20th Century in the 20s - 2020

Back in the 90s there was no shortage of acts way past their heyday who were still having big hits. Cliff Richard had 2 number ones for example. Many of the chart heavyweights would continue to have hits into the 21st Century.

By the 2010s though few of the older acts were still having hits and as we entered the era of streaming it almost ensured that new singles from acts who dominated the charts in previous years would no longer make the Top 40.

Now we're in the 2020s I thought it would be interesting to see which old timers are still managing to have Top 40 hits. A logical cut off point for me is the end of the 20th Century i.e. acts who made their Top 40 debut before 31st December 1999.

The rules are that the single has to be in the Top 40 for the first time this decade so all the Christmas songs making their annual visit to the Top 40 don't count. They also need to be the same entity as their 20th Century counterpart, for example Dave Grohl has had a hit this year as part of the Live Lounge Allstars and in the 20th Century as part of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, but it would need to be either a Nirvana or Foo Fighters hit to count. Collaboration's do count as let's face it pretty much everyone collaborates these days.

The first 20th Century debutant to score a Top 40 hit this year was Eminem. He had 3 hits at the same time, one of which was a number one. Eminem has seemingly kept himself relevant with the kids and had more Top 40 hits in the 2010s than any other decade.

Next up was Michael Ball who scored his first number one in collaboration with Captain Tom Moore. The last time we'd seen Michael Ball in the Top 40 was back in 1996 and he reached number 40 with that particular record.

Then came Tina Turner on Kygo's remake of "What's Love Got To Do With It?". We'd last seen Tina Turner in the Top 40 in 2004 and she retired in 2009. I think it's fair to say she didn't have an awful lot to do with this particular record.

In August we had Vera Lynn return to the Top 40 after a 63 year absence with "Land Of Hope & Glory". It was just 2 months after her death but it came as part of a campaign against the proms banning certain songs and this was it's first time in the Top 40.

Finally we had Craig David collaborate with KSI and Digital Farm Animals on "Really Love". Craig David only just qualifies as a 20th Century artist having made his debut 3 weeks before the end of the century.

Here's the list in full: