UK Singles Chart: 1999

Joining the 30+ UK Top 40 hits club this year is Tom Jones:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Cliff Richard	114	The Miracle, Millennium Prayer
2	Elvis Presley	102
3	Elton John	58	Written In the Stars
4	David Bowie	54	Thursday's Child
5	Status Quo	50	The Way It Goes
6	Madonna	49	Nothing Really Matters, Beautiful Stranger
7	Queen	48
8	Michael Jackson	45
9	Rod Stewart	44
10	Paul McCartney	43
11	Diana Ross	42	Not Over You Yet
12	Stevie Wonder	39
=	Rolling Stones	39
14	Prince	38
15	UB40	37	The Train Is Coming
16	Frank Sinatra	33
=	Depeche Mode	33
18	Shakin Stevens	32
=	Pet Shop Boys	32	I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore
20	Roy Orbison	31
21	Lonnie Donegan	30
=	Beatles	30
=	Bee Gees	30
=	Tom Jones	30	Burning Down the House, Baby It's Cold Outside

The year saw Blondie back in the charts for the first time in 17 years with a number one bringing their total to 6. Boyzone also clocked up their 5th and 6th number ones:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	17
=	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	14	Millennium Prayer
4	Abba	9
5	Rolling Stones	8
=	Take That	8
=	Madonna	8
=	Spice Girls	8
9	George Michael	7
=	Michael Jackson	7
11	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6
=	Boyzone	6	When the Going Gets Tough, You Needed Me
=	Blondie	6	Maria

We ended up with 4 acts who had a hit every year in the 90s with Whitney Houston now having 15 consecutive years of hits:

	Artist	Hits Every Year Since
1	Whitney Houston	1985
2	Madonna	1989
3	Elton John	1990
=	Mariah Carey	1990
5	Paul Weller	1991
=	Bryan Adams	1991
7	Daniel O'Donnell	1992
=	East 17	1992
9	Bjork	1993
=	Jamiroquai	1993
=	Mary J Blige	1993

There were a total of 3 acts to have had a UK Top 40 hit in the 50s. 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s who are Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. Of these only Cliff Richard had a number one in all five decades.

In addition to their two number ones this year, Boyzone also had a number three with "Every Day I Love You". However this would be the last we'd see of them in the UK Top 40 for almost a decade. Ronan Keating began his solo career in August with a number one "When You Say Nothing At All" which came before the final Boyzone hit of the decade.

However it was the group which knocked Ronan of number one with their second hit and second number one with "If I Let You Go", Westlife, who were the success story of the year. They had four hits and four number ones starting with "Swear It Again" and ending with the Christmas number one "I Have A Dream/Seasons in the Sun".

The debut Westlife hit was knocked off number one by the Backstreet Boys who had their only chart topper this year with "I Want It That Way". They followed this up with the number five hit "Larger Than Life".

N Sync returned to the charts this year with "I Want You Back" which failed to reach the Top 40 on it's original release in 1997 but reached number 5 this time. They also re-entered the charts with "Tearin Up My Heart" which made number 9 this time having originally reached number 40 in 1997.

There were three American boy bands making their UK Top 40 debut this year. First up was 98 Degrees with "Because of You". Then came Take 5 with their only hit "Never Had It So Good" and finally came Lyte Funkie Ones with "Summer Girls".

We also had the only hits of Canadian boy band The Moffatts this year with "Crazy" and "Until You Loved Me". Westlife weren't the only Irish boy band making their debut this year, we also had the only hit for MyTown with "Party All Night".

Five kept their run of Top 10 hits going this year with the number two "If Ya Gettin Down" which they followed up with their first number one "Keep on Movin".

There was also the first number one for 911 with "A Little Bit More". This was followed up with "Private Number" which made number three. However the next single "Wonderland" only managed number 13 and would prove to be the final hit for 911. Also having their final hit was Ultra with "Rescue Me" which was actually their most successful hit reaching number 8. It was also the end for East 17, or E17 as they were known with their final hit being "Betcha Can't Wait".

There were some British boy bands making their debut too this year. A1 started with a trio of Top 10 hits, "Be the First to Believe", "Summertime of our Lives" and "Everytime/Ready or Not". BBMak debuted with "Back Here", Northern Line debuted with "Run For Your Life", Point Break debuted with "Do We Rock" and Next of Kin had their only hits with "24 Hours From You" and "More Love".

There was clearly no shortage of boy bands this year but with no Spice Girls in the charts this year what about girl groups?

B*Witched clocked up their fourth number one with their fourth hit "Blame It On the Weatherman". However their following hit "Jessie Hold On" which reached number four would be their final Top 10 hit with their final hit of the year "I Shall Be There" reaching number 13. It was also the beginning of the end for Cleopatra reached number 24 with their only hit of the year "A Touch of Love".

There was however a new girl group waiting in the wings, Atomic Kitten, who made their debut in December with "Right Now". Hepburn made their debut with the Top 10 hit "I Quit" and followed up with the number 14 "Bugs". They would have one further hit beyond this year. There was also the only hits for Thunderbugs with "Friends Forever" and 21st Century Girls with "21st Century Girls".

All of the Spice Girls except Victoria had hits this year. Most successful of these was Geri Halliwell who debuted at number two with "Look At Me" and followed up with two number ones, "Mi Chico Latino" and "Lift Me Up". Mel C managed two number fours with "Goin Down" and "Northern Star" and Emma Bunton collaborated with Tin Tin Out on the number two "What I Am". Mel B, under the name Mel G, only managed number 14 with her only hit of the year "Word Up".

Robbie Williams scored his second solo number one with "It's Only Us/She's the One" and also had a number four with "Strong". Gary Barlow however failed to reach the Top 10 with either of his two hits "Stronger" and "For All You Want" and that would mark the end of his solo career for now.

The year saw the rise of the mixed gender pop groups. Steps scored their first number one with "Heartbeat/Tragedy" which charted in late 1998 before reaching number one at the beginning of the year and followed up with four Top 5 hits.

There was the debut of S Club 7 with the number one "Bring It All Back" which they followed up with the number two hits "S Club Party" and "Two In A Million/You're My Number One".

Also fitting the profile now was the Vengaboys. Their first hit of the year was "We Like To Party (The Vengabus)" which was essentially a vocal version of the mostly instrumental hit "Up and Down" from the previous year. They then had a couple of number ones with "Boom Boom Boom Boom" and "We're Going to Ibiza" and ended the year with the number three "Kiss (When the Sun Don't Shine".

We also had the debut of A*Teens with the Abba covers "Mamma Mia" and "Super Trouper" and the debut of Scooch with "When My Baby".

We saw Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in the charts for the first time this year and both topped the charts with their debut. Britney Spears debuted with "Baby One More Time" and had another two Top 5 hits with "Sometimes" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy". Christina Aguilera topped the charts with "Genie In A Bottle".

There were a couple of chart topper this year that had featured on adverts. First was Lenny Kravitz with "Fly Away" which appeared on the Peugeot 206 advert. Then we had another Levi's advert number one with "Flat Beat" by Mr Oizo.

Having already topped the charts as part of the Housemartins and Beats International plus one of his remixes topping the charts the previous year, this year saw Norman Cook score his first and only number one with "Praise You". He also had a number two with "Right Here Right Now" and collaborated with Freddy Fresh on "Badder Badder Schwing".

Norman Cook wasn't the only chart topper this year that previously had a remix get to number one. Armand Van Helden scored his first number one with "You Don't Know Me" having previously remixed the chart topper "Professional Widow" by Tori Amos. He had another hit this year with "Flowerz".

We had a Garage number one from Shanks & Bigfoot with "Sweet Like Chocolate". They were the same people as Doolally who had charted the previous year with "Straight From the Heart" which re-entered the charts this year.

It was however a quiet year for Garage music with the only other Garage hits prior to November coming from Da Click with "Good Rhymes" and "We Are Da Click". In November we had the Dreem Teem vs Neneh Cherry chart with "Buddy X 99" and in December we had the debuts of Artful Dodger and Craig David with "Re-Rewind The Crowd Say Bo Selecta", and the debut of DJ Luck & MC Neat with "A Little Bit Of Luck".

