28. Britney Spears - Born To Make You Happy

Rate: 7/10

Reason: Like Westlife, Britney managed No.1 singles from two different studio albums/eras during 2000, and Born To Make You Happy was the final UK single to be lifted from her debut (other countries, like the US) got From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart. It's not unimpressive that this made it to the top after Sometimes and (You Drive Me) Crazy both failed to do so, maybe it was just the right time for a slower single in the run up to Valentine's Day or maybe the public just really clicked with this one. For me, it's a classic example of Cheiron pop that could also very easily have been a Backstreet Boys or 'NSync song, with that slight Scandipop feel to it and all the classic production hallmarks of theirs. Britney delivered it well, especially the middle eight, and the label did probably make the right decision not pushing the more funky 'Bonus' remix that some radio stations were apparently playing outside the UK, which uses some slightly different vocals and in my opinion does take something away from the nice melody in the process of throwing the kitchen sink at the production. Good single, but not a Britney classic for me.

27. Steps - Stomp

Rate: 7/10

Reason: As far as I know, this was the lowest selling No.1 of 2000, certainly in weekly terms anyway with a sale little over 50k to top the chart, and when you look at all of their classics that peaked at No.2, in some ways it is weird that Stomp ended up as one of Steps' two chart-toppers, but such is the nature of the charts sometimes. It was the lead single from third album Buzz, and was certainly improved upon with the next single - It's The Way You Make Me Feel - which sold a lot more but missed out on topping the chart due to collding with Touch Me by Rui da Silva. Nevertheless, Stomp is a perky Chic sampling number which actually is brilliant when performed live and a real moment with the hand claps in the chorus. But listening to the studio version at home, paired with the very Y2K house party video, does have more than a whiff of naff to it. There are 20 Steps songs I'd listen to before this, but it's still a solid pop song and there were certainly some looks in that era weren't there.

As a brief diversion, 2000 also generated a strong batch of 19 UK No.2s, a not insubstantial number really when on many weeks the No.2 slot would be filled with one of the many No.1s from the previous week departing.

And here is my rank of those, in case it might give any clues on the acts still to feature in this rank with their No.1 hits:

1. Kylie Minogue - On A Night Like This (9.5/10)

2. Daft Punk - One More Time (9/10)

3. Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400 (9/10)

4. S Club 7 - Reach (9/10)

5. Bomfunk MC's – Freestyler (9/10)

6. Samantha Mumba - Gotta Tell You (9/10)

7. Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers (9/10)

8. True Steppers & Dane Bowers Featuring Victoria Beckham - Out Of Your Mind (8/10)

9. Moloko - The Time Is Now (8/10)

10. S Club 7 - Two In A Million / You're My Number One (8/10)

11. Martine McCutcheon - I'm Over You (8/10)

12. Artful Dodger & Romina Johnson - Movin Too Fast (8/10)

13. Donnell Jones feat Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes - U Know What's Up (8/10)

14. Blink 182 - All The Small Things (8/10)

15. Sonique – Sky (7.5/10)

16. Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue – Kids (7/10)

17. Sash! - Adelante (7/10)

18. Westlife - What Makes A Man (6/10)

19. Baha Men - Who Let The Dogs Out (5/10)

Britney about right

The “more than a whiff of naff to it” one too high

Happy to see 'Kernkraft 400' within your podium of 2000 #2s! I think I'd have 'Movin' Too Fast' and 'Sky' a bit higher but generally sharing a lot of favourites there.

Need to know if 8th for 'Out Of Your Mind' is satisfactory enough for Michael x

26. Robbie Williams - Rock DJ

Rate: 7/10

Reason: Time to say goodbye to a big hitter and one of the biggest sellers of the year. Robbie was coming off the back of a huge era with I've Been Expecting You and quite possibly could have put anything out at this point and got a No.1. I'm not sure quite what I expected him to release at this point, but Rock DJ wasn't it; a disco tinged pop/half-rap kind of Ian Dury inspired number with an extremely memorable video with plenty of shock value. Almost a novelty song in some respects with some of the lyrics and the style of the female backing vocals, but it has a great bassline although one I recently realised (upon buying Now Yearbook '77 Extra) was sampled from Barry White's It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me, so there was something about the soul legend that was appealing to people in 2000! Anyway, Rock DJ is clearly a clever, classic song from a superstar at the top of their game, and was absolutely inescapable at the time, a good example of a British pop song that went stratospheric (apart from in the US), but like with Kids, it is just not really my style and I'd take Supreme over it any day.

4 minutes ago, Jade said:

Happy to see 'Kernkraft 400' within your top 3 of 2000 #2s! I think I'd have 'Movin' Too Fast' and 'Sky' a bit higher but generally sharing a lot of favourites there.

Need to know if 8th for 'Out Of Your Mind' is satisfactory enough for Michael x

Kernkraft 400 was so hypnotic, I just can't imagine anything like that taking off now at all, a really pulsing nearly full instrumental like that.

I was thinking about Michael when I ranked that there (this position's gonna punish you).

25. Destiny's Child - Independent Women, Pt. 1

Rate: 7.5/10

Reason: From the Charlies Angels soundtrack, Independent Women, Pt. 1 was a gear change for Destiny's Child, who had gone through line-up changes but had settled on the familiar trio of Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle by this point, their first single since Say My Name which went to No.3 earlier in the year and would actually become their biggest classic in time with over a billion streams now. Independent Women, Pt. 1 definitely did benefit from being in the film but it was also a strong female empowerment anthem with strong production and a lot of hooks that would go viral if it was released today ('Question?', 'I bought it'), an effective choral middle eight, and - weirdly - the three lead stars from the film being namechecked in the intro. They would continue on this high level with the likes of Survivor and Bootylicious and never really looked back, but for me - despite being a great song - other classics of theirs have aged better.

24. Manic Street Preachers - The Masses Against The Classes

Rate: 7.5/10

Reason: Like with Steps earlier, Manic Street Preachers had two No.1 singles in the UK, one which made a lot of sense and the other less so when you look at some of their classics that didn't make it. However, despite not perhaps being one of their more accessible releases (it has under 1m Spotify streams), The Masses Against The Classes is a blistering and heavy anti-establishment rock track with a big chorus that made for a refreshing change after four weeks of Westlife, and was the first new No.1 single of the millennium. It was probably partially helped out by being a limited release - it was apparently deleted after the first day on sale but must have had plenty of copies floating around as it charted for seven weeks. As an aside, I've noticed writing this that it has a very similar intro to Can We Fix It? (!), so no doubt Neil Morrissey was a fan.

Not much to add on those 3: we’re into the good but not all time classic zone.

23. U2 - Beautiful Day

Rate: 7.5/10

Reason: I've always been a bit hit and miss with U2, but there's no denying the All That You Can't Leave Behind album was a monster, a return to their rock roots and a commercial renaissance of sorts after they dabbled in more leftfield styles for a lot of the 90s. Beautiful Day was a storming lead single, a stadium-ready anthem with a mega chorus but with quite restrained verses and guitar work reminiscent of some of their big 80s classics. I actually personally preferred the two singles that followed this one, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of and the Tomb Raider mix of Elevation, but Beautiful Day was a good song and probably the most memorable/classic rock No.1 of 2000.

22. A1 - Same Old Brand New You

Rate: 8/10

Reason: We've reached the 8/10 mark here, and I think the songs left are a mix of undeniable classics and/or songs that I personally hold in high regard. This song falls into the latter category. Obviously A1's Take On Me cover I've documented earlier and didn't think was good, but I do appreciate the way it took the band up to the next level of popularity, meaning they had more ears on them when Same Old Brand New You was released. I'm not so sure this single would have got to No.1 had it been the lead, as I think the cover and its video gave them more press attention. Written by Ben, Christian and Mark from the band along with Eric Foster White, this is a really good boyband single that pulls the trick that I always love of using the intro part again later in the track, in this case as a middle-eight, where it is made more dramatic with different chords underneath it. The production on this song is otherwise quite Cheiron-esque and of the time, with *NSYNC vibes, but I do really like it and I'm glad they got a No.1 that wasn't a cover to their name. It did dive to No.8 the week after so is probably the most forgotten track in the top 30.

'Rock DJ' is vile. That might be contending for my bottom one actually 😂

I do really like that A1 song though!

14 hours ago, awardinary said:

Ok caught up...

So that final Westlife song was clearly a marketing ploy to try and attract a wider American audience albeit ineffective. The collaboration didn't feel like either artist wanted it at the time but labels pushed it to happen. The result was a very unimpressive #1 from the year. Incidentally I don't think it make it onto any compilation at the time.

For Oasis, I did in fact enjoy that single at the time, it felt anthemic at the time, and I didn't know too many Oasis songs by name at this point despite hearing many of them in the years before. I didn't care for the other releases from this era from them but they improved in their next era for me. The song itself was enough to appear on New Hits 2000 which I was pleased with.

The Billie Piper story is a sad one for me. She had so much star potential and charisma. I ended up enjoying Something Deep Inside more than her #1 of this era even though it never made it onto a Now compilation at the time. I think I've even played Walk Of Life more times than her #1 here but I wish we had so much more from her as a pop star. She had so much energy, good looks and her music was great. I'm glad she at least made the Top 30 here, though I'd wish it was a tad higher.

Walk of Oife is a brilliant song. In factz did you know there were plans to have ri as the Spice Giels' final ever single, aa a duet qith Billie Piper?! It qas gonna be a QUADRUPLE A SEED, Billie solo version, Spice version with Billie, Spice solo version of THEIR sang Walk of Life, Spice version with Billie, plus the B seeds being a solo Spice version of Walk of Life and a Billiw solo version of Spice Girls' Walk of Life!!!!

