| This | Tot
wks | | Peak |
|---|
| Number One
|
| 1
| 10
|
| Five Weeks at #1
| | NO SCRUBS
| Fanmail
| TLC
| | | 1
|
|---|
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The first single lifted from the group's fourth album is not an unusual slice of their work. While not as immediate as "Waterfalls" or "Don't Let Go", it is a good grower, which could explain its slow climb up the listings. It topped the weekly survey for just one week, but clung on in the top five for a couple of months.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 2
| 4
| | THAT DON'T IMPRESS ME MUCH
| Come On Over
| Shania Twain
| |
| 1
|
|---|
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The Canadian invasion continues, with the most twangy dance track around since Steps' debut. Or, looking another way, the most dancey country entry since the Wurzels (or something.) Whichever, Shania is appealing to both country and dance audiences, and the large crossover-AOR segment between. Her first week at #1 on May 30 came by just 950 points (in 78,000) over Sixpence None The Richer - the closest margin in 18 months.
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| Single Of The Month
|
| 3
| 7
|
Top Tune: Weekly #1
| KISS ME
| Sixpence None The Richer
| Sixpence None The Richer
| | | | 1
|
|---|
|
Now this is a good one. Jangly pop, with sultry, swooping, female vocals. And with great tunes. The album - if you can find it - is also wonderful. Single of the year; or a contender for that. This tune made #13 on the weeklies before release, breaking the previous best of #15 set by Robbie's "Millennium" last September.
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| Sureshot
|
| 4
| 3
|
| LOOK AT ME
| Schizophrenic
| Geri Halliwell
| | | 2
|
|---|
|
Ginger Spice Is Back! After a promotional barrage (saturation airplay, a two-hour documentary, more media appearances than the new Star Trek movie), Ms Halliwell was held from the opening week top slot by Boyzone. This is a bold, brassy number, that recalls Shirley Bassey's "History Repeating" from a couple of years ago, and will have much longer legs than the Welsh funsters' track. A #14 entry onto the monthly survey is the highest since the Lightning Seeds' "Three Lions" in June 1998.
|
| 5
| 4
| | I WANT IT THAT WAY
| Millennium
| Backstreet Boys
| |
| 3
|
|---|
|
A year after their last single, and three years after their first Top 3 hit, the Backstreet five are still just inches away from their first UK number one. With Boyzone and Geri Spice releasing new material, the topper had to wait.
|
| 6
| 3
|
Top Tune: Sales
| YOU NEEDED ME
| Greatest Hits
| Boyzone
| | | | 1
|
|---|
|
Every Greatest Hits album needs a new track. This is theirs, and becomes the third instant chart topper in four releases, and their fifth overall. Canadian Anne Murray took this to the top in the US - and #22 in the UK - in 1977. Eight of the bands' 15 chart hits have been covers, though only five had been significant hits previously, and "No Matter What" had been recorded - but not released - by Meat Loaf.
|
| 7
| 6
| | 1
|
|---|
|
The debut single from a band managed by Ronan Keating of Boyzone fame. It's a passable piece of soul, a little slower than boy bands tend to produce, but nothing to write home about. The band were known as Westworld, but were forced to change their name after problems with the US band who had a 1987 hit with "Sonic Boom Boy".
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| April's Single Of The Month
|
| 8
| 14
|
| Top Tune: Personal Airplay
| | YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE
| Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
| New Radicals
| | | 3
|
|---|
|
The breakthrough single for the American act is well-known - a foot-stomping little number that is a lot more fragile than it might first appear. Wonderful one. Our overpaid and underworked "Sounds Familiar" team reckon this resembles the Waterboys: the same flag-waving pomp masking a fragile centre, and both have turned into long running, very popular tracks.
