I’m afraid Ronan’s covers all leave me very cold: there’s nothing interesting about the performance.

I don’t mind “The Tide Is High”: it certainly has more life to it than their version of “Eternal Flame”. But the Blondie version is leagues better of course.

I remember spinning the hell out of my Tide Is High CD back in summer ‘02 but can’t say it’s a song of theirs I’d choose to go back to. I think I actually prefer all of the other Feels So Good singles to this one now.

21

The coronation single for winner Will Young lands at 21st. Spending a month there. 'Evergreen' is the main song here and is the better track over his double a side ' Anything Is Possible'. I think here is about right for him with what's to come.

No idea why but it always tickled me for no reason that Will sang 'I've got the will to follow through' on his debut hit.

Anyway yes, an ok couple of songs well sung, the biggest selling single of the year (and within the contained decade too I believe) but considering the hype and expectation he could have released anything at this point and had a huge No.1. Evergreen is suitably triumphant and laid the template for that kind of 'winner's single' sound that was copied ad nauseum by X Factor and its winners, slightly odd that it was just a repurposed Westlife album track that they used. Anything Is Possible is quite sweet. I wouldn't put either song much lower or higher either.

Dare I say though, that if Gareth had won Pop Idol and released this single, I think the sales could have been even higher, maybe pushing 1.3m first week, as he felt more marketable to me, but maybe Will got the older music buyers on side too, so maybe not. I wonder - if Gareth had won and released this - if Unchained Melody would have been a b-side to that or more likely saved for the second single like Will had Light My Fire as his.

Light My Fire is a very nice cover of the Jose Feliciano version from 1968, a big fave of mine as a kid, so Will was starting to change my view of him a bit - it was quite unexpected, and it was great to see the Doors song get an official number one. I'd have this track higher up. Unchained Melody OTOH, was one cover too many, I mean Robson Jerome had only just tried to ruin a classic that wasnt that long ago since it almost sold a million. Sheesh, how unoriginal a choice in song can you make. Better than Robson-Jerome is all I can say.

A Little Less Conversation was a fun Elvis remix, an update and boost for the millenium, I like it but its not one I can hear a lot of. I saw Ben Porstmouth, top Elvis tribute act on Saturday and he didnt do it, which I thought was a lost opportunity instead of a cover of My Way or Youve Lost That Lovin' Feeling. That would have been fun. Not a fan of Garth Brooks and Ronan's ballad covers, yawn, much lower down for me. Atomic Kitten is a Primark knock-off of an original quality creation, and also would be lower for me. So the only actual new song comes out of this quite well by default, for Oasis. Not one of their classics, though. I'd slot it in behind Will Young and Elvis.

20

Getting harder to rank now as we head to the 20 and 'Dilemma' by Nelly and Kelly (Rowland) is the next up, a major jump in quality in fact. A slushy romantic song that was spammed to no end back in the day and drove my sister up the wall lol. It's a cute track though but a break from it then was needed tbh. Would probably be further up even if not for how great a lot of the chart toppers were in this year!

Gosh, I think I'd put Dilemma in my top ten, a really effortlessly strong R&B ballad - maybe one of the biggest of all-time of its genre - and great performance by both artists and I loved that their names rhymed. And obviously Kelly texting Nelly on Microsoft Excel in the video was memorable. I always loved Kelly's voice too, and good for her to get the big hit out of Destiny's Child first.

Edited September 8Sep 8 by gooddelta

I absolutely hate it, probably not helped by use of the word "boo" as well 🤮

Not a fan of “Dilemma”: it’s pretty syrupy and the chorus is rather nursery rhymey, especially with the ding a ling style instrument that plays along. “Hot In Herre” is still brilliant though.

Will’s double A side is OK really; “Anything Is Possible” is the more interesting track.

Dilemma was great at the time but I’ve heard it one too many times to really enjoy it these days. Shout out to (imo) the superior Stole which nearly made it into this ranking!

Ronan is too low, possibly in my top 5 from UK # 1s of 2002.

19

The 10th number one for Westlife is 19th. Not very often did they release original stuff as we're well aware of but this one was indeed original and a really good one and a fun upbeat one at that!

One of their better tracks, for sure. Although it got lucky with the release week (as Westlife often did), as Shakira would have beaten it if she hadn't inexplicably released on the same week as Will Young.

Westlife's is OK, don't mind it but it wouldnt be ahead of Dilemma - yes it was overplayed at the time and the Boo was silly, didnt take long to date that word - avoid modern slang in songs is a pretty good rule if you want to avoid sounding old down the line. Boo should only be used if preceeded by Ticketty or Betty or followed by another Boo. 😇

18

Spanish pop star and son of Julio Iglesias.. Enrique Iglesias finds himself searching for a 'Hero' at 18. Another song that topped the chart here for a month. He was still largely unknown up to this point so this was the big breakthrough hit for him. For me it is cheesy but also an emotive ballad.

'World Of Our Own' is head and shoulders above any other Westlife song for me.

“World Of Our Own” is good; “Hero” I find turgid.

I still don't really care for any of these so far, so I'd say that Oasis remains my favourite. Nelly & Kelly was okay enough, not my genre really but I can see why it was so popular.

'Hero' with the ejected Celebrity Big Brother housemate Mickey Rourke as the villain in the music video.

Hero was the Whole Again of 2002 - a four week No.1 huge around Valentine's Day, which went big at my school and turned an artist who had previously had a few smaller hits into a really big deal, didn't the parent album sell like 1.5m somehow? That said, Whole Again was initially a surprise No.1 for me whereas I thought this was an obvious huge smash on the first listen.

It's a decent enough song musically, I'd rank it around the same place, although Enrique's vocal is extremely overblown on it, especially at the end. I prefer Escape.

Edited September 10Sep 10 by gooddelta