'Rain' is absolutely gorgeous one I listen to all the time.

Also doubtlessly the best thing Dannii did before 1997, welcome back!

Rain is OK Madonna, its quite nice but bonus tracks at the time did grab extra sales - I know I bought them for that reason even if the lead track was rubbish. Dannii's move into 70's disco covers was very much an 80's thing, but obv still working in the 90's too. Not as good as the original. Talking of 4 Non Blondes I have just watched Linda Perry on Youtube describing how she came up with What You Waiting For and Get The Party Started. Fascinating stuff!

7TH AUGUST



Again defying odds Take That make it a full month on top, “Pray” taking 46,395 buyers in last week, it managed to stave off a late surge by Freddie Mercury’s “Living On My Own” which storms 5-2 (44,190) and should overturn the teen heart throbs next week. “Pray” has sold 234,060 copies in its first month and will become the group’s biggest seller next week overtaking current leader “Could It Be Magic” as you’d expect for a month long chart topper.

Former regular with A Guy Called Gerald and Together, Ronan Heath decided to go solo founding the Urban Cookie Collective releasing “The Key: The Secret” on unheard records earlier this year and drumming up success in clubs which led to it being picked up by Pulse 8 and becoming a hit moving 40-29-20-11-6 so far and selling 24,870 in its latest frame. Vocals come courtesy of Diane Charlemagne, former vocalist with band 52nd Street.

4 Non Blondes reverse 2-3 (40,095) but the album reaches new heights at No 4, and incredibly Chaka Demus & Pliers spend a sixth week in the top 5 without going higher than No 3, they’re celebrating a month at No 4 (26,445) whilst Gabrielle tumbles 3-5 (26,235).

Madonna has trouble climbing again as she gets stuck in the groove at No 7 (24,765), so are Roxette at No 8 (22,035) and to complete the non movers is Dannii Minogue at No 10 (19,875) which leaves just Haddaway to note falling 6- 9 (21,795)


1- PRAY- Take That (46,395)
2- LIVING ON MY OWN- Freddie Mercury (44,190)
3- WHAT’S UP- 4 Non Blondes (40,095)
4- TEASE ME- Chaka Demus & Pliers (26,445)
5- DREAMS- Gabrielle (26,235)
6- THE KEY: THE SECRET- Urban Cookie Collective (24,870)
7- RAIN- Madonna (24,765)
8- ALMOST UNREAL- Roxette (22,035)
9- WHAT IS LOVE- Haddaway (21,795)
10- THIS IS IT- Dannii Minogue (19,875)

As a fan who is not so keen on many of Madonna's ballads, Rain is lush. The single version though, which cuts out the spoken bit, doesn't quite hit the mark as hard.

Love This Is It. My fave Dannii single.

"Have you got the key?"
"No, but I've got the secret."

I still reference The Key 30-odd years later at times. 😆

Freddie's remix is great, totally worth a revamp and much improved on the original. Fingers-crossed for the top spot! The Key The Secret is a goodie too, always happy to hear that one.

'The Key The Secret' is such a nice and nostalgic dance song. 'Living On My Own' Freddie revamp is good too.

'The Key, The Secret' is perfectly alright, but I have a feeling I'm going to like their next single so much more.

14TH AUGUST





Freddie Mercury grabs a posthumous chart topper this week, “Living On My Own” ascending 2-1 (48,465) and causing the album to rush 46-31. It’s his second chart topper post his death in 1991 and demonstrates that there is still great demand for his work. Take That drop 1-3 (34,710) as they are also surpassed by Urban Cookie Collective who float 6-2 (36,405) and could apply pressure on Mercury next week. John Lennon is the only act to have multiple UK No 1 songs posthumously so Mercury is in good company (though his other chart toppers are as part of Queen and one of these is arguable so it isn't a direct comparison).

Bitty Mclean’s journey to popstar comes via UB40 who employed him as a sound engineer and producer and occasionally gave him some backing vocals, but now the Brummie has struck out solo with a cover of the Fats Domino standard “It Keeps Rainin (Tears From My Eyes)” which only made No 49 in 1961. Bitty’s version is doing much better soaring 19-5 (25,110).

Billy Joel’s 12th studio album “River Of Dreams” debuts at No 4 this week but that hasn’t dented the title track’s rise through the ranks as it moves 12-6 (24,315). It’s only Joel’s 5th top 10 single and comes with artwork designed by his wife Christine Brinkley.

