Counting TFM hits of IR - now @1776 - year 1996 is WIP - poll for "rAman abdullA"

Thanks BC. indha paatu kaetadhu illai. Original paatai nasam seiyadha arumaiyana remix. Thanks to  Thaman.

Nothing to add to the list from that Telugu dubbing.

Moving on to the next poll, "thanthu vittEn ennai" - album for Director Sridhar / for a movie starring Vikram (one of his movies before he made it big with Sethu).

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtmmgLkzOlg

thendRal nee thendRal nee	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki
kaNgaLukkuL unnai yezhuthu	S.Janaki
manasulOni [keerthanai]	S.Janaki
muththammA muthu muthu muththAlammA	Arunmozhi / Uma Ramanan
mannavanE mannavanE manasukEtha chinnavanE	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki

A hit album, if you leave out the Manasuloni (classical base song which was not known, unless people watched the movie.  Have seen just once in OLiyum Oliyum on Doordarshan).

Excellent songs that fell in a below-average movie which did not do anything good for Vikram.

Adding that hit album for director Sridhar to this list, though the popularity was not comparable to the initial glorious ones such as IO / AUA / NN / TET (was this the last one for him?)

#1316 thenRal nee thenRal nee (SJ-SPB duet, thandhu vittEn ennai)
What a sweet song - I simply love that "ahA ahA / ohO ohO" humming at the end of pallavi and saraNam - terrific connector!

#1317 kangaLukkuL unnai ezhudhu (SJ solo, thandhu vittEn ennai)
Another sweetie, this one a solo by SJ, with nice IR-signature orchestration!

#1318 muthammA muthumuthu muthALammA (UR-AM duet, thandhu vittEn ennai)
Terrific rhythm work - including the 7 beat cycle, song got covered in both #IR_misrA and UR threads as well

#1319 mannavanE mannavanE manasukkEththa chinnavanE (SJ-SPB duet, thandhu vittEn ennai)
Fun song with traditional style orch, enjoyable duet pair as usual!

Overall, a very sweet album!

Next poll for "dhuruva natchaththiram" (that too had a misra nadai song, poovenRum ponnE enRum)...

poovendRum ponnE yendRum	S.P.Balasubramaniam /
chinna poNNE chinna poNNE	Malaysia Vasudevan
thAliyenbathu ingE thAi kulathai kAkka	ilaiyaRaaja / Chorus
marangaL tharum malargaL	Chorus
peththu pOttathArO	ilaiyaRaaja
thEsAthi thEsamellAm	Malaysia Vasudevan / K.S.Chithra / Saibaba / Sundarajan

Mannavane Mannavane from Thandhu Vittaen ennai is an orchestral specialty of Raja. There is a future post in my blog on this track as it has App's favorite santoor in CP with Janaki's voice. When I focused on this interlude recently, I was blown away as this is a PolyCaRe with santoor in the background and foreground of (Janaki+Flute+Violin+flute+flute) x 2. 

Take a South Indian female voice (SJ), use a north Indian instrument (santoor) and use a mix of Western (CP) and Indian technique (C&R).

Only Raja possible!

I have already written about Marangal Tharum from Dhruva Natchathiram as the only comparable composition to mighty Richard Wagner.

Poovendrum ponne endrum was the only hit (or most-heard number).  The rest were not.  Marangal tharum is a beautiful song though.

The album is here: https://friendstamilmp3.net/Album/A-ZMovieSongs/Dhuruva%20Natchathiram%20(1993) 

Looks like thuruva natchathiram was not that popular an album, though it had very good songs!

Adding one to the list (as expressed by a number of people)...

#1320 poovewnRum ponnE enRum (KSC-SPB duet, thuruva natchathiram)
Very sweet song in misra nadai - beautifully sung as well!

Next poll is for "unnai cholli kutRamillai'  - I'm familiar with 'sorgaththil vAsaRpadi' which was quite popular. Let us hear from TN-ers

sorgathin vAsaRpadi K.J.Yesudas / K.S.Chithra
kaRsilai silaithAn kalai kalaithAn Usha Uthup / Saibaba / Chorus
kettum pattaNam pOi sErunnu ilaiyaRaaja
rAthiriyil thookkam illai Usha Uthup

Sorgathin vaasappadi was a superhit song (played everywhere) and Kettum pattaNam (IR voice) was a moderate hit (often heard on Radio and Doordarshan).  

The two Usha Uthup songs were not hits, but Kar silai silai dhaan is a crazy-good number and have heard it a few times back then.  Just happened to "watch" the song and as usual (w.r.t. thousands of IR songs), I am horrified beyond words.

Adding the 2 hits from that Karthik movie, as confirmed by most TN-ers I'm in touch with

#1321 sorgaththin vAsaRpadi eNNakkanavugalE (KSC-KJY duet, unnai cholli kutRamillai)
Beautiful melody with minimal (and typical) orch. Enjoyable in every single listen!

#1322 kettum pattaNam pOi chErunnu (IR solo, unnai cholli kutRamillai)
Interestingly, this is not a "title song" but a situational pathos.

Next album in the list is "uRuthi mozhi" and I'm familiar with only "adhikAlai nilavE" (was part of the Palakkad "tabla" collection cassette) - a thaka-thaikta 5 beat cycle song.

Adding a poll...

neruppu neruppu neruppu kAdhal neruppu neruppu	S.P.Balasubramaniam / K.S.Chithra / Chorus
adhikAlai nilavE alangkAra silaiyE	P.Jayachandran / S.Janaki
dhinakku dhinakku [kaNNuRanga] [Pathos]	ilaiyaRaaja
dhinakku dhinakku [amuthooRum] [Happy]	S.Janaki / Chorus
mArilO mAri malaiyALO	Chorus
tukkarA achchadi kichchadi sambA	S.P.Balasubramaniam / Chorus
anbu kathai vambu kathai	S.P.Balasubramaniam

Adhikaalai nilave and Anbu kadhai are superhit songs, followed by Neruppu neruppu and Dhinakku being Tier-2 hits.

Here is the audio:

 

IR version of Dhinakku dhinakku song is on Mio:

https://mio.to/album/Uruthi+Mozhi+%281990%29

Adding the hit songs from uRuthi mozhi of 1990 to our list:

#1323 neruppu neruppu neruppu (KSC-SPB duet with chorus, uRuthi mozhi)
Nice song (in the lines of kAdhalukku rAjA and the likes from this time period) - though not familiar to me before.

#1324 athikAlai nilavE (SJ-JC duet, uRuthi mozhi)
Posted about this super hit song multiple times on forums - I was amazed at the very first listen when I heard this song at least a decade after its release when I got a "IR tabla hits" from a tiny shop in Kalmandapam, Palakkad and the collection was on repeat during all my drives during Y2K

#1325 dhinakku dhinakku (Two versions, SJ solo happy and IR pathos, uRuthi mozhi)
Catchy fun song - TN-ers confirm the popularity of this number!

#1326 anbukkathai vambukkathai (SPB solo, uRuthi mozhi)
Though the title of the song did not ring any bell, when I heard it today it sounded familiar (எங்கேயோ கேட்டிருக்கிறேன்) - no wonder TN-ers confirm this to be a hit song!

Well, finally, we are about to close 1990 as "veLLaiya thEvan" is the last album listed for this year and we need a poll for this (no song sounds familiar to me):

uchchimalai mEgangaL K.S.Chithra
vAnathil irunthu maN meethu vanthAL Arunmozhi / Uma Ramanan / Chorus
thangachi kAlukoru thanga kolusu Mano / K.S.Chithra
poonthOttam vaLarthEnE Mano
akkA magaLukku sadai neeLam [Male] Mano
akkA magaLukku sadai neeLam [Female] K.S.Chithra
yERRi vachcha kuththu viLakku ilaiyaRaaja
kAkam karainjidichu K.S.Chithra
nalla isaithattu puththam puthu mettu S.Janaki

Thangachchi kaalukkoru (superhit), Uchimalai megangal and Vaanathil irundhu were hits.  Others were not.

Though I've not heard "veLLaiya thEvan" songs, most TN-ers of the opinion that 3 songs were hits. So, let me add them here and complete the year 1990 / generate stats for the year

#1327 uchchi malai mEgangaL (KSC solo, veLLaiya thEvan)
Very sweet number - heard / watched it today on YT!

#1328 vAnaththil irundhu maN meedhu vandhAL (UR / AM with chorus, veLLaiya thEvan)
Though I covered this song in the UR thread (and thus had it played multiple times, to get the lyrics) it hadn't registered in me well

#1329 thangachchi kAlukkoru thangakkolusu (KSC / Mano, veLLaiya thEvan)
Per TN-ers, this was a super hit and unfortunately I'm not impressed (may be I would have liked if presented to me when arrived)

With all the albums of 1990 done, let me collect the stats in next post!

IR TFM hit statistics at the end of 1990 :

Year	Cat A (Super Hits)	Cat B (Hits)	Cat C (Moderate Hits)	Year Total
1976	7	4	2	13
1977	21	14	15	50
1978	25	15	10	50
1979	33	29	33	95
1980	40	6	10	56
1981	54	38	N/A	92
1982	77	33	N/A	110
1983	56	24	N/A	80
1984	62	35	N/A	97
1985	107	27	N/A	134
1986	77	37	N/A	114
1987	68	25	N/A	93
1988	47	13	N/A	60
1989	86	34	N/A	120
1990	113	52	N/A	165
Total so far	873	386	70	1329

As one can see, 1990 peaks in number of hits (partly also due to great verification by others who lived in TN during that year).

Can anyone in TFM history EVER match this kind of output / prolificity / quality / creativity?

As we begin the year 1991 for the hit-list compilation, an album hitherto unknown to me presents itself first

akkini pArvai

None of the songs ring a bell and I need to start this year with a poll

 

ithazh inikka isaikkum iLam pookkaLE	Mano / K.S.Chithra
pArthEn ponmanam pArthEn	S.Janaki
Om gousalya [puththagam yeduthu]	Mano / K.S.Chithra
odhu odhu ippududhu	S.Janaki / Chorus
yeththanai rAthiri niththirai pOchchuthu	Malaysia Vasudevan / Swarnalatha

app_engine wrote:IR TFM hit statistics at the end of 1990 :

Year	Cat A (Super Hits)	Cat B (Hits)	Cat C (Moderate Hits)	Year Total
1976	7	4	2	13
1977	21	14	15	50
1978	25	15	10	50
1979	33	29	33	95
1980	40	6	10	56
1981	54	38	N/A	92
1982	77	33	N/A	110
1983	56	24	N/A	80
1984	62	35	N/A	97
1985	107	27	N/A	134
1986	77	37	N/A	114
1987	68	25	N/A	93
1988	47	13	N/A	60
1989	86	34	N/A	120
1990	113	52	N/A	165
Total so far	873	386	70	1329

As one can see, 1990 peaks in number of hits (partly also due to great verification by others who lived in TN during that year).

Can anyone in TFM history EVER match this kind of output / prolificity / quality / creativity?

Huge amount of work there.  Thanks a TON. 

Impressive numbers (not surprisingly).  Cannot wait for 2000 to arrive.  

And still James Vasanthan compares IR with all and sundry, very cheekily and casually, in the garb of "analysis"!  Somebody please show him these statistics and give his myopic opinion a big jolt.

app_engine wrote:As we begin the year 1991 for the hit-list compilation, an album hitherto unknown to me presents itself first

akkini pArvai

None of the songs ring a bell and I need to start this year with a poll

ithazh inikka isaikkum iLam pookkaLE	Mano / K.S.Chithra
pArthEn ponmanam pArthEn	S.Janaki
Om gousalya [puththagam yeduthu]	Mano / K.S.Chithra
odhu odhu ippududhu	S.Janaki / Chorus
yeththanai rAthiri niththirai pOchchuthu	Malaysia Vasudevan / Swarnalatha

Paarthen ponmanam is a hit, along with idhazh inikka being a moderate hit.  The rest were unknown.

Spotify has the album: https://open.spotify.com/album/43YhQBXbDYZIxJfwW8qdX4 

Though the songs of akkini pArvai were practically unknown to me, the songs that TN-ers inform as hits are really nice / good ones. Especially the SJ song is awesome!

Adding the 2 numbers found as "hits" by TN-ers here :

#1330 idhazh inikka isaikkum iLampookkaLE (KSC-Mano duet, akkini pArvai)
As informed by people, this was a simple hit (and not a super one). Sounds sweet when I listened to the song on web!

#1331 pArthEn ponmanam pArthEn (SJ solo, akkini pArvai)
Awesome song! Really loved it, despite listening to this for the first time only now! Once again, this was popular in TN but did not reach me at Palakkad or during my various bus trips to TN.

The next album needs a poll too - brammA - I know this was Deepavali release (along with thaLabathi and gunA) and was a hit movie. 

However, I've never watched the movie and got familiar with the songs only in the internet era

nadapathu nadakkattum kidaipathu kidaikkattum	S.P.Balasubramaniam
varuthu varuthu iLangkARRu	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki
yengirunthO iLangkuyilin innisai kEttu	S.P.Balasubramaniam
rAthiri nEram rayiladi Oram	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki
ivaLoru iLangkuruvi	S.Janaki

Most people confirm it was an "all-songs-hit" album - while one or two opine that nadappathu nadakkattum was an exception.

Should I include that song or not? Confused...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knridxIcobA

Brammaa is a superhit album.  Nadappadhu nadakattum is a moderate hit and not as big a hit as, say, Ivaloru ilanguruvi.  That along with Thalapathi, Guna along with Bhagyaraj's Rudra (though neither the movie nor the music did well) all released for DeepavaLi 1991.

IR kept giving like a magical tree.  So, his music's priceless-worth was either taken for granted (maybe, familiarity bred contempt) and/or NOT celebrated back then.

nadappathu nadakkattum appears to have drawn attention even in the YT era, so we need to count that in

#1332 nadappathu nadakkattum (SPB solo, brammA)
Though the song wasn't known to me personally before, it sound rocking!

#1333 varuthu varuthu iLangAtRu (SJ-SPB duet, brammA)
One of those 100's of great duets by the celebrated pair! Love this super hit song!

#1334 engirundhO iLankuyilin (SPB solo, brammA)
This is the male version of the relatively more popular SJ song, IMO

#1335 rAththiri nEram rayiladi Oram (SJ-SPB duet, brammA)
This song is another "only-IR-SJ-team-possible" kind of song! Quite interesting!

#1336 ivAl oru iLankuruvi (SJ solo, brammA)
What a terrific song with superb orchestration! Deserved to be the super hit it was!

Next album does not need a poll (only 2 songs and those are popular to this day)

#1337 AttamA thErOttamA (Swarnalatha with chorus, possibly Mano part of the chorus, captain prabAkaran)
No need to qualify what super popularity this song has among TN masses!

#1338 pAsamuLLa pAndiyaru (KSC-Mano with chorus, captain prabAkaran)
Personal favorite! I can do repeat of this song on drives any number of times!

Next album - chemparuththi -of course had super hit songs that reached Kerala - but I'm not sure about how ALL the songs of that album fared in TN, so adding a poll!

kadalilai yezhumbuRa alaigaLai [Title Song]	ilaiyaRaaja / Chorus
nadanthAl iraNdadi irunthAl nAngadi	S.P.Balasubramaniam
pattu poovE mettu pAdu	Mano / S.Janaki
ada vanjiram vavvAlu meenuthAnA	Malaysia Vasudevan / Chorus
nilA kAyum nEram saraNam	Mano / S.Janaki
kadalilE thanimaiyil pOnAlum	Nahoor Hanifa
chalakku chalakku sElai	Mano / S.Janaki
sembaruthi poovu chithirathai pOla	Mano / K.S.Chithra / P.Banumathi Ramakrishna / Chorus

Yet another mega-hit album with amazing variety and freshness!  Prashanth (though not his debut) and Roja became a sensation, and both shot to overnight fame with this album.  

Veteran actress Bhanumathi's voice in the title song, the usage of Nagoor Haniffa plus the young voices of Mano and Chitra were the highlights of this terrific album; needless to say about the orchestration.

@rmdeva has added another song from this movie (which was possibly not included in the disk or cassette):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz3zYmT5LB4



Even this one appears to have been popular (possibly because of the TV channels that were starting to take shape then).

Adding chembaruthi songs to our list:

#1339 kadalila ezhumbuRa alaigala (IR solo, chembaruthi)
Title song! I don't know if I've noticed before but realized yesterday that Kovai Thambi (of Motherland pictures that made IR a "poster icon" with "ilaiyarAjAvin innisai mazhaiyil" tag, first for the payaNangaL mudivadhillai movie) is the producer for this film! He possibly came back to IR after a gap and was gifted with such a terrific album!

#1340 nadandhAL iraNdadi irundhAL nAngadi (SPB solo, chembaruthi)
Sweet song with some philosophy   I'm not sure why IR didn't give SPB any duet in this album in Tamil. (nilA kAyum nEram's Telugu version has SPB-KSC but Mano-SJ in Tamil, quite interesting)

#1341 pattuppoovE mettuppAdu (SJ-Mano duet, chembaruthi)
What a terrrrrific song this one! Of course, SJ is giving lessons to Mano in playback singing  

#1342 ada vanjiram vavvAlu meenu thAnA (MV with chorus, chembaruthi)
This was one of the songs that I've not heard much - and thus made me have a poll for the album.

#1343 nilA kAyum nEram saraNam (SJ-Mano duet, chembaruthi)
The prelude of this song was fused into the EPROM chip by our R&D engineer as "music on hold" for the EPABX equipment that was under design / beta trial those days - love the orchestration!

#1344 kadalilE thanimaiyil pOnAlum (Nagoor Hanifa, chembaruthi)
Singer with a unique voice and was associated with IR for an Islamic devotional album BEFORE our man became an independent MD. (That record possibly had "pavalar brothers" tag)

#1345 chalakku chalakku sElai (SJ-Mano duet, chembaruthi)
Another crowd-pleaser song, different coming from IR IMO

#1346 chembaruththippoovu chiththiraththaippOla ambalaththil (KSC-Banumathi-Mano group song, chembaruthi)
Nice song - I used to confuse this with some Malayalam 80's song - don't know why

#1347 puthunAL iravu ezhil kOlangaL pOdu (Sounds like Minmini-Arunmozhi, not sure, chembaruthi)
Included this based on the YT

The next album in the list was / is popular worldwide and do not need a poll

#1348 kaNNu padappOguthaiyyA (IR with chorus, chinna gounder)
I think there was another movie that got made with the first line of this song, such was the popularity of this one

#1349 antha vAnaththappOla (IR solo, chinna gounder)
This line too made it as a movie title  IIRC, there is a short female version also.

#1350 chutti chutti un vAlakkonjam suruttikkoLLadi (MV with chorus, chinna gounder)
Fun song with interesting orch. Super hit, of course!

#1351 kooNdukkuLLa enna vachchu (SJ-SPB duet, chinna gounder)
Very sweet duet, sung by the celebrated pair!

#1352 muthumaNi mAlai (PS-SPB duet, chinna gounder)
Popular to this day - by my "not-so-favorite" duet pair. (They used to sound "periyakkA-chinnathambi" in 70's and 80's but like ammA-paiyan in this song  )

#1353 sollAl adichcha sundari (IR, chinna gounder)
Possibly the least popular song of the album - hit nevertheless.

I'm not familiar with how the next album's songs fared with public - so, adding a poll for "chinnaththAyi":
 

ada Arumuga mangalathil [Title Song]	Chorus
kOttaiyai vittu vEttaikku pOgum [1]	Uma Ramanan / Chorus
nAn yErikarai mElirinthu [Duet]	K.J.Yesudas / Swarnalatha / Chorus
nAn ippOthum yeppOthum	S.P.Balasubramaniam / S.Janaki
yenga ooru pongalukku	S.Janaki / Chorus
arumbarumbA saram thodutha	P.Susheela

Superb album steeped in folk music.  

KOttaiya vittu (adore all 3 versions) and Naan yerikkara were superhits, and Arumbarumba and Naan ippodhum being moderate hits.  

It was good to see that QFR featured the KOttaiya vittu song sometime ago.

Spotify has all the songs: https://open.spotify.com/album/4I6MIZ6AUBIzFrKYT1xn9K 

Jukebox on IR-O: