UK Singles Chart: 1996

Joining the list of acts with 30+ Top 40 hits this year were the Beatles who had their 30th and final hit with "Real Love". Here's how the rest of the 30+ club fared this year:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Cliff Richard	111	The Wedding
2	Elvis Presley	102
3	Elton John	54	Please, Live Like Horses
4	David Bowie	51	Hallo Spaceboy
5	Status Quo	49	Fun Fun Fun, Don't Stop
6	Queen	46	Too Much Love Will Kill You, Let Me Live, You Don't Fool Me
7	Michael Jackson	43	They Don't Care About Us, Why, Stranger In Moscow
8	Rod Stewart	42	Purple Heather
=	Madonna	42	Oh Father, One More Chance, You Must Love Me, Don't Cry For Me Argentina
10	Diana Ross	41	I Will Survive, In the Ones You Love
11	Paul McCartney	40
12	Stevie Wonder	38
13	Rolling Stones	37
=	Prince	37	Dinner With Delores, Betcha By Golly Wow
15	Frank Sinatra	33
=	UB40	33
17	Shakin Stevens	32
18	Roy Orbison	31
19	Lonnie Donegan	30
=	Beatles	30	Real Love

Take That equalled the Rolling Stones 8 number ones before splitting up that year, whilst George Michael scored 2 number ones to bring his total to 7:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	17
=	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	13
4	Abba	9
5	Rolling Stones	8
=	Take That	8	How Deep Is Your Love
7	Madonna	7
=	George Michael	7	Jesus to a Child, Fastlove
9	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6
=	Michael Jackson	6

Cliff Richard kept his streak of hits every year since 1979 going whilst Prince now had his 14th consecutive year of hits. There were 12 acts who had a Top 40 hit every year of the decade so far, here they are:

	Artist	Hits Every Year Since
1	Cliff Richard	1979
2	Prince	1983
3	Whitney Houston	1985
4	Wet Wet Wet	1987
5	Gloria Estefan	1988
6	Cher	1989
=	Madonna	1989
8	Elton John	1990
=	Rod Stewart	1990
=	Sting	1990
=	Mariah Carey	1990
=	Michael Bolton	1990

Following the break up of Take That who has managed just two further hits since Robbie Williams left we had the beginning of the members solo careers. First up was Gary Barlow who scored a number one with "Forever Love". Over a year after leaving the group Robbie Williams kick off his solo career with the number two "Freedom". Finally Mark Owen scored a number three with "Child".

East 17 were still very much around having hits with "Do U Still", "Someone to Love" and the collaboration with Gabrielle "If You Ever" which reached number two in November. The latter single was from their Greatest Hits compilation which they labelled as "The Journey So Far" indicating they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Boyzone released their first hit of the year "Coming Home Now" the same week Take That released their final hit. They filled the shoes of Take That later on in the year scoring their first and second number ones with "Words" and "A Different Beat".

Elsewhere in the boyband world we say farewell to Let Loose who had a number seven with "Make It With You" and a number 25 with "Take It Easy". It was also the end for Gemini who had their best charting single "Steal Your Love Away" which reached 37 and "Could It Be Forever" which reached 38.

There was the debut of the TV manufactured boyband Upside Down who had hits with "Change Your Mind" which sounded like "Careless Whisper", "Every Time I Fall In Love", "Never Found A Love Like This Before" which sounded like "Pray" by Take That and a cover of "If You Leave Me Now". They would have no further hits.

Another boyband debuting was 911. They only made number 38 with their first hit "Night to Remember", there follow up "Love Sensation" did a little bit better at 21 and they finally hit the top 10 with their third hit "Don't Make Me Wait".

From America we had the debut of the Backstreet Boys with "Get Down (You're the One For Me)" and followed up with "We've Got It Goin On" and "Quit Playing Games". They had however tasted chart success late the previous year as part of the Childliners.

Another act from the Childliners to make their chart debut this year was Peter Andre with "Only One". He followed that up with his best known hit "Mysterious Girl". His other two hits of the year, "Flava" and "I Feel You" both made number one.

The big success story of the year though came from a girl group making their debut, the Spice Girls. They released their first three singles, "Wannabe", "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1" which all made number one. The latter was also the Christmas number one.

Also scoring their third number one this year was Robson & Jerome, this time with a triple a side "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted/Saturday Night at the Movies/You'll Never Walk Alone". It was also be their final hit, meaning every hit they had went to number one.

It was the year we had "Spaceman" by Babylon Zoo at number one thanks to it's appearance on the Levi's advert. Many remember Babylon Zoo as a one hit wonder, but they had a further two Top 40 hits with "Animal Army" and "The Boy With the X-Ray Eyes".