Hailing from Birmingham and fusing bangra, dancehall, and reggae to form what has been termed “Bangramuffin” Apache Indian (or Steven Kapur to give his full name) has already scored three top 40 hits the largest of which was “Arranged Marriage” which peaked at No 16 in January this year. His new single is actually an EP called “Nuff Vibes” and the single getting all the promo is “Boom Shack-A-Lak” which typifies his music, it debuts at No 8 (19,620) denotes a new high for him.

4 Non Blondes continue their gradual decline 3-4 (32,880), and Chaka Demus & Pliers finally surrender the top 5 dropping 4-7 (22,230), Gabrielle falls 5-9 (17,895) but will be leaving the top 10 with sales already of 460,800, and Madonna washes away 7-10 (17,820)


1- LIVING ON MY OWN- Freddie Mercury (48,465)
2- THE KEY: THE SECRET- Urban Cookie Collective (36,405)
3- PRAY- Take That (34,710)
4- WHAT’S UP?- 4 Non Blondes (32,880)
5- IT KEEPS RAININ (TEARS FROM MY EYES)- Bitty McLean (25,110)
6- THE RIVER OF DREAMS- Billy joel (24,315)
7- TEASE ME- Chaka Demus & Pliers (22,230)
8- NUFF VIBES EP- Apache Indian (19,620)
9- DREAMS- Gabrielle (17,895)
10- RAIN- Madonna (17,820)

I did not know that Living on my Own made No.1.

Catching Up

Pray my fav Take That single and that video !!! Was expecting bigger sales tho!!

This Is It is great but Baby Love also a cover is far superior!!!

Rain wow what a song and video and even as a 5th single i still would have thought it would have gone top 5! Did radio embrace this song?

1 hour ago, vibe said:

Catching Up

Pray my fav Take That single and that video !!! Was expecting bigger sales tho!!

This Is It is great but Baby Love also a cover is far superior!!!

Rain wow what a song and video and even as a 5th single i still would have thought it would have gone top 5! Did radio embrace this song?

Rain had 4 weeks in the top 10 on airplay, peaked at No 3. As it transpires "Pray" was only No 1 for 4 weeks thanks to a very weak market and the summer lull.

Bitty McLean was always fun, I enjoyed this track and his follow-ups, and Boom Shack A Lack also great fun, but if any act was short-changed on top 10's from a substantial body of work it's Billy Joel, so it was great to see River Of Dreams as a last gospel Hurrah before his retirement from new music, bar classical stuff and his recent fab surprise one-off single - which he didnt even do at his last-to-date UK gig at Cardiff (I was there, and the crowd covered all ranges from kids to pensioners).

21ST AUGUST

“Living On My Own” secures a second week at No 1 despite Freddie Mercury’s solo best of again moving strongly up the charts 31-15. It isn’t all good news however with Urban Cookie Collective cutting his lead at the top from 12,000 to just 9,000 last week, their respective totals being 53,385 and 44,025. There was no other show in town to be honest, Bitty McLean hovers ominously 5-3 (38,580) but was well short at retail to threaten in reality.

Motoring in 12-6 (30,945) is a track by German band Culture Beat which has already topped the charts in Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, and most impressively their native Germany where it spent 9 weeks at the No 1 spot. “Mr Vain” is the title and don’t discount its potential here where it seems to have caught the attention of those returning holiday makers. The outfit has been chugging away since 1990 with only a small No 55 hit “(Cherry Lips) Der Erdbeermund” to show until now.

It’s a bumper week for Birmingham this week with Bitty Mclean at No 3, Apache Indian climbing 8-5 (32,295) and the new UB40 single “Higher Ground debuting at No 8 (20,880). That’s their 16th top 10 single and is of course plucked from the new album “Promises And Lies” which is still atop of the album charts for a fifth week, coincidentally they are also No 1 for a fifth week in the US with their last single here “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You” . That single has sold over 580,000 and is still in the top 40 here so the current hit has big shoes to fill.

