Looking at the 1999 No.1s, I'd guess that the following still would have made it to the top, taking out the charity singles, with the assumption that they wouldn't do much on streaming just as they don't today.

 

The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) (feels like something that would do well on streaming)

Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time (huge cultural impact would still be huge)

Mr Oizo - Flat Beat (would probably have gone viral with the ad)

Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way (pop classic)

Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate (not so sure on this, but it was a huge song)

Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) (could have definitely seen this going viral as it was so quotable)

Vengaboys - Boom Boom Boom Boom (this is still genuinely popular today, but even so, would it have gone all the way to No.1 at the time?)

ATB - 9pm (Till I Come) (this was undeniably huge)

Ricky Martin - Livin' la Vida Loca (global hit, nothing would change here)

Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing at All (Notting Hill might have helped this to No.1)

Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...) (another global hit that would have been big in any era or consumption model)

Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee) (ditto)

Christina Aguilera - Genie in a Bottle (Britney and Christina's success still would have happened)

 

And then maybe Flying Without Wings and Robbie's She's The One but it's a bit difficult to tell how they would stream.

 

I think you could add some of TLC's No Scrubs, Shania Twain's That Don't Impress Me Much, Alice Deejay's Better Off Alone, Eminem's My Name Is and 2Pac's Changes to the above list, and maybe something like The New Radicals' You Get What You Give or Sixpence None The Richer's Kiss Me. Clearly that would add up to far too many No.1s for a streaming environment, so some of the above probably wouldn't have made it.

 

Christmas No.1 would have been some sort of successful turn of the millennium campaign (maybe John Lennon's Imagine as it got to No.3 anyway), or if it was a Christmas song, maybe Slade or Wizzard. Wham! hadn't had their resurgent popularity at this point, and Mariah was in a bit of a wilderness period where it was initially a huge hit in 1994 and came back to prominence in the early 00s.

 

I would also add Phats & Small "Turn Around" to your list of #1s

 

It possibly could have snatched a week - but I think that it crossed with My Name Is and No Scrubs and I feel they would probably have the stronger claim

I dont think My Name Is was more popular than Turn Around. I think we're forgetting it was 1999 not 2019, rap was nowhere as popular as dance music at the time, teens and young adults would've streamed Turn Around more. The chart runs are pretty telling, "My Name Is" only spent 3 weeks top10, "Turn Around" spent 7 weeks, which was remarkable for 1999. No Scrubs would've been its only obstacle.,

My childhood would have been ruined!

 

Bands like B*Witched, Steps and S Club 7 would not have had as many hits as they did

 

Idk I feel like the *big* groups like S Club 7, Steps, All Saints and Westlife would have done something, most likely smaller than they did in the 2000s, but they would all have Liitle Mix type success on streaming I reckon

The Millennium Prayer would do crickets on streaming at least. Christmas/Millennium #1 would probably be Slade/Wizzard/John & Yoko.

 

I think All Saints probably still have 2 #1s in this scenario with Never Ever and Pure Shores which were both legitimately huge.

I dont think My Name Is was more popular than Turn Around. I think we're forgetting it was 1999 not 2019, rap was nowhere as popular as dance music at the time, teens and young adults would've streamed Turn Around more. The chart runs are pretty telling, "My Name Is" only spent 3 weeks top10, "Turn Around" spent 7 weeks, which was remarkable for 1999. No Scrubs would've been its only obstacle.,

Eminem was very hyped though and I think that would have played in his favour initially, totally agree that Turn Around was more popular in the long run... I think it would have panned out roughly like this:

 

Looking through the old charts, this would be my guess of how 1999 could have panned out (brackets are what was officially there, if different) - I've tried hard to leave things that sold particularly well in a week to try and remove any bias I've got

 

03/01 Steps - Tragedy

10/01 Steps - Tragedy (Fatboy Slim - Praise You)

17/01 Steps - Tragedy (911 - A Little Bit More)

24/01 Offspring - Pretty Fly For a White Guy

31/01 Offspring - Pretty Fly For a White Guy (Armand Van Helden - You Don't Know Me)

07/02 Blondie - Maria (feel like this wouldn't be a certainty but it sold pretty well and there's nothing obvious below it, possibly still Offspring)

14/02 Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away (as above)

21/02 Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

28/02 Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

07/03 Britney Spears - Baby One More Time (Boyzone - When the Going Gets Tough, this sold over 200K but Britney was also still selling huge numbers)

14/03 Britney Spears - Baby One More Time (Boyzone - When the Going Gets Tough)

21/03 Britney Spears - Baby One More Time (B*Witched - Blame it on the Weather Man)

28/03 Mr Oizo - Flat Beat

04/04 Eminem - My Name Is (Mr Oizo - Flat Beat, could argue this would have stayed there but I'm not convinced it was something many people were actually listening regularly to)

11/04 Martine McCutcheon - Perfect Moment - this sold over 200K so I'm sticking to it being here even if I'm not sure - you get the story either side anyway if she wasn't

18/04 One of Eminem - My Name Is or Phats & Small - Turn Around (Martine McCutcheon - Perfect Moment) - arguably any up to this 9th week could still have been Britney, but this is the main week where Phats & Small could have crept up as it overtook Eminem but hadn't quite fallen behind TLC

25/04 TLC - No Scrubs (Westlife - Swear it Again)

02/05 TLC - No Scrubs (Westlife - Swear it Again)

09/05 TLC - No Scrubs (Backstreet Boys - I Want it That Way)

16/05 TLC - No Scrubs (Boyzone - You Needed Me)

23/05 Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate

30/05 Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate

06/06 Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate (Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen)

13/06 S Club 7 - Bring it all Back

20/06 Shania Twain - That Don't Impress Me Much (Vengaboys - Boom Boom Boom Boom)

27/06 ATB - 9PM til I Come

04/07 ATB - 9PM til I Come

11/07 ATB - 9PM til I Come (Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca)

18/07 Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca

25/07 Ricky Martin - Livin' La Vida Loca

01/08 Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing At All

08/08 Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing At All

15/08 Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone (Westlife - If I Let You Go)

22/08 Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone (Geri Halliwell - Mi Chico Latino)

29/09 Lou Bega - Mambo no.5

05/10 Lou Bega - Mambo no.5

12/10 Lou Bega - Mambo no.5 (Vengaboys - We're Going to Ibiza)

19/10 Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)

26/10 Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)

03/10 Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)

10/10 Christina Aguilera - Genie in a Bottle (not sure but let's give her the benefit of the doubt, think it is feasible that Eiffel 65 could well have remained for these 3 weeks)

17/10 Christina Aguilera - Genie in a Bottle

24/10 Christina Aguilera - Genie in a Bottle (Westlife - Flying Without Wings)

31/10 * ***** - If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time :/ (Five - Keep on Movin')

07/11 * ***** - If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time :/ (Geri Halliwell - Lift Me Up)

14/11 * ***** - If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time :/ (Robbie Williams - She's the One)

21/11 Wamdue Project - King of my Castle - possibly would have still been * ***** or Macy Gray - I Try but I'm fed up of acknowledging the asterisks!

28/11 Wamdue Project - King of my Castle (Cliff Richard - Millennium Prayer) - as above

05/12 Artful Dodger & Craig David - Re-Rewind (Cliff Richard - Millennium Prayer)

12/12 Artful Dodger & Craig David - Re-Rewind (Cliff Richard - Millennium Prayer)

19/12 Westlife - I Have a Dream

26/12 Westlife - I Have a Dream

 

(I'm ignoring the christmas stuff for December as who knows) Obviously this is all just a figment of imagination, but I had a spare half hour and didn't want to do the things I should be doing :lol:

Here's a stab at the Christmas top 20 for 1999, assuming streaming and social media were a thing:

 

1. Westlife - I Have A Dream (imaginging a world without double a-sides, I'm sure they would have done fine on streaming as Hello My Love did in 2019, plus they would have fought hard for Xmas No.1 and won it on sales)

2. John Lennon - Imagine (millennium campaign would have been even more popular than it was)

3. Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody (must have been the biggest Christmas song at the time)

4. Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (with this second)

5. Cliff Richard - The Millennium Prayer (I'm sure his fanbase would ensure this was still successful in some regard)

6. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

7. Artful Dodger feat Craig David - Re-Rewind

8. Wham! - Last Christmas

9. Macy Gray - I Try (hanging around - peaked at No.2)

10. The Pogues feat Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale Of New York

11. John & Yoko - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

12. Robbie Williams - She's The One

13. East 17 - Stay Another Day

14. Bing Crosby - White Christmas (I'm sure the playlists would have pushed up some oldies - and this charted in 1998 anyway off the back of another physical release)

15. Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime

16. Wamdue Project - King Of My Castle

17. Five - Keep On Movin' (this is enduringly popular so I'm sure it would still have been big even if not a No.1)

18. S Club 7 - Two In A Million (probably a No.13 peak or so)

19. * **** - If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time (agree that this would have been huge still sadly)

20. Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You (was nowhere near as ubiquitous in 1999 as it is now)

 

Christina and Eiffel 65 on ACR...

There would be album releases working the opposite way to how they actually did in this era to factor in as well.

 

For example Phats & Small may have overtaken My Name Is on the chart dated 24/4/99 but this was also the week The Slim Shady LP was released. In the physical era this meant a certain percentage of sales were likely to be transferred from single to album but if streaming was the dominant format, this would likely be the best shot week for My Name Is to get to reach #1 with other tracks from the album charting lower down.

^^

Yep, exactly, that's a very fair point... similar point for the likes of Shania as people would have been listening to the album which undoubtedly would have boosted That Don't Impress Me Much

Shite like Westlife wouldn’t have had as many no1s!

 

Thats correct, but they would have sold twice as many. Westlife forever

with streaming Wannabe would have been #1 for 10 weeks til ACR

but then with streaming it's hard to have 7 #1s in a row cos hits remain the top of the charts much longer

they probably would have had 3/4 #1s but no more

 

Westlife would probably be on 0 #1s, which is fair

 

things like Goo Goo Dolls-Iris would have been #1 for sure I reckon

and sure also for Alanis, songs like Ironic and You Oughtta Know

 

Westlife could have gone to #1 with their physical sales on some occasions. 14.

still too many #1s in that list I'd think, turnover is generally much slower than that these days

Baby One More Time would absolutely have spent 9 weeks at #1 if something like Taste can do that today

 

Lonestar - Amazed, as someone mentioned near the start, would have been in the top 40 for about 5 years. Ditto How Do I Live, Angels, and, to my disgust, Dancing In The Moonlight.

In my opinion all the best music was made in the 90s but when you look back on what was actually in the charts there was a lot of dross in there too. We had variety though, partly because of the sheer quantity of records that made the Top 40. There were over 700 new entries in the Top 40 in 1997, these days we get in the region of 200-250 new entries a year.

 

If streaming was around I think it would have been mostly the dross that would chart, a bit like it does these days. Generally people are lazy and just listen to whatever Spotify recommends them or whatever is popular.