Last weekend, in this piece, I returned to the idea of “Stuck at 2”, singles that reached #2 in the UK charts but didn’t make it all the way to the top. It listed the songs from 1967 and 1983 that just missed out on a #1 place, and those that kept them off the top spot. My original “Stuck at 2” post from 2016, here, refers to “The Nation’s Favourite No 2 Single”, the results of a poll conducted by BBC Radio 2. The Top 3, counting down from 3 to 1, were “American Pie” (Don McLean, 1972), “Fairytale of New York” (The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl, 1987) and “Vienna” (Ultravox, 1981).

I have taken another look at the Radio 2 poll, picked out the years that have the most entries (1970 and 1972, with 4 each) and created the following lists for the songs that were “Stuck at 2”. I have included 1971 as well, which only has one entry (The Rolling Stones, “Brown Sugar / Bitch / Let It Rock”).

Notes: “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley is listed on the BBC poll as a 1969 release. It reached #2 in 1970, so it appears below. So does “Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town” (Kenny Rogers & The First Edition) which was not in the BBC poll. It reached #2 in December 1969 and was still there for three of the first four weeks of 1970. “Ride A White Swan” (T Rex) was released in 1970 and reached its highest position in January 1971. “Jean Genie” (David Bowie) was released in 1972, but it reached #2 in January 1973, so I have extended the list to include that month as well. Songs that feature in the BBC poll are highlighted in bold. As before, when a single was kept off #1 by more than one song, each one is listed, along with how many weeks it kept its rival at #2.

Stuck at 2: 1970 (and December 1969)

Stuck at 2: 1971

Stuck at 2: 1972 (and January 1973)

Items in bold appear in the BBC Radio 2 list of “The Nation’s Favourite No 2 Single”.

To see the songs that were Stuck at 2 in 1967 and 1983 click here.