BBC News | ENTERTAINMENT | Westlife top century's last chart

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BBC News Online: Entertainment

Monday, 27 December, 1999, 10:09 GMT

Westlife top century's last chart

Boy band Westlife will go down in history as securing the century's final number one single, beating Cliff Richard to top position in this week's charts.

The Irish group, who have sold more than 50,000 copies of their double A-sided single I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun, have already had four number ones this year.

Century's Last Top Five
1 - I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun - Westlife 2 - The Millennium Prayer - Cliff Richard 3 - Imagine - John Lennon 4 - Mr Hankey The Christmas Poo - South Park 5 - Rewind - The Artful Dodger

Earlier this month they pipped their co-manager, Boyzone's Ronan Keating, to win top spot in a telephone poll to find the best record of the year.

The group - who are co-managed by the Boyzone singer - won 159,590 votes from viewers of ITV's Record of the Year for their song Flying Without Wings.

The top three in the charts remained the same, with Sir Cliff staying in the top five despite critics attacking his single and record companies and radio stations rejecting it.

The singer, a stalwart of the British charts since the 1950s, was knocked from the top spot last week by Westlife after a three-week run at the top.

Pop star George Michael was among those who condemned the record, calling the campaign to make it Christmas number one "vile" and "exploitative".

Sir Cliff Richard

Just behind Sir Cliff, John Lennon's re-released Imagine, which topped the chart 19 years ago, remained in third position.

Meanwhile, the battle of the novelty records saw Mr Hankey The Christmas Poo, from outrageous US cartoon South Park, rising from eighth position to number four.

It ousted Cognoscenti Versus Intelligentsia by The Cuban Boys - featuring yodelling hamsters from a popular web site - to number seven.

Shania Twain's album Come On Over remained top of the last album chart of the century, closely followed by The Man Who by Scottish band Travis.

Related to this story:
Westlife number one for Christmas (19 Dec 99 | Entertainment)
Jingle hell for singles (12 Dec 99 | New Music Releases)
Are the music charts a joke? (10 Dec 99 | Talking Point)
Michael brands Cliff campaign 'vile' (10 Dec 99 | Entertainment)
Westlife win song award (12 Dec 99 | Entertainment)
The Cuban invaders (10 Dec 99 | Entertainment)
Singing hamsters threaten Sir Cliff (08 Dec 99 | Entertainment)

Internet Links: The Worldwide Westlife Web Site (fan site) Sir Cliff Richard homepage BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 2
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Entertainment Contents: New Music Releases |