21 Seconds To Go I wanted someone to sue for false advertising - it was considerably longer, to my dismay. I'd bung it lower down the list, though I can see why it appealed to a younger crowd at the time. Hey baby really got on my nerves. Loved the original and this just turned it into singalong karaoke for better or worse. Ditto Angel, Shaggy had way better singles before and since, it just annoyed me as it's not a patch on either The Joker or any of several great versions of Angel Of The Morning: including Juice Newton, PP Arnold and more. PP is out on a great collab with Cast this week 57 or 58 years on from her cover. Shaggy's been doing good singles with Sting lately, and Rayvon... hasn't.

#18

Robbie Williams – Eternity / The Road To Mandalay

Date Charted: 21/07/2001

Weeks at #1: 2

UK Chart Run: {1}-1-3-2-5-11-12-20-26-32-44-55-62-63-64-73->16

Chart Commentary

Onto the other Robbie #1 of 2001, and possibly the final double-A side #1 ever! Robbie's twinned singles 'Eternity' and 'The Road To Mandalay' were a two week chart topper in July 2001. It is a customary Robbie ballad of which the lyrics were written as a tribute to Robbie's close friendship with Geri Halliwell. Brian May of Queen plays electric guitar on the track. The two weeks it was top it denied acts like Wyclef Jean, Ian Van Dahl, U2 and Sisqo from all reaching higher peaks. I don't dislike 'Eternity' as a single, but I am much less enthused about the B side. I would suggest it would be one of Robbie's mid-tier hits in his back catalogue as he had much better ones and also worse ones too.

"Eternity" is the best Robbie's solo single.

I’d actually put Robbie in a similar position but on the strength of “The Road To Mandalay” which is a forgotten gem. “Eternity” is a snoozer.

Hmm don’t agree with Hearsay and Robbie (Eternity) being so low, but can’t really argue with the rest of the placing so far.

Eternity and The Road To Mandalay are both good. When I saw Robbie live a few years back at the O2 I was struck by how lovely Eternity was live, I always forget about the song as it wasn't on a studio album.

The 'ba ba bum bum bum' chorus of the other a-side is annoying for me but the rest of the song is solid.

Oh Wardy! 21 Seconds is an absolute classic of it's genre and absolutely does not deserve bottom 10 amongst all that blandness x That would easily be top 10 for me. I would also dispute Afroman being last, it's a gimmick but it's a fun one.

2001 was a pretty poor year for number 1s overall, but there were a few highlights and pleased to see most of them still to come x

'Eternity' is awfully dreary for me, almost like his equivalent of 'Ordinary' in that sense.

Although he was seriously hot in the video.

#17

DJ Pied Piper & The Masters Of Ceremonies – Do You Really Like It?

Date Charted: 02/06/2001

Weeks at #1: 1

UK Chart Run: {1}-2-2-3-6-10-16-22-27-31-35-37-49-57->14

Chart Commentary

We were "lovin' it, lovin' it, lovin' it" in Summer 2001 as the UK gave its weekly pocket money to purchase the garage-infused single from one-hit-wonder DJ Pied Piper & The Masters Of Ceremonies. A summery bop certain to be played at BBQ's up and down the country during the hot weather, it was another example of a song going viral very quickly and gaining public traction. It was on the week it reached the top that efforts by Dido, Blue, Radiohead, 3LW and Sunshine Anderson all charted below it. They did release one follow-up single that never charted.

This was the biggest hit of the year among my schoolmates. One of the cheesier garage records for sure but I can see why it was huge.

The follow-up was cancelled in the end as a single but did appear on a few compilations.

Edited Monday at 21:073 days by gooddelta

Justice for Hear’says forgotten second single!

Get the single mix on Spotify!

#16

Limp Bizkit – Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)

Date Charted: 27/01/2001

Weeks at #1: 2

UK Chart Run: {1}-1-4-4-6-11-20-23-27-33-47-49-55->13

Chart Commentary

Going against the grain with other #1s from 2001, the only rock entry in this list comes from Fred Durst and his rap metal band. The music video received the award for Best Rock Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. The song was well known among WWE fans as the entrance theme for professional wrestler The Undertaker and again for WrestleMania XIX in 2003 where it was performed live. It was certainly different from any other #1 from the time, and perhaps you'd think it benefitted from little competition the two weeks it was #1... but it denied the likes of All Saints, P!nk, Usher, Dr. Dre and others from higher peaks. Easily a fun song to listen to as a kid, but it's legacy isn't so great now, but it's still more interesting to listen to than a lot of the pop #1s that 2001 had to offer.