|
| 9
| 5
| | CLOUD NUMBER NINE
| On A Day Like Today
| Bryan Adams
| |
| 6
|
|---|
|
Adams In Second Straight Uptempo Song Shock! After the singalong "When You're Gone" with Spice Girl Mel C, Bry's enlisted British remixers Chicane to do their best with this track. And it turns into a relatively upbeat number that does well for him. We could be in here for the long run... This is part of the largest Canadian invasion of the charts in a long time.
|
| 10
| 19
|
| Nine Weeks at #1
| | Very Long Runner
| | ...BABY ONE MORE TIME
| ...baby one more time
| Britany Spears
| | | 1
|
|---|
|
This has gone massive. Not only top of the pile for February. Not only top of the personal airplay pile. But selling 500,000 copies in one week, behind only Band Aid, Wham! and Elton John. Leading the personal airplay list for five straight weeks. And topping all three charts at the same time - something that has never happened. Britany has arrived. Nine weeks atop the monthly pile breaks the record shared by "Wannabe" and "Believe" to become the longest spell since Wet Wet Wet's 15 week run in 1994.
|
| 11
| 9
| | TURN AROUND
|
| Fats and Small
| |
| 2
|
|---|
|
British pair pretends to be Stardust, and almost gets away with it. Including a long top-end run.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 12
| 5
|
| WHY DON'T YOU GET A JOB?
| Americana
| Offspring
| | | 3
|
|---|
|
Owing more than they'd like to the Beatles "Ob-la-di", the Offspring have their second big smash of the year. This is a catchy number about deadbeat boyfriends and girlfriends. Not the most original of numbers, but a welcome hit nonetheless.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 13
| 9
|
| EVERY MORNING
| 14:59
| Sugar Ray
| | | 7
|
|---|
|
While the Ray may be on the last of their fifteen minutes of fame in the US, they're only now breaking in the UK. This, of course, is the upbeat ditty about how wonderful it is to wake up with one's other half on a daily basis, or not (depending on interpretation.) It fell down the monthly survey before it had even been released, and only just made the top 10 when it was. The downturn was more marked for Baz Luhrmann, though.
|
| 14
| 8
|
| Top Tune: Airplay
| | ONCE IN A LIFETIME
| Hush
| Texas
| | | 7
|
|---|
|
There's a distinct Chinese feel to the tinkling, but it never remotely threatens to break into "Japanese Boy". Nor does it threaten to become a really memorable track, either. The same could be said of the first track off their last album - remember how "Say What You Want" didn't presage the rest of "White on Blonde"s class? Texas seem to have ditched the quality that gave them four medium albums in favour of the stadium rock of WoB. Shame.
|
| 15
| 6
|
| RED ALERT
| Remedy
| Basement Jaxx
| | | 13
|
|---|
|
Another burst of crazed disco that does absolutely nothing for me, but seems to be flavour of the moment.
|
| 16
| 2
|
| SWEET LIKE CHOCOLATE
|
| Shanks & Bigfoot
| |
| 3
|
|---|
|
A garage track that has more of a melody than the genre usually makes, and a little play on conservative Radio 2, but still isn't up to much.
|
| 17
| 4
|
| PICK A PART THAT'S NEW
| Performance and Cocktails
| Stereophonics
| |
| 14
|
|---|
|
Third single from this Welsh lot's second album fills a similar soft guitar rock vein as the previous two. They seem to go right over my head, which in some ways is unfortunate.
|
| 18
| 8
|
| PERFECT MOMENT
|
| Martine McCutcheon
| | | 1
|
|---|
|
The former lead singer of Milan (1990 - absolutely no hits), any number of faceless dance acts (1991-3, no fame beyond an appearance in Enya's clip for "Carribean Blue"); the actress who shot to fame with Brarbara Windsor in 1989's "Bluebirds" and was re-united with the Carry On star who has also made a record recently on "Eastenders" since 1995. She left the show over new year, made a record, and had a 60 minute plug over Easter on an another channel. This is a stringy ballad that doesn't really do much other than persuade innocent people to part with their cash. Odd...
