Don't know about unpredictable but the most unlikely number 1 would be Tomcraft - Loneliness maybe - it doesn't sound commercial at all really.

Edited March 24, 20241 yr by TheSnake

Don't know about unpredictable but the most unlikely number 1 would be Tomcraft - Loneliness maybe - it doesn't sound commercial at all really.

That was very expected at the time.

Was Chicane’s Don’t Give Up expected to be No.1? I remember I was away in Tenerife at the time with no internet access and was amazed to come back to find it at the top (with Five’s Don’t Wanna Let You Go at No.9 - I’d expected that to be No.1!).

 

Maybe I was just out of the loop with that particular song.

 

I agree with all of the examples listed apart from McFly as they pretty much always entered at No.1 or top three at worst and then dropped like a stone.

 

00s No.1s were mostly pretty predictable due to the held back release trend, but there were still shocks to be had.

Don't know about unpredictable but the most unlikely number 1 would be Tomcraft - Loneliness maybe - it doesn't sound commercial at all really.

 

It certainly was expected to be top two, but I was surprised it went all the way as Craig David’s Rise & Fall came out the same week and I remember being sure that would be No.1. It was my 16th birthday No.1 so I’m very glad the better song won!

Definitely 'Whole Again', I similarly was expecting it to be like 15-20 and it came as a complete shock.

 

P!nk's 'Just Like a Pill' was a complete surprise #1, I was expecting it to be like #5/#6 that week.

 

Also a big one was Estelle - American Boy

 

I was aware of the song beforehand, but was expecting that to pretty much do nothing and then it suddenly exploded out of nowhere.

 

I found Cover Drive - Twilight a very unexpected #1 too.

Yeah Twilight is a good shout, that was very much against the grain for 2012 #1s (one of my personal faves of that year tho prob because of that reason).

Also a big one was Estelle - American Boy

 

Agreed, was thinking about that one earlier but couldn't completely remember its trajectory. Checked its chart run and it went 72-OUT and re-entered at No.1 a couple of weeks later. So must have been deleted from iTunes for a bit, I really can't remember but no way did I expect it to go to No.1.

The OCC commented that One True Voice were the initial favourites

 

One True Voice were sort of assumed to win the battle before the mids. The year had been quite boy band/young male singer heavy with Westlife, Blue, Will and Gareth, etc. and it was a wintery cover ballad-it probably would have worked for Westlife.

 

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. Wouldn't preorder charts indicate the girls would win though? Unless the boys had more preorders of course.

Slightly outside of the 2000s but 'Spectrum' by F&TM is another one. I don't think anyone saw it coming at the time, especially since the album version of the song had been available to buy for months and wasn't gaining much traction.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. Wouldn't preorder charts indicate the girls would win though? Unless the boys had more preorders of course.

 

Girls Aloud had a good marketing campaign, 'buy girls, bye boys', and seemed more visible to me during the week of release. And clearly a far better song.

 

I can't remember anything about the pre-orders though, although they weren't always accurate as sometimes fanbases would drive high pre-orders (I expect GA picked up more casual buyers who didn't follow Popstars than OTV), sometimes orders and interest wasn't fulfilled if somebody had ordered something a month earlier and got bored of it by the time it was finally released etc...the opposite thread would I guess be 'songs that were expected to be No.1 and came nowhere close', and I always think of Whitney Houston and George Michael's If I Told You That. It had the star collaboration power, the hype, the airplay, was No.1 with Woolies and then just faltered completely and ended up at No.9.

Edited March 25, 20241 yr by gooddelta

Girls Aloud had a good marketing campaign, 'buy girls, bye boys', and seemed more visible to me during the week of release. And clearly a far better song.

 

I can't remember anything about the pre-orders though, although they weren't always accurate as sometimes fanbases would drive high pre-orders (I expect GA picked up more casual buyers who didn't follow Popstars than OTV), sometimes orders and interest wasn't fulfilled if somebody had ordered something a month earlier and got bored of it by the time it was finally released etc...the opposite thread would I guess be 'songs that were expected to be No.1 and came nowhere close', and I always think of Whitney Houston and George Michael's If I Told You That. It had the star collaboration power, the hype, the airplay, was No.1 with Woolies and then just faltered completely and ended up at No.9.

 

Ok that makes a lot of sense! The charts must have been so fun to experience in the physical era.

 

And an opposite thread would be a great idea!

In terms of Woolies and their expectations, I remember they had Kylie - Spinning Around at 5 and Geri - Mi Chico Latino at 6.

 

I guess Kylies return was an unpredictable one given her less successful 1997 era and Geri missed the top spot with Look At Me, so that could be why.

I remember the week JLS released 'The Club Is Alive' and it actually looked as though they might miss the number one because they were falling quickly down iTunes throughout the week. They managed the number one by quite a margin but IIRC Katy Perry was gaining on them as the week went on and it seemed like it could go either way.

 

Also, I think Evacuate the Dancefloor vs Man in the Mirror was quite unpredictable since MJ died on the Thursday and MITM was obliterating everything on iTunes but it only had 2.5 days to catch up to Cascada and ultimately failed to overtake.

'Man in the Mirror' was at #11 on that half week, it was the next week it climbed to #2 - just one copy ahead of La Roux at #3! :o

 

01 Cascada - Evacuate The Dancefloor 61,211

02 Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror 56,151

03 La Roux - Bulletproof 56,150

 

Evacuate The Dancefloor trailed on midweek sales flashes to Man In The Mirror, the most popular of Michael Jackson’s tracks in the wake of his death.

 

Although unable to maintain its strong start, Man In The Mirror improves 11-2 in the week on sales of 56,151 copies – one more than Bulletproof. Of the other Jackson tracks in the chart, the most popular are Billie Jean (up 25-10, 21,432 sales), Thriller (23-12, 20,677 sales) and Smooth Criminal (28-13, 19,801 sales).

'Man in the Mirror' was at #11 on that half week, it was the next week it climbed to #2 - just one copy ahead of La Roux at #3! :o

 

01 Cascada - Evacuate The Dancefloor 61,211

02 Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror 56,151

03 La Roux - Bulletproof 56,150

 

Evacuate The Dancefloor trailed on midweek sales flashes to Man In The Mirror, the most popular of Michael Jackson’s tracks in the wake of his death.

 

Although unable to maintain its strong start, Man In The Mirror improves 11-2 in the week on sales of 56,151 copies – one more than Bulletproof. Of the other Jackson tracks in the chart, the most popular are Billie Jean (up 25-10, 21,432 sales), Thriller (23-12, 20,677 sales) and Smooth Criminal (28-13, 19,801 sales).

 

Oh wow completely forgot that was the case! And only one copy ahead of #3. :o :o MITM being #1 would have been such a moment since it only peaked at like #21 or something originally!

 

I was too young to remember but was the Spiller/Victoria chart battle as unpredictable as the tabloids made out? :unsure:

A rare case I was rooting against Cascada that week (wasn't a major Fave of mine anyway) lol. MITM really deserved it.

I was too young to remember but was the Spiller/Victoria chart battle as unpredictable as the tabloids made out? :unsure:

It was close going into Saturday, CD:UK had Out Of Your Mind at number 1, but it was clear it wasn’t certain.

In terms of Woolies and their expectations, I remember they had Kylie - Spinning Around at 5 and Geri - Mi Chico Latino at 6.

 

I guess Kylies return was an unpredictable one given her less successful 1997 era and Geri missed the top spot with Look At Me, so that could be why.

 

Yes, Woolies had Alice Deejay finally climbing to No.1 the week of Geri’s release. Of course that never happened because their chance had gone :(

In terms of Woolies and their expectations, I remember they had Kylie - Spinning Around at 5 and Geri - Mi Chico Latino at 6.

 

I guess Kylies return was an unpredictable one given her less successful 1997 era and Geri missed the top spot with Look At Me, so that could be why.

Kylies was unpredictable as i remember all the buzz was around Girl Thing as they were widely expected to go number 1 and along came Kylie and surprised everyone thankfully, they rest as they say is history.