Quite a big and memorable year here as Popstars: The Rivals delivered the entire top three.

 

1. Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground (NEW)

2. One True Voice - Sacred Trust/After You're Gone (NEW)

3. Cheeky Girls - Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) (2)

4. Blue feat Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (1)

5. Eminem - Lose Yourself (3)

6. Daniel Bedingfield - If You're Not The One (4)

7. Love Inc - You're A Superstar (NEW)

8. Las Ketchup - The Ketchup Song (Asereje) (8)

9. Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi (NEW)

10. Robbie Williams - Feel (7)

11. S Club Juniors - Puppy Love/Sleigh Ride (6)

12. Ronan Keating feat Lulu - We've Got Tonight (9)

13. Nelly feat Kelly Rowland - Dilemma (13)

14. Death In Vegas feat Liam Gallagher - Scorpio Rising (NEW)

15. Gareth Gates - What My Heart Wants To Say (5)

16. P!nk - Family Portrait (11)

17. Atomic Kitten - Last Goodbye/Be With You (12)

18. Liberty X - Holding On For You (14)

19. Christina Aguilera feat Redman - Dirrty (10)

20. Ja Rule feat Bobby Brown - Thug Lovin' (15)

 

-------

 

23. Pascal feat Karen Parry - I Think We're Alone Now (NEW)

36. Rolling Stones - Don't Stop (NEW)

46. Future Breeze - Ocean Of Eternity (NEW)

50. Hermes House Band & DJ Ötzi - Live Is Life (NEW)

60. Shy FX - Wolf (NEW)

66. Dave Clarke - The Wolf (NEW)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2024Nov 27 by gooddelta

The UK public followed Girls Aloud's message to 'Buy girls, bye boys' and the wonderful drum and bass/surf guitar of Sound of the Underground slammed in at No.1, with the result revealed live on Popstars: The Rivals by Davina McCall on ITV. It was quite a bold move to presume that these songs would be the big contenders for the Christmas No.1 battle, and that nothing else would stand in their way, but in the end, all of the other contenders had released much earlier - possibly because the other labels and acts knew about ITV's plans. The slightly naff One True Voice debuted at No.2, quite some way behind on sales with their double a-side, which was led with a cover of a Bee Gees album track from the previous year. Male acts did tend to do better in these kinds of reality shows, so Girls Aloud's success was impressive, but the song played a huge part - no doubt with a far better track One True Voice might have better contended. And of course, they were over by the following year while Girls Aloud's legacy speaks for itself.

 

Novelty act Cheeky Girls departed Popstars early on, but did entertain the nation so much with Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) that the novelty single was released prior to Christmas and ended up in the festive top three, completing a hat trick for the singing contest. Elsewhere, Blue feat Elton John, Eminem and Daniel Bedingfield all fell with their recent No.1 hits, the latter and Robbie Williams being the two acts who had also featured in the 2001 top ten, with Robbie making it three in a row. Other major new entries came from this year's token dance song - You're A Superstar by Canadian act Love Inc. The song was a hit there back in 1998, and it sounded of that vintage by the Sash! style production, but nonetheless the public lapped it up for an extended stay at No.7 through Christmas and New Year. And Avril Lavigne followed Complicated with another classic, Sk8er Boi, which slammed in at No.9, making for a healthy four new entries in the festive top ten, with the Death In Vegas and Liam Gallagher collaboration just falling short at No.14.

 

In a chart nearly free of festive joy, S Club Juniors' Sleigh Ride dropped to No.11 - but TV were more interested in the cover of Puppy Love on the double a-side, while radio were of course spamming the usual suspects in Slade, Wizzard, Band Aid, Wham! and the rest, all of who had no way of charting in 2002.

 

Outside the top 20 there were six other new entries - none Christmas related. All Around The World records had achieved their best year yet with the Clubland compilation series and unleashed one final single in Tiffany cover I Think We're Alone Now by Pascal featuring Karen Parry, who had sung on Flip & Fill's summer No.3 hit Shooting Star. Rolling Stones scored another top 40 with Don't Stop, and there were new dance hits from Future Breeze, Shy FX and Dave Clarke, the latter two curiously both releasing songs about wolves for Christmas. The only other debut was the two 2001 schlager forces coming together in Hermes House Band and DJ Ötzi, whose cover of Opus' 80s hit Live Is Life was absolutely huge on the continent but just a footnote here.

'Ocean Of Eternity' and 'Don't Stop' sounding good from the new entries outside the top 20 to the top 75.

 

I did like 'Sacred Trust' tbh but do realise it's very naff indeed in hindsight and it's very clear why GA won out and it was exciting to see a new girl group burst onto the scene in the process. Funny that there's a dance over of 'I Think We're Alone Now' when they covered it themselves a few years later.

 

'Sk8erboi' my favourite of the new entries overall. What an punchy anthem that was. Avril made a statement with her debut era.

 

A lot of slushy stuff that was passable for me at the time like the Ronan and Lulu collab and S Club Juniors although the latter I'm not quite as fond of now whilst their other singles still sound good to me.

 

Shame 'Family Portrait' missed out on a top 10 placing the week prior.

 

My reshuffle of the top 10.

 

1. Feel

2. Sk8erboi

3. Lose Yourself

4. You're A Superstar

5. The Ketchup Song

6. If You're Not The One

7. Sound Of The Underground

8. Sacred Trust

9. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

10. The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)

This is my rank:

 

All-time favourites

 

1. You're A Superstar (I really adore this, I bought these two on single that week - this was No.2 in my chart for a while behind Girls Aloud but did eventually climb to No.1 in the new year)

2. Sound Of The Underground (insane debut single to say it came from a reality show and they were overseen by Louis Walsh)

 

Great

 

3. If You're Not The One (great ballad, I don't hear it as much these days as I feel like I expected I would - it felt like an instant classic)

4. Lose Yourself

5. Sk8er Boi

6. Feel

 

Fun

 

7. The Ketchup Song (Asereje)

8. The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum)

 

Ok

 

9. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (good production and vocals on this cover but it's not an Elton song I care for in any version)

10. Sacred Trust/After You're Gone (I don't really hate this but it's a bit plodding and overly slick with any potential rough edges well and truly polished. Funnily enough that Bee Gees album had several better songs on it)

 

I did also have to check After You're Gone as couldn't remember ever hearing it, a very dated Damage b-side style ballad. Pete Waterman really had no idea what to do with this band, as they have good voices and had potential that wasn't realised.

My Christmas chart.

 

29.12.2002 (Week # 52)

01. ( 01 ) H and Claire - Beauty And The Beast (7 weeks) (4 weeks at # 1)

02. ( 03 ) K3 - Verliefd (3 weeks)

03. ( 05 ) Holly Valance - Naughty Girl (2 weeks)

04. ( 02 ) Sophie Monk - Inside Outside (9 weeks)

05. ( NE ) Lauren Waterworth - The Show (1 week)

06. ( NE ) Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground (1 week)

07. ( 04 ) Benefit - What's It Gonna Be (5 weeks)

08. ( NE ) Avril Lavigne - Skater Boy (1 week)

09. ( 06 ) Jeanette Biedermann and Ronan Keating - We've Got Tonight (8 weeks)

10. ( 07 ) H and Claire - All Out Of Love (7 weeks)

11. ( 09 ) Benefit - Sex Sells (18 weeks)

12. ( 08 ) Audrey Hannah - Liquid Touch (6 weeks)

13. ( 11 ) Sounds - Living In America (13 weeks)

14. ( 12 ) Rosenstolz - Es Tut Immer Noch Weh (4 weeks)

15. ( 10 ) Rosie Ribbons - Blink (9 weeks)

16. ( 13 ) Simone Stelzer - Der Himmel Weint Fur Mich (10 weeks)

17. ( 15 ) Kim Wilde - Born To Be Wild (10 weeks)

18. ( 14 ) Matthias Reim and Michelle - Du Idiot (3 weeks)

19. ( 16 ) Hannah - Stop And Think (7 weeks)

20. ( NE ) Natalie James - In My Heart Is Where You Belong (1 week)

 

Outside the Top 75

 

 

76. MEW- She Came For Christmas

78. Natalie James- In My Heart Is Where You Belong

80. Guyver- Man On The Moon

91. Sonic & Silver- Rocket Launcher/ Funkstation

95. Total Science- Ice Cubes/ Red Carpet

100. X-Press 2- Supasong

 

 

Outside the Top 75

78. Natalie James - In My Heart Is Where You Belong

 

Great track :yahoo: , peaked at # 8 in my chart.

Lose Yourself is the only one of those I bought - and I suspect it could well be the final one of the decade (excluding downloads). I'm not 100% sure but I think it may have been the final physical single I bought before getting the Robyn ones in 2007 (and OMG at me just realising it has been 17 years since With Every Heartbeat :o )

 

1. Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground (NEW) - without a doubt my favourite Christmas #1 of the decade and probably of this century so far (bar Wham hehe) - a monumental debut single and dare I say the best to come from a TV talent show?

2. One True Voice - Sacred Trust/After You're Gone (NEW) - this was bad without the GA comparison but competing with SOTU made it look even more uninspired than it did already

3. Cheeky Girls - Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) (2) - this is probably one of my biggest guilty pleasures of the decade. A trashy pop song but an unquestionable bop :kink:

4. Blue feat Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (1) - one of my favourite songs from Blue even if it were a cover. Lee's voice on it is great!

5. Eminem - Lose Yourself (3) - one of my favourites from Eminem. Never knew this was so high in the Christmas chart of 2002

6. Daniel Bedingfield - If You're Not The One (4) - not as good as Gotta Get Thru This but a fun song to practice my falsetto to in the shower :blush:

7. Love Inc - You're A Superstar (NEW) - don't think I've heard this one...

8. Las Ketchup - The Ketchup Song (Asereje) (8) - BANGER! This song is cemented as a staple on my summer playlists each year :lol:

9. Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi (NEW) - one of my all-time Avril faves - always rated this above Complicated tbh

10. Robbie Williams - Feel (7) - never was a big fan of this but maybe blanket radio airplay was to blame for this as it isn't a bad song

11. S Club Juniors - Puppy Love/Sleigh Ride (6) - aww I loved their Puppy Love version at the time :wub:

12. Ronan Keating feat Lulu - We've Got Tonight (9) - never heard it and really don't want to lol

13. Nelly feat Kelly Rowland - Dilemma (13) - I always associated this with summer so surprised to see it in the chart in December - either it stuck around or received a late UK release?

14. Death In Vegas feat Liam Gallagher - Scorpio Rising (NEW) - can't remember this...

15. Gareth Gates - What My Heart Wants To Say (5) - gladly can't remember this.

16. P!nk - Family Portrait (11) - an underrated single from Pink! Absolutely adored this back in the day and it has aged so well!

17. Atomic Kitten - Last Goodbye/Be With You (12) - one of my favourite singles from the Kittens. Possibly my favourite actually? Last Goodbye is a strong ballad from them but Be With You is the cover we needed!!

18. Liberty X - Holding On For You (14) - again, can't remember this one!

19. Christina Aguilera feat Redman - Dirrty (10) - ICONIC! My all-time favourite song of Xtina's. I was obsessed!

20. Ja Rule feat Bobby Brown - Thug Lovin' (15) - ???

 

 

So many classics in one Christmas top 20. :cheeseblock: I vividly remember receiving The Cheeky Song and Last Goodbye/Be With You singles for Christmas that year, and Christina's Stripped album off the back of my love for Dirrty. And I distinctively remember my sister persuading me to buy Sound of the Underground with my Christmas money in the January sales the following year. :lol:

Great track :yahoo: , peaked at # 8 in my chart.

 

Can't recall ever hearing this. Sounds like Rod Stewart wrote a reality winner's single.

 

Nice to see another Christmas song just outside the top 75 from Mew.

1. Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground (NEW) - without a doubt my favourite Christmas #1 of the decade and probably of this century so far (bar Wham hehe) - a monumental debut single and dare I say the best to come from a TV talent show?

2. One True Voice - Sacred Trust/After You're Gone (NEW) - this was bad without the GA comparison but competing with SOTU made it look even more uninspired than it did already

3. Cheeky Girls - Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) (2) - this is probably one of my biggest guilty pleasures of the decade. A trashy pop song but an unquestionable bop :kink:

4. Blue feat Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (1) - one of my favourite songs from Blue even if it were a cover. Lee's voice on it is great!

5. Eminem - Lose Yourself (3) - one of my favourites from Eminem. Never knew this was so high in the Christmas chart of 2002

6. Daniel Bedingfield - If You're Not The One (4) - not as good as Gotta Get Thru This but a fun song to practice my falsetto to in the shower :blush:

7. Love Inc - You're A Superstar (NEW) - don't think I've heard this one...

8. Las Ketchup - The Ketchup Song (Asereje) (8) - BANGER! This song is cemented as a staple on my summer playlists each year :lol:

9. Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi (NEW) - one of my all-time Avril faves - always rated this above Complicated tbh

10. Robbie Williams - Feel (7) - never was a big fan of this but maybe blanket radio airplay was to blame for this as it isn't a bad song

11. S Club Juniors - Puppy Love/Sleigh Ride (6) - aww I loved their Puppy Love version at the time :wub:

12. Ronan Keating feat Lulu - We've Got Tonight (9) - never heard it and really don't want to lol

13. Nelly feat Kelly Rowland - Dilemma (13) - I always associated this with summer so surprised to see it in the chart in December - either it stuck around or received a late UK release?

14. Death In Vegas feat Liam Gallagher - Scorpio Rising (NEW) - can't remember this...

15. Gareth Gates - What My Heart Wants To Say (5) - gladly can't remember this.

16. P!nk - Family Portrait (11) - an underrated single from Pink! Absolutely adored this back in the day and it has aged so well!

17. Atomic Kitten - Last Goodbye/Be With You (12) - one of my favourite singles from the Kittens. Possibly my favourite actually? Last Goodbye is a strong ballad from them but Be With You is the cover we needed!!

18. Liberty X - Holding On For You (14) - again, can't remember this one!

19. Christina Aguilera feat Redman - Dirrty (10) - ICONIC! My all-time favourite song of Xtina's. I was obsessed!

20. Ja Rule feat Bobby Brown - Thug Lovin' (15) - ???

So many classics in one Christmas top 20. :cheeseblock: I vividly remember receiving The Cheeky Song and Last Goodbye/Be With You singles for Christmas that year, and Christina's Stripped album off the back of my love for Dirrty. And I distinctively remember my sister persuading me to buy Sound of the Underground with my Christmas money in the January sales the following year. :lol:

 

From my memory of this chart I recall the following:

 

At the time I hated everything reality show so hated the GA and One True Voice artificial efforts. It’s obvious that ‘Sounds of the Underground’ is a great song though. Felt that One True Voice were purposefully given a naff song so one group would be the obvious winner but suspected they believed both groups would do well after that.

 

 

Hated the Blue song at the time as felt it was a lazy cover but it’s one of Eltons greatest songs for me.

 

Remember ‘Lose Yourself’ as an instant classic for me and it’s still huge nowadays, one of Eminems best songs.

 

Always remember hearing ‘You’re a Superstar’ every weekend in the clubs (assume it was the 98 version GD mentioned in commentary) and being hugely surprised at it being finally available on cd and hearing it playlisted on R1.

 

Agree with GD Daniel Bedingfields song was a classic but there’s so many similar songs like it since it’s slightly forgotten nowadays see Lewis Capaldi.

 

Loved Skaterboy at the time, classic!

 

‘Feel’ is one of Robbie’s greatest songs for me, an anthem!

 

Nelly/Kelly was one of the charts longest runners having been released in October and 13 weeks was a long runner back then but Nellys summer banger was ‘Hot In Here’.

 

The Pink song is fab, one of her best of many she’s released!

 

My only problem is Mew is the only Christmas classic in the chart ��

Edited November 30, 2024Nov 30 by Steve201

Compilations were starting to reduce around this time, so there were only really a few options available, but here's some I got from this time period;

 

 

Quite a lot I liked from this compilation actually, one of the better Hits volumes from this series (50-60).

 

Another one I purchased;

 

 

And lastly this one;

 

 

Looking back there's lots of similarities with these compilations, but I made sure to get myself a copy at the time to mop up the hits I was missing.

Hits 55 is one of the few Hits albums that I prefer to the equivalent Now edition (Now 54). It's just brilliant.

 

I guess the inclusion of Delta's debut doesn't hurt, but also Christina, Kelly Rowland, Avril, Danny, P!nk, Jurgen Vries, Will Young, Missy Elliott and so many others not on the Now series.