DanChartFan

Looks like I'm the only one genuinely excited about a suprise release by Colbie Cailat then. She is a great singer and a lot more well known than her modest chart sucess and this thread would have people believe. Off to iTunes now to investigate what she has actually released....

I would love to see them mick745, so please do post them. And I now work for Lidl so I will have to look into the tape to USB converters as I have tons of tapes I would love to convert.

Not sure about total sales for each solo spice, but in chart terms Geri is the most successful solo spice, with more number ones (and I think more total hits) than the others, though to be fair she did ensure she got a head start on the others, and began her solo career whilst the Spice Girls were still at their biggest.

Thank you for that extra information Robbie, that fills all the gaps from after 1990 and makes a complete listing of charttopper cassingles from the last week of August 1990 to at least the end of 1995. It''ll be interesting to see how long the continuous list goes on till and also if we can fill the three gaps in 1990, particular Partners In Kryme, which I couldn't see a cassingle for on ebay. Whilst I'm posting I may as well add 1996 to this thread. 1996[#732-#755] #732 – George Michael – Jesus To A Child – Virgin VSC 1571 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Jesus To A Child/One More Try (Live Gospel Version)/Older (Instrumental Version) #733 – Babylon Zoo – Spaceman – TCEM 416 Cardboard Outer – Black Cassette Side A: Spaceman (Radio Edit)/Blue Nude Side B: Metal Vision/Spaceman – The 5th Dimension #734 – Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger – CRECS 221 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Don’t Look Back In Anger/Step Out [sBS] #735 – Take That – How Deep Is Your Love – RCA 74321355594 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette How Deep Is Your Love/Never Forget [sBS] #736 – The Prodigy – Firestarter – XL XLC 70 Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Firestarter (Edit)/Molotov Bitch #737 – Mark Morrison – Return Of The Mack – WEA WEA040C Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Return Of The Mack (C&J Street Mix)/Return Of The Mack (D-Influence Vibe Mix) [sBS] #738 – George Michael – Fastlove – Virgin VSC 1579 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Fastlove Part 1/I’m Your Man #739 – Gina G – Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit – WEA WEA041C Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit (Motiv8 Radio Edit)/Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit (Motiv8 Extended Vocal Mix) [sBS] #740 – Baddiel & Skinner & The Lightning Seeds – Three Lions – Epic 663273 4 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Three Lions/Three Lions (Karaoke Version) #741 – The Fugees – Killing Me Softly – Columbia 663343 4 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Killing Me Softly (Album Version Without Intro)/Cowboys (Album Version) [sBS] #742 – Gary Barlow – Forever Love – RCA 74321387964 [*No correlation to UK cat no?*] Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Forever Love/I Miss It All/Forever Love (Instrumental) [sBS] #743 – The Spice Girls – Wannabe – Virgin VSC 1588 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Wannabe (Radio Edit)/Bumper To Bumper/Wannabe (Vocal Slam) [sBS] #744 – Peter Andre – Flava – Mushroom C2003 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Flava (7” Edit)/To The Top [sBS] #745 – The Fugees – Ready Or Not – Columbia 663721 4 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Ready Or Not (Radio Version)/The Score [sBS] #746 – Deep Blue Something – Breakfast At Tiffany’s – MCA/Interscope INC 80032 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Breakfast At Tiffany’s/A Water Prayer #747 – The Chemical Brothers – Setting Sun – Virgin/Junior Boy’s Own CHEMSTC 4 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Setting Sun (Full Length Version)/Setting Sun (Radio Edit)/Buzz Tracks/Setting Sun (Instrumental) [sBS] #748 – Boyzone – Words – Polydor 575536-4 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Words/The Price Of Love [sBS] #749 – The Spice Girls – Say You’ll Be There – Virgin VSC 1601 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Say You’ll Be There (Single Mix)/Take Me Home/Say You’ll Be There (Junior’s Main Pass) [sBS] #750 – Robson And Jerome – What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted/Saturday Night At The Movies/You’ll Never Walk Alone – RCA 74321424734 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Side A: What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted/Saturday Night At The Movies Side B: You’ll Never Walk Alone #751 – The Prodigy – Breathe – XL XLC 80 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Breathe (Edit)/The Trick [sBS] #752 – Peter Andre – I Feel You – Mushroom C1521 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette I Feel You (Radio Edit)/Take Me Back [sBS] #753 – Boyzone – A Different Beat – Polydor 573204-4 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette A Different Beat/Angel #754 – Dunblane – Throw These Guns Away/Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – BMG 74321442184 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door/Throw These Guns Away [sBS] #755 – The Spice Girls – 2 Become 1 – Virgin VSC 1607 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette 2 Become 1 (Single Version)/2 Become 1 (Orchestral Version)

And here's 1995, including a charttopper available on 2 distinct cassingles! 1995 [#715-#731] #715 – Rednex – Cotton Eye Joe – Zomba KGB M 016 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Cotton Eye Joe/Cotton Eye Joe (Original Instrumental) [sBS] #716(a) – Celine Dion – Think Twice –Epic 660642 0 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Think Twice (Album Version)/The Power Of Love (Album Version)/Where Does My Heart Beat Now (Album Version) [sBS] #716(b) – Celine Dion – Think Twice – Epic 660642 4 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassettte Think Twice (Radio Edit)/Le Monde Est Stone [sBS] #717 – Cher, Chrissie Hynde and Neneh Cherry with Eric Clapton – Love Can Build A Bridge – London COMMC 1 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Cher, Chrissie Hynde and Neneh Cherry with Eric Clapton – Love Can Build A Bridge/Bananarama and LaNaNeeNeeNooNoo – Help #718 – The Outhere Brothers – Don’t Stop (Wiggle, Wiggle) – Eternal YZ917C Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Don’t Stop (Wiggle, Wiggle) (Townhouse Radio Edit)/Don’t Stop (Wiggle, Wiggle) (Original Radio Version) #719(a) – Take That – Back For Good – RCA 74321271464 [both types have same cat no but are diff] Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Side 1: Back For Good (Radio Mix)/Sure (Live). Side 2: Back For Good (TV Mix) #719(b) – Take That – Back For Good – RCA 74321271464 [both types have same cat no but are diff] Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Back For Good (Radio Mix)/Sure (Live) [sBS?] #720 – Oasis – Some Might Say – Creation CRECS 204 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Some Might Say/Talk Tonight [sBS] #721 – Livin’ Joy – Dreamer – MCA MCSC 2056 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Dreamer (7” Mix)/Dreamer (Loveland’s Viva Tenerife Mix) #722 – Robson Green And Jerome Flynn – Unchained Melody/(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) White Cliffs Of Dover – RCA 7432128436 4 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Unchained Melody/(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) White Cliffs Of Dover [sBS] [interestingly the inner sleeve notes this is a rerecording and not the version that actually appeared in Soldier Soldier. It also notes something I didn’t know, in that 5% of artist royalties were going to go to Greenpeace, although this probably only worked out to be a few hundred quid despite the high sales] #723 – The Outhere Brothers – Boom Boom Boom – Eternal YZ938C Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Boom Boom Boom (Don’t Break My Balls Radio Mix)/Boom Boom Boom (UK Radio Edit) [sBS] #724 – Take That – Never Forget – RCA 74321299564 [*Not quite the UK cat no?*] Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Never Forget/Back For Good (Live) [sBS] #725 – Blur – Country House – Food TCFOOD63 Cardboard Outer – Black Cassette Country House/One Born Every Minute [sBS] #726 – Michael Jackson – You Are Not Alone – Epic 662310 4 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Michael Jackson – You Are Not Alone/Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson – Scream Louder (Flyte Tyme Remix) [sBS] #727 – Shaggy – Boombastic – Virgin VSC 1536 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Boombastic (7” Original Edit)/Boombastic (Sting/Shaggy Remix)/Boombastic (Stonebridge Vocal Remix)/Boombastic (Firefox & 4-Tree Bassboom Remix) [sBS] #728 – Simply Red – Fairground – EastWest EW 001 C Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Fairground (Single Edit)/Fairground (Extended Single Edit) [sBS] #729 – Coolio ft L.V. – Gangsta’s Paradise – Tommy Boy MCSC 2104 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Coolio ft L.V. – Gangsta’s Paradise/Coolio – Fantastic Voyage (Original Version) #730 – Robson Green And Jerome Flynn – I Believe/Up On The Roof – RCA 74321326884 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette I Believe/Up On The Roof [sBS] #731 – Michael Jackson – Earth Song – Epic 662695 4 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Earth Song (Radio Edit)/Earth Song (Hani’s Extended Radio Experience) [sBS]

