13 hours ago, dandy* said:

All Mine and Sunchyme are the clear highlights of the past two weeks, both songs I happily still listen to.

Absolutely insane sales for Elton. Obviously it was huge but in retrospect it was really quite astonishing just how massive it was, it must seem especially insane for people who weren't around at the time given that the royal family aren't as highly regarded now (to say the least)

Were the Royals as highly thought of then? I always think of Annus Horribus 1992. Diana def helped their reputation.

Edited April 5Apr 5 by Steve201

13 hours ago, gooddelta said:

Crazy sales for Elton indeed, I remember the news reports from the time of people bundling loads of copies each to buy in their arms. What they were planning to do with 40 copies exactly, I'm not quite sure, but some people would do anything to one-up others in marking Diana's legacy it seemed.

It kept some good stuff off No.1 too, most notably Sunchyme, one of the best dance records ever <3 What an inspired use of a sample.

Interesting mini-Latin craze going on, it's always fun to remember that Ricky Martin had this big hit a couple of years before he became a proper star. Bellini was basically one of the many aliases of the guy who was also behind Fragma (and Paffendorf).

Loved seeing Some Kind Of Bliss by Kylie in the first episode tonight, one of my absolute favourite singles by her. Criminally underrated, can't believe it missed the top 20!

Nice to see The Sundays too, I always wonder what happened to them after 1997, such a lovely band. And that Robbie song was awful imo, his last single before he became a superstar. Imagine having Angels and Let Me Entertain You on your album and releasing South Of The Border first!

loooved The Sundays, think they split up after this album. Summertime is such a great song.

BBC news report on sales of "Candle In The Wind"

7 hours ago, Steve201 said:

Were the Royals as highly thought of then? I always think of Annus Horribus 1992. Diana def helped their reputation.

Diana dying was beyond huge, it was like an earthquake had hit.

The whole country went into some sort of national grief. Very strange week or so, guess you had to be there.

I was 13 and raging the Liverpool match had been called off 🤣

It’s strange but I actually got a little bit emotional rewatching that Sunchyme performance. It’s such an uplifting. Song and I think it just took me back to a happy childhood despite these episodes being tinged with sadness because of Diana.

Also the fact he passed sway last year, it was in my personal chart for weeks after that!

4TH OCTOBER

So did Oasis do it then? Of course not, Elton suffered a 31% sales decrease but still sold an incredible 1,067,000 to bring its 15 day total to 3,271,000 making it the biggest selling single in chart history ever!

To confirm, here’s the YTD top 10 as we enter the last quarter:

1- SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT/ CANDLE IN THE WIND 97- Elton John 3,271,000
2- I’LL BE MISSING YOU- Puff Daddy/ Faith Evans 1,339,000
3- DON’T SPEAK- No Doubt 834,000
4- MEN IN BLACK- Will Smith 777,000
5- MMMBOP- Hanson 712,000
6- D’YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN- Oasis 668,000
7- I BELIEVE I CAN FLY- R Kelly 667,000
8- MAMA/ WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE- Spice Girls 658,000
9- I WANNA BE THE ONLY ONE- Eternal Featuring Bebe Winans 600,000
10- TUBTHUMPING- Chumbawamba 551,000

Elton’s “Big Picture” album is out this week which will feature “Something About The Way You Look Tonight” but not “Candle In The Wind 97” so may have limited effect on the single. Regardless with that sale Elton John pushes past Oasis as the biggest selling singles act of the 90s.

Onto Oasis then and no third consecutive chart topper for them, “Stand By Me” understandably wasn’t up for unseating the Elton John juggernaut but does become their seventh straight top 3 single after selling 137,000 in the process. In 26 weeks of the year that would have been enough for No 1 but it misses out this week, under that though is a more worrying stat, it’s actually the lowest opening week sale for any Oasis single since “Whatever” in 1994- has the (admittedly huge) bubble finally burst? Only time will tell but it at least helps push “Be Here Now” back to No 1 and has sold 1.1 million in its first 6 weeks on sale. Interestingly while we noted that Elton John supersedes Oasis as the biggest singles act of the 90s they themselves only held the crown for a few days after they moved past Take That. Cruel game “Pop”!