|
| 19
| 6
| | RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW
| You've Come A Long Way, Baby
| Fatboy Slim
| |
| 7
|
|---|
|
The fourth release from Norman Cook's album is a pulsating techno beat, with the title shouted at various points during the track. Cook has achieved Minor Celeb Status during the past few months, getting engaged to media trollope Zoe Ball, and embarking on a high-profile tour with Armand van Helden. All of this helps promote him in a major way, making the music (something of a grower, again) second fiddle.
|
| 20
| 5
|
| WHAT'S IT GONNA BE?
|
| Busta Rhymes
| | | 13
|
|---|
|
Yet another piss-poor collaboration from Ms Jackson. And the return of a bloke shouting gobs*ite over a vaguely familiar tune.
|
| 21
| 16
|
| Very Long Runner
| | IT'S NOT RIGHT BUT IT'S OK [/ HEARTBREAK HOTEL]
| My Love is Your Love
| Whitney Houston
| |
| 2
|
|---|
The second single from an album that totally underperformed before its release is a stonker. One side is heavily promoted in the UK, and is a slick semi-rap number, featuring some joyously heavily minor key work. The flip was the early hit in the US. The US distributors activated "It's Not Right..." in its own right during May; "Heartbreak Hotel" was split away at the start of May, and secured its own entry for the month at #37.
| 22
| 5
| | LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA
| Vuelve
| Ricky Martin
| |
| 19
|
|---|
|
The loud, brash, brassy breakthrough single - and US Number One - from Ricky picks up more than a little airplay, and could turn into his first significant hit in the UK. It hit the weekly Top 20 without attracting any significant airplay.
| | Sureshot
| | 23
| 2
| | 7
|
|---|
|
Britain's entry into Eurovision 99; a pleasant, soulful number. It's a five piece girl group, singing a generic, inoffensive girl group song. Written by a writer for the Spice Girls, and the comparison is not too inaccurate. Eurosong voters didn't like this, as the track came a distant 16th.
| | 24
| 3
|
| PRIVATE NUMBER
| There It Is
| 911
| |
| 16
|
|---|
|
Judy Clay and William Bell did the original in 1968, making #8. Natalie Jordan fills the female vocals, but she doesn't rescue a completely unremarkable, anodyne track.
| | 25
| 9
| | THANK ABBA FOR THE MUSIC
|
| Supertroupers
| |
| 4
|
|---|
|
That would be; Steps, Billie, B*Witched, Cleopatra and Tina Cousins. They all joined forces at February's Brit awards to present a medley of classic tunes from the Super Swedes (Dancing Queen, Super Trouper, Take a Chance on me, Thankyou for the Music). It's now released on single, with proceeds going to the Brits trust. That follows in the footsteps of 1990's medley of dance hits, and last year's collaberations between Texas and Method Man, and Tom Jones and Robbie Williams. There's still no light of day for Andy Bell and k d lang's take of the Summer / Streisand classic "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" from 1993.
| | 26
| 3
| | 16
|
|---|
|
They've ridden to success on the coat-tails as Another Level's support act. Says everything, really.
| | 27
| 16
|
| Very Long Runner
| | AS
| Ladies And Gentlemen the best of
| George Michael
| | | 8
|
|---|
|
With Mary J Blige, on a cover of a Stevie Wonder album track. Mary's biggest hit to date was a top 10 duet with Method Man; George hit the top in partnership with another soul diva, Aretha Franklin, in 1987. This is a bit of a groover and a grower.
| | 28
| 3
| | 23
|
|---|
|
It's a dance tune, of sorts. Anything more is kinda tedious.
| | 29
| 1
| | 11
|
|---|
|
The funk-soul combo are more than frontman Jay Kay and his hat. Not that the media concentrate on anything else. This is the usual load of drug-induced twaddle that is the group's only capability.
