23RD MARCH

 

 

It was heading to No 1 way before Friday’s Comic Relief event but more copies were sold of “The Stonk” on Saturday than any other record in any individual day so far in 1991, it sold 93,000 copies in the end, a new record for the year. With the event now over and promotion for the song much less prominent we’ll see if it can hold for a second week. It deposes The Clash 1-2 (45,000) as they confirm the re-release of “Rock The Casbah” will follow next month.

 

 

 

Rod Stewart’s 20th solo hit is up next as it rockets 20-3 (35,000) and has all the hallmarks of a future chart topper depending on Hale & Pace maintain their…erm…pace. Written for Rene Shuman’s 1986 eponymous debut album. It’s been brushed down by Rod who’s got Trevor Horn in to update the sound and what do you know it becomes Stewart’s biggest hit in 5 years, the melody incidentally is an adaptation of “Loch Lomond” with a bagpipe thrown in for good measure.

 

 

 

Son of former Tremeloes front man Les Hawkes, Chesney Hawkes is the latest teenager to be plucked from obscurity to the pages of “Smash Hits” courtesy of his lead part in the film “Buddy’s Song” with Roger Daltrey. The first single lifted from the soundtrack is “The One And Only” which is penned by 80 popstar Nik Kershaw, the film has met with moderate success but the single can’t be stopped by the look of things as it accelerates 18-5 (30,000) and may yet pose a threat to the top.

 

 

 

That will depend on how the record that debuts at No 7 performs. One of the longest titles to become a top 40 hit the new Pet Shop Boys single “Where The Streets Have No Name (Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You)/ How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously” is on the one side a medley of those two hits that works very well, and on the reverse a third track to be taken from the “Behaviour” album. Last single “Being Boring” only made No 20 breaking a run of top 10 singles dating back to 1986 but they seem back on track with this single selling 28,000 copies in its first 6 days. It’s prompted a response from Bono who stated “What have we done to deserve this” but it’s unclear exactly whether that was tongue in cheek or not. With regards to “seriously” it is apparently about a female popstar in 1989 so get your guessing hats on!

 

 

 

Roxette power 8-4 (35,000) which means no moving again for Stevie B at No 6 (29,000) though he has increased sales in each of the last three weeks!, Quartz Featuring Dina Carroll continue to nudge north 9-8 (21,000) whilst The Source and Candi Staton drop 5-9 (17,000) and Xpansions deflate 7-10 (16,000).

 

1- THE STONK- Hale & Pace (93,000)

2- SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO- The Clash (45,000)

3- RHYTHM OF MY HEART- Rod Stewart (35,000)

4- JOYRIDE- Roxette (35,000)

5- THE ONE AND ONLY- Chesney Hawkes (30,000)

6- BECAUSE I LOVE YOU- Stevie B (29,000)

7- WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME/ HOW CAN YOU EXPECT...- Pet Shop Boys (28,000)

8- IT’S TOO LATE- Quartz Ft Dina Carroll (21,000)

9- YOU GOT THE LOVE- The Source Ft Candi Staton (17,000)

10- MOVE YOUR BODY- Xpansions (16,000)

 

Joyride great song!

93,000 is a huge sale for 1991!

wiki claims the inspiration behind the PSB track was Wendy James from Transmission Vamp :o

I adore that PSB track :wub: Possibly one of the campest things ever put to record.

Aw, with “Unfinished Sympathy” and “Love Rears Its Ugly Head” both retreating from their peak positions of 13 and 12 respectively this is a very unhappy update indeed. That and “The Stonk” going to #1 and Rod Stewart charging into the Top 3. It's times like these when you realise that the chart has always had horrific injustices and that the glorious moments where this standard is punctured by a truly great record at #1 are vanishingly small. Hey ho.

30TH MARCH

 

 

Hale & Pace started off very brightly but as the week progressed “The Stonk” lost impetus and even TOTP couldn’t give a sufficient bolster so it sinks 1-2 (47,000) but it doesn’t make room for Rod Stewart who holds at No 3 (38,000) with only a minimal sales increase. Same too for The Pet Shop Boys who can only climb 7-4 (35,000) and so instead it falls to Chesney Hawkes whose climb 5-1 (51,000) heralds the birth of a new pop sensation. In making No 1 it marks the first father/son combo to have separate chart toppers on the UK charts (honourable mention to Zak Starkey’s session musicianship on The Crowd), he’s also the first teenager to top the charts since Sonia in 1989 and the first male teenager since Glenn Medeiros a year earlier, however he’s the youngest British male soloist ever. The album and film that feature the song have not been the success they were expected to be and so a new video for the single will be released this week in an attempt to distance the song from the concept- an interesting move.

 

 

 

The last time Simple Minds had a new album out they previewed it with the chart topper “Belfast Child”, this time around lead single “Let There Be Love” has had a more stilted beginning debuting at No 13 last week and now moving to No 6 (27,000). In all fairness the single was only released on CD and 12” last week and now gets another CD, cassingle and 7” release, enough to give it the lift it needed. Album “Real Life” is out in a few weeks.

 

 

 

Written by lead singer Tim Booth as a tribute to Doris Lessing and Patti Smith, James released the single “Sit Down” back in 1989 when it could only make No 77, but the group scored three top 40 singles in 1990 causing the record label to give “Sit Down” another shot at the big time in a remixed shortened version to the original. It has paid off spectacularly as it debuts at No 7 (26,000), though it should be noted that the original was released on Rough Trade before they released the band to sign with Mercury so it has a major label to push it now.

 

 

 

Back with an incredible 19th studio album, the Bee Gees have been missing from the top 10 for over three years with their last appearance at No 1 with “You Win Again”. They now score their 16th top 10 single of a 24 yr long career in “Secret Love” a first single from new album “High Civilisation”. Of course they’ve been in the top 10 in the interim as writers most recently with Jimmy Somerville’s cover of “To Love Somebody” at the end of last year but it’s nice to have them back in person with the new single moving 12-10 (18,000).

 

 

Elsewhere Roxette fall back 4-5 (30,000) and The Clash tumble 2-9 (21,000), Quartz do however hold at No 8 (21,000). This week’s top 10 is the first to not feature any US acts since way back in March 1988 by way of trivia.

 

 

1- THE ONE AND ONLY- Chesney Hawkes (51,000)

2- THE STONK- Hale & Pace (47,000)

3- RHYTHM OF MY HEART- Rod Stewart (38,000)

4- WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME/ HOW CAN YOU...- Pet Shop Boys. (35,000)

5- JOYRIDE- Roxette (30,000)

6- LET THERE BE LOVE- Simple Minds (27,000)

7- SIT DOWN- James (26,000)

8- IT’S TOO LATE- Quartz Ft Dina Carroll (21,000)

9- SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO- The Clash (21,000)

10- SECRET LOVE- Bee Gees (18,000)

 

 

yay at Chesney Hawkes going to #1 even if sales are not spectacular

out of the newies, I really liked Sit Down, an indie classic, good the song got a 2nd chance

the Simple Minds and Bee Gees tracks were a bit boring, too AOR

Stevie B gone already! Good! I always remember that being a huge hit so I'm delighted to see it vanish so soon.

 

That Chesney song is one of the better pop songs from this era so it was a deserved #1

I really like that Simple Minds song - clearly I’m in a minority?

A fair bit of garbage in that top 10. This is fab though:

 

8- IT’S TOO LATE- Quartz Ft Dina Carroll (21,000)

 

Also, I really thought 'Sit Down' was a lot earlier than this. :o

06TH APRIL

 

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OU1bMHpEytA/hqdefault.jpg

 

Easter arrives and it produces no change at the top with Chesney Hawkes “The One And Only” making it 2 weeks at the summit, it has a new challenger though and that is James’ “Sit Down” which motors 7-2 (48,000), Chesney hasn’t really lifted off but that’s in part to a day’s lost sales from Good Friday (expect a repeat of that next week) but his new "Buddy's Song" free promo is now winning new fans.

