65. NELLIE THE ELEPHANT- Toy Dolls (78,000) #4

 

 

No 1 in 15 weeks in 1984

 

From Indie favourites to chart stars, the Toy Dolls take on the 1956 original found favour in the festive market helping to bound top 5 in a chart which contained Band Aid, Wham!, Madonna, and Paul McCartney. They quickly faded back into cult obscurity but then as novelty records go this isn’t bad.

 

64. WHAT CAN I DO?- The Corrs (103,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 15 weeks in 1998

 

A March 98 release this stalled at No 53 but those lovely Corrs then discovered the joys of getting the remixers in and after Todd Terry worked the magic on “Dreams” turning it into a top 10 single they then got Tin Tin Out to remix this song and whilst the album “Talk On Corners” continued to shift in huge quantities this was obviously deemed to be sufficiently different to generate those sales.

 

63. APOLOGIZE- Timbaland presents Onerepublic (33,242) #3

 

 

No 1 in 16 weeks in 2007

 

Though OneRepublic date back to 1996 it was at the tutelage of Timbaland between 2002-04 that Tedder perfected his songwriting and production skills and led ultimately to the release of “Apologize” in late 07. By that time Timbaland had become the in producer of the era helming Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and Madonna to success as well as launching himself as a major act. This song was written by Tedder and a flop first time around in 2005 without that famous producer but in 2007 it became a major hit and in this particular week would have outsold two of Timbaland’s three weeks at No 1 that year had they been in direct competition

 

I guess we’ll see a few Xmas week hits towards the top of the chart

I much prefer the original version of What Can I Do

 

When I think of Vengaboys I think of Boom x4, although my favorite is Up And Down.

 

Red Blooded Woman is easily my favorite single from the BL album, although Toxic is undeniably more recognized today.

 

That was a great song by Xtina Milian, although I do prefer AM to PM as far as her #3 hits go.

 

 

I guess we’ll see a few Xmas week hits towards the top of the chart

Christmas weeks in the pre-digital era don't count here, so I think that Toy Dolls sale is from 1984's post-Christmas chart (when at #5), although a lot of those sales would have been before Christmas.

 

Considering Ryan Tedder's stature as a songwriter and how huge Counting Stars was, it's a little surprising in retrospect that they needed Timbaland's name power for OneRepublic to get their breakthrough hit.

Really liked the punkyness of the Toy Dolls record and it’s soo TOTP 1984 with all the balloons and all, can barely see the singers!

What Can I Do? & Apologize both great songs, both versions.

Edited May 29, 20214 yr by PAJ

the coors so huge back then !!!

The Corrs were so huge in 1998-2000

62. DIVE- Ed Sheeran (50,820) #8

 

 

No 1 in 16 weeks in 2017

 

Co-penned with Benny Blanco and Julia Michaels, this also has backing vocals from Jessie Ware. It was of course part of the fabled “Ed Sheeran” chart week when he occupied 16 of the top 20 places and caused an OCC rule change.

 

61. I LOVE IT- Kanye West Featuring Lil Pump (52,976) #3

 

 

No 1 in 16 weeks in 2018

 

Missing out on No 1 by under 7k this marked West’s return to the top 3 for the first time in three years. Featuring sexually explicit lyrics the song was premiered at the 2018 Pornhub awards (who knew) and features sniplets of a live show by comedienne Adele Givens.

 

60. WALKS LIKE RIHANNA- The Wanted (76,332) #4

 

 

No 1 in 16 weeks in 2013

 

Although well past their chart topping days somewhat incredibly this could have topped the charts in 16 weeks of the year- a surprise certainly to me. Released 6 months before the delayed third (and to date final) album, the video was a parody of several boyband promo’s of the past and proved that they could still sell at a chart topping rate, the end was, however, nigh for them.

 

^ such a surprise !!

So it appears that most of the tracks from Divide would have reached #1 or at least #2 on a normal week, had they not had the misfortune to be charting at the same time as... the other tracks from Divide :lol:

 

Joking aside, the album had so many potential singles it could have been a greatest hits. It may never be allowed to happen again, but it seems somehow right that every track was able to chart on that occasion because of just how huge that era was.

And actually people were buying the tracks on iTunes too, so they didn't chart on streams alone

Sheeran week! :nono:

 

I'm really surprised that Walks Like Rihanna was a potential chart topper, didn't realise its sales were that good.

"Walk like Rihanna" was diabolical- it was so desperate to be massive, it lacked the bands earlier edge and sure although initial sales were good did nothing for their reputation. And the title a Maroon 5 rip off!

 

"Dive" is a really nice song - there are worse Ed Sheeran ones to come *shudder* but this one I would have liked as a proper single and pleased Jessie Ware got a top 10 albeit uncredited.

'Walks Like Rihanna' would have been a rather embarrassing #1... they had a few good songs (including both of their actual #1s) but their last few singles were pretty awful.

 

'I Love It' is a bit of a fever dream that I always forget was a thing that actually happened. The music video was iconic at least.

 

Also today I learned that Jessie Ware did backing vox on 'Dive'.

Walks Like Rihanna, now that’s a surprise.