The spectra and correlations of the velocity fluctuations in turbulent channels, especially above the buffer layer, are analysed using new direct numerical simulations with friction Reynolds numbers up to Re$_{\tau}\,{=}\,1900$. It is found, and explained, that their scaling is anomalous in several respects, including a square-root behaviour of their width with respect to their length, and a velocity scaling of the largest modes with the centreline velocity $U_c$. It is shown that this implies a logarithmic correction to the $k^{-1}$ energy spectrum, and that it leads to a scaling of the total fluctuation intensities away from the wall which agrees well with the mixed scaling of de Graaff & Eaton (2000) at intermediate Reynolds numbers, but which tends to a pure scaling with $U_c$ at very large ones.