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The most shocking UK chart results 31 members have voted

  1. 1. Choose! (it may take you a while to read through all of this xx)

    • Spice Girls - Stop peaking at #2 / ending their run of #1s
      12
    • England United - On Top of the World peaking at #9 / more success expected for the official World Cup song?
      1
    • Geri - Look at Me peaking at #2 / her debut single not reaching #1
      5
    • Geri - Schizophonic peaking at #4 / maybe higher expectations for the first solo Spice album?
      0
    • Mel B - Word Up at peaking #13 / the first Spice Girls related song to miss the Top 10
      4
    • Melanie C - Northern Star album entering at #10 / did you expect more instantaneous success?
      1
    • Emma - What I Am peaking at #2, prevented by Geri - Lift Me Up / did you want or prefer Emma to be #1 instead?
      3
    • Various Artists - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll peaking at #19 / technically could have given the Spice Girls a fourth consecutive Christmas #1
      1
    • Victoria - Out of Your Mind peaking at #2 / despite being midweek #1 all week
      7
    • Mel B - Hot peaking at #28 / the first non-Top 20 outcome of any Spice related release
      2
    • Spice Girls - Forever peaking at #2 / defeated by Westlife
      6
    • Melanie C - If That Were Me peaking at #18 / ending a run of 5 consecutive Top 10 singles
      0
    • Geri - Scream If You Wanna Go Faster single peaking at #8 / her first ever release to miss the Top 5
      1
    • Victoria - Not Such an Innocent Girl peaking at #6 / not even coming close to Kylie at #1, despite a hyped chart battle
      2
    • Geri - Calling single peaking at #7 / Geri expected far better - did you?
      0
    • Emma - We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight peaking at #20 / the lowest peaking solo Spice single as of 2001
      1
    • Victoria - A Mind of Its Own peaking at #6 / it was hoped that it would revive the album campaign, but it didn't
      0
    • Melanie C - Here It Comes Again peaking at #7 / her comeback after more than 2 years away
      0
    • Melanie C - On the Horizon peaking at #14 / despite great radio support and generally being a fan favourite at that time
      1
    • Emma - Maybe peaking at #6 / missing the Top 5 despite being #4 in the mids - a huge fan favourite
      3
    • Melanie C - Melt + Yeh Yeh Yeh peaking at #27 / the first Spice related single to miss the Top 20, Melanie was dropped not longer after
      0
    • Victoria - This Groove/Let Your Head Go peaking at #3 / the pressure was on yet again for her to #1, it didn't achieve that
      1
    • Geri - Desire peaking at #22 / her first release to miss the Top 10
      2
    • Geri - Passion peaking at #41 / the first Spice related album to miss the Top 40
      4
    • Mel B - Today peaking at #41 / the first Spice related single to miss the Top 40
      1
    • Mel B - L.A. State of Mind entering at #453 / ...!
      8
    • Emma - Life in Mono album peaking at #65 / her previous two went Top 10, she was taking part in Strictly
      4
    • Emma - All I Need to Know peaking at #60 / a new low for the Spice Girls in the singles chart
      3
    • Melanie C - I Want Candy peaking at #24 / her first album lead single to miss the Top 10
      0
    • Melanie C - This Time album peaking at #57 / her lowest ever UK chart peak with an album
      0
    • Melanie C - Carolyna peaking at #49 / her first to miss the Top 40, a fan favourite from the This Time album
      0
    • Melanie C - This Time single peaking at #94 / barely Top 100 despite being released during a Spice Girls reunion
      0
    • Spice Girls - Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) peaking at #11 / the first Spice Girls group release to miss the Top 2, let alone the Top 10
      13
    • Melanie C - Think About It peaking at #95 / her comeback single only scraping the Top 100
      2
    • Melanie C - The Sea peaking at #45 / Melanie was hopeful for far better, and it's a big fan favourite album
      2
    • Melanie C - Weak missing the Top 200 / the first Spice related single to not chart
      0
    • Melanie C/Emma - I Know Him So Well peaking at #153 / despite quite a bit of promo!
      0
    • Melanie C/Matt Cardle - Loving You peaking at #14 / while a major upturn in success, it was initially midweek Top 10
      0
    • Mel B - For Once in My Life missing the Top 200 / her first single in 8 years
      2
    • Melanie C - Anymore missing the Top 200 / her first lead single not to chart
      1
    • Geri - Angels in Chains missing the Top 200 / tribute single for George Michael
      2
    • Emma - My Happy Place peaking at #11 / it had been midweek Top 10 all week
      3

