20th Century in the 20s - 2021

Following on from last years post about which artists have had Top 40 hits in both the 20th century and 2020s, here's a look at what has happened since.

It was the first week of 2021 when we had out next addition to the list. Jose Feliciano had 2 Top 40 hits to his name prior to this year which both came in the 60s, but neither were his festive hit "Feliz Navidad". It just scraped into the Top 40 amongst many other old Christmas records and returned the the Top 40 again at the end of the year.

Next up was the Nightcrawlers who received a credit on the track "Friday" which was an EDM remake by other DJs of "Push The Feelin On". It's a similar story for ATB who has credit on "Your Love (9pm)" which is a remake of "9pm (Till I Come)". Then Boney M received credit on an EDM remake of "Rasputin".

During the Euro's the fans started singing "Whole Again" by Atomic Kitten with different lyrics written for England manager Gareth Southgate. This was subsequently re-recorded by Atomic Kitten with these new lyrics so technically counts as a new record.

It had looked like we'd seen the last of Elton John in the Top 40, but then thanks to an EDM remake of "Sacrifice" and "Rocket Man" combined on a record called "Cold Heart" not only was Elton John back in the Top 40 he was topping the charts too.

In September we had the first 20th century act to hit the Top 40 in 2021 with completely new material and without the help of any modern artist. This was Abba who scored 2 Top 40 hits with their comeback.

Craig David added another Top 40 hit to his name with "Who You Are". As mentioned previously he only just qualifies as a 20th century artist but it can also be said that it was with the aid of a more modern artist as it was a collaboration with MNEK.

Then we had Elton John back again with another two chart toppers which were both collaborations with Ed Sheeran with the latter also featuring Ladbaby.

Finally we had the return of Frank Sinatra with a Christmas song that never made the Top 40 before. 

Here's the list in full:

Elton John at 70 (Top 40 hits)

Elton John scored his 70th Top 40 hit on Friday after a 12 year hiatus. We may be somewhat stretching the definition of an Elton John single here, it's basically some EDM crap that samples Elton John songs sung by him and Dua Lipa. But it is credited to Elton John and Dua Lipa so it counts. It goes to show you never truly know when someone's Top 40 career is over.

Back in 1989 my chart knowledge was more or less limited to what had happened in the couple of years prior. Then Cliff Richard had his 100th hit single. A landmark yes but I also thought it may have been a landmark many would have already reached.

I also learned that Queen had been around for a long time and wondered whether they had reached 100 yet. When I discovered later on in 1989 that Queen had just reached 35 hits it sounded quite pathetic.

Then came my first British Hit Singles book which went to the end of 1990 and Cliff Richard was listed as having 99 hit singles and he'd had a few since his 100th. Basically they hadn't included collaborations but it also counted Top 75 singles rather than Top 40. Incidentally including collaborations and just the Top 40 Cliff Richard was still stuck on 99. He would reach 100 in 1991 though.

At the time the only act to pass the 100 mark was Elvis Presley. Over 30 years later the only 2 acts to have passed the 100 mark are Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard.

Although Queens 35 Top 40 hits didn't sound impressive, they were actually 8th overall for most Top 40 hits at the time. In 3rd place was David Bowie with 44, but throughout the 90s the person who looked most likely to be next to hit the 100 mark was Elton John who was in 4th place at the end of 1990 with 41 and in 3rd place at the end of the decade with 58.

The reality is that Elton John was old hat by the 90s, but he still kept having Top 40 hits so there seemed no reason why he couldn't continue to have them into the 21st century. If he kept having Top 40 hits at the same rate he did in the 90s then we would have been talking about his 100th Top 40 hit around about now.

He had 3 Top 40 hits from his "Songs From The West Coast" album in 2001 and 2002, but since then his ability to have a Top 40 hit of his own accord seems to have faded away. 

He's had a total of 9 since but in addition to his latest effort they include a rerecording of "Your Song" as a duet, featuring on Blue's cover of "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word", an Ashley Beedle remix of 70s flop single "Are You Ready For Love?", having "Indian Sunset" sampled on "Ghetto Gospel" by 2Pac and having "Tiny Dancer" sampled on "Tiny Dancer" by Ironik ft Chipmunk. 

Only 3 of them have been what I would call proper Elton John releases, the last of which came in 2005 which was a year that seemed to have several older artists back for one final hit. 

