File under Taking Stock: Whole rash of half-decade lists on various blogs recently, usually those who voted in Stylus's Top 50 Singles of 2000-4 (no. 1: R. Kelly, "Ignition Remix") and the currently-accreting Top 50 Albums (I'm guessing either the Avalanches, Kid A, or Original Pirate Material will top it). Then there's Mike from Troubled Diva, who's asked ILMers for their 50 favorite U.K. no. 1 singles out of the 999 or so there've been so far. In the spirit of it, here are the ones I voted for, with 15 runners-up at the end. I'll try to get my 2000-4 singles and albums on here soon, too.

1. Althea & Donna, "Up Town Top Ranking"
2. George McCrae, "Rock Your Baby"
3. Donna Summer, "I Feel Love"
4. The Beatles, "She Loves You"
5. The Specials, "Ghost Town"
6. The Rolling Stones, "Honky Tonk Women"
7. Madonna, "Into The Groove"
8. Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Voodoo Chile"
9. Michael Jackson, "Billie Jean"
10. Rod Stewart, "You Wear It Well"
11. The Beatles, "Ticket To Ride"
12. ABBA, "Dancing Queen"
13. Freda Payne, "Band Of Gold"
14. Madonna, "Like A Prayer"
15. The Jam, "A Town Called Malice"/"Precious"
16. Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls"
17. R. Kelly, "Ignition (Remix)"
18. Ken Boothe, "Everything I Own"
19. Sugababes, "Freak Like Me"
20. Eminem, "Without Me"
21. The Four Tops, "Reach Out I’ll Be There"
22. Tori Amos, "Professional Widow (Armand Van Helden Remix)"
23. Soul II Soul ft. Caron Wheeler, "Back To Life (How Ever Do You Want Me)"
24. Pretenders, "Brass In Pocket"
25. Roy Orbison, "Oh Pretty Woman"
26. U2, "The Fly"
27. Marvin Gaye, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
28. Color Me Badd, "I Wanna Sex You Up"
29. Blondie, "Heart Of Glass"
30. Gary Numan, "Cars"
31. The Rolling Stones, "Paint It Black"
32. Anita Ward, "Ring My Bell"
33. The Beatles, "Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out"
34. The Rolling Stones, "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction"
35. Chaka Khan, "I Feel 4 U"
36. Pet Shop Boys, "It’s A Sin"
37. Cornershop, "Brimful Of Asha (Norman Cook Remix)"
38. The Beatles, "A Hard Day’s Night"
39. Black Box, "Ride On Time"
40. The Beatles, "Help!"
41. Britney Spears, "Toxic"
42. Musical Youth, "Pass The Dutchie"
43. Lisa Stansfield, "All Around The World"
44. Desmond Dekker & The Aces, "The Israelites"
45. Kylie Minogue, "Can’t Get You Out Of My Head"
46. The Human League, "Don’t You Want Me"
47. John Travolta & Olivia Newton John, "You’re The One That I Want"
48. The Three Degrees, "When Will I See You Again"
49. The Rolling Stones, "Get Off of My Cloud"
50. Armand Van Helden "You Don’t Know Me"

Runners up: The Police, "Every Breath You Take"; Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris, "Yeah!"; Elvis Presley: "It's Now or Never"; the Beatles, "Hello Goodbye"; the Everly Brothers, "All I Have To Do Is Dream"/"Claudette"; Backstreet Boys, "I Want It That Way"; M/A/R/R/S, "Pump Up the Volume"; the KLF ft. Children of the Revolution, "3AM Eternal"; the Kinks, "You Really Got Me"; Steve "Silk" Hurley, "Jack Your Body"; Dave & Ansel Collins, "Double Barrel"; Blondie, "Call Me"; the Streets, "Dry Your Eyes"; Eminem, "Stan"; Ben E. King, "Stand by Me."