On the survey this month: 21 bands, 11 ladies (including six of the top eight), 7 blokes and one duet. There are 15 British acts, two Canadians, one Irish, one Australian, one German, one Puerto Rican and two Dutch acts in the 40.
| This | Tot
wks | | Peak |
|---|
| Number One
|
| 1
| 14
|
| Three Weeks at #1
| | LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA
| Vuelve / Ricky Martin
| Ricky Martin
| | | 1
|
|---|
|
The loud, brash, brassy breakthrough single - and US Number One - from Ricky picks up huge amounts of pre-release airplay, and turns into his first significant hit in the UK. It reached a hugely successful position - two months on the listings, #12 by the week, #15 by the month, without being available in any store, and rocketed to the top of the monthly listings in its second week of release.
|
| 2
| 8
|
| WILD WILD WEST
| Wild Wild West ost
| Will Smith
| | | 2
|
|---|
|
The most bland star in America plugs his movie over 120 times in four minutes. The tune part of the song's not bothered to show up. An American number one, but only while they waited for something better.
|
| 3
| 6
|
| MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE
| My Love is Your Love
| Whitney Houston
| | | 3
|
|---|
|
Eyebrows all over Chart City were raised when Whitney's last single, "It's Not Right But It's OK", turned out to be the best thing she's released in over a decade. With this classy track, soft soul at its finest, Whitney finally stakes the claim to singing high ground that she vacated after the bombastic "One Moment in Time" in October 88. And we've missed her, as a counterweight to the over-wrought Mariah and the icy Celine.
|
| 4
| 6
| | 2
|
|---|
|
This year's Ibiza hit, a reworking of one of last year's, managed to secure points on two import versions before its UK release. The track itself is much nothingness, though an identifiable and slightly addictive nothing.
|
| 5
| 9
|
| IF YOU HAD MY LOVE
| On The Six
| Jennifer Lopez
| | | 5
|
|---|
|
Latino dance seems to be the flavour of the summer, with Ricky Martin and Ms Lopez having sizy hits. This is slower, but in a similar vein. Another American chart topper, like Ricky.
|
| 6
| 9
| | BEAUTIFUL STRANGER
| Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
| Madonna
| |
| 2
|
|---|
|
Confirming her status as the most successful act of the decade, Madonna continues in a similar vein to last year's "Ray of Light" album. It joins "Crazy For You", "Who's That Girl?" and "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" as her biggest hits from movies.
|
| 7
| 13
|
| Four Weeks at #1
| | THAT DON'T IMPRESS ME MUCH
| Come On Over
| Shania Twain
| | | 1
|
|---|
|
The top non-US act this month is Canada's biggest star of the moment. It's 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. The album hit a new peak at #2 on the success of this track. Shania returned to the top of the monthly chart at the beginning of July, the first track to do so since the original "Three Lions" downed the Fugees in 1996.
|
| 8
| 8
|
| SOMETIMES
| ...baby one more time
| Britany Spears
| | | 4
|
|---|
|
The second hit single, a slower, wistful, more melodic ballad. Spears is still more hype than substance, but there are showings of a decent talent there.
|
| 9
| 7
|
| BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
| The Party Album
| Vengaboys
| | | 9
|
|---|
|
Their song is back, and this time it's called...
|
| 10
| 3
|
| LOVE'S GOT A HOLD ON MY HEART
|
| Steps
| |
| 10
|
|---|
|
The formula is beginning to wear a little thin. Steps become the only British act in July's top 10.
|
| May's Single Of The Month
|
| 11
| 17
|
| Very Long Runner
| | 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 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, a record subsequently broken by Ricky Martin at #12.
|
| 12
| 7
| | BRING IT ALL BACK
|
| S Club 7
| |
| 4
|
|---|
|
A seven-strong group are featured in a Monkees-style show about their life and "entertaining" antics. This is the first release, and becomes an immense hit. The last shot at marketing a group in this way was 97's North and South, who were poor on the telly but great on record. The track is one of those earwigs; no matter how much you want to keep it out, it gets in and stays in.
|
| Single Of The Month
|
| 13
| 3
| | BILLS BILLS BILLS
| The Writing's On The Wall
| Destiny's Child
| |
| 13
|
|---|
|
In the same vein as Whitney and Lauryn, the Girl Power from the R&B camp is a sight to behold. Their run as America's biggest was curtailed by Will Smith.
|
| 14
| 5
|
| SECRET SMILE
| Feeling Strangely Fine
| Semisonic
| | | 13
|
|---|
|
The soft, melting strings, with a rasping voice combine for one of the greatest tunes of this year. As they did on "Closing Time", one of the greatest slipped discs of last year, and set for a re-release in early autumn.
|
| 15
| 13
| | 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. But this was the first track with enough soul to cross over into the mainstream market.
|
| 16
| 2
|
| IF YOU'RE GETTING DOWN
|
| Five
| |
| 16
|
|---|
|
Another tedious, similar, single from the UK's biggest domestic boy band.
|
| 17
| 1
|
| WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL
| Notting Hill OST / By Request
| Ronan Keating
| |
| 17
|
|---|
|
The third single lifted from the British movie of the summer, following Another Level's "From the Heart" and Elvis Costello's cover "She". Boyzone are, in true Ross and Rachel style, 'on a break' at the moment, allowing lead singer Ronan's first solo effort to chart. It still appears on Boyzone's greatest hits album. There is a book being run on which of Boyzone, the Spice Girls or Elvis Presley will produce a brand new album first. The Spices are favourites.
