TOTP moves into 2000, this thread designed to "best guess" the sales week by week for the year. 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 Youtube, Wikipedia, MW, popscene, James Masterton, Discogs, and a few other sources who have helped over the years. Here's the links to to the 80s/ 90s threads if this isn't your year!

https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/270540-gezzas-yearly-sales-threads/#comment-7539423

In doing this I've tried to take into account TOTP performances and other factors which may have effected sales and chart positions throughout the decade.

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 first half of the 00s (eventually) because things would never be the same again.

TOTP repeats on BBC4 should commence in late June/Early July so just getting ready!

Ooh the first (and only) forum switch for my TOTP fix!

Let's just hope no scandal hits Jamie Theakston or we won't be getting many episodes!

I’m really looking forward to following along with this. I’ve loved the ones from the late 90’s.

Looking forward to this. 2000 was a fun year for pop and dance music!

cant wait for this especially the early years!

Confirmed start date of 26/6

Just got round to starting the 2000 reruns last night. Saving the other two episodes that were on this Friday just gone for next Friday in lieu of the fact there's none on next week because of the cricket!

I had genuinely forgotten how slow January 2000 was, literally the music industry just took one extended holiday after the millennium / Y2K rush and panic, hence "Re-Rewind" and "Steal My Sunshine" hanging around for ages, ditto the S Club 7, Steps and Vengaboys singles.

Nice to see Pet Shop Boys get another top 10 even if it was just by dint of doing so on a quiet week with low sales, very wistful sounding electropop that only they know how to deliver.

DJ Luck and MC Neat though, what a tune that was. I alluded to it on the 1999 sales thread but I was a big UK Garage head so I'm looking forward to hearing all the old classics again from this year as we get to them week by week. Holla with da rinsin sound etc 😆🎵🎧

As mentioned above there's no reruns on this Friday but on BBC Two next Saturday evening there is Top of the Pops: Biggest Hits 2000 at 8:50pm, followed by Top of the Pops: The Story of 2000 at 9:50pm.

Sorry all, laptop died but I've found a way to post from my phone though it isn't ideal. I'll post a chart a day to catch up with the reruns. Starting tomorrow.

Thanks Gezza, looking forward to it.

Enjoyed the first few weeks.

I need to dig out my copy of New Hits 2000 as it has a fair amount of songs covered on these episodes, some not on any other compilations, like Stand Tough by Point Break which I completely forgot how catchy it was.

That Scooch song was far better than they were probably given credit at the time for too, as good as many Steps singles.

21 hours ago, ThePensmith said:

I had genuinely forgotten how slow January 2000 was, literally the music industry just took one extended holiday after the millennium / Y2K rush and panic, hence "Re-Rewind" and "Steal My Sunshine" hanging around for ages, ditto the S Club 7, Steps and Vengaboys singles.

Surprised at this comment, maybe for pop songs it was but there are quite a few dance hits including one appropriately named 'Welcome To The Dance...'

The rest of 2000's charts were obviously super fast, people and radio stations must have got bored of songs much quicker back then than now.

Edited July 6Jul 6 by TheSnake

Just now, TheSnake said:

Surprised at this comment, maybe for pop songs it was but there are quite a few dance hits including the appropriately named 'Welcome To The Dance...'

The rest of 2000's charts were obviously super fast, people and radio stations must have got bored of songs much quicker back then than now.

I think it's hard to compare the periods.

There were more focused channels for promotion, but the options were very narrow. If you weren't on kids TV, in magazines, on the music channels, or the radio, or had a strong existing fanbase, you didn't stand much chance of charting.

And if your single wasn't available in major stores you pretty much stood no chance. And then there were only ever about 100 songs vying for buyer attention in the shops at any given time, a lot fewer in shops like Woolworths and the supermarkets. Now consumers can pick from millions of songs easily.

So we had far less choice, and therefore were hungry for whatever new product that emerged, particularly when it was trailed for six weeks in advance of release.

1 hour ago, TheSnake said:

Surprised at this comment, maybe for pop songs it was but there are quite a few dance hits including one appropriately named 'Welcome To The Dance...'

The rest of 2000's charts were obviously super fast, people and radio stations must have got bored of songs much quicker back then than now.

