I’m going to steal this idea and start a 1995 thread in the other retro forum soon :)

Hero takes me back to my niece's 21st birthday party as the slow dance, but I think I prefer the dance remix - I loved Enrique's early US big hits that flopped in the UK, so this was a nice boost for him to get some chart action with better tracks. If I'm in the right mood I can rate this one, but often I'm not and would rather switch to Bailamos, Sad Eyes, Be With You, or Not In Love.

17

At 17 is the first of two appearances for Marshall Mathers aka Eminem with 'Without Me' which was his 3rd UK 1 in June. It did find itself back in the official chart last year. As comical as they come from Mr Slim Shady but quite the bop nonetheless.

I find Hero a bit cheesy these days but Enrique’s sexy vocals are undeniable. 😎

Without Me is one of my Eminem faves!

16

In comes Christina Aguilera with 'Dirrty' from the album Stripped. Completely abandoning her bubblegum pop girl self to provide this gritty sexy, pop banger. Impacting the chart here in November.. it provided Christina with her 3rd #1.

“Dirrty” is a great song and there’s never been anything quite like it from a pop girl. That would be very high up for me.

“Without Me” might be slightly higher for me but it is quite silly and I prefer all his other 3 big early #1s.

I would rank Without Me and Dirrty a fair bit higher, the former has become quite iconic and the latter I think was a real breakthrough moment from the Disney-esque sound that she had going before. Dilemma is very of its time, but I have such fond childhood memories of it that I can't hate it and I still find it a charming listen.

Dirrty I get the attraction of and it’s a very unique song and strong and mature comeback moment for Christina but it’s not one I ever personally loved, although I adore all of the other singles from Stripped and the album as a whole.

I actually didn’t buy Stripped until I heard Beautiful as I was so nonplussed by the lead single and disposable income was hard to come by for me then!

Without Me is a bit of comic genius I think, one of Eminem’s many classics and up there with My Name Is and The Real Slim Shady in terms of his lighter work. I would definitely have it a little higher in mine.

In fairness all of the top 20 here are on at least 7.5/10 and upwards for me so is quite hard to rank them lol.

Without Me is classic Eminem, humour in music (and the other arts) has always, always been under-rated - being po-faced and "serious" should not be seen as lesser than something dark and supposedly meaningful, yet they get a free pass and humour doesn't, when it's much harder to write successfully. Love the video. Dirrty came over as raunchy but powerful, and a welcome break from some of Christina's then-more-recent lesser warblings. They may have been a bit higher for me in the list, though it's hard to say till I see the rest!

I strongly dislike "Stripped" era. Both # 1s and "Fighter" were awful.

15

At 15.. One hit wonders Las Ketchup, a Spanish sisters group who brought us dancing with their smash 'The Ketchup Song (Aserejé)'. The dance routine was wildly popular to imitate. A party bop anthem that doesn't get old today despite it's naff-ness.

14

Arriving at 14 is the last appearance for Pop Idol runner up Gareth Gates with 'Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)' which spent 3 weeks at 1. A good, catchy pop track from him.

Just had a big catch-up

I like 'The Hindu Times' and 'Dirrty' but I'm not as fond of them as I once was... whereas I've had the opposite experience for 'Without Me' since its renaissance a few years ago and find that quite fun nowadays.

Speaking of fun... hello Las Ketchup a school disco staple!

Lithuanian cover version of Asereje is not bad.

13

This is the hardest one to rank for sure as it's a true classic but I'm purely basing it off being a re-release and certainly is not from the 21st Century. Of course it'd be higher otherwise. It hit #1 for the second time in January.. 6 or 7 weeks after George passed. Still with the other tracks here feel 13th is okay a placing. I had it low top 20 at first before moving it up out of respect for 'My Sweet Lord'!

“Anyone Of Us” is decent but I’ve never liked his voice very much and it would be lower for me.

The other two are brilliant - “Aserejé” is a joyous one off and “My Sweet Lord” a folk crossover masterpiece. I’d put them both in the Top 10.

I think I'd probably put Asereje in the top ten too, funnily enough I wasn't wild about it at the time but when I hear it now it's quite a delight, and I seem to have memorised every word. Always good to see a foreign language song become so huge here (although I know it had English in the verses).

Anyone Of Us is a very solid pop song, my favourite single to come from him or Will that year although it's still a bit formulaic and maybe belonged a little more to 2000 than 2002, it felt like pop was moving away from this sound by this point but British pop took a while to catch up with the changes happening in the US (although Girls Aloud still to come definitely didn't play by the 2002 rules). I'd probably put it a little lower, but not by much.

My Sweet Lord is a brilliant song and a classic and it was so great to see George at No.1 for the only time in my lifetime (the only solo Beatle to get a No.1 in my lifetime!). But yes, ranking it in a 2002 context is tricky. No idea where I'd put it.

12

'Gotta Get Thru This' went back to number one for a one week stint on the first week of 2002. It was quite the debut from Daniel Bedingfield with it being a garage dance anthem. I ranked this as my 3rd fave #1 of 2001.. again due to basing this off 2002 though it is marked down just a bit.

11

One of the biggest moments in music came at the tail end of 2002 due to Popstars : The Rivals where we had a battle of two groups, One True Voice and... Girls Aloud and the latter won despite the guys being hotly tipped. 'Sound Of The Undergound' was the Christmas #1 selling over 200k and spending 4 week at the top. It was a major shift away from the usual formula of coronation singles opting to stand out with a much much more edgier sound. It's a great way to start their career off however for me it's not done enough to secure being inside the top 10 having to make do for 11th. Yes I know an extremely unpopular opinion but I do really rate what's left above it oops.