-Jay-

I think this thread jumped the shark very quickly in terms of that question... :kink: and it's kind of impossible to pinpoint what the answer to that question would be, because there's way too many variables. "Something with big expectations that didnt perform?" from your opening post allows for more varied and interesting responses, and is probably what the thread should be retitled as. On paper a Whitney Houston & George Michael collaboration surely had big expectations, enough so to be selected as the UK lead for Whitney's first Greatest Hits era, at least. Based on George Michael's chart history over the majority of the 90s, I'd say a #9 entry to start off the 2000s portion of his career was something of an underperformance for him. I know the song is more so a Whitney single, given that it's from her album, but the artists do have equal billing on the single. You might be forgiven for thinking that George's fanbase would have showed up more than they did for this single, based on the amount of Top 5 hits he'd accumulated over the years. 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me' marked the beginning of George's longest string of Top 10 hits, the majority being Top 5s: 1991 - #1 - Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me 1992 - #4 - Too Funky 1993 - #1 - Five Live EP 1996 - #1 - Jesus to a Child 1996 - #1 - Fastlove 1996 - #2 - Spinning the Wheel 1997 - #3 - Older/I Can't Make You Love Me 1997 - #2 - Star People '97 1997 - #10 - Waltz Away Dreaming 1997 - #2 - You Have Been Loved 1998 - #2 - Outside 1999 - #4 - As 2000 - #9 - If I Told You That 2002 - #7 Freeek!

Great work :heart: Even though my submission is on Disc 3, I would say Disc 1 is my favourite overall!

Both the George and Enrique collaborations are much of a muchness for me, they're ok! ~~~~~ I'm surprised that Spice Girls - Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) hasn't been mentioned yet! Released in November 2007, it was their comeback single - their first single in 7 years. It peaked at #11, undoubtedly a poor result for a group that had otherwise achieved: 9 x #1 singles 1 x #2 single 2 x #1 albums 2 x #2 albums Although the general reaction to Headlines upon its premiere was " :nocheer: ", I still don't think anyone would have predicted it missing the Top 10. Despite streaming contributing to sales for a decade, Headlines' current total sales stand at around 66,000 (estimated). When it left the Top 200 in January 2008 it had sold 44,000. So it's very firmly remained forgotten / unappreciated.

I would agree that Whitney Houston & George Michael - 'If I Told You That' was a surprising underperformance though. On paper you'd think a pairing like that - two of the very biggest artists of the 80s and 90s - would result in a hit that managed a lot better than 9-19-25-34-out (in terms of the Top 40 run). The single release did come three weeks after the release of Whitney's Greatest Hits though, a big seller and a #1, which might not have helped. Yet that's maybe not much of an excuse when the follow up release, the Whitney/Enrique collaboration 'Could I Have This Kiss Forever' (which came 21 weeks after the album) went to #7 and performed quite a lot better overall: 7-9-11-16-21-28-out. Regarding UK radio airplay, 'If I Told You That' performed pretty well. It had already spent 3 weeks in the Top 10 (9-8-6...) prior to the physical release, and another 3 weeks beyond that (...5-4-6). Interestingly 'Could I Have This Kiss Forever' was not a particularly big radio hit, going no higher than #23. So I do think there's an element of "what went wrong?" with 'If I Told You That'. I would say, having looked at the physical release, that it doesn't look overly appealing, either from an artwork or track list perspective. Maybe it's ultimately an example of a song that was well received, but that goodwill translated more directly into album sales (Greatest Hits was at #3 in its 4th week in the chart, in the same week that the single was at #9).

True! Although I think my points still stand, that she lacks motivation or concern about Santa Baby and the Kylie Christmas era in general. I'll be seriously surprised if there's a 10th anniversary album / 25th anniversary single releases next year.

'Last Christmas' - will it exceed 100,000 sales (ACR) in any week this year? We have our answer - yes! 114,290. (225,468 SCR!) Mariah didn't manage it - 94,170. 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' - what will be its highest position achieved in 2024? #2 :cheeseblock:

Kylie likely doesn't bother making an effort with Santa Baby because it's a cover, released on a previous label... so it's just left to its own devices. The fact that it's managed to do pretty well in the streaming era feels largely by chance. Same goes for why she hasn't pushed any of her other Christmas songs in recent years. If anything happens with one of her songs in the future, it'll likely only be because Spotify randomly decide to favour one, rather than a specific effort being made. I highly doubt it'll even be on her wavelength that Santa Baby is performing less well or that she'll feel the need to react to that. Maybe if she did a second Christmas album (with BMG) she'd put the work in! I'll always think both the 2015 and 2016 attempts were rather mishandled anyway. All those original Christmas songs, yet she launched the project with Only You which is not even a Christmas song... madness!

:cheeseblock: The impact, the importance!

Anyone still going? :kink: I think I'll say goodbye to Christmas music after today though, and turn my attention back to the hits of the year!

Just realised the physicals were already counted in the UK chart on 20th December, despite that being its release date. #2 - Vinyl #3 - Physical #5 - Sales

Lots of Life in Mono! My favourite there is possibly I Wasn’t Looking When I Found Love, her vocals sounds really pretty on it. Mischievous is a bit of a bop!

It’s a lovely performance :wub: O3v3COpe4h8 Unfortunately it didn’t translate into great sales, it’s currently #122 on iTunes. No sign of the Spice Girls original in the Top 200 either!

That's true :lol: I'll consider giving it a helping hand :teresa:

Digital release confirmed for 3rd January! Surprised it's this early?

:cheeseblock: Truly deserved! Such a long wait for it to happen :o

I never got the Tension deluxe in that size format... and tbh £8.99 is still a bit much for an additional copy I don't really need :kink:

The one item I really want to get slashed in price, Extension, is more expensive than ever... £39.99 :drama: I should have gone for it when it was £15 on Amazon a few months ago, oops.

:basil:

'Not Tonight Santa' sadly isn't doing as well this year, but it's not surprising with it being bumped off the Christmas Pop playlist. Currently it's 6th in their Popular Top 10 with 9,631,013 streams (quite the contrast to 2024 when it was already 4th place as early as 24th November). It's increased by 339,004 since the last total I noted down for it on 2nd June 2024. Whereas it managed around 2.5m streams during Christmas 2022, and similarly in Christmas 2023... which certainly shows how important particular playlists are. A bit of a strange one that Spotify decided to stop supporting it in the year of their comeback! :drama:

Christmas Wrapping on 13,117,478 streams on Spotify. It's not yet managed to move into their Popular Top 5 songs (it's currently 6th). Too Much is 9th, ahead of Mama (pretty sure it's usually the other way around?).

I'm very happy to see that it's managed Top 10 in the US, at long last! :wub: Also it's huge that it's the most streamed Christmas song released in the 2010s! :o I received my 7" gold vinyl from Amazon the other day but haven't had chance to play it yet - today has to be the day!! Also Ariana has blessed us with a live version :cheeseblock: GwWaFgu8q2w

Looks like they're hoping for the song to have impact in that week then, with the vinyl release too! I'm keeping my fingers crossed it reemerges in the Top 100 on 3rd January though *.*

100 weeks is such an incredible achievement :wub: Legendary song! And the Fortnite collaboration is iconic omg.

:cheeseblock: Smash!!

A perfect 10 :cheeseblock: A great winner, one of the defining songs of 2024! Thank you for hosting this Jonjo! :cheer: