all great newbies, Robbie, U2 or Daft Punk at #1 all better than that R Kelly thing

 

this should have been Robbie's debut, great single. What a bad bad idea to release that cover of Freedom as debut single.

 

love Around the World from Daft Punk, two masterpieces in a row for them.

 

Staring at the Sun is easily the best from Pop.

 

can't recall how Reverence goes, will have to check later.

'Around The World' is a masterpiece :wub:

 

'You Showed Me' isn't one of my Lightning Seeds favourites but I'm glad they finally had a Top 10 hit that wasn't 'Three Lions'.

Echoing the love for 'Around the World' :wub: can see why the critics were raving about the video too, the concept is fantastic.

 

Interesting that Robbie was pushed in quite a Britpop sounding lane at first until a certain song changed everything

Around the World is superb, I still listen to it a lot these days. At the time I thought the video was one of the best I’d ever seen, such a clever idea and it’s hypnotic in its execution

 

Staring at the Sun is a decent one from U2, probably the song that has aged best from Pop. I agree with Jim’s take on You Showed Me, it was nice to see Lightning Seeds finally have a proper top 10 after coming close so many times but the song isn’t one of my faves of theirs.

 

Reverence a very unlikely top 10 hit in retrospect, I wonder if some people bought it assuming it was going to be like Insomnia and Salva Mea when really it’s much more trip hop in style.

x the Lightning Seeds, it's a pity that none of their previous "proper" singles had made the top 10

especially the many great tracks from the Jollification album like Lucky You

omiting 3 Lions, they had had 7 top 20 songs that missed the top 10:

 

Pure/16

Change/13

Perfect/18

Lucky you/15

Ready or not/20

What if/14

Sugar coated iceberg/12

 

 

Speaking of acts whose highest peaks (well as lead and up to the week before this) were #12, #13 & #14, The Future Sound Of London had their aforementioned #12 a fortnight earlier with 'We Have Explosive' (warning: flashing images in video)

 

 

and today I learnt Tangerine Dream had their their highest charting UK hit that week too... at #95:

 

Edited February 18Feb 18 by jimwatts

3RD MAY

 

 

It’s his 37th solo top 10 hit but just a 7th chart topper yes tonight Michael Jackson claims the top spot for the 4th time in the 90s and knocks the writer of his previous chart topper “You Are Not Alone” from the top in the process. R Kelly dips 1-2 (80,000) as he stretches his luck too far finally, and its Jackson’s “Blood On The Dancefloor” which replaces it, the song was written back in 1991 for his “Dangerous” album but didn’t make the cut so it has ended up on his forthcoming album “Blood On The Dancefloor-HIStory In The Mix” which, as the name implies, is a collection of remixes from his last album along with 5 new tracks including the current No 1. Sales of 83,767 saw Jackson to the top, his biggest first week tally since “Earthsong” back in 1995, it is also his 14th top 10 of the decade putting him behind only Madonna in an exact replica of the way the 80s ended- in that respect. It's also dedicated to Elton John FYI.

 

 

 

The Ascendency of 911 continues with a fifth hit and again it’s a bigger hit than their previous one, “Bodyshakin” enters at No 3 (79,000) narrowly failing to hold its midweek No 2 position. The boys album only managed No 13 before leaving the charts after just 3 weeks but raises its head at No 56 this week having only shifted 20,000 since release.

 

 

 

The top 4 were all within just 5,000 of each other making it the tightest week of the year so far and it could have gone one of several ways. Not a million miles from the top was the re-issued Cardigans track “Lovefool” which features in the current box office smash “Romeo + Juliet”, a No 21 hit when issued last September despite being a substantial airplay hit.

 

Now repacked with a new cover and promo video the song comes in at No 4 (78,000) to give their band the breakthrough they were seeking here, all previous 5 singles having missed out though garnering considerable favourable reviews from the critics.

 

 

 

Republica are a band with pedigree, keyboardist Tim Dorney was formerly in Flowered up and lead singer Saffron featured in the promo for Chesney Hawkes “The One And Only” and performed the role of frontwoman with N-Joi though it’s worth noting she did not record any vocals with the band. The group have enjoyed a relatively high profile press wise over the past 6 months thanks to their last single “Ready To Go” making No 13 on re-issue and lead singer Saffron’s forthright opinions, now “Drop Dead Gorgeous” gives them the biggest hit yet with this new at No 7 (49,000).

