Hits 21 - 2001 (9): The Race for Christmas Number 1

Episode Date: January 8, 2023

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every UK #1 hit single of the 21st century - from January 2000, right through to the present day. Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail]

Sophie, if you heard that, please ignore it. I'm not a racist. Far from it. Anyway, it's good to hear your voice. I know it's only a recording, but you have got a bloody nice voice. God, I just called up to say hi, and then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I like you I mean not that but anyway I noticed that the paper in the photocopier is running a bit low so I know it's not really your job, but, well, you know, so, see you tomorrow. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh, fuck.

Oh, my God. Jesus. I've really fucked it, haven't I? Have I fucked it? Hello everyone, welcome back to Hits 21. Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year. Hits 21 is where me, Rob, me, Andy, and me, Lizzie all look back at every

single UK number one of the 21st century from January 2000 right through to the present day. If you want to get in touch with us, you can find us over on Twitter. We are at Hits21UK that is at Hits21UK

and you can get in touch with us on email as well. You can just send it over to Hits21Podcast at gmail.com Thank you so much for joining us once again. Just like our previous episodes, we're going to be looking back at, well, one

number one single this week from the year 2001. This time we'll be covering The Race for one number one single this week from the year 2001 this time we'll be covering the race for christmas number one in the year 2001 we we just missed christmas day in our own schedules but if you're listening to this like in the year 2026 that won't matter it'll just be the next one in the list that you're listening to and thank you for listening to us in 2026 whoever you are um i think i think if this podcast proves anything it's that time is ephemeral the time is just an illusion um so yeah if you're listening to this in five years in the future you are even further behind now than we are when we recorded it we're just 22 years behind so yeah it's it'll it'll just keeps going doesn't it it's a treadmill that we're on

last week we well not last week in the last episode we put out a little poll as we always do uh to ask you which of the two songs from uh from last week were your what was your favorite you did you lovely listeners out there and uh it was Gotta Get Through This by Daniel Bedingfield which took the poll with 75% of the vote of course just to let you all know about the polls from the 2002

episodes onwards we're going to run the poll in two places, normally we run the poll just on Spotify but that means that people who like to listen to our podcast on apple podcasts or like i use pocket casts or something like that it means that you can't vote and i don't know why i didn't realize this sooner uh so we're gonna put the poll up on twitter just the exact same poll. Which song was your favorite this week?

I'll put it up when the episode goes out. I'll make it run for as long as as long as it needs to just until we record the episode after that. So and then I'll collate the two the two results together to get the final result. Yeah, because I don't know why it took me so long to realize. But it did seem a bit limiting when I really thought about it I don't know why I didn't think about it earlier but only putting a poll on Spotify when we have people who listen to us from all sorts of different podcast providers it just felt a bit silly so there we go um on to this week's episode always, we're going to give you some headlines from around the time that, well, not these songs, but this song was the number one single in the UK.

Nine people, including six police officers, are killed and 18 people are injured when a group of gunmen attack the Parliament building in New Delhi in India. Around 100 politicians were thought to be inside the building in New Delhi, India. Around 100 politicians were thought to be inside the building at the time, but none were believed to have been injured. Five of the gunmen were killed in the attack, with a further three men sentenced to death in 2002. After the Indian government claimed that the attacks were carried out by a Pakistani terrorist group, the incident increased tension between India and neighbouring Pakistan. group, the incident increased tension between India and neighbouring Pakistan. Meanwhile, former BBC newsreader Lynette Lithgow is found murdered at her home in Trinidad alongside her 83 year old mother and her brother-in-law. While early

reports suggested that a group of men had ambushed her house, only two men were ever arrested for the crime. Both men are currently serving 40 years in prison after successfully appealing against their death sentences. And British-born terrorist Richard Reid fails in his attempt to blow up American Airlines flight 63 from Paris to Miami. Reid, who became known as the shoe bomber, attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his Adidas trainers but failed because sweat from his feet prevented the fuse from igniting reed was eventually subdued by passengers and flight crew and the

plane was escorted to boston international airport by military planes and reed was sentenced to three life terms plus 110 years in prison i have to, when I was reading about this, all I could think was, like, this might be, like, one of the biggest Ls ever. Oh, for sure. Just, like, not being able to carry out your mission to blow up a plane because you have sweaty feet and then ended up in prison for, like, three or four lifetimes.

Just, you know, like, to go from, like, in your own head, hero to zero, just like that just you know like to go from like in your own head hero to zero just like that you know i mean if there's one thing i think you can be sure that you're gonna do when you're on a plane getting ready to do that is you're probably gonna sweat from the nerves seems like you didn't really think that through to be honest um but here Yeah. Yeah, what a relief that you were so stupid. At the top of the UK box office for Christmas 2001 is The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring. It's the first film in Peter Jackson's trilogy and it stays at number one for a total of five weeks during this period,

grossing a total of 32.2 million in the UK alone um i won't say much about the fellowship of the ring because if i start i won't stop um so in other news steps announced that they're breaking up on boxing day of all bloody days h and claire announced shortly afterwards that they would be forming a duo away from the rest of the group. But they split up in 2003 after just three top 10 singles and pretty much a dud of an album that didn't really chart anywhere. I remember DJ and I remember that being distinctly underwhelming. That's all I remember of H and Claire, really. That was a poor decision on their behalf, I believe. Yeah.

Well, not just with hindsight it just seemed like a pretty odd move at the time because I know that a lot of people were very very angry about this. I don't think, maybe at the time, maybe they just didn't anticipate how much Steps meant to people. The timing is especially poor, like the day after Christmas when a lot of kids would have received steps presents but like i don't know as for the actual decision to split up i don't blame them at all because as we've discussed so many times i feel like just this burnout culture was prevalent in pop at the time and it took another victim so what what I do know about the timing is that the cat was somewhat out of the bag

and they probably didn't intend to announce it on Boxing Day. I know about the set, from that TV show, The Big Reunion, I know about the circumstances of how the band knew, which was basically in the heat of an argument right before they went on stage at the MEN a few weeks earlier. Either H or Claire, not sure which one, had just blurted it out, right, well, we're leaving. And then they had to go on stage immediately, seconds afterwards.

