Yes it's back, the title says it all, a thread designed to "best guess" the sales week by week for 1999. We'll count down all the sounds of the year and hopefully generate a few "almost forgotten gems" along the way. As always thanks go to MFR, Vas tariner, Youtube, Wikipedia, MW, popscene, James Masterton, Discogs, and a few other sources who have helped over the years.

The format will be the same every week with TOTP performances where available for those songs new to the top 10. So sit back and enjoy every top 10 hit of the 90s (eventually) because in this year we lived La Vida Loca

Peak poptism year! Can’t wait :)

Really looking forward to this!

Whilst it didn't hit the highs of 1998 for me personally it was still a fantastic year for music.

16TH JANUARY



1999 begins, the Christmas clear out starts and single sales dive, in total a mere 834,000 were sold in the last week, a third of the total of three weeks ago. All that creates the perfect storm to see the new Fatboy Slim single enter straight at the top giving Norman Cook his third chart topper and they’ve all been as parts of different groups, he previously made No 1 as a member of the Housemartins (1986) then Beats International (1990) and now under his current pseudonym. The single “Praise You” is built extensively around a sample from “Take Yo Praise” by Camille Yarborough and sold 80,913 copies to take the throne, it helps to push parent album “You’ve Come A Long Way Baby” 16-6 with total sales rapidly approaching 300,000 copies. Check out the promo which was shot in LA without permission of the cinema featured and stars the director Spike Jonze as the dance group leader and Fatboy Slim himself in the queue!

For the first time in their long career the Gibb Brothers have two penned hits in the top 3, last week’s No 1 from Steps “Heartbeat/ Tragedy” falls to No 2 (65,340) and new at No 3 is Blockstar’s “You Should Be”, a dance hit from the hands of DJ Brandon Block. It features the chorus of the Bee Gees “You Should Be Dancing” re-recorded to avoid those lawyers and benefits from Block’s current residency on Kiss 100 convincing 42,000 buyers last week.

Is there room for another boyband on the charts? It seems so with Ultra entering at No 8 (26,000) with “Rescue Me”, it’s the band’s fourth single in a year and marks a spectacular about turn in their chart fortunes with previous singles peaking at No’s 11, 16, and 28 before this one. The band were all school friends who took their name from the Depeche Mode album of the same name which gives you an idea how quickly they got signed. The debut album is out in a few weeks.

A dance collaboration now, DJ Supreme is a much revered figure on the dance scene and his hit “Tha Wild Style” has had two shots at the charts reaching No 39 back in 1996 and then No 24 a year later with its latter appearance remaining his highest placing on the charts. It’s now been remixed by the Porn Kings using their own debut hit “Up To No Good” (No 28, 1996) to form “Up To The WildStyle” which now enters at No 10 (23,000). The sample you can hear (Which is also in the Porn Kings original) is Josh Wink’s “Higher State Of Consciousness” in case you wondered, and marks the third time the track has been in the top 10 in the last 4 years.

So what’s happened elsewhere? Chef drops 3-4 (40,000) and sees The Spice Girls tumble past him 2-5 (38,000) with both titles now over the 700,000 mark their work is done. Mel C and Bryan Adams remain popular holding at No 6 (36,000) whilst Cher falls 4-7 (30,000), The Honeyz complete the top 10 by staying static at No 9 (24,000).



1- PRAISE YOU- Fatboy Slim (80,913)
2- HEARTBEAT/ TRAGEDY- Steps (65,340)
3- YOU SHOULD BE- Blockstar (42,000)
4- CHOCOLATE SALTY BALLS- Chef (40,000)
5- GOODBYE- Spice Girls (38,000)
6- WHEN YOU’RE GONE- Bryan Adams/ Mel C (36,000)
7- BELIEVE- Cher (30,000)
8- RESCUE ME- Ultra (26,000)
9- END OF THE LINE- Honeyz (24,000)
10- UP TO THE WILDSTYLE- Porn Kings Vs DJ Supreme (23,000)

Praise You is great (and sold much more than I’d have guessed, I was expecting about 50K) but the other new entries this week are awful. I always particularly hated that Blockster track, partly because it used the sample in a really boring way and partly because Brandon always came across as a complete knob!

