I had thought about skipping 2001 but having looked at it, there are some good classics in the top 20, some great forgotten songs and an unexpected influx of continental schlager.

 

1. Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman - Somethin' Stupid (1)

2. Gordon Haskell - How Wonderful You Are (NEW)

3. Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This (2)

4. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor (3)

5. Stereophonics - Handbags And Gladrags (4)

6. S Club 7 - Have You Ever (7)

7. Ian Van Dahl - Will I (5)

8. Samantha Mumba - Lately (6)

9. Tweenies - I Believe In Christmas (9)

10. Hermes House Band - Country Roads (10)

11. Kate Winslet - What If (11)

12. PPK - ResuRection (8)

13. DJ Ötzi - Hey Baby (24)

14. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head (21)

15. Steps - Words Are Not Enough/I Know Him So Well (14)

16. Feeder - Just A Day EP (12)

17. Sum 41 - In Too Deep (16)

18. Afroman - Because I Got High (26)

19. Janet Jackson feat Carly Simon - Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song) (13)

20. Riva feat Dannii Minogue - Who Do You Love Now (Stringer) (17)

 

-------

 

26. David Gray - Say Hello Wave Goodbye (NEW)

29. Faithless - Tarantula (NEW)

32. Mariah Carey - Never Too Far/Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica) (feat Mystikal) (NEW)

40. Warp Brothers - Blast The Speakers (NEW)

42. TJ Davis - Wonderful Life (NEW)

47. Boney M - Daddy Cool 2001 (NEW)

51. DJ Ötzi - Xmas Time (NEW)

63. Lampies - Light Up The World For Christmas (48)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another slow week at Christmas, the big contenders had seemingly all already been released although veteran jazz and blues singer Gordon Haskell put in an extremely good showing with How Wonderful You Are to debut at No.2, and many had wondered if he might get an unlikely Christmas No.1 with his first chart hit so far into his career. But Robbie and Nicole Kidman stayed strong at the top for Robbie to finally get a festive chart topper, where he had previously missed with the likes of Babe and Supreme.

 

Big established hits from Daniel Bedingfield, Sophie Ellis-Bextor (but she would return to No.2, both in the new year and over 20 years later), Stereophonics and more stayed strong for Christmas while the token dance hit in the top 10 was Ian Van Dahl's excellent Castles In The Sky follow-up, Will I (sadly not on Spotify and all but forgotten, so I've posted it above as it deserves some recognition).

 

S Club 7 had another year with another Children In Need single still doing well, while Tweenies were in the top 10 for the second Christmas in a row too, with their original festive hit, I Believe In Christmas. Dutch schlager band Hermes House Band took a cover of Country Roads into the top 10 - this was tipped for No.1 by the bookies early in December but it didn't come to pass. It wasn't the first Oktoberfest vibes naff party cover to do well that year, Austrian DJ Ötzi was on the way down with Do Wah Diddy but on the way back up with his former No.1, Hey Baby, while also scoring a new entry at No.51 with Xmas Time.

 

It was otherwise a very slow week for releases, with Faithless releasing the decent Tarantula, David Gray covering Soft Cell and Mariah deep into her underperforming Glitter era this time missing the top 30 altogether with a double a-side. Warp Brothers had a big hit around Christmas 2000, but their new release Blast The Speakers was only a No.40 hit. The only other true Christmas song in the top 75 besides Tweenies and DJ Ötzi was Light Up The World For Christmas by Lampies, which I've never heard it is apparently a CBBC related song that's not on YouTube so I couldn't tell you how it goes. Either way, it was down from debut the week before.

Edited November 24, 2024Nov 24 by gooddelta

One year on from Bob The Builder and the charts continued to represent my early childhood years well as I now loved the Tweenies at the time :lol:

 

Great efforts from both Minogue sisters here, 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' was of course a massive moment for Kylie and 'Who Do You Love Now (Stringer)' is my favourite song that involves Dannii.

1. Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman - Somethin' Stupid (1) I have fond memories of this! Not something I choose to listen to but it was one of the best Xmas #1s of the decade! :wub:

2. Gordon Haskell - How Wonderful You Are (NEW) not familiar with this one...

3. Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This (2) banger alert! This never gets old.

4. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor (3) an eternal bop! Need I say more? :kink:

5. Stereophonics - Handbags And Gladrags (4) can't remember how this one goes either.

6. S Club 7 - Have You Ever (7) another beautiful wintery ballad from S Club. :wub:

7. Ian Van Dahl - Will I (5) I don't remember...

8. Samantha Mumba - Lately (6) no thanks.

9. Tweenies - I Believe In Christmas (9) oh dear.... :lol:

10. Hermes House Band - Country Roads (10) not a clue on this one.

11. Kate Winslet - What If (11) I used to adore this but a bit dated now.

12. PPK - ResuRection (8) this always reminds me of Year 7 music class haha.

13. DJ Ötzi - Hey Baby (24) school disco cheese.

14. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head (21) absolute tune. Never gets old.

15. Steps - Words Are Not Enough/I Know Him So Well (14) meh.

16. Feeder - Just A Day EP (12) umm?

17. Sum 41 - In Too Deep (16) love it! The music video is iconic!

18. Afroman - Because I Got High (26) never knew how relatable this song would be. :lol:

19. Janet Jackson feat Carly Simon - Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song) (13) not sure?

20. Riva feat Dannii Minogue - Who Do You Love Now (Stringer) (17) not sure?

Somethin Stupid :wub: ( I prefer this version over the original), my # 2 at Christmas with climbing on the top after it.

 

23.12.2001 (Week # 51)

01. ( 01 ) Geri Halliwell - Calling (3 weeks) (3 weeks at # 1)

02. ( NE ) Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman - Something Stupid (1 week)

03. ( 02 ) Sophie Ellis Bextor - Murder On The Dancefloor (2 weeks)

04. ( 03 ) Steps - Words Are Not Enough / I Know Him So Well (2 weeks)

05. ( 07 ) Jennie Lofgren - Believer (2 weeks)

06. ( NE ) Emma Bunton - We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (1 week)

07. ( 04 ) Delta Goodrem - I Don't Care (6 weeks)

08. ( 05 ) Shelby Lynne - Killin' Kind (7 weeks)

09. ( 10 ) K3 - Je Hebt Een Vriend (2 weeks)

10. ( 08 ) allSTARS* - Things That Go Bump In The Night (14 weeks)

11. ( 06 ) Lambretta - Bimbo (12 weeks)

12. ( 09 ) Nylon Beat - Anna Mulle (9 weeks)

13. ( 14 ) Yvonne Catterfeld - Komm Zuruck Zu Mir (3 weeks)

14. ( 11 ) Dido - Hunter (14 weeks)

15. ( 12 ) Charlotte Church - Carrickfergus (11 weeks)

16. ( 13 ) Garbage - Androgyny (12 weeks)

17. ( 15 ) Shane MacGowan and Maire Brennan - You're The One (5 weeks)

18. ( 22 ) Patricia K - Prisoner Of Love (2 weeks)

19. ( 18 ) Naimee Coleman - My Star (17 weeks)

20. ( 19 ) Lash - Beauty Queen (17 weeks)

Edited November 24, 2024Nov 24 by Last Dreamer

Aside from Now 50/51 releases, I purchased these compilations from this time period to mop up the missing hits;

 

 

Sadly I remember many of these tracks bring heavily edited and cut short to allow 25 tracks to fit on a 80 minute disc.

 

There was also this;

 

 

And this;

 

 

 

Wow @Last Dreamer, you were early with Delta Goodrem, for how much I love her I never heard of her until Born To Try.

 

I do like I Don't Care but definitely wasn't ever aware of it then, shame it didn't get a UK push at the time.

 

My Star by Naimee Coleman was a big hit for me too, No.2.

 

@Wardy, I have all three of those too although the Smash Hits one I bought secondhand some time later.

 

I too was disappointed with the editing on Hits 51, there is a festive compilation called Christmas Hits released in 2001 that did the same thing to Christmas songs, hacked them down. Of course, with the shorter song lengths these days, 25 songs to a disc would be no issue at all.

 

I did particularly enjoy that Now Dance album, mainly for using the correct N-Trance version (which Now 50 didn't), and the inclusion of Too Close, which wasn't on the numbered Nows. A great run of songs at the start and end of Disc 2 as well.

So much nostalgia from this year aside from the lacklustre Christmas top 2. I do like 'Somethin Stupid' though for what it was but obviously not up there with Robbie's ultimate collabs or #1's.

 

'Gotta Get Thru This', 'Murder On The Dancefloor' and 'Lately' my personal faves in the Top 10, the latter is also one I bought on CD. 'What If' outside the top 10 too. Some really lovely ballads out around this time imo.

 

The Feeder EP is also very good. I've only just listened to the other songs on it the other day for Julian's thread so will be posting in there soon to complete 2001.

 

Dj Otzi flopping at Christmas. That 5 mins of fame was over quick lol.

I've managed to find that Lampies track:

 

https://archive.org/details/CBBCMerryChrist...istmas+2001.mp4

 

 

 

Dj Otzi flopping at Christmas. That 5 mins of fame was over quick lol.

 

Until, an World Cup song of 'Hey Baby' a few months later...

Just a Day... a B-Side so good and popular it got its own release and charted higher than the original song, whilst doubling Feeder's career tally of weeks inside the top 20.

 

That and In Too Deep are comfortably my favourites here, but Daniel, Kylie and Sophie are classic pop songs still worthy of being listened to. And the 'Phonics cover is ok... massively overplayed though I felt. The number one? Meh... passable.

Edited November 25, 2024Nov 25 by RabbitFurCoat

PPK and Kylie are the only ones I bought from that top 20, although I'm not sure why I didn't buy Sophie as well as I did like that a lot even back then. Out of the rest, I like Riva & Dannii, Feeder, Daniel Bedingfield, Stereophonics (actually one of my favourites of theirs, although it's a low bar)

 

There's a lot of stuff in there that is absolutely woeful though

I think I only had the S Club 7 - Have You Ever CD back in the day. I had Sophie's album for Christmas that year so didn't need the single. :D

I've managed to find that Lampies track:

 

https://archive.org/details/CBBCMerryChrist...istmas+2001.mp4

 

Thanks Mack, nice find - that was well hidden.

 

The song sounds a bit like I'd imagined in my head. A Wizzard/Phil Spector inspired track with a kids choir chorus. Also a bit reminiscent of the 1979 Eurovision winner Hallelujah by Milk and Honey.

Looking back I’m not as big on this chart as the 2000 one. Still some great songs though, like Daniel and Sophie.

It definitely wasn't a classic year. Robbie sold 110k that week I believe, which was the lowest at Christmas for a long time.

 

Here's how the picture looked a month before Christmas:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1672355.stm

 

Not a bad stab at the main contenders tbf, although that Michael Jackson song massively underperformed, as did Cliff by his usual festive standards. What If obviously did well but I do remember it being more of a contender than its eventual peak suggested.

Outside the Top 75

 

80. Various Artists- Winter Sampler Pt 1

85. Various Artists- Winter Sampler Pt 2

89. Terry Maxx- Walkin' In The Name

95. Iconz- Get Crunked Up

99. Jay-Z- Girls Girls Girls

 

 

That Jay-Z one def got a 2002 rerelease then lol.

 

Liked this Xmas chart, a few hidden gems, loved this Danni Minogue era with Riva. Loved how the Xmas party season helped Kylie and Dj Otzi songs jump higher. Also PPK is a song in remember from the time.

 

In terms of Xmas contenders not sure the Kate Winslet song was playlisted by R1 at the time? Hence it stalling at 11?

Tweenies , that single ain't on Spotify boooo