Gezza

NO 40- 2 UNLIMITED (1,995,300) 14 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: NO LIMIT (531,000) Meanwhile these are only the 2nd highest placed Dutch act on our list. Pete Waterman recalls that he was sent their singles with Ray’s vocals on them which were, allegedly, so bad he had to remove them before they were given a release. No matter as they were hits anyway. “Commercial dance” (There’s a phrase you don’t hear that much anymore) was a powerful force in the 90s chart and 2 Unlimited rode into the charts on the back of it. All 14 of their hits were in this decade and all made the top 40 though after 94 the top 10 hits ceased, interestingly they were the 2nd biggest selling single artists of 1993, beaten only by Take That.....

NO 41- GABRIELLE (1,990,400) 10 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: IF YOU EVER (549,000) So here’s the best selling UK female soloist of the decade. A debut single and No 1 “Dreams” kick started her career which although erratic was successful, and by the end of the decade she had accrued 10 hits of which 6 had gone top 10. Often underestimated, her success was pretty solid for 10 years although she hasn’t really been seen for a while now she certainly left her mark on the 90s and is perhaps the surprise bigest selling UK Female Solo Artist of the decade....

Tomorrow we finally get to the 2 million mark!

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)

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)

NO 42- COOLIO (1,989,600) 7 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: GANGSRTA’S PARADISE (1.268,000) With “Gangsta’s Paradise” contributing over half his total, Coolio must be truly thankfully for the idea to sample Stevie Wonder. His remaining three top 10 hits topped up his tally and a further big hit was scored in 1997 when “C U When U get There” (which again contained a sample, this time Pachelbel’s Canon) sold a very healthy 300K +. A very quiet 00s peaked for him with an appearance in “Celebrity Big Brother” where he didn’t exactly come across well!....

NO 43- FIVE (1,979,600) 7 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: KEEP ON MOVIN (421,000) The bad-boy boyband it was cool to like and the natural heirs to East 17, Five (also known as 5ive- that’s sooooo 90s) accumulated 7 straight top 10 hits in the last 25 months of the decade to accelerate into the top 50 for the decade! After steadily improving chart positions from their debut “Slam Dunk (Da Funk) which made No 10, the group final nabbed a No 1 in Nov 99 with just a month to spare. They must have been frustrated after a trio of No 2 hits in 1998-99 saw them top midweek charts in some cases but fail to hold onto the top slot. Their success remained solid until their demise in 2001 by which time their string of top 10 hits had expanded to eleven......

NO 44- U2 (1,968,800) 13 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: HOLD ME THRILL ME KISS ME KILL ME (471,000) whilst they had 10 top 20 hits in both decades the group managed a couple of chart toppers in the former decade, and 1995’s “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” being their best selling single to date when it was released. The band were never really a singles act, and whilst singles tended to enter and peak high, they tended to be 2 or 3 week affairs with a quick slump, the record mentioned being an exception mainly to its continual promotion on the “Batman Forever” film.... They sold just 16,000 singles more in the 90s than the 80s!

Sorry, made a boo boo but I corrected it!

NO 45- PETER ANDRE (1,910,000) 9 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: MYSTERIOUS GIRL (753,000) Before the “I’m a celeb” return to fame, before the Katie Price marriage, and the “heat” weekly appearances, Andre was a popstar. Famous in the mid 90s for his six pack and the hit “mysterious Girl” Andre raked in the cash. The singer actually had seven top 10 hits though most people would struggle to remember more than 2 at a push, with 96 being his biggest year. Incredibly he only sold about 500k outside of that year in which he was the 4th biggest act.

NO 46- PUFF DADDY (1,903,600) 11 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: I’LL BE MISSING YOU (1,384,000) Let’s file this one under he’s here and we can’t do much about it……..Part 1

NO 47- THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH (1,834,500) 15 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: A LITTLE TIME (382,000) Often overlooked, the Beautiful South quietly racked up a succession of hits throughout the 90s, evenly spreading the hits throughout the period. A return to form in 96 never really looking back for the remainder of the decade, but much like Erasure, they experienced some degree of longevity despite only claiming one chart topper. The group of course formed from the remnants of “The Housemartins” in 1988 and named themselves in irony, and sold more singles than I would have given them credit for.

