gooddelta

Yeah this was amazing, I was there last night and hoped for Charli but didn't expect it, a great moment. Love 360 and the stage lighting up Brat green Dua is so good live, she suits large stadiums so well. So many songs really went off in that setting in a way I didn't expect them to, like Electricity, Physical <3 They're two of my favourites but I didn't realise they were big general public favourites. And wow, the encore/final section is just stunning - great song choices to end on.

Confirmed a favourite of mine, not sure if it will be deemed too well known but will try it.

Intriguing, at least her huge fanbase should at least give us some Rest of the World votes. Doubt the BBC would really want her as our act though.

And conquering Madonna's lead single would have been really good press for Posh too. If only she'd known how big Groovejet would be.

Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around Rank: 8/10 Reason: 2000 was a great time to be a Kylie Minogue fan. I only properly got into music myself in around 1998 so obviously, while aware of Kylie's achievements and past hits, I was not a real-time fan at any point until the Light Years album came out as Kylie was between eras at this point and hadn't been in the top 10 since 1994. But with Spinning Around she made her intentions known again ('did I forget to mention that I found a new direction...and it leads back to me'). A huge pop track with a memorable video thanks to the gold hot pants, and co-written by Paula Abdul, which always makes me think 'what could have been' for her career perhaps had it received even half the attention Kylie got with it. I think with Spinning Around I have more of a fond appreciation than a deep love for it - it paved the way for greater things that could not have happened without this song being a hit - the immediate follow up On A Night Like This was one of my favourite songs of the year, and obviously in 2001 she went stratospheric again with Can't Get You Out Of My Head and the Fever album. But this is a really catchy pop/disco song that is still played, quoted and well regarded today, and it did its job of putting Kylie back on the map, helping her go from a bubblegum pop star of yesteryear turned cult indie prospect, into a proper legend. So thank goodness it all clicked and it was a hit! The top 20 will start tomorrow, and here are the 20 No.1 singles remaining: All Saints - Black Coffee All Saints - Pure Shores Britney Spears - Oops! I Did It Again Craig David - 7 Days Craig David - Fill Me In Eminem - Stan Eminem - The Real Slim Shady Fragma - Toca's Miracle Gabrielle - Rise LeAnn Rimes - Can't Fight The Moonlight Madison Avenue - Don't Call Me Baby Madonna - Music Melanie C - I Turn To You Melanie C feat Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Never Be The Same Again Modjo - Lady (Hear Me Tonight) Ronan Keating - Life Is A Rollercoaster S Club 7 - Never Had A Dream Come True Sonique - It Feels So Good Spiller feat Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) The Corrs - Breathless

A1 - Same Old Brand New You Rate: 8/10 Reason: We've reached the 8/10 mark here, and I think the songs left are a mix of undeniable classics and/or songs that I personally hold in high regard. This song falls into the latter category. Obviously A1's Take On Me cover I've documented earlier and didn't think was good, but I do appreciate the way it took the band up to the next level of popularity, meaning they had more ears on them when Same Old Brand New You was released. I'm not so sure this single would have got to No.1 had it been the lead, as I think the cover and its video gave them more press attention. Written by Ben, Christian and Mark from the band along with Eric Foster White, this is a really good boyband single that pulls the trick that I always love of using the intro part again later in the track, in this case as a middle-eight, where it is made more dramatic with different chords underneath it. The production on this song is otherwise quite Cheiron-esque and of the time, with *NSYNC vibes, but I do really like it and I'm glad they got a No.1 that wasn't a cover to their name. It did dive to No.8 the week after so is probably the most forgotten track in the top 30.

U2 - Beautiful Day Rate: 7.5/10 Reason: I've always been a bit hit and miss with U2, but there's no denying the All That You Can't Leave Behind album was a monster, a return to their rock roots and a commercial renaissance of sorts after they dabbled in more leftfield styles for a lot of the 90s. Beautiful Day was a storming lead single, a stadium-ready anthem with a mega chorus but with quite restrained verses and guitar work reminiscent of some of their big 80s classics. I actually personally preferred the two singles that followed this one, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of and the Tomb Raider mix of Elevation, but Beautiful Day was a good song and probably the most memorable/classic rock No.1 of 2000.

Manic Street Preachers - The Masses Against The Classes Rate: 7.5/10 Reason: Like with Steps earlier, Manic Street Preachers had two No.1 singles in the UK, one which made a lot of sense and the other less so when you look at some of their classics that didn't make it. However, despite not perhaps being one of their more accessible releases (it has under 1m Spotify streams), The Masses Against The Classes is a blistering and heavy anti-establishment rock track with a big chorus that made for a refreshing change after four weeks of Westlife, and was the first new No.1 single of the millennium. It was probably partially helped out by being a limited release - it was apparently deleted after the first day on sale but must have had plenty of copies floating around as it charted for seven weeks. As an aside, I've noticed writing this that it has a very similar intro to Can We Fix It? (!), so no doubt Neil Morrissey was a fan.

Destiny's Child - Independent Women, Pt. 1 Rate: 7.5/10 Reason: From the Charlies Angels soundtrack, Independent Women, Pt. 1 was a gear change for Destiny's Child, who had gone through line-up changes but had settled on the familiar trio of Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle by this point, their first single since Say My Name which went to No.3 earlier in the year and would actually become their biggest classic in time with over a billion streams now. Independent Women, Pt. 1 definitely did benefit from being in the film but it was also a strong female empowerment anthem with strong production and a lot of hooks that would go viral if it was released today ('Question?', 'I bought it'), an effective choral middle eight, and - weirdly - the three lead stars from the film being namechecked in the intro. They would continue on this high level with the likes of Survivor and Bootylicious and never really looked back, but for me - despite being a great song - other classics of theirs have aged better.

Kernkraft 400 was so hypnotic, I just can't imagine anything like that taking off now at all, a really pulsing nearly full instrumental like that. I was thinking about Michael when I ranked that there (this position's gonna punish you).

Robbie Williams - Rock DJ Rate: 7/10 Reason: Time to say goodbye to a big hitter and one of the biggest sellers of the year. Robbie was coming off the back of a huge era with I've Been Expecting You and quite possibly could have put anything out at this point and got a No.1. I'm not sure quite what I expected him to release at this point, but Rock DJ wasn't it; a disco tinged pop/half-rap kind of Ian Dury inspired number with an extremely memorable video with plenty of shock value. Almost a novelty song in some respects with some of the lyrics and the style of the female backing vocals, but it has a great bassline although one I recently realised (upon buying Now Yearbook '77 Extra) was sampled from Barry White's It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me, so there was something about the soul legend that was appealing to people in 2000! Anyway, Rock DJ is clearly a clever, classic song from a superstar at the top of their game, and was absolutely inescapable at the time, a good example of a British pop song that went stratospheric (apart from in the US), but like with Kids, it is just not really my style and I'd take Supreme over it any day.

As a brief diversion, 2000 also generated a strong batch of 19 UK No.2s, a not insubstantial number really when on many weeks the No.2 slot would be filled with one of the many No.1s from the previous week departing. And here is my rank of those, in case it might give any clues on the acts still to feature in this rank with their No.1 hits: Kylie Minogue - On A Night Like This (9.5/10) Daft Punk - One More Time (9/10) Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400 (9/10) S Club 7 - Reach (9/10) Bomfunk MC's – Freestyler (9/10) Samantha Mumba - Gotta Tell You (9/10) Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers (9/10) True Steppers & Dane Bowers Featuring Victoria Beckham - Out Of Your Mind (8/10) Moloko - The Time Is Now (8/10) S Club 7 - Two In A Million / You're My Number One (8/10) Martine McCutcheon - I'm Over You (8/10) Artful Dodger & Romina Johnson - Movin Too Fast (8/10) Donnell Jones feat Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes - U Know What's Up (8/10) Blink 182 - All The Small Things (8/10) Sonique – Sky (7.5/10) Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue – Kids (7/10) Sash! - Adelante (7/10) Westlife - What Makes A Man (6/10) Baha Men - Who Let The Dogs Out (5/10)

Steps - Stomp Rate: 7/10 Reason: As far as I know, this was the lowest selling No.1 of 2000, certainly in weekly terms anyway with a sale little over 50k to top the chart, and when you look at all of their classics that peaked at No.2, in some ways it is weird that Stomp ended up as one of Steps' two chart-toppers, but such is the nature of the charts sometimes. It was the lead single from third album Buzz, and was certainly improved upon with the next single - It's The Way You Make Me Feel - which sold a lot more but missed out on topping the chart due to collding with Touch Me by Rui da Silva. Nevertheless, Stomp is a perky Chic sampling number which actually is brilliant when performed live and a real moment with the hand claps in the chorus. But listening to the studio version at home, paired with the very Y2K house party video, does have more than a whiff of naff to it. There are 20 Steps songs I'd listen to before this, but it's still a solid pop song and there were certainly some looks in that era weren't there.

Britney Spears - Born To Make You Happy Rate: 7/10 Reason: Like Westlife, Britney managed No.1 singles from two different studio albums/eras during 2000, and Born To Make You Happy was the final UK single to be lifted from her debut (other countries, like the US) got From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart. It's not unimpressive that this made it to the top after Sometimes and (You Drive Me) Crazy both failed to do so, maybe it was just the right time for a slower single in the run up to Valentine's Day or maybe the public just really clicked with this one. For me, it's a classic example of Cheiron pop that could also very easily have been a Backstreet Boys or 'NSync song, with that slight Scandipop feel to it and all the classic production hallmarks of theirs. Britney delivered it well, especially the middle eight, and the label did probably make the right decision not pushing the more funky 'Bonus' remix that some radio stations were apparently playing outside the UK, which uses some slightly different vocals and in my opinion does take something away from the nice melody in the process of throwing the kitchen sink at the production. Good single, but not a Britney classic for me.

Chicane feat Bryan Adams - Don't Give Up Rate: 7/10 Reason: Funnily enough, I was out of the country the week this went to No.1, having taken my first flight ever to Tenerife. I was indulging in Euro hits that weren't released here, and internet access was a bit scarce over there at the time so it's not until I got back that I found out this had gone to No.1, somewhat surprisingly in my mind because I was expecting to come back to find out that Five's Don't Wanna Let You Go at No.1 (instead that debuted and peaked at No.9, I still don't know what happened there). I mean, this is a solid dance track, with good verses and a memorable chorus, and Bryan Adams complements Chicane's classic Balearic production vibe surprisingly well (or maybe not such a surprise if you heard his hit mix of Cloud Number Nine), but I prefer basically all of Chicane's other big hits, particularly the beautiful single that immediately followed this, No Ordinary Morning, which flopped at No.28.

Would love to know what channel is spamming Baller ❤️ Did some new channels get added to the list that makes up the chart?

Definitely not one of their best was it. I wasn't really into the Usher song that much either, though it's better than Oasis. I guess 1998 improved rapidly as it was my favourite year for the charts, but not really in January. Still, kudos to Robbie and All Saints for hanging around so well, I definitely do relate both acts more to 1998 than 1997 in my head so it's fair that they started off so strongly. Nice indie and rock on this edition from Catatonia, Radiohead, Green Day. I wasn't so taken by the Chumbawamba song (a true 'halo hit' I guess, as it never would have been a hit without Tubthumping coming before it). Some crap pop in these two weeks too from OTT and Peter Andre, and so many disco covers or samples doing the rounds in the chart at this point. 1997 and 1998 definitely felt like the 70s revival. I didn't really enjoy the slower version of High either so I guess that works better with its lovely studio string production.

Yeah it's not half bad, going back to it today; the instrumental is definitely better than the vocal. In fact the drum intro I've realised is basically the same as the Roxette hit, I Wish I Could Fly, from the previous year, from seven seconds in:

Billie Piper - Day & Night Rate: 7/10 Reason: So into the top 30, and actually I like everything left to a good extent, so over two-thirds of the year's No.1s were good singles to me which is a good strike rate for such a high turnover. A bit like with Geri Halliwell earlier, Billie Piper is one of those rare British female artists who I can probably say I don't love any individual song by, Honey To The Bee coming closest to my affections. Not to say she didn't have some decent pop songs and clearly Day & Night was good enough to give her another No.1 two years after her first mid-teen debut could so easily have left her as a one-album wonder. Influenced by what Britney was doing at the time, she made a strong stab at the same Cheiron style sound herself here and did a very good job at that, but is it a song I put on out of choice? Not really. But it's a shame her pop career fizzled out so soon after this, although a great acting career beckoned.

They all had to come somewhere sadly, and at least it wasn't the top ten!

Oasis - Go Let It Out Rate: 6.5/10 Reason: I think it's fair to say that Oasis were not at their best at this point, and I don't think even they would argue with that, but if this song finds its way onto their reunion tour setlist this summer then I'll eat my words. The lead single from Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, it obviously did enough to get to No.1 such was their power still at the time, and was followed by No.4 hits Who Feels Love, and Sunday Morning Call, which I believe Noel disliked so much that it was left as a hidden track on their Time Flies album. Anyway, this song is...fine. It's got some nice guitar work, the drum pattern at the start is cool, but Liam's vocal drawl ('go let it oooooooouuuuuutttt') is a bit annoying for me at times and overall it's not a classic.

Mariah Carey feat Westlife - Against All Odds Rate: 6.5/10 Reason: Full disclosure - I bought this at the time, I was quite Mariah obsessed and thought it was a nice version of the song, and that Westlife's part also wasn't bad. Obviously in retrospect it was an uninspired cover that has that generic production (much glossier than the Mariah-only album version production that was more similar to the original with harder drums). Obviously the same week that I bought this I bought the banger Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation too, and was slightly gutted that didn't get to No.1 instead, being a much more inspired record. But I only have myself to blame. Anyway, I still really don't mind this track, albeit moreso for Mariah than Westlife, and it was cool to see her getting a second No.1 finally at the time, although I highly doubt her solo version would have pulled off the same trick, Westlife was the selling point for most buyers here. But that's Westlife down and out of this rank!

Westlife - Fool Again Rate: 6/10 Reason: We're now out of the bottom ten and really, by Westlife standards, I don't mind this one. An album track given a 2000 Remix with a more 'hit' sounding intro, and with a video filmed in Mexico City, this would be their fifth No.1 single although they got very lucky on this occasion, only narrowly edging out Melanie C and Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes on their second week around. And the chart run showed that it was time to move on from the debut album, this song diving to No.8 in its second week, which was pretty unusual in 2000. Still, Fool Again isn't a bad original from them, following the usual formula but at least not a cover or quite as MOR as they would later become. There may be a slight element of nostalgia here because the first concert I ever saw, in March 2000, was a multi-artist local radio station affair called Music Jam. Westlife were a last-minute headliner after Craig David pulled out, so yes, they were the first ever headline act I saw live - albeit not through choice, and they performed this there among all their other No.1s up to that point.

That's fair, didn't know that about it being airplay only in the US but it makes the chart peak make sense. I certainly wouldn't begrudge anybody enjoying it, my sister bought it too so I heard it a lot at home. And clearly, a certain unloved collaboration from 2000 is still to come here...

Madonna - American Pie Rate: 5.5/10 Reason: 2000 was a successful year for Madonna, with two chart-toppers and a big album, ensuring she would continue her success into the new millennium. Her first single of the year was American Pie, a cover of the Don McLean classic recorded for the soundtrack of her film, The Next Best Thing. The production is probably the star here, a typically solid swirling effort from William Orbit, who had a hand in other number one singles still to come in this countdown. Whether this particular song actually needed to be covered, and by a superstar who was putting out some really great original music of her own around the turn of the century - the jury is out on that. I guess it has a nice clear vocal but I'd rather listen to the original than this edited down version that peaked at No.29 in the US - which I think was a fairer placing for this cover than No.1.