love House Arrrest, best dance song ever :o

Yeh House Arrest was class, the TOTP performance is so funny looking back!

So the dude from Moloko was involved in 'House Arrest'? :o

 

Blimey! You really do learn something new every day.

Early 1988 was insane for house music suddenly being massive in the charts - Bomb the Bass, Beatmasters, Coldcut all having their first top 10 hits as well as Krush and Jack N Chill

Edited June 3, 20214 yr by Smint

47. SWEETEST THING- U2 (111,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 18 weeks in 1998

 

Not bad for an old B-side eh? First recorded in 1987 as an apology to his wife for having to work on her Birthday, “Sweetest Thing” was the B-side to “Where The Streets Have No Name” but was dusted down and re-recorded to promote their “best Of” album eleven years later. It was famously part of the “oldest” top 5 ever when looking at the acts involved ages, Cher (52), George Michael (35), Culture Club (average 38) and Alanis Morrissette (24), U2 were on average 37 at this point. It was also the first time that the top 5 were all new entries. Incidentally that is Bono’s wife in the promo!

 

46. SONGBIRD- Oasis (47,986) #3

 

 

No 1 in 19 weeks in 2003

 

The least successful track from “Heathen Chemistry” also opened with the lowest sale of the four singles released from it but it was actually quite unlucky. It lost a midweek No 1 position as it was overtaken by first t.A.T.u then Justin Timberlake but 2003 being the year it was this is still an impressive 6 day tally. Not bad for a song written for Nicole Appleton who appears in the promo.

 

45. TONIGHT/ MISS YOU NIGHTS- Westlife (49,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 19 weeks in 2003

 

Yeah I know they need a few more chart toppers don’t they? For a group who had more than their fair share of chart luck perhaps getting a spot on this list is chart karma, it was up against a song with a commercial to promote it (Room 5) and another with charity backing it (Gareth Gates) so it’s perhaps not a surprise that it became only their third single to fail to make No 1.

 

'Sweetest Thing' was actually the song that introduced me to U2. It really is sweet, lives up to its name. Interesting that its first week sale is even higher than 'Beautiful Day' and probably most of their other #1s.

Sweetest Thing is still a great tune - re-recording a little-known B-side was the perfect way for U2 to redefine their sound after a few 'experimental' albums (and promote their Best Of). It still seems crazy that all those songs in that Top 5 were released in the same week and not moved a week either side when there was less competition.

 

Tonight was actually Westlife's third song to miss #1 (they had a #5 the previous year). The first (What Makes A Man) also has the highest weekly sale for a song which didn't reach #1 since 1999 (and possibly ever, now that Last Christmas has got there?) so they could have had even more #1s...

Omg I was not expecting to see Me! here!! :cheeseblock:

 

Whew, a classic.

44. PASSION FRUIT- Drake (51,435)

 

 

No 1 in 19 weeks in 2017

 

Drake’s 9th top 10 single arrived just a week after his album “More Life” was released. It features backing vocals by Zoe Kravitz (Lenny’s daughter) and was crammed out of the top 2 by the chart force that is Ed Sheeran!

 

43. NEW SONG- Howard Jones (98,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 19 weeks in 1983

 

More synth pop for you next and the debut Howard Jones single “New Song”, it introduced us all to Jed Hoile who would do his improvised choreography as Jones played his hits. This was the first of 6 top 10 singles for Jones through 83-85 and was, like so many of the songs on this rundown, running against a million seller, in this case “Karma Chameleon”.

 

42. THUNDER IN THE MOUNTAINS- Toyah (106,000) #4

 

 

No 1 in 19 weeks in 1981

 

Back in the 80s Godley & Crème were probably one of the biggest names in the pop promo world, they worked their magic on this Toyah track which became their second biggest seller and joint highest peaker. G & C were actually in the top 10 at the time with “Under Your Thumb” perhaps the only time a video producers were in the top 10 as an act themselves whilst making a promo for another act in the top 10.

 

New Song is a great pop tune and Thunder In The Mountains is pretty good as well.

The same Toyah that charted this week?

The same Toyah that charted this week?

Indeed so

It would have been nice for Oasis to have another #1 to their name but i'm not a massive fan of Songbird within their discography tbh, Let There Be Love was the more painful midweek #1 to lose. Sweetest Thing is lovely though, definitely one of my favourites from U2.

 

Love Passionfruit! :wub:

48. HOUSE ARREST- Krush (59,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 18 weeks in 1988

 

Long before Moloko Mark Brydon was in this house outfit who in early 1988 scored a top 3 single with this track. It contained a sample of “White Lines” which helped it become one of the first house top 10 singles ever ahead of the second summer of love.

 

 

 

OH EM GEE. I never expected to see House Arrest in this list because it was a January hit.

 

This was the first dance song I ever loved. I recently found the double 12" pack in Belfast which absolutely surprised me given how old it is. I recently made a Dance Explosion compilation (as fans of the Retro forum will know) and this featured.

41. MAYBE THAT’S WHAT IT TAKES- Alex Parks (49,794) #3

 

 

No 1 in 20 weeks in 2003

 

Series 1 of “Fame Academy” produced Lemar, David Sneddon, Sinead Quinn, and Ainsley Henderson who all scored top five singles, and whilst Series 2 was less successful leading to the show being cancelled it still gave us winner Alex Parks. Her first single was also co-penned by the star and powered to the No 3 spot on sales better than Sneddon’s second week at No 1 earlier in 2003, being near Christmas though meant it had stiffer competition, had it been issued a fortnight earlier it would have made No 1.

 

40. HAPPIER- Ed Sheeran (52,738) #6

 

 

No 1 in 20 weeks in 2017

 

More Sheeran here from THAT week. This is co-penned by Benny Blanco and Ryan Tedder and eventually was made a single in some countries in 2018 with a promo featuring the puppet he used in the “Sing” video.