And there's footage of that concert where Lisa in particular, bless her, is like visibly sort of crying as they go out onto the stage. So I imagine because that had been said ahead of schedule that um the tabloids were going to get onto it soon so they probably thought right we need to just do this we need to announce it um either way very very sad for everyone involved and it seems like it was a relatively acrimonious split but they're all on very good terms now so it had a happy ending somewhat yeah yeah right so because it's christmas in the year 2001 right now at least in our heads on this show anyway um everybody's probably flicking through the radio times highlighting what they want to watch at each particular time so andy when people were flicking

through the radio times in 2001 what would they have found? What was on Christmas TV that year? Well, I certainly would have been flicking through it. I was a very, very big Radio Times addict. And, you know, this year was the first year ever that I haven't got it. Really? First year ever that I've not bought it. Because we were hosting Christmas this year

and I thought, oh, we're not going to have time for any telly. So why bother? But yeah, that was a big deal. Yeah, I used to love it back in the day and um in terms of what would have been in it so 2001 it was i found that this was a very mixed year in terms of tv offerings with relatively little in the way of brand new breakout hits that could be turned into sort of festive versions there wasn't that much of that and so the schedule was largely a mix of just established Christmas TV stuff, stuff that, you know, could be reliable for the ratings. And then there's also some really strange original content that we had over this Christmas period,

some stuff that I'm sure you will not remember, but then you'll wonder how you don't remember it, because that's what I've been through with this. So BBC One's centrepiece on Christmas Day was The Lost World. And I don't mean the Jurassic Park movie. This is the BBC's own two-part

adaptation of the book The Lost World. Oh. Which is completely separate to the film Jurassic Park franchise.

Okay. Do you remember this? No. I don't remember this at all. I don't remember this.

It's really weird they had their own go at it. It's from the they had their own go at it. It's from the same story, but... Yes. Oh my God. No, I don't recall this at all. It's sort of like if the BBC, you know, in about 2010 had done their own version of Harry Potter.

It's just bizarre that they did this. And I think it's fair to say that that's completely forgotten these days, that Lost World adaptation. So I don't know if it was any good. Otherwise, their schedule focused heavily on film premieres. Somewhat surprisingly, this was the year where BBC One aired the TV premiere of Toy Story on Christmas Day, a full six years after its cinema release. This was the first time it had aired on terrestrial TV.

It was Christmas Day 2001. Ants also debuted on Christmas Day, on Boxing Day. And Jumanji had a repeat, but it got a prime place in the schedule. It got the New Year's Day film slot. So some fairly decent films, apart from Ants, some fairly decent films on offer there.

There were a few festive versions of normal TV. Alistair McGowan's Big Impression, if you remember that, got a high profile Christmas special. I remember that but the biggest deal of all was a brand new three episodes of only fools and horses which correct me if i'm wrong but i believe these are the last episodes of only fools and horses i've never watched it but i believe these are the most recent ones yeah the ones that came out christmas 2001 yeah yeah do you two watch it I've never watched it so what this was

was they did a special in 2001 2002 and 2003 so this was the first of a trilogy so so this wasn't

all three episodes this was just the first one this year this is just the first one as far as I'm aware gosh they really stretched that out didn't they

wow okay thank you for correcting me but yes that new episode of Only fools and horses that topped the ratings this christmas um somewhat unsurprisingly i guess yeah but over on itv who wants to be a millionaire was still massive stars in their eyes also got a special on christmas day and i want to talk about stars in their eyes here um because although the episode that aired on christmas day for some reason was just a regular episode the one that aired on christmas

day but around the christmas period there were a bunch of specials and one of them was a pop stars special in which actual current pop stars played other singers quite bizarrely and i want to give you a little question of who you think all of these people played on Stars in Their Eyes, right? So, Boy George was on it. Any guesses for Boy George? Yeah, I'm a little bit stuck on this because it could literally be anyone. Well, you know, there's some of them that you can figure out, but that one was David Bowie. Boy George, he won the episode of David Bowie.

Belinda Carlyle, you won't get this one, played Connie Francis. And the other three contestants were all Hits 21 veterans so Claire from Steps, funnily enough played Karen Carpenter Sonique played Donna Summer and another one for you to guess, who did A1?

Who do you think A1 played? NSYNC? All four of them, not NSYNC The Beatles It was The Beatles? Oh no played the whole of them all four of them not NSYNC the Beatles it was the Beatles oh my god oh no yeah

I think they should have done Aha so they could do Take On Me again but never mind yeah yeah so yes

other than that Cilla Black was given a variety show special on Boxing Day as was Frank Skinner of course she was some odd highlights include Britain's Brainiest Kid

and a documentary special called This Is Celine Dion. But bizarrely, it was not a repeat. It was brand new, but it was dumped out at 3am on Christmas night. What? So it must have been awful. It must have been terrible.

Yeah. Over on the soaps, it was a very grim Christmas on Corrie as Janice Battersby left her husband Les for neighbour Dennis Stringer, leading Les to attempt suicide. However, I shouldn't laugh. However, the suicide attempt went wrong and actually killed Dennis in a car crash. That was a horrendous Christmas over there.

EastEnders airs one of its most famous and harrowing scenes ever, as Little Mo's abusive husband, Trevor, forces her face into the Christmas dinner. I very much remember that scene. Oh, so do I. Yeah. And on Emmerdale, Bernice goes into labour moments after the baby's

father, Ashley, has left her and ended the relationship. Decidedly not a happy Christmas in So Planned. And finally, Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas speech acknowledged the 9-11 attacks and also acknowledged the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak, stressing the importance of communities working together to overcome disasters and hardship, which I think is fair enough given the year that we've had. So yeah, that was a whistle-stop tour. I also have some information about the best-selling books of the year, if you would care to have a guess at what that might have been.

Harry Potter and the something-or-other. It wasn't... well, it was Harry Potter but it wasn't Harry Potter and the something-or-other. Damn! There was... it was Harry Potter related though Oh Was it Fantastic Beasts Well the two of them The two tie in books Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Which later led to a movie Franchise that was shit

And then Quidditch Through the Ages Quidditch Through the Ages And the other best selling children's book of the year Was Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas presumably because The film had come out the year before. Of course. Yeah, there we go. That was Christmas 2001. Lizzie, how were the games and slash toys of 2001? How were they looking?

Yeah, well, I've not managed to find the best-selling Christmas toys, but I have found the Toy of the Year Awards from the Toy Retailers Association. Wow. Okay. I'll give you... Yeah, I may as well give you a rundown of all of these. So, first category, we have the Preschool Toy of the Year,

which is the Leap Pad by Leapfrog. Not a glitch. No? Yeah. You'll remember less and less of these as they go on, I'm sure. The Girl's Toy of the Year is What's Her Face by Mattel. Is that a doll? Yeah, I think it's a doll with, like, a face that you can draw on.

I don't know. Oh, that's nightmarish. You can change the doll's face. Maybe. I don't know. Okay. We're getting into more familiar stories over here with boys' toy of the year, which is Robot Wars by Logistics Kids.

