Wow, I never realised that Ghetto Superstar hung around for as long as it did. It feels like it’s been in the top 10 for a little while.

It's interesting that the charts slowed down a bit in 1998 in the top ten, and you can see it with some of these protracted runs for many songs. But there were some very big, classic songs released that year, particularly ballads and MOR stuff, and these are the kinds of songs that did tend to hang around longer when wider audiences more slowly heard them over time.

Lucid was a good top 10 hit in the first show, and it was lovely to see Life Is A Flower and Viva Forever again, two of my favourite songs of the year.

The second episode was a really interesting one. Sash! with his best song for me and Tina Cousins with a brilliant live vocal almost indistinguishable from the record it was so good. And then Solid Harmonie with an early Britney-esque Max Martin song that I have always enjoyed. A great track by Placebo too, and I have always enjoyed No Matter What, a lovely vocal from Stephen Gately on it and mega sales for the track!

Oh we’re a chart away from one of my biggest chart disappointments

Needin’ U was a huge club track, there were so many classics around this period. Still love it now, especially when the piano line changes to become more melodic. Lucid was pretty decent too, although I felt that synth sound was getting a bit tired after Insomnia and Encore Une Fois.

Pure Morning was a great return for Placebo and the album had better still, it was one of my most listened to of the decade.

That first episode of TOTP tonight aired the day my brother was born! 'I'll Be Missing You' is my birthday #1 so I'm especially glad 'Viva Forever' thrashed 'Come With Me' otherwise we'd both be lumbered with Diddy birthday #1s *_*

I was so here for that trio of songs opening the first episode - a joyful start of 'Life is a Flower', then a strong newie in 'I Can't Help Myself' and lastly 'The Boy Is Mine' finally got an outing. I'd never seen the TOTP performance of 'I Can't Help Myself' before but it was a memorable one with the intense facial expressions and straitjacket. All that aside - I do love how its trancey production builds and the emotive vocals.

I'm not a Boyzone fan whatsoever but 'No Matter What' is their best so didn't mind hearing that. Incredible sales for them!

Argh poor Sash! yet again stalling at #2. Like Rich, 'Mysterious Times' is my favourite of theirs too <3 I remember being surprised when I first heard it, as it was less brash than the other Sash! hits I knew, but that more mellow trance sound and Tina Cousins' dreamy vocals were a great match.

I was obviously enjoying all the trance today but 'Pure Morning' was a breath of fresh air on TOTP amongst everything else nevertheless, brilliant song and Brian Molko is mesmerising to watch

Ooh 'Needin' U' didn't get an outing on the TV today but that is also great. Love its loopy carnival sound. This is the most positive I've felt about 1998 so far!

The Sash!/Tina Cousins and Lucid tracks are great!

Needin' U is good too.

Edited October 17Oct 17 by TheSnake

Mysterious Times is my favourite Sash song but Tina Cousins vocals on it are great.

Wow at those sales for 'No Matter What'. It was undeniably everywhere though so maybe shouldn't be too surprising. Love 'Mysterious Times' as well. Shame Sash! never managed a chart topper.

'Pure Morning' is excellent.

Lucid, Placebo and Sash are the best out of those new entries.

Like others, Mysterious Times is my favourite Sash song.

Also love No Matter What, Boyzones best song by miles!

9 hours ago, dandy* said:

Oh we’re a chart away from one of my biggest chart disappointments

I know :( one of mine too.

Yes, No Matter What is my favourite Boyzone song too.

In fact it was the first song I’d heard from them.

'Pure Morning' is an absolute all-time fave, as is 'Mysterious Times' which has also over time emerged as my favourite of his singles.

Love 'Needin' U' and 'I Can't Help Myself' (still desperately hoping the latter of which will be made available on streaming someday)

On 11/10/2025 at 12:18, Jessie Where said:

Love 'Cafe Del Mar'! ❤️ I suppose being instrumental may have limited its commercial appeal?

Every time I'm reminded of a Will Smith entry, I realise just how lazy he was as an 'artist'

Does anyone know whether R1 A Listed it or because it was an instrumental it was B Listed?

22ND AUGUST

Behind all week Boyzone were on for a shock departure from the top after just a week, but “No Matter What” fought back well and crowned the week off with a TOTP performance which even featured Andrew Lloyd Webber “playing” piano on the show despite the instrument not actually being part of the track. Sales trailed off 37% to 176,000 which was just enough to see the single become the first Boyzone single to make No 1 for more than a solitary week.

The midweek chart topper came from one of the biggest records of the summer, Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You” which Samples Chaka Khan’s “Fate”. The brainchild of Thomas Bangalter (he of Daft Punk fame) among others, the song has been floating around on import for some weeks now selling around 20,000 and rising to No 55 just last week. That may ultimately have cost it a chart topping debut with the track moving 171,500 this week to enter at No 2. Had it have topped the charts it would have been the first wholly French No 1 here for 24 years (Charles Aznavour) but it wasn’t to be.

It’s fair to say that “Truly Madly Deeply” certainly resurrected the career of Savage Garden here in the UK, its success means that the band have brushed down and remixed former flop single “To The Moon And Back” which only made No 55 last year. A new (and third) promo has now been made to fit the new mix and voila the group getting their highest peaking single yet at No 3 (93,000) though it will have to have a lot of longevity to become their highest selling single after the last single went platinum for 600,000 sales.