14 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

22. A1 - Same Old Brand New You

Rate: 8/10

Reason: We've reached the 8/10 mark here, and I think the songs left are a mix of undeniable classics and/or songs that I personally hold in high regard. This song falls into the latter category. Obviously A1's Take On Me cover I've documented earlier and didn't think was good, but I do appreciate the way it took the band up to the next level of popularity, meaning they had more ears on them when Same Old Brand New You was released. I'm not so sure this single would have got to No.1 had it been the lead, as I think the cover and its video gave them more press attention. Written by Ben, Christian and Mark from the band along with Eric Foster White, this is a really good boyband single that pulls the trick that I always love of using the intro part again later in the track, in this case as a middle-eight, where it is made more dramatic with different chords underneath it. The production on this song is otherwise quite Cheiron-esque and of the time, with *NSYNC vibes, but I do really like it and I'm glad they got a No.1 that wasn't a cover to their name. It did dive to No.8 the week after so is probably the most forgotten track in the top 30.

My god ... this is awful!! Forgot about this existing

21. Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around

Rank: 8/10

Reason: 2000 was a great time to be a Kylie Minogue fan. I only properly got into music myself in around 1998 so obviously, while aware of Kylie's achievements and past hits, I was not a real-time fan at any point until the Light Years album came out as Kylie was between eras at this point and hadn't been in the top 10 since 1994. But with Spinning Around she made her intentions known again ('did I forget to mention that I found a new direction...and it leads back to me'). A huge pop track with a memorable video thanks to the gold hot pants, and co-written by Paula Abdul, which always makes me think 'what could have been' for her career perhaps had it received even half the attention Kylie got with it.

I think with Spinning Around I have more of a fond appreciation than a deep love for it - it paved the way for greater things that could not have happened without this song being a hit - the immediate follow up On A Night Like This was one of my favourite songs of the year, and obviously in 2001 she went stratospheric again with Can't Get You Out Of My Head and the Fever album. But this is a really catchy pop/disco song that is still played, quoted and well regarded today, and it did its job of putting Kylie back on the map, helping her go from a bubblegum pop star of yesteryear turned cult indie prospect, into a proper legend. So thank goodness it all clicked and it was a hit!

The top 20 will start tomorrow, and here are the 20 No.1 singles remaining:

All Saints - Black Coffee

All Saints - Pure Shores

Britney Spears - Oops! I Did It Again

Craig David - 7 Days

Craig David - Fill Me In

Eminem - Stan

Eminem - The Real Slim Shady

Fragma - Toca's Miracle

Gabrielle - Rise

LeAnn Rimes - Can't Fight The Moonlight

Madison Avenue - Don't Call Me Baby

Madonna - Music

Melanie C - I Turn To You

Melanie C feat Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Never Be The Same Again

Modjo - Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

Ronan Keating - Life Is A Rollercoaster

S Club 7 - Never Had A Dream Come True

Sonique - It Feels So Good

Spiller feat Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)

The Corrs - Breathless

Christ I disagree wirh almost all of rhis list!!! I hated that 02 song was I was a xhild, bur now ir sounds good...

I'd have Kylie, DC with one of their best ever songs, Sromp and Britney's brilliant ballad all top 20. In fact, that DC sang was based on an unreleased Spice Girls sang that they knew about via their friend Darkchild!! Spice Girls made some awful singles and in general decisions after Ego Spice left.

That no.2s list is VERY valid, seeing as major songs missed our due to bad riming or bad decisions, oe had them SROLEN by press battles. VB should be no.1!! Orherwise can't conplain about rhe order, bur VB should be no 1 EASILY as in real life

“Same Old Brand New Year” is a really good bit of pop. “Spinning Around” and “Beautiful Day” are both very nice but lacking a little oomph for me.

All Saints - Black Coffee

All Saints - Pure Shores

Britney Spears - Oops! I Did It Again

Fragma - Toca's Miracle

Gabrielle - Rise

LeAnn Rimes - Can't Fight The Moonlight

Madison Avenue - Don't Call Me Baby

Madonna - Music

Melanie C - I Turn To You

Melanie C feat Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Never Be The Same Again

Modjo - Lady (Hear Me Tonight)

S Club 7 - Never Had A Dream Come True

Sonique - It Feels So Good

I was gonna say this would be my top 10 of the last ones standing, till I realised there were 13!! Soo Rise,Don't Call Me Baby and S Club out. Madonna's Music is a soue one. I like it, bur all I can think id VB would have had such a better career eeleasing one week later vs Madonna!!

Good to see 'Same Old Band New You' as high as 22. Their second best song after 'Caught In The Middle' easily. Oops at Kylie missing out on top 20. Do much prefer 'On A Night Like This' though.