NO 48- KYLIE MINOGUE (1,834,500) 18 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: TEARS ON MY PILLOW (245,000) Now people may dismiss her S/A/W/ days but she only makes this list thanks, in the main to her hits with them through 1990-92. Her comeback in 1994 "Confide In Me" was a welcome return to form but "Indie Kylie" of 97-99 proved to be less than successful for her in the Uk. A return to pop in 2000 ensured the hits returned, but her first hit of the decade remained her biggest hit of the decade too.....

NO 49- ERASURE (1,806,100) 16 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: ABBA-ESQUE EP (422,000) For a pop duo they had quite a long period of commercial success with constant top 20 hits from 1986 to 1997, 24 hits in all (not including a remix of “Am I right” which only made No 22 in 1991). Their sole chart topper came in 92 with the “Abba-Esque EP” but the group had 8 top 10’s in the 90s proving to be a chart force certainly for the first half of the decade. For a group that are primarily remembered for their 80s output it’s a great pleasure to see them so high on the 90s countdown, even outpacing their position on the 80s list (though not in sales)!

NO 50- M PEOPLE (1,801,500) 18 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: MOVING ON UP (199,000) With almost 600k of singles sold in 93 alone (making them the 10th biggest act of that year) the mancunian quartet were never NOT going to be on this list. They first charted back in 91 but hits were minor successes never making top 20, the breakthrough came in 93 with a remix of “How Can I Love You More” which became the first of 10 top 10 hits. They are an act conspicuously missing from the list of acts to have a No 1 single but then many on that list would kill for M People’s singles sales tally......

Here's the bottom half of the top 100 recap NO 100. JIMMY NAIL (1,086,900) NO 99. THE TELETUBBIES (1,103,000) NO 98. RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (1,109,100) NO 97. HANSON (1,119,000) NO 96. S CLUB 7 (1,129,400) NO 95- CHAKA DEMUS & PLIERS (1,131,200) NO 94- JASON DONOVAN (1,141.900) NO 93. EN VOGUE (1,148,200) NO 92- D:REAM (1,157,800) NO 91. THE SHAMEN (1,163,600) NO 90. TINA TURNER (1,164,600) NO.89- RIGHT SAID FRED (1,166,600) NO 88- RUN DMC (1,167,900) NO 87- BABYLON ZOO (1,170,000) NO 86- GINA G (1,174,900) NO 85- TEXAS (1,212,300) NO 84. PULP (1,233,400) NO 83- MICHAEL BOLTON (1,257,300) NO 82- THE KLF/ JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU-MU (1,262,000) NO 81- N-TRANCE (1,280,000) NO 80- DINA CARROLL (1,289,500) NO 79- NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK (1,290,300) NO 78- LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY (1,298,000) NO 77- BOYZ II MEN (1,323,500) NO 76- LISA STANSFIELD (1,334,300) NO 75- NATALIE IMBRUGLIA (1,343,100) NO 74. ANOTHER LEVEL (1,346,100) NO 73- EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL (1,351,600) NO 72- R.E.M (1,362,700) NO 71- BILLIE (1,375,600) NO 70- 911 (1,381,200) NO 69- SHANIA TWAIN (1,423,900) NO 68- WESTLIFE (1,432,300) NO 67- SAVAGE GARDEN (1,454,300) NO 66- T.L.C (1,486,500) NO 65- PET SHOP BOYS/ ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS (1,492,200) NO 64- ROBERT MILES (1,508,000) NO 63- MARK MORRISON (1,539,000) NO 62- VARIOUS ARTISTS- PERFECT DAY (1,539,500) NO 61- MEAT LOAF (1,547,200) NO 60- ROXETTE (1,550,600) NO 59- TONI BRAXTON (1,570,900) NO 58- PRINCE/ SYMBOL/ THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS… (1,594,400) NO 57- SHAGGY (1,603,000) NO 56- THE OUTHERE BROTHERS (1,651,800) NO 55- WHIGFIELD (1,668,900) NO 54- UB40 (1,676,800) NO 53- ROD STEWART (1,691,300) NO 52- MANIC STREET PREACHERS (1,709,500) NO 51- JAMIROQUAI (1,720,900)