No memory of any Ultra song.

I actually prefer End Of The Line to Finally Found!

Praise You is of course amazing and a well deserved number 1.

I never knew Praise You got to #1 in the UK until @gooddelta did his #1's countdown. I always assumed it was a middeling hit, much like it was in Australia.

How did they read the artist name for Up To The Wildstyle on radio?! Decent tune anyway.

Blockster is meh there are better disco house tunes.

I loved Blockster at the time, looking back it is incredibly basic. Still, some memories attached to it though!

I much favour Mirrorball - Given Up from this period now, although that wasn't a top 10 hit.

23RD JANUARY





It turned into the boyband battle hot enough to excite your average teenage girl as 911 went head to head with Another Level, 911 took an early substantial lead which was whittled down to just 32 copies at one point but in the end they won by a slightly larger margin of 3,400 copies even they topped none of the individual format charts (Paul Weller is No 1 on 7", Blockster in 12", Steps on Cassingle and Fatboy Slim on CD charts). For 911 it is their first chart topper ever some 11 singles into their career even if it took a cover, “A Little Bit More” is a cover of the Dr Hook #2 hit from 1976 which spent a month behind Elton John & Kiki Dee’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, to do it but they’ve made the top instantly. Third album “There It Is” is released in just a fortnight and may be their biggest yet.

Onto the losers then and Another Level have recruited rap heavyweight Ghostface Killah to perform the rap on “I Want You For Myself” which duly becomes their fourth top ten single from as many releases. The fact that the group are signed to Jay-Z’s US label gives them access to these big names, Ghostface has only been in the top 40 once so far (back in 1997 on the #11 hit “All That I Got Is You”) which means the No 2 debut of this song is his biggest hit selling a mighty 72,000 copies last week. Their album scurries up to No 18, the first time it’s been in the top 20 since it was released.

It’s amazing who you can meet at parties, Emma Morton-Smith turned up to one in Stockport and met producer Mark Hadfield (previously of Urban Cookie Collective) who asked her if she wanted to provide vocals to a new dance version he’d done of Roxy Music’s “More Than This” (#6, 1982) and she scores an even bigger hit with it than they managed. It’s new at No 5 (37,000) but it isn’t her first taste of success, she was the vocalist on DJ Flavours 1997 #19 track “Your Caress (All I Need)”.

Daft Punk aren’t the only French dance duo in the charts these days, step forward Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass who record under the name Cassius. Their first release “Foxxy” creates some waves in the dance world but new single “Cassius 1999” darts straight in at No 7 (29,000). The sample you can hear (sped up) comes Donna Summer on her track “(If It) Hurts Just A Little” from 1982.

Sheffield trio The All Seeing I arrived on the charts last year with a cover of “The Beat Goes On” which made No 11 and now they go one better with “Walk Like A Panther”. Co-written by none other than Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker it was Cocker’s idea to contact 70s popstar Tony Christie to ask if he would provide the vocals and so it is that Christie scores his first hit in 23 years as this debuts at No 10 (24,000).

Steps continue to hold up well tripping 2-3 (66,617), Fatboy Slim descends 1-4 (63,000) but the success of the single has now pushed his album 6-1 this week, and proving just as persistent as Steps, Mel C & Bryan Adams spend a 7th week in the top 10 and a third at No 6 (31,000)- it should go gold next week (400,000). Blockstar dive 3-8 (28,000) and Chef completes our review 4-9 (25,000).

1- A LITTLE BIT MORE- 911 (75,400)
2- I WANT YOU FOR MYSELF- Another Level/ Ghostface Killah (72,000)
3- HEARTBEAT/ TRAGEDY- Steps (66,617)
4- PRAISE YOU- Fatboy Slim (63,000)
5- MORE THAN THIS- Emmie (37,000)
6- WHEN YOU’RE GONE- Bryan Adams/ Mel C (31,000)
7- CASSIUS 1999- Cassius (29,000)
8- YOU SHOULD BE- Blockster (28,000)
9- CHOCOLATE SALTY BALLS- Chef (25,000)
10- WALK LIKE PANTHER 99- All Seeing I/ Tony Christie (24,000)