What's the actual toy? What's the toy? Is it... Well, they had, like, figurines, but I seem to remember there was, like, a remote-control house robot as well. Nice. Oh, I do sort of remember that, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you have like a plastic

battle arena or something like that? Something like that. That rings a bell, yeah definitely. I imagine something that will come up in a few years, Beyblades, you could do like a small miniature version of that. Jesus. Carrying on with these toys we've got the craft toy of Year, which went to the Candy Floss Machine by General Creation. Oh, God. The Craze of the Year, which is the Pogo Stick. Was it? Yeah.

I don't remember. I don't think I knew anyone who had a Pogo Stick. Weren't they like the 70s, 80s? I don't remember them. They must have come back. I don't know. weren't they like the 70s, 80s? I don't remember them they must have come back, I don't know the toy licence of the year is actually a HITS 21 alumnus any guesses?

S Club? no, go on keep guessing is it like Steps figurines? no, no I'll give you a hint, they've been on twice is it a little toy Madonna? I don't know No, no I'll give you a hint, they've been on twice Is it A Little Toy Madonna? I don't know

Who else has been on twice? Is Bob the Builder? Oh of course And the final one for the toys category, the toy of the year 2001 is Bionicle by Lego Not many memories of any of those,

to be honest, which is a shame. I was probably a bit too old for those at that point. Maybe by article, but I don't know. I don't know what I got this year. I feel like I might have got my first TV from my bedroom, which is something I really wanted, so I could watch

videos without annoying my parents. So I think it was a present for both of us, to be honest. A TV from a bedroom. In terms of video games, the game of the... Not the game of the year. Definitely not the game of the year. The best-selling game in the UK of the year 2000 actually finished at number 11 on this list,

and that was Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The game. Still pretty good that though a year later still selling units um in terms of the actual top 10 at number 10 we have theme park world oh i had that yeah yeah great game over that one at number nine this is a classic i know people still play this championship manager season 0102 know people still play this Championship Manager Season 01-02 People actually still play that very specific version of the game

They do That season, yeah I remember That was the season that my dad had weirdly enough Is that like a particularly good one or is it just that was when the franchise peaked because my dad played that for years as well I think it is still widely regarded as like the best

version of the game the most enjoyable, the one that kind of has lasted the longest and I think it's the one that, I don't know it seems to tug at people's heart strings from the late period of the 2010s onwards I know people still play that on like

simulators on their laptop and stuff. Yeah I think you can download it for free now as well so yeah helps yeah at number eight we have one i definitely remember simpsons wrestling i had that as well it's terrible it's so bad so bad so bad i remember what Ned Flanders' special move is, is to summon God to tag him in for a bit. God gets involved in the wrestling. Yeah. Very strange.

Oh, God. At number seven, the Pokemon domination continues with Pokemon Silver by Nintendo. Of course. Yeah. At number six, ooh, this one I definitely remember. Very good memories of this.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. Oh, yes. What a soundtrack. I'm going to give a shout out to my very dear friend, Jay, who was a huge, huge skater kid growing up. And I'm absolutely certain

that he played the life out of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and I'm shaming him for that now Hi Jay In at number 5 again it's Pokemon, they're back with Pokemon Gold from Nintendo I was thinking were Silver and Gold released

simultaneously and yeah it seems like they were. Yeah definitely In at number four it's gran turismo 3 from sony i didn't upgrade to that one i was still on gran turismo 2 at this stage in at number three okay we're getting heavy it's now it's fifa 2002 yeah yeah i remember that one. In at number 2 this is a shock to me. At number 2 it's Grand Theft Auto 3.

Oh. Is that not, so that's the one before San Andreas or Vice City? It's the one before Vice City that one. That's next year. I think Grand Theft Auto 3 is the first one to be in third person. That's right. Yeah. Yeah because Grand Theft Auto 3 is the first one to be in third person.

That's right, yeah. Yeah, because Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2 were both set in London, I think, but it's from overhead, isn't it? It's bird's eye view kind of stuff. Yeah, so this would have been the first one for what was then the next generation of consoles, you know, the PS2 and so on. But yeah, any guesses at number one? You've kind of been over all the big hitters

I suspected is it a movie tie-in? possibly partially partially a movie tie-in I'm out then yeah I've got no idea is it something to do with

is it the Harry Potter game? oh is it? yes Harry Potter Philosopher's Stone is it that? it's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

yes from EA Games yeah we finally got one right I had that on PS1 it was great yeah so yeah

that's the top 10 games of 2001 thank you very much Lizzie thank you Lizzie okay then so album charts at the moment

is there anything to say about the album charts around Christmas in 2001 or have we covered it? there is not, Robbie is still hanging in there for our third episode

on the run, sorry, at number one with Swing When You're Winning, I really do have nothing more to say about that now other than that, wow that album was successful sure boy was an album that sold copies, yeah it certainly was, one of the albums of all time

clearly Lizzie what are the US lot doing at Christmas or did we cover that as well it's been a while since we recorded well actually nothing to report in terms of albums as Creed hold the top spot until February 2002

but we do we do have a US Christmas number one to discuss. Any guesses what it might be? Ooh. Is it Christmas related at all? It's not. I'll give you some hints. First hint, it was a crossover hit.

Okay. Right, okay. Second one, it charted in the top five in the UK in 2002. Oh, 2002. Oh, that's throwing me. Okay. This is probably the biggest one. It's by a Canadian act.

Brian Adams. Not Avril Lavigne. No, no. Nickelback? It's Nickelback. How You Remind Me. Is it How You Remind Me? No way!

Oh, I had no idea. Yeah. Merry Christmas, everyone. It's How You Remind Me. Is it How You Remind Me? No way! Oh! I had no idea. Yeah. Merry Christmas, everyone. It's How You Remind Me by Nickelback. It stayed at number one for four weeks until mid-January 2002 and went double platinum. But wait for this. It was the number one song on the 2002 year-end Hot 100,

number four on the decade-end Hot 100, number 51 on the all-time Hot 100, number 4 on the Decade End Hot 100 number 51 on the All Time Hot 100 and was named the number 1 most played song on US radio of the 2000s decade by Nielsen Soundscan being played over 1.2 million times on US

radio since its release in 2001 to the end of 2009 Wow. And do you know what? I'm no fan of Nickelback exactly 2001 to the end of 2009. Wow. And do you know what? I'm no fan of Nickelback exactly, but I do like how you remind me. I do like it.

You know, we're never really going to get to talk about Nickelback, are we? No. Thank God. I have two random thoughts about them that I want to say. First of all, that although I don't like them, they are the source of one of my favourite memes ever, which still makes me laugh to this day, which is the look at this graph!

Graph! I just love it so much. And the second one is that I have this memory of watching a TV show in like 2003 or 4 or something on CBBC where it's like a kid's crystal maze where if you complete all the challenges the team all wins a prize between them at the end. And they won. And prize between them at the end and they won

and they took them outside an arena so they knew they were going to see a band and they looked dead excited and they said okay so the band you're going to see is Nickelback and all of them were just like you know when you try and look pleased but you're disappointed with the present

yay Nickelback yay oh I'm sure glad it's not Busted or be like, yay, Nickelback. Yay. Oh, I'm sure glad it's not Busted or McFly. It's Nickelback. Yay. It was very funny. Well, the thing with Nickelback is that they kind of,

they were never, like, as bad. Like, I think you've got to be, like, offensively bad to get the kind of shit that they seemed to get for, like, a decade. They were, like, the band that, like, like you just hated you just said that you hated them even though you'd never listened to them because oh everybody hates nickelback and to be fair the closest i think they get to number one

is with rockstar in a few years time and that song was the fuck out of me oh that is rubbish that song but how you remind me i quite like but jesus nickelback at the top of the singles charts and creed in the album charts like america's in like a big post-grunge phase right oh yeah oh my god it's the age of rock over there yes uh okay so um we're gonna look back at the year 2001, just kind of how we feel the year has gone in terms of number ones anyway. But before we do that, I said earlier this year that there were only four songs that sold a million copies in the year 2001. Either I was wrong or that has since changed because I looked again at the list and there are now six songs that have been registered as million sellers um in the year 2001 I imagine that because of streaming those numbers have now

been added to again um so in the full list is Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus. That is now a million seller in the UK. Whole Again by Atomic Kitten, as we know. Uptown Girl by Westlife, which we also know. It Wasn't Me by Shaggy and Rick Rock, which we also know. Pure and Simple by Hearsay, which again, all those four were number one, one after the other.

And we mentioned them at the time. But the sixth song asuary to 2023 to have sold a million copies from the year 2001 is can't get you out of my head by kylie minogue so six singles that all sold a million copies um and it's a shame that teenage dirtbag never got to number one it is because i really love that a lot so but i'm glad that it sold a million and that lots of people love it um andy looking back at 2001 in terms of the number ones that we've had like what kind of conclusions are you taking away from it this year well but it's funny because before i start on that i do actually want to mention teenage dirtbag as well that it is

a shame that we've not covered that because partly because i really like it but also that is actually pretty important so you know if we're using this section here to look at broad themes that are emerging as we go from one year into the next teenage dirtbag i think actually has quite an important place really and that the the sort of pop punk movement that will grow in the early noughties sort of peak with green day and then turn into this sort of broader rock and indie movement of the mid noughties i think teenage dirtbag is quite an important song on that journey that really kind of hooks people into a feeling like pop punk is accessible to um to teenagers at the very least so it's a shame that we don't get to talk about that too much because i do think that's quite an important song um

yeah but other than that it's well i mean when we compare it against 2000 the thing that i loved about 2000 was that it was such a melting pot of so many different things going on you know if you look at the list i'm just looking at the list now of artists that we had in 2000 look at the genres you know we had stuff from britney that was sort of classic power pop we had all this william orbit stuff with all saints and madonna we had garage stuff we had a little bit of country even with the cause we had all sorts we had everything um and it seemed like such an exciting time for music and then i think we've all kind of felt all three of us really that in 2001 particularly towards the end of this year the wind has really gone out of our sails that pop music and chart music is in a much much more

stagnant place that if 2000 was a year of great optimism and great excitement for the future of pop music i think 2001 if i'd been an adult at the time and was engaging in a kind of serious way i would have been quite worried about the future of pop music from where we are right now, because it seems like things have really, really dried up. I don't know why that is, really. And I think that's a question I would put to you both, you know, why do you think that is? Because maybe these things just sort of come in cycles. But, you know, the really broad theme that I've seen emerge this year is that there are

artists who are already established who are sort of riding on past glories and are able to get to number one relatively easily with things like you know Eternity for Robbie Williams The Way To Your Love Hearsay which I know Hearsay only started this year but that song didn't deserve to get to number one and What Took You So Long by Emma Bunton and Uptown Girl by Westlife you know there's a lot of stuff in here that's just kind of like, well, there's not that much else around, so why doesn't this get number one? Which, it felt like in 2000, everything was so competitive. You know, number one was changing every week because there was so much out there.

Whereas it feels like the level of competition is nowhere near as high, and therefore the level of quality is nowhere near as high in 2001. But it's not all been bad you know there has there has been a sort of development of a few genres that i've really enjoyed hearing um roger sanchez another chance was a huge highlight for me um that you know i think that was sort of riding off of daft punk another artist that were making a big around that time the dance music was um was entering a lot more people's homes, and so music like that was getting to number one. Can't Get You Out of My Head, a huge, huge highlight, obviously, as well.

That really sort of hit like a hammer. But I think, I don't know which one of you two said it, but that was a really important point that we made in that episode, which was that that episode included three covers of old songs, and then Can't get you out of my head by Kylie Minogue. And that in itself was in a very important point that when Kylie came along, the reason why that song maybe resonates so hard in context is because things

are so stagnant. Otherwise, um, yeah, I really don't know why it is, but this year I think has not been anywhere near as much of a, um, exciting zone to be in music than it was in 2000. And looking ahead to 2002, I'm not too sure that the situation is going to improve. I mean, in terms of what's obvious from this year, obviously, reality TV stuff is starting to come in, and that's going to be a big theme next year. Covering things in order to get an easy number one is sadly a theme that's going to be a big theme next year um covering things in

order to get an easy number one is sadly a theme that's going to very much continue um and r&b music sadly naughty's r&b music is starting to be on the horizon which i generally really don't like so we'll see how 2002 goes for me but it's not been my favorite year this and i'm quite glad to see the back of it but maybe you two will have more optimism than I do but I'm really quite glad to see the back of 2001 sorry to be such a downer but yeah that's what I think. Yeah I mean I agree very much with Andy in that it

feels like we're in a bit of a holding pattern and as much as we've had little sparks and glimpses of the next thing I think as I mentioned in a previous episode feels a bit like 9-11 maybe derailed quite a bit of that because obviously I don't think there was as much coming out of America to kind of not lead the way but to kind of give us something new and exciting and different

um so what we have now is a lot of these like girl groups and boy groups from the late 90s kind of winding down especially this year like you've already mentioned steps um five we had a couple of episodes ago and sync are about to split up uh the backstreet boys are about to go on hiatus like there's all of these existing pop figures that are about to kind of call it a day and both girl groups and boy groups are about to not immediately but we'll start to see them kind of evolve and take on new forms but they're going to be completely different it's not I don't think it's going to be the sort of choreographed dance routine sort of thing that we've been used to in the late 90s and early 2000s. It's going to be more, I don't know.

I know you mentioned pop punk there, Andy, a minute ago. You're still seeing that in the charts at this time. Even in the Christmas top 20, there's some 41 sticking around in there. Also, like you say, indie music. music the strokes have had a couple of top 20 30 hits this year we're going to see um the libertines start to show up the streets have already made an appearance in one of the top 20s like have they really wow yeah yeah gosh so there's a lot of moving parts but it's kind of like he's sort of like a 1968 or 1975 where you don't really see it on the top of the charts it's all bubbling under but the stuff that gets to number one is just kind of well why not this

and I think this Christmas chart is very evident of that in that it does just feel like here are the dregs from the last couple of months and the number one which we'll talk about in a minute but yeah um i think it i think it started off really well 2001 but really tailed off after 9-11 and i don't think that's a coincidence i do think people needed something cosy, potentially. Maybe cosy is the wrong word, but something easy, something unchallenging. One kind of pair of songs that I think is a real emblem for how this year has gone is the two S Club 7 songs that we've covered.

That we had Don't Stop Moving in the first half of the year. I think it was the first half of the year anyway, which was... Yeah, it was me. We all really liked, really, really really really fresh you know something really new for them genuinely quite exciting and then they follow it up at the end of the year with have you ever which is like the most generic dull pop ballad s club 7 album track ever and maybe that's just because we were attuned to wanting something more cosy and safe and wintry and cuddle up by the fire at that time

because the world was going through such awful things that might be a huge extrapolation you know, maybe it is but I do think there's something to that you know, I was doubtful of this when we first reached that point but now we're looking back at how the whole year has gone, I do think there's been a lurch

towards boring songs frankly at the end of the year i think there is something to that i think after the sort of because i know some people who say that 90s pop music like particularly late 90s was very like not silly but sort of family friendly. So I think what's happening is they're thinking, well, maybe we should go in a more serious direction. And serious meaning like boring stuff that we'll get on radio too. Because, well, if we go by this week's number one, it's, you know, it's a winner. Yeah.

I mean, all the more credit to Kylie for going for raw animal sex at this time and managing to make it work and be really successful because no one else was trying it yeah that's it going in a more electronic direction rather than just going straight for the ballads yeah yeah yeah i think i can't really add to anything that you two have said. I just, again, just sort of to repeat what maybe I said a couple of weeks ago is that it feels like as much as probably every year from now on is going to feel like a year of maybe transition. It just,

this one feels like we're stagnating a little bit and not in, not in a way that feels like we're necessarily stuck in an enjoyable moment of time it's like you were saying that week where we had three number ones that were all covers of songs from the 20th century and then suddenly kylie there you go but then that was followed up by more westlife and also blue again doing their version of take that and just you know some i think what's really stuck out especially in the second half of this year are the new ideas because the new ideas have really really jumped out among like pretty you know either covers or pretty also ran stuff like 21 seconds or

gotta get through this or you know can't get you out of my head you know the the songs that really jumped out as being something very clearly 21st century in a way that some of the stuff still feels a bit 20th century yeah and not to really spoil it too much but obviously the number one we have this week is a yet another cover it's yet another artist looking back and trying to romanticize something from a different era and repackage it for a different kind of audience and yeah it just feels like we're stagnating a little bit um i think next year the the new ideas if you will i think they come a bit thicker and a bit faster um yeah and then at the end of the year there are two or three moments where i think like

okay like decades fully underway now in terms of what you remember where culture starts of course like we were saying a few weeks ago about how like you know in the literal sense the decades end on new year's eve and then they begin on new year's day whereas with pop culture and especially pop music, it's never really that rigid. It's more fluid. And so I think next year, hopefully, if I'm right, I remember this when I look at the list, I remember the songs as being forward thinking in a way

that pop has only rarely been in the past sort of 12 months that we've covered. Yeah, for sure. All right, then. It's been's been well it's not really a secret because you can just google it but in terms of our show say say we have all of the power to hold you know say we're we have hold of your internet and you can't use it um we've been keeping the number one a secret from you uh the christmas number one for 2001 from you, the Christmas number one for 2001. So we're going to run down what the top 10 was on Christmas day in 2001. And then we're going to run in to the number one single, which we're going to play in full, just as we did last year with Bob the Builder. And then it will be business as usual.

And we'll just be talking about the song we just heard. So I'm going to do this in the style of a, you know, fancy kind of like BBC Radio 1 or these days Pick of the Pops, Paul, you know, Gambaccini doing Pick of the Pops right on Radio 2. Forgive me if I step into a different role for a second. So, okay. At 10, it's a non-mover Country Roads by Hermes House Band. At 9, it's another non-mover country roads by homies house band at 9 it's another non-mover i believe in christmas the tweenies 8 it was a new entry last week but it's down two places for number six lately by samantha mumba at 7 it was a new entry last week at number five and it's down two places it's will i by ian vandal at 6 it's up one places. It's Will I by Ian Van Daal. At six, it's Up One from Seven, Have You Ever by S Club Seven. Five, it's Down One from Four, Handbags and Glad Rags by the lobotomized Rod Stewart.

Sorry, Stereophonics. At number four, Down One from Three, it's Murder on the Dance Floor by Sophie Ellis-Bexter. Three, Down One from Two, Gotta Get Through This by Daniel Benningfield. And two, the highest new entry this week, but it is not number one. It is How Wonderful You Are by Gordon Haskell. And the Christmas number one

for 2001. It's Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman with Something Stupid. I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me and if we go someplace to dance I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or two And then I go and spoil it all by saying Stop being stupid like I love you I can see it in your eyes You still despise the same old lies

You heard the night before And though it's just a lie To you for me it's true It never seemed so right before I practice every day To find some clever lines It's true, I've never seemed so right before I practice every day to find some clever lines to say to make a meaning come true But then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late and I'm alone with you The time is right, your perfume fills my head

the stars get red and all the night's so blue And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you The time is right, your curtain fills my head The stars get red and all the night's so blue. And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you I love you As I said before, this is Something Stupid by Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman. Released as the lead single from his Swing covers album and fourth studio album overall, which is entitled Swing When You're Winning, Something Stupid is Robbie's 16th single overall to be released in the UK and his fifth to reach number one after millennium she's the one rock DJ and eternity all reached the summit between 1998 and 2001 it is not the last time

we'll be discussing Robbie on this podcast but for for Nicole Kidman, this is her second single to chart in the UK and her first to reach number one. It's also her last. Something Stupid is a cover of both the 1966 original version of the song recorded by C. Carson Parks and his wife, Gail Foote, and the internationally released version recorded by Frank and Nancy Sinatra, which reached number one in April 1967. Something Stupid went straight in at number one as a brand new entry, knocking Gotta Get Through This off the top spot. It stayed at number one for three weeks and became the official UK number one for Christmas in 2001 in its second week at number one.

In its first week atop the charts it sold 99 000 copies beating competition from will i by ian vandal which as you've already heard got to number five and lately by samantha mumba which got to number six in its second week at number one which was the week of christmas number one it sold 110 000 copies beating competition from as you heard how wonderful you are by gordon haskell which got to number two the next highest new entry that week was the just a day ep by feeder which got to number 12 in its third and final week at number one in the first week of january 2002 it sold 68 000 copies in a week where there were get ready for this no new entries at all in the top 40 in fact the only new entry in the entire top 100 was the song five sugars by billy

which peaked at number 93 and i'll tell you more about that in a second when it was knocked off the top of the charts something stupid fell two places to number three. And by the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for just 12 weeks. So not a long stay, especially not a long stay in the charts after dropping off number one. But this Five Sugars by Billy thing, I Googled it and I couldn't find it. And I was like, what?

And so I went scouring through the internet and i found its discogs page uh and it seems to be lizzie you were kind of maybe suggesting to me on whatsapp that it is an extended version of billy jean with the intro longer at the beginning to make it easier for DJs to mix into their sets. That's, that's the only new entry in the entire top 100 in the first week of January, 2002.

So quiet stuff. I just can't believe it. I was looking and thinking, this is surely an error, but no, the official charts, have it down as no new entries in the top 100 apart from this 5 sugars thing that's it

so Andy what do we make of something stupid by Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman's version anyway yeah before I start on the song I also have to, thank you for all the start on the song, I also have to... Thank you for all the information about Five Sugars, but I also have to pick up on that number two,

How Wonderful You Are by Gordon Haskell, because considering that was the main competitor for Christmas number one, and it did achieve a Christmas number two, I have to say I've never heard of it. I've never ever heard of it, or Gordon Haskell. Do either of you know what that song is? We're going to have to look into that, surely.

I haven't heard it before, no. Well, I do have some information about it, actually. Go on. It was released as a single in the Christmas period of 2001 after mass promotion by BBC Radio 2, where it became a favourite of listeners after being featured by the Drive Time presenter, Johnny Walker. It's the most requested song of all time on Radio 2.

What? What? I feel like I probably have heard it, because there was a while where I would listen to Radio 2. So I'm thinking I must have done, but the name doesn't ring a bell. No, we're all going to have to furiously go away and listen to this. Oh, yeah. Because I'm sure we'll recognise it but wow that's remarkable thank you um okay so for this song um it's quite hard to know what to say about it because it is a very straightforward cover of the original um i mean the whole nature of that album that Robbie was doing, Swing When You're Winning, is that it was pretty faithful Rat Pack covers, basically.

And this is a very, very faithful cover. There isn't really anything particularly bold that's done with it this time around. But for some songs, that's fine because they're kind of timeless and lovely and you shouldn't tinker with them too much. And I think Something Stupid is one of those songs. I will just put my cards on the table and say I actually really love the song. It's just gorgeous. It has some really lovely changes throughout.

It's just very nice and simple in what it's trying to communicate. And I think it's one of those songs that basically is always good, whoever covers it, to be honest, as long as you don't go absolutely wild and crazy and do something different with it. Popular covers include the one done by Sideshow Bob and Selma Bouvier in The Simpsons The one briefly done by Mark Corrigan in Peep Show

Mark, you're in the station recovered That's right, Geoff And this is another very good one The inclusion of Nicole Kidman I know that she's released a song before but it's very strange I think there was a bit of a thing at this time of movie stars

releasing singles this was the same Christmas that Kate Winslet did What If from that Christmas Carol movie I don't know where that trend came from but it's something that I've observed from that time that movie stars were making a go of it with singles I don't know where that trend came from but it's something that I've observed from that time that movie stars were making a go of it with singles

I don't really know why maybe it's because other pop stars were crossing the floor the other way Mariah Carey was trying to make a go of it as an actress Madonna was making a go of it as an actress so maybe it was the reverse effect of that but anyway

as a song it's perfectly lovely they both do a very good job with it I think Nicole Kidman is slightly anonymous in that song to be honest I don't really think there's anything particularly interesting about her voice, but to be

fair it's not really a song that gives much to the female role in the song, it's mainly led by the man with the female voice adding some nice harmonies to it in terms of the original I do really really like it, I've always found it a little bit odd that it's sung between

not the original original but the Frank and Nancy Sinatra one, a little bit odd that it's sung between a father and daughter but it does have that sort of twee sort of singing a song with your daughter thing to it I quite like Nancy Sinatra in general actually, my relatively hot take is that she has the best Bond theme

I think, You Only Live Twice I think is the best Bond theme Agreed, it's my favourite too Oh there we go, okay not that hot a take then, but this is just fine I can see why it got Christmas number one because it is that sort of, like I said earlier that sort of cosy by the fireside type of song

that people like at Christmas it's a very welled tie into an already hugely successful album. It's got star power behind it. And it's a classic song that is very, very hard to get wrong. I think if I saw on paper that this was coming, I would have seen this a mile off as getting Christmas number one because it's sort of tailor-made for it. And it's very, very nice.

It's just not spectacular but very few Christmas number ones are so as they go in the large pantheon of it, it's a huge improvement on Bob the Builder and we'll see where we go from here I do wish that we had a sort of drag race style, bring on last year's winner

to hand over the baton to this year's winner you know, Bob the Builder comes on with one more roofing job to do to hand over the crown to Robbie and Nicole but never mind you can't everything can you but yeah this is fine it's very nice yeah Lizzie what about you yeah I agree with a lot of your points Andy like this is a this is a nice cover although I'd be tempted to say that this sort of cover is quite difficult to get wrong. Yeah. Like as far as duets go, this one's like a gin and tonic.

It's two basic ingredients and all you really need is the right balance to make it taste good. Like Williams fits the cruder roll well and Kidman has a nice sighing breathy voice to balance it out. And yeah, the arrangements are a bit package holiday sounding but they could be a lot worse and like most versions of the song it doesn't outstay its welcome but if I was to have any complaints I'd perhaps say that I prefer other versions that introduce something new to the formula which this doesn't like this is decent don't get me wrong but I can't help but compare this to my favorite version of this song which is by Lola Marsh it's an Israeli duo who recorded it for Better Call Saul yeah and yeah don't worry I'm not going to spoil it all by saying something stupid like a spoiler but that version was what it took for me

to recognize the tension that the song conveys like saying something stupid like I love you is the recognition of that phrase having the power to change the entire dynamic of a relationship in less than a second as the reciprocation of it is something that's never guaranteed and is always entirely conditional and I don't get that sense of tension from this particular version instead it just seems like two people who are madly in love having fun and singing a sappy duet which is nice enough in its own right yeah that's totally like besides if you're both in love and you're having fun with one another why let that tension spoil it all you know i have to say that that sorry to interrupt lizzie but that that whole tension between you know between the words and between the two singers i think that is what makes the joke in peep show about this song work so well is that Mark recognises that actually saying I love you is too far

and he realises that would spoil the relationship so saying something stupid like I like you, I think that's why that works so well. And then even then he says like, no, not that while Jeremy's staring at him through his hands.