I think digital preorders exist for the benefit of the label/artist possibly, but don't benefit the consumer at all, beyond combating forgetfulness of the release schedule. Preorders in the physical era were beneficial to the consumer because it guaranteed you got a copy of a hotly anticipated release, even if the shop sold out due to demand, so the marketing benefit was sort of hidden behind the facade of a consumer service. With digital preorders all you are doing is a open marketing excercise, manipulating consumers, probably annoying many of them, and probably helping to decrease the number of people prepared to legally download in future. And the big problem with the legal vs illegal download is that they are basically impossible to tell apart, so no one will no if they look at your music files, whereas in the physicals era a fake was usually obvious and therefore embarrassing to show other people, so that helped to ensure people wanted the real deal.

And 1994 1994 (#700-#714) #700 – Chaka Demus & Pliers With Jack Radics & Taxi Gang – Twist And Shout – Mango MCT 814 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Twist And Shout (Straight Mix)/Rhythm Killer [sBS] #701 – D:Ream – Things Can Only Get Better – Warner Music MAG 1020C Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Things Can Only Get Better (D:Reamix Edit)/ Things Can Only Get Better (D:Reamix U.S.) [sBS] #702 – Mariah Carey – Without You – Columbia 659919 4 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Without You/Never Forget You [sBS] #703 – Doop – Doop – Citybeat CBE 774C Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Doop (Urge 2 Merge Radio Mix)/Doop (Jean Lejeux Radio Mix) [sBS] #704 – Take That – Everything Changes – RCA 74321167734 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Everything Changes/Beatles Medley (I Want To Hold Your Hand/Hard Day’s Night/She Loves You) [sBS] #705 – ‘Prince’ – The Most Beautiful Girl In The World – NPG NPG 6015-9 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette The Most Beautiful Girl In The World/Beautiful #706 – Toni Di Bart – The Real Thing – Cleveland City Blues CCBMC 15001® Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette The Real Thing (New 7” Dance)/The Real Thing (New 7” Radio) #707 – Stiltskin – Inside – White Water LEV 1C Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Inside/America [sBS] #708 – Manchester United Football Squad – Come On You Reds – Polygram TV MANU 4 [*UK cat no was MANU 2?*] Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Come On You Reds/ Come On You Reds (Instrumental) [sBS] #709 – Wet Wet Wet – Love Is All Around – Precious JWLMC 23 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Love Is All Around/I Can Give You Everything (7” Arthur Baker Soul Remix) [sBS] #710 – Whigfield – Saturday Night – Systematic SYSMC3 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Saturday Night (Radio Mix)/Saturday Night (Radio Nite Mix)/Saturday Night (Nite Mix) #711 – Take That – Sure – RCA 74321236624 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Sure/No Si Aqui No Hay Amor #712 – Pato Banton – Baby Come Back – Virgin VSC 1522 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Baby Come Back/Gwarn! (New Version) [sBS] #713 – Baby D – Let Me Be Your Fantasy – Systematic SYSMC4 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Radio Edit)/Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Original Mix)/Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Dancing Divaz Club Mix) #714 – East 17 – Stay Another Day – London LONCS 354 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Stay Another Day (S.A.D. Mix)/Stay Another Day (Less SAD Mix) [sBS]

Now for 1993 1993 [#685-#699] #685 – 2 Unlimited – No Limit – PWL Continental PWMC 256 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette No Limit/No Limit (Breakbeat Remix) [sBS] #686 – Shaggy – Oh Carolina – Greensleeves GREC361 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Oh Carolina (Radio Version)/Oh Carolina (Rass Bumba Claat Version) [sBS] #687 – The Bluebells – Young At Heart – London LONCS 338 Cardboard Outer – Black Cassette Young At Heart/I’m Falling [sBS] #688 – George Michael And Queen (*With Lisa Stansfield) – Five Live (EP) – Parlophone TCR 6340 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Somebody To Love/Killer-Papa Was A Rolling Stone/These Are The Days Of Our Lives*/Calling You [sBS] #689 – Ace Of Base – All That She Wants – London 861 270-4 Cardboard Outer – Black Cassette All That She Wants (Radio Edit)/All That She Wants (Bhangra Version) [sBS] #690 – UB40 – (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You – Virgin DEPC 40 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You/Jungle Love [sBS] #691 – Gabrielle – Dreams – Go Beat GODMC 99 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Dreams/Dreams Breakdown Mix [sBS] #692 – Take That – Pray – RCA 74321154504 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Pray (Radio Edit)/Pray (Acappella) #693 – Freddie Mercury – Living On My Own – Parlophone TCR 6355 Cardboard Outer – Black Cassette Living On My Own (Radio Mix)/Living On My Own (Album Mix) #694 – Culture Beat – Mr Vain – Epic 659468-4 Plastic Outer – Grey Cassette Mr Vain (Special Radio Edit)/(Cherry Lips) Der Erdbeermund (Single Version) [sBS] #695 – Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince – Boom! Shake The Room – Jive C 335 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Boom! Shake The Room (LP Version)/Summertime (7” Mix) [sBS] #696 – Take That (*ft Lulu) – Relight My Fire – RCA 74321167724 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Relight My Fire (Radio Version)*/Why Can’t I Wake Up With You? (Live Version) #697 – Meat Loaf – I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) – Virgin VSC 1443 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)/Back Into Hell [sBS] #698 – Mr Blobby – Mr Blobby – Destiny Music CA DMUS 104 Plastic Outer – White Cassette Mr Blobby/Mr Blobby’s Theme [sBS] #699 – Take That – Babe – RCA 74321182134 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Babe (Return Remix)/All I Want Is You