Scoring his biggest hit since “Tell Her About It” nine years ago, Billy Joel climbs 6-4 (34,770) but there’s no room for 4 Non Blondes who fall back 4-7 (25,035), Take That hurtle 3-9 (20,685) and Chaka Demus & Pliers tease us 7-10 (16,500) in its tenth week in the top 10, the last song to spend so long in the top flight without making the top 2?- well that was The Bee Gees back in 1978 with “How Deep Is Your Love”. Sales to date of "Tease Me" now amount to 328,350 and it currently the 11th biggest single of the year!


1- LIVING ON MY OWN- Freddie Mercury (53,385)
2- THE KEY: THE SECRET- Urban Cookie Collective (44,025)
3- IT KEEPS RAININ (TEARS FROM MY EYES)- Bitty McLean (38,580)
4- THE RIVER OF DREAMS- Billy Joel (34,770)
5- NUFF VIBES EP- Apache Indian (32,295)
6- MR VAIN- Culture Beat (30,945)
7- WHAT’S UP- 4 Non Blondes (25,035)
8- HIGHER GROUND- UB40 (20,880)
9- PRAY- Take That (20,685)
10- TEASE ME- Chaka Demus & Pliers (16,500)

I love Mr Vain, such a hard hitting track!

Mr Vain is indeed a total banger!

28TH AUGUST



It was a tight race for the top this week with records by Freddie Mercury and Culture Beat going head to head until the end with a challenge by Bitty McLean easing as the week progressed. In the end Culture Beat’s “Mr Vain” was crowned as the 11th chart topper of 1993 and the 6th No 1 from a German Act following Kraftwerk, Goombay Dance Band, Nena, Nicole, and Snap!, the single sold 48,015 compared to Mercury’s 43,980. More importantly than that it goes into the history as the first chart topper not available on 7” since 1959, a format which now lingers in 4th position in terms of sales behind even the fabled cassingle.

The rest of the top 5 consists of Bitty McLean who holds at No 3 (39,720), just above a falling Urban Cookie Collective 2-4 (37,080) and Billy Joel reverses 4-5 (33,750).

US trio Sisters With Voices (known as SWV) are currently experiencing a big hit stateside with “I’m So Into You”, a song which was their first hit here back in May making No 17 but a previous US release “Right Here” has been remixed by Teddy Riley with a sample of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” and it’s a hit on this side of the Atlantic debuting at No 7 (31,275). Famously of course that track didn’t become one of the UK singles lifted from “Thriller” though it made the top 10 in the US, and even more connections with Jackson comes from the fact that this features in the film “Free Willy” along with Jackson’s “Will You Be There”.  It was Riley (who has worked with Jackson extensively) who convinced the man himself to permit the sample!

Next month sees the release of the third Mariah Carey studio album “Music Box” and therefore we get treated to the lead single “Dreamlover”. Lifting the hook from the Emotions track “Blind Alley” the single has wasted little time in returning Carey to the top 10 here moving 14-10 (15,975) in just its second week and provides her with a third hit in the top echelon. In the US the single lifts 9-3 and she has already scored six chart toppers there but her No 2 hit from last year “I’ll Be There” remains her biggest hit here.

Apache Indian drops 5-6 (31,680) and 4 Non Blondes head out 7-9 (17,730). UB40 hold at No 8 (26,460) with a small increase and they remain No 1 in the US and in the albums charts here.


1- MR VAIN- Culture Beat (48,015)
2- LIVING ON MY OWN- Freddie Mercury (43,980)
3- IT KEEPS RAININ (TEARS FROM MY EYES)- Bitty McLean (39,720)
4- THE KEY: THE SECRET- Urban Cookie Collective (37,080)
5- THE RIVER OF DREAMS- Billy Joel (33,750)
6- NUFF VIBES EP- Apache Indian (31,680)
7- RIGHT HERE- SWV (31,275)
8- HIGHER GROUND- UB40 (26,460)
9- WHAT’S UP- 4 Non Blondes (17,730)
10- DREAMLOVER- Mariah Carey (15,975)

Mr Vain is a great dance track, Eurodance still big, UB40's Higher Ground pretty good 13 years into their charting and still big. Love SWV, I may even prefer it to the original, just lovely. Mariah finally pulls out of the the usual vibe and does her first genuinely fab track, Dreamlover is just smooth and infectious, far and away the best thing she's done to date.

I think the Human Nature mix of Right Here is my favourite song of 1993.

'Right Here' is marvellous pure dreamy

Great #1

'Right Here' is very nice too, good use of the sample.