Here it is! My first countdown for the week ending December 15, 2001. I have to say first of all that I am glad that I started doing this again. A little info. on my chart before I go into this weeks commentary. I have been doing my chart on and off since 1997. That was the first year I did a chart for most of the year. The top song of that year was Robyn's Do You Know (What It Takes), followed by If You Could Only See Tonic. 1998's year end chart topper was This Kiss by Faith Hill. I stopped doing my chart early in 1999, when TLC's No Scrubs was at the top of the chart. My best guess for the top song of 1999 would be She's So High by Tal Bachman.
I did start my chart up again this past spring, and continued it on and off until August, when Bootylicious by Destiny's Child was number one. As far as the number one track of 2001, from my charts that I have on hand, the most likely candidate for number one would be between Bootylicious and Lady Marmallade. My chart is pretty basic. For a song to be eligible to chart, it must be released as a single ANYWHERE in the world. I do count promos and various other forms of releases, but I don't chart album tracks. So, every song on my top 20 has been released as a single in some form somewhere in the world.
Take my number one song, Rapture by Iio. This great dance number was recently a top 10 hit in the UK and takes the honor of being number one this week on my chart. I don't think this song will remain at number one for very long. This would have been number one for a few weeks, if I had done a chart for the past few weeks. It is however, a chart-topper for this week. It's main competition comes from the number two and five songs. Bent's song Always makes a strong 'debut' at number 2 this week (This is an actual new song). I discovered this song from the Billboard Dance Charts. I downloaded the Ashley Beedle Mix of the song and fell in love with it immediately. Look for this one to go for number one next week. Another strong 'debut' is Handbags and Gladrags by Stereophonics. They are just breaking in America with their previous single, Have A Nice Day. If you have the chance, go out and pick up their latest album, Just Enough Education to Perform. Their latest song really shows that their lead singer sounds A LOT like Rod Stewart!
Other than the strong debuts by Bent and Stereophonics, the only big chart news this week is the three, count em', THREE different singles charting by the recently deceased Melanie Thornton. I have to give a thanks to my friend Craig for introducing me to Melanie's music. I have been a big fan of La Bouche (I feel like I'm the only one who owns a copy of S.O.S.) and was joyed to discover that she had released some solo singles and an ablum in Europe. As soon as I found out about this though came the tragic news of her death. Thankfully her muisc is living on. At number five is Makin' Ooh Ooh, followed by Love How You Love Me at number 12, followed by Heartbeat at number 16. Love How You Love Me was the first song that I heard, but Makin' Ooh Ooh has really grown on me. Look for these songs to remain on the countdown for a while.
My Bubbling Under section features the top five songs that quite make it onto the top 20. They are in alphabetical order though, so only I know which ones are the closest to making it on next week. Of the five bubbling under songs, the one that is most likely to make a debut next week would be My Sacrifice by Creed. The problem with the rest of the songs is that they are all pretty old and probably would have charted a few weeks ago, especially Craig David's 7 Days. That song was a huge hit last summer in England, and is finally making it's way up the American Charts more than year after it's initial release in the UK.
Well, that's all for this week. Look for who makes it on the chart and who makes it to number one next week. Until then... |
