2007 - A Record Breaking Year In The UK Charts Quiz

Answer: Lebanon

Mika's success in 2007 has been something of a revelation, having achieved four top ten singles from the same album, "Life In Cartoon Motion", three of them coming AFTER the album had topped the charts. Most artists - especially new ones - would struggle to secure even three top ten hits from one long player, but Mika seems to have achieved this comfortably.

As for my other options, there are no acts to my knowledge hailing from Malta, Iraq or Cuba who have achieved top 40 status in the UK. The Gibson Brothers did have a hit called "Cuba" though, if that helps...

Answer: Norah Jones

"Come Away With Me", "Feels Like Home" and "Not Too Late" all reached the number one spot between May 2002 and February 2007.

Rihanna has also had three UK hit albums, with only 2007's "Good Girl Gone Bad" reaching the same dizzy heights as her 21st century smash hit "Umbrella". The others - "Music Of The Sun" and "A Girl Like Me" reached number 35 and number five respectively.

Shakira has had two UK hit albums - "Laundry Service", which reached number two in March 2002, and "Oral Fixation Volume 2", which peaked at number 12 in July 2006.

Avril Lavigne can count herself a little unlucky not to hold the title, for she too achieved the same feat, but Ravi Shankar's daughter Jones beat her to it by two months. "Let Go", "Under My Skin" and "The Best Damn Thing" were all chart toppers between September 2002 and April 2007.

Answer: Shirley Bassey

It was a modest hit, admittedly, but the Dame's "The Living Tree" was still a top 40 chart success, peaking at number 37.

Sinatra's last foray into the UK charts came in June 2005, when the Audio Bullys' reworking of "Shot You Down" - featuring the vocals of Nancy herself - peaked at number three.

Petula Clark was last seen in the UK top 20 in 1988, when a remixed version of "Downtown" reached number ten.

Doris Day hasn't had a UK top 40 hit since 1964 when "Move Over Darling" hit number eight (later successfully covered by Tracey Ullman in 1983, peaking at the same position). Doris Day in recent years has been well publicised as an animal welfare activist, though her music is not forgotten - a Greatest Hits compilation called "The Magic Of Doris Day" just crept into the UK top 20 in March 2007.

Answer: The Zimmers

The 100 year old Buster Martin not only had a top 40 single in 2007, but also managed to fend off an attack by three young thugs, hitting one in the groin and kicking another, before the cowardly trio ran off aghast!

The group also included Derby's 99 year old WInifred Warburton and 69 year old actress Gillian "Deddie" Davies, who had appeared in such illustrious television shows as "Upstairs Downstairs", "That's My Boy" and "The Bill" amongst others.

The Zimmers were the brainchild of documentary maker Tim Samuels, whose account of the elderly's feelings of isolation and imprisonment was shown on the BBC in May 2007, as part of the channel's "Power To The People" series.

The other options I listed are, of course, all names of aids for the elderly and disabled.

Answer: McFly

In truth, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd from McFly share this unenviable record with Elvis Presley, but the fact that The King's double A-side of "One Night" and "I Got Stung" was only available for a very limited time in a re-issued form during 2005, coupled with the fact that it had already achieved number one status in 1959 with a far more graceful retreat from the top, surely means the record should sit firmly with the McFly boys. I'm sure Jellyfish won't mind - after all, they wrote "Baby's Coming Back" and could only manage a paltry number 51 hit when they released it in 1991. McFly's record breaking version was a double A-side with "Transylvania".

Arctic Monkeys never managed a number one single in 2007, with "Brianstorm", the lead single from their big selling second album "Favourite Worst Nightmare" having to settle for the number two spot.

Girls Aloud reached number one in 2007 with their remake of "Walk This Way", recorded as a charity single with the Sugababes. They also managed 16 consecutive top ten hits when "Sexy No No No" reached number five in September.

Kaiser Chiefs scored their first number one single in February 2007 with "Ruby", which made an elegant descent from the summit and hung around the top 40 for some time.