30TH JANUARY

Another record breaking week as for the first time we have 8 different chart toppers in 8 weeks, this week’s chart champions are The Offspring who have never even had a top 30 single before today. Formed way back in 1984 they took 11 years to score their first UK hit in “Self Esteem” (No 37) and until 1997 to score their biggest hit (until now) “All I Want” (#31), but a combination of lack of big releases plus widespread radio support for “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)” leads to 140,000 copies sold of the song last week for a berth at No 1. The song deals, in a light-hearted manner, with white middle class appropriation of Black culture and certainly delivers the band their moment in the sun.

The Offspring’s debut is bad news for Terrorvision who nevertheless also have the biggest hit of their career so far with “Tequila” arriving at No 2 on a sale of 58,000. This is the band’s 14th hit though only three have made the top 10 (“Bad Actress” and “Perseverance” both in 1996) but none had gone top three, after their last single “Josephine” made No 23 the band asked fans to pick the next single and seemed to settle on “Day After Day” until “Tequila” was remixed by Mint Royale (original producer was none other than Edwyn Collins!) -and given a substantial overhaul which attracted a fan in Zoe Ball who promoted it on the Breakfast Show on Radio 1. In turn the band opted to release it and here we are.

A No 12 hit in the US late last year, rapper TQ now arrives on our shores with his first single “Westside” in at No 4 (50,000). Dedicated to late rappers Tupac and Eazy-E the song uses Joe Sample’s “In All My Wildest Dreams” and couldn’t quite keep its top 3 midweek position falling behind Steps (54,071) by close of play.

Busta Rhymes is also back, he of course made No 2 just last Easter with the “Knight Rider” sampling “Turn It Up/ Fire It Up”, he followed that up with the stand alone single “One” which fizzled out at No 23 and previewed his third album “Extinction Level Event”. Whilst the album has been a poor seller since its release 6 weeks ago it reaches a new peak of #54 this week in part due to the release of “Gimme Some More” which debuts at No 5 (43,000) and lifts a sample Bernard Herrman’s “Psycho Theme”.

Touted by those in the know as the next big thing Gay Dad finally give us their debut single “To Earth With Love” and zoom straight into the top 10 at anchor position (29,000). Heavily pushed by Radio 1 and co-produced by Tony Visconti, the band have already had covers with Select, NME, and Melody Maker before even releasing a single. Let’s see if they live up to the hype.

Last week’s chart topper from 911 drops quickly 1-6 (41,000) only just managing to outstrip Mel C & Bryan Adams at the last, they fall 6-7 (40,000), total sales of “When You’re Gone” has now sold 429,000. Two other fallers to mention, Another Level & Ghostface Killah tumble 2-8 (34,000) whilst Fatboy Slim heads south 4-9 (32,000) but keeps the top spot on the album charts.

1- PRETTY FLY (FOR A WHITE GUY)- Offspring (140,000)
2- TEQUILA- Terrorvision (58,000)
3- HEARTBEAT/ TRAGEDY- Steps (54,071)
4- WESTSIDE- TQ (50,000)
5- GIMME SOME MORE- Busta Rhymes (43,000)
6- A LITTLE BIT MORE- 911 (41,000)
7- WHEN YOU’RE GONE- Bryan Adams/ Mel C (40,000)
8- I WANT YOU FOR MYSELF- Another Level/ Ghostface Killah (34,000)
9- PRAISE YOU- Fatboy Slim (32,000)
10- TO EARTH WITH LOVE- Gay Dad (29,000)

Disco House/French House defintely at its peak at this point but Cassius 1999 isn't one of its best offerings for me (I know it has a lot of fans in dance music though).

The Offspring song was everywhere at the time and I liked it, good very catchy upbeat punk, the bit about Ricki Lake was the most memorable line for me!

Edited January 9Jan 9 by TheSnake

‘Praise You’ and its accompanying flash mob video is my favourite arrival of the year so far

Lots of Bee Gees and Donna Summer around at the moment - with Steps taking on ‘Tragedy’, that Blockster thing existing, Cassius sampling Donna as mentioned, plus outside the top 10 there was a cover of ‘Bad Girls’ on the TOTP repeats tonight as well.

People still buying steps !!!

Cassius 1999 ❤️ I wish they'd played that, amazing French house.

I think TQ is my favourite entry of the fortnight, one of my favourite US R&B songs, such a beautiful melody. But Offspring was such a great No.1 hit and I didn't realise it had sales that high, fully deserved, the TOTP performance was a lot of fun. So many songs mentioned Ricki Lake in the late 90s and early 00s for some reason.

911 on the other hand, probably my least favourite single of theirs up to that point so ofc it would be their No.1. At least they finally got one though. I really enjoyed I Want You For Myself though, Another Level had some decent material in their short career and I'd have preferred to see this at No.1.

Emmie's Roxy Music cover really feels like an out of the blue top five looking back, I knew she looked familiar and Your Caress is where I know her from, I remember the video with her in the car. She had another good release called I Thought It Was You, which has Looking For Love vibes, but it didn't chart at all.

Tequila is quite good fun, completely different to Terrorvision's usual stuff, I see it was a looong way behind at No.2 though. Not a fan of Gay Dad, all hype and no substance for me.

'More Than This' is amazing

6TH FEBRUARY



A ninth week and a 9th new number one- Armand Van Helden may be a well respected remixer but his UK chart career so far has consisted of only two minor hits in his own name. He was of course responsible for remixing and putting Tori Amos’ “Professional Widow” into the chart books as a No 1 track back in 1997, this time around he’s employed the vocal talents of Duane Harden who also co-wrote it with Van Helden. The single is essentially a mash up of the drums on Jaydee’s “Plastic Dreams” (#18, 1997) and the hook from Carrie Lucas’ “Dance With You” (#40, 1979) which has been filling the dancefloors since Christmas time, it attracted 118,500 buyers last week to ease into the top spot.

Dru Hill prove that last year’s “How Deep Is Your Love” pointed to an ever greater profile and increasingly bigger hits. New single “These Are The Times” effortlessly debuts at No 4 (42,000) this week to beat their last single by 5 places though it only sold 5,000 more than the opening week of “How Deep Is Your Love”. The video is based on the film “The Man In The Iron Mask” apparently.

The Divine Comedy have been waiting a while for a top 10 single, Neil Hanlon has been the only consistent member of the group and wrote the theme music to “Father Ted” which was the first brush with fame. After Chris Evans started to support the track “Something For The Weekend” the group started generating hit singles and with their 8th hit they finally make the top 10. “National Express” is a typically quirky piece from the band about Hanlon’s observations whilst on the famous stagecoach, it’s new at No 8 (32,000).

With their tour rolling into the UK Garbage score their 5th top 10 single and third No 9 hit from the “Version 2.0” album. “When I Grow Up” comes with a live promo of the band on tour in the US which helps the single move 29,000 copies last week.

Originally a No 4 hit in early 1989 Inner City’s “Good Life” has been remixed by Tommy Onyx into a flamenco driven dance track which now has Spanish lyrics sang by Paris Grey. It resurrects the career of the duo who have been missing from the charts for 3 years and missing from the top 10 for almost a decade! It makes the top flight all over again at No 10 (28,000).

The outgoing No 1 from Offspring relaxes 1-2 (91,000) whilst the ever present Steps spend another week at No 3 (49,604), “Heartbeat/ Tragedy” has now sold 862,091 and may break the million mark at this rate. Talking of ever present Bryan Adams & Mel C spend a ninth week in the top 10 and celebrate by climbing back 7-5 (39,000)- this is only the 2nd week ever in the top 5 and could break the 500,000 mark next week. Terrorvision slip 2-6 (35,000) and TQ drifts 4-7 (33,000).