I always absolutely hated the DJ Pied Piper track, probably made worse by everyone at school endlessly quoting it

I agree with “Do You Realiy Like It?” and “Rollin’” being mid table - both catchy and irritating in equal measure. Justice for “21 Seconds” though.

A mostly pretty strong top half though there’s some pretty (pure and) simple stuff that’s somehow made it.

I found Eternity a snooze too, for me the proper A side is Road To Mandalay one of Robbie's best and one of the best chart-toppers of the year, class, a bit of a departure in style. Do You Really Like It? No. Very annoying then and now. Limp Bizkit was grungepop and it was fine by me, it rocked and that was an increasing rarity at the top end of the UK charts....

I found an old notebook where I'd put my own top 40 hits of 2001 at (or near) the end of the year. Some of the positions have changed a lot (for example The Strokes - Hard To Explain which is now my favourite 2001 hit was at a lowly #22 then), however quite a few UK #1s appeared, including some of those already out in the bottom half of this countdown - my positions then given below:

#7 tba

#10 Eternity

#12 tba

#15 Angel

#16 tba

#17 tba

#18 Do You Really Like It?

#19 tba

#20 Hey Baby

#25 The Way To Your Love

#29 tba

Fortunately more of these (the tba ones) are in the top half of this countdown than the bottom half, just about! I'd only stand by the first three of these now, 'Eternity' was quite resonant for me then, but I still think it's one of Robbie's best and most sincerely performed songs. 'Angel' was certainly too high - it shouldn't have been above the tba at 16, 17 & 19 - and the other three already revealed were perhaps in guilty pleasure territory even then, however I do remember 2001 being a year when I started to appreciate more of the big pop music of the time again after feeling like it had become a bit generic and calculated in the year or so before.

#15

Five – Let's Dance

Date Charted: 25/08/2001

Weeks at #1: 2

UK Chart Run: {1}-1-2-5-9-17-21-26-33-47-65-75->12

Chart Commentary

We now pass the halfway point and look at the songs that made the top half of Wardy's rank of 2001. Starting off with another boyband, this time Five, who were coming towards the end of their career as a group but not before putting out this #1 hit from their final studio album 'Kingsize'. The video is famous for featuring a carboard cutout of band member Sean Conlon who was absent from the filming. It's a fun Five track, full of attitude and all the ingredients that made their hits unique back in the day. Perhaps not their standout hit, but a decent enough one to fill the back catalogue. Shortly after the release of the song the band broke up, causing a 'Greatest Hits' compilation to be released. #1 casualties for the two weeks of their reign included Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Eve feat. Gwen Stefani, Jamiroquai, New Order, Nelly Furtado and others.

Their only multi-week No.1! In my head I don't care about this song that much, but on the odd occasion that I hear it I enjoy it more than I expect to. It's a fun, hooky track - the irony being that they were not having any fun at all at this time if you watch their part on that Boybands Forever documentary.

Definitely not their best for me but they were clearly hot property still four years into their chart career to get a big No.1. I wonder how long they'd have lasted if they hadn't broken up.

#14

Emma Bunton – What Took You So Long?

Date Charted: 14/04/2001

Weeks at #1: 2

UK Chart Run: {1}-1-8-11-16-20-27-32-39-46-54-60->12

Chart Commentary

Here at #14 we have the only #1 single by Baby Spice, and her first outright solo single. It was another two-week stayer at #1 in the Spring of 2001. The breezy pop record was one that captured the imagination of many and gave Emma a comfortable springboard to carve a successful solo career out of in the years to come. The contemporary nature of the song didn't appeal to me much at the time of its release, but it sounds pleasant enough to listen to all these years later. I wouldn't have called it a #1 sounding single at the time, but to be fair, it did deny competition from the likes of Janet Jackson, Gabrielle, Lil Bow Wow and Robbie Williams from getting to the top.