Answer: Rihanna

The success of "Umbrella" was baffling to me, as it took me at least three weeks before I could figure out any semblance of a tune from the song!

Take That continued their impressive comeback in March when "Shine" topped the charts for two weeks after the success of "Patience" in 2006. "Rule The World" reached number 2 in November. Sandwiched between "Shine" and "Rule The World" was the surprisingly low charting number 17 hit "I'd Wait For Life".

Shakira spent three weeks at number one courtesy of her duet with Beyonce Knowles, "Beautiful Liar", but whether she'll ever top the achievement of 2006's "Hips Don't Lie", which spent five weeks at number one in total and stayed in the charts for more than half a year, remains to be seen. It's probably unlikely.

Sugababes scored their fifth and sixth number one singles in 2007 with their version of "Walk This Way", recorded with Girls Aloud for the charity Comic Relief, and their record breaking track "About You Now".

Answer: The Ladies' Bras

The song hit the top 40 for Jonny Trunk & Wisbey after being picked up by Danny Baker on his "All Day Breakfast Show" podcast and later by Radio One DJ Scott Mills.

"Short Songs" is an old punk song by the Dead Kennedys, and does just what it says on the tin!

"Old Mother Reagan" is the fast, furious opening track from Violent Femmes' excellent 1987 album "The Blind Leading The Naked".

"Spider Pig" was actually briefly the shortest ever Top 40 hit. Clocking in at just one minute and four seconds, it reached number 24 for Hans Zimmer and is sometimes simply credited to The Simpsons, coming from the 2007 movie of the same name, about the animated family.

Answer: Elvis Presley

Elvis had his first number one album in 1956 with "Rock 'N' Roll" and his eighth in 1969 with "From Elvis In Memphis". His other three chart toppers all came after his premature death at the age of 42 in 1977.

John Lennon reached the top with "Imagine" in 1971, repeated the feat with "Double Fantasy" in the aftermath of his sickening assassination in December 1980 at the hands of Mark David Chapman, and once more with a compilation of his best and most popular work called "The John Lennon Collection" at the end of 1982.

Barry White had many UK singles and albums, the highest charting long player being the number four hit "Can't Get Enough" in November 1974. White suffered a stroke in 2003 and died of kidney failure in July the same year. His alleged last words were "Leave me alone. I'm fine".

James Brown only managed four hit albums in the UK, the biggest being 1987's "The Best Of James Brown - The Godfather Of Soul", which made number 17. He is, however, second only to Elvis Presley in the US with regards to hit singles and will quite rightly be remembered as a true legend for a long time to come. He died on Christmas Day in 2006 from congestive heart failure.

Answer: Girls Aloud

For a band who materialised from one of the many "reality television" shows of the musical variety, this is an astounding achievement. "Sexy No No No" reached number five, becoming their 16th consecutive top ten hit. They even went one better by achieving a 17th in December with "Call The Shots".

Atomic Kitten managed ten consecutive top ten hits between December 1999 and February 2005, hitting the top spot three times with "Whole Again", "Eternal Flame" and "The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)".

The Spice Girls had ten top ten hits between July 1996 and November 2000 before disbanding. In fact, nine of those ten singles reached number one, with only "Stop" faltering at number two. The group reformed in 2007.

Sugababes managed seven top ten hits in a row between October 2003 and March 2006 before the alarming failure of the number 32 hit "Follow Me Home". They had six number one singles before the end of 2007.

Answer: Sugababes

Back in 1981, former Damned member Captain Sensible (real name Ray Burns) climbed from number 33 to number one with his rendition of the "South Pacific" song "Happy Talk". With the advent of downloads being legally acceptable in the 21st century, this was a record just waiting to be broken, and indeed, little fuss was made of the event when it occurred. The Sugababes' success was due in no small part to the fact that its initial chart position was down to a pre-main release dance mix, available only on download. When you consider this, Captain Sensible's feat seems somewhat more impressive.

The other three acts were chosen purely because they all achieved number one singles in 2007.

Pink broke this record once again on 5th October 2008, when her single "So What" climbed from number 38 to pole position.