Oh dear. Oh god, that is one of my absolute favorite bits of the whole show that's one of my i just yeah i love it um as for me i think lizzie what you've just said there really touches on how i feel about it which is that as much as this is like a pleasant pretty straight pretty polite cover of the song what you were saying that really hits home about how i feel about it which is just there's no drama it's too polished it's too perfect there's no playfulness i often find i don't know what it is but i quite like the fact that both vocal lines all say the same words and they're really nicely harmonized maybe this is an issue with the original arrangement of the song but i feel like it would

be more playful if they both dipped in and out you know it would be like they were do-si-do-ing as opposed to just singing the same song over a dinner table staring at each other because it feels like it puts them in a moment like you were saying there lizzie where like they're both clearly flirting and you know making a nice evening of of you know making a nice evening out of it but it let you say that idea that if one of them wants to say i love you and for the other one to not to go oh and i love spending time with you or sort of you know that sort of thing it's i don't get that sense that that's ever going to happen and so it just ends up being quite a pretty and respectful cover but nothing to yeah the original doesn't really get my motor running either to be honest it's it's fine and it's really well performed and like i like the fact that robbie has this really deep and quite affectionate appreciation for like standards and swing music

and stuff you know because he did this again obviously years later with swings both ways and it's it's kind of nice that someone who was in you know take that who were like you know i mean in the early 90s anyway they were you know a bit of a dance pop band and he was a bit he was the bad boy and you know then his first album was a bit more oasis and then his second album was a bit more like you know 90s pop but with loads of bond aesthetics thrown in and you know that that sort of thing and you know and with like sing when you're winning it's kind of like you know robbie's playing football on the cover and you know there's all these different versions of him that exists and i always love it when like big pop

stars come out quite openly and make it known that they are really into like uncool stuff you know the stuff that like they just have like this little interest of their own and it's like well i love this and i've got the money to do it so why don't we just put a project together and so robbie williams coming out basically saying like oh i love swing music by the way you know all of these i'm gonna do big covers of them he did a whole arena show um doing this album i think not long after this i think it was like the 20th anniversary of it a few months ago so it may have been uh like you know august september 2002 or something when he did a big uh big swing show with a full live band and stuff it kind of reminded me like a few years ago um i mean he's a deeply deeply troubled person now but i

just remember kanye west at the time just sort of i think it was around the time of um like my beautiful dark swiss fantasy or something like that where he was sort of like think it was around the time of um like my beautiful dark swiss fantasy or something like that where he was sort of like saying like i'm really into like george michael and phil collins and like big kind of soppy 80s ballads and stuff and he says you know i try to put that as much of that into my music as possible and this kind of gives me a similar feeling where and it's the same with that um swing when you're winning i know that a lot of people kind of prefer the second uh swing album that he does in like 2011 2012 maybe it was a little bit after that um but i know that this album kind of has its detractors but this is fine

i think it's okay i think it's probably i mean it's the only song from the album that i think does this well as a single I don't seem to remember many of the others being that successful but then a couple of years after this he also does swing music for the soundtrack to Johnny English because he does the song that plays over the credits

of course hey fellas don't be jealous that one and also of course he sings Beyond the Sea over the credits of Find a Nemo. And he also does Me and Mrs. Jones. No, sorry, Have You Met Miss Jones for the soundtrack for Bridget Jones' Diary as well.

I must give a shout out to, because the other podcast I used to do was all about Lost, and his cover of Beyond the Sea for the end credits of Find Nemo gets a mention on Lost in season one that one of the kids is obsessed with it who one of the characters used to babysit. He really did get very big with that swing music around this time. I think he kind of kick-started a craze for this

because in 2002, Pop Idol, the contestants from Pop Idol, released the Big Band album. Yes, I remember that, yeah. They did Big Band Week on all of these shows, which went on for a good ten years, but I think this started that trend because Pop Idol is doing its first live shows right now and they did a Big Band Week,

which I then think X Factor did the same thing because of that and this song probably is the genesis of that yeah and then we get sort of Michael Bublé later on and it kind of becomes this big you know money making machine in its own way

but yeah okay so we've that's it we've talked about the christmas number one for 2001 um i think the only things that are really left to do is to i think do the bit that everybody's kind of secretly waiting for which is to run down our bottom five and top ten of the year for 2001. So, Andy, all year you've been putting all this together. Yeah. So go ahead. What are our least favourite songs of the year, our bottom five?

Yeah, so this dubious honour, these five songs. What I'm going to do this year, just a slight change from last year, we have had some comments asking why we don't reveal the scores that we give songs every week. So I am going to just reveal the average score that we gave to all of these songs for this year. Okay, so our fifth

least favourite song of the year was Mambo No. 5 by Bob the Builder which we all gave a 4 out of 10. Oh wow, all we all gave a four out of ten. Oh wow, all three of us gave four. We did. Oh dear. So, I mean, that we all really disliked

and had a good laugh at that song all the way through, but there were four songs we disliked even more than that. So next, with an average score of 3.6, it's Uptown Girl by Westlife, our fourth worst song of the year. Yeah. Pretty deserving of being in the bottom five, I think, to be honest.

The original version came on the radio the other day, and I was like, oh yeah, the Westlife version of this. Yeah. Less said about that, the better. Yeah, less said about that the better. So next with an average score of 3.3, it's Hey Baby by DJ Otzi. Lizzie, that's your favourite song of the year, isn't it? Oh yeah, definitely. It's the song that decides to put five choruses together and just say,

oh, that's the back half of the song, that'll do. So two more were even worse than that. Our second worst song of the year with an average score of three is Queen of My Heart by Westlake, which we all hated, didn't we? And we all put that in the pie hole. That's the only song this year that all three of us put in the pie hole. I'm surprised that's not number one. I was going to reveal the worst song of the year,. I'm surprised that's not number one. I was gonna reveal

the worst song of the year, but I got high. Hey! It's Because I Got High by Afro Man. Our worst song of 2001. Get in the bin. Yeah. Do we think on balance that is fair?

