Candy feels a lot like his last hurrah even if he's carried on putting music out since. His only solo top 10 since was the underrated Go Gentle but by that point "lead single off the new Robbie album" equalled #10 rather than almost guaranteed #1. I think it was Rudebox that probably killed his imperial phase.

2005/2006 was where he peaked beyond belief , The Close Encounter tour at that time nearly killed him ( ended up going to rehab directly afterwards which indicates what exactly he was doing to keep going during that tour ) & then releasing Rudebox as he did & the s**t he had to put up with at the time . I think it took him a long time to recover & given every year makes a difference age wise he was never going to come back as big as he was during that period . All that said I am thrilled he was brave enough to release Rudebox, it's become one of my favourite albums . Robbie still likes to get that No 1 album but what do they really mean to someone like him who has already done it all & has the track record to prove it.

This was the Top 40 back in 2016 (sales-only):

 

1 ANGELS 4 1997 1,200,000

2 CANDY 1 2012 707,707

3 ROCK DJ 1 2000 680,000

4 SHE'S THE ONE 1 1999 503,000

5 MILLENNIUM 1 1998 497,000

6 ETERNITY 1 2001

7 SOMETHIN' STUPID (WITH NICOLE KIDMAN) 1 2001 385,000

8 LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU 3 1998

9 FEEL 4 2002

10 NO REGRETS 4 1998

11 YOU KNOW ME 6 2009

12 BODIES 2 2009

13 FREEDOM 2 1996 255,000

14 KIDS (WITH KYLIE MINOGUE) 2 2000 240,000

15 SHAME (WITH GARY BARLOW) 2 2010 229,000

16 SUPREME 4 2000

17 STRONG 4 1999

18 TRIPPING 2 2005

19 OLD BEFORE I DIE 2 1997

20 GOIN' CRAZY (WITH DIZZEE RASCAL) 5 2013 155,000

21 GO GENTLE 10 2013

22 COME UNDONE 4 2003

23 RADIO 1 2004 100,000

24 SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL 3 2003

25 LET LOVE BE YOUR ENERGY 10 2001

26 RUDEBOX 4 2006

27 LAZY DAYS 8 1997

28 ADVERTISING SPACE 8 2005

29 LOVELIGHT 8 2006

30 MR BOJANGLES n/a 2002

31 MY CULTURE (WITH 1 GIANT LEAP & MAXI JAZZ) 9 2002

32 MISUNDERSTOOD 8 2004

33 SOUTH OF THE BORDER 14 1997

34 MORNING SUN 45 2010

35 SHE'S MADONNA (WITH PET SHOP BOYS) 16 2007

36 SEXED UP 10 2003

37 MACK THE KNIFE n/a 2001

38 DIFFERENT 64 2012

39 I WAN'NA BE LIKE YOU (FT OLLY MURS) 78 2013

40 SIN SIN SIN 22 2006

 

 

I thought Tripping would have been higher , the XXV version is fab :)

 

On first look of his albums best sellers list, I was surprised to see 'In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits' still behind 'Swings Both Ways' given there was a 17k gap between the two in 2016 which seems like an easy gap for a compilation to close in that time frame. I guess the 2004's 'Greatest Hits' has been allocated all of Robbie's streams instead.

Love my life is one of my own faves from Robbie so good to see it so high.

Love my Life is a great tune and should have been a top 10- they changed streaming ratios not long after so it could have been a top 10 if that had come into play earlier… but still a great tune and it did feel like a massive hit to me. He was on TV a lot around then (NYE etc) which gave it exposure.

 

Lovelight, Come undone, Feel, Rudebox, Tripping, No Regrets… I could go one- all such great tunes. What an artist

 

I live in hope he can still get at least one more Top 40 at some stage!

I don't get the hate for Radio, it's my favourite single by him, love the vitriol!

You know me is a close 2nd, beatuiful song that flows so well.

I think i just got bored of his big hits due to their ubiquity.

Other random tracks I love are; I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen, A Man for all seasons & Teenage Millionaire

His cover of Kooks led me to buy my 1st Bowie albim - Hunky Dory :)

 

Always found it weird that Sexed up was initially a b-side then a single years later