NO 51- JAMIROQUAI (1,720,900) 16 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST SELLER: VIRTUAL INSANITY (330,000) 7 top 10 hits and pretty much a hit in every year since 1992 pays dividends come the decade end countdown for Jay Kay and his crew. They were finally rewarded with a No 1 in 1998 when “Deeper Underground” did the honours but 1996 was their killer year when the hits from “Travelling Without Moving” added up to half a million. A high profile relationship with Denise Van Outen hardly hindered sales and kept him in the media glare right into the 00s....

NO 52- MANIC STREET PREACHERS (1,709,500) 22 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: IF YOU TOLERATE THIS YOU’RE CHILDREN WILL BE NEXT (315,000) A tally of 22 hits in the decade is rivalled by few acts but only 7 of them made the top 10. Notwithstanding sales topped the 1.7 million level in the decade thanks to a very successful latter part of the decade when they found their second wind in the Britpop explosion of the mid 90s. Their most successful year was 1996 when they sold a third of their overall total.... .

NO 53- ROD STEWART (1,691,300) 14 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: ALL FOR LOVE (292,000) Accruing 8 top 10 hits through the decade whilst almost anyone noticing Rod the Mod was one of the great survivor’s from the 70s (though not the only one to make their debut before the 80s, and of course that 90s chart topper evaded him). He's not hit number one in over 40 years now so the chance he will again seems unlikely, his closest brush through the decade coming in 1994 when “All For Love” hit the runner up spot....

I recall it got reasonable traction on MTV in the UK but we were seemingly unimpressed

NO 54- UB40 (1,676,800) 14 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST HIT: (I CAN’T HELP) FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU (609,000) Far bigger in the first half of the decade than the second half, UB40 had been getting top 10 hits as far back as 1980. They scored 12 top 10 in the 80s and added a further 5 in the 90s including the No 1 “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You” in 93 but their brand of reggae lite seemed to lose its synch with the British public, and after 98 and they disintegrated in various factions with much animosity.

NO 55- WHIGFIELD (1,668,900) 5 UK TOP 40 HITS BEST SELLER: SATURDAY NIGHT (1,092,000) The top selling wholly Danish act of the 90s was Whigfield who is, of course, best known for the million selling “Saturday Night”. She sold enough to be the 4th biggest singles act of 1994, and whilst barely anyone remembers any of her other hits she accumulated 4 top 10 hits in under 12 months. Like all massive hits “Saturday Night” ended up becoming a hindrance rather than an asset to her career, and the UK always considered her a novelty act, it didn’t help that subsequent hits sounded uncannily like a rewrite of her biggest hit.....

NO 56- THE OUTHERE BROTHERS (1,651,800) 5 UK TOP 40 HITS BIGGEST SELLER: BOOM BOOM BOOM (652,000) The 4th biggest selling singles act of 1995 are next. A couple of No 1 singles with “Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)” and “Boom Boom Boom” made them, temporarily, quite big for about 6 months. Their “talent” was the ability to put some rather rude and crude lyrics together with dance music, and hey presto the kids lapped it up, but their success was really limited to a 12 month time frame. A rather lame reprisal of “ole ole” in 97 was their final hit but hung about for only 3 weeks and then silence, a prime example of why under 10s shouldn’t be allowed to buy singles.....

I think it was settled about 10 years if I recall correctly. I think it should be fine, also I don't know the technical aspects of it but it seems that TOTP owns the right to broadcast their own shows rather than the acts on it. Hence the fact that whilst the promo for Fragms was not on youtube, the TOTP performances of the track always were