Louise is back with a second album “Woman In Me” and lead single “Arms Around The World” which is co-written by the woman herself. Her fifth top 10 single it becomes her biggest yet smashing in at No 4 (63,000) and you’ve got just a fortnight to wait for the album but for the time being a near constant presence in the lads mags is doing the business of keeping her in the limelight.

Indeed the search for that Autumn big seller is really getting going with Janet Jackson also returning to the fray. Jackson’s album will go head to head with Louise in a repeat of the singles battle this week but Jackson lost round one “Got Til It’s Gone” debuts at No 6 (53,000), at least it is an 11th top 10 hit for the singer (depending how you view the remix of “Best Things” in 1995. Jackson of course renewed her contract with Virgin last year for $80 million in a record breaking deal and proves her worth with this Joni Mitchell sampling track which also features the rapping talents of former A Tribe Called Quest man Q-Tip.

Experiencing their 19th top 10 hit the U2 bandwagon rolls on with another single from “Pop” doing the required business. Lyrically about the Northern Ireland situation the cover features pictures of Gerry Adams, David Trimble, Ian Paisley and John Hume as "Please" arrives at No 7 (46,000). It gives the group the honour of being the first act to score 4 top 10 singles in 97!

Already an airplay No 1 M People return after two years away with a new album in the bag. “Fresco” will follow in a few weeks but for now you’ll have to be happy with “Just For You” which enters at No 8 (44,000) to become their 9th top flight hit.

Dario G improve sales to 94,000 but falls 2-3 and Chumbawamba also improve at retail to 61,000 but fall 3-5, no such contradictory factors for Will Smith and The Verve who are out of favour in all respects 5-9 (40,000) and 4-10 (38,000).  There's now been 174 new entries in the top 10- a new record as the charts continue to accelerate.


1- CANDLE IN THE WIND 97/ SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT- Elton John (1,069,000)
2- STAND BY ME- Oasis (137,000)
3- SUNCHYME- Dario G (94,000)
4- ARMS AROUND THE WORLD- Louise (63,000)
5- TUBTHUMPING- Chumbawamba (61,000)
6- GOT TIL IT’S GONE- Janet Jackson Featuring Q-Tip (53,000)
7- PLEASE- U2 (46,000)
8- JUST FOR YOU- M People (44,000)
9- MEN IN BLACK- Will Smith (40,000)
10- THE DRUGS DON’T WORK- The Verve (38,000)


 

11TH OCTOBER




It’s a good week to be Elton John, “Something About The Way You Look Tonight/ Candle In The Wind 97” not only debuts at No 1 in the US but also manages a 4th week on top here, and his album “The Big Picture” is new at No 3. Sales are off a whopping 46% though and a mere 572,000 buyers signalling that it may be vulnerable in a few weeks, the Spice Girls are taking no chances though- Originally planned to be released this week, “Spice Up Your Life” has been pushed back a week!

Proving the only real challengers to Boyzone in the boyband stakes The Backstreet Boys continue to release hit after hit including new single “As Long As You Love Me” the highest new entry at No 3 (84,000). That figure makes it their quickest seller to date and the six top 10 singles they’ve crammed into just over a year must mean they are due for a chart topper shortly.

From the boys to the girls….Eternal have been going for over 3 years now which means we get a “Greatest Hits” moment. The group are on a high at present following their first chart topper “I Wanna Be The Only One” in May which has since become their best seller with 600,000 sales and instead of plucking more singles from the “Before The Rain” album we get a new single “Angel Of Mine”. Debuting at No 4 (79,000) it becomes their 12th top 10 single from 14 releases, all of which will feature on the forthcoming best of.

Christmas must be approaching with the amount of big names returning to the chart, include in that list Lighthouse Family whose first album “Ocean Drive” has been a constant presence on the chart for 18 months and never falling out of the top 50 on its way to sales of over 1.5 million. It gave us four hit singles with “Lifted” the biggest at No 4, so the second album is much anticipated and even more so now that first single “Raincloud” arrives at No 6 (62,000).

Dario G is in decline at retail (85,000) but lifts back 3-2 as Oasis collapse 2-5 (71,000) and spare a thought for Chumbawamba who sell 60,000 and can only make No 7- how times have changed, at least it goes platinum!

Will Smith similarly has been lingering around a while and indeed rebounds 9-8 (46,000) this week thanks in part to half term and has now sold 823,000 copies on the verge of moving past No Doubt on the YTD list. Two of last week’s new entries take unsurprising dips Janet Jackson 6-9 (42,000) and Louise 4-10 (41,000) but both will be focusing on their album releases this week.


1- CANDLE IN THE WIND 97/ SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT- Elton John (572,000)
2- SUNCHYME- Dario G (85,000)
3- AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME- Backstreet Boys (84,000)
4- ANGEL OF MINE- Eternal (79,000)
5- STAND BY ME- Oasis (71,000)
6- RAINCLOUD- Lighthouse Family (62,000)
7- TUBTHUMPING- Chumbawamba (60,000)
8- MEN IN BLACK- Will Smith (46,000)
9- GOT TIL IT’S GONE- Janet Jackson Featuring Q-Tip (42,000)
10- ARMS AROUND THE WORLD- Louise (41,000)

I love Got ‘Til It’s Gone, one of my favourite Janet tracks and a great use of the sample

Arms Around The World is my favourite Louise single, although a clear rip-off of Runaway by Janet, so it’s interesting they ended up releasing lead singles on the same week. Bit weird on the TOTP performance that the crowd cheered for Louise for no reason every time the chorus came in, must have been a stage manager direction 😂

Stand By Me is the only song I liked from Be Here Now, it was never going to compete with Elton but I wish it had been the lead single so it could have been the big No.1 of the era, although I guess it doesn’t have a lead single vibe.

As Long As You Love Me is a boyband classic, it really came out in such a strong sales era so had no chance of being No.1 but it’s one of their best.

And Angel Of Mine is one of my favourite Eternal singles, beautiful and so understated. They really released three singles I loved more than anything they had ever put out previously in 1997 and then immediately imploded.

Such impressive longevity and sales for Tubthumping, it was just an unbelievable era of about 4-5 months of huge hits one after the other, pushing sales at the top through the roof. We don’t get eras like that very often (although we did most recently have one between about March and July last year).

Edited April 11Apr 11 by gooddelta

yes Stand by Me should have been the lead and deserved #1 status

it's like a million times better than D'you know

Be here now only has 2 great songs, Stand by me and Don't go away, so not many choices

I also love the Janet Jackson, but I have to admit I love it now but not so much back then, kinda passed me by and didn't buy the album either although I have bought Control and Janet

The Eternal one is a bit cheesy but always liked it too

the rest are all kinda meh and shows it was borderline too easy to go top 10 in the Uk by 1997, Please or Just for you are average songs at best, that wouldn't even trouble the top 100 if released now.

The only newbie of note is Stand By Me - Oasis’ last truly great song imo.

What were the weekly sales for Bingo when it peaked btw? Have had that in my head all day today!

Glad TOTP flipped over to playing 'Something About The Way You Look Tonight' for the last two episodes as I was quickly getting bored of 'Candle In The Wind'. It was fun to star spot in the video - with Elton, Kate Moss, Sophie Dahl and... Tina from EastEnders making appearances

What a Janet heavy week it's been with 'Someone To Call My Lover' denting the streaming charts and now 'Got 'Til It's Gone' appearing here / on TOTP *.* it's actually my favourite Velvet Rope single, agreed with Dandy that the sample is utilised really well.

