Wasn't Where Is The Love a shock #01 at the time. It seemed to come out of nowhere imo.

^ No, that had loads of airplay pre-release.

Did anyone expect Kings Of Leon's Sex on Fire to go to #1? I didn't, it was such a shock for me at the time!

 

I certainly didn't - but that was more because I considered it utter shite...

 

Wasn't Where Is The Love a shock #01 at the time. It seemed to come out of nowhere imo.

 

Nope that was blatantly obvious weeks in advance.

Oxide & Neutrino - Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)

Limp Bizkit - Rollin'

So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds

 

none of which I had heard of prior to their release

 

Also, Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor seemed a bit unexpected at the time.

Limp Bizkit certainly weren't a surprise, they were following up a massive Top 3 and it was January (specifically January 2001) when rock bands would tend to do relatively well. 'Bound 4 Da Reload' was obviously going to be big to me, but that was probably a generationally/regionally specific observation: I know people like my brother's schoolfriends were passing around various MP3s before it got a legal release.

 

I do remember LL Cool J's version of 'Ain't Nobody' was a bit of WTF moment for me (and still seems odd now) but maybe if I'd listened to the radio more back then I'd have been prepared for it.

The Undertaker was using Rollin as his entrance music in WWE before the song got released in the UK and that was at the time when wrestling was very popular so it was inevitable that it was gonna be a big hit.

I was going to say Iron Maiden too.

 

Queen's Innuendo was a bit of a surprise.

 

So was Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) by Offspring.

I think The Saturdays - What About Us. Everyone knew it would be a hit, but number 1? The last Album and 2 singles flopped and everyone was sure of a low end top ten placing until it was released!

No, this wasn't the case at all. I remember thinking that my #5 prediction was lower than everyone else's predictions.

In any case no-one thought it would go #1.

A lot of people on this website predicted that it would go to #1 though.

Okay I withdraw my statement :P