4.IT’S NOT RIGHT BUT IT’S OK- Whitney Houston (161,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 33 weeks in 1999

 

After 9 years of doing films, getting married and becoming a mother, a new Whitney album was a big deal and it was launched with this Darkchild penned creation. Coming with a much played Thunderpuss remix Whitney was BACK with a single which would have been back with a chart topper in 33 weeks of the year! This is also the highest weekly sale for a non top 2 track on this survey!

 

3. LIKE A VIRGIN- Madonna (111,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 34 weeks in 1984

 

Not a song that Madonna loved instantly nor for that matter a song that Nile Rodgers loved either, but after he couldn’t get the hook out of his head he was convinced and persuaded Madonna to go with it. It was selling by the truckload by December 1984 largely on controversy (we were innocent back then) but that would never harm Madonna’s career, a lesson she learnt early.

 

So we're finishing tomorrow with the top 2 unluckiest tracks in UK chart history according to our criteria!

wow Whitney, 161K for a #3!!!!

Technically When You Believe was the lead single from My Love Is Your Love. UK also skipped Heartbreak Hotel which hit #2 in the US in January. Thankfully that was released in the UK later too.

 

Impressive nonetheless.

'Something Kinda Ooooh' is one of my favourite Girls Aloud singles! That would've been a fabulous addition to their #1 tally.

 

Crazy sales for Whitney :o

By the time ‘Home’ was released Westlife had ended that imperial guaranteed number one with each release era!

^but this thread kinda shows they weren't, and they would have been #1 if picked a better week, which is weird, cos their label was the best at picking empty weeks and having non-number #1s :D

I didn't have a lot of love for Whitney before the My Love Is Your Love album. Those are indeed crazy sales for a No.3.

People love INRBIO, don't they. Still hear it played lots.

 

Never seen that Madonna performance before. She's like an excited kid at a school disco just free-styling

Looks like there were only two other weeks in 2007 when Westlife wouldn't have made at least the Top 2 with their sales - the week before (when Bleeding Love and Rule The World debuted), and Christmas week.

 

I can work out one of the two songs to come from what we've already had, not sure about the other.

Whitney deserved more number 1’s !!

 

LAV held off by band aid and last christmas!!

161,000 for a #3 is still insane. That would have made an excellent #1 for Whitney :wub:

160,000 is insane, what a misfire in release weeks! Britney being number 1 at the time doesn't surprise me, but I am quite surprised Blur also sold over that :o

so how much did Blur-Tender sell? I see Britney did 230K but cannot find how much Tender did

176k

if Blur or Whitney had released a couple weeks earlier they would have been easier #1s then

Blondie and Lenny Kravitz hit #1 with much lower sales in early Feb 99

Thought the Whitney song was going to be at the top of the list, in one way at least its the unluckiest if it claims the highest sale for a non-#2 hit! Blur's Tender could have been #1 in the significant majority of other weeks that year as well.

 

My Love Is Your Love also stalled at #2 the same year behind another mega seller (ATB's 9PM). Unlucky for Whitney all round.

I bought the Blur single that week, on the day it was released (Monday 22 February 1999) https://www.discogs.com/Blur-Tender/release/421431

 

At the same time I also bought 'Erase / Rewind' by The Cardigans https://www.discogs.com/The-Cardigans-Erase.../release/416510

 

Both were the enhanced CD versions, which contained both the audio and videos of previous hits 'Song 2' (Blur) and 'My Favourite Game' (The Cardigans). The Cardigans single entered the charts at number 7. As I didn't own a computer until 2003 I didn't get to watch the videos on both singles for another 4 years!

So here's No 2 on the list which you might have guessed!

2. WE ALL STAND TOGETHER- Paul McCartney & The Frog Chorus (127,000) #3

 

 

No 1 in 36 weeks in 1984

 

Ah 1984 it certainly gave us the sales, even stripping out the Christmas week Madonna and Paul McCartney were shifting singles at a level where they would easily be easily be No 1 in most other weeks of the year. McCartney’s composition with the Frog Chorus was the filmic version of “Rupert And The Frog Song” which played in cinema’s that Christmas.