Really been enjoying the older episodes shown over Xmas during 70s night

Are you still doing these Gezza? (No pressure, just checking!)

Yes will update tomorrow

Brilliant thanks :D

12TH AUGUST

 

 

The predicted boyband battle didn’t quite happen with Take That easing to a second week at the top (86,000) thanks in part to the release of a second CD, that’s their 17th week in total as they pass Bryan Adams as the act with the most weeks at No 1 in the decade.

 

 

 

Outhere Brothers bravely cling to No 2 (47,000) managing to push the new Boyzone single to enter at No 3. “So Good” is an uptempo number breaking the mold of their previous hits, giving them all a songwriting credit, and dislodging Take That from the top in Ireland at least. It’s their third top 3 single and seems to suggest that they are now officially the second biggest boyband in the land and heir’s to the Take That crown.

 

 

 

Former Madness frontman Suggs is now out on his own and covering The Beatles “I’m Only Sleeping” along with new composition “Off On Holiday”. The Beatles track dates back to 1966 appearing on the “Revolver” album and it’s a brave choice to start your career (solo at least) with a Lennon/ McCartney composition. The single is produced by 80s popstars Sly & Robbie and enters at No 7 (31,000).

 

 

 

TLC first emerged in 1992 when their cover of “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” peaked at No 13 but it remained their biggest hit until “Waterfalls” that is, it ascends 13-9 (25,000) and is the current US chart topper. Thematically dealing with drugs and HIV/Aids it is rather a sobering tale but clearly it’s struck a chord with the public.

 

 

 

Remixed by Patrick Pins and now back in the top 10 for the second time in 3 years, Felix’s “Don’t You Want Me” debuts at No 10 (22,000) four places lower than the original peaked.

 

 

Diana King falls 3-5 (35,000) while Corona hold steady at No 6 (33,000) and Supergrass trip 5-8 (29,000).

 

1- NEVER FORGET- Take That (86,000)

2- BOOM BOOM BOOM- Outhere Brothers (47,000)

3- SO GOOD- Boyzone (43,000)

4- KISS FROM A ROSE/ I’M ALIVE- Seal (37,000)

5- SHY GUY- Diana King (35,000)

6- TRY ME OUT- Corona (33,000)

7- I’M ONLY SLEEPING/ OFF ON HOLIDAY- Suggs (31,000)

8- ALRIGHT/ TIME- Supergrass (29,000)

9- WATERFALLS- T.L.C (25,000)

10- DON’T YOU WANT ME (REMIX)- Felix (22,000)

 

Waterfalls! :wub:

 

So Good is also……decent.

19TH AUGUST

 

 

Take That are in trouble at the top of the charts, “Nobody Else” reverses 4-6 and though the single “Never Forget” collects its third week at the top sales are off 37% week on week to a mere 54,000 a new low for the year- it seems as though the summer slump has truly set in.

 

 

 

They were almost caught at the death by The Original, a US trio, who first released “I Luv U Baby” back in January and made No 31. It has been a consistent hit on the dancefloor ever since which obviously convinced the record company that a remix was all that was required, step forward Dancin’ Divaz who’s work now debuts at No 2 (53,000).

 

 

 

Talking about re-issues of old dance tracks 1995’s plethora of examples extends now to JX who reached No 13 in April 1994 with “Son Of A Gun” and is a bigger hit now at No 6 (30,000). JX is actually DJ Jake Williams and this is his second single (or third if you consider this a different song) but by far his biggest now, the lyrics come from a lift from Ecstasy, Passion and Pain's "Touch And Go".

 

 

Boyzone hold at No 3 (39,000) though sales are down and congratulations go to TLC, No 1 in the US they rise 9-4 (37,000) here pushing Seal 4-5 (33,000)- incidentally they also hold Seal off the US No 1 spot. In an age of increasing difficulty for records climbing the charts it seems it is still possible.

 

Corona fall 6-7 (27,000), Diana King perishes 5-8 (24,000) and Suggs slips 7-9 (23,000) but the biggest fall goes to former No 1 “Boom Boom Boom” which collapses 2-10 (23,000)- all eyes must now focus on whether they can make it three out of three.