It was a very good year for Trance music and we had our first Trance number one from ATB with "(9pm) Till I Come". Other big Trance records of the year included "Better Off Alone" by Alice Deejay, "The Launch" by DJ Jean and "Synth & Strings" by Yomanda.

We had the chart debut of Groove Armada this year with "If Everybody Looked the Same". They followed this up with the downtempo "At the River" and then charted with "I See You Baby". Also have a mixture of big beat and downtempo hits was Moby with "Run On", "Bodyrock" and "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad".

None of the big Trip Hop acts were in the charts this year but we did have Trip Hop hits from UNKLE with "Be There" and Faithless with "Bring My Family Back". Jamiroquai and the Brand New Heavies were the only Acid Jazz acts to have hits and the only Drum & Bass hit this year was "Walk This Land" by E-Z Rollers.

Overall it was a very strong year for Dance music and the charts reflected the rise of the DJ and the fall of the guitar. Marilyn Manson had a hit with "Rock Is Dead" and from a chart perspective he was probably right. The only other Metal hits this year were "Whiskey In The Jar" by Metallica and "Freak On A Leash" by Korn. There wasn't any hits you would describe as Hard Rock.

It was however a good year for Punk band Offspring who had a number one with "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)" and a number two with "Why Don't You Get A Job?" and a number eleven with "The Kids Aren't Alright". We also had the chart debut of Blink 182 with "What's My Age Again?".

Brit Pop was no longer being used to describe music in 1999 and the bands who were previously considered Brit Pop were now being described as Indie. Some of these bands though were now making more dance orientated music than guitar based with examples being "Electricity" by Suede, "Disco Down" by Shed Seven and "Lifes Too Short" by the Lightning Seeds.

Cher continued to make Dance records this year with "Strong Enough", "All Or Nothing" and "Dove L'Amore". Other established acts who were going down the Dance route with their hits this year included Tina Turner with "When the Heartache Is Over", Diana Ross with "Not Over You Yet" and Mike & the Mechanics with "Now That You're Gone".

There were no R&B number ones this year but there were several big R&B hits. These included "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty" by TLC, "If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time" by R Kelly and the collaboration of George Michael and Mary J Blige with their cover of "As" by Stevie Wonder.

It was the end of Eternals chart career with their final hit being the number 16 "What'cha Gonna Do" in October. They were now a two piece with Kelle Bryan having left the band, who herself had her only hit the same month with "Higher Than Heaven" which charted slightly higher than her former band reaching number 14.

The Honeyz continued their run of Top 10 hits with "Love of a Lifetime" and "Never Let You Down". Another Level failed to reach the Top 10 for the first time reaching number 11 with a new version of "Be Alone No More", but they followed up with 3 Top 10 hits but this would be the end of their chart career with their final hit being "Bomb Diggy".

The penultimate Another Level hit "Summertime" featured chart newcomer TQ. Although he was a singer rather than a rapper some would describe his music as being more Hip Hop than R&B. His debut hit was "Westside" and he also had hits with "Bye Bye Baby" and "Better Days".

Compared to previous years it was a quieter year for Hip Hop in terms of number of hits. It did however give us the debut of perhaps the biggest rapper we've ever had, Eminem. His debut "My Name Is" made number two and his follow up "Guilty Conscience" featuring Dr Dre made number five.

Also debuting this year was DMX with "Slippin" and Ja Rule who featured on "Can I Get A" by Jay-Z. 2Pac had his biggest hit to date with "Changes" making number three and his follow up "Dear Mama" gave him his tenth posthumous Top 40 hit having had just two prior to his death.

We had the only chart appearance of the only chart act to date from Bermuda this year with Mishka having a hit with "Give You All the Love".

From living memory and from the history books it is clear to see how big dance music was by the end of the 90s and the sheer quantity of dance music in the charts reflects that. However at the very top of the charts was pop music and we've reached the point now where if a pop act doesn't make number one it's a disaster.

For many people, myself included, the end of 1999 marks the point where modern music begins. The question is does the music drastically change or does the significant change of date rather than the music itself give all 21st century music the "modern" tag?