 

 

http://img.youtube.com/vi/j1BNcSBApOU/0.jpg

 

There’s only one new song in the top 10 and that’s from Snap! proving that anything the likes of Technotronic or Black Box can do so can they. That means producing a “Megamix” and making a hit of songs that only been hits over the course of the previous year! It rises 13-10 (19,000) to give the outfit the perfect start of 5 top 10 tenners from 5 releases. They are in the studio over the summer drumming up something new up for us.

 

 

Rod Stewart holds at No 3 (31,000) and Roxette rebound 5-4 (29,000) though you’ll note they continue to lose sales in the process and indeed Stewart’s album debuts at No 2 to assist with that. Better news for the Gibb Brothers as they rise 10-5 (27,000) ahead of the falling Pet Shop Boys 4-6 (26,000) matching the peak of both U2 and Boystown Gang (their version at least) who were responsible for the originals of their amalgamation, and Simple Minds dip 6-7 (24,000) whilst Hale & Pace drop dramatically 2-9 (20,000). Quartz Featuring Dina Carroll spend a third week at No 8 (24,000) but have their best week sales wise.

 

So with the first quarter of the year done time to see who’s been shifting those copies January-March:

 

1- DO THE BARTMAN- The Simpsons 453,000

2- 3AM ETERNAL- The KLF Featuring The Children Of The Revolution 331,000

3- (I WANNA GIVE YOU) DEVOTION- Nomad Featuring MC Mikee

Freedom 239,000

4- SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO- The Clash 230,000

5- THE STONK- Hale & Pace 227,000

6- YOU GOT THE LOVE- The Source Featuring Candi Staton 203,000

7- SADNESS PART ONE- Enigma 187,000

8- CRAZY- Seal 187,000

9- WIGGLE IT- 2 In A Room 180,000

10- CRAZY FOR YOU (REMIX)- Madonna 172,000

 

You’ll see there is no room for chart toppers from Iron Maiden, Queen, or Chesney Hawkes though the latter is already on 160,000 and should make it next week.

 

1- THE ONE AND ONLY- Chesney Hawkes (53,000)

2- SIT DOWN- James (48,000)

3- RHYTHM OF MY HEART- Rod Stewart (31,000)

4- JOYRIDE- Roxette (29,000)

5- SECRET LOVE- Bee Gees (27,000)

6- WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME/ HOW CAN YOU EXPECT...- Pet Shop Boys (26,000)

7- LET THERE BE LOVE- Simple Minds (24,000)

8- IT’S TOO LATE- Quartz Ft Dina Carroll (24,000)

9- THE STONK- Hale & Pace (20,000)

10- SNAP! MEGAMIX- Snap! (19,000)

 

and the classic lingering at the bottom of this week's chart is Alison Limerick's “Where Love Lives” (#39).. we'd have to wait another FIVE years for it to rightfully become a Top 10 hit (it only climbs to #27 in 1991).

 

It kicks off the retro chart too: https://www.mixcloud.com/Graftoi/radio-1-uk...tion-and-clips/

oh James sold pretty well and they were rather close to #1

great summaries and tidbits of stuff going on at the time :cheer:

 

PS as my 1991 chart rundown didn't feature The Stonk, a quick comment. I couldn't bring myself to buy this heat of crap not even for charity (which I usually did buy), quite possibly the worst number one ever, possible exception of Br Blobby and some more recent monstrosities.... :heehee:

The Stonk is truly awful even for a charity record!

looking just outside of that top 10

Banderas - This is Your Life is a great song

 

13TH APRIL

 

 

Six new songs in the top 10 this week means we’ve got much to discuss but not right at the top, that remains a stalemate with Chesney Hawkes holding off James again. The two tracks are both in decline but only gently, Hawkes down to 48,000 off 9% and James to 44,000 down 8%, technically James therefore reduced the gap but not by enough or quickly enough to prevent new challenges arising.

 

 

 

 

None more so than from The Waterboys whose re-issued “The Whole Of The Moon” moves menacingly 11-3 (31,000) this week, it was originally a No 26 hit in 1985 but has become a fan favourite and something of a signature song over the intervening years. It previews a new greatest hits compilation due in a few weeks.

 

 

 

Debuting straight into the charts at No 4 is the new Madonna single “Rescue Me” which is lifted from the “Immaculate Collection” album, it’s already created chart history in the US by debuting at No 15, the highest ever debut by a female soloist over there but only ultimately reached No 9. Here it becomes her 25th top 10 single (or 26th depending on how you see the remix of “Crazy For You” which only leaves the top 40 this week) and her 14th to debut inside the top 10- a record by any act. It also reunites her with Shep Pettibone as writer and producer and only the astonishing sales of the parent album could work against this becoming her 8th chart topper. Regardless, with this week’s sale Madonna moves past the 1.1 million total sales of singles in the 90s and simultaneously she sails past both New Kids On The Block and former leaders Righteous Brothers into the decade’s biggest selling singles act.

 

 

 

Growing in critical appreciation and fanbase since their first album back in 1988, The Wonder Stuff are ready with their third album “Never Loved Elvis” and first single to be cut from it “The Size Of A Cow”. Nominated although not winners of a BRIT award they’ve certainly entered the big time now as the single debuts at No 6 (23,000) to easily become the Stourbridge based band’s biggest hit.

 

 

 

N-Joi’s “Anthem” was first issued last year making only No 45 but is making greater waves this time around as it climbs 19-8 (22,000). The track is actually an amalgamation of vocal lines lifted from Gwen Guthrie’s “Peanut Butter” and Darlene Davis “I Found Love” with a splash of Soul II Soul, and put to a rave backing, it’s another example of dance tracks doing greater business in 1991 than ever before. Incidentally you may note that the woman who fronts the outfit is called Saffron who also appears in the Chesney Hawkes video for the current No 1.

 

 

 

 

For those who thought that “Do The Bartman” was a one off well they were wrong, moving 22-9 (20,000) this week is “Deep Deep Trouble” the second single by the cartoon act The Simpsons. It’s co-written by DJ Jazzy Jeff (one half of rap outfit with The Fresh Prince) and the album has responded well and moves back into the top ten 12-9 in unison.

 

 

 

A No 4 hit in her native Australia last year Kylie’s little sister finally makes it over here with a remixed version of “Love & Kisses”, the remix coming courtesy of Dancin Danny D (of D Mob). Dannii was actually famous in Australia before Kylie thanks to her performances in “Young Talent Time” which led to her pop career and a role in “Home And Away” which enabled her to reach the UK audience. The single climbs 15-10 (18,000) and enables the Minogue sisters to be the first to have separate solo top ten singles in chart history.

 

 

 

So with that big clearout what has stuck around? Rod Stewart falls 3-5 (25,000), Roxette dip 4-7 (22,000) but do arrive at No 2 on the album charts behind Eurythmics.

 

 

1- THE ONE AND ONLY- Chesney Hawkes (48,000)

2- SIT DOWN- James (44,000)

3- THE WHOLE OF THE MOON- The Waterboys (31,000)

4- RESCUE ME- Madonna (26,000)

5- RHYTHM OF MY HEART- Rod Stewart (25,000)

6- THE SIZE OF A COW- Wonder Stuff (23,000)

7- JOYRIDE- Roxette (22,000)

8- ANTHEM- N-Joi (22,000)

9- DEEP DEEP TROUBLE- The Simpsons (20,000)

10- LOVE & KISSES- Dannii Minogue (18,000)

 

Anthem :wub: :wub:

 

I adore Dannii but 'Love + Kisses' is a total cringefest.

Rescue Me :wub: One of Madonna's most underrated singles, absolutely love it.

 

Waterboys, N-Joi and Wonderstuff also all great new additions to that top 10.