 

Of course the real story in the charts and the news is that the great chart battle of 1995 has commenced with singles by Oasis and Blur going head to head with a media frenzy not seen in many a year and both groups publicly attacking each other in the press. This could get very messy indeed and when the dust settles next week one of them will very likely be No 1- expect a wild week!

 

 

1- NEVER FORGET- Take That (54,000)

2- I LUV U BABY- The Original (53,000)

3- SO GOOD- Boyzone (39,000)

4- WATERFALLS- TLC (37,000)

5- KISS FROM A ROSE/ I’M ALIVE- Seal (33,000)

6- SON OF A GUN- JX (30,000)

7- TRY ME OUT- Corona (27,000)

8- SHY GUY- Diana King (24,000)

9- I’M ONLY SLEEPING/ OFF ON HOLIDAY- Suggs (23,000)

10- BOOM BOOM BOOM- Outhere Brothers (23,000)

 

26TH AUGUST

 

 

 

Will this week go down in music history? Probably, the week that Britpop broke out of the pages of NME and the music press and seeped into the pubic conscience in a way that the charts rarely do these days- hell even the national news was following the chart battle between Oasis and Blur! August 14th had been known as “Manic Monday” as soon as the release schedules were confirmed about a month ago which led to some frantic alterations for some artists (Michael Jackson for example) but when Blur moved their release date to coincide with a new Oasis single it all went a little crazy.

 

With daily updates on sales lapped up by the tabloids and insults flying between the two camps coupled with debates in pubs up and down the land such attention on the charts usually only centres around the Christmas No 1 only but sales last week were up by 41% to 1.7 million (and a best yet % of the market going to CD singles at 63%) meaning that the battle drove some punters to buy other singles whilst they were deciding between Blur and Oasis.

 

In the end there could be just one winner and it was “Country House” by blur that prevailed, whether that was down to the more casual buyer preferring the £1.99 over Oasis’s £2.99 price tag for the CD is debatable but it certainly helps to have a major label behind you. Pitched as a North Vs South and a Middle Class Vs Working Class showdown it seems that the middle class Southerners were able to motivate buyers, it’s certainly Blur’s biggest hit and first chart toppers and backs up an incredible last few years for them which saw them pick up 4 BRIT awards in February, a record. A Damian Hurst directed promo featuring Keith Allen, Jo Guest, and Matt Lucas helped the single take an early slight lead which widened over the duration of the week ending up with a mighty 274,000 copies sold, the fifth highest weekly tally of 1995.

 

 

So onto Oasis then who fail to do an exact repeat of their last single “Some Might Say” and knock Take That off the top spot (they fall 1-4, 58,000 anyway), but “Roll With It” opened with a sale of 216,000 regardless, the best opening sale for any of their singles. It was spurred on by a TOTP performance which, obliged to mime against their wishes, Noel mimed to Liam’s voice while Liam took guitar duties to make the point abundantly clear. For those tired of the competition it seems that the group’s new albums will not be heading into the shops on the same day with Blur’s “Great Escape” due next month and Oasis’ album the month after. Of course Oasis could make No 1 next week but the general consensus is that their chance at the top has now gone.

 

 

Whilst the Blur single is the 42nd song to debut at No 1, it is the 6th of 1995 drawing the year level with 1991 in the record books, and coupled with Oasis new at No 2, it marks just the third time in history that both the top 2 are new entries (excepting the first chart of all time) after 1984 (Band Aid/ Wham!) and 1989 (Jason Donovan/ Cliff Richard)

 

The rest of the top 5 is made up of The Original who drop 2-3 (73,000) that’s a 38% increase week on week- damn unlucky! And TLC who similarly drop 4-5 (46,000) but increase sales by 25% in the process.

 

 

Two new entries further down the top 10 and first up are Clock who “clock” up a third top 10 single in just 6 months, the song called “Everybody” at least is not a straightforward cover but instead samples Hamilton Bohannon’s “Let’s Start The Dance” (No 56, 1978).

