It's strange how every now and then they were just able to get these contracts for the odd edition. For example why did The Corrs only appear on Now 41 and Now 42 and never again despite their huge success? And how come the likes of Westlife, Five and J.Lo suddenly popped up on Now 50?

I think the HITS labels were a bit more lenient when it came to the Winter NOW because those are the ones that usually sell a lot compared to the Easter and Summer editions. NOW 44, NOW 47, NOW 50, NOW 53 & NOW 56 all had songs that would usually be reserved for the rival HITS series, but perhaps even they knew NOW Xmas sales are worth investing in :lol:

Got Now 89 and the Now Book this morning!

I received two copies of the Now book, which I already own :lol: People know me too well.

Got Now 89 and the Now Book this morning!

Same :)

 

I am listening to Now 89 right now while reading the book :wub:

I'm listening to Now 89 straight through. There are no gaps but it doesn't seem too bad. Does it become more of a problem if you wish to play individual tracks?

I downloaded Now 2003 the other day with iTunes giftcard credit (seeing as it seems to be about half filled with songs never originally on Now albums). Interesting that Gareth Gates' Spirit In The Sky doesn't feature The Kumars, I've never heard the version without them before. Don't think I ever had the radio edit of Dido's White Flag or Baby Boy by Big Brovaz anywhere else before either.

 

I must get round to downloading some of the others eventually...I have 1996, 1998 and 2003 so far.

I have 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003 at the moment. Quite fancy 2002 though!

I have 1994, 1996-2004. I keep forgetting to download anymore. But then again, 2005+ isn't that interesting to me. I do find it weird that 2005 misses "What You Waiting For?", "Don't Phunk With My Heart" and "Don't Lie".

This is my version of Now 2014:

 

Disc 1:

 

1. Pharrell Williams – Happy

2. Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne – Rather Be

3. Ed Sheeran – Sing

4. Ella Henderson – Ghost

5. Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass

6. Mr Probz – Waves

7. Sam Smith – Stay With Me

8. Taylor Swift – Shake It Off

9. Pitbull feat. Ke$ha – Timber

10. Route 94 feat. Jess Glynne – My Love

11. Sigma – Nobody To Love

12. Kiesza – Hideaway

13. Calvin Harris – Summer

14. Duke Dumont feat. Jax Jones – I Got U

15. Nico & Vinz – Am I Wrong

16. Lilly Wood & Robin Schulz – Prayer In C

17. Oliver Heldens & Becky G – Gecko (Overdrive)

18. Avicii – Hey Brother

19. Cheryl feat. Tinie Tempah – Crazy Stupid Love

20. will.i.am feat. Miley Cyrus – Feelin’ Myself

 

Disc 2:

 

1. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud

2. George Ezra – Budapest

3. John Legend – All Of Me

4. Katy Perry feat. Juicy J – Dark Horse

5. Sam Smith – Money On My Mind

6. Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea – Problem

7. RITA ORA – I Will Never Let You Down

8. Charli XCX – Boom Clap

9. Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj – Bang Bang

10. Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX – Fancy

11. Nicki Minaj – Anaconda

12. Chris Brown feat. Lil’ Wayne & Tyga – Loyal

13. One Direction – Steal My Girl

14. 5 Seconds Of Summer – She Looks So Perfect

15. The Vamps feat. Demi Lovato – Somebody To You

16. Rixton – Me And My Broken Heart

17. Coldplay – Magic

18. Vance Joy – Riptide

19. Idina Menzel – Let It Go

20. Paloma Faith – Only Love Can Hurt Like This

 

Disc 3:

 

1. Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk

2. DVBBS & Borgeous feat. Tinie Tempah – Tsunami (Jump)

3. Secondcity – I Wanna Feel

4. MAGIC! – Rude

5. Bastille – Of The Night

6. David Guetta feat. Sam Martin – Lovers On The Sun

7. Olly Murs feat. Travie McCoy – Wrapped Up

8. Sia – Chandelier

9. OneRepublic – Love Runs Out

10. Aloe Blacc – The Man

11. Hozier – Take Me To Church

12. Maroon 5 – Maps

13. The Script – Superheroes

14. Ella Eyre – If I Go

15. Jess Glynne – Right Here

16. Tove Lo – Habits (Stay High)

17. A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera – Say Something

18. The Veronicas – You Ruin Me

19. Take That – These Days

20. American Authors – Best Day Of My Life

Edited December 27, 201410 yr by Luciano

Joining in the fun with my version of a 3-disc Now for officially The Best Year Ever In The History of Music, so epic that I don't even need to name the year:

 

1. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

2. Steps - Tragedy

3. Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone

4. Vengaboys - Boom Boom Boom Boom

5. Phats & Small - Turn Around

6. S Club 7 - Bring It All Back

7. Cartoons - Witch Doctor

8. Ann Lee - 2 Times

9. Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5

10. Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)

