Bob the Builder's chart reign ends

Bob the Builder's single was the biggest seller of 2000

Bob the Builder, the animated children's favourite, has been knocked off the top of the UK charts after three weeks at number one.

He was ousted by dance track Rui Da Silva's Touch Me, featuring vocals by Cassandra.

Pop act Steps took second place with It's The Way You Make Me Feel - rising a meteoric 70 places up the charts after several record shops mistakenly sold it early last week.

Bob's Can We Fix It? dropped to fourth place, behind Everytime You Need Me by Fragma, which scored one of last year's biggest hits with Toca's Miracle.

Despite his fall from the top spot, his presence in the charts has helped propel the BBC's commercial arm to record merchandise sales figures over Christmas.

Steps rise 70 places up the charts

Can We Fix It? and the Tweenies single, No 1, which entered the singles top 10, helped BBC spin offs to sales of around £20m.

Profits from the BBC Worldwide division are ploughed back into programming. Last year £82m was put back into the BBC's coffers.

Bob's single, sung by Neil Morrissey and taken from the show's theme tune, was the best-selling single of 2000.

The song, released on 4 December, managed to keep boy band Westlife from the top of the charts at Christmas, and also knocked Grammy-nominated US rapper Eminem off the number one spot.

Eminem's track Stan was about a psychopath who drives his car into a lake with his wife in the boot.

Bob the Builder is a 10-minute programme for pre-school children, starring the cheerful and trustworthy Bob going about his business helped by his talking vehicles.

It has only been screened since April 1999, but has been a huge success for the BBC.