After it looked a question of when rather than if Madonna overtakes Elton John into 3rd place he's now got a bit of breathing space by being 2 ahead of her. With just 2 Top 40 hits in the last decade and the last coming 6 years ago it's not looking like Madonna will have another Top 40 hit, but you never know.

It does however seem almost inevitable that he will get caught by Drake who currently sits on 65.

UK Number 40s: Elton John Band featuring John Lennon & The Muscle Shoals Horns - I Saw Her Standing There (1981)

 

Although many people probably won't know this particular record exists, it's actually quite surprising this never made number one let alone only just making the Top 40.

John Lennon had topped the charts with "(Just Like) Starting Over" following his death in December 1980. In 1981 the first two number ones also came from John Lennon with "Imagine" and "Woman". Then in March Roxy Music topped the charts with their cover of the John Lennon song "Jealous Guy".

What we have here is a big name in Elton John doing a Beatles cover with John Lennon himself which peaked at 40 the week Roxy Music fell from the top of the charts.

It was a live performance at Madison Square Garden from 1974 where John Lennon joined Elton John on stage. It was the last time John Lennon appeared in concert. Originally this was the B-side to "Philadelphia Freedom".

It was the first time "I Saw Her Standing There" charted as the Beatles version was never a single. It was also the first Lennon/McCartney composition to peak at 40, but wasn't the last. Paul McCartney is way out in the lead with most Top 40 hits as songwriter and the only position one of his compositions hasn't peaked at is 38.

Despite being a big name with lots of hits, Elton John's Top 40 record isn't as impressive as you'd think it would be. Most of his hits failed to make the Top 10. His albums fared better, but at this point in time even they weren't selling as well as previous efforts. His previous single "Sartorial Eloquence" failed to make the Top 40 as did the follow up to this "Nobody Wins".

Interestingly the song that this replaced at number 40 was "Walking On Thin Ice" by Yoko Ono.

Elton Johns Number 1s

Question: What was Elton Johns first UK number 1?

Even if you have closely followed Elton Johns chart career, you may find that question difficult to answer.

A few years ago, I was at a music quiz in a bar in Corfu. The quizmaster would play something on the piano and ask a related question afterwards. For one particular question he said that when he asked it the previous year, nobody got the correct answer. The question was what was the first number 1 for the person who did the following song he was about to play on the piano, that person being Elton John.

The answer I gave was "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", but this according to the quizmaster was incorrect because it was a duet with Kiki Dee so therefore didn't count. Had I finished 1 point behind the winner I would have been very unhappy, but fortunately I didn't. The answer was "Sacrifice", and nobody got it that year either, in my opinion because he didn't ask the question properly, had he said solo I would have got it correct. But then again, is "Sacrifice" actually the correct answer? this was a double a side with "Healing Hands" so really the correct answer would be "Sacrifice/Healing Hands". Whether he would have accepted "Healing Hands" as an answer I do not know.

What is quite interesting is that "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" was re released as a duet with RuPaul in 1994, and the rest of his number ones were basically re releases of older tracks.

He first released "Healing Hands" and "Sacrifice" separately in 1989, both of which didn't make the top 40 reaching 45 and 55 respectively. In 1990 he made number 1 by releasing both tracks as a double a side.

Then in 1991 he reached number 1 with George Michael with "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" which was originally released as a solo record in 1974 reaching number 16.

Next up was "Candle In The Wind 1997" which had been released twice before reaching number 11 in 1974 and  number 5 in 1988. As we all know though, the original was about Marilyn Monroe and he changed the lyrics in 1997 for Princess Diana. It was a double a side with "Something About The Way You Look Tonight".

In 2002, boy band of the moment Blue covered "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" which originally reached number 11 in 1976. They had Elton John do guest vocals on the track therefore giving him his 5th number one.

The next number 1 came in 2003 with "Are You Ready For Love". This was originally released in 1979 and missed the top 40 reaching number 42. The 2003 re release was a remixed version by Ashley Beedle and released on Fatboy Slims Southern Fried Records.

His 7th and final number 1 came in 2005 when his song "Indian Sunset" was sampled on 2Pacs "Ghetto Gospel". Elton John probably didn't have much involvement in that release, but still its credited as an Elton John number one, plus 2Pac had been dead for 9 years by this point therefore not having input to the actual release himself.