56. LEANN RIMES (1,860,000)

 

 

16 HITS 1998-2007

 

BIGGEST HIT: HOW DO I LIVE

 

A country star since she was 14 her crossover into the mainstream internationally came with “How Do I Live” which, despite never climbing higher than No 7, sold over 700,000 copies and made No 6 on the Y/E charts for 1998, the first instance where a song finished higher on the YE listings than it did in the weekly charts. Her only chart topper came 3 years later when “Can’t Fight The Moonlight” leapt from the “Ugly Coyote” soundtrack to No 1.

 

Discography:

 

 

Personal highlight

 

55. DONNA SUMMER (1,861,000)

 

http://www.donnasummer.it/Resources/Donna89.jpg

 

25 HITS 1980-1999

 

BIGGEST HIT: THIS TIME I KNOW IT’S FOR REAL

 

The disco star sold more than this in the 70s alone but come the 80s she suffered the fate of many disco acts by seeing a downturn in popularity. Some ill advised remarks about the gay community in the early 80s sealed the deal and her career was only revived by hooking up with S/A/W in 1989 which gave her her first top 10 singles in a decade. With time she’s regained her crown of the disco age before her untimely death in 2012.

 

Discography

 

 

Personal highlight

 

54. BILLIE PIPER (1,875,000)

 

 

8 HITS 1998-2000

 

BIGGEST HIT: BECAUSE WE WANT TO

 

At 15 Billie was the youngest act ever to debut at No 1 when “Because We Want To” swept all opposition aside. It launched a pop career which only lasted three years but saw her grab a hat trick of chart toppers and 4 more top five hits. She quit music for marriage to Chris Evans and acting due to threats from fans of her then boyfriend Richie Nevill from Five, but with her final release faltering at No 25 the time was probably right.

 

Rita has left it too long. It may not be her fault but I doubt people even see her as a singer now, what with being a judge on The X Factor and generally appearing on TV for non-musical career reasons if that makes sense. Even I see her as a TV personality now.

 

She needs a huge pop smash to get the public back on board, but even then I think she'll struggle.

 

I think she'll be alright, she has been announced as a performer on Radio 1's Big Weekend so will have their support majorly for the new song.

 

Leann Rimes, a fantastic singer and ranks as one of my mum's favourite singers. She's had some great songs 'How Do I Live' is still breathtaking to this day and quite shocked to see that it never climbed higher than #7 as it was everywhere at the time. But still you can't deny that incredible vocal, shame that we don't hear from her anymore. Other great songs from her 'Can't Fight The Moonlight' (well deserved #1), 'I Need You', 'Written In The Stars' with Elton John and the criminally underrated 'Life Goes On'.

 

Donna Summer = Yeah another great alltime diva, but her best stuff was in the 1970's with so many classics 'Love To Love You Baby', 'I Feel Love', 'Love's Unkind', 'Last Dance', 'Heaven Knows', 'Hot Stuff', 'Bad Girls' & 'No More Tears' all classics.

 

She did have some great tunes in the 80's such as 'The Wanderer', 'Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)', 'She Works Hard For The Money' and let's not forget her SAW revival with the brilliant 'This Time I Know Its For Real' and the amazing 'I Don't Wanna Get Hurt'.

 

Billie Piper = Wow her music really brings back memories, I remember 'Because We Want To' topping the charts and becoming a talking point at school, and even owned her first album which had the brilliant follow up singles 'Girlfriend' & 'She Wants You' which are both incredibly dated and cheesy and 'Honey To The B' which was also great. Another great track on that album was 'I Dream' which was gonna be the 5th single, but didn't which was shame.

 

Her 2nd album wasn't as good, but did enjoy the first 2 singles 'Day And Night' & 'Something Deep Inside', which again both cheesy and dated, but in a good way, although didn't enjoy the title track 'Walk Of Life' very much, found it quite dull at the time. Even enjoyed her version of 'The Tide Is High' which was fun and ended up being given to Atomic Kitten a year later.

Billies version of The Tide Is High is better than AK.

I loved her back in the day 🙈 Pop was so huge back then !!! She may have even of had the first number 1 produced by stargate with Day and Night.

 

Leanne has a great voice but I only know two songs from her .

53. BARBRA STREISAND (1,881,000)

 

 

12 HITS 1980-1999

 

BIGGEST HIT: WOMAN IN LOVE

 

Truly proving that she is “Evergreen” Streisand is still a chart topper as she proved last year by scoring a 7th No 1 album marking her as runner up in terms of chart topping albums by a female solo act. Her singles success has been rather more muted not having graced the charts in 18 years now with her last top 10 hit back in 1997 with Celine Dion. Still she’s selling under the radar rather nicely.

 

Discography

 

 

Personal highlight

 

 

52. TONI BRAXTON (1,892,000)

 

 

11 HITS 1993-2010

 

BIGGEST HIT: UNBREAK MY HEART

 

Starting out with her sisters in the Braxtons, she went solo in 1993 and scored immediate success with “Breathe Again” which was only stopped by D:Ream. She went dangerously close again in 1996 with “Unbreak My Heart” which again went to No 2 this time denied first by Dunblane then by The Spice Girls and was her last brush with the top spot. Since 2000 she’s been more often in the courts thanks to lawsuits against her record companies and becoming bankrupt twice (though the first time was in 1996).

 

Discography

 

 

Discography

 

51. SHEENA EASTON (1,915,000)

 

 

15 HITS 1980-2000

 

BIGGEST HIT: 9 TO 5

 

Brought to fame via the TV show “The Big Time” Easton placed her first two singles in the top 10 simultaneously and got the bond theme all within her first 2 years as a chart star. For the remainder of the 80s and 90s Easton was a bigger star in the US then she was here even becoming just the third British female soloist to hit the top in the US, with 1989’s “The Lover In Me” giving her a final top 20 single in the UK.

 

Discography

 

 

Personal highlight

 

And here's a recap of the bottom half of the rundown

 

100. SAM FOX (1,073,000)

99. CIARA (1,102,800)

98. BARBARA DICKSON (1,106,000)

97. TIFFANY (1,112,000)

96. SINEAD O’CONNOR (1,128,000)

95. TRACEY ULLMAN (1,129,000)

94. ANNIE LENNOX (1,132,000)

93. KATY B (1,149,000)

92. SONIQUE (1,154,000)

91. DINA CARROLL (1,190,400)

 

90. RANDY CRAWFORD (1,224,000)

89. SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR (1,252,000)

88. ELAINE PAIGE (1,256,000)

87. DUFFY (1,264,000)

86. MARTINE MCCUTCHEON (1,274,000)

85. GINA G (1,325,000)

84. FERGIE (1,363,000)

83. BJORK (1,370,100)

82.KERI HILSON (1,388,000)

81. ARETHA FRANKLIN (1,405,000)

 

80.BRANDY (1,507,000)

79.LOUISE (1,515,000)

78. JENNIFER RUSH (1,517,000)

77. YAZZ (1,522,000)

76. DANNII MINOGUE (1,562,000)

75. NENEH CHERRY (1,594,000)

74. AVRIL LAVIGNE (1,598,000)

73. BONNIE TYLER (1,615,000)

72. SINITTA (1,617,000)

71. GWEN STEFANI (1,623,000)

 

70. IRENE CARA (1,629,000)

69. LANA DEL REY (1,642,000)

68. OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN (1,653,000)

67. SARAH BRIGHTMAN (1,675,000)

66. CYNDI LAUPER (1,697,000)

65. CHAKA KHAN (1,700,000)

64. MYA (1,731,000)

63. KIM APPLEBY (1,743,000)

62. NATALIE IMBRUGLIA (1,751,000)

61. CHRISTINA PERRI (1,752,000)

 

60. CARLY RAE JEPSEN (1,772,000)

59. KIRSTY MACCOLL (1,801,000)

58. WHIGFIELD (1,808,000)

57. RITA ORA (1,831,000)

56. LEANN RIMES (1,860,000)

55. DONNA SUMMER (1,861,000)

54. BILLIE PIPER (1,875,000)

53. BARBRA STREISAND (1,881,000)

52. TONI BRAXTON (1,892,000)

51. SHEENA EASTON (1,915,000)

 

Damn, never knew Streisand's chart history went all the way back to 1966! Always assumed she'd only started a chart career in the mid-70s.

Barbara Streisand = Great singer, but to be honest I've never been into her music, and only know a couple of her songs such as 'Woman In Love'', 'The Way We Were'.' 'No More Tears' & 'Tell Him', fantastic vocals and an amazing actress as well, definitely 'What's Up Doc' one of my fave movies.

 

Toni Braxton = 'Breathe Again' a truly sad and beautiful song, 'Unbreak My Heart' another brilliant tune, and plus the dance remix was awesome & 'He Wasn't Man Enough' is also a great piece of early 00's R&B , the last good song she ever did sadly and even have a soft spot for 'Spanish Guitar' in it's remixed form though. I remember reading somewhere that she had a massive fall out with Jay Z, coz he used the same Tupac sample for '03 Bonnie & Clyde' as she did with 'Me and My Boyfriend' a track on one of her albums and he released his song first and became a big hit and she was set to release her song, but the label said no, coz they couldn't release 2 songs with the same sample at the same time, she said that he stole her idea and her career never got back on track after that, she was basically done.

 

Sheena Easton = I've always liked her and enjoyed several of her hits, and it was such a shame that the British public turned their backs on her after 1981, because she had some great stuff during the 80's that failed here in the UK, but became big in America 'Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)', 'Strut' & Sugar Walls', plus 'The Lover In Me' thankfully put her back in the charts and deserved to be a much bigger success than it's #15 peak. Yeah she was a great and very underrated singer with a fantastic voice that can adapt to any genre of music. Still love 'Modern Girl' and '9 To 5, both cracking tunes.

50. ALISON MOYET (1,944,000)

 

http://www.100xr.com/artists/A/Alison_Moyet/Alison.Moyet.jpg

 

16 HITS 1984-1995

 

BIGGEST HIT: THAT OLE DEVIL CALLED LOVE

 

All six of Moyet’s top 10 singles occurred in the 84-87 period in the immediate aftermath of her Yazoo period. Her singles career was virtually brought to an end with the release of her “Greatest Hits” album in 1995 which is a shame for one of the greatest voices of the last 30 years.

 

 

49. LISA STANSFIELD (1,972,000)

 

 

19 HITS 1989-2001

 

BIGGEST HIT: ALL AROUND THE WORLD

 

Releasing singles since she was 16, Stansfield was 22 before her feature on Coldcut’s “People Hold On” brought her to fame. At the time she was a member of Blue Zone who took the decision to push Stansfield as a solo act with the band writing her songs, it worked perfectly and by the end of 1989 “All Around The World” topped the charts. For the rest of the 90s she became a chart regular scoring 7 more top 10 hits before petering out.

 

Discography

 

 

personal highlight

 

48. BELINDA CARLISLE (2,017,000)

 

http://a405.idata.over-blog.com/1/52/29/59/Photos_12/Belinda_Carlisle_envied_Madonna-s_body.jpg

 

23 HITS 1987-1999

 

BIGGEST HIT: HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH

 

Without a doubt the most successful solo Go-Go, she started her UK chart career with the No 1 “Heaven Is A Place On Earth”. 6 more top 10 singles followed in the next decade but Belinda then reunited with the Go-Go’s in the early 00s to mixed results and her first album in 10 years in 2007 failed to generate hits or sales and she’s been missing in action ever since.

 

Discography

 

 

Personal highlight

 

Alison Moyet = Great vocalist and enjoy many of her songs 'Is This Love' is my personal fave from her, along with 'That Ole Devil Called Love', 'Invisible', 'Love Letters' & 'Whispering Your Name', another artist whose fallen victim to lack of record label support as they didn't promote her 3rd album 'Hoodoo' very well or it's singles deeming them not commercial enough, and even her follow up album 'Essex' had to have several of it's tracks re-recorded including 'Whispering Your Name' which was originally an acoustic balled but remixed into a dance track for it's single release and became her final top 20 hit. I know her singles success ended after her Greatest Hits, but since moving to another label her albums still chart pretty well.

 

Lisa Stansfield = Another singer I've always liked and recently bought her 'Greatest Hits' album and she's had some fantastic singles 'All Around The World', 'Is This The Right Time', 'Live Together', 'So Natural', 'All Woman' & 'Little Bit Of Heaven', great songs and she did have a pretty strong run during the 90's, it's a shame her 2001 album 'Face Up' didn't do very well as it did have some decent songs and '8-3-1' was planned as the 2nd single, but got cancelled due to the underperformance of the lead single, it should have been the lead as it's definitely one of her best tracks.

 

Belinda Carlisle = 'Heaven's A Place On Earth' is an outright classic and it's gladly still fondly remembered today, but her other songs are also great such as 'I Get Weak' which is just brilliant and her vocals sound amazing on it, 'Circle In The Sand', 'Leave A Light On', 'Summer Rain', '(We Want) The Same Thing', 'Do You Feel Like I Feel' & 'In Too Deep' all classics. Even her stuff with the Go-Go's are amazing and why they didn't make it big in the UK is a crime against nature.

Belinda Carlisle is so underrated. So many great singles. :wub:

47. GERI HALLIWELL (2,060,000)

 

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/08/article-1218844-06BDE178000005DC-567_224x367.jpg

 

9 HITS 1999-2005

 

BIGGEST HIT: IT’S RAINING MEN

 

Everything about Halliwell’s career has been a media circus, from the shock departure from the Spice Girls in 1998, the promo for “Look At Me” in which “ginger Spice” is buried, or emerging from between huge Styrofoam legs at the BRITS she’s always been one for pop iconography. Add to that 4 consecutive No 1 hits and it’s easy to see why she’s on our list, but for all that she’s always been seen as someone who wants fame perhaps more than she has the talent for gaining it and when the press became hostile the chart positions slipped..

 

Discography

 

 

Personal highlight

 

 

46. MEL C (2,081,000)

 

 

13 HITS 1999- 2013

 

BIGGEST SELLER: WHEN YOU’RE GONE

 

Just pipping Halliwell to the crown of biggest solo spice career is Mel C who only overtook ginger spice in the final year of this survey (2013). Whilst she’s never topper the sales of her first solo adventure with Bryan Adams she did bag herself a couple of No 1’s in 2000 before going off the commercial boil shortly after as she sought to make less pop sounding singles. She has however lasted a lot longer than Halliwell as a singles act thanks in part to her track with Matt Cardle in 2013.

 

Discography

 

 

Personal highlight

 

 

45. SHANIA TWAIN (2,091,000)

 

http://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/267/2016/10/04150705/shaniatwain300.jpg

 

13 HITS 1998-2005

 

BIGGEST HIT: THAT DON’T IMPRESS ME MUCH

 

27 by the time she was signed and 33 by the time she got her first UK hit Twain certainly came to chart fame late in life for a female solo act, but when “Come On Over” took off it certainly did generating sales of 3 million in the UK alone. It spawned 6 top 20 singles and made her a major act, and whilst follow up album “Up” did give her another 5 hit singles she then took a decade off to star in her own reality TV show and being up her children.

 

Discography

 

 

Personal highlight