 

 

 

Notorious B.I.G’s recent death (9th March) at just 24 resulted in his album “Life After Death” becoming an instant chart topper in the US and lead single “Hypnotize” followed suit this week to give him a double. Rap music isn’t as big over here so the single has to settle for a No 10 berth (34,000), Puff Daddy (whom Notorious knocks from the top spot in America) produces the track which samples Herb Ritz’s “Rise” and comes with a promo filmed a month before the singer’s murder in LA.

 

 

Kudos to both DJ Quicksilver and Shola Ama who seem to be able to ride the new entries week after week to evade getting pushed out of the top 10, “Bellissima” dips 4-5 (58,000) whilst “You Might Need Somebody” finally makes inroads 7-6 (53,000). The former has now sold 237,000 and has its best week yet at retail five weeks into its run- unusual in the chart climate of 1997. Behaving more on trend are Robbie Williams (2-8, 46,000) and Blackstreet (6-9, 39,000) who will both probably be gone in 7 day’s time.

 

This week sees the release of Gary Barlow’s second single- another instant No 1?

 

 

1- BLOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR- Michael Jackson (83,767)

2- I BELIEVE I CAN FLY- R Kelly (80,000)

3- BODYSHAKIN- 911 (79,000)

4- LOVEFOOL- The Cardigans (78,000)

5- BELLISSIMA- DJ Quicksilver (58,000)

6- YOU MIGHT NEED SOMEBODY- Shola Ama (53,000)

7- DROP DEAD GORGEOUS- Republica (49,000)

8- OLD BEFORE I DIE- Robbie Williams (46,000)

9- DON’T LEAVE ME- Blackstreet (39,000)

10- HYPNOTIZE- Notorious B.I.G (34,000)

 

http://i.imgur.com/q5DvLjB.jpg

A shame that the Cardigans didn't make #1 this week as it's the most remembered out of the new ones, and it's much closer to #1 than I'd have expected for a #4 debut.

 

Republica with their second decent track in a row, a strong start that they couldn't really live up to later on. Bloke, the b-side to Ready To Go, was better than anything else they released subsequently and I presume they realised it as it made track 2 on the album

In a run of bangers every week, my pick this time is Daft Punk’s Around The World. Probably one of the best videos of all time.

Yes Lovefool big radio airplay at the time I remember and still a MOR radio fave.

 

Thought the Cardigans were from Wales until recently.

 

'Old Before I Die' is perhaps Robbie's most indie/rock track, and one of my faves from him!

Oh how close The Cardigans were to (re-)entering #1 that week, and also 911 with one of their own songs!

DJ Quicksilver did well to hit new peaks in sales in each of weeks 3, 4 & 5 in this sales climate.

 

The TOTP 1997 repeats resumed for this week after the break, the first song played...1994 #1 D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better :lol:

Yes we're finally "up to date" after tomorrow's chart!

Love fool is a classic obviously! I have a soft spot for the 911 song ha ha.

'Around The World' is timeless, and I mostly know that Lightning Seeds song from an advert :lol:

 

I never knew how close that top 4 was! :o 'Bodyshakin' is a pop classic and by far and away the best thing they ever did. 'Lovefool' and 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' are classic gems!

 

Wasn't there something about how Michael Jackson's record company went out and bought thousands of copies to get that to #1?

 

 

 

 

 

Wasn't there something about how Michael Jackson's record company went out and bought thousands of copies to get that to #1?

I've never heard of anything personally!

Drop Dead Gorgeous and Lovefool are classics, love them both so much. Had no idea how close the latter was to No.1 when it re-entered.

 

Bodyshakin' is an interesting track in that it was a b-side the previous year before making the leap to full single - somebody saw the big potential, certainly one of their better singles. They performed live at my primary school in early '98, just a few months before I left - kudos to them for doing that as they had several top fives under their belt at this point, and seeing them sing songs like this live in our school hall was quite something.

 

I do find Robbie's early material interesting, he did have Strong too which sounded a bit Britpop but clearly was pushed more in the popstar direction after Angels.

