-Jay-

That messy post ended up firstly setting it to limited comments, then deleted entirely, before making his account private

I agree that it’s definitely Take That who are the pinnacle of how successful a reunion can possibly be! They managed to add numerous classic singles to their catalogue, some of which probably get a better crowd reception than some of their 90s hits. Their 00s albums outsold their 90s albums! Numerous stadium and arena tours, and they’re still a big touring act now, even though they’ve only been a three piece for the past decade. (By the way, it’s wild that this year marks 20 years since they reunited!!). Steps have also done very well. Doubling the size of their discography, arena tours, new albums charting at #2 and #1, and now there’s even a well received musical. I think unlike Take That, it’s still the hey day material that really connects with their casual audience, the new music didn’t really get the opportunity to connect on that level, but it has been embraced by their hardcore fans. Plenty of other reunions have been successful, but are more heavily centred around nostalgia and can ultimately be rather brief. I’d have loved for Spice Girls to “do a Take That” but sadly not.

25 years ago today!

'Mama'/'Who Do You Think You Are' was released as a single 28 years ago on this date, 3rd March 1997!

Happiness being unavailable... it's a tremendous loss!! I wonder why this has happened? At this point only Good Girl, Acid Rain and a remix of Happiness have survived.

It really is an excellently done tribute ❤️

@T Boy I really like the idea of a Radio 2 hosted sales Top 40 count down! Now I wish it would happen! It would be an interesting alternative to the main chart, and give sales a little more prestige again, rather than them just being a side chart published by OCC. It's not like joe public would have any idea about the low-ish sales either, so I think it would have an engaged audience. I'm sure it would be a talking point this week that Oasis had re-entered at #1 in that chart, and that there's a new boy band at #3 (with a single that isn't in the Top 100 combined/official chart). I could imagine being able to claim a Top 10 in some respect would be beneficial for a new artist, if they've struggled to make a dent on streaming. I suppose the OCC don't want to dilute the impact of its main chart airing on Radio 1... but I think them diversifying and catering to different age group audiences would actually be beneficial to increasing interest in charts overall.

I unashamedly love 'Ariana', it's so catchy and boppy! Great music video too, it has a 00s feel to it in the way its been shot. Spotify snubbing them isn't a reassuring start but I hope their teams have faith in them and that there's a long term plan, and that it doesn't all rest on 'Ariana'. A press release mentioned a forthcoming EP, so keep things moving and deliver more bops, boys x

I really hope so 🥹

Ooh LoveGame Platinum If we overlook Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) [which wasn't a single in the UK], it now means every single from The Fame and The Fame Monster is Platinum or multi Platinum. Boyzone's documentary really helped some of their releases trickle over to new certifications, good for them. Black Magic going 4xPlatinum for Little Mix makes them the first girl group to have more than one single achieve this. In fact this seems to apply to pop groups in general - surprisingly none of the boy bands have any 4xPlatinum singles.

I was too late to vote but I'm particularly thrilled for Charli xcx, and Jade! I'd have rather Flo get the R&B award over Raye. I feel like the moment would have been far more beneficial for them.

The apparent panic of Girls Aloud's label to temporarily make the Theme to St. Trinian's song unavailable after it had already charted, will always mystify me! It seemed like it was on its way to potentially becoming a Top 40 hit, before it got pulled.

😅 I do wonder what's going on with her music career, if anything... it just seems so random that she covered 2 Become 1 and got on Strictly, and... that's it? Just for the hell of it? lol

I was a little surprised to see Got the Feelin' in second place actually! Ahead of two of their #1s and three #2s. But I just looked back at its first week sales and how much it sold in 1998, and it did very well. 114k first week and 375k overall that year. It seems like it was unfortunate timing that it went against two Football songs during Euro 1998. A week earlier, B*Witched were #1 (second week) with C'est La Vie on 93,000 sales! 1- 3 LIONS 98- Baddiel/ Skinner/ Lightning Seeds (232,075) 2- VINDALOO- Fat Les (186,000) 3- GOT THE FEELING- Five (114,000) I also wasn't expecting to see Everybody Get Up in third, but as the article mentions it's their second most streamed song in the UK (and 50.6m worldwide on Spotify!). It sold 224k in the UK in 1998. A bit less than All Saints - Bootie Call on 236,000. All Saints won the battle but Five ultimately won the war and outsold them... Bootie Call isn't gold yet, and its worldwide Spotify stream total is a relatively modest 5.2m. My favourite song of Five's is If Ya Gettin' Down! They have a very solid singles run overall, and of course Keep on Movin' is a classic. I thought Keep on Movin' might have had a stronger chart run than 1-3-6-8 while in the Top 10, but the charts were often so fast moving.

It's not quite that dire. Even the physical Top 100 chart needs more than 1 sale for a song to make it in!

Good to have them back 🥰 I don't think I'll make it to the tour but I hope it's a great success for them. Manifesting Greatest Hits on vinyl - please!

Taboo

I'm so ready for more from this era 😍

@Brer hi

Looking forward to hearing it! 🤩

Exciting that it'll be all five of them! I wonder what has swayed J into it after all this time? Until last year's boy band reunion reminded me, I'd kind of forgotten just how bulletproof their singles discography is. Packed full of bops!

Fantastic to see Jennifer Paige - Crush (one of the best 90s pop songs imo!) going Platinum :cheeseblock: And another certification for Troye Sivan, courtesy of Charli xcx :wub: