Gabrielle's biggest songs on the Official Chart

10 March 2021 | By Rob Copsey

 

Gabrielle’s soulful hits landed her a string of UK Top 40 singles – 16, to be exact – and a pair of million-selling albums across the ‘90s and 2000s, making her one of the top British female solo artists of the past 30 years.

 

The Hackney-born singer-songwriter continues to be a successful albums artist, with her latest record Do It Again on course to become her sixth Top 10 collection on this week’s Official Albums Chart. The record includes covers of songs she performed on The Masked Singer – a show that introduced her to a new generation of fans – plus two new original tracks.

 

Below, we reveal Gabrielle’s Top 10 biggest songs on the Official Chart.

 

10. Should I Stay (2000)

Official Chart peak: 13

The fourth single from Gabrielle’s Rise album is arguably her most underrated gem - an emotional trip-hop ballad co-written with electronic musician Jon Sharp about learning to let go.

 

9. Don’t Need The Sun To Shine (To Make Me Smile) (2001)

Official Chart peak: 9

Recorded as a new song for her 2001 greatest hits Dreams Can Come True, the soothing soul-blues guitar of Don’t Need The Sun To Shine is a fitting homage to the sound that first made her famous.

 

8. Walk On By (1997)

Official Chart peak: 7

Gabrielle’s soulful-if-straightforward cover of Dionne Warwick’s 1963 hit Walk On By, taken from her self-titled debut album, was the perfect match for her light-yet-husky voice. Despite being one of her ten Top 10 singles, the track wasn’t included on her 2001 greatest hits.

 

7. When A Woman (2000)

Official Chart peak: 6

This rare uptempo moment – co-written and produced with pop legends Richard Stannard and Julian Gallagher (Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue, One Direction) – sounds straight out of the Motown songbook, and earned Gabrielle her eighth Top 10.

 

6. Sunshine (1999)

Official Chart peak: 9

The lead single for her Rise album, the wistful, trip-hop-tinged sound of Sunshine inspired popular remixes by garage musician Wookie and club legend Frankie Knuckles, helping it land in the Top 10.

 

5. Give Me A Little More Time (1996)

Official Chart peak: 5

UK chart sales: 422,000

With its vintage brassy production (courtesy of The Boilerhouse Boys), it’d be easy to mistake Give Me A Little More Time as a cover. In truth, Gabrielle wrote this trailer to her second album to address critics who thought she would be a one-hit wonder.

 

4. If You Ever (with East 17) (1996)

Official Chart peak: 2

UK chart sales: 626,000

 

Collaborations in pop weren’t that common in the 1990s, making this duet even more unexpected. Regardless, the merging of East 17’s boyband riffs with Gabrielle’s soulful vocal was a resounding success and reached Number 2, just missing out on the top spot to Spice Girls’ Say You’ll Be There.

 

3. Out Of Reach (2001)

Official Chart peak: 4

UK chart sales: 645,000

Written for rom com Bridget Jones’s Diary, Out Of Reach featured classic Gabrielle lyrics of disappointment and longing that felt immediately relatable. Its success – debuting at Number 4 - led to its inclusion on a reissue of her Rise album.

 

2. Rise (2000)

Official Chart peak: 1

UK chart sales: 647,000

Rise’s message of defiance, combined with a sample of Bob Dylan’s Knocking On Heaven’s Door, gave it an instant-classic feel, launching it to Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart, marking a return to the summit for the first time in seven years, since…

 

1. Dreams (1993)

Official Chart peak: 1

UK chart sales: 1 million

 

Gabrielle’s debut single Dreams was inspired by her unlikely rise to success, having been told she had neither the looks or the voice to be a successful recording artist. Originally demoed using a sample of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car that was eventually rejected by the US singer, Dreams was re-recorded and debuted at Number 2 – the biggest chart entry for a debut single by a female artist ever. A week later it hit Number 1, and stayed there for three weeks. 28 years later, the song has reached 1 million chart sales, split between 643,000 pure sales and 40.4 million streams since 2014.

https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/g...l-chart__32635/

So pleased that the OCC did this!!

 

There is an error , 'Walk On By' was not on her self titled debut album. It was on her self titled second album.

 

Album sales would be interesting to me and i agree that 'Should I Stay' is underrated.

 

Any Gabrielle fans can support her in the AF Idol 2.0 competition by visiting the Artist forum or by clicking on my signature. She isnt doing too well :(

That's a really strong top ten, although there's not really much Gabrielle I'd listen to outside of those (aside from 'Going Nowhere' which is pretty good). 'Should I Stay' is definitely an under-rated gem, I'm glad it's in the top ten :wub:

looking at her certificates x albums BPI's page

 

Find Your way - 100,000

Gabrielle - 300,000

Rise - 1,200,000

Dreams can come true - 1,200,000

Stay the same - 100,000

Now and Always - 60,000

I'd no idea there was such a long gap between her hits in the early 90's and early '00's! It gives hope that some other forgotten British singers could still get hits in years to come (Emile Sande, Joss Stone, Jessie J, etc.).

Love Gabrielle B-)

 

Thought she was so brave to go on the Masked Singer and did really well.

 

Out of Reach is my favourite but the whole top 10 is great.

I'd no idea there was such a long gap between her hits in the early 90's and early '00's! It gives hope that some other forgotten British singers could still get hits in years to come (Emile Sande, Joss Stone, Jessie J, etc.).

I wouldn't hold your breath at any of those three getting another big hit if I'm honest!

LOVE:

 

Sunshine

When A Woman

Don't Need the Sun to Shine (To Make Me Smile)

Give Me a Little More Time

 

and the beautiful 'Ten Years Time', even though it doesn't feature on this list because it was unfortunately not a great success.

 

:wub:

When A Woman always felt much bigger than it was. It was hammered on the radio throughout Summer 2000!

Her 2004 album as well as her 2018 album are very underrated. I'd suggest everyone that likes her stuff to check them out.

Im surprised her debut only sold 100K, Dreams was huge and there were 3 further hits, smaller but should have kept the album selling...

Great to see some updated sales! Wonder what her Shine and Play to win albums are on now.

I've compiled all the radio peaks for Gabrielle:

 

01 Dreams (2 weeks)

02 Going Nowhere

08 I Wish

14 Because of You

01 Give Me a Little More Time (5 weeks)

15 Forget About the World

15 If You Really Cared

01 If You Ever (with East 17) (3 weeks)

04 Walk On By

91 People May Come

07 Sunshine

01 Rise (3 weeks)

02 When a Woman

26 Should I Stay

05 Out of Reach

03 Don't Need the Sun to Shine (to Make Me Smile)

25 Stay the Same

23 Ten Years Time

31 Why

24 Every Little Teardrop

23 Show Me

24 Shine

81 Under My Skin

32 Every Step

26 Stop Right Now

^ Never seen that before Liam, thanks for posting. I had no idea of her early success on radio.

 

 

 

 

Gabrielle fans click on my sig and support her in AF IDOL 2.0 :)

Edited March 10, 20214 yr by vibe

'Every Little Teardrop' was a good song, I forgot all about that one!

^ Never seen that before Liam, thanks for posting. I had no idea of her early success on radio.

No problem! I was interested in seeing how she performed on radio when T Boy said 'When a Woman' was a big hit over summer 2000, which it was indeed - 9 weeks in the Top 10 (4-3-2-2-2-7-5-6-8) and 19th most played of 2000 (only 144th on sales though). 'Rise' was third most played and 13th on sales.

'Every Little Teardrop' was a good song, I forgot all about that one!

'Forget About The World' was ironically the one I forgot about, that was a tune!

No problem! I was interested in seeing how she performed on radio when T Boy said 'When a Woman' was a big hit over summer 2000, which it was indeed - 9 weeks in the Top 10 (4-3-2-2-2-7-5-6-8) and 19th most played of 2000 (only 144th on sales though). 'Rise' was third most played and 13th on sales.

 

remember the singles after ‘rise’ kept the album selling amazingly well.

Great to see that 4 of her singles are platinum and probably in most down to actual sales.

When a Woman definitely felt like a big song at the time, even though the singles chart run doesn't reflect that, I agree. It definitely translated more into album purchases!

 

Here's a week by week comparison of the album chart positions, singles chart positions and radio airplay chart positions - up to and including the week When a Woman exited the airplay Top 10.

 

16 13 14 09 07 05 08 08 07 09 12 18 20... [Rise (album chart run)]

00 00 00 06 10 14 22 35 41 51 72 00 00... [When a Woman (single chart run)]

31 15 12 04 03 02 02 02 07 05 06 08 17... [When a Woman (airplay chart run)]

 

 

Rise was such a massive album era. It does look a bit curious that her two 90s albums didn't attract similar sales/positions. Looking back, it seems unusual for artist to only become a truly massive force in the album chart 7 years into their career! It was such a great era though. I haven't actually heard the album, I really should check it out, but I enjoyed every single off it at the time. That era is ultimately what made me buy her Dreams Come True Greatest Hits album. :heart: