gooddelta

Yes I figured there must have been some big boost to get Rollercoaster to the top there. I suppose though you must have had a lot of ballads released around the summer, where international acts followed simultaneous release strategies. Before streaming took over everything, we used to get a lot of the bigger ballads here around winter and Christmas, although tbf the 1999 charts don't really show that very well as you'll see when I get to it. Cool, that wil be good to follow as I have gaps in my Aussie knowledge although over the years have come to know a lot of big pop you had in the late 90s that didn't really do much over here like Buses and Trains and Mouth.

This is where we need the 100% emoji. Because I've always thought this too. One of the most astonishing deviations from form I've ever seen from a 'cheesy pop' band (see also Vengaboys' Forever As One but that sadly tanked).

Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next Rank: 9.5/10 Reason: Even as a kid when I was more into pop and dance and less into indie and rock like I am moreso now, there is one act I always made an exception for, and that was Manic Street Preachers. There was something about their music that I just absolutely loved, from Motorcycle Emptiness and A Design For Life to Australia (which I knew very well as it was the theme tune to a TV show I watched on Nickelodeon called Renford Rejects), or their production on Kylie's underrated Some Kind Of Bliss, I just really enjoyed their music. Come 1998 and the Welsh group were still in search of a No.1 after A Design For Life (which was their first release after the sad disappearance of guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards the previous year) criminally missed the top. The first time I heard If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next I thought 'ok, this is their No.1'. It's as anthemic as they always are, but somehow had slightly more accessible production for cross coverage on all types of radio playlists, I pretty much heard it everywhere from August through to the end of that year. The lyrics amazed me at the time, and do so even more these days for how they stood out in the poppy 1998 landscape. According to Wikipedia, "the song was inspired by the Spanish Civil War, and the idealism of Welsh volunteers who joined the left-wing International Brigades fighting for the Spanish Republic against Francisco Franco's military rebels". The song takes its name from a Republican propaganda poster of the time written in English and displaying a photograph of a child killed by the Nationalists, under a sky filled with bomber aircraft, with the song's warning written at the bottom. Hearing kids everywhere and teens on TOTP belting out 'and if you tolerate this, then your children will be next' was actually very powerful and arresting, because it's hardly your usual singalong pop chorus is it. But it hits far harder as an adult - how good is that opening line: 'the future teaches you to be alone, the present to be afraid and cold'. The song sold over 150,000 copies to reach No.1 but very nearly didn't get there as the quickly rising Steps unleashed one of their best ever singles, One For Sorrow, on the same week. That fell short by only a few thousand copies in the end and would become one of their many No.2 peaking hits, quickly outselling this track within weeks, but really both songs deserved their time at the top, and I'd have ranked One For Sorrow in my top five of the year too had it made it. Meanwhile, the Manics released more singles I loved from this song's parent album, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours: The Everlasting (which criminally missed the top 10 in a crowded December market) and the blistering You Stole The Sun From My Heart, which returned them to the top five in March 1999. They continued to go strong commercially for many years after this, with a second No.1 single, Masses Against The Classes, in early 2000, and very nearly making a play for the top again as late as 2007 with the excellent Your Love Alone Is Not Enough with Nina Persson from The Cardigans.

B*Witched - To You I Belong Rank: 9.5/10 Reason: The Lynch family strike again with a song unexpectedly high up the ranking. But is it really that big a surprise? 1998 was my introduction to the charts and owning/buying my own music, and the first album I was given (by my sister who got it on release but then bought herself the newer version with Dreams on it) was Talk On Corners by The Corrs, which massively shaped my future musical tastes and meant that I essentially loved almost anything Celtic sounding or with a trad Irish influence from that point onwards. Obviously I did really enjoy B*Witched's C'est La Vie, as evidenced by it being in my top 10 earlier, but wasn't that fussed on Rollercoaster. But they massively won me back with their bid for the Christmas charts, To You I Belong. This largely forgotten ballad would have been a lovely song anyway but throws a fiddle, tin whistle, and bodhrán into the mix and ends up sounding like The Corrs Juniors, via a prominent Enya influence. It absolutely appealed to me and I still thoroughly love it. The song finally ended the 7-week run at No.1 of Cher's Believe, shifting an impressive 150,000 copies in its first week, and seeing off Billie's She Wants You as both acts bid for their third consecutive chart topper. Lightly touched up from the album version with a dusting of pop magic on the single mix, the track was wisely released the week before Christmas so it didn't run into the Spice Girls/Chef battle, and while it was forgotten about in fairly short order, it would not be their last No.1 (that will be covered in my 1999 thread). To You I Belong also reached the top five in Ireland and New Zealand although only No.25 in Australia, quite a comedown from the No.1 peak of Rollercoaster there, although would it have been released in the height of summer perhaps? Maybe not quite the right vibe. But for me this song brings back such lovely memories of the end of a very eventful year in my life - that Christmas period stirs up thoughts of amazing music and rinsing Hits '99, getting excited about watching the Christmas chart unfold, watching Christmas films in school in the final few days of term and receiving a Nintendo 64 and Banjo-Kazoooie for Christmas, which I absolutely rinsed and that was me done for the remaining week of the year.

Yes it would have been a better choice of fourth single (although glad it wasn't third), My Oh My wasn't as strong although I liked the intro with the galloping horse.

Good luck finding anything of note on a late November New Music Friday oops. Though as this is a December contest, Christmas songs could well be selected!

I'm quite glad they left Lollipop as third here as I don't see that it would have been a No.1 for them. And diminishing returns would probably have stopped Turn Back Time from getting there too. It is definitely interesting that Barbie Girl wasn't their debut single in some countries though, as it felt so impactful here as a debut.

I don't really care for the original at all, so yes it was a real transformation. Sure the Top of the Pops crowd loved it when they performed the original. I would say the top ten are all songs I love and listen to regularly so there's very little between some of them. Having said that, the top four when I get there are miles ahead.

Up to 54 now (assuming both vetoed nations today reconfirm, and I hope they do!). Any stragglers have 25 and a half hours left!

That Jagged Edge song didn’t chart here at all. It sounds like it samples It’s Like That. Quite a fun crunk but going with 21 Seconds, various lyrics of which are still always in my head to this day. That was a very unique song to reach the top here.

Another veto here: Madison Beer - yes baby 34 - entered three times previously in LXXXV (17th), XCVIII (failing to qualify) and LIX (9th). 3+7 - artist has had 2 top 40 albums in the UK (February 2021 and September 2023), both charting at #28, and 6 top 100 singles (All Day All Night being her only top 40, #10), her most recent being Bittersweet at #81 in October. - previously on the Capital Buzz playlist. - featured on Rolling Stone, PAPER Magazine, Official Charts, Yahoo, Readdork. - won Pop Track of The Week: Week 38 with 8 votes, has a thread in the Pop Forum with 10 replies (Calum, Jade, 152 Chris) - substantial Buzzjack exposure. 12 - currently #16 on the Buzzjack Multichart (with a #15 peak). 12 - charted by 14 members (LewisGT, AaronTM, Cody Piastri, SSP, Simon, Slick, Rogue, CornishSwiftie, seltinpixmile, RobBot, Jade, CianS, DanG,JosephBoone), 4 of which are BJSC participants.

My favourite is tiptoeing, because it reminds me of the early Katy Perry sound, which I always love. Really liking I Need A Rhythm too, would be a nice dance swerve.

Many of the major contests have entry archives, although not all have a full alphabetised list. https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/211939-songs-of-the-buzzjack-song-contest-updated-to-176 https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/160533-bjsc-spin-off-resource-centre https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/279555-pop-forum-song-contest-the-archive https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/206214-club-bizarre-archive https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/161971-unknown-pleasures-archive https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/193320-nuggets-archive https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/257799-the-best-song-contest-in-the-worldever-archive https://www.buzzjack.com/forums/topic/276507-bop-idol-stats-index In order that's archives for BJSC, BJSC spin-offs, PFSC, Club Bizarre, Unknown Pleasures, Nuggets, The Best Song Contest In The World Ever and Bop Idol. But other contests have been held in things like Artist Forums so it's not exhaustive.

I'm now seeing Holly Jolly Christmas by Bublé on top of Spotify's Christmas Hits, which seems like an unexpected choice.

A second veto here unfortunately: Reneé Rapp - Lucky 12 - artist DNQed in BJSC 151 & came 28th in BJSC 153 5 - artist had 3 UK chart hits in 2024-2025, none of which made the top 40 (highest position #61 for 'Not My Fault' (w/ Megan Thee Stallion)); also had 2 UK top 10 albums in 2023-2025 (most recent album peaked at #1 in August) 7 - appeared in 4 personal charts, none of which are current BJSC participants - appeared in the Pop Track of the Week poll, coming 2nd with 4 votes - song from the soundtrack of Now You See Me, Now You Don't (a film out now featuring Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Daniel Radcliffe etc) - featured on Rolling Stone, The Line of Best Fit, Readdork, Melodic Mag, Billboard amongst other lesser known sites. **Doesn't quite reach the veto threshold but vetoed as we believe that Renee Rapp, especially with a #1 album under her belt just 3 months ago, is too big of a currently popular name to be entered into the main contest.

The mods will check it as part of their research I believe. I think every now and then we get the odd repeat in other contests, like Lena Philipsson's Dansa I Neon which previously won a BJSC spin-off was sent to The Best Song Contest In The World Ever last month. It was deemed fine as enough time had passed and the participants were about 95% different between the competitions (indeed, second time around it finished in the bottom five).

Me too, although songs used to be longer! I've voted now, thoroughly enjoy all of my top ten and a few others, some great discoveries here. Surprised I've never heard my 12 pointer before.

Just in case any of last month's participants that haven't yet entered were after a reminder nudge, here are the countries that were with us last time but are yet to confirm. Hope the tagging is ok as it's only last month's participants. If you wish to participate then you have until tomorrow night. Of course, everyone else is very welcome too if any other of our great nations from the past or new nations would like to join this celebratory contest. Aelandor @Jacob- Cumulonimbia @Doctor Blind East Rukahavian @Mack. Hushkanukia @Cameron Persephonia @Brer Skall @Harve The Spodic Empire @Colm Trifoski @seven.

Wow, what an interesting mix of songs, I split up the listening into three sessions and glad I did as I got to appreciate each song more. Some great discoveries in here, and a few rediscoveries of songs I haven't thought about in a long time. I'll try and vote shortly. Loved some of the longer stuff that switched up part way through.

You can blame me for the carryover thing as I carried over Westlife's double a right at the start in 2000. Mainly because so much fuss was made at the time of them opening the century/millennium at No.1. But Manics were the first new No.1 ofc.

Wow, that's quite an innings. Congratulations! Yes Sliding Doors was a great film, I have it on DVD at home.

Ha. For me it's this and someone or other shouting 'goddamn' every two minutes.

Aqua - Turn Back Time Rank: 9/10 Reason: As I alluded to earlier in the thread, Danish group Aqua were great fun but one of those bands who on paper sound like my taste to a tee, but where in reality I only loved one song by them from their heyday (because 2009's Back To The 80s was brilliant and deserved to smash outside Scandinavia), and that song was Turn Back Time. Aqua opening their UK chart career with three straight No.1 singles probably wasn't on anybody's minds and, indeed, if they had released something in the mould of Barbie Girl and Doctor Jones as the third single, I very much doubt it would have happened as diminishing returns kicked in. We saw that in the way My Oh My underperformed against expectations a few months later. But they had an unexpected ace up their sleeve with Turn Back Time, a mostly ballad, very well sung by Lene, that had extra exposure from featuring on the soundtrack of one of the year's biggest films, Sliding Doors. The music video also saw Aqua in their own Sliding Doors style situation, and the whole thing is far more mature than their other singles, including the group being styled in leather jackets and other black clothes, although Lene's red and black spiky hair stood her apart from other balladeers of the time. I'm not sure many people who heard this single without knowing who it was by would imagine it was an Aqua song on first listen, at least not for the first two minutes, where it just comes across as a very lovely, but well delivered pop ballad. This being Aqua, it was never going to be as straightforward a production as that, and halfway in there is a dramatic musical switch up into something of a distorted electronic breakdown, before the song suddenly returns to its ballad form, with some lovely outro backing vocals. There is no room for rapper Rene as a lead on this track, and I'm glad they didn't try to shoehorn him into it because for surprise value alone, this song was worth the admission. In a such a ballad heavy year as 1998, it's quite amazing that one of the very biggest came from Aqua. The UK is where the track achieved its biggest success - it peaked at No.2 in New Zealand and No.10 in Australia as well as top five in Ireland and Sweden. In the UK it would be the final week at No.1 of their career, and they never hit the UK top five again after this single, aside from their credit on Nicki Minajl's Barbie World in 2023.

Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha (Norman Cook Remix) Rank: 9/10 Reason: Leicester indie band Cornershop had been active since 1991 without any commercial success (not that their music was in any way commercial) until 1997 when the original Brimful Of Asha reached No.60. That mini ripple was enough to bring it to the attention of Norman Cook, who had yet to fully establish his Fatboy Slim alias but would do later in 1998. The remix changed the slow burning indie track into a faster dance track, now in a higher key, and it was pretty impossible in the first half of 1998 to avoid hearing the line 'everybody needs a bosom for a pillow' everywhere. Lyrically, the song is based on the history of film culture in India, and notably about film music singer Asha Bhosle. The remix turned the single into a far more commercial affair and gave singer/songwriter Tjinder Singh and his band by far the biggest hit of their career, and one of the freshest sounding No.1s to hit the top in the UK in a long time. The mix of indie rock, dance and Bollywood was refreshing and the song, released on CD, cassette and, of course, on the 45 (7-inch vinyl), went straight to No.1 in remixed form, seeing off Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On, although that would return. The track made the end of year top 20, largely thanks to a big first week and holding up well as it descended through the weekly top 20, and charted in many other countries across Europe. But perhaps the biggest shot in the arm was the one it gave to remixer Norman Cook, whose next four singles as Fatboy Slim were all huge hits.

49 confirmations and 49 hours left to confirm! Keep them coming!