https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/u...-topper__32728/

 

No-one has perhaps had a more laborious road to solo stardom than Nicole Scherzinger, but she got there in the end and then some.

 

Nicole’s original efforts to launch as an artist in her own right stalled in 2007 with the scrapped project Her Name Is Nicole, although songs written for it would end up back with the Pussycat Dolls, most notably When I Grow Up, a Number 3 hit for the group in 2008.

 

But after a hiatus following the release of their second album Doll Domination (due to basically every member except Nicole leaving the group), the future X Factor judge would re-centre in the best way possible with her actual debut album, Killer Love.

 

RedOne-produced banger Poison charted at a very respectable Number 3, but the real hit from the LP would be its second single. Co-written with iconic songwriter Billy Steinberg (whose cuts include Like A Virgin by Madonna) and Max Martin affiliates Carl Falk and Rami (Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande), Don’t Hold Your Breath was a more sophisticated slice of electronica-influenced dance-pop, taking clear inspiration from Madonna’s Ray Of Light.

 

A decade ago this week, Don’t Hold Your Breath debuted atop the Official Singles Chart, giving Nicole her first (and so far only) UK Number 1 single as a solo artist. With first week sales totalling 98,000 copies, she easily saw off her nearest competition, knocking Adele’s mega-hit ballad Someone Like You off the top spot after a four-week reign (although it would vault back up and dethrone Nicole herself the next week).

 

As it stands today, Don't Hold Your Breath has chart sales totalling 621,000 and has been streamed over 14 million times in the UK alone. For Nicole's solo career, it was a clear highlight - although she would gain a further three solo Top 10s on the Official Singles Chart (with Right There at Number 3 in 2011 and both Boomerang and Your Love landing at Number 6 in 2013 and 2014 respectively).

Elsewhere in the Top 10 that week, the only other two new entries were The Wanted at Number 4 with their Comic Relief single Gold Forever and short-lived girlband Parade, who debuted at Number 10 with their first and only Top 10 hit, Louder.

 

Interestingly enough, former Parade member Jessica Agombar still has a presence on the charts today as a high-profile songwriter, most recently co-writing BTS’ disco hit Dynamite last year.

I was so happy when Nicole got a surprise #1 with this 10 years ago. :wub: What a time to be alive.

 

However...

 

Don’t Hold Your Breath was a more sophisticated slice of electronica-influenced dance-pop, taking clear inspiration from Madonna’s Ray Of Light.

 

WHAT?! :lol:

It was a good pop song, not sure i would make that comparison though!

I was so happy when Nicole got a surprise #1 with this 10 years ago. :wub: What a time to be alive.

 

However...

WHAT?! :lol:

Ha! Didn't even read that! :lol:

I've just looked at the Music Week issue for this week in 2011 and the main editorial is about a viral video by teen singer Rebecca Black. Her song 'Friday' had just been described as "the worst song ever". The video on YouTube (which was subsequently voted "the worst video ever") has three times as many dislikes as likes and the lyrics are inane. The video did become an internet sensation though and the track did chart in the UK a couple of weeks later, peaking at number 60. This was in the pre-streaming era. These days the track would probably have gone top 20 due to people streaming the track and video.

 

Anyone remember this?

I'm going to feel very old if there are a significant number of people who don't remember Rebecca Black. x

To be honest I was surprised (and secretly a little disappointed) that Friday wasn't a huge chart hit, it seemed so big on Youtube that I thought it would crossover a lot more than it did - I came to the conclusion that just because something's popular online it won't automatically translate into downloaded sales.

 

Then a year later came Gangnam Style which blew that theory out the water :lol:

'Popular' isn't exactly the word I'd use tbf!

I've just looked at the Music Week issue for this week in 2011 and the main editorial is about a viral video by teen singer Rebecca Black. Her song 'Friday' had just been described as "the worst song ever". The video on YouTube (which was subsequently voted "the worst video ever") has three times as many dislikes as likes and the lyrics are inane. The video did become an internet sensation though and the track did chart in the UK a couple of weeks later, peaking at number 60. This was in the pre-streaming era. These days the track would probably have gone top 20 due to people streaming the track and video.

 

Anyone remember this?

 

She released a 10th anniversary remix of the song recently.

 

It didn't do well in the charts, but it was more well-known than a lot of the number-ones that year (maybe most of them). And I don't mean that as a dig against the popularity of the songs that year, just Friday went REALLY viral. I'm surprised we haven't really had something like this happen since.

 

To be honest I was surprised (and secretly a little disappointed) that Friday wasn't a huge chart hit, it seemed so big on Youtube that I thought it would crossover a lot more than it did - I came to the conclusion that just because something's popular online it won't automatically translate into downloaded sales.

 

Then a year later came Gangnam Style which blew that theory out the water :lol:

 

I think the difference was that a lot of people actually liked Gangnn Style. This meant it could be played on the radio, people were willing to actually download it, play it at parties, etc. If a DJ played Friday on the radio or in a club I could guarantee they would get complaints.

Edited March 25, 20214 yr by Eric_Blob

 

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/n...e-again__14427/

 

"It's just the beginning it's not the end, things will never be the same again..."

 

Never a truer word was sung by Melanie C, who 21 years ago this week, scored her first Number 1 single away from the Spice Girls with Never Be The Same Again.

 

Released in March 2000, it's easy to forget that Mel's solo career kicked off before Spice Girls parted ways - their final album Forever followed in November that year. The song was Melanie's third spin-off from her Northern Star album, of which all four of its singles hit the Top 5. View Melanie C's Official UK Chart history in full here.

 

However, the recently-departed Geri was already long out the blocks with her solo material, so who can blame Melanie for getting a tad impatient? In fact, it was Never Be The Same Again that knocked Geri's third solo Number 1 Bag It Up off the top spot - making 2000 another year that the Spice Girls dominated the charts.

 

The track featured TLC's Lisa Left Eye Lopes; an odd pairing on paper that somehow worked brilliantly in practice and no doubt contributed to its global appeal (it topped the charts in a total of seven countries and reportedly sold over a million copies across Europe). Sadly, Lopes was tragically killed in a car accident in 2002.

 

In the UK, Never Be The Same Again entered straight in at Number 1 with first-week sales of 144,936, and to date has racked up combined sales of 477,000, inluding 5.5 million streams since 2014. Melanie had to fight her way to the top spot that week, facing competition from Moloko's The Time Is Now, which debuted at Number 2, while Santana's latin-pop smash Smooth was new at Number 3.

 

Just outside the Top 10, the Official Singles Chart from this week in 2000 featured new entries from Precious with Rewind, the girl group's first release after their Eurovision entry Say It Again, as well as Savage Garden's Crash & Burn, Jennifer Lopez's Feelin' So Good, and M2M's Don't Say You Love Me - the theme song for the first Pokemon movie.

 

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/o...-moment__18749/

 

"I wish I could freeze this space in time"... us too Martine, us too.

 

Cast yourselves back to this week in 1999, when EastEnders actress Martine McCutcheon did something rarely seen on the Official Chart - transition perfectly from soap star to pop star and nab a Number 1 with her debut single.

 

Perfect Moment was well, perfectly titled in that the song went straight in at the top of the Official Singles Chart, and it doesn't get much better than that when it comes to debut singles. In its first week, the song shifted an impressive 200,287 copies, knocking Mr Oizo's Flat Beat off Number 1. It spent two weeks at the summit before it was knocked off by another debut single, this time by little-known boy band Westlife - Swear It Again was the first of 14 chart-toppers for the group.

 

Perfect Moment's total UK chart sales to date stand at 638,000, including 1.4 million streams since 2014, earning it Platinum status. Last week, the song was downloaded 8 times and streamed just shy of 6,500 times in the UK.

Paradise skies continued for Martine on the charts: she went on to score a further four Top 10 singles, including 2000's Number 2-peaking I'm Over You reaching Number 2. In 2017, she made her music comeback with a new album Lost & Found, which debuted inside the Top 20. Look back at Martine's full Official UK Chart history here.

 

Elsewhere in the Official Singles Chart that week in 1999, girl group TLC were on the ascent with No Scrubs, climbing five places into the Top 10 at Number 8. Further down, it was an eclectic affair with new entries from Glamma Kid ft. Shola Ama, Cranberries landed a ninth hit with Promises, and there were new entries for Blackstreet ft. Janet Jackson, Meat Loaf, Ace Of Base and Alisha's Attic.

 

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/o...urvivor__18885/

 

They weren't going to diss you on the internet, but they were taking over the chart. This week in 2001, Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle – aka the third, final and definitive lineup of Destiny's Child – were celebrating their second chart-topper.

 

Survivor was Destiny's Child defiant recovery from a tough time. Two original band members had quit the year before, and a replacement member hadn't lived up to the band's high expectations, apparently after a problem with lost luggage caused friction between her and Queen B. They'd all but been written off, but a chart-topping theme song for the new Charlie's Angels movie, followed by this confident classic, let people know they were back in business.

 

Survivor sold 104,000 in its first week and was the band's last Number 1 together. Not that they're complaining, of course – their mama taught them better than that. It finished on 260,000 sales that year and 2001's 31st best-seller.

 

Survivor's total figure has grown considerably since then, currently at 832,000 UK chart sales, including 50.2 million streams since records began in 2014.

There were four other new entries in the Top 10 this week in 2001. Ronan Keating scored his fourth solo Top 10 with the breezy Lovin' Each Day, while O-Town, who shot to fame on MTV documentary Making The Band, were new at 3 with the suspiciously-titled Liquid Dreams. Missy Elliott's still-thrilling Get Ur Freak On completed the all-new Top 4.

 

Elsewhere, Madonna scored the third Top 10 from her Music album, with What It Feels Like For A Girl, at 7, while the previous weeks' Number 1, Emma Bunton's first post-Spice single What Took You So Long, found itself booted down to 8.

