1 hour ago, gooddelta said:

Bloodbath week! I remember tuning in and thinking, where are all those singles (Lou Bega, Thunderbugs, Enrique, also Bryan Adams). And then being stunned as the chart further revealed TLC outside the top 30, B*Witched not in the top ten...too many big releases trying to squeeze out before the end of the year/century/millennium and not enough space for them all.

The most surprising flop was probably Lou Bega, it was a hit around Europe, and sure it was a carbon copy of Mambo No.5, but when did that hurt anyone? ATB and Eiffel 65 both went top three with the similar follow-ups to their huge Eurohits. If it had peaked at, say, No.20, I might understand it more, and still be surprised at its flop, but No.55? How did that even happen.

Thunderbugs were the most robbed though, gah. And that derailed their career completely. I wish they'd held it to January and got a top 20 hit out of it in a lower sales period, it was a good song! It spent five weeks in the top 75, which was unusual for a pop song that missed the top 40, so it definitely had higher potential had they not released it that week.

Looks like we were in more of a dance mood with six dance songs in that top ten, highly unusual for December where there is ususally only a token one. Progress and Len really overperformed against the fierce competition that week (although the latter is great and a bit of a classic).

The follow up flop from Lou Bega was a massive surprise. You're right in saying it's pretty much a carbon copy of his previous hit, but that hadn't stopped other artists scoring follow up hits.

Also I rememeber being really shocked B*Witched missed the top 10 with I Shall Be There.

I couldn’t really remember how I Got A Girl went, so I just popped it on.

Jesus wept there must be a law against reheating your own nachos like that 💀😂 it’s so beyond identical to MN5 it’s almost criminal!

Oh so close to Vengaboys having a clean sweep of peaks in the Top 4 (which may or may not have later become Top 5 or 6). That's probably my favourite song of theirs, as trashy as it is. In fact I enjoy all 4 new entries in the Top 10, although I don't return to the Progress one much.

The epic slow climb of 'I Try' from #10 to #6 was my highlight of the time covered since I last commented. Alice Deejeay also making it two out of two songs climbing in week 2 when that was becoming very rare indeed.

I’m really looking forward to seeing next weeks chart. The Christmas chart, although I know the results some what I’m keen to see the sales.

After all these years (I’ve been watching each week it’s been on since they were on 1986) of TOTP repeats they say goodbye to the 20th century.

I’ll miss the 90s (again).

That Len song felt like it was everywhere at the time! It's a tune.

The performance of that new Vengaboys single feels like it marks the beginning of their gradual decline.

These are all great:

2- RE-REWIND THE CROWD SAY BO SELECTA- Artful Dodger (91,000)
3- KISS (WHEN THE SUN DON’T SHINE)- Vengaboys (89,000)
4- BARBER’S ADAGIO FOR STRINGS- William Orbit (77,000)
5- BACK IN MY LIFE- Alice Deejay (64,000)
6- KING OF MY CASTLE- Wamdue Project (61,000)
7- EVERYBODY- Progress Presents Wunda Boy (57,000)
8- STEAL MY SUNSHINE- Len (56,000)

Great bunch of dance songs, with Ferry's remix of Barbar's Adagio stands out. My top 5 for this week:

01 BARBER’S ADAGIO FOR STRINGS (Ferry Corsten Remix)- William Orbit

02 KISS (WHEN THE SUN DON’T SHINE) (Airscape Remix)- Vengaboys

03 BACK IN MY LIFE (Thrillseekers Remix)- Alice Deejay

04 EVERYBODY (Yomanda Remix)- Progress Presents Wunda Boy

05 RE-REWIND THE CROWD SAY BO SELECTA (Original Mix)- Artful Dodger

Len is my highlight from that particular top 10. Such a childhood classic. I always associate it being a summer track though so it's time of year smashing feels a bit out of place imo.

I like the Vengaboys track and 'Barber's Adagio For Strings' is great too.

10 minutes ago, Roba. said:

Len is my highlight from that particular top 10. Such a childhood classic. I always associate it being a summer track though so it's time of year smashing feels a bit out of place imo.

