Posted Saturday at 16:295 days With the TOTP re-runs entering the 00s sometime in the summer, I thought it would be nice to do a little countdown of the best selling singles of the decade 2000-2009. There was a chart done by Radio 1 at the end of 2009 which you may recall but there were two flaws to the chart- namely that it inexplicably omitted a few tracks which should have been there and it also didn't include sales for the final week of the decade. That being said it can be found on the internet if you search for it so please no spoilers.A wider top 200 was produced which does include some estimates and was not therefore "official" in the same way the top 100 was but it is probably pretty accurate and I'm indebted to andy@haven (i think) for producing it at the time.So with all that said thanks also to the OCC, Polyhex, James Masterton, Wikipedia, Music week, Alan Jones, and anyone else that I inadvertedly may have used in the compilation!
Sunday at 13:264 days Author A reminder these are sales purely in the decade (up to 2009) and NO SPOILERS please!
Sunday at 13:394 days Author 200. CASTLES IN THE SKY- Ian Van Dahl (354,300) YEAR: 2001PEAK POSITION: 3WKS ON CHART: 16 Shall we start off with some Belgian trance? Why not. Another act fronted by a female who didn’t provide the vocals and often mistaken for the name of a DJ, the trio were actually a production team who struck trance gold with this track. More hits followed but each peaked lower than the previous release as the law of diminishing returns kicked in. Anyway glo-sticks at the ready!
Sunday at 13:414 days Author 199. GHETTO GOSPEL- 2Pac Featuring Elton John (354,600) YEAR: 2005PEAK POSITION: 1WKS ON CHART: 22 Shocking no-one, almost 75% of the entries on this list are chart toppers including this “duet” between Elton and the late 2Pac. To be more exact it should really have a credit for Eminem as he produced it and welded John’s “Indian Summer” to 2Pac’s vocals from a unreleased track in 1992, impressing Elton enough to allow its release. It became Elton’s third and biggest selling No 1 of the decade, but a first for 2Pac, 9 years after his death.
Sunday at 13:444 days Author 198. INFINITY 2008- Guru Josh Project (355,700) YEAR: 2008PEAK POSITION: 3WKS ON CHART: 24 The original “Infinity” made No 5 back in 1990 after it was picked up by DJ Mike Pickering (pre M-People days) who started playing it at the Hacienda nightclub. It proved to be his only top 20 single and he pretty much disappeared from public eye until this track got a noughties overall and propelled even higher into the top 3 when remixed by DJ Klaas.
Monday at 18:193 days Author 197. TOXIC- Britney Spears (355,800) YEAR: 2004PEAK POSITION: 1WKS ON CHART: 14 Surely this one can’t be this low? Well blame the sales nadir that was 2004! Not much to add to this one that you don’t already know- co-written by Cathy Dennis and with an 80s Bollywood sample running through it, it became Spears’ first chart topper in 4 years and 4th overall. It was famously offered to Kylie Minogue who turned it down and written with Janet Jackson in mind, it ended the noughties as Spears’ 3rd biggest hit!
Monday at 18:223 days Author 196. LIVE YOUR LIFE- T.I Featuring Rihanna (358,700) YEAR: 2008PEAK POSITION: 2WKS ON CHART: 20 Two acts share the honour of most entries on this list and the first of those acts pops up here- spoiler: it isn’t T.I. The song created history in the US at the time by moving 71-1, the biggest jump to the top spot recorded, it almost did something spectacular here too by leaping 39-2 but the top spot was beyond it. It features a sample of another 00s classic, O-Zone’s “Dragostea Din Tei”
Monday at 18:243 days Author 195. BREAK YOUR HEART- Taio Cruz (360,270) YEAR: 2009PEAK POSITION: 1WKS ON CHART: 16 Originally penned for Cheryl Cole’s debut solo album, it got rejected which resulted in Cruz re-writing it from a male perspective and scoring himself a 3 week No 1. The US release featured rapper Ludacris and became a chart topper there too lifting 53-1 creating a record climb for a debut single at the time.
Monday at 18:353 days Oh, I don't think I knew that 'Break Your Heart' was a Cheryl reject! I guess 3 Words containing both 'Heartbreaker' and 'Break Your Heart' might've been a bit much 'Toxic' is easily my favourite to drop out so far 2004 sales climate letting it down big time.
Monday at 19:043 days Wow that's low for 'Toxic' but then didn't follow the charts in 2004 so wouldn't have seen how bad sales got.'Castles In The Sky', 'Infinity 2008' and that are the best to drop off so far. The others so far are fine as well though Taio's is a product of it's time whenever I hear it.
Monday at 20:203 days Yep 'Castles in the Sky' and 'Infinity 2008' are the best so far.'Break Your Heart' is good electropop; listening to it now its quite a bit better than his other massive hit 'Dynamite'.At the time, I wanted Kylie's 'Red Blooded Woman' to be #1 instead of 'Toxic'. Edited Monday at 20:253 days by TheSnake
Tuesday at 18:562 days Author 194. RED- Daniel Merriweather (360,280) YEAR: 2009PEAK POSITION: 5WKS ON CHART: 26 First appearing as a vocalist on Mark Ronson’s debut album in 2003, some solo releases didn’t do much outside his native Australia but it was his work on Ronson’s 2nd album “Version” and specifically the rework of The Smiths “Stop Me” which propelled him into the UK charts in some style. His debut album followed with this his most successful solo track which Ronson produced.
Tuesday at 19:012 days Author 193. RELEASE ME- Agnes (360,500) YEAR: 2009PEAK POSITION: 3WKS ON CHART: 17 To prove how reality TV crazy we were in the decade, here’s the winner of the 2005 Swedish version of “Idol”. After two successful albums in Sweden she changed label and ventured into dance pop which yielded her first international release with this track which found fans in the UK though it was her only top 30 hit here.
Tuesday at 19:022 days Author 192. I TURN TO YOU- Melanie C (361,400) YEAR: 2000PEAK POSITION: 1WKS ON CHART: 12 With the help of heavyweight hit writers Rick Nowels and Billy Steinberg and a remix courtesy of Hex Hector which turned it into an Ibiza standard that summer, Mel C’s fourth release from her debut solo album had No 1 written all over it. So it proved that August thanks to a first week sale of 121,000 allowing her to become one of only 3 female acts to score multiple chart toppers in 2000.
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