|
| 18
| 19
|
| Five Weeks at #1
| | Very Long Runner
| | NO SCRUBS
| Fanmail
| TLC
| | | 1
|
|---|
|
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 three months. A response record, "No Pigeons", by Sporty Thievz, was released to minor success in late June.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 19
| 5
|
| EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING
| The Miseducation Of...
| Lauryn Hill
| | | 18
|
|---|
|
Third single from the album, bearing a close similarity to Whitney's newie.
|
| 20
| 5
| | 19
|
|---|
|
Second single from the album, another relatively quiet, contemplative track. It's not the anthem that "Tender" was, but it is a grower in its own way.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 21
| 5
|
| THE ANIMAL SONG
| She's All That OST
| Savage Garden
| | | 17
|
|---|
|
All drums, thumping ethnic rhythms, and completely sounding like the soundtrack to the jungle. Possibly the best thing they'll ever do.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 22
| 2
| | ALL STAR
| Astro Lounge
| Smash Mouth
| |
| 22
|
|---|
|
Following up 1997's "Walking On the Sun", Smash Mouth finally have a second UK hit. A little slower, a little less strange than their original, but still a quality breath of fresh air.
|
| 23
| 18
|
| Very Long Runner
| | 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, and this track stuck around for a couple of months.
|
| 24
| 5
| | 21
|
|---|
|
Pete Waterman's latest pop protogee is clearly aimed at those with ages in the single digits.
|
| 25
| 7
|
| I BREATHE AGAIN
|
| Adam Rickett
| | | 17
|
|---|
|
Nick off of Coronation Street has his first hit with a piece of cheesy late 80s europop. The hordes of screaming girlies love this, but it ain't crossing over.
|
| 26
| 10
|
| CANNED HEAT
| Synkronized
| Jamiroquai
| |
| 8
|
|---|
|
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.
|
| 27
| 5
| | 23
|
|---|
|
Techno-trance-organ. The best record Robert Miles never made.
|
| 28
| 5
| | 24
|
|---|
|
A response record to TLC's "No Scrubs". Response records have never done well in the UK; this is the first to chart since a comeback to "Billie Jean" charted sixteen years ago.
|
| 29
| 2
|
| BETTER OFF ALONE
|
| Alice DJ
| | | 29
|
|---|
|
A strange track, all thumping keyboard and quietly insistent vocal. Shouldn't work well, but it does, somehow.
|
| 30
| 10
|
| 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.
|
| 31
| 22
|
| Very Long Runner
| | IT'S NOT RIGHT BUT IT'S OK
| My Love is Your Love
| Whitney Houston
| |
| 2
|
|---|
|
The second single from an album that totally underperformed before its release is a stonker. First promoted in the UK, it's a slick semi-rap number, featuring some joyously heavily minor key work. A massive long runner over here was finally promoted in the US during May and June, and rose back up the lists.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 32
| 2
| | 32
|
|---|
|
It's now twenty years since Suggs and the rest of the Nutty Boys came out of London with their madcap, reggae-influenced brand of music known as ska. One of the most consistent hitmakers of the first half of the 80s, Madness got out in 1986 after spotting signs of fatigue. They reunited for concerts together in 1992, but a reunion was put on hold while Suggs had his solo career in 1995-6. But the original lineup is now back together, and have made a drinking song that is every part the equal of Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping". It bodes well for their forthcoming album.
|
| 33
| 3
|
| SYNTH AND STRINGS
|
| Yomanda
| |
| 33
|
|---|
|
One of the more (er) instantly forgettable tracks of the summer.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 34
| 6
| | I WILL REMEMBER YOU
| Mirrorball
| Sarah MacLachlan
| |
| 32
|
|---|
|
Following the massive success of "Adia" last autumn, Sarah's new live album is promoted by this live track. There's no word of a single to buy, but this is a corking track.
|
| 35
| 6
|
| BE THE FIRST TO BELIEVE
|
| A1
| |
| 19
|
|---|
|
Yet another boy band.
|
| 36
| 4
|
| GREATEST DAY
| Soul Sista
| Beverly Knight
| |
| 34
|
|---|
|
Birmingham's premiere soul singer - at least for this week - returns with something that sounds exactly like everything else she's ever done.
|
| 37
| 9
|
| FROM THE HEART
| Notting Hill OST
| Another Level
| |
| 12
|
|---|
|
A slower, more balladic track that actually uses harmonies for the guys. Their best. The biggie from the album still looks set to be Elvis Costello's cover of "She", but that follows Ronan Boyzone's solo effort.
|
| 38
| 3
|
| WITHOUT LOVE
|
| Dina Carroll
| |
| 38
|
|---|
|
Sensation of the year in 1993, failed return of the year in 1996, now back for some more. What made "So Close", her debut album, a success was the strength of the songs, married to a functional voice. Given classics, such as "Escaping", Dina shows her talent; with weaker songs, she struggles.
|
| 39
| 2
|
| YOU'LL BE IN MY HEART
| Tarzan OST
| Phil Collins
| |
| 39
|
|---|
|
The first single in three years from the former Genesis frontman, now working with Disney on one of the weaker soundtracks they've put out in some years.
|
| April's Single Of The Month
|
| 40
| 23
|
| Very Long Runner
| | 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. And, like the Waterboys, the band probably won't have another big hit.
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