12/22/01

PTS	2W	LW	TW	TITLE: ARTIST	WKS	#PK/#WKS	NOTES
	39	41	50	River Divides: Kristine W	26	1.5w
+4			49	Just Can't Last: Natalie Merchant	1
+6			48	You Are: Atomic Kitten	1
+8			47	Lately (Remix): Samantha Mumba	1
	45	43	46	Paid My Dues: Anastacia	3	43.1w
+9	----	50	45	Stay With Me: Angelic	2
+9	----	49	44	Come on Down: Crystal Waters	2
+16			43	Hide U: Suzanne Palmer	1
+19			42	Whenever, Wherever: Shakira	1
+19			41	Have You Ever?: S Club 7	1
	25	32	40	Chain Reaction: Steps	13	2.2w
	18	30	39	Drowning: Backstreet Boys	13	4.2w
+19	----	48	38	Cherry Lips (Remix): Garbage	2
	28	31	37	You Set Me Free: Abigail	26	1.1w
+17	----	45	36	Got a Love for You: Heaven featuring Reina	2
	24	29	35	Sleeping (Remix): Rick Astley	11	6.1w
+8	44	39	34	Tragedy: Marc Anthony	4
+17	49	42	33	The Dream Within: Lara Fabian	3
	11	18	32	That Day: Natalie Imbruglia	11	11.1w
+9	43	36	31	I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free: The Lighthouse Family	4
	23	22	30	Shower the People (Remix): Kristine W	7	22.1w
+20	----	40	29	The Power of Goodbye: Who's That Girl	2
+19	47	38	28	Words Are Not Enough: Steps	3
+2	34	25	27	Break 4 Love: Peter Rauhofer featuring the Pet Shop Boys	4	25.1w
+1	30	24	26	60 Miles An Hour: New Order	5	24.1w
+24	----	37	25	Loved: Kim Wilde	2
+5	33	26	24	Neverending Story: Creamy	5
+19	41	33	23	Moon and the Sky: Erasure	3
+23	42	34	22	I Know Him So Well: Steps	3
	7	14	21	Insanity: Culture Beat	9	7.1w
+8	16	23	20	Can't Get You Out of My Head: Kylie Minogue	19	1.3w
	8	7	19	Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!): Blu Cantrell	9	7.1w
	15	13	18	I'm A Slave 4 U: Britney Spears	10	9.2w
	22	17	17	I'm A Survivor: Reba	6	17.2w
	17	15	16	Ride Like the Wind 2001: Christopher Cross	5	15.1w
+3	19	16	15	Kids in America 2001: Kim Wilde	5
+11	27	19	14	Free Love: Depeche Mode	5
+16	32	21	13	Who Do You Love Now?: Riva featuring Danni Minogue	4
+17	31	20	12	Rapture: IIO	4
	6	6	11	Out of Reach: Gabrielle	39	1.4w
+5	14	12	10	Hero: Enrique Iglesias	12
+6	13	11	9	Calling: Geri Halliwell	8
+2	9	8	8	Come On (It's Only Love): Love Inc.	8	8.2w
+6	10	9	7	Makin' Oooh Oooh (Talking About Love): Melanie Thornton	10
+5	12	10	6	New Year: The Sugababes	7
+1	5	5	5	Impressive Instant: Madonna	8	5.3w
	2	1	4	The Music's No Good Without You: Cher	11	1.1w
	4	4	3	Get the Party Started: Pink	10
+1	3	3	2	Don't Need the Sun to Shine (To Make Me Smile): Gabrielle	11
+2	1	2	1	Stand Still: Aubrey	13	1.8w	longest #1 hit ever

First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone healthy and happy holiday...my best to all of you and your families and friends...

Record-breaking Records...Aubrey does it this week as "Stand Still" returns to the #1 spot and scores an eighth week atop the chart, making it the longest-running #1 song in the Top 50 history ("Justify My Love" (Madonna), "Lovin' You" (Kristine W), and "Your Disco Needs You" (Kylie Minogue) spent seven weeks each atop the chart)...Aubrey's hit not only returns to the top spot but takes a pretty decent point gain over its top 5 competitors...it wouldn't be surprising for Aubrey to finish the year atop the weekly chart, but then again, it wouldn't be surprising if a surge helped one of the other top 10 tunes nab the spot...Aubrey has been atop the airplay portion of the chart for nine consecutive weeks..."Stand Still" would have made the record last week if not edged out by Cher in sales points--something that permitted "The Music's No Good Without You" to slip into the top spot by a small margin...this week, that song is at #4 as my focus this week has been leaning toward other tracks on the LIVING PROOF album...

In a word...Of particular note, and something I forgot to mention last week, this is the third consecutive week that the top 5 has been held by artists using only one name (the last two weeks, it was the top 6 positions with Gabrielle at #6 as well)...Madonna, Pink, Gabrielle, Cher, and Aubrey have had control of the chart for several weeks now...counting even groups with one word names, this is the eighth consecutive week that one word-named artists have controlled the charts and the top 3 (adding Steps and Abigail to the mix)...pretty interesting, eh?

Calling Out to a Hero...Two top 10 debuts this week mark the top 10 returns for Geri Halliwell and Enrique Iglesias...Halliwell moves into the #9 position with her third top 10 hit ("Mi Chico Latino" hit #3 and "It's Raining Men" hit #9) called "Calling"...the song, in both its original form and the Metro Mix, should continue to do well on the chart...Iglesias' "Hero" finally makes the top 10 in its twelfth week on the chart...Iglesias has hit the top 10 several times in the past two years with "Bailimos" (#1), "Be With You" (#3), and "I Have Always Loved You" (#3)...

I Love This Song...Kim Wilde's "Loved" takes COMBO HIT this week--easily--as it moves from #37 to #25...I expect to watch this song plow through the top 25 in the coming weeks and make a place for itself at the top...if you haven't heard it yet, Wilde is at her best on this wonderful pop tune...check out St. Ken's mixes as well...AIRPLAY HIT goes to Steps' fantastic cover of "I Know Him So Well"...I downloaded the Almighty Mix of the song this week and while I like the ballad version better, the mix isn't bad at all...the song moves up twelve spots to #22 this week and should easily score the group a tenth top 10 hit--a feat impressive since they debuted on the chart in late 1999 with "One for Sorrow"...SALES HIT goes to the fantastic cover of Madonna's "The Power of Goodbye," done by Who's That Girl...the song moves eleven places to #29 this week and is performing much better than Madonna covers by Blond Ambition and Lucrezia have done on the Top 50...

Between a Rock and a Hard Place...Several records are unable to move up the chart this week because of tough competition surrounding them on the survey...Christopher Cross' "Ride Like the Wind 2001" will likely rebound in the coming weeks, but does slip a notch to #16 this week...Reba's "I'm A Survivor" holds #17 a second week and is unable to make any point gains...Britney's dance mix couldn't help "I"m A Slave 4 U" get any higher than #13 on its rebound and it tumbles to #18 this week...after a single week at #7, Blu Cantrell's debut hit "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" plunges to #19...New Order's second Top 50 hit this year, "60 Miles an Hour" puts it in reverse and drops two places to #26 after hitting #24 next week...Anastacia's "Paid My Dues" made it as high as #43 last week and slips to #46 this week--the song will likely fall off of the charts next week...And although moving backward on the chart, "Break 4 Love" by Peter Rauhofer and featuring the Pet Shop Boys manages to gain points...it is probable that the song will continue up the chart next week...it hit #25 last week and is at #27 this week...

US Radio is Finally Waking Up...this week, I have heard Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" on a DC radio station (99.5FM) several times...could it be that Minogue is finally going to get the US success she is due...her last US Hot 100 hit was the Top 40 hit "It's No Secret" from her debut album back in 1989--"I Should Be So Lucky" hit the top 30 and "The Loco-motion" hit the top 5...it will interesting and exciting to see how well Kylie does on the charts once the song catches on nationwide...her FEVER album is due for release in the US in March on Capitol Records...at this point, the track listing of the US album is a mystery..."Can't Get You Out of My Head" moves up the chart again--#23 to #20 as Kylie prepares for her next overseas single from the album called "In Your Eyes"...I've heard that the video for "In Your Eyes" is set to debut on Monday, December 24...

New to Groove To...S Club 7's fourth Top 50 hit takes DEBUT HIT this week..."Have You Ever?" is a sweet ballad--much better than "Never Had a Dream Come True"--or at least less overplayed...it bows on the chart at #41...the Club scored a #1 hit earlier this year with "You're My Number One," their first Top 50 hit...at #42, I'm finally on the Shakira boat...at first listen, "Whenever, Wherever" didn't grab me, but hearing so much on the radio (alongside Kylie...whoo hooo!) this week, it's really grown on me and I think it's actually a fairly decent song...should do Shakira well for her Top 50 debut...Suzanne Palmer's UK released "Hide U" enters the chart at #43...pretty decent dance record that should have no problem storming the club charts...I couldn't stand the group Divine and I hated "Lately" so much...Samantha Mumba's cover of the song was just as bland until I heard the Almighty Mix...at #47, this mix of the song debuts and is Mumba's third Top 50 hit (following "Gotta Tell You" in 2000 and "Baby Come on Over (This is Our Night)" in 2001)...Atomic Kitten returns to the chart with its second Top 50 hit ("Whole Again" hit #9 earlier this year) called "You Are"...the song debuts at #48...and finally, Natalie Merchant makes a return to the chart with "Just Can't Last" at #49...her last Top 50 hit was "Kindness and Generosity" from her TIGER LILY album (solo debut)...Merchant saw incredible success on the Top 50 with 10,000 Maniacs, including the #1 hits "What's the Matter Here?," "You Happy Puppet," and "Because the Night"...

I will be compiling the 2001 year-end chart sometime during the first two weeks of January as my official 2001 weekly charts run through December 29, 2001...