And here's 1992. BTW If a charttopper has a note next to it about the cat no of the format not being the same as the 'UK cat no' then this means it doesn't appear to fit the cat no listed in Guinness (usually for the CD format from 92+ and 7" format before this), though in most cases this probably doesn't mean I have a non UK format or slightly different release, just that the numbers used for the different formats of that release didn't necessarily confirm to the usual pattern (whereby the same basic cat no has a 7 on the end for a 7", 2 or 5 for a CD, 4 or 0 for a cassette etc). 1992 [#673-#684] #673 – Wet Wet Wet – Goodnight Girl – Precious JWLMC 17 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Goodnight Girl/Ambrose Wykes [sBS] #674 – Shakespear’s Sister – Stay – London LONCS 314 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Stay/The Trouble With Andre #675 – Right Said Fred – Deeply Dippy -Tug CA SNOG 3 Plastic Outer – White Cassette Deeply Dippy (Single Mix)/Deeply Dubby (Single Mix) [sBS] #676 – KWS – Please Don’t Go/Game Boy – Network NWKC46 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Please Don’t Go (77 Sunshine Edit)/Game Boy #677 – Erasure – Abba-esque (EP) – Mute CMUTE 144 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Lay All Your Love On Me/S.O.S./Take A Chance On Me/Voulez Vous #678 – Jimmy Nail – Ain’t No Doubt – EastWest YZ686C Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Ain’t No Doubt (7” Version)/What Can I Say [sBS] #679 – Snap! – Rhythm Is A Dancer – Arista 74321-10213-4 [*No correlation to UK cat no?*] Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Rhythm Is A Dancer (7” Edit)/Rhythm Is A Dancer (Purple Hazed 7” Edit) [sBS] #680 – The Shamen – Ebeneezer Goode [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] #681 – Tasmin Archer – Sleeping Satelitte – EMI TCEM 233 Cardboard Outer – Black Cassette Sleeping Satelitte/Sleeping Satelitte (Acoustic Version) #682 – Boyz II Men – End Of The Road – Motown TMGCS 1411 Plastic Outer – Black Cassette End Of The Road (Pop Edit)/End Of The Road (Instrumental) #683 – Charles And Eddie – Would I Lie To You? – Capitol TCCL 673 Cardboard Outer – Black Cassette Would I Lie To You?/Unconditional [sBS] #684 – Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You – Arista 74321 12065 4 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette I Will Always Love You/Jesus Loves Me [sBS]

And here's 1991 1991 [#656-#672] #656 – Iron Maiden – Bring Your Daughter (To The Slaughter) [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] #657 – Enigma – Sadness Part 1 – Virgin International DINSC 101 Cardboard Outer – Black Cassette Sadness Part 1 (Radio Edit)/Sadness Part 1 (Meditation Mix) [sBS] #658 – Queen – Innuendo – Parlophone TC QUEEN 16 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Innuendo/Bijou [sBS] #659 – The KLF – 3:a.m. Eternal – KLF005C Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette 3 a.m. Eternal 1. Live At The S.S.L. 2. Guns Of Mu Mu [sBS] #660 – The Simpsons – Do The Bartman [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] #661 – The Clash – Should I Stay Or Should I Go – Columbia 656667 4 Plastic Outer – White Cassette The Clash – Should I Stay Or Should I Go/Bad II – Rush [sBS] #662 – Hale And Pace And The Stonkers – The Stonk [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] #663 – Chesney Hawkes – The One And Only #664 – Cher – The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) – Epic 656673 4 Plastic Outer – White Cassette The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)/Baby I’m Yours [sBS] #665 – Color Me Badd – I Wanna Sex You Up #666 – Jason Donovan – Any Dream Will Do – Really Useful RURCS 7 Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Any Dream Will Do/Close Every Door [sBS] #667 – Bryan Adams – (Everything I Do) I Do It For You – A & M AMMC 789 Cardboard Outer – White Cassette (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (Single Version)/She’s Only Happy When She’s Dancing (Live) #668 – U2 – The Fly – Island CIS 500 Plastic Outer – Black Cassette The Fly/Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bowl Of Milk-Korova1 [sBS] #669 – Vic Reeves And The Wonder Stuff – Dizzy – Sense SIGH 4-12 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Dizzy/Oh... Mr. Hairdresser [sBS] #670 – Michael Jackson – Black Or White – Epic 657598-4 Plastic Outer – Grey Cassette Black Or White/Black Or White (Instrumental) [sBS] #671 – George Michael with Elton John – Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me – Epic 657646 4 Plastic Outer – Grey Cassette George Michael with Elton John – Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me/George Michael – I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) [sBS] #672 – Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives – Parlophone TCQUEEN20 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives [sBS]

