I used to love the random January hits. Shame they fizzled out when physicals died off (to be replaced by the iTunes gift card effect)

7 hours ago, Jester said:

I used to love the random January hits. Shame they fizzled out when physicals died off (to be replaced by the iTunes gift card effect)

Yes, i really miss those days aswell.

Great track from the PSBs!

22ND JANUARY

What did you do to welcome in the new millennium? Chances are you weren’t playing before 57,000 people in Cardiff but that’s what the Manic Street Preachers were doing and on New Year’s eve they premiered a new song called “The Masses Against The Classes” (the title is borrowed from a speech by Gladstone FYI) and just 2 weeks later it now becomes their second No 1 single and the first of 2000 and the 21st Century after selling 76,000 copies. It won’t be a long runner as the single is a limited time release effectively being deleted the day it is released so will become increasingly rare as the weeks go by- that means that it makes history with no song in history making No 1 with such a limited time availability. The quotes in the song are by Noam Chomsky (at the beginning) and Albert Camus (at the end) for anyone that may care, and means that after Tom Jones, Shakin Stevens and Shirley Bassey they are only the fourth Welsh act to score 2 chart toppers.

Beaten by the Manics this week is the newest US R’N’B sensation Donell Jones, Jones is a writer for other artists too most notably Usher and whilst Usher’s “You Make Me Wanna” stormed to No 1 almost 2 years ago Jones may have to wait until next week to see if “U Know What’s Up” can rise to the top. It features a guest rap by TLC’s Lisa “Left-eye” Lopes though her rap is excluded on the main radio version and arrives at No2 this week after shifting 58,000 copies, it was produced by Edward Ferrell who is a member of Heavy D & The Boyz.

Formed by Mike Stock and Matt Aitken (formerly of S/A/W) and doubtless spurred on by the success of Steps, their answer to Pete Waterman’s band is Scooch who formed in 1998 and won a competition on BBC’s “Live & Kicking” to have their first record released last summer. First single “When My Baby” dutifully made No 29 in November but it’s the second single “More Than I Needed To Know” that has really put them on the map smashing in at No 5 (20,900) buoyed by a support slot on the recent B*Witched tour. One listen will convince you this is aimed at being the new Steps- the former production teams in the two acts have of course been in litigation against each other in the last few years.

New boyband time! The trio are formed of two former members of the “Byker Grove” cast Brett Adams and David "Ollie" Oliver who played Noddy and Marcus respectively and like Scooch only made No 29 first time out with “Do We Rock” in October. “Stand Tough” easily tops that peak scorching straight in at No 7 (17,400) and should ensure that the album sees the light of day now.

The Artful Dodger’s chances of topping the charts has now passed and drops 2-3 (30,000) despite a minimal sales increase, a place above last week’s chart topping Westlife who plunge 1-4 (23,000). Alice Deejay spend a third week at No 6 (18,500) as S Club 7 shoot past them down 3-8 (17,100), Len maintain No 9 (16,600) and William Orbit completes the ten falling 7-10 (16,500).

1- THE MASSES AGAINST THE CLASSES- Manic St Preachers (76,000)

2- U KNOW WHAT’S UP- Donell Jones (58,000)

3- RE-REWIND THE CROWD SAY BO SELECTA- Artful Dodger Ft Craig David (30,000)

4- I HAVE A DREAM/ SEASONS IN THE SUN- Westlife (23,000)

5- MORE THAN I NEEDED TO KNOW- Scooch (20,900)

6- BACK IN MY LIFE- Alice Deejay (18,500)

7- STAND TOUGH- Point Break (17,400)

8- TWO IN A MILLION/ YOU’RE MY NUMBER ONE- S Club 7 (17,100)

9- STEAL MY SUNSHINE- Len (16,600)

10- BARBER’S ADAGIO FOR STRINGS- William Orbit (16,500)

Adore that Pet Shop Boys song, lyrically, emotionally and melodically, and Neil and Chris do a great job getting a low-key ballad to do well - though I always bought their singles anyway despite having the albums - the bonus tracks were often as good as anything on the albums - and this was my top fave as the new Millenium dawned. That, and tracks off the album, like the gorgeous Footsteps and smashing it For Your Own Good which should have been singles too. The whole album, with added Kylie, is great though. Other than that Steal My Sunshine is still a bop but I dont consider most of the other non oldies as essential playlist regulars. Surely Vengaboys should have been instead titled Kiss (Where The Sun Don't Shine)? 😇

U Know Whats Up is such a tune !!!!

Some good debuts in this chart, I still like that Manics track and Donnell Jones (enhanced by the Left Eye version), very smooth R&B track.

Cool to see Scooch and Point Break taking advantage of the low sales climate to score bigger hits too, I do really like all four of the singles from that first Scooch album (When My Baby less than the following three but it's catchy and fun at least). I was also so impressed by the longevity of Alice Deejay (again), leaving the top ten to then return for another month was very unusual at that time.

29TH JANUARY

Now at the ripe old age of 18 Britney Spears scores her second chart topper this week with “Born To Make You Happy”- a fourth single to be plucked from the 750,000 selling debut album “Baby One More Time”. The single “Born To Make You Happy” dispensed with the opposition quickly to sell a healthy 91,000 to arrive at the top and make Spears only the third female soloist to score two chart toppers whist still a teenager after Helen Shapiro and Billie.

There was some speculation that Scanty Sandwich was another alias of none other than Fatboy Slim, in part due to the single “Because Of You” being released on the Southern Fried label. As it turns out it is actually DJ Richard Marshall who has taken a sample of a Michael Jackson track “Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day” from his 1972 album “Ben” and turned it into a top 3 single this week. “Because Of You” sold 37,000 copies and despite a late surge couldn’t catch Donell Jones at No 2 (45,000).

Dance music dominates the new entries this week as Des Mitchell powers in at No 5 (29,000) with “(Welcome) To The Dance”, a regional DJ initially Mitchell graduated to a residency in Majorca dance club BCM making a feature of his own turns at the mic to excite the crowd.

“Pitchin’ (In Every Direction)” is the first track by Hi-Gate who are actually DJ’s Paul Masterson (who had a hit with “Synths & Strings” under the name Yomanda last year) and Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules. Allegedly Masterson send Jules a demo a track with his number on it and Jules noted that it contained the same area code as his own number and that both lived in the Highgate area of London. Once the tracks was finished it naturally gained the support of Radio 1 and now debuts at No 6 (27,000).

Meanwhile at No 8 (24,000) is a new entry for Nu-Generation with the Fontella Bass sampling “In Your Arms (Rescue Me)”. Whilst it may sound very much like a Fatboy Slim record it has nothing to do with the man himself and completes the dance invasion of the top 10, it charts three place than the original did all the way back in 1965.

DJ Luck & MC Neat’s “A Little Bit Of Luck” has indeed proved it has luck taking 6 weeks to make the top 10 and having moved 18-17-14-11-12-9 so far. The British duo consist of Joel Samuels (DJ Luck) and Michael Rose (MC Neat) and are the newest names on the garage scene and show their credentials with a top ten single which is actually a mish mash of three tracks, it sold just 23,000 copies last week which actually wasn’t its best week at retail. It’s the first track since Aerosmith back in late 98 to climb into the top 10 after it debuted outside it.

Manic Street Preachers only dip 1-4 (36,000) surprising most, Artful Dodger fall 3-7 (25,000) and the fast fading Westlife collapse 4-10 (22,000).

1- BORN TO MAKE YOU HAPPY- Britney Spears (91,000)

2- U KNOW WHAT’S UP- Donell Jones (45,000)

3- BECAUSE OF YOU- Scanty Sandwich (37,000)

4- THE MASSES AGAINST THE CLASSES- Manic Street Preachers (36,000)

5- (WELCOME) TO THE DANCE- Des Mitchell (29,000)

6- PITCHIN (IN EVERY DIRECTION)- Hi Gate (27,000)

7- RE-REWIND THE CROWD SAY BO-SELECTA- Artful Dodger Ft Craig David (25,000)

8- IN YOUR ARMS (RESCUE ME)- Nu-Generation (24,000)

9- A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK- DJ Luck & Mc Neat (23,000)

10- I HAVE A DREAM/ SEASONS IN THE SUN- Westlife (22,000)

And we're all up to date!

Good week for dance there, Welcome To The Dance has to be one of the most forgotten top five hits of the 00s, I don't mind the instrumental although it's a fairly basic production for the time. I'm not fond of the way the title is spoken and surprised it went top five overall, Pitchin' is a better dance track at No.6 there. Pop Music Activism has just posted that the radio edit of Welcome To The Dance is now available to stream, in a masterstroke of timing.

I find the Scanty Sandwich track annoying due to the vocal sample but the backing track is fantastic.

A Little Bit Of Luck is such a classic, it was great to see that slowly climb into the top ten and bucking trends to do so.

Born To Make You Happy is definitely a solid Britney track, it did well to buck the trend of diminishing returns of singles from that album, but maybe pop fans felt starved of new product at the time. They actually did commission a single remix (Bonus Remix) for the song with some new vocals but ended up releasing the album version as the single in the end. It's another strong Cheiron production of the time anyway.

Edited July 9Jul 9 by gooddelta

Excited to delve into 2000s sales and TOTP episodes. I only turned 3 this year but should know every song due to following Julian's rating every top 40 single of the 2000s thread. He got up to 2002 so far and this project filled in a lot of early noughties knowledge gaps for me.

