17 years ago today , this chart was never broadcast due to the death of Princess Diana in a Paris car crash

resulting in 4 new entries never being played on the Top 40

They were The Cardigans, Hurricane #1, Gina G and En Vogue.

 

UK Top 40 Singles weekending 31st August 1997

 

1 (1) Men In Black – Will Smith

2 (2) Tub Thumping - Chumbawamba

3 (New) Honey – Mariah Carey

4 (New) I Know Where It’s At – All Saints

5 (New) Traveller’s Tune – Ocean Colour Scene

6 (4) I’ll Be Missing You – Puff Daddy ft Faith Evans

7 (New) Free – DJ Quicksilver

8 (New) Karma Police - Radiohead

9 (5) Freed From Desire - Gala

10 (New) When Doves Cry - Ginuwine

11 (7) Never Gonna Let You Go – Tina Moore

12 (3) You’re The One I Love – Shola Ama

13 (6) All I Wanna Do – Dannii Minogue

14 (8) Everybody (Backstreet's Back) – Backstreet Boys

15 (9) Mo Money, Mo Problems – The Notorious B.I.G.

16 (New) Kiss You All Over – No Mercy

17 (New) Bentley’s Gonna Sort You Out – Bentley Rhythm Ace

18 (New) The Sweetest Thing – Refugee Allstars ft Lauryn Hill

19 (11) Bitch – Meredith Brooks

20 (New) Too Gone, Too Long – En Vogue

21 (12) My Father’s Son – Conner Reeves

22 (13) Everything – Mary J. Blige

23 (15) C U When U Get There - Coolio

24 (17) Picture Of You - Boyzone

25 (New) Gimme Some Love – Gina G

26 (14) Tell Me Is It True – UB40

27 (19) Free – Ultra Nate

28 (10) Queen Of New Orleans – Jon Bon Jovi

29 (21) All Out Of Love – 911

30 (New) Chain Reaction – Hurricane #1

31 (23) Do Ya Know What I Mean? - Oasis

32 (20) Yesterday/Maybe I’m Love – Wet Wet Wet

33 (29) Deeper In You – Livin’ Joy

34 (16) The Rain – Missy Elliott

35 (New) Your New Cuckoo – The Cardigans

36 (26) Black Eyed Boy - Texas

37 (28) Equador – Sash!

38 (18) Everlong – Foo Fighters

39 (30) All About Us – Peter Andre

40 (27) The Mind Of The Machine – N-Trance

Edited August 31, 201410 yr by Musicmaster

Pretty much that whole top ten have titles that are weirdly representative of the situation :lol:

I remember this, as I was beginning to follow the chart religiously at only 8 years old. Never found out the no.1 until TOTP the next Friday.

Wow that's scary, the thought of an All Saints track being 17 years old :o the fact 'Rock Steady' is 8 years old is scary enough!

Looking at the chart itself, 1997 was a weirdly transitional time, wasn't it? A year earlier would be much more Britpop, a year later much more late 90s manufactured pop. That's a massively varied chart even in just the top 10 with no real musical trend or sound standing out. I would have been eight at the time and remember liking Men In Black, Tub Thumping and Picture Of You the most, but today it's all about Freed From Desire, Ecuador, and Karma Police, three awesome tracks I didn't discover until a few years later.

 

Then of course you had the madness of the end of the year with all those million-selling singles!

There's a remix of Tina Moore - Never Gonna Let You Go which I've heard about a dozen times this summer.

 

Honey is one of Maria's catchiest songs for sure.

 

Jealous of so many new entries, I wish that would happen today.

Karma Police and Bentley Rhythm Ace were great new entries. Fantastic chart overall - loved 1997.

My chart highlight is "Free" by DJ Quicksilver, so underrated!

 

BTW, the BSB song is "Everybody" ;)

Edited August 31, 201410 yr by Euphorique

I would've been a mere 27 days old, so fortunately cannot remember the tragedy at all! Some great tracks in there though - 'Men In Black' is the only Will Smith song I really like. Loads of new entries too! :wub:

10 new entries into the Top 20, those were the days :wub:

 

Looking at the chart itself, 1997 was a weirdly transitional time, wasn't it? A year earlier would be much more Britpop, a year later much more late 90s manufactured pop. That's a massively varied chart even in just the top 10 with no real musical trend or sound standing out.

Yeah, I loved the 90s for such variation in musical styles in the chart. I hope that one day we get back to a chart phase with the same level of variation.

 

1100 new entries to the top 75 in a year, over 97% of which peak at their entry position - no thank you.

Yeah I'm missing the great flux of new entries that we used to have. The charts are incredibly boring these days.

This is a Reuters news article from March 1997 about what was seen as a worrying state of the charts at the time, interesting reading:

 

LONDON (Variety) - In the first seven weeks of this year, there were

seven No. 1 songs on the U.K. singles chart -- six of which entered the

list in the top spot. But rather than celebrating, the industry is

expressing concern over the chart, which some say is being so manipulated

by record companies that it is pointless.

The Spice Girls and Blur may have had their latest hits debut at No.

1, but that has much to do with loss leader marketing and exclusively

sales-derived statistics.

Many singles fall out of the chart nearly as quickly as they rise. Of

the seven No. 1 hits, only No Doubt's Don't Speak has remained there for

more than a week.

Some industry players are calling for a rethink of how the U.K. chart

works. One idea is to remodel it along the lines of the U.S. chart, a

complicated (and sometimes controversial) formula based on sales and

airplay -- reflecting not just what people are buying, but also what they

are listening to.

So what accounts for the U.K. chart's volatility?

Record companies in Britain typically sell a CD single to retailers

for 2.43 sterling ($3.89), the minimum price needed to qualify for the

chart. But the price to the consumer can be as low as 99 pence ($1.58) in

the first week of release.

The reason a single can be sold below cost is because record companies

often offer an enticement to retailers: buy one single and get another one

(or even two) free.

Giveaways boost a single's entry position on the chart, prompt more

radio and TV play, and are intended to whet the consumer appetite for an

artist's album, because that is where the real money is. (In 1996, single

sales in the U.K. hit 78.3 million units, up 10.7% over 1995; album sales

rose 6.2% to 208.4 million units sold.)

U2's single Discotheque, for example, was reportedly offered on a

three-for-the-price-of-one deal to some stores, as was Blur's Beetlebum and

the Spice Girls' worldwide hit Wannabe, which has sold 1.175 million units

in the U.K.

This loss-leader marketing practice may be good news for fans, but

some observers argue that it is a smash-and-grab approach geared toward the

short term.

"The U.K. chart is such an anomaly to anywhere else in the world

because it is 100% sales-based," says MTV Europe's Harriett Brand, senior

VP for talent and music programming. "In other countries, going straight to

No. 1 would be really impressive because it's so hard to do.

"The problem is that initial sales in the U.K. are fan-based. You hype

a song to No. 1, then it could disappear, and you may have lost people who

wouldn't normally like that artist. When you allow a song to build over

time, it allows (a) career to develop. You can give CDs away if you want to

grow market share, but that does not grow your business."

Another contentious issue is that only the majors can afford

significant loss-leader sacrifices. As a consequence, smaller indie labels

must either be satisfied with a considerably less-than-level playing field,

or go to the majors to maximize an artist's potential. Loss leaders can

also discriminate against acts the majors are less interested in investing

in.

"A lot of good music is being made that doesn't see the light of day,"

says veteran U.K. music entrepreneur Jonathan King. "A huge amount of top

hits are not wanted by the public, and the only acts that happen are the

ones that have instant appeal."

King has launched a U.K. chart to rival the one from CIN, the official

British chart compiler. King's Real Hits chart averages three weeks of

sales, includes radio and TV airplay, and even Internet voting. He says he

set up the alternative chart because this year the chart has become so

completely manipulated.

But the U.K. chart system has its supporters.

John Preston, the chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, the

music business' lobbying body, pulls no punches. Preston, who is also

chairman of BMG Entertainment Intl. U.K. & Ireland, says "the U.K. chart is

absolutely real -- airplay is subject to decisions made by a small group of

people. And it's only the people who are not doing well in the chart (who)

are bitching."

Preston notes that loss leaders are standard across the record

industry, including the independents, and that gambling on big first-week

sales is a very targeted decision determined by the product being sold.

What is also overlooked is that many singles never reach No. 1 but

perform well over a sustained period. In BMG's case, Preston cites, No

Mercy's Where Do You Go has placed well in successive weekly charts.

Intriguingly, Where Do You Go is No. 1 in King's chart.

The biggest hype machine for singles in the U.K. is the BBC's

venerable music show, Top of the Pops. MTV and other music TV programming

also plays an important role. But radio is still the backbone.

The chart machine machinations crystallized last year with the

much-ballyhooed battle for the No. 1 spot between Britpop rivals Oasis with

Roll With It and Blur with Country House. Both singles are said to have

gone to retailers on some sort of loss-leader basis, but EMI offered the

better deal on Blur. Country House won the No. 1 designation.

And pity poor Blur now. After Beetlebum debuted at the top of the U.K.

chart at the end of January, it dropped to seven and then 29 in the

subsequent weeks. A good single it may be, but not a particularly

commercial one.

Reuters/V