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(Contractual) friendship never ends. :teresa:

OMG I almost spit out my coffee reading this

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As far as the UK charts go...I usually found the doom and gloom around their placings to be odd. I live in the US. I guess I just don't get it. In 2001, Britney Spears released the Britney album. The singles off that got to #27 (I'm a Slave 4 U) and #86 (Overprotected) in the US charts. The further singles off the album didn't make the top 100 at all. I flat-out don't remember if there were many articles written about this at the time...but I can tell you from being a teen during that era, there wasn't a feeling that her career was over. (I'll add...it's important to note the album itself hit #1...and perhaps that's all that mattered)

 

Anyway. I say all of that because I remember when the Scream If You Wanna Go Faster single landed at #8 in the UK. My immediate thought was just...oh, cool. Geri got another top ten single. But the fans in the forums were acting like this was a total disaster. I didn't understand at all. Why was that so bad? Wouldn't there have been, like, nine Spice-related singles (and a whopping four albums and a re-issue of Northern Star) released in the year before the Scream single? Were people just expecting the Spices to be at #1 for half the year?

 

It's basically the British press being completely insane and anti-Spice at the time. Any slight mistake or going to #2 instead of #1 (as in with Stop), it was all over the press that they were over :blink:

 

That Chanel 4 documentary last year was really insightful on this. Basically when Simon Fuller left, the mostly-male dominated press turned on them because they now had a female press agent and they didnt like it. Plus, they were digusting to female pop acts, specially british ones. It's disgusting really...

Headlines missing the top 10 is definitely, for me personally, one of the more shocking chart moments. I think it was obvious it was not going to follow the success of their other hits, but it being the big comeback AND the Children in Need single surely made it seem like it would go top 5 at least. Especially with Downtown going top 5 the previous year.

 

Stop and Forever both missing the #1 was mostly very disappointing, but their competition at the same was so strong that I would not call it a shock.

 

SIYWGF only getting to #8 was pretty shocking as well, especially after her run of four #1's and It's Raining Men doing so well. She seemed to be on top of the pop world and was always in the media around the time, so that is pretty strange. It's a good song as well.

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Outside of the Spice Girls, during the 90s and 00s charts, I'd say there was an attitude that going Top 5 was the expectation of where a single would peak if it was truly a hit. Top 10 was somewhat okay but in some circumstances considered quite disappointing, and outside of the Top 10 usually ranged from a meh reaction to it being regarded as an outright flop.

 

I think this general attitude was heightened when it came to the Spice Girls.

 

Geri had achieved this run of positions with singles and albums, from Wannabe to the album Scream If You Wanna Go Faster (I've put album positions in brackets) - 1-1-[1]-1-1-1-[1]-1-2-1-2-[4]-1-1-1-1-[5] (+ the England United single went to #9, but that's more of a footnote).

 

Every Spice Girls or Geri Halliwell single had either reached #1 or #2. We know that the #2 peaks of Stop and Look at Me weren't exactly celebrated, the response was pretty much "oh they missed #1, oops". I think this is why Scream If You Wanna Go Faster single reaching #8 felt like an underperformance at best, and a disaster at worst. Definitely not a position to be happy with. For many other artists it would have been absolutely fine. I'm sure EMI would have been pretty satisfied if a Louise post-album single reached #8. But Geri? It was below the very high standards she had consistently set for herself. It's unfortunate, but I think that was the culture of the time.

 

I don't think the UK chart really has that sort of pressure or expectations attached to it anymore, because it's pretty hard for any artist to maintain a consecutive string of #1s, Top 5s or Top 10s these days. Even Ed Sheeran has the occasional miss, usually with collaborations, but no one really bats an eyelid.

I don't think you can compare the US charts to the UK charts at the time - US charts were heavily reliant on airplay and the physical format had all but died a slow death in the early 00s when those Britney singles were released. So if you didn't get airplay that crossed over to multiple station formats, you didn't get high peaking singles. The UK charts were always based on sales until they decided to include streaming - add that there was a certain culture in the UK that if you didn't go top ten you were done entirely. Top five was fine. But the goal was always for pop acts, in order to be considered big, to go top three if not number one. Add that Spice Girls got a lot of pressure due to their successful run of number one singles.

Mel B charting at #453 in the album chart was a shock, I think most expected there was enough fans to see the album at least gain a Top 200 placement if not Top 100.

Spice Girls missing the Top 10 with Headlines, the single was handled badly and not their best but Top 10 felt guaranteed on name alone.

"Stop" missing #1, back than it was shocking.

 

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