Cleopatra have been busy cracking the US top 30 with debut single “Cleopatra’s Theme” which launched them here hitting No 3 back in February. Back in the UK we’re on single number three and it’s cover time, picking up The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” the group debut at No 4 (71,000)- a third top 4 single, a good start for the sisters who are still being championed by Madonna!

Next up a clever record. Simply Red’s cover album “Blue” topped the charts a few months ago with lead single “Say You Love Me” making No 7 and the follow up now arrives. “The Air That I Breathe” was the song that became the Hollies biggest hit of the 70s making No 2 in 1974 and was a cover of the Albert Hammond original from his 1972 album, it is now covered in two versions by Mick Hucknell on his current album. One version was a relatively faithful cover of the original whilst the other was the same song put to a different backing and tune sampling John Mellencamp’s “Jack And Diane” to in effect create two different tracks. Now a single CD1 contains one version whilst CD 2 has the two versions with radio seeming to favour the latter version surprisingly, at any rate they are rewarded for their ingenuity by debuting at No 6 (48,000), their 8th top 10 single.

A studio project in the main, Sweetbox have been together (albeit with different lead singers) since 1995. Marrying together dance and rap to classical music it finally delivers with some help from Bach’s “Air On A G String” to form “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” which smashes in at No 7 (43,000). That same sample helped to create pop history in also forming the basis for Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” a chart topper way back in 1967.

Five new entries in the top 7 is something of a record but beside Boyzone only Sash! Featuring Tina Cousins keep their top 5 position from last week dropping 2-5 (49,000). The Spice Girls hurtle 3-8 (40,000), Pras Michel/ODB/Mya fall 5-8 (31,000) and Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page slip 7-10 (29,000).


1- NO MATTER WHAT- Boyzone (176,000)
2- MUSIC SOUNDS BETTER WITH YOU- Stardust (171,500)
3- TO THE MOON AND BACK- Savage Garden (93,000)
4- I WANT YOU BACK- Cleopatra (71,000)
5- MYSTERIOUS TIMES- Sash! Featuring Tina Cousins (49,000)
6- THE AIR THAT I BREATHE- Simply Red (48,000)
7- EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT- Sweetbox (45,000)
8- VIVA FOREVER- Spice Girls (40,000)
9- GHETTO SUPASTAR- Pras Michel/ ODB/ Mya (31,000)
10- COME WITH ME- Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page (29,000)

29TH AUGUST

With no physical group to push the record and no promo yet Stardust may have cursed their own track “Music Sounds Better With You”. TOTP had to make a montage of classic clips of the audience from the show to play whilst the track played over it which still, admittedly, helped the song on its way to sales 129,000, not too far behind Boyzone’s “No Matter What” on 148,422 but you have to fancy that its chances of now reaching the top are slim. Boyzone’s album plummets 6-21 as stocks of the old version run low but with the new version available this week and including “No Matter What” it should bounce back up.

Currently at No 1 on the album charts and selling its 600,000th copy at the same time, The Corrs “Talk On Corners” is the eighth biggest album of the year so far. It marks just the second time ever that different Irish acts top both charts with Boyzone involved in the last one with B*Witched back in June. The Corrs can also celebrate with another hit single “What Can I Do” which made No 53 back in March and now gets the remix treatment by Tin Tin out to give them their biggest single yet new at No 3 (103,000).

After Aqua comes Alda, an Icelandic singer who has had a huge European hit with “Real Good Time” and now finds herself at No 7 (39,000) here. She started out on cruise ships before giving her life up on the high seas for a shot at chart fame.

A third top 10 hit on the trot seems to indicate that Embrace have found a place in our hearts, “My Weakness Is None Of Your Business” comes in at No 9 (31,000). It’s another cut from their debut set “The Good Will Out” which topped the charts in June but the group are yet to prove that they can produce a hit that sticks around for more than a few weeks- we’ll see.

Savage Garden are down 3-4 (67,000) but easily fend off Sweetbox who look a thread as they rise 7-5 but they only sold 43,000 in the process and actually lost sales week on week. Sash! drift 5-6 (41,000), Spice Girls hold at No 8 (34,000) and Pras Michel/ ODB/Mya lag 9-10 (31,000).


1- NO MATTER WHAT- Boyzone (148,422)
2- MUSIC SOUNDS BETTER WITH YOU- Stardust (129,000)
3- WHAT CAN I DO?- The Corrs (103,000)
4- TO THE MOON AND BACK- Savage Garden (67,000)
5- EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT- Sweetbox (43,000)
6- MYSTERIOUS TIMES- Sash! Featuring Tina Cousins (41,000)
7- REAL GOOD TIME- Alda (39,000)
8- VIVA FOREVER- Spice Girls (34,000)
9- MY WEAKNESS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS- Embrace (31,000)
10- GHETTO SUPASTAR- Pras Michel/ ODB/Mya (31,000)

Two weeks over 100K and not making #1 😭

I love 'To The Moon and Back', its such a great pop-rock song.

Stardust is good, joyous disco revival, interesting that TOTP made their own video for it.

Poor Stardust, that’s awfully unlucky. The Corrs also managing to shift over 100k and not even get top 2! I never realised What Can I Do sold so much in week 1!

At the time I didn’t realise Alda was 32 during this performance but watching it back it seems more obvious.

big sales! I bought Savage Garden, it was well clear of Sweetbox, and yet it wasnt anywhere close to the top 3😮

Stardust how unlucky indeed.

Shame we didn't get the meta moment of the chart rundown themed music video being played on TOTP