robbied

Yeah totally agree that at some points the turnover was far too high. Still better than the stagnant nature of today’s charts though I’d say. I quite liked the charts when downloads hit in the mid-noughties and we had a good mix of big debuts and songs entering low and climbing gradually again.

Yes, another good example. I think at one point it was the highest selling song to never go top 10.

Yep definitely a combination of built-up airplay, £1.99 first-week prices and fandoms for many pop groups. The test of a ‘real’ hit in the mid-late nineties was if a song could enter and then hover for a few weeks rather than just fall quickly. Examples were hits such as ‘you might need somebody’ by Shola Ama, ‘don’t let go’ by En Vogue, ‘that don’t impress me much’ by Shania, ‘Belissima’ by DJ Quicksilver and ‘Dance the night away’ by The Mavericks. I’m sure there’s some others I’ve forgotten.

Hi, In the Sales Vault there is the bestselling female hits of the 90s and 00s. I don’t suppose anybody has a list of the biggest male solo hits of each decade?

I’m probably so far out of the show’s target range but I loved it! Even though I was only a teenager in the late nineties, we would never have had the representation that this show is portraying in 2022. Agree with all the points above. I keep expecting Nick to give up or be frightened off…but be never was and that is different from so many other shows. Roll on Season 2 please!

Don’t know if Precious made it onto the playlist in ‘99? Certainly nothing 21st century has been on there.

I mean…it’s just a mess nowadays isn’t it?

Yeah I remember cd singles definitely being £1.99 certainly by the late nineties. Interesting that there’s a big drop off between 1996 and 1997. In ‘96 there’s still a lot of songs climbing to peak position but that dwindles massively the following year. Maybe songs being added to radio playlists much earlier and therefore getting more pent up demand in its opening week?

Crazy how musical tastes have changed over the last decade. I’m just not sure I can ever see a Brits performance having this much effect on a song/album/artist ever again. ☹️

Brilliant to see A1 being added. Haven’t heard it yet but am hoping it’ll be my favourite one of theirs since Same Old Brand New You 😂

Yeah I see why some record labels would want to push more sales onto the single. Although in the late nineties/early 2000s there’s lots of cases of songs featuring on Now albums at the height of their popularity - often songs that were out that week or had been released a week or two before. It would be interesting to see what caused the decision from the record label. More money perhaps?

It can of course sometimes be the other way. There are of course examples of massive hits being on Now albums some time before their single release (Groovejet and Mad World for example).

True. But you would have thought in the case of Busted it might have been as all of their previous songs had been, as were subsequent songs.

Definitely some bizarre omissions. For example Shaggy ‘angel’ and Busted ‘crashed the wedding’. Both acts had previous songs that were on Now albums and both of these songs would have easily fitted on the upcoming Now 49 and 56.

Liked ‘live the dream’ by Cast as well. Good tunes so far.