For the first time in 15 years we had a Eurovision entry reach number one which was "Ooh Aah...Just A Little Bit" by Gina G. She was also remembered by many as a one hit wonder but she had another top ten hit this year with "I Belong to You" and would return to the charts the following year.

Despite having a Eurodance record represent the UK at Eurovision and reach number one, there was considerably less Eurodance in the charts this year. It would be the last we'd see of Culture Beat with their final hit being "Crying In The Rain" and the last of Reel 2 Real with their final hit being "Are You Ready For Some More" and there was no 2 Unlimited in the charts for the first time since 1990.

Bucking that trend and making the shift to Eurodance was Ace of Base who had a hit with "Beautiful Life". The pop reggae sound that they were previously doing was also in decline this year with final hits for Louchie Lou & Michie One with "Good Sweet Lovin'", Pato Banton with "Groovin'" and Maxi Priest with "Watching The World Go By".

We were seeing the presence of Dub music in the charts at the beginning of the year with Dreadzone having their only Top 40 hit with "Little Britain" and Leftfield having a hit with "Release The Pressure". We'd have to wait until November for the next one with Aloof having their only hit with "One Night Stand".

Trip Hop this year was predominantly from Tricky with his hit "Christiansands", his collaboration with Garbage with "Milk" and under the alias Nearly God he released "Poems". There was also debuts for Moloko with "Fun For Me", Morcheeba with "Trigger Hippie" and Sneaker Pimps with "6 Underground".

We had the final Top 40 hit for Incognito this year with "Jump to My Love/Always There" and the only other Acid Jazz act to have hits this year was Jamiroquai with "Virtual Insanity" and "Cosmic Girl".

Jamiroquai also collaborated with M-Beat to have a Drum & Bass record with "Do U Know Where You're Coming From". They were the only act to have a go at Drum & Bass though. Everything But the Girl had a Drum & Bass hit with "Walking Wounded" and Grace had one with "If I Could Fly". We also had the only hits for Alex Reece with "Feel The Sunshine" and "Candles".

Baby D had their final two hits of the decade with "So Pure" and "Take Me To Heaven". We had what is probably the best known Hardcore record chart this year with "I Wanna Be A Hippy" by Technohead. They followed this up with "Happy Birthday". Scooter had three hits with "Back In The UK", "Rebel Yell" and "I'm Raving". There was also the only hit for Interactive with "Forever Young".
Former Hardcore DJ Carl Cox returned to the charts this year after a four year absence with "Two Paintings And A Drum EP" and followed up with "Sensual Sophis-Ti-Cat / The Player". We also had the only Top 40 hits from fellow techno DJ Dave Clarke with "Southside" and "No One's Driving".

The techno anthem of the year though was "Born Slippy" by Underworld. This was their second Top 40 hit with their first, "Pearls Girl" charting earlier on in the year.

The Hardbag sound was now on the decline, but that was more to do with the beginnings of Hard House music with tunes such as "Everybody" by Kinky, "Up To No Good" by Porn Kings and "Tha Wildstyle" by DJ Supreme.

At the other end of the House scale came Dream House. Most notable was Robert Miles who debuted with "Children" and followed up with "Fable" and "One And One". We also had DJ Dado do a Dream House version of the X Files theme music.

On the Trance side of things we had the record often credited as being the origin of the Trance sound that was to dominate the latter part of the decade, "Seven Days And One Week" by BBE. We also had the Top 40 debut of Chicane with "Offshore".

It was another good year for Big Beat with Goldbug having their only hit with "Whole Lotta Love", Collapsed Lung having their only hit with "London Tonight / Eat My Goal" and CJ Bolland debuting with "Sugar Is Sweeter". Adopting the Big Beat sound was Orbital with "The Box".

The success story from the Big Beat sound though was The Prodigy who scored their first and second number ones with their two hits this year, "Firestarter" and "Breathe". The Chemical Brothers had their biggest hit to date in January with "Loops of Fury" and then scored their first number one with "Setting Sun" which featured Noel Gallagher.

Oasis scored their second number one with "Don't Look Back In Anger" which was their only hit this year. We also had Oasis tribute band No Way Sis have their only hit with "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing".

It was the biggest year to date for Brit Pop music and the official England World Cup song came from the Lightning Seeds with "Three Lions" which was a number one and featured comedians Baddiel and Skinner.