Ok here's 1990. From now on an emboldened charttopper means it's in my collection (and details of the cassette then given), while an italicized charttopper means it appears not to be in my collection (although one or two tapes seem to have gone walkies since I last dug my collection out from the back of the cupboard, so it's possible I might be able to add the odd one back into the list later should I stumble across them in a different box or something). For charttoppers that are not in my collection I have done a very quick search on ebay to see if anyone is selling a UK cassingle of that charttopper, and then indicated where evidence of the existence of a UK cassingle was found. 1990 [#639-#655] #640 – Kylie Minogue – Tears On My Pillow – PWL PWMC 47 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Tears On My Pillow/We Know The Meaning Of Love #641 – Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2U [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] #642 – Beats International ft Lindy Layton – Dub Be Good To Me – Go Beat GODMC 39 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Dub Be Good To Me/Invasion Of The Estate Agents [sBS] #643 – Snap! – The Power – Arista 410309 [*No correlation to UK cat no?*] Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette The Power/The Power (Dub) [sBS] #644 – Madonna – Vogue – Sire W9851C Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Vogue (Single Version)/Keep It Together (Single Remix) [sBS] #645 – Adamski – Killer [Ebay evidence of a UK Cassingle] #646 – Englandneworder – World In Motion – Factory fac293c Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette World In Motion/The b-side #647 – Elton John – Sacrifice/Healing Hands – Rocket EJSMC 22 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette Sacrifice/Healing Hands [sBS] #648 – Partners In Kryme – T.U.R.T.L.E. Power #649 – Bombalurina – Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini – Carpet CRPCS 1 Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini/Clap Yo Hands Stomp Yo Feet [sBS] #650 – Steve Miller Band – The Joker – Capitol TC CL583 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette The Joker (Single Version)/Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around [sBS] #651 – Maria McKee – Show Me Heaven – Epic 656303 4 Plastic Outer – White Cassette Maria McKee – Show Me Heaven/Hans Zimmer – Car Building [sBS] #652 – Beautiful South – A Little Time – Go! Discs GODMC 47 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette A Little Time/In Other Words I Hate You [sBS] #653 – The Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody – Verve/Polydor POCS 101 Plastic Outer – Black Cassette Unchained Melody/You’re My Soul And Inspiration #654 – Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby – SBK TCSBK 18 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Ice Ice Baby (Radio Edit)/It’s A Party #655 – Cliff Richard – Saviour’s Day – EMI TC XMAS 90 Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Saviour’s Day/Oh Boy Medley (Oh Boy-Whole Lotta Shakin’-Bird Dog-Let’s Have A Party-It’s My Party-C’mon Everybody-Whole Lotta Shakin’)

This thread has motivated me to compile a list of all the charttoppers I have on the cassette single format, including nearly everything in the 90s. If anyone is interested I can share my list on here year by year, but apologies if the formatting goes awry when I paste it over from Word. Here firstly is a short list of the examples I have from the 80s, not many sadly, but it serves as a test of the formatting for me if nothing else. I read on another site that between 1978 and 1989 cassingles were chart eligible, but only if they had a relatively high price (not sure if this meant consumer or dealer price), so that, in May 1989, a too cheaply priced cassingle was able to initially cause Kylie Minogue's Hand On Your Heart to initially chart at #2 rather than #1 (which it later did anyway). As a result of Kylie cassingle confusion the chart rules were changed in respect of the minimum price for the cassingle being greatly reduced, with effect from Monday 29th May 1989. This date therefore probably marks the point when the cassingle fully crossed over from a relatively expensive alternative format for collectors to instead be a cheap, popular and mainstream format that played an important (but too easily ignored now) role in the pop music industry of the 90s. The first new number one to benefit from the change in chart rules was #629 Jason Donovan's - Sealed With A Kiss, which just happens to be in my collection. In the short list below [sBS] at the end of a tracklisting means the tape was the Same Both Sides, but I have only indicated this where the sleeve or cassette itself make this clear as I haven't attempted to play any of the cassettes at this stage. I would be interested to know if other buzzjackers have any other charttoppers on cassingle from the 1978-89 period to add information to what I have. If this post works out ok then I can carry on for each year of the 90s and up to 2003, but in each case listing all the chartoppers and detailing if I have a cassingle format or not, so that those missing a cassingle can be identified and further researched. 1987/8 [#583-#620] #601 – Pet Shop Boys – Always On My Mind – EMI Manhattan 4XPRO-04057 [*not the UK cat no*] Cardboard Outer – Clear Cassette Always On My Mind Extended Dance Version/Do I Have To?/Always On My Mind [sBS] 1989 [#621-#638] #629 – Jason Donovan – Sealed With A Kiss – PWL PWMC 39 Cardboard Outer [but like a playing card packet with hanging tab] – Grey Cassette Sealed With A Kiss/Just Call Me Up #630 – Soul II Soul ft Caron Wheeler – Back To Life (However Do You Want Me – TENC 265 Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette [The printed cover design includes the price $3.99, so prob. US] Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)/ Back To Life (However Do You Want Me) (Instrumental) [sBS] #635 – Lisa Stansfield – All Around The World – Arista 410308 [*No correlation to UK cat no?*] Plastic Outer – Clear Cassette All Around The World/Wake Up Baby [sBS] #638 – Band Aid II – Do They Know It’s Christmas? – PWL/Polydor FEEDC2 Plastic Outer – Cream Cassette Do They Know It’s Christmas?/ Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Instrumental)

