‘Club 77’

Something momentous has happened!

‘You Know It Makes Sense!’ has been placed in the top 100 humour blogs by ‘Feedspot’, the largest human curated database of bloggers and podcasts.

Now, this may not seem momentous to you, but to me it’s HUGE!

I have always loved a top 100.

They are a staple of popular culture. Put a chart down in print on any subject or persona and it will motivate opinions and debates. Two guys having a beer, arguing over whether Stanley Matthews should be higher than George Weah in the top 100 all time football players. Girls sat on the bus salivating over whichever curly haired showstopper is number 1 teen heart throb.

Being an unorthodox fellow, I tend to take an interest in the popularity placements of things that others may not have even considered.

A terrific aspect of these lists is that there is no restriction on the subject matter.

I could be sat in a pub, watching a middle-aged woman holding a glass of chardonnay in one hand and a microphone in the other. She would be hyper-ventilating her way through ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ by Bonnie Tyler, and rather than being concerned for her ever reddening complexion and buckling knees, I would be inspired to ponder what the all-time top 100 Karaoke songs are?

Wandering past an organic greengrocer, rather than be aghast at the price of a chemical free artichoke, my curiosity would be sparked to discover what has broken into this year’s top 100 most popular vegetables?  (Spreewälder Gherkin in at number 80. Who saw THAT one coming!?)

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy seeing the winners and losers of the megalomaniac money mud fight that is the Forbes 100 Rich List, (I’m hoping Scrooge McDuck cracks it this year, he’s well overdue.) Who doesn’t love the musical snakes and ladders of the Billboard Hot 100? Taylor Swift’s ‘Willow’ went from number 1 down to 38 in the space of a week! (The teenybopper is a fickle breed Swifty.)

‘Am I the Mick Jagger of the blogging world, or the Mick Hucknall?’

All I am saying is the opportunity to designate a position of popularity is available for near enough everything, including, in my case, humour blogs!

“What position did you come?” I hear you cry.

Well, I can proudly say that according to the good people at ‘Feedspot’, my humble little website currently comes in at a not too shabby 77^th. (At time of writing)

It could go up, it could go down, but for now ‘You Know It Makes Sense’ is the 77^th best Humour blog in the world!!

Receiving this favourable honour got me thinking. I wonder who else is positioned at number 77 in their respective chart? Who is in ‘Club 77’?

My reason? I suppose my logic is to gain an idea of how popular my work is by grading it next to other elements of the great and the good. Am I the Mick Jagger of the blogging world or the Mick Hucknall? The ‘Filet Mignon’ or the ‘Findus Crispy Pancake’?

Egotistically, I was equally fascinated in who charted below me.

So began an extended digital forage for assorted compilations.

I began with the American music chart, Billboard 100. This week sat snuggly at 77, Drake with ‘Champagne Poetry’.

I confess that I hadn’t heard the track, so I gave it a listen. Not really my cup of tea but hey, it’s Drake! He’s a big deal and he’s right here with me at 77. “Drake is in da clurrrb” (I know, I can’t pull that off can I?)

My attempted confidence boosting look at those positioned at 78 and lower led to me just feeling old and out of touch. I knew hardly any of the acts mentioned. Thank goodness for those former Disney Channel dreamboats The Jonas Brothers at 95 with ‘Who’s in Your Head?’ I don’t know who’s in your head boys, but I do know I’m 18 places higher than you. Boom!

Next, I thought I’d go a little more highbrow with Michael H. Hart’s book ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’.

Coming in at 77 is everybody’s favourite Swiss Mathematician, Leonhard Euler!

Euler is regarded as one of history’s greatest men of all things maths, not even letting his eventual blindness slow him down. In 1988, his equation on the complex exponential function was voted ‘the Most Beautiful Mathematical Formula Ever’.

I’ve put a picture of it below. Prepare to swoon!

Yup, there it is. What a stunner! Phwoar!

Ok, so it might not do anything for the arithmetically limited like you and I, but if a seasoned mathematician caught sight of this, they’d be fanning themselves frantically with their scientific calculator.

Welcome to the club Lenny!

Scouring through the remainder of the list, I happened across former U.S. President John F. Kennedy at 81. I’m higher than the charismatic icon that was JFK! I wonder if I could get that airport renamed after me?

All time movies next. There are multiple ‘ultimate movie’ lists out there. I decided to go with Empire magazine’s, as it updates it every year according to reader’s votes.

I’m delighted to say I share my position with the CGI masterpiece, ‘Toy Story’ and have come in higher than ‘Some Like it Hot’ and ‘Rocky’.

Yes sir! Me, Woody and Buzz are giving the royal wave down to Marilyn and Sly.

Matt Damon is in, according to ‘The Cinema Archives’ list of all time top male actors. Ruth Gordon made it in the female category. She won an Oscar for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ in ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. She also played second fiddle to an orangutan in the film, ‘Every Which Way but Loose’.

So far, we’ve got quite an eclectic group stood around listening to Drake on a loop. Maybe a good idea to get some food in.

 ‘Eat This, Not That!’ has a comprehensive list of the greatest fast food, and fresh out of the oven at 77, Pizza Hut’s Meat Lover’s Pizza. We can all nibble on a slice as we discuss the shock of discovering the ‘Big Mac’ ranked at 95! How the mighty have fallen.

Time for a drink. ‘Difford’s Guide’ had Jägerbomb down as the 77^th most popular cocktail, trumping both the Tequila Sunrise and the Singapore Sling.

Pizza and Jägerbombs. Classy.

I appreciate that this exercise has been very much a matter of comparing apples with oranges, but it’s been interesting.

All in all, my placement has me in quite distinguished company.

The one thing that we all have in common is that we did not aspire to be in this position. We didn’t aspire to be in any position. Actors act because they love acting. Musicians love making music. Movie makers love making movies. Leonhard loved doing things with numbers.

 I love writing.

Everybody just aspires to do their best.

The fact is, whatever ‘ranking’ you are, you are there because somebody took the time to say they appreciate what you do. It’s recognition, and when you work hard at something, that’s all anyone really wants to receive. Far from being ’elitist’, everybody can join ’Club 77’.

Is my blog the greatest?

No, but it’s a ‘Champagne Poetry/Leonhard Euler/Toy Story/Matt Damon/Ruth Gordon/Meat Pizza/Jägerbomb of a blog!

That’ll do me.

(Additional – By the time this article was published, my ranking had been bumped to 78. Here’s me thinking teenyboppers were fickle!)