 

Shame we didn't get to see Halo on the repeats, fantastic track and proved that the Texas comeback wasn't a one-off for sure.

love Lovefool, Nina the singer lives in a town nearby but never bumped into her :o

 

also love the Republica single <3 finally a top 10 for them

@Dandy, I think* Bloke had been a (flop) single before Ready to Go, agree Bloke is a great song

 

not a big fan of Blood on the Dancefloor, not a top song from Jacko

10TH MAY

 

 

What an interesting chart week it turned into in the end and perhaps fitting for the first Labour government for 18 years. Last week’s chart topper from Michael Jackson gets pushed 1-8 (42,000) and for the first time in chart history the entire top 3 are new entries with a battle raging all week between former boyband members from different decades Gary Barlow and George Michael. Michael was ahead at the start of the week but in the end it’s Gary Barlow who lifts the trophy, his second solo single “Love Won’t Wait” comes from the pens of Shep Pettibone and Madonna and maintains Barlow’s 100% chart topping career since leaving Take That.

 

It also completes an odd statistic for former members of Take That, Gary’s first two singles have gone to No 1, Robbie’s have both gone to No 2, and Mark Owen’s have both headed to No 3! “Love Won’t Wait sold 92,027 copies last week and comes with his version of Roachford’s “Cuddly Toy” which he’s performed on some TV shows.

 

 

 

His album “Open Road” is out next month and he’ll be hoping it can do half as well as George Michael’s “Older” which has already cleared the 1.5 million mark as it boasts its fifth hit, the remixed and re-titled “Star People 97”. Michael has understandably given the track a work over from the album version and sampled the Gap Band’s “Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)” a No 22 hit in 1981, as well as re-written some of the lyrics, it suffered the same fate as “Spinning The Wheel” starting off the week ahead of the field before ceding late in the game. The single attracted 84,000 buyers last week and allows the album to lift 25-21, “Older” will celebrate its year on release next week and has never left the top 25 illustrating just how it has become his biggest era ever in the UK at least.

 

 

Interestingly both of the top 2 being new entries used to be an unusual feat with that set of circumstances never occurring until December 1984 when Band Aid and Wham! created history. It was repeated in the summer of 1989 with Jason Donovan and Cliff Richard then it went all quiet, but since August 1995 it has happened a further 8 times illustrating once more the speed with which the top of the charts now turns the hits over!

 

 

It’s the week for solo stars with John Squire’s new band The Seahorses completing our all new top 3. Squire of course left the Stone Roses last year and quickly formed the Seahorses with “Love Is The Law” becoming their first release and first hit as it sells 71,000 to enter at No 3. Some have noted that the band’s name is an anagram of “He hates Roses” but we’re assured this is just a co-incidence! Album next month.

 

 

 

Jamiroquai grab a third top 10 single from their “Travelling Without Moving” album and fifth overall, “Alright” continues where “Cosmic Girl” left off a fact reinforced by the promo which is shot as a follow up to the latter disc. The song sold 54,000 copies to debut at No 6.

 

 

 

The Cardigans hold at No 4 (69,000) as R Kelly falls past them 2-5 (58,000) but it will sell its ½ millionth copy this week. Shola Ama slips 6-7 (53,000) but DJ Quicksilver looks spent as he falls 5-9 (38,000) and 911 disappear as soon as they arrive 3-10 (31,000).

 

1- LOVE WON’T WAIT- Gary Barlow (92,027)

2- STAR PEOPLE 97- George Michael (84,000)

3- LOVE IS THE LAW- Seahorses (71,000)

4- LOVEFOOL- The Cardigans (69,000)

5- I BELIEVE I CAN FLY- R Kelly (58,000)

6- ALRIGHT- Jamiroquai (54,000)

7- YOU MIGHT NEED SOMEBODY- Shola Ama (53,000)

8- BLOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR- Michael Jackson (42,000)

9- BELLISSIMA- DJ Quicksilver (38,000)

10- BODYSHAKIN- 911 (31,000)

 

http://i.imgur.com/q5DvLjB.jpg

I may as well continue to post daily until Friday as that will mean I'll be up to date after Friday too!

It’s a bonanza!