I remember How Wonderful You Are from the time, like T Boy I was also a 13 year old who found it to be very dull. :kink: I was bemused that it was even as high as #2 (the fact it was so requested and loved by Radio 2's audience is something I didn't realise at the time). I preferred Robbie/Nicole being #1, although I didn't particularly like that song either. I did help it out though, because I bought the CD single as a gift for a friend!

 

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder on the Dancefloor was the best song in the Christmas Top 5 imo. *.* https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singl.../20011223/7501/ A #2 peaking song of course, but I don't think I could claim it to be one of the unluckiest #2s. I think it really deserved #1, it felt inescapable at the time and it's stood the test of time, so I wish it had managed to outdo Gotta Get Thru This for one week at least.

Also, while Spice Girls - Stop is certainly not one of the unluckiest #2s in terms of closeness in sales between it and the #1 song... from a stats point of view, it ended a streak of #1s for them (they had 6 #1s prior to it, and then they went on to have 3 in a row after it), so that's a shame. 10 #1s in a row would have been an amazing achievement. With the passing of time, Stop has ended up becoming one of their most definitive hits, and it's arguably more known and memorable these days than quite a few of their #1s! They were unlucky in a sense though, because for some reason the release of Stop was delayed by one week. Had they stuck with the original release date, there's a slight chance they might have made it to #1 instead of Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On (Celine sold 112k in that week at #1, Spice Girls sold 115k to be #2 a week later... but that's with the assumption they'd have sold the same amount a week earlier).

 

Westlife also had #2 single between a long run of #1s. Their #2 single What Makes a Man ended a streak of 7 #1s, and then they had 3 #1s after that - so that would have been 11 #1s in a row! As mentioned by Liam, that single sold an impressive 230,747 in its first week. Only two of their #1 singles achieved better sales than that in a week. 231,000 for I Have a Dream (I wonder if that figure is rounded up or down? Maybe What Makes a Man sold more than it?) and 292,319 for Uptown Girl.

As for the songs in the poll, a case can be argued for all of them of course, but Madonna peaking at #2 twice with different releases of Crazy for You, 6 years apart... that hurts! :cry: Side note: It's weird to think that songs which weren't even particularly old were re-issued and became big hits again. It has reminded me of Peter Andre - Mysterious Girl, which was a case of third time lucky... #53 in 1995, #2 in 1996 [10 consecutive weeks in the Top 5 - in most weeks it was 3 Lions and Killing Me Softly that stood in its way] and finally #1 in 2004!

In the pre-download days it wasn't that unusual for a song to be a hit twice within a fairly short period. The big difference between then and now is that, in the interim period, the song would have been unavailable to buy on its own. If you didn't want to buy the album (assuming it was on one), you couldn't buy the song at all.

anything by Kylie... she has had a zillion number 2 hits and only 7 number 1s...

In the pre-download days it wasn't that unusual for a song to be a hit twice within a fairly short period. The big difference between then and now is that, in the interim period, the song would have been unavailable to buy on its own. If you didn't want to buy the album (assuming it was on one), you couldn't buy the song at all.

 

This didn't completely stop happening in the digital era - see DJ Fresh's 'Gold Dust' and Years & Years' 'Desire'. (Of course lots of songs have had multiple chart runs in the digital era for various reasons but those 2 come to mind as having been given a full single push twice within a couple of years and both times having a fairly substantial chart run from it).

This didn't completely stop happening in the digital era - see DJ Fresh's 'Gold Dust' and Years & Years' 'Desire'. (Of course lots of songs have had multiple chart runs in the digital era for various reasons but those 2 come to mind as having been given a full single push twice within a couple of years and both times having a fairly substantial chart run from it).

I'm sure we will always get record companies trying to repromote a modest hit after an act has had a major success.

By FAR the unluckiest EVER was Victoria Beckham's!!! It basically is a no.1 though, as without PRESS MANIPULATION it would have been no.1. Its sales were INSANE and up their with Spice no.1s, too!

anything by Kylie... she has had a zillion number 2 hits and only 7 number 1s...

 

IIRC a lot of her Number 2 hits were very close shaves as well.

I think the Buzzjack collective needs to get editing Gordon's Wiki page :lol:

 

 

By FAR the unluckiest EVER was Victoria Beckham's!!! It basically is a no.1 though, as without PRESS MANIPULATION it would have been no.1. Its sales were INSANE and up their with Spice no.1s, too!

 

Why does this post read like a tweet from Trump :mellow:

 

From memory 'Gold Dust' charted in two different versions, a remix outpeaked the original a few years later.

 

A big reason for several 1980s songs getting new leases of life in the 1990s was because they were on CD for the first time, often coinciding with a Greatest Hits album release - as people binned their vinyl collection and bought CD players they'd be purchasing their favourite songs all over again, similar to when DVDs overtook videos in the 2000s. A TV premiere or video release of a film would also bring back a movie hit to the charts, I think that's the reason It Must Have Been Love by Roxette went top 10 again in 1993.

Why does this post read like a tweet from Trump :mellow:

To be fair, Victoria was #1 all week and only overtaken on Saturday, the last day of the chart week back then.

The first thought that came into my head was Moves like Jagger as that was HUGE! But then I saw Love the way you lie and thought damn now I can't choose!

No love for Frank Chacksfield yet? It did spent 8 weeks at #2 - a record for a single that never reached #1

By FAR the unluckiest EVER was Victoria Beckham's!!! It basically is a no.1 though, as without PRESS MANIPULATION it would have been no.1. Its sales were INSANE and up their with Spice no.1s, too!

 

It's true that 'Out Of Your Mind' took massive sales and could easily have made #1 in a different week so it was unlucky in that regard, but 'Groovejet' outsold it by 20,000 copies so it was well beaten in the end.

The Victoria Beckham vs Sophie Ellis-Bextor battle is an interesting one considering that Victoria was #1 in the midweeks all week, and then got overtaken on the final day, ending up a significant 21,707 behind.

 

It seems the scheduling of Out of Your Mind was done in order to avoid a battle with bandmate Melanie C (I Turn to You was out a week earlier) and Madonna (Music was released a week later)... the launch single off Madonna's new album would have been considered very formidable competition. It seems they must have completely underestimated Groovejet, if they thought that was the easier week to release in.

 

"Victoria Beckham beats Madonna to #1" would certainly have been a huge way to launch her career! Instead she was written off for "only" making it to #2.

 

19/08/2000 #1 Melanie C - I Turn to You - Almost 122,000

26/08/2000 #1 Spiller - Groovejet - 202,591 | #2 True Steppers - Out of Your Mind - 180,884

02/09/2000 #1 Madonna - Music - 114,925

 

Out of Your Mind is the 5th best selling solo Spice single. Interestingly the top seller also isn't a #1, that is Bryan Adams/Melanie C - When You're Gone which reached #3. 2nd, 3rd and 4th are: Geri Halliwell - It's Raining Men, Melanie C - Never Be the Same Again and Melanie C - I Turn to You, all #1 hits.

Actually quite a few Spice ones were unlucky

 

- Stop released same week as monster Run DMC hit would have been #1 if released the week before

- Look at me only one CD release not a 2CD and was only a few hundred sales away from Boyzone with their 2CD release so likely would have made it with a 2CD release.

- What I am lost out to Geri's Life me up in a 'chart battle' if released the week before she would have got her own #1.

- Out of your mind was #1 all throughout the week by a big lead then mysteriously SEB overtook at the last min. Again a 1CD release a 2CD would probs have secured her it.

What is the biggest selling single week of sales for #2? (Even those that went to #1 before or afterwards?) Is it The Climb on 450,000?

- Look at me only one CD release not a 2CD and was only a few hundred sales away from Boyzone with their 2CD release so likely would have made it with a 2CD release.

It's been 22 years and I'm still not quite over this tbh :cry: :kink: Geri's CD price in week 1 was £3.99, while Boyzone were £1.99. Presumably Geri would have breezed to #1 with a 2 CD set at £1.99, or even £2.99.

- Out of your mind was #1 all throughout the week by a big lead then mysteriously SEB overtook at the last min. Again a 1CD release a 2CD would probs have secured her it.

 

I guess a lot of people out clubbing on the Friday went and bought it on the Saturday.

 

Also I remember I bought it on the Saturday, even though I had it already on Now 46, because the chart battle was so publicised that I wanted to contribute with support for my favourite.

Yikes! You can see why without the power of hindsight they thought it would be best to avoid going up against a new Madonna release but the fact that it would have definitively beaten 'Music' to the top must have had them kicking themselves the week after.

 

'When You're Gone' is probably my favourite solo Spice hit actually, Mel C and Bryan Adams work really well together on that track.

IIRC a lot of her Number 2 hits were very close shaves as well.

 

I think the only time she came particularly close was one week with 'The Locomotion'.

I think the only time she came particularly close was one week with 'The Locomotion'.

 

I'm pretty sure 'Got To Be Certain' came very close one week as well.