UK Singles Chart: 2004

Joining the 30+ UK Top 40 hits club this year are George Michael, R Kelly and Tina Turner. It would be the last we'd see of Tina Turner in the Top 40:

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Cliff Richard	119	Somethin Is Goin On, I Cannot Give You My Love
2	Elvis Presley	106	That’s All Right
3	Elton John	65	All That I'm Allowed (I'm Thankful)
4	Madonna	58
5	David Bowie	57
6	Status Quo	53	You'll Come Round, Thinking Of You
7	Queen	50
8	Michael Jackson	48
9	Rod Stewart	45
10	Paul McCartney	44	Tropic Island Hum/We All Stand Together
11	Diana Ross	42
12	Rolling Stones	41
13	Stevie Wonder	40
14	UB40	39
15	Prince	38
=	Kylie Minogue	38	Red Blooded Woman, Chocolate, I Believe In You
17	Depeche Mode	37	Enjoy the Silence 04
=	Pet Shop Boys	37	Flamboyant
19	Janet Jackson	36	Just A Little While, All Nite (Don't Stop)/I Want You
20	Tom Jones	34
21	Frank Sinatra	33
=	U2	33	Take Me To the Clouds Above, Vertigo
23	Shakin Stevens	32
24	Roy Orbison	31
=	Bee Gees	31
=	Whitney Houston	31
=	Bon Jovi	31
=	Iron Maiden	31
=	George Michael	31	Amazing, Flawless (Go to the City), Round Here
=	R Kelly	31	Clubbin, Hotel, Happy People/U Saved Me, Wonderful, So Sexy
31	Lonnie Donegan	30
=	Beatles	30
=	Mariah Carey	30
=	Tina Turner	30	Open Arms

Scoring their sixth number ones this year were U2 and Robbie Williams:

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	18
2	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	14
4	Westlife	12
5	Madonna	10
6	Abba	9
=	Spice Girls	9
8	Rolling Stones	8
=	Take That	8
10	George Michael	7
=	Michael Jackson	7
=	Kylie Minogue	7
13	Oasis	6
=	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6
=	Boyzone	6
=	Blondie	6
=	Queen	6
=	U2	6	Take Me To the Clouds Above, Vertigo
=	Robbie Williams	6	Radio

No Madonna, Mariah Carey or Mary J Blige this year, so the act with the most consecutive years of hits is now R Kelly with a hit every year since 1994:

	Artist	Hits Every Year Since
1	R Kelly	1994
2	Robbie Williams	1996
3	Jay-Z	1997
=	Marilyn Manson	1997
=	Missy Elliott	1997
=	Puff Daddy	1997
=	Stereophonics	1997
=	Travis	1997
9	Leann Rimes	1998

Since the 90s, each years most successful act tended to be the pop act of the moment but this was to change in 2004. More than two decades into their career, U2 were the most successful act this year from a chart perspective with two hits and two number ones.

They didn't have an awful lot to do with their first number one of the year, "Take Me To the Clouds Above". It was credited to LMC vs U2 as it sampled "With Or Without You" and had the vocals to "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston. Their second number one of the year "Vertigo" was very much to do with them. Lead singer Bono had a third number one of the year as part of Band Aid 20 who had the Christmas number one with an updated version of "Do They Know Its Christmas".

The first number on of the year came from the winner of the second series of Pop Idol, Michelle with "All This Time". Her follow up "The Meaning Of Love" however failed to reach the Top 10 when it came out in April and that marked the end of her chart career.

Second and Third placed contestants on the second series of Pop Idol became the duo Sam & Mark. They too began with a number one "With a Little Help from My Friends/Measure of a Man" and also failed to reach the top ten with the follow up "The Sun Has Come Your Way" and that was the end of their chart career. No other contestants from the second series of Pop Idol had any hits and there were no further series of Pop Idol.

There was however a replacement show for Pop Idol that began this year, the X Factor. The end of the year brought us the first X Factor related single. Simon Cowell had told contestant Paul Holt that if he made Christmas number one he'd give him 50K. He released the song "50K For Christmas" but it only managed number 35.

Fame Academy winner Alex Parks already debuted the previous year and she had her second single "Cry" in February which failed to reach the top ten and that was the end of her chart career. Runner up Alistair Griffin reached number five with his debut "Bring It On/My Lovers Prayer" with the latter being a collaboration with Fame Academy judge Robin Gibb. He failed to reach the top ten with his follow up "You And Me (Tonight)" but his chart career wasn't quite over yet, but it would be another six years until we saw him again. The other Fame Acedemy contestant to have a hit was James Fox who had the UK Eurovision entry with "Hold On To Our Love". It would be another four years until we'd see him back in the charts.

It was the end for Busted this year who's final hit was the number one "Thunderbirds Are Go/3am". They also had a number one with "Who's David" and a number two with "Air Hostess" and had managed reach the top three with all of their hits.

Before Busted called it a day though, there was a ready made replacement for Busted in McFly. They debuted at number one with "5 Colours In Her Hair". Their follow up "Obviously" also made number one and they had top five hits with "That Girl" and "Room on the 3rd Floor".

Another replacement for Busted in terms of style without the chart success to match was Noise Next Door. They debuted at number 12 with "Lock Up Ya Daughters / Ministry Of Mayhem".

Another boyband calling it a day this year were Blazin Squad who's final hit came in February with "Here 4 One". Later on in the year it was the end for Blue with their final hit before splitting up being "Curtain Falls".

The post-Blue careers had already begun for two of the members. Duncan James reached number two with the hit "I Believe My Heart" collaborating with "Keedie". Simon Webbe meanwhile went into management which brought us VS. They had their only three hits this year with "Love You Like Mad", "Call U Sexy" and "Make It Hot". VS member Marvin Humes would be back in years to come as a member of JLS.

Westlife had just the one hit this year with "Obvious". Then Brian McFadden left the group and started his solo career with the number one "Real To Me". He followed this up with "Irish Son" which made number six.

Pop Stars: The Rivals males runners up Phixx had hits this year with "Love Revolution" and "Wild Boys" which both failed to reach the top ten, but they weren't quite finished yet. It was however the end of D-Side who's final hit was "Pushin' Me Out".

In June we had the debut of boyband V who made number six with "Blood Sweat And Tears". They managed one place higher with follow up "Hip To Hip / Can You Feel It" but only made number 12 with the next single "You Stood Up" which proved to be their final one.

Girls Aloud scored their second number one this year with a cover of "I'll Stand By You" which was the song for Children In Need. They also had number twos with "The Show" and "Love Machine".

The Sugababes had two number eights this year with "In the Middle" and "Caught In A Moment". Meanwhile Atomic Kitten called it a day and also reached number eight with the single "Someone Like Me/Right Now 2004". However their chart career wasn't quite finished yet despite them splitting up.

It was however the end for Bellefire with their final hit being "Say Something Anyway" and for Lemonescent with their final hit being "All Right Now". Pop Stars: The Rivals female runners up Clea had their second single this year with "Stuck In The Middle" but weren't quite finished yet.

The only girl group making their debut this year was Mania who made number 29 with their only single "Looking For A Place".

Original Pop Stars runners up Liberty X were still around but it was a low key year for them with their only hit coming in January with "Everybody Cries" which didn't make the top ten.

It was the end of the chart career of S Club 8 (formerly Juniors) in January with their final hit being "Don't Tell Me You're Sorry". Pete Waterman saw a gap in the mixed gender pop group market and brought us his new band called Pop. They didn't get off to the best of starts when their debut "Heaven And Earth" only made number 14, then it was withdrawn from sale after a week because the CD contained a track longer than the permitted length. Follow up "Can't Say Goodbye" only made 26, but they weren't quite finished yet.

After appearing on reality TV show "I'm A Celebrity", Peter Andre was back in the charts after 6 years away reaching number one with a re-issue of "Mysterious Girl". He follow this up with a song he wrote whilst on the show, "Insania" which made number three. However the hype about him died down when his third hit of the year "The Right Way" came out which only made number 14.

Daniel Bedingfield had achieved a number one each year for the first three years of his career but only managed a number three this year with his only single "Nothing Hurts Like Love". However we saw the beginning of his sister Natasha Bedingfields career with "Single" followed by the number one "These Words" and another hit with "Unwritten".

There was notably less Dance music overall in the charts this year but we still had a few Dance number ones. There was "Cha Cha Slide" by DJ Casper which had originally been recorded in 1999. We also had "Lolas Theme" by Shapeshiters and "Call On Me" by Eric Prydz reach number one.

The latter sampled "Valerie" by Steve Winwood and was one of several Dance versions of old records. Others included "This Time I Know It's For Real" by Kelly Llorenna, "Touch Me" by Angel City, "Hungry Eyes" by Eye Opener, "Out Of Touch" by Uniting Nations and "Somebody To Love" and "Sunny" by Boogie Pimps.

We also had the Trance versions of old Happy Hardcore tracks with "Discoland" by Flip & Fill featuring Karen Parry and "You're Shining" by Styles & Breeze who did the original Happy Hardcore version.

Perhaps the most surprising number one was the UK Garage tune "Babycakes" by 3 Of A Kind. It was just a one off as far as UK Garage was concerned, the only other record of the year that could vaguely be described as UK Garage was "Stand Up Tall" by Dizzee Rascal.

Dizzee Rascal also had a hit this year with "Dream". We had two other Grime artists making their chart debuts this year, Wiley with "Wot Do U Call It?" and Shystie with "One Wish".

Making his debut this year was Martin Solveig with "Rocking Music". Also making their chart debut this year were Scissor Sisters who had already made their name in the Electroclash scene. Their debut hit was a cover of "Comfortably Numb" and they also had hits with "Take Your Mama", "Laura" and "Mary".

The main music genre on the rise this year was Indie music. Many of the acts you would associate with mid-00s Indie music made their debuts this year. These included Zutons with "Pressure Point", Snow Patrol with "Run", Razorlight with "Stumble And Fall", Keane with "Somewhere Only We Know", Ordinary Boys with "Week In Week Out", Kasabian with "Club Foot", Kaiser Chiefs with "I Predict A Riot", Franz Ferdinand with "Take Me Out", Killers with "Somebody Told Me" and Bloc Party with "Little Thoughts / Tulips".

It was the end of the chart career of the Libertines with their final hit being "What Became Of The Likely Lads". Libertines singer Pete Doherty formed a new Babyshambles who debuted with a song of the same name.

It was the final year that all of the big four Garage Rock bands would be in the charts. The Vines had their final hit with "Ride" and the Hives had their final hit with "Walk Idiot Walk". The White Stripes had a hit with "Jolene - Live Under Blackpool Lights" and the Strokes had hits with "Reptilia" and "The End Has No End".

There was a return to the charts after a six year absence for Morrissey with the single "Irish Blood English Heart" which reached number three and became his highest charting single to date and first top ten hit in a decade.

After three years away Green Day returned to the charts with "American Idiot" which was their highest charting single to date reaching number three and was their first top ten since "Basket Case" at the start of 1995. They followed this up with the number five "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams".

Also back in the charts was Offspring with "Hit That" which would be their final hit. Blink 182 had three hits with the biggest being the top ten single "I Miss You".

Hard Rock group Thunder returned to the charts after five years away with "I Love You More Than Rock 'N' Roll". We also had the debut of Velvet Revolver who were ex Guns N Roses members Slash, Duff and Matt alongside ex Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland. They had their only two hits this year which were "Slither" and "Fall To Pieces".

We still had the revival of Grunge in the charts with Nickelback and the Calling, Glam Metal with the Darkness and Gothic Rock with Evanescence, Him and newcomers Rasmus who debuted with "In the Shadows".

Linkin Park had a hit with "Breaking The Habbit" and they also teamed up with Jay-Z mashing up their tune "Numb" with "Encore" by Jay-Z.

In April we had the chart debut of Kanye West with "Through the Wire". At the same time he featured on "This Way" by Dilated Peoples and "Slow Jamz" by Twista who was also making his chart debut.

Eminem was back in the charts with his fifth number one "Just Lose It". This knocked his nemesis Ja Rule off number one with his only chart topper "Wonderful" in collaboration with R Kelly and Ashanti.

We also had an R&B/Rap double a-side from Nelly reach number one with "My Place/Flap Your Wings". These came from two albums he released at the same time, "Sweat" which was Rap and "Suit" which was R&B. He also had a hit with "Tilt Ya Head Back" with Christina Aguilera which came from the "Sweat" album.

The big story in the R&B world this year came from two debutants. First up was Eamon who scored a number one with "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)", a song about his ex girlfriend with lots of swearing in it. This was then knocked off number one by his alleged ex girlfriend Frankee with a response song "FURB (Fuck U Right Back)" which was to the same tune with different lyrics. That was the last we'd hear of Frankee but Eamon had one further hit with "I Love Them Ho's (Ho-Wop)".

Frankee wasn't the only one with an answer song this year. There was the number one song "I Don't Wanna Know" by Mario Winans featuring Enya & P Diddy which had an answer song by The Pirates called "You Should Really Know" which made number eight.

It was a successful year for Usher who had two number ones with "Yeah" and "Burn" and also had a number five with "Confessions Part II / My Boo".

With Misteeq being no more, there was a gap for the next successful British female R&B group. It looked like the group to fill this gap was The 411 who reached number four with their debut "On My Knees". They went one place higher with the follow up "Dumb" but third single "Teardrops" only made number 23 and that was the end of their chart career.

We had the only act from Moldova to have a hit this year with O-Zone having a hit with "Dragostea Din Tei".

Now we've reached the midpoint of the 00s, the charts have become dominated by the Indie sound that the mid 00s was remembered for. At this stage though it's not made it's impact to the top of the charts. With the changes happening in the pop world this year that paves the way for Indie music to reach the top of the charts too. Will this be the case in 2005?