Following on from this introductory piece, here is another “oven-ready quiz round”.

UK #1s: The title is not in the lyrics (15 questions)

The following list shows the names of 15 artists and the year in which they had a UK #1. In each case the exact title of the song that reached #1 is not contained anywhere in its lyrics. The list appears twice: first with the artist name and year; then with a further clue for each #1: the number of characters in each word of the title. There is at least one song from every decade in chart history (1950s to 2020s). Unusually for one of my pop trivia rounds, there are more songs from the 21st century than from the 20th.

[This quiz round has been adapted from the answers given in this earlier piece, UK #1 hit singles: the title is not in the song (the answers).]

Artists and Years

1 Jimmy Young, 1955 [Note: this song was also #1 for The Righteous Brothers in 1990, Robson & Jerome in 1995 and Gareth Gates in 2002]

2 The Beatles, 1969

3 John Denver, 1974

4 David Bowie, 1975

5 Queen, 1975

6 Spitting Image, 1986

7 U2, 1991

8 Spiller, 2000

9 Stereophonics, 2005

10 Coldplay, 2008

11 Bruno Mars, 2011

12 Sak Noel, 2011

13 Lilly Wood and Robin Schulz, 2014

14 Joel Corry featuring MNEK, 2020

15 Noah Kahan, 2024

Artists, Years and Number of Characters in Each Word of the Title

1 Jimmy Young, 1955 [Note: this song was also #1 for The Righteous Brothers in 1990, Robson & Jerome in 1995 and Gareth Gates in 2002] [9 6]

2 The Beatles, 1969 [3 6 2 4 3 4]

3 John Denver, 1974 [7 4]

4 David Bowie, 1975 [5 6]

5 Queen, 1975 [8 8]

6 Spitting Image, 1986 [3 7 4]

7 U2, 1991 [3 3]

8 Spiller, 2000 [9 (2 4 5 4)]

9 Stereophonics, 2005 [6]

10 Coldplay, 2008 [4 2 4]

11 Bruno Mars, 2011 [3 4 4]

12 Sak Noel, 2011 [4 6]

13 Lilly Wood and Robin Schulz, 2014 [6 2 1]

14 Joel Corry featuring MNEK, 2020 [4 & 5]

15 Noah Kahan, 2024 [5 6]

a