1- YOU DON’T KNOW ME- Armand Van Helden (118,500)
2- PRETTY FLY (FOR A WHITE GUY)- Offspring (91,000)
3- HEARTBEAT/ TRAGEDY- Steps (49,604)
4- THESE ARE THE TIMES- Dru Hill (42,000)
5- WHEN YOU’RE GONE- Bryan Adams/ Mel C (39,000)
6- TEQUILA- Terrorvision (35,000)
7- WESTSIDE- TQ (33,000)
8- NATIONAL EXPRESS- Divine Comedy (32,000)
9- WHEN I GROW UP- Garbage (29,000)
10- GOOD LIFE (BUENA VIDA)- Inner City (28,000)

13TH FEBRUARY



Hands up who guessed this was coming? The return of Blondie was unexpected even as late as the end of 1998 but “Maria” has proved to be just the single the erstwhile group needed. The group scored 10 top 10 hits between 1978 and 1981 including five chart toppers before splitting in 1982 and, some remixes of earlier hits aside, all has been silent from them since whilst Debbie Harry had a so-so solo career. “Maria” is therefore a very big return to form and comes storming in at No 1 after selling 128,000 copies to become a sixth chart topper for the outfit but 19 years after the last, on only two occasions has there been a longer wait, The Hollies (23 years) and The Righteous Brothers (25 years), but they were with re-releases whilst this is an original song. The best of “Atomic” is re-issued this week with a remix CD to enhance it, but the band do have a new album with original material out in a fortnight called “No Exit”- welcome back.

Armand Van Helden is therefore forced 1-2 (73,000) but manages to outpace the new single from Tatyana Ali. She’s roped in former “Fresh Prince” star Will Smith to help her out on “Boy You Knock Me Out” and is rewarded with a second top hit at No 3 (68,000) to follow up her No 6 track “Daydreamin” late last year, the song doubtless benefits from the appearance of Smith who is certainly chart magic at the moment with this become his 5th top 3 single in just 19 months.

Incredible to think that US rapper A+ is just 17 and already has a UK top 5 single to his credit. Real name Andre Levins, he won a national competition held by Def Jam back in 1995 and launched his career the following year when he was 14, now already preparing for album No 2 he hits No 5 (51,000) with “Enjoy Yourself”. Sampling the bassline from The Jacksons single of the same name (#42, 1977) and Walter Murphy’s re-invention of “A Fifth Of Beethoven” (#28, 1976) it proves a bigger hit than its components.

A fairly big dance track for the last few months, Soulsearcher’s “Cant Get Enough” makes its chart splash at No 8 (31,000). Sampling the 1976 track “Let’s Lovedance Tonight” by Gary’s Gang (#49, 1979), this track also comes with vocals by Thea Austin whose name you may not recall but you’ve certainly heard her before on Snap!’s “Rhythm Is A Dancer”.

The Offspring continue their gentle descent 2-4 (67,000) and two longstayers Steps and Bryan Adams/ Mel C rack up another week in the top flight slipping 3-6 (43,000) and 5-7 (34,000) respectively and also cross the 900,000 and 500,000 mark in unison. "Tragedy/ Heartbeat" has now been in the top 10 for 13 straight weeks- the longest run since All Saints 15 week tenure last year!



TQ falls 7-9 (30,000) and Dru Hill just hang in there 4-10 (30,000).

1- MARIA- Blondie (128,000)
2- YOU DON’T KNOW ME- Armand Van Helden (73,000)
3- BOY YOU KNOCK ME OUT- Tatyana Ali/ Will Smith (68,000)
4- PRETTY FLY (FOR A WHITE GUY)- Offspring (67,000)
5- ENJOY YOURSELF- A+ (51,000)
6- HEARTBEAT/ TRAGEDY- Steps (43,000)
7- WHEN YOU’RE GONE- Bryan Adams/ Mel C (34,000)
8- CAN’T GET ENOUGH- Soulsearcher (31,000)
9- WESTSIDE- TQ (30,000)
10- THESE ARE THE TIMES- Dru Hill (30,000)

Soulsearcher "Can't get Enough" is such a banger. Jazz n Groove Mix is nicely groovy, while the Robbie Rivera Remix is a great floor filler and I believe the version I played most. The Buena Vida version of "Good Life" is also very good. The Blockster song is a bit too basic and uninspired for me. I prefer "Grooveline" in the Matt Darey remix, which has nothing to do with the original. DJ Supreme and Porn Kings was a fun tune - I quite like that, but it is not as good as the Klubbheads remix of "Tha Wildstyle".