... in recent years to plug the gap and give album in that period their true peak, I think.

In early 1971 there was a postal strike which caused all sorts of problems for the compilation of the charts, and I think the album chart was abandoned altogether for a couple of months in Record Retailer/Record Mirror, so the Guinness Series gave the lower peaks. I believe some album charts were however being compiled by another music paper (either NME or Melody Maker) and these have been used by OCC

OK I've dug out my old cassette singles, and I do indeed have the cassette single for Crashed The Wedding, so that could very well be the last charttopper on the format. I do recall that the reason I bought my first CD player was because Ozzy and Kelly's Changes wasn't available on cassette, but as I recall I found that fairly unusual for a singles release at the time, so I still think that cassettes were available on at least some releases into early 2004 at the very least, maybe they even phased out by region or something (I'm from Swindon, Wilts so not exactly the trendiest or most affluent place (though not the least either)), so it's possible cassettes stayed a little longer here than in other places (and of course Woolworths had tons of old tapes right up until the last day of their closing down sale). Also in doing some research about the format, and chart rules generally, I discovered this paragraph on http://musicforstowaways.wordpress.com/201...07/chart-rules/ "In 1987, new rules were introduced to limit the number of formats for the first time to five. Perhaps slightly inexplicably looking back, one of those had to be a cassette. So typically a single would be released on 7″, 12″, limited 12″, CD, and of course, a tape. This was reduced to four formats (with the cassette requirement removed) in June 1991, and singles were now limited to a maximum of four tracks". So is that true that singles releases in the late 80s HAD to include a tape format in order to be chart eligible? Or has the author of that article misunderstood somewhere along the line?

I'm gonna have to dig out my collection of cassette singles number ones, as I have almost everything in the period of 1989-2003 and will have to see exactly what I have, as it'll narrow down some possibilities. Crashed The Wedding on cassette rings a feint bell so I'll have to see if I have it, I'm pretty sure there was however a CD1 and CD2 for that release. In terms of when cassettes came to an end, is it possible that retailers made the decision in order to make their shelving neater? I believe that HMV and Woolworths' respectively owned the major suppliers for almost all the physical music market at the time, so if one them ditched cassettes then everyone else they supplied would have gone over to CD only at the same time. If it was a loss of chart eligibility (which seems unlikely as 7" never became ineligible to my knowledge) then it wouldn't necessarily have prevented the Feeder cassette single charting more recently, because a lot of chart eligibility rules and restrictions were removed when the full downloading era came in (since restricting physical formats is largely irrelevant now anyway).

You know what I think? I'm predicting that Cliff Richard has turned his attention away from vineyards and tennis for long enough to ask why he hasn't made any sales in the last 5 or 6 years, and someone has had to break the news of Woolsworths' demise to him, and then explain to him what a download is, and he's got interested in the idea and decided to try and be down with the kids to celebrate his '55 years of recording music' anniversary.

I believe the first number one not on cassette single (since their chart eligibility in 1989ish) was a Chemical Brothers single. I'm fairly sure the last time I saw cassette singles for sale was the week when Victoria Beckham had that double A side (Let your head go/???) out on tape/CD, at WHsmiths, so that might be amongst the last mainstream release on tape during the cassingle era.

Who else has just seen the Sport Relief performance of Especially For You, with two Jasons for the price of one! Surely a few thousand sales will be made now and it'll go to the magic million!

But the original poster was suggesting that some tracks were available early on streaming sites as they were included on certain compilations which were available to stream, so they wouldn't be a legal download or physical format.

euro music, £30 was the price just about everywhere that was selling it anyway.

I honestly thought it had been announced a million seller already. And they DID reprise it not so long ago at the Stock Aitken Waterman 25 years thing that had to be rearranged in December after the original venue was flooded in mid summer. Footage of that reprisal did the rounds online, if not on TV, and must have helped them gain a fair few more sales.

I not convinced that including streaming in the main chart is a good idea at all tbh. For a start there is (at least currently) no need. Contrary to what some have said it isn't the same scenario as when they started counting downloads, for the simple reason that in that instance sales were dropping off so rapidly that very soon they would have had to compile a top 4 rather than 40 due to a lack of physical releases. In this instance though sales are not only healthy, I think I'm right in saying that 2012 and 2013 have been record breaking, selling more units than previous record high years such as 1978 and 1984, so I can't see that the charts need a change. Also a stream just isn't a purchase the way that a download is one, so they aren't comparable, and any attempt to make them so will probably involve complex chart rules which change most years with the changing ratios of the download and streaming markets. I just don't think that a Sales chart that has existed at least since 1969 (and right back to 1952 in a slightly different format but still attempting to reflect sales only) needs to suddenly change to some sort of vague hybrid chart. My final thought on the matter... Back in the 60s to 80s or so there was a service offered by BT, called something like 'Dial a disc', whereby you dialled a premium number and listened to the chart record of you choice in glorious British Telecom mono. Now I think the service charged a reasonable amount per minute, and I believe at times it was a relatively popular service, but I would be astonished if anyone in those had ever considered adding the call data for the service to any singles chart, because no one would ever have considered a listen on 'dial a disc' to be in any way the same thing as a purchase, even though the 'dial a disc' listeners were still paying money for their listen (via their unsuspecting parents phone bill most likely). I don't see how streaming is in any way different really and I would prefer them to keep a sales only chart as the main chart, though by all means create a new streaming chart that gets some coverage too, just not in the main chart please.

I've collected a few DVD singles more recently, but never really bought them new, except by mistake once or twice, when the labels decided to put them in the same size cases as the CD single and HMV/Virgin compounded that by mixing them together on the same shelf in their chart wall, but that was 10 years ago or more when I barely even knew what a DVD was. I do have a Paramore single on another unusual format that was also supposedly gonna take off and save the physical single. It's a CD on one side of the disc, but flip it over and the other side was a vinyl recording to be played on a record player!

Releasing multiple formats to get a higher chart position actually predates Oasis by some way. The Jam were pioneers of it back in the late 70s and early 80s, with multiple vinyls, and on one occasion prevented The Stranglers Golden Brown from topping the chart purely due to their multi format sales, although The Stranglers had sold more of their main 7" version than The Jam had of theirs. Cliff Richard also had his xmas number one, Saviour's Day, unexpectedly dethroned early during the 1990/1 new year, due to a heavily multi-format campaign by Iron Maiden.