Making their debuts this year were Longpigs with "Far", Northern Uproar with "From A Window / This Morning", Bis with "The Secret Vampire Soundtrack", Ocean Colour Scene with "The Riverboat Song", Mansun with "One EP", 60ft Dolls with "Talk To Me", Kula Shaker with "Grateful When You're Dead - Jerry Was There", Super Furry Animals with "God! Show Me Magic", Space with "Female Of The Species", Strangelove "Beautiful Alone", Babybird with "Goodnight", Me Me Me with "Hanging Around", My Life Story with "12 Reasons Why I Love Her", Catatonia with "You've Got A Lot To Answer For", Octopus with "Saved", Geneva with "No One Speaks" and Supernaturals with "Lazy Lover".

Now falling under the Brit Pop banner was the return of a post Richey Edwards Manic Street Preacher with "A Design For Life", Lush who had their final hits with "Single Girl", "Ladykillers" and "500 (Shake Baby Shake)", and 80s singer Nick Heyward returned after a 12 year absence with his final hit "Rollerblade".

Grunge music was show signs of coming to an end with the final hits from Alice In Chains with "Heaven Beside You" and Soundgarden with "Blow Up The Outside World". Pearl Jam also had a hit with "Who You Are" but they weren't quite finished.

Punk was quite thin on the ground too with just a couple of hits from Green Day and "On A Rope" by Rocket From The Crypt.

Metallica returned to the Top 40 after three years away with "Until It Sleeps", but their music was now considered to be Hard Rock. Skin had their final hit with "Perfect Day" and Def Leppard had their final hit of the decade with "All I Want Is Everything" and we also had hits from the Wildhearts with "Sick Of Drugs" and "Red Light - Green Light".

The Almighty had their final hits with "All Sussed Out" and "Do You Understand", there was the only hit for White Zombie with "Electric Head Part 2 (The Ecstasy)" and Iron Maiden had a hit with "Virus".

Groove Metal was back in the charts, this time courtesy of Sepultura who debuted with "Roots Bloody Roots" and followed up with "Ratamahatta". We also saw the beginning of Nu Metal in the charts with Korn debuting with "No Place To Hide".

After a relatively quiet 1995 for Rap/Hip Hop music, 1996 was the year with the most Rap/Hip Hop music in the charts to date. We have the only Top 40 hit for Eazy-E "Just Tah Let You Know". It was also the year we had the only two hits from Luniz with "I Got 5 On It" and "Playa Hata", and the only hit for Pharcyde with "Runnin'".

2Pac made his debut with "California Love", Busta Rhymes debuted with "Woo-Hah!! Got You All In Check" and Nas debuted with "If I Ruled The World" which featured uncredited vocals from Lauryn Hill.

It was however Lauryn Hill's group the Fugees who were the success story in Rap/Hip Hop this year, although they also spanned the R&B genre. They debuted with "Fu-Gee-La" at number 21, but reached number one with their next two hits, "Killing Me Softly" and "Ready or Not", then reached number two with their final hit of the year, a cover of "No Woman No Cry".

Although nothing new, there were notably more Rap/R&B collaborations in the charts this year. These included "Hey Lover" by LL Cool J featuring Boyz II Men, "Keep On Keepin' On" by MC Lyte featuring Xscape, "How Do You Want It" by 2Pac featuring K-Ci & Jojo, "It's A Party" by Busta Rhymes featuring Zhané and "What's Love Got To Do With It" by Warren G featuring Adina Howard.

In March, Mark Morrison entered the charts at number 6 with his biggest hit "Return of the Mack" where it remained for three weeks. Another three weeks later it climbed it's way to number one, ending a run of ten consecutive chart toppers which entered the charts at number one, stretching back to September 1995 when "Boombastic" by Shaggy went straight in. To give you an idea of how significant this was, prior to this only 44 records had gone straight in at number one in the entire chart history.

Other big R&B records this year included "No Diggity" by Blackstreet, "Un-Break My Heart" by Toni Braxton and "Nobody Knows" by Tony Rich Project. It was also the year New Edition retuned to the charts after 11 years away with "Hit Me Off".

The Beatles weren't the only early 60s debutants to have their final hit this year. After 8 years away the Beach Boys collaborated with Status Quo to have their final hit with "Fun Fun Fun".

Up to and including 1996 we had three acts who had hits in every decade so far, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard.

There were acts who had hits in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, Beatles, Beach Boys, Cher, Tom Jones, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Bee Gees, Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker, Status Quo, David Bowie and Eric Clapton.
Overall 1996 seems like the late 90s has arrived but there is still music that helped define the late 90s which is yet to arrive. What will we see in 1997?