Great to see the Manics at #1 and knocking Westlife off in the process! A welcome burst of passion. 'U Know What's Up' and 'Re-rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)' from the rest of that top 3 both feel well-remembered, behind a more fleeting moment at the top. I would expect to hear either of those at some point if I randomly put on Kisstory. Same with 'A Little Bit Of Luck' from that latest chart - what a tune.

'Born To Make You Happy' is a bit too twee for me but Britney will swiftly win me back with her next era.

I can see why Scanty Sandwich was rumoured to be Fatboy Slim with that Big Beat sound. Quite an obscure choice of MJ sample and one of many in dance since the turn of the millennium, with the likes of 'Say Say Say (Waiting 4 U)', 'Somebody's Watching Me' and 'Easy Love' on the way too. I agree that its execution is on the irritating side though, quite shrill and repetitive.

Love the original 'Rescue Me' - a staple on my chilled '60s playlist <3 I'm not sure how to feel about Nu Generation out-peaking it but do appreciate that version as well nevertheless.

Hooray a good top 2 in Britney and Donnell and The Manics and Artful Craig as well! Even with the high turnover inside the top 10 we are other-wise looking at tracks I have no memory of, or dislike, so I'll just check and see if it's ageing brain cells. Scanty Sandwich: 62 (for the Jackson 5 sample). Nu Generation 50 (for the Fontella Bass sample). DJ Luck 73 for one week. Westlife 71. Other 2 DNC. Nah, I just didnt rate them. Phew!

All caught up to speed with 2000 reruns. Loved Donell Jones, I bought that one on cassette with some of my Christmas money that year! The Left Eye rap was awesome, can still recite it word for word 🤣

Also quite liked Point Break and Scooch on the first episode, they both had some great songs between them but the audience just wasn't there for either of them in the long term.

Loved Britney on the second episode, "Born To Make You Happy" remains one of my favourite singles of hers and I was pleased to see it become another number one for her.

'Welcome to the Dance...' indeed very good tune would be a great year of dance!

I don't like 'Pitchin...' as much though and Scanty Sandwich is worse - annoying.

Edited July 10Jul 10 by TheSnake

Some changes to the schedule soon due to Proms:

Friday 17th as normal from 7pm - 4th and 11th February 2000

Friday 24th July - one show at 9pm - 18th February 2000

Friday 31st July ( provisional schedule ) - from 8.25pm after Proms - 25th February and 3rd March 2000

Last year, the Prom concert was at 8pm between the new and retro hours.

Looking at the first 2 Prom weeks this year, it looks like the Prom concert will be first up each Friday from 7pm.

@lewistgreen this thread

I think to be fair if people want to discuss the programs "Big Hits Of..." and "The story Of" then that's fine to discuss in the other thread. Just use this one for the weekly programes?

14 minutes ago, Gezza said:

I think to be fair if people want to discuss the programs "Big Hits Of..." and "The story Of" then that's fine to discuss in the other thread. Just use this one for the weekly programes?

Sounds fair to me too. Ok with you Lewis?

5TH FEBRUARY



The dearth of new entries so far in the year allowed for considerable interest in the new Gabrielle single which lifts the rift from Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” with Dylan’s blessing (he’s even waived his royalties). Gabrielle has of course form for this, her debut single “Dreams” sampled Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” until Chapman set the lawyers to work and got the sample erased from the song which went to No 1 anyway, since then she’s not been back at the top until this week! “Rise” is the title track to the singer’s third album which only made No 25 upon release last October disappearing after just 3 weeks on the survey, reactivated by the single it now surges 39-6 to reach a new peak though total sales are still slightly under the 50,000 mark. The single sold 77,501 copies to glide into the top spot, that’s her 7th top 10 hit in 7 years, Kevin Godley directs the promo, for Dylan it marks his 4th chart topper as a writer following the Byrds, Manfred Mann and Dunblane.

Britney Spears falls 1-2 (58,000) but similarly her album reaches new heights powering 5-2 behind Travis selling 730,000 copies thus far.

The top 3 is completed by R.E.M who get their biggest hit yet with “The Great Beyond”, the single features on the new Andy Kaufman biopic “Man On The Moon”. As you’ll note the film is named after the REM #18 1992 hit which was also about the comedian himself so it was perhaps inevitable that the band would be asked to write a song for the movie, whilst the film isn’t out here until the spring the song sold 49,000 copies last week to wind up third.

Fluttering hearts up and down the land is new Swedish singer Andreas Johnson whose “Glorious” was tipped for the top by many but ends up new at No 4 (40,000). It is plucked from his second album “Liebling” which is due shortly, some have noted the similarity verse wise to Depeche Mode’s “Two Minute Warning” but the singer himself remains quiet on the subject.  Both this and REM charted on imports last week at No 173 and 184 respectively showing that the phenomenon remains strong in 2000.

Improving with every release, US trio Lyte Funkie Ones started out in the mid 90s and were close friends with former New Kids On The Block member Danny Wood which lead to a release of a cover of “Step By Step” in 1997. A change of personnel happened since and last year another cover (this time of Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You”) started the hits rolling making No 54, follow up “Summer Girls” was much bigger peaking at No 16 and now third hit “Girl On TV” goes as high as no 6 (36,000).

If you managed to catch any Saturday morning kids TV in the last few weeks you’ll know Daphne & Celeste, the US duo have been promoting their first single “Ooh Stick You” which is equally catchy and annoying. The brash duo see the song land at No 8 (29,000)- is this just the start?

Donell Jones relents 2-5 (37,000) and last week’s new entries from Scanty Sandwich and Nu-Generation fall 3-7 (32,000) and 8-10 (26,000) respectively. DJ Luck & MC Neat evidence their sticking power again holding at No 9 (27,000).

1- RISE- Gabrielle (77,501)
2- BORN TO MAKE YOU HAPPY- Britney Spears (58,000)
3- THE GREAT BEYOND- R.E.M (49,000)
4- GLORIOUS- Andreas Johnson (40,000)
5- U KNOW WHAT’S UP- Donell Jones (37,000)
6- GIRL ON TV- Lyte Funkie Ones (36,000)
7- BECAUSE OF YOU- Scanty Sandwich (32,000)
8- OOH STICK YOU- Daphne & Celeste (29,000)
9- A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK- DJ Luck & MC Neat (27,000)
10- IN YOUR ARMS (RESCUE ME)- Nu-Generation (26,000)

12TH FEBRUARY





It was quite a week for Gabrielle, not only does her album scorch 6-2 to reach new heights but her single “Rise” becomes the first of 2000’s chart topper to make it to 14 days. More incredibly it actually sold more than last week with sales up to 87,500 and was in no danger of losing the lead all week.

The highest new entry this week comes from Sash! who rebounds admirably from the No 15 peak of his last single, the Dr Alban featured “Colour The World”. “Adelante” features vocals from Paul Faulhammer and Rodriquez who also helped out on “Ecuador” as you may recall, and becomes his fifth single to make No 2 (55,500) from 8 releases, still impressive by any acts standards. Third album will be with us in the summer we’re assured in the meantime he enters the record books- no act have had 5 singles peak at No 2 whilst never making No 1- maybe one day…

With Cleopatra between albums it seems that the crown for biggest British RNB girl groups is up for grabs and with the Eternal comeback proving less than impressive hopes are high for the three piece Fierce. Their first three singles all made the top 30 with the biggest “Dayz Like That” narrowly missing the top 10 last May, but their cover of Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love” finally gives them a massive hit debuting at No 3 (40,000). The track has been retitled “Sweet Love 2K” not to differentiate from the original Baker track but to denote that it is remixed from the album version courtesy of Stargate. The track was last in the top 20 just 6 years ago when M-Beat hit No 18.

The power of ABBA is demonstrated again by the new Tamperer Featuring Mya single “Hammer To The Heart” which utilises the riff from the Swedes “Gimme Gimme Gimme” to provide them with a No 6 hit after selling 27,000 copies last week. A third top 10 from as many releases it is nevertheless their smallest hit to date, their album remains uncharted.

Death In Vegas finally arrive in the top 40 with a splash at No 9 (23,000). The single “Aisha” is bolstered by vocals from Iggy Pop which has helped with radio play for the track and vastly improved on the No 51 position obtained by their previous best “Rocco”.

Britney Spears continues her slow descent 2-4 (40,000) but keeps ahead of REM who also fall 3-5 (28,000). Andreas Johnson fades 4-7 (25,000) and Donell Jones ebbs 5-8 (24,000), DJ Luck & MC Neat are finally out of luck 9-10 (23,000).


Next week sees a new Oasis single- expect another 6 figure opening week!

1- RISE- Gabrielle (87,500)
2- ADELANTE- Sash! (55,500)
3- SWEET LOVE 2K- Fierce (40,000)
4- BORN TO MAKE YOU HAPPY- Britney Spears (40,000)
5- THE GREAT BEYOND- R.E.M (28,000)
6- HAMMER TO THE HEART- Tamperer Ft Maya (27,000)
7- GLORIOUS- Andreas Johnson (25,000)
8- U KNOW WHAT’S UP- Donell Jones (24,000)
9- AISHA- Death In Vegas (23,000)
10- A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK- DJ Luck & MC Neat (23,000)