I do love Looking For Love. Everything But The Girl could have just remixed and re-released it themselves and got another hit but I'm happy Karen did it as she has a lovely voice.

Ghetto Supastar deserved a video spin, what a classic that was on the radio all the time back then and of course the intro to Mya!

Save Tonight is great too, and good to see it has held up over time, with nearly 700m Spotify streams! What a talented family the Cherrys are.

Diva was an iconic and memorable Eurovision winner - I'm gutted Imaani came so close and didn't win (as did Malta too, who have still never won, only a point behind Imaani!). But it was a big deal at the time that Dana International won and a powerful statement because it was also the first year that the majority of countries cast their vote via televote (1997 had I think only five countries voting via televote as a trial). The minute the juries were ditched, a modern and progressive song and artist won and not yet another Celtic ballad. It feels like society has in some ways gone five steps backwards since then, which is sad.

I literally only know of Imajin from having a couple of their songs on compilations at the time - their vibe is very early 90s so I'm not surprised they didn't make it in 1998. N-Tyce, likewise, offered absolutely nothing that other groups weren't doing ten times better, and with stronger material.

911 were lucky to make the top ten with that song, quite a bore and a big step back from a strong run of singles. Obviously they then had to pull the covers trick out a couple of times to get easy big hits after this, as many faltering bands did.

Looking For Love is such a lovely song. The classical piano near the end sounds influenced by Robert Miles One and One.

Oh I forgot to say that I quite liked that Pras single at the time but I now find it really irritating. I don't think I knew Islands in the Stream at the time so I didn't realise it was a direct sample of that tune, now I do know I don't think that helps... but also I find the production a bit annoying in retrospect.

Echo the appreciation for Looking For Love.

Nice to hear the real version, the one on Spotify sounds likes she’s underwater.

I love 'Ghetto Superstar'. Very of its time though.

I can't abide the Beastie Boys.

Looking for Love instantly struck me as an EBTG song the first time I heard it.

11TH JULY



The chart was a tale of two halves this week with the biggest seller of the week Sunday through Tuesday “Three Lions 98”, it accumulated a lead which was eroded quickly as demand fell sharply once England had been knocked out of the World Cup on Thursday night by Argentina. In the end the outgoing chart topper dropped 1-4 (48,000) but did sell its half millionth copy during the week to compensate.

The new chart topper is something of a record setter. 15 year old Billie Piper may be known to some for her appearance on kids TV show “Scratchy & Co” and for TV ad’s promoting “Smash Hits” magazine, and following those she was approached by Virgin records to record a single with “Because We Want To” the result. It debuts at No 1 (80,000) and in doing she becomes not only the youngest solo star to score a No 1 since Little Jimmy Osmond in 1972 but also the second youngest female to hit the top with only Helen Shapiro younger. She’s the youngest act however to debut at the top, and the first British female soloist to do so. The B-side incidentally is a cover of Changing Faces “G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T”- a top 10 single last year and a song featured on her demo tape.  Finally, it is the 100th track to debut at No 1 on the charts depending on how you view  "Three lions 98", if you view the latter as the same disc as back 96 then BIllie gets the accolade!

New at No 7 (35,000) is a song that profits from being the final week that CD singles with 4 new tracks on will be eligible for the charts. Mansun are fine purveyors of the “EP” with all their singles so far being a sequential numbers of EP’s under their official title “Eight EP” which is unsurprisingly their 8th hit but biggest yet! Lead single “Legacy” is the first track to be lifted from their forthcoming second album and beats their previous best showing of No 9 achieved last year by “She Makes My Nose Bleed”. It was also helped by the inclusion of the Perfecto remix of their previous single “Wide Open Space” which has been a big club hit over the last year and is now finally available commercially.

England’s football woes played havoc with Fat Les too who fall 2-5 (41,000) and it left a vacuum at the top of the charts which allow Pras/ ODB/Mya to reach a new peak 4-2 (74,000) with a significant 28% sales hike thanks to promo last week, don’t rule it out of making the top yet! Meanwhile B”Witched hold steady at No 3 (66,000).

Further down Eagle Eye Cherry holds at No 6 (41,000) but after a fortnight at No 9 Karen Ramirez inches 9-8 (34,000) and Brandy & Monica are back 11-9 (30,000) lifting above former rivals Mousse T Vs Hot N Juicy who are down 7-10 (28,000). “The Boy Is Mine” remains atop the US chart for a sixth week.


1- BECAUSE WE WANT TO- Billie (80,000)
2- GHETTO SUPASTAR- Pras Michel/ ODB/ Mya (74,000)
3- C’EST LA VIE- B*Witched (66,000)
4- 3 LIONS 98- Baddiel/ Skinner/ Lightning Seeds (48,000)
5- VINDALOO- Fat Les (41,000)
6- SAVE TONIGHT- Eagle Eye Cherry (41,000)
7- LEGACY EP- Mansun (35,000)
8- LOOKING FOR LOVE- Karen Ramirez (34,000)
9- THE BOY IS MINE- Brandy & Monica (30,000)
10- HORNY- Mousse T Vs Hot N Juicy (28,000)

18TH JULY

Co-written and co-produced by Keith Sweat, Silk’s “Freak Me” topped the US chart in 1993 and five years later it has now becoming a chart topping single for Another Level. The band’s first single “Be Alone No More” made No 6 back in February but they now plant their flag firmly on the pop landscape with their version of “Freak Me” which only made No 46 here for Silk and so is, to a large extent, unknown on this side of the pond which helped with the 99,000 copies it sold last week. It was fuelled by some minor controversy because of its lyrics which have been deemed a little risqué for the teen audience (after they performed the track on “Blue Peter”) but that’s never harmed sales has it! Their opening slot for Janet Jackson on her recent European tour has also helped to raise their profile. The boys are hard at work working on their debut album due before Christmas but for now must be celebrating being top of the pile.

Written by the Bee Gees for Celine Dion and turned into a duet between them “Immortality” serves as the follow up to the year’s best seller so far “My Heart Will Go On”. It is the Gibb brothers 19th and Dion’s 12th top 10 single so far, and is a cut from Dion’s “Let’s Talk About Love” which has already sold 1.6 million in 34 weeks of release. With Pras’ “Ghetto Supastar” lodged at No 2 again (72,000) which is based on their song “Islands In The Stream”, it gives the Bee Gees two top 5 simultaneous hits as writers for the first time since 1978 when “Night Fever” and Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You” were back to back at No’s 3 & 4.  It enters at No 5 (40,000).

R Kelly’s new protégé Sparkle (real name Stephanie Edwards) is a 23 year old singer who shares the same home city of Chicago as Kelly and debuts at No 7 (31,000) this week with her first single “Be Careful”. It’s written and produced by Kelly who gets a credit himself and he even directed the promo whilst he had some free time.

Garbage have had a great 1998 so far with their second album “Version 2.0” arriving instantly at No 1 and lead single “Push It” getting to No 9 in May. Second single from the album “I Think I’m Paranoid” repeats that showing of No 9 (27,000) and was originally titled “Bend Me”, the group have just ended their European tour and are off to America and Asia now.

Billie falls 1-3 (52,000) and pushes B*Witched 3-4 (48,000), “C’est La Vie” has now spent 7 weeks inside the top five and sold an impressive 616,000 during that time earning the girls a platinum disk.

Showing just as much tenacity is Eagle Eye Cherry who spends a third week at No 6 (40,000), and rising still are Brandy & Monica who edge 9-8 (29,000) whilst Karen Ramirez drops back 8-10 (26,000).


1- FREAK ME- Another Level (99,000)
2- GHETTO SUPASTAR- Pras Michel/ ODB/ Mya (72,000)
3- BECAUSE WE WANT TO- Billie (52,000)
4- C’EST LA VIE- B*Witched (48,000)
5- IMMORTALITY- Bee Gees & Celine Dion (40,000)
6- SAVE TONIGHT- Eagle Eye Cherry (40,000)
7- BE CAREFUL- Sparkle Featuring R Kelly (31,000)
8- THE BOY IS MINE- Brandy & Monica (29,000)
9- I THINK I’M PARANOID- Garbage (27,000)
10- LOOKING FOR LOVE- Karen Ramirez (26,000)

Not a very good #1 there, from Another Level, forgettable apart from the chorus, 'Be Alone No More' is better because at least I remember the Philip George/Anton Powers hit from 2015 that was a cover of it (yes 2015 is now nostalgic never mind 1998)

I like Immortality what a nostalgic ballad. I think I remember it a lot from the time. One of the Bee Gees last hits :(

Garbage my parents were a fan of at the time but don't remember that song.

Billie Piper I wasn't a fan of at the time, I remember my auntie asking me at the time was I a fan and I answered not really.

Edited October 3, 2025Oct 3 by TheSnake

I absolutely despised that Billie single, really awful and annoyingly whiny. Another Level marginally better, I seem to remember quite enjoying some of the garage remixes of it at the time.

Good to see Mansun in the top 10 and gaining popularity following some good early singles. And Garbage making the top 10 again with another great single from Version 2.0, their first two albums really are pop/rock gold.

It’s not my favourite Billie Piper single, she did have much better to come.

I also didn’t realise C’est La Vie hung around as much as it did.

'I Think I'm Paranoid' blew everything out of the water on the two TOTP repeats tonight, great to see that in the top 10.

Garbage are so good and should have been even bigger. Loved the singles off Version 2.0 and that era for them in general.

Couldn’t stand Billie Piper as a pop star and the performances on those shows (plus the song itself) remind me why. She was hopeless at miming. It’s quite clear acting was always her strength.

Loved getting a performance there of Ghetto Supastar. I still love it.

Love Garbage so much and that's right up there with their best for me - what a song! ❤️

Good track from Garbage, but my favourite their song is You Look So Fine.

In your summary of the 11th July you say

"Finally, it is the 100th track to debut at No 1 on the charts depending on how you view  "Three lions 98", if you view the latter as the same disc as back 96 then BIllie gets the accolade!"

3 Lions 98 was a new recording with new lyrics added.

It's definitely not the same.

The Official Charts Company and Music Week both listed it as a new entry as well, therefore it should be given the accolade of the 100th song to debut at number 1.

25TH JULY




13th time lucky for Jamiroquai as “Deeper Underground” becomes their first No 1 single. The only act to be so far into their chart career in the 90s before they made the top were Eternal (who equalled this feat) and to find a regular act who beats that wait (excluding appearances in charity discs) then you have to go back to Simply Red in 1995 who waiting until their 20th hit to make the top, turns out all Jamiroquai needed was a link to a big movie. “Godzilla” opened in cinemas last Friday and though reviews have been less than favourable it was enough to help Jamiroquai over the line on a sale of 89,000, it was also assisted by “reputably” the most expensive music promo ever made by a UK act coming in at £800,000 if reports are true.

Its arrival means that last week’s top two are shoved down a notch, Another Level head 1-2 (74,000) and Pras Michael/ ODB/ Mya head south 2-3 (61,000)





It’s been 20 years since “Grease” was released and to celebrate the film getting a re-release “You’re The One That I Want” gets a re-issue too. The original of course was in the middle of a 9 week tenure at No 1 this week back in 1978 whilst the re-issue is new at No 4 (56,000) at present. The soundtrack also gets digitally remastered and now includes three promo’s for the hits released from it.

Many wrote off Ace Of Base when second album “The Bridge” failed to produce hits on the scale that the group enjoyed with their debut. Well they’ve been proved wrong, first single from a third album “Life Is A Flower” is already a major European hit and now crashes into the UK chart at No 5 (49,000). That’s their first top 10 single in four years and fourth overall.

“Grease” isn’t the only film getting a re-promotion at the moment, another one is “The Little Mermaid”, and whilst the film hasn’t been changed the soundtrack has been updated with some new versions of the songs contained within. Step forward Peter Andre who does his version of “Kiss The Girl” originally recorded by Samuel Wright in the film, and lands himself a No 9 (30,000) hit, that’s a notable improvement on the No 16 of his previous single “All Night, All Right”.

The World Cup may be over but football provides us with another top 10 single in the form of Echobeatz’s version of “Mas Que Nada”. The song is featured on the current Nike advert featuring the Brazil squad and has seeped into the national consciousness. Originating way back in 1963 when the writer Jorge Ben Jor released it as a single, it was covered by Sergio Mendes in what many consider to be the definitive version, many versions have been recorded over the years making it something of a classic though it never charted in the UK until last week. A version by Tamba Trio made No 34 seven days ago (it slides to #52 this week) which itself dates back to 1963, and now we get the updated dance version of the track which slides in at No 10 (28,000).

B*Witched tumble 4-6 (47,000), Eagle Eye Cherry finally has movement albeit a slide 6-7 (41,000) with a sales increase, and Billie finds the going tough slipping 3-8 (31,000).

This week sees Aqua going for their fourth No 1 single from four releases but they’ll have to overcome the Spice Girls who release their first single post Geri leaving- who’s gonna win?


1- DEEPER UNDERGROUND- Jamiroquai (89,000)
2- FREAK ME- Another Level (74,000)
3- GHETTO SUPASTAR- Pras Michel/ ODB/ Mya (61,000)
4- YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT- Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta (56,000)
5- LIFE IS A FLOWER- Ace Of Base (49,000)
6- C’EST LA VIE- B*Witched (47,000)
7- SAVE TONIGHT- Eagle Eye Cherry (41,000)
8- BECAUSE WE WANT TO- Billie (31,000)
9- KISS THE GIRL- Peter Andre (30,000)
10- MAS QUE NADA- Echobeatz (28,000)

1ST AUGUST

Three new entries in the top 10 this week and yes Aqua and Spice Girls are two of them and yes one of them is No 1.

In the end there was only one show in town and that was The Spice Girls. Fears over their star power waning since Geri left the group back in May seem unfounded with the single selling as much as the next five singles below it combined, and a substantial lift on the opening week enjoyed by its predecessor “Stop” despite being available on the “Spiceworld” album for months (itself at sales of 1.4 million). The single had a chequered history with the release date pushed back several times according to some reports because the girls were assessing whether to continue or not, and also the record company who were deciding on whether to proceed with a double A-Side (“Never Give Up On The Good Times” originally penciled in as the other side). With the girls currently in the US on tour, promo in the traditional sense has been limited but it didn’t matter with 277,911 copies being sold last week- the highest weekly tally for the No 1 all year!

It is the girls 7th chart topper meaning only Take That have had more No 1 singles in the 90s

Few predicted that the biggest challenge to the Spice Girls glory would be rapper Will Smith, but so it proves as his fourth solo single “Just The Two Of Us” debuts at No 2 (76,000). It is substantively a cover of the 1981 No 34 hit by Grover Washington Jnr which featured Bill Withers on backing vocals though Smith has changed the meaning of the song turning it into an homage to his new born son (Trey appears in the promo) and proved just too cute for many to ignore.

So onto that fourth Aqua single and though it was never in with a shot at No 1 it was at No 3 as the first sales flashes came in but faltered as the week progressed ending up as a new entry at No 6 (46,000). The group therefore fail to get a fourth chart topper from four releases but the only group to achieve that are once again at No 1 this week!

Pras Michael/ ODB/ Mya hold at No 3 (53,000) as sales of “Ghetto Supastar” now top the 400,000 mark but its chances of making No 1 now seem to have passed. Another Level fall 2-4 (53,000) and last week’s chart topper dives 1-5 (48,000) for Jamiroquai with Ace Of Base sliding 5-7 (45,000). Eagle Eye Cherry slips 7-8 (42,000) but his album “Desireless” arrives at No 3 to give him a good week, two former chart toppers round us off, B*Witched falter 6-9 (39,000) and Billie recedes 8-10 (29,000) but “C’est La Vie” sells its 700,000th copy before leaving the top flight.


1- VIVA FOREVER- Spice Girls (277,911)
2- JUST THE TWO OF US- Will Smith (76,000)
3- GHETTO SUPASTAR- Pras Michel/ ODB/ Mya (53,000)
4- FREAK ME- Another level (53,000)
5- DEEPER UNDERGROUND- Jamiroquai (48,000)
6- MY OH MY- Aqua (46,000)
7- LIFE IS A FLOWER- Ace Of Base (45,000)
8- SAVE TONIGHT- Eagle Eye Cherry (42,000)
9- C’EST LA VIE- B*Witched (39,000)
10- BECAUSE WE WANT TO- Billie (29,000)

'Life Is A Flower' is such a nostalgic song I remember it a lot on the radio at the time as a 6 year old, I therefore prefer it to Ace of Base's earlier hits!

'Viva Forever' is a lovely ballad too.

Life Is A Flower is my go-to 'happy song', I've always loved it since I first heard it, and delighted it restored them to top 10 hit making ways, even if it saw Linn push herself to the back with Jenny taking over on lead vocals from this point.

Viva Forever is my absolute favourite Spice Girls song, such a beautiful single and its high sales were so deserved. The video was so memorable too. This era reminds me of that game they had out on the Playstation at the time too.

I definitely went to see Godzilla in this period but don't really care for that Jamiroquai single, their 1996 output and Canned Heat in 1999 were all more my thing.

I always forget about the dance cover of Mas Que Nada but it was a nice enough version. There were two more interesting and memorable dance entries in the top 20 on these two weeks though, the classic trance track Cafe Del Mar by Energy 52 and the brilliant garage cover of Teardrops by Lovestation, both of which I still play a lot.

Interesting that Aqua had been expected to go in above Will Smith, I guess due to past form even though it was the fourth single from the album. My Oh My is pretty good but doesn't compare to the three prior singles for me. Then again, I'm not into the Will Smith cover at all, it's quite a sweet sentiment but Miami was better and I still don't get why that was released near Christmas and this slower song was released in the summer.

Great sales and chart consistency for Save Tonight!