |
| Jul-83 | Irene Cara, Flashdance… What A Feeling | 1 | Rod Stewart, Baby Jane |
| Jul-83 | Freeez, I.O.U. | 3 | Paul Young, Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) |
| Aug-83 | Spandau Ballet, Gold | 2 | KC & The Sunshine Band, Give It Up |
| Sep-83 | Madness, Wings Of A Dove | 1 | UB40, Red Red Wine |
| Sep-83 | Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack, Tonight I Celebrate My Love | 1 | UB40, Red Red Wine |
| Oct-83 | David Bowie, Modern Love | 1 | Culture Club, Karma Chameleon |
| Oct-83 | Tracey Ullman, They Don’t Know | 2 | Culture Club, Karma Chameleon |
| Oct-83 | Lionel Richie, All Night Long (All Night) | 1 | Culture Club, Karma Chameleon |
| Nov-83 | Lionel Richie, All Night Long (All Night) | 2 | Billy Joel, Uptown Girl |
| Nov-83 | Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson, Say Say Say | 2 | Billy Joel, Uptown Girl |
| Dec-83 | Paul Young, Love Of The Common People | 1 | Billy Joel, Uptown Girl |
| Dec-83 | Paul Young, Love Of The Common People | 2 | Flying Pickets, Only You |
| Dec-83 | Slade, My Oh My | 2 | Flying Pickets, Only You |
The Compartments 