Do we think that's accurate? I think it is. Um, I would say no, but to be honest, I'm just counting myself lucky and I'm very grateful that Rolling didn't make it into the bottom five. So Afro Man, even though I don't think it's the worst song of the year,

I would probably give that honour to Queen of My Heart, to be honest. The fact that YouTube hated it so much means that it is deserving of its place in the bottom five. Well, Roland was the eighth lowest scored song of the year, so it was safe. The ones that narrowly escaped in seventh place was What Took You So Long by Emma Bunton

and sixth was The Way To Your Love by Hearsay, which, again, I think they're all pretty fair. Yeah, so Limp Bizkit by Rowling, it hit 40 points in sort of like mid-March and then it was on the beach for the last six or seven games of the season. Classic Sam Allardyce tactic for those who follow football.

That's a football reference, yeah. Okay, so on to our top ten. now this i think this is really interesting this year because in 2000 you know it was an embarrassment of riches so there were songs that really deserved it that didn't make it into our top 10 i'm still seething over bag it up i'm not gonna lie um but this year i think the opposite is sort of true where because there was a not really that many standouts there's some songs that have made it into our top ten, which I think will really surprise you, that they've made it this high.

So, let's start. Number ten, with an average score of 6.8, it's Eternal Flame by Atomic Kitten. Wow, I think you can already tell that 2001 does not have as many heavy hits as 2000. Pretty decent song, though. Well, actually, Rob, you really didn't like it. tell that like 2001 does not have as many heavy hits as the year 2000. Pretty decent song though. Well, actually, Rob, you really didn't like it.

You scored it much lower than me and Lizzie, but we both liked it. I'm just thinking about like, you know, in the year 2000, we had to decide, didn't we, between Don't Call Me Baby and Can't Fight the Moonlight as to which got in the top 10. And they both had an average score of 7.6 and this year eternal flame clearly makes it into the top 10 without much debate and it's not even got 7 out of 10 overall well the don't call me baby of this year as in the 11th place which just missed out was eternity slash the road to mandalay by robbie williams so shout out to that but it wasn't a tie That was a clear 11th place. And then, yeah, Eternal Flame with 10th.

In 9th place, our 9th highest rated song of the year with 7.3 score was Do You Really Like It by DJ Pied Piper and the Master of Ceremonies. And apparently we do really like it. So yeah, we think it is wicked. I'm pleased with that. I'm quite surprised that in our top 10, to to be honest i think we all just sort of thought it was fine um i'm quite surprised to see it here no i thought it was pretty good no i yeah i think

we quite liked it anyway number eight for this year is survivor by destiny's child which i think some people are probably going to think that's a bit low. I think some people will be shocked that we didn't worship the ground that song walked on. But it was decent. It was decent. And it got an average score of 7.5. But I think that's a fair score. I think that's fair.

Yeah, we all explained ourselves at the time. Yeah. Yeah, so do I. So, none of the songs so far we've put in the vault, but our seventh highest rated song of the year got an average score of 7.7. I put this in the vault, but you two didn't. It is Lady Marmalade by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mia and Pink. Okay.

Yeah. All right then. Yeah, no problem. Yeah. Fair enough. Number six, which myself and Lizzie put in the vault, but Rob didn't. Average score of 7.7. Again, this was a tie between Lady Marmalade and this.

I've just noticed, actually. It is Don't Stop Moving by S Club 7. Oh. Which I kind of wish that had made it into the top five. Me too. I think that was really one of the very best songs of this year. But can't win them all, can you? Yeah, thanks, Rob.

both can't win them all can you yeah thanks Rob so we've still not got any that Rob put in the vault reminder to everyone that Rob put Rowling, Violin, Biscuit in the vault but none of these so far so we enter our top five these are the true greats of 2001

now the only one who put this in the vault is lizzy and it's got an average score of 7.8 it's whole again by atomic kitten hey making two appearances in our top 10 atomic kitten good for them yeah yeah yeah i still love that song so our top four and finally rob's put one in the vault all three of us put this in the vault with an average score of 8. All three of us gave it the same score, 8 out of 10. It is Gotta Get Through This by Daniel Bedingfield. Of course. Yeah, it sounds like, you know, a bit of a shot in the arm for 2001,

right at the end of the year. I'm quite pleased that this has made it into such a good position. Yeah, yeah, I'm happy with that too. So number three, I slightly disagreed with you two on just because it's not really my bag, so I didn't put it in the vault, but you two did. Another average score of eight.

It is 21 seconds by So Solid Crew at number three for this year. Okay, yeah. Yeah. All right then, yeah, I'm very happy with that. To get it in the top three, I think, yeah. Sounded fresh at the time, still sounds pretty cool now. Their album has been added to my rotation, so, yeah, I'm happy.

So there are two songs this year which are clear standouts in terms of our points that are well clear of everything else, which I'm sure you know what they both are. In number two, with an average score of 8.5, put in the vault by all three of us it is the wonderful Another Chance by Roger Sanchez I've just been having a look at the running scores for 2000

this would have had it fifth an average score of 8.5 would have had it fifth in the year 2000 but our number one still has a top tier score it got an average rating of 9.5

between the three of us all three of us put it in the vault as well I think we would all probably agree that this is well would we all agree that this is the best song of the year we'll discuss that in a second but it is by far our highest rated song of the year we'll discuss that in a second but it is by far our highest rated song of the year

it is of course Can't Get You Out Of My Head by Khalid Minogue our number one song of 2001 congratulations Khalid yes fully deserved absolutely fully deserved can we please bring on the Appleton sisters

to hand over the crown To Kylie See you next year Kylie Thank you very much Taking the crown From Pure Shores Just to remind you Which was our number one

Song of 2000 Yeah Kylie inherits the crown Absolutely And for me I think that's clearly The best song of this year Totally

Do you both agree? Oh yeah Massively Massively Yeah This is showing the way forward in a big way. So yeah, I'm well into that. Congratulations, Kylie.

I'm not sure that you'll see the crown again, but I'm happy for her to have it this year. And clear by a whole point as well. We gave that a 9.5. Yeah, very, very impressive. Okay then, well, I think that's it isn't it for this week's episode

is that it do we have anything else to say or anything else to make a note of I don't think either of us are putting something stupid into the pie hole

or the vault are we that's a good shout and no I'm not no I'm not I'm good thanks no just make the joke

so that's it for this week's episode thank you very much for listening and it's also the end of 2001 we're going to be moving in to 2002 from the next episode

I'm quite excited about that because my memories of the songs are getting a bit clearer and I'll be able to talk about them a bit more we've mentioned a couple of changes that are coming up for the podcast. In the year 2002, we are going to be going down to three songs an episode just because as our memories get clearer, we'll have more to say about each of the songs

and we don't want the episodes running on too long. And also the poll that we usually put on Spotify, that's going to stay where it is, but we're also going to run the poll on Twitter as well just so we can get some more interactions and to get a better feel of how our listeners regard the various songs that we cover each week

on the show thank you very much for listening to us as we covered 2001 and we'll see you for 2002 we'll see you then see you in 2002 everyone bye