 

 

 

 

In the also-ran’s is a new single by Madonna which arrives at No 8 (32,000), a 35th top 10 single in her decade long career and features a sample of its own, Main Source’s “What You Need”. It’s a forth cut from “Bedtime Stories” though it has been substantially remixed by Danny Tenaglia for its release, the S & M themed video has caused some minor controversy though her ability to shock these days seems very diminished. Nevertheless if the song fails to progress it will become her first single ever to peak at No 8 and will complete her sequence of having a song peak at every position in the top 10.

 

 

JX drop back 6-7 (36,000), Seal tumbles 5-9 (26,000) and Corona are off 7-10 (26,000).

 

1- COUNTRY HOUSE- Blur (274,000)

2- ROLL WITH IT- Oasis (216,000)

3- I LUV U BABY- Original (73,000)

4- NEVER FORGET- Take That (58,000)

5- WATERFALLS- T.L.C (46,000)

6- EVERYBODY- Clock (41,000)

7- SON OF A GUN- JX (36,000)

8- HUMAN NATURE- Madonna (32,000)

9- KISS FROM A ROSE/ I’M ALIVE- Seal (26,000)

10- TRY ME OUT- Corona (26,000)

 

Will post the next chart tomorrow to bring us up to speed

Thanks Gezza.

 

What an iconic chart there! By far either of Blur or Oasis’ best, but Britpop really has now exploded.

 

I Luv U Baby as well - what a great remix!

Waterfalls

Hadn't realised The Original were so close to getting a #1, nor that the Blur / Oasis battle led to such a sales boost elsewhere e.g. Take That increasing in sales despite falling 1-4

Prefer Oasis overall to Blur but I prefer 'Country House' as a song to 'Roll With It' anyway.

 

The Original track is another dance gem of 1995, didn't know how close it was to #1 on the 19th August week. The Clock song is good fun too, probably their best single.

 

The Madonna song is not great on first listen there.

 

'Waterfalls' and 'Son of A Gun' are both classics, very good.

Edited February 11, 20241 yr by TheSnake

Didn't realise how close The Original was to overtaking Take That to #1 either.

 

Neither of the Battle Of Britpop tracks show off the best of their bands.

love Waterfalls <3 I even heard it live a few years ago at Roskilde Festival when TLC played <3

 

Blue & Oasis couldn't have chosen worse songs for the head to head, at least Country House is tolerable even though is far from Blur's best, but Roll with it is so lacklustre and pedestrian, how could they pick this as 2nd single when they had Wonderwall, Don't look back in anger, Champagne supernova etc etc

 

 

I think without the fuel of the publicity and slanging match, and if they were released in different weeks "Roll With It" would probably have been a one week chart topper such was their popularity at the time. I'm not convinced "country house" would have gone to no 1 though. Probably a top 3 hit ( which would still have been their biggest hit anyway)

Interesting to see that even by the end of the summer of 95 songs like The Original, TLC and others were still able to climb the chart.

Don't think I agree with your view on that one, whatever Blur released first from The Great Escape would have gone to #1 imo - however I'm not sure they would have naturally beaten Oasis sales wise at that point in time had their not been the chart rivalry in that week. That single was them at their peak in terms of popularity, there was a lot of hype around them even without the battle as it followed on from Parklife - which had been a far more prominent album in the news and in sales during 1994 and early 95 than Definitely Maybe was. The tide was certainly turning towards Oasis by this point, but Blur were more than popular enough either way to get a #1 single.

agree with that, they were at the peak of their popularity after Parklife so anything would have been #1 from them

and sure not all the 270K they opened with were cos of the controversy

 

do you know if there was a rationale for peaking Roll with it? seems like such a weird choice for me when they had Wonderwall or Don't look back in ager

Were Blur expected to win the battle at the time, or was that a surprise?

 

I was only eight at the time but as a child I remember being very aware of Roll With It, and Oasis generally (Liam and Noel were heavily referenced in a tongue-in-cheek way by comics I read like The Beano), but less so of Blur and Country House.

 

I do think Country House is the better song, but I wouldn't rush to listen to either out of choice.