| This | Tot
wks | | Peak |
|---|
| Number One
|
| Sureshot
|
| 1
| 6
|
| Two Weeks at #1
| | EVERYBODY'S FREE (TO WEAR SUNSCREEN)
| Something for Everybody
| Baz Luhrmann
| | | 1
|
|---|
|
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 97, let me pass to you Mary Srmich's column in a Chicago newspaper. It will spread round the internet, be falsely attributed to Kurt Vonnegut at MIT. An Australian movie director will see it, ask Lee Perry to voice it, and set it to Craig Armstrong's soundtrack from "Romeo + Juliet". Maybe Quindon Taverner will sing on it; maybe he won't. Maybe it'll receive huge airplay in two years time, maybe it won't. Maybe it'll become the third spoken word number one to top the British charts, following JJ Barrie and Telly Savallas. Just remember that songs offering advice always have one hit wonder stamped over them. And that they plummet like lemmings in a bad year.
|
| 2
| 9
|
| Two Weeks at #1
| | THAT DON'T IMPRESS ME MUCH
| Come On Over
| Shania Twain
| | | 1
|
|---|
|
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. The album hit a new peak at #2 on the success of this track.
|
| May's Single Of The Month
|
| 3
| 12
|
| 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.
|
| 4
| 5
| | 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.
|
| 5
| 9
| | 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.
|
| 6
| 15
|
| 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.
|
| 7
| 7
|
| 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.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 8
| 4
| | 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. This group is managed by Simon Fuller, erstwhile Spice Girls manager, and now in charge of Another Level (in this month) and the 21st Century Girls (singularly out). The track itself is one of those earwigs; no matter how much you want to keep it out, it gets in and stays in.
|
| 9
| 14
|
| 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.
|
| 10
| 4
|
| SOMETIMES
| ...baby one more time
| Britany Spears
| | | 7
|
|---|
|
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.
|
| 11
| 5
|
| HEY BOY, HEY GIRL
| Surrender
| Chemical Brothers
| |
| 7
|
|---|
|
The first release in two years is a return to the slightly noise-terrorist, heavily rhythmic sound that the band made their own a few years back. According to some commentators, this is just the Knight Rider theme added to every KLF record, which is unfair to KLF collaborater Tammy Wynette.
|
| 12
| 6
|
| 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.
|
| 13
| 5
|
| FROM THE HEART
| Notting Hill OST
| Another Level
| |
| 15
|
|---|
|
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.
|
| 14
| 5
|
| IF YOU HAD MY LOVE
| On The Six
| Jennifer Lopez
| | | 19
|
|---|
|
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.
|
| 15
| 10
| | LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA
| Vuelve / Ricky Martin
| Ricky Martin
| |
| 15
|
|---|
|
The loud, brash, brassy breakthrough single - and US Number One - from Ricky picks up huge amounts of pre-release airplay, and is destined to turn into his first significant hit in the UK. It's reached a hugely successful position - two months on the listings, #12 by the week, #15 by the month, without being available in any store.
|
| 16
| 8
|
| 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 has a slightly longer run than the Welsh funsters' track. A #14 entry onto the monthly survey is the highest since the Lightning Seeds' "Three Lions" in June 1998.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 17
| 2
|
| MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE
| My Love is Your Love
| Whitney Houston
| | | 17
|
|---|
|
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.
|
| 18
| 3
|
| BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
| The Party Album
| Vengaboys
| | | 18
|
|---|
|
Their song is back, and this time it's called...
|
| 19
| 6
| | 9
|
|---|
|
A miss when first released last year, but a top 10 hit after use in a beer commercial for a standard dance track.
|
| 20
| 6
|
| SALTWATER
|
| Chicaine / Marie Brennan
| |
| 13
|
|---|
|
Clannad's Theme from Harry's Game is set to a Robert Miles trance instrumental played at double speed. It's the biggest hit for both acts, and a remarkably good tune as well.
|
| April's Single Of The Month
|
| 21
| 19
|
| 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.
|
| 22
| 24
|
| 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. And the 27 week run of Cher's "Believe" is now in her targets, second only to Leann Rimes' 30 weeks of "How Do I Live?"
|
| 23
| 2
| | 23
|
|---|
|
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, really.
|
| 24
| 10
| | 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.
|
| 25
| 4
|
| WILD WILD WEST
| Wild Wild West ost
| Will Smith
| | | 25
|
|---|
|
The most bland star in America plugs his movie over 120 times in four minutes. The song's not bothered to show up.
|
| 26
| 7
|
| YOU NEEDED ME
| By Request: Their 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.
|
| 27
| 4
|
| SCAR TISSUE
| Californication
| Red Hot Chili Peppers
| | | 25
|
|---|
|
The lead single from their first album in four years shows a return to the soft funk of the "Blood Sugar Sex Majic" era. The singing is as incomprehensible as ever, but this is a decent enough track.
|
| 28
| 4
| | 28
|
|---|
|
After the massive success of "Witch Doctor", the mad Danes go even further back - to Aussie standard Camptown Races - for the hook for this second hit. Madder, louder and even faster than their last hit.
|
| 29
| 13
| | TURN AROUND
|
| Fats and Small
| |
| 2
|
|---|
|
British pair pretends to be Stardust, and almost gets away with it. Including a long top-end run.
|
| 30
| 5
|
| HUMPING ON YOUR STEREO
|
| Supergrass
| |
| 15
|
|---|
|
An upbeat track that merges the best parts of their last two albums in four strong minutes. Not a classic, but their best in a long time. Retitled "Pumping on your Stereo" for the coy radio stations.
|
| Sureshot
|
| 31
| 4
|
| ALMOST DOESN'T COUNT
| Never Say Never
| Brandy
| | | 29
|
|---|
|
Single four from her album, and another soft R&B ballad. Perhaps one of her better tracks.
|
| 32
| 12
|
| 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.
|
| 33
| 3
|
| I BREATHE AGAIN
|
| Adam Rickett
| | | 33
|
|---|
|
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.
|
| 34
| 6
| | 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.
|
| 35
| 5
| | 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".
|
| 36
| 7
|
| 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.
|
| 37
| 3
| | TEARIN' UP MY HEART
| N-Sync
| N-Sync
| |
| 37
|
|---|
|
Their first UK release, from September 97, is re-activated and becomes a significant hit. It's typical bubble-gum pop.
|
| 38
| 9
|
| 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.
|
| 39
| 3
|
| ALL OR NOTHING
| Believe
| Cher
| | | 38
|
|---|
|
The third single from her latest comeback album, sounding a lot like the first two.
|
| 40
| 18
|
| 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.
|