11. Adam Rickett - I Breathe Again

12. Jennifer Lopez - Waiting for Tonight

13. Shania Twain - That Don't Impress Me Much

14. Christina Aguilera - Genie In A Bottle

15. B*Witched - Blame It On The Weatherman

16. Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way

17. Five - Keep On Movin'

18. N'Sync - Tearin' Up My Heart

19. Alena - Turn It Around

20. Cuban Boys - C vs I

 

1. Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

2. New Radicals - You Get What You Give

3. Divine Comedy - National Express

4. Blondie - Maria

5. Terrorvision - Tequila

6. Fatboy Slim - Right Here Right Now

7. All Seeing I feat Tony Christie - Walk Like A Panther

8. Len - Steal My Sunshine

9. James - I Know What I'm Here For

10. Semisonic - Secret Smile

11. Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me

12. Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In LA

13. Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me

14. Macy Gray - I Try

15. Supergrass - Moving

16. Texas - In Our Lifetime

17. Wiseguys - Ooh La La

18. Garbage - The World Is Not Enough

19. The Beautiful South - How Long's A Tear Take To Dry?

20. Blur - Tender

 

1. ATB - 9pm (Til I Come)

2. Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl

3. Mr Oizo - Flat Beat

4. Wamdue Project - King of My Castle

5. DJ Sakin & Friends - Protect Your Mind

6. System F - Out of the Blue

7. Veracocha - Carte Blanche

8. Gouryella - Gouryella

9. Binary Finary - 1999

10. Yomanda - Synth & Strings

11. Paul Johnson - Get Get Down

12. Bob Marley vs Funkstar Deluxe - Sun Is Shining

13. DJ Supreme vs Porn Kings - Up 2 Tha Wildstyle

14. Dope Smugglaz - Double Double Dutch

15. Chicane - Saltwater

16. Agnelli & Nelson - Everyday

17. Ayla - Ayla

18. Solar Stone - Seven Cities

19. Aphex Twin - Windowlicker

20. William Orbit - Barber's Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten mix)

 

I would literally wear out the CD from overplay.

I love 1999 as well! Quite a perfect start with Britney there.

I downloaded Now 2002 with the remainder of my giftcard. I agree that 2004-12 are of limited interest due only each having 3-5 songs that didn't appear on the original Now albums. And anything before 1994 isn't really of much interest to me either personally.

 

Now 2000 and 2001 are decent enough but I have no urgency to buy them but Now 1997 and Now 1999 could be a lot better, instead of all four Westlife #1s how about some more dance hits? It was the biggest genre of the year and there are only two dance songs on there.

 

R.e. Now 2002, I don't recall ever hearing this One True Voice track, it's so bland. Good to see Shania on here, haven't heard this song since it came out!

I remember being surprised when Shania didn't feature on Now 54.

 

I vaguely remember the One True Voice single being a double A side but I can't remember anything about the second track.

It's a bit strange how Warner didn't want any of their songs appearing on NOW 87 ie. Lily Allen, David Guetta, Coldplay, Clean bandit etc. yet they allowed for Vance Joy - "Riptide" to appear on the album which is by the Warner label

Were there any Dance songs that were on Sony/Universal/Virgin back in '99 to be featured? I think a lot of dance songs were on independent labels back then (like MOS). It's only just hit me that Billie's Because We Want To, Honey to the Bee, Girlfriend or Day & Night didn't feature on any of the NOW Year albums! She is a Virgin Records artist (which is now part of Universal). It seems odd that these number ones weren't included!

 

I also do find it odd that Shania has nothing on NOW 1997 or NOW 1999-2000 but did make an appearance on the 2002 one! :lol:

 

I do hope we get CD versions of the NOW Year albums (hopefully with Warner & Independent labels contributing) and instead of getting tons of rubbish "Rock" and "Power Ballad" spin-offs, we get a large selection of the years sold through one year and the rest the next year!

I doubt they'll release these on CD, although I'd very much approve if they bumped them all up to three disc versions, improved the tracklistings and then released them.

 

I find the tracklistings all very bizarre, it looks as if the compilers had a pool of at least 80 or so to choose from for each year and just selected whatever took their fancy. Some are really strong and representative (2002 and 2003 in particular), others are really poor.

 

1999, as Billy pointed out, is one of the best ever years for music but you'd be fooled into thinking only cheesy pop and boybands were doing well that year by looking at the tracklisting of Now 1999. Positiva is part of Universal I think so they could have got Alice Deejay at least. Eiffel 65 were also on Universal iirc.

I got Now 89 for Christmas and went into town and picked up the NOW book today! :D Being a trivia and music lover, it has been a great read so far!

Instead of releasing spin-offs, they should concentrate on re-releasing 2-9 on double CD and also include the songs which only appeared on the vhs versions

Can we just talk about how good the US cover for NOW 53 is?! It reminds me of the early 00's UK covers

 

Can we just talk about how good the US cover for NOW 53 is?! It reminds me of the early 00's UK covers

 

 

Let's hope the UK use it for NOW 90