The whole Blue comeback - I think people expected a Take That style reunion at one stage. No idea where they are now.

 

Alexandra Burke too. That second album. Say no more.

 

To be honest Alexandra's album was down to her moving label. Everything about that era was just wrong. Most of it wasn't her fault, how I wish she would make a comeback. :D

La Bouche's "Be My Lover" only making #27 when it was a big hit almost everywhere else in 1995.

 

Vanessa Paradis having a #3 UK hit with "Joe Le Taxi" in 1988 with a song completely sung in French at 14 years old was pretty surprising too. Same with Desireless' "Voyage Voyage" hitting #5 that same year with a special UK mix that doesn't really sound different from the original.

Edited November 25, 20159 yr by Ne Plus Ultra

Speaking of French songs:

 

 

Hit #9 in the UK in 2002. Would never happen today, which is a shame as this is sublime. :wub:

 

Lil' Louis' "French Kiss" remains one of the most surprising UK #1's ever.

Edited November 25, 20159 yr by Ne Plus Ultra

Moi Lolita was A-listed on Radio 2, that may have been the reason. Also heavy rotation on The Box which was a hitmaking channel back then

Going back to my teenage years (a long time ago :( ), not many people will have listened to Tubeway Army's Are "Friends" Electric and thought "There's a number one single".

Lil' Louis' "French Kiss" remains one of the most surprising UK #1's ever.

 

Sadly it was just a #2, but it's certainly still one of the most surprising UK #2s ever - up there with Laurie Anderson's O Superman.

 

Cliff Richard “The Millennium Prayer” is also a mystery - just WHO was buying it?

 

27/11/1999 - #2 - 88,000

04/12/1999 - #1 - 143,000

11/12/1999 - #1 - 157,000

18/12/1999 - #1 - 159,000

25/12/1999 - #2 - 170,000

 

What??!

 

This had a huge amount of hype, it felt like a really big deal at the time - still quite mystifying but there was lots of newspaper coverage about Radio 1 not playing it and it turned into a major Christmas chart battle. If anything I feel sorry for Cliff that Westlife got the actual Xmas #1 after selling so much for so many weeks.

Oh, and another one - the complete lack of success of Sonny J's Can't Stop Moving. Seemed to be a smash in the making back in 2007 and didn't chart. Another attempt in 2008 got it to #40 at least but still felt underwhelming.

Justin Bieber - What Do U Mean.

 

No problem with him before beliebers attack me, but he never had a number 1 before and has only ever really done OKAY chart wise. Never expected this wave he is riding at the minute.

 

Hello naked pictures. -_-

For me, Madonna's release of Take A Bow in 1994 was an unexpected disappointment. After more than 30 consecutive top 10 hits, and with the song reaching number 1 in the US, I would imagine people expected huge success but it only reached number 16 here.

The one that always stood out for me is Nakatomi's 'Children of the Night' having one random week in the top 40 in October 2002, years after first being released in the mid-1990s. And this was before downloads so it would have been entirely on physicals. As an old 90s happy hardcore track it doesn't fit in with the Flip & Fill/pop-trance musical era of the time at all, but lots of old hardcore hits were being covered at the time so maybe it just rode the wave.

 

Another was N-Trance's 'Set You Free' spending a week at #64 in January 2005, again before downloads. Did it have a remix/re-release or was there a store chain who found a load of old copies and sold them at a low price? Given how miniscule sales were that month it probably only sold a few hundred copies to get that high.

 

EDIT: Looking at the top 100 that week (08/01/2005) there's actually a lot of old All Around the World hits at the bottom end (Shooting Star/Pretty Green Eyes/Come With Me, even Cafe Del Mar) etc so there might have been some re-releases going on.

 

 

They were definately getting played alot in the clubs i went out to at the time - Children of the night was played every week - must have been because of the remix!

Justin Bieber - What Do U Mean.

 

No problem with him before beliebers attack me, but he never had a number 1 before and has only ever really done OKAY chart wise. Never expected this wave he is riding at the minute.

 

Hello naked pictures. -_-

 

 

You could say that about alot of artists though - like Miley Cyrus' last era was clearly to gain for braoder appeal!

Never got how Annie Lennox's singles off Diva managed to be alternately Top 10.

 

Why - 5

Precious - 23

Walking on Broken Glass - 8

Cold - 26

 

 

Moi Lolita was A-listed on Radio 2, that may have been the reason. Also heavy rotation on The Box which was a hitmaking channel back then

 

My sister bought the CD single and I know she heard it through The Box, it seemed to be on all the time. Would be good to see more TV and radio support of foreign language songs in the UK but it's a pipe dream.

'Moi Lolita' hitting the Top 10 is one of the best moments in UK chart history :wub:

Somebody that I Used to Know was a song that I never expected to be a hit never mind a million seller.

 

 

Also, I dont know how Pet Shop Boys managed to get Heart to number 1 considering it was the 4th single off an album.

Like others mentioned in the thread, surprise #1s for me were definitely Whole Again, Just Like A Pill, Can't Fight The Moonlight, Spectrum, Twilight and also Gettin' Over You, not sure if that was mentioned.

 

I'll need to put my thinking cap on to see what surprise flops I can come up with.

The Gotye one was a big surprise for me, too. I wasn't following the charts much at the time. But I remember enjoying listening to that song back in July/August '11 and next thing I know Spring '12 and it's smashing.

 

How did it happen exactly? Was it just airplay or was it that viral cover video?

 

Like others mentioned in the thread, surprise #1s for me were definitely Whole Again, Just Like A Pill, Can't Fight The Moonlight, Spectrum, Twilight and also Gettin' Over You, not sure if that was mentioned.

 

I'll need to put my thinking cap on to see what surprise flops I can come up with.

 

Glad I'm not the only one with this!

Also, I dont know how Pet Shop Boys managed to get Heart to number 1 considering it was the 4th single off an album.

That also makes me think of Britney's 'Born To Make You Happy', which got to No. 1 despite the 2nd and 3rd single not doing so.

That also makes me think of Britney's 'Born To Make You Happy', which got to No. 1 despite the 2nd and 3rd single not doing so.

 

 

I think the fact that it was a better song (although I prefer Crazy) might have helped and that it was a January release.

Edited November 25, 20159 yr by Cauldron