I'm more familiar with Monica's cover of 'Angel of Mine' as it was a U.S. #1 but I see that version missed the top 40 altogether here

The gorgeous 'Jòga' by Björk was probably my biggest highlight on TOTP this week apparently it was ineligible to chart right now due to its formats? then later barely scraped the top 200, aw.

Christ, that M People track is SO dull it's unreal!

'Sunchyme' and 'Tubthumping' still the best of that top 10.

Quite a good dance cover of Eternals 'Angel of Mine' by Tobiahs appeared in the UK Apple chart recently.

'Stand by Me' from the bank advert is good!

1 hour ago, Jade said:

Glad TOTP flipped over to playing 'Something About The Way You Look Tonight' for the last two episodes as I was quickly getting bored of 'Candle In The Wind'. It was fun to star spot in the video - with Elton, Kate Moss, Sophie Dahl and... Tina from EastEnders making appearances

What a Janet heavy week it's been with 'Someone To Call My Lover' denting the streaming charts and now 'Got 'Til It's Gone' appearing here / on TOTP *.* it's actually my favourite Velvet Rope single, agreed with Dandy that the sample is utilised really well.

I'm more familiar with Monica's cover of 'Angel of Mine' as it was a U.S. #1 but I see that version missed the top 40 altogether here

The gorgeous 'Jòga' by Björk was probably my biggest highlight on TOTP this week apparently it was ineligible to chart right now due to its formats? then later barely scraped the top 200, aw.

oh Joga! I was actually in the UK when Diana died studying English, but one of my good memories from that time is going to a record store and buying the Joga CD singles!! Never understood why but it was ineligible indeed. Too bd cos it's one of the best songs ever and deserved to chart and sure had been a big one if allowed. And also poor One Little Indian label releasing so many formats for nothing. It also has Bjoek's best b-side ever, so Broken <3 also funnily, took me like 20 years to realise the song was not about "yoga<<2, it's actually about a friend called Joga, who I believe was Bjork's assistant back then.

18TH OCTOBER





Elton John continues at the top for a fifth week but sales are slashed again by 52% to a still eye watering 274,000 copies, its total sales are now 4,119,000 unlikely to be surpassed for many years if indeed ever! It's also the longest running No 1 of the year in terms of consecutive weeks though of course Puff Daddy spent 6 weeks at the top in 2 separate runs this summer.

You have to feel slightly sorry for Sash!, they seem to have a habit for releasing singles in direct competition to the biggest sellers of the year. Debut “Encore Une Fois” made No 2 behind the 800,000 selling “Don’t Speak”, then “Ecuador” reached the same position between the million selling “I’ll Be Missing You”, now “Stay” gives them a third No 2 hit behind the 4 million selling “Candle In The Wind 97”. Featuring vocals from La Trec it will also be available (like all the singles) on their album “It’s My Life” due in a fortnight as a re-issue with the original release now hard to find. For now 117,000 bought the single last week but it’s unlikely to progress any further.

“Shaken And Stirred” is the name of the new David Arnold project where he takes classic Bond themes and remixes them with the help of various artists. First release is “On Her Majesty’s Service” for which he teams up with The Propellerheads, for Arnold it is his first credit since his duet with Bjork “Play Dead” in 1993, but it’s the third hit for Propellerheads and the biggest for either act as it comes in at No 7 (47,000).

Mansun return to winning ways with their seventh EP with the lead title “Closed For Business”. The band had experienced continually bettering chart positions until “Taxloss” disappointed at No 15 this year, it’s all back on track now with their second top ten single with this release new at No 10 (37,000), it comes with a cover featuring pictures of paintings by Stuart Sutcliffe (the fifth Beatle).

Dario G fall 2-3 (69,000) and also slipping a spot are Backstreet Boys 3-4 (68,000), and Eternal 4-5 (63,000). Reversing their former drops are Chumbawamba 7-6 (51,000) and Janet Jackson 9-8 (42,000) but both are losing sales week on week and Lighthouse Family drop 6-9 (39,000).

So this week will see the release of the new Spice Girls single- will that delay of a week prove to be enough to depose Elton John?- all will be revealed in 7 days time.


1- CANDLE IN THE WIND 97/ SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT- Elton John (274,000)
2- STAY- Sash Featuring La Trec (117,000)
3- SUNCHYME- Dario G (69,000)
4- AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME- Backstreet Boys (68,000)
5- ANGEL OF MINE- Eternal (63,000)
6- TUBTHUMPING- Chumbawamba (51,000)
7- ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE- Propellerheads/ David Arnold (47,000)
8- GOT TIL IT’S GONE- Janet Jackson & Q-Tip (42,000)
9- RAINCLOUD- Lighthouse Family (39,000)
10- CLOSED FOR BUSINESS- Mansun (37,000)

25TH OCTOBER





It’s official there is nothing that can stop the Spice Girls not even the best selling single ever. New Single “Spice Up Your Life” dispensed with all opposition and took the crown with sales of 321,000 and extends their chart topping record to five from five releases. Only The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Elvis have strung together five consecutive chart toppers or more so the Spices are in exclusive company but none managed it with their first five releases. The track is also the 11th straight chart topper to debut there and therefore breaks the record of 10 which was itself only achieved earlier this year, and with a film, an album, and a range of dolls out before Christmas there’ll be little escaping them for the rest of 1997. The promo is inspired by the film “Bladerunner” and was filmed in between scenes from the “Spiceworld” album in case you wondered.

The arrival of “Spice Up Your Life” is bad news for Danish pop act Aqua and their debut single “Barbie Girl” which has already made No 7 in the US and started a dispute with Mattel over the use of the Barbie name. If you’ve heard the song then you’ll know that it’s very catchy indeed and attracted sales of 183,000 last week- a figure which would ordinarily have guaranteed them a chart topper but with the sales we’ve been having over the last couple of months it looks less impressive than it is. The band dates back to 1994 in its current form and they have already scored two substantial hits in Europe with “Roses Are Red” and “My Oh My” whilst “Barbie Girl” has already topped charts on the continent too.

Requested personally by director Danny Boyle to provide the theme to his new film of the same name, Ash are back with “A Life Less Ordinary” which becomes their third top 10 single on the trot. Don’t be expecting a second album from the band as they haven’t yet started to record it so this is very much a standalone single, nevertheless it enters at No 10 (40,000).

As it turns out the Spice Girls needn’t have held off a week in the end as they sold more this week than Elton did last week, he now tumbles 1-3 (144,000) but that’s still the best sale for No 3 since Boyzone at Christmas 1995. Sash! drop 2-4 (83,000) ahead of Dario G who are down 3-5 (52,000), beneath them more fallers for Backstreet Boys 4-6 (49,000), Eternal 5-7 (47,000) and Chumbawamba 6-8 (43,000).

Plugging away for 6 years with moderate success The Brand New Heavies have finally secured themselves a top 10 single albeit with a cover of the Carole King track “You’ve Got A Friend” taken to No 4 here in 1971. The band have scored 4 top 20 hits previously without having gone into the very top tier and it didn’t look likely when the song debuted at No 11 last week but with the lack of major releases this week it gets the chance to advance 11-9 (41,000).

1- SPICE UP YOUR LIFE- Spice Girls (321,000)
2- BARBIE GIRL- Aqua (183,000)
3- CANDLE IN THE WIND 97/ SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT- Elton John (144,000)
4- STAY- Sash Featuring La Trec (83,000)
5- SUNCHYME- Dario G (52,000)
6- AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME- Backstreet Boys (49,000)
7- ANGEL OF MINE- Eternal (47,000)
8- TUBTHUMPING- Chumbawamba (43,000)
9- YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND- Brand New Heavies (41,000)
10- A LIFE LESS ORDINARY- Ash (40,000)