20August

British soldiers in Cyprus beat up a tourist. Students were revolting over proposals to introduce tuition fees at universities. A poll showed that popular support for the Windsor family fell below 50%. Britain's train companies were given a month to improve their shared telephone enquiry service. Dodi Fayed denied promising to marry a glamorous expat; Kelly Fisher was a model from New Amsterdam. England lost the fifth Test, and with it the Ashes. New Zealand won the tri-nations series. At his farm near Abingdon, Adrian Fisher made the world's largest maze from a field of maize.

This was the fourth chart show we joined in progress; again, just outside the top 20. Twenty-six new into the top 75. Two we note in passing: Grass-Show (Out of the void, 75), and Gifted (Do I?, 60). All careers have to begin somewhere, and Jay Zed's began at 65 with Who you wit? He's no Clement Freud. Northern Uproar had had their moment in the sun at the start of 1996, and final hit A girl I once knew crept to position 63. Also sliding away: A Tribe Called Quest, whose big hit had been Can you dig it? at the start of 1991; they'd had a couple of records graze the top 40 in 1996, but The jam EP stalled at 61. One final release in 1998 would peak at 41 and end their career.

Greater success lay ahead for the Bloodhound Gang - Why's everybody always picking on me? could only make 56, but their 2000 release The bad touch would spend two months in the top 10. David Holmes, fresh from writing the Live 'n' Kicking theme music, entered at 53 with Gritty shaker. Feeder's third release of the year, Crash, became their biggest hit at 48. Dance act Chakra followed up a moderate hit from January with Home at the decidedly more moderate number 46. Sarah Brightman continued her reign on the charts - as Con te partio finally slipped out, in came her cover of Queen's Who wants to live forever?. A much more minor hit for Mrs. L-W, making 45. Alison Limerick actually released a new song, Put your faith in me, but the disco grooves could only make number 42. She gave a fourth release of Where love lives in 2003, that also missed the top 40 by a whisker.

Fifteen new into the 40, beginning with the fifth and final release from My Life Story's album. Duchess was the smallest hit, peaking at 39. The Source is best known for You got the love, a top 10 hit in 1991, 1997, and 2006. They did have another hit song, though just the one - Clouds peaked at 38. Kadoc put Rock the bells in at 34, but their big hit Night train was eighteen months older.

Echobelly was one of the grossly under-rated talents of the Britpop era: shiny songs from a vocalist who could add texture to every word, and who looked the part. They're best known for the summer 1995 anthem Great things, which was. By the time the next album was ready, it was summer 1997, and fashion had moved past Sonya and her boys. The world is flat stalled at 31, and the group split soon afterwards. A shame.

Third hit of the year for Travis, and Tied to the 90s became their biggest yet, at 30. The breakthrough wouldn't happen for two years yet. Big surprise of the week for Mark Owen, whose song I am what I am (not a cover) could only make 29. After two top-three singles, it's clear that the bubble has burst for ex-Thatters. The next one on the release schedule is Robbie Williams's album, now completed and moving for release on 29 September.

Remember Blueboy? Remember me had been a big hit in the opening months of the year, but Sandman was a formulaic repetition of the same song. Number 25 was about right. The Stereophonics were also up to hit single number three this year, and A thousand trees made 22 for no discernable reason. K-Ci and Jojo weren't two of the Teletubbies, but were half of new-soul group Jodeci who had enjoyed some popularity in the mid 90s. Branching out on their own, the duo had a number 21 hit with You bring me up. Their best-known work would be the following year's All my life, a number 8 hit.

Living Joy had had a chart-topper in 1995 with Dreamer, and lived off that sound for two years. Deep in you was the same song again, and could only make 17. Rather than flog a dead horse, this would be the last we'd hear of them. N-Trance also made lots of songs that sounded the same, The mind of the machine lacked the obvious party classic nature of Staying alive or Do you think I'm sexy, and only made 15. Out of the top ten fell Boyzone (10-14), the Wets (4-13), and Mary J Blige (6-12). OTT just missed the charmed circle, All out of love could only make 11 for the boyband who appeared to have reached their peak.

Coolio dropped one to 10 with See you when you get there, and Suede hit 9 with Filmstar. It's the fifth single from a 10-track album, and that's a bit rich. No move at 8 for Meredith Brooks's Bitch, no move at 7 for Notorious BIG's Mo money mo problems, both the joint fastest climbers. Backstreet Boys dipped one to 6 with Everybody, and Gala's Freed from desire dropped two to 5.

New at 4 came Dannii Minogue's All I wanna do. She'd had two top ten hits in 1991, and another in summer 1993, but the junior Minogue sister had the first really big hit of her career with this one. Big sister Kylie will release her second post-PWL album Impossible Princess in September. Puff Daddy drops one to 3 with I'll be missing you - now nine weeks in the top three, almost 1.4 a million sold. A remarkable achievement, and surely the biggest seller of the year.

We'll take this one slowly, because we don't quite believe it ourselves. Highest new entry, straight in at 2, for Chumbawumba. Hmm. Irreverent anarchist pop-punks Chumbawumba have a number two single. No, it still doesn't sound right, ten years on. The band had been going in and around Leeds since 1984, and gained a certain notoriety with the title of their 1986 album Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records: Starvation, Charity and Rock 'n' Roll, Lies and Tradition. The group was on Billy Bragg's Red Wedge tour, raising the profile of Labour leader Neil Kinnock, and released a mini-album of fourteenth century songs protesting against that era's poll tax. The Chumbas first crossed our radar in 1993, with Enough is enough, a rant against perceived facism that was nine parts vitriol to two parts black comedy; it made number 56. By now, the group was with significant indie label One Little Indian, and had a minor hit with Timebomb, number 59 that November; the following year's Anarchy album also made the hit parade.

From out of nowhere, Chumbawumba signed to major label EMI in 1997, and gave the world the unforgettable song Tubthumping. On the surface, this seems like a simple drinking song, but notes on the UK release of parent album Tubthumper tried to put it down as a radical anthem, with quotes from the McLibel case, a graffito from Paris '68, and an anti-roads protester. Went over everyone's head, that did; a sample from Jeremiah Clarke's Prince of Denmark's March (or Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary, if you're Classic FM) was more obvious, and a nod to the Beatles. Using the opportunity to promote their politics to a wider audience, the Chumbas poured a vat of iced water over John Prescott at the 1998 BPI awards, and frontswoman Alice Nutter appeared on television suggesting that people steal their record from major chains.

Two more singles came out in 1998 - Amnesia (number 10) and Top of the world (ole ole ole) (number 21), the only UK hit version of a song originally recorded by the Republic of Ireland's 1990 football world cup squad. One further album for EMI followed, 2000's What You See is What You Get, but the anti-corporate lyrics ensured that EMI got cold feet. Chumbawumba has continued to record since, at roughly an album a year; their last two works have been quasi-Irish folk.

All of which leaves Will Smith still at number one for a second week. We have nothing interesting to say about him.

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