Thank you for all the suggestions for your chart flops of 2002, now we look at the next year, 2003. What songs do you remember from this time and why do you remember them fondly? These could be songs that failed to make the UK Top 40 Singles Chart, or even the Top 75, but they have to have been released as a single at some point during the year.

I will nominate something in a little while that I personally enjoyed in this year, but for now, it’s over to you. ^_^

 

Dance To Tipperary - The Bhoys Are Back In Town (# 44)

 

 

Stephanie Kirkham - Inappropriate (# 78)

 

 

Black Box Recorder - These Are The Things (# 91)

 

Was just about to post Black Box Recorder weirdly enough!

 

Kings of Leon made it to 51 with 'Wasted Time'

 

 

Also this posthumously released song of Aaliyah's reached 76.

 

This made it to No.42 in 2003. They'd had a couple of flops that I posted in 2001, but this was their first track to get a good level of commercial airplay - not that it helped sadly, I used to love this, even though it sounds very dated and lyrically tacky now.

 

 

This did just sneak into the top 40, at No.37, but posting it anyway as it deserved so much more. Singer Taryn Manning had major parts in Crossroads and 8 Mile so I really thought this song would do a lot better.

 

 

Moony had been top 10 as the vocalist on Point of View by DB Boulevard, and then with her own single Dove, so you'd think the really good and more poppy follow up could have gone top 40 at least, but it only got to No.64.

 

 

I thought this was a decent dance song that deserved more than No.41, the singer was Celena from Honeyz.

 

 

Another good dance song, from Michael Woods, who would have a few BJSC hits a decade later. Only reached No.52.

 

 

This year's Eurovision winner managed to chart, for the first time since Charlotte Nilsson in 1999, although it only got to No.72. She won by a whisker from 4th in the running order, so probably would have done so more emphatically if it had been nearer the end. With proper promotion and airplay I think this could have been a big summer hit, as it was across the continent.

 

 

Meanwhile, this song, which was heavily expected to win (remember that at the point the contest took place in May, t.A.T.u. had the biggest selling single of the year to date in the UK), instead finished third. This track was the b-side to Not Gonna Get Us, which reached No.6, but thought I'd post it anyway in case people didn't hear their Eurovision effort at the time. Despite their popularity here, the UK gave the song... nul points.

 

Edited February 25, 20241 yr by gooddelta

I remember Sertab getting quite a bit of airplay on music channels like The Box, which was still a very powerful channel then helping songs like XTM's Fly On The Wings of Love to huge chartruns (also based on a Eurovision winner!) but sadly it didn't get it into top 40. The early 2000s were a bit of a dark age for Eurovision here with low UK ratings and songs that weren't the home entry being completely ignored in the charts, hitting a low around 2000-01 but by '03 things were on the up and from memory that year's contest rated very well.

Yes, several winners weren't released here at all (Olsen Brothers, Tanel Padar & Dave Benton and Marie N) - I suppose they felt the demand just wasn't there to press the CD singles. Perhaps they missed a trick with Olsen Brothers though - it was our 12 pointer, clearly proved itself as a popular song based on the success of the XTM cover that you mentioned, and there was plenty of other Scandinavian pop charting in 2000.

 

Even Sertab was only available if you looked really hard in the bottom corner shelves of HMV, and were lucky to find the one or two copies they had in stock. The other issue of course was that the contest was usually a distant memory by the time the CD singles were made available, I think Lordi didn't even chart until June in 2006. But the download era made it possible for songs to chart straight after the contest, not that many really did until a few years into the donwload era apart from Verka Serduchka in 2007.

Edited February 25, 20241 yr by gooddelta

Every Way That I Can is still one of my favourite winning Eurovision songs!

A few from the first quarter of 2003;

 

Lifehouse – Spin [Peaked at #77 in January 2003]

American rock band Lifehouse had a successful Top 40 hit in 2001 with Hanging By A Moment. This was their only ever single to chart in the Top 100 ever.

 

 

Conjure One feat. Sinead O’Connor – Sleep / Tears From The Moon [Peaked at #42 in February 2003]

Double A side electronic single to slightly miss the Top 40 in early 2003. Sleep is a chillout favourite when remixed by Solarstone.

 

 

FC Kahuna – Hayling [Peaked at #49 in March 2003]

A chillout classic featured on many compilation albums at the time, this was FC Kahuna’s highest peaking single following Glitterball and Machine Says Yes.

 

 

Mew – Comforting Sounds [Peaked at #48 in March 2003]

Danish band Mew had lots of low charting singles in this decade, and this is considered their most popular to date.

 

This is Bruce's best song since the 1980s for me - it reached #94

 

I love 'Acrobats'! Definitely was amazed to discover it never made the top 40. And I don't think I ever knew t.A.T.u. was in Eurovision, let alone the same year 'All The Things She Said' was huge :o

Yeah, it was quite a huge deal at the time. Russia was really trying to get its first win I think so brought out the biggest act it could find. I'm amazed t.A.T.u had the time to do it, with their global presence at the time, and Not Gonna Get Us promotion at the same time as all of their rehearsals (albeit many of which they didn't turn up to).

 

They were heavy favourite to win, and I guess would have done easily with All The Things She Said or possibly even Not Gonna Get Us, but this track wasn't quite as strong (though still good) and the live performance just felt a bit frantic and vocally off.

We all love a chart controversy. This Scottish girl group had a bit of a cult following back home but struggled to get a footing in the rest of the UK and were already featured with one of their Top 40 misses in the 2002 thread.

 

Just as things were looking up for them and this single was on course for a Top 20 placing in 2003, it vanished from the chart entirely. Apparently there were buying pattern irregularities - thousands of copies attributed to a few stores or something!

 

 

Conjure One feat. Sinead O’Connor – Sleep / Tears From The Moon [Peaked at #42 in February 2003]

Double A side electronic single to slightly miss the Top 40 in early 2003. Sleep is a chillout favourite when remixed by Solarstone.

 

This was the main version used on the UK release, and it's absolutely wonderful (although annoyingly can't find a shortened edit on YouTube)

 

 

 

This from The Cardigans reached 74.

 

A handful from the second quarter of 2003;

 

Paffendorf – Crazy, Sexy, Marvellous [Peaked at #52 in April 2003]

After a big Top 10 hit in 2002 with Be Cool, German dance outfit Paffendorf put this single out in 2003 and it missed the Top 40.

 

 

Tom McRae – Karaoke Soul [Peaked at #48 in May 2003]

English singer-songwriter whose only charting single was this one, he was nominated for Best Newcomer award at the Brits in 2009.

 

 

Röyksopp – Sparks [Peaked at #41 in June 2003]

A truly chilled piece of electronic music which barely missed the Top 40 in 2003 taken from the band’s multi-platinum selling album Melody A.M.

 

 

Shakedown – Drowsy With Hope [Peaked at #46 in June 2003]

Follow up single to At Night which was a big anthem in Summer 2002.

 

 

No.79 in 2003, my sister bought this and was obsessed with it - seems she was ahead of the curve with this particular artist…

It still feels like such a random cover but I really enjoyed this that year. #46 in the chart and managed to sneak onto Now 55, not to mention uncredited Jake Shears!

 

I only know this one from discussions about 00s dance on Buzzjack. Reached #41 in October 2003, so unlucky.

 

 

Also Drunkenmunky is another alias from the people behind Hi_Tack/Klubbheads. Also this song samples Eminem - Without Me which I didn't know until I looked it up online today.

Edited March 1, 20241 yr by TheSnake

Looking over some of the flops from the third quarter of 2003;

 

Jewel – Intuition [Peaked at #52 in August 2003]

American singer-songwriter Jewel had some minor hits and flops in the late 90’s, this was her only charting single this century.

 

 

Dare – Chihuahua [Peaked at #45 in September 2003]

This non-English track, not available on streaming platforms, was later sampled and made slightly more famous by DJ Bobo later in 2003.

 

 

Sonique – Alive [Peaked at #70 in September 2003]

She had a few hits in the late 90’s, and a UK #1 single, but this flop was the last we saw of Sonique in the charts.

 

 

4 Strings – Let It Rain [Peaked at #49 in September 2003]

An airy trance single that failed to make the Top 40.

 

And then for the final quarter of this year;

 

Electric Six – Dance Commander [Peaked at #40 in October 2003]

The third single from this American rock band’s debut album Fire was their lowest chart peak.

 

 

Divine Inspiration – What Will Be Will Be (Destiny) [Peaked at #55 in November 2003]

The Way (Put Your Hand In My Hand) was a big #5 smash hit at the start of the year, and this followed it up some months later but charted 50 places lower.

 

 

Lumidee – Crashing A Party [Peaked at #55 in November 2003]

After a huge #2 hit in August, this was expected to be another hit, but she failed to reach the Top 40 with the help of US rapper N.O.R.E.

 

 

Travis – The Beautiful Occupation [Peaked at #48 in December 2003]

The Scottish band have had some great hits over the years, and they would release a compilation of their hits the following year, where this single featured too.