Oh I was gonna say there was plenty of them around. And I know historically January and sometimes February always used to be the quieter months where the charts were concerned in the late 90s and much of the 00s - hence so many second division pop bands like Ultra in 1999 and then Scooch and Point Break in this year grabbing their one and only top 10 hit.

But 2000 was definitely unique in that because the industry overestimated what the whole Millennium bug thing would be and its implications (as it turned out, the sum total of jack all) it was basically quieter than it otherwise would have been. And so many big name artists actually delayed their new albums as a result. Because actually Oasis had their album - more on which in a few weeks - in the can and ready to go but they held it back until February. Ditto The Corrs who delayed their third album until July.

Lest we forget Scooch's other No.5 smash Flying The Flag (For You)!

Which is a good time to remind folks please no spoilers with peak positions (at least in the TOTP years) for those that want to follow this thread in (almost) real time. As for January 2000 yes it was dull, it felt like a hangover period, more than usual. I think because most of the big acts of the period had gone for releases in December to get the much discussed chart topper for the millennium

15TH JANUARY

Welcome, chart wise, to the 21st Century! With the record industry still having a hangover there isn’t much new product around but we do at least have 1 new entry!

Not at the top however where Westlife complete a month at No 1- double the length of time they ever managed before, “I Have A Dream/ Seasons In The Sun” also increased its sales, albeit minimally, to 34,738 bringing the monthly total for the single to 513,000. It’s the first song to have spent as many as 4 weeks at No 1 since Cher in late 1998 and keeps their album top 3, it has sold 800,000 so far.

The rest of the top 5 are all the same as last week with some minor movements, Artful Dodger continue to climb back 3-2 (29,000), so far “Re-Rewind The Crowd Say Bo Selecta” has moved 2-2-6-5-3-2 selling 430,000 in the process. They push S Club 7 back 2-3 (28,000) and whilst it is easily explainable in terms of lack of new releases it does mean that this is the first week since W/E 23/10/93 when only the No 1 song sold over 30,000 copies- a worrying stat. Steps hold at No 4 (24,000) just ahead of the similarly Vengaboys at No 5 (22,000).

Further down Alice Deejay hold at No 6 (19,000) and William Orbit storms back 11-7 (17,300), and accompanying him on his return to the top flight are Len who move 12-9 (16,200) just ahead of John Lennon who falls 7-10 (15,900).

The observant will note that that leaves our solitary new entry at No 8 (16,700) which is from the Pet Shop Boys. “You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk” is a third single from their “Nightlife” album and becomes the biggest yet, it is now their 19th top 10 single (including the “Absolutely Fabulous” single) and their first in 3 years even if it more down to fortuitous scheduling than a genuine surge in popularity.

Next week 2000 really gets underway- phew!

1- I HAVE A DREAM/ SEASONS IN THE SUN- Westlife (34,738)

2- RE-REWIND THE CROWD SAY BO SELECTA- Artful Dodger Ft Craig David (29,000)

3- TWO IN A MILLION/ YOU’RE MY NUMBER ONE- S Club 7 (28,000)

4- SAY YOU’LL BE MINE/ BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW- Steps (24,000)

5- KISS (WHEN THE SUN DON’T SHINE- Vengaboys (22,000)

6- BACK IN MY LIFE- Alice Deejay (19,000)

7- BARBER’S ADAGIO FOR STRINGS- William Orbit (17,300)

8- YOU ONLY TELL ME YOU LOVE ME WHEN YOU’RE DRUNK- Pet Shop Boys (16,700)

9- STEAL MY SUNSHINE- Len (16,200)

10- IMAGINE- John Lennon (15,900)

i need to check out the PSB song cos i have been guilty of that 🤣

Great timing for PSB, brave week to release and finally got a top ten single off that album.

I also absolutely love that song, it's hugely underrated and definitely in my PSB top ten.

22 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

Great timing for PSB, brave week to release and finally got a top ten single off that album.

I also absolutely love that song, it's hugely underrated and definitely in my PSB top ten.

It's opening tally was actually lower than the 26,300 or 22,700 of their previous two singles yet the biggest chart hit. The joys of January