Official Charts Flashback 1999: Westlife – Swear It Again

It was the first of an incredible 14 Number 1s for the likely lads from Ireland, and it topped the charts 15 years ago today.

1999 was a time when pop ruled supreme and its hottest stars were boybands, and ones with an Irish connection were usually the hottest of them all.

When it came to chart success, Boyzone were the boyband to beat, but as their time was coming to an end – for the next few years at least – it was an opportunity for five fresh faces, each topped by perfect ‘90s hair, to step up.

Westlife – originally Westside, but had to have a rethink because of an existing US group – were Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, Nicky Byrne and Brian (which he changed to Bryan, before going back to Brian) McFadden.

In the age-old spirit of boybands lending a hand to young pretenders, the five lads were introduced to the world as being managed by Boyzone’s Ronan Keating. Behind the scenes, however, it was management supremo and future X Factor legend Louis Walsh who was looking after their interests.

Their first single, Swear It Again, was an instant hit, debuting at the top this week in 1999. Watch out for the infamous key change: 

Swear It Again was first in a run of seven consecutive Number 1s, including 1999’s Official Christmas Number 1 I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun and a cover of Phil Collins’ hit Against All Odds featuring none other than Mariah Carey in 2000. It really, really happened. We saw it with our own eyes.

The group has 14 chart-toppers on the Official Singles Chart, the last being The Rose in 2006. Swear It Again has sold 375,000 copies, making it their 7th bestselling single in the UK. Their biggest is 2001’s Comic Relief single Uptown Girl – originally a 1983 Number 1 for Billy Joel – which has shifted over 785,000 copies.

Over on the Official Albums Chart, they’ve had seven Number