| | 30
| 10
| | WITCH DOCTOR
| Toonage
| Cartoons
| |
| 9
|
|---|
|
Mad, bad, and kinda dangerous Danes. A total saccharine novelty act, as was Aqua just a few months ago. The song itself comes from the original Chipmunks project, the brainchild of David Seville in 1959. It's become a much bigger hit than anyone might have expected, persisting in selling small quantities for two months.
| | 31
| 14
|
| STRONG
| I've Been Expecting You / The Ego Has Landed
| Robbie Williams
| | | 8
|
|---|
|
Hit single three from Robbie's new album is a quiet, reflective little number about the perils of aging that is a real grower, a la Angels.
| | Sureshot
| | 32
| 2
| | 15
|
|---|
|
This is a hard-hitting message of independence, but sounds more like glitter-pop meisters Kenickie than anything the Spice Girls ever made. It also has one of the most remarkable rhymes, pairing "liar" with "messiah".
| | 33
| 8
| | MY NAME IS...
| The Slim Shady Album
| Eminem
| |
| 3
|
|---|
|
The debut for an American rapper who has the uncanny knack of courting controversy. The album's subject matter tends to the very misogynistic, leading US trade publication Billboard to wonder if this was a work too far. On the other hand, no-one can deny that his work has a wit and style about it that's totally lacking in much of the rest of that genre's work. For me, the lyrical content puts this beyond the pale, and causes a link to something far more wholesome: Respond is a work by Boston area singer-songwriters who want to put a stop to anti-women violence. $15.98.
| | 34
| 18
|
| Very Long Runner
| | MARIA
| No Exit
| Blondie
| | | 3
|
|---|
|
Back! Back!! BACK!!! We've heard nothing new from Debbie Harry and the boys since 1982. Indeed, their memories have been sullied by meaningless, pointless dance remixes a few years ago. But this is a new single, promoting an all-new album, and one of the best singalong songs of the year so far.
| | 35
| 3
| | 22
|
|---|
|
The voice of Armand Van Helden's "You Don't Know Me" remains anonymous. Duane Harden uses his guttural vocals to good - if predictable - effect.
| | 36
| 5
| | LOVE OF A LIFETIME
| Wonder #8
| Honeyz
| |
| 14
|
|---|
|
The third release from their debut album, but following a similar tack to the previous two releases. Not a big hit, as a result.
| | 37
| 3
| | HEARTBREAK HOTEL
| My Love Is Your Love
| Whitney Houston / Faith Evans / Kelly Price
| |
| 24
|
|---|
|
Originally the b-side to American releases of "It's Not Right But It's OK", this spun into its own entry when the original a-side began making an impact on the US charts. Whitney pairs with two younger soul divas, and makes one of the most memorable tracks of the year.
| | 38
| 27
|
| Seven Weeks at #1
| | Very Long Runner
| | BELIEVE
| Believe
| Cher
| | | 1
|
|---|
|
There is no stopping this one. Top of the pile for November and December 98, and now four weeks as America's Number One, this is Cher's biggest hit in a 35 year career. It's been around for six months, but fell out of the weekly 40 for the first time at the end of April. She bubbles along just outside the 40 for May, accumulating enough to creep into this month's 40.
| | 39
| 9
| | STRONG ENOUGH
| Believe
| Cher
| |
| 6
|
|---|
|
Twenty years too late, Cher returns to disco, and follows up the International Megasmash with a record that almost has the unadulterated joy of "Knock on Wood", if not the kitsch of "YMCA". Like "Believe", this also hangs just outside the 40 all month. There's a third release from the album out now...
| | 40
| 21
|
| MY FAVOURITE GAME
| Gran Turismo
| Cardigans
| |
| 16
|
|---|
|
Originally released back in October last year, this track has taken copious amounts of airplay, and re-enters the survey some seven months later. See also: Cher, Robbie Williams, Stardust, Natalie's "Torn".
| |