I like the Vengaboys track and 'Barber's Adagio For Strings' is great too.

It was summer here in Australia when the song was smashing, so to me it kind of is a summer smash. 🤣

Lots of good dance hits. Its a pity only the most basic, Wamdue Project, seems to have inspired today's chart dance and Beatport dance.

Adagio is good, but I prefer Tiesto's Adagio even if it is a bit noisy in its buildup lol.

Was that Myleene Klass on backing vocals for Cliff?

11 minutes ago, chartjack2 said:

Was that Myleene Klass on backing vocals for Cliff?

Indeed it was 😂

I thought Len was around in the summer! Nonetheless, great track (and I love the movie Go).

There are actually three charts left to post in 1999 (December 25, January 1, and 8) so I'll post 2 charts on Friday and 1 the week after in this thread. It will mean that the TOTP episodes shown on 26/6 will be split between threads with the other show in the 2000 thread.

On 12/06/2026 at 09:21, Gezza said:

18TH DECEMBER

DJ Rob Webster is otherwise known as Progress who “presents” Boy Wunda on the dance track “Everybody” which essentially samples the orchestral introduction used on Madonna’s 1986 #1 track “Papa Don’t Preach” and turns it into a techno hit.

Curiously Madonna's debut single was called Everybody.

I've been either at a festival or gig every weekend for the last two weeks so I've only just got as far as the 10/12/1999 episode (saving 17/12/1999 for next week along with the Christmas edition).

But my thoughts in turn on each episode...

19/11/1999 - A1 - "Everytime". Their best ballad for me, paired with "Ready Or Not" (with a dance routine that is basically the boyband equivalent of "Stop" by Spice Girls). Perfect double-A-side pairing that.

Robbie Williams "She's The One". By dint of the fact it was on my first Now, my favourite single of his by far, although I was here for him from "Angels" onwards.

Will Smith "Will 2K". Between that and wicky wicky Wild Wild West it felt like he had a bit of a wobble inspiration wise compared to his 98 singles. Not his best. I struggled to recall it until they showed the video on an earlier episode a couple of weeks back.

26/11/1999 - loved that Glamma Kid tune sampling Carly Simon. Inspired move, also done to great effect by clever but not quite big girl group SoundGirl about 12 years later in 2011.

Texas on that episode also fabulous, surprised "When We Are Together" missed the top 10.

Sir Cliff. Jesu... the PTSD that total abomination of a "song" gives me. It's success was torturous. My bloody headmistress at my primary school made myself and my best mate who were music prefects at the time (we were in Year 6 at this point) made us play it in every assembly leading up to Christmas that year.

Wamdue Project "King of My Castle" - banger. Although similar to Gala and her "trombolese" two years prior, it sounded like she was singing "Must be the reason why I'm free in my trassell". Also lols at them being nominated for Best British Newcomer at the BRITs the following year, only to be yeeted off the list quickly when Radio 1 clocked that they hadn't done their research and they were in fact from New York.

03/12/1999 - Melanie C "Northern Star". Still my favourite solo single of hers, a gentle ethereal quality to it and a beautiful vocal as well.

Martine McCutcheon - when she sang this single on Children In Need, which this was raising money for, for "Love Me" she had a massive kid's choir behind her. One of my classmates was in said choir and was hero worshipped for weeks afterwards as a result.

10/12/1999 - Artful Dodger, "Re-Rewind". Now THIS was a real dial turn moment. Even then I knew and understood it was a big record. I can remember rocking up at school the following Monday, with my black beanie on thinking I was Craig David, going "When the crowd say bo selecta" every five seconds. A big tune and a timeless and important one.

Cool to see Atomic Kitten make their debut as well, they looked super young and very hyper there!

On 12/06/2026 at 22:42, Lee_J11 said:

Indeed it was 😂

I was gonna say she reshared my story on Instagram tonight saying "Well spotted" 🤣

I much prefer the acapella version of that Cliff Richard song, particularly when the choir takes over in the second half.

Remarkably it allowed me to forget about the clunkiness of the lyrics!