What a top 10 !!!

They have picked some great flashbacks recently. That 2000 flashback has some big highlights in it.

That 2001 chart may well be the only one where the song at #3 name-checks the artists at #1, #7 and #10 in the space of 3 lines.

 

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/o...like-me__18932/

 

Personnel changes in pop can be unpredictable. When a member leaves, some groups struggle to recover, but if there's one band that proved a change could do them good, it was Sugababes.

 

Back in 2001, things weren't looking great for the trio. Their debut single Overload - an infectious, sophisticated slice of pop - had been a huge success, but two subsequent singles failed to reach the same highs. To top it all off, member Siobhan Donaghy decided she'd had enough and wanted out (she's since denied rumours that she told her band mates she was going to the loo and never came back, though wouldn't that have been amazing?).

 

However, just a few months later, Heidi Range would join the group and help them on the path to their imperial phase.

 

Freak Like Me started out as a mashup by electronic-pop producer Richard X, who played Adina Howard's '90s R&B original over the top of Gary Numan's '80s classic Are Friends Electric?. Mashups had rarely been seen on the charts before, Sugababes' management loved what they heard and asked the group to record a new version. And the rest is history.

 

Freak Like Me gave Sugababes their first Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart, but it very nearly never happened. Sugababes scored first-week sales of 85,410 copies, but they had some serious competition: S Club Juniors - a spinoff of S Club 7 who were formed on TV series S Club Search - finished just over 1,000 copies behind with their debut single One Step Closer.

 

Freak Like Me was followed by five more Number 1s – Round Round (2002), Hole In The Head (2003), Push The Button (2005), Walk This Way (2007) and About You Now (2007). To date it's notched up 379,000 UK chart sales, including 7.7 million streams; and there's still plenty of love out there for it – last week the song was played 41,852 times in the UK.

Founding member Keisha Buchanan celebrated Freak Like Me's birthday this week:

 

Elsewhere in the Top 40 this week in 2002, Oasis' The Hindu Times slipped from the top spot to Number 4, and Idlewild's You Held The World In Your Arms became the Sottish rockers' highest charting single, new at Number 9.

 

The strangest entry in the Top 40 that week goes to Mad Donna, a mystery Madonna impersonator who released a cover of nursery rhyme Wheels On The Bus set to the tune of Madge's Ray Of Light. It managed to reach the dizzying heights of Number 17, which is pretty impressive, all things considered.

Shared this in the pop forum but thought I'd share here too:

 

Freak Like Me is an amazing song. But I'm surprised that it only gets 40,000 plays a week now, I thought it would be more. Lots of "retro" songs get 300,000 a week on Spotify alone.

I never realised how 'Freak Like Me' came so close to missing out. :o

 

Like with Madonna's 'Music' a couple of years earlier, that was also only 1,000 copies ahead but I just can't imagine either not having been number ones.

Maybe another year to go until Freak Like Me reaches Gold? The least it deserves! In 2019 Round Round was on lower sales than Freak Like Me, but I'm wondering whether Round Round will go Gold first?

 

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/o...rmalade__22806/

 

After All Saints' torch ballad Never Ever had finally reached Number 1 after an agonising nine-week climb, the quartet had fully established themselves as the UK's premier girl band. To secure their place at the top, they didn't take any chances with its follow-up, boldly opting for a double A-side release.

 

Braver still was that both releases were covers - of Red Hot Chili Peppers' rock anthem Under The Bridge and LaBelle's disco classic Lady Marmalade. On paper it read like career suicide, but the reality was very different; both were smartly re-worked with new lyrics and of-the-moment R&B pop production in-keeping with the group's coolly sophisticated aesthetic.

 

The response was mixed. The idea of a girl group meddling with the classics was always going to outrage certain critics, while Chili frontman Anthony Kiedis admitted he wasn't a fan of Saints' take on the song, which had stripped out the final verse and what he considered the tracks' most meaningful lyrics. "It was kind of funny, he said. "They looked so pretty and clean, it looked like they didn't know what they were singing about."

 

Despite that, the single went straight in at Number 1 on the Official Chart with impressive opening week sales of 107,000. Even more notable is that they charted ahead of Madonna, who was forced to settle for second place with the title track and psychedelic second single from her comeback album Ray Of Light.

 

As a CD single, Under The Bridge/Lady Marmalade sold 432,000 copies. In the digital era, where double A-sides no longer exist, Under The Bridge is just shy of 2 million UK streams, while Lady Marmalade is on 1.3 million plays.

The single ranks as All Saints' third biggest, behind fellow chart-toppers Never Ever (1.6m chart sales) and Pure Shores (1.2m).

 

Elsewhere in the Official Singles Chart Top 40 this week 23 years ago, British rockers Garbage claimed their second Top 10 single with Push It, Massive Attack's signature hit Teardrop was new at 10, and further down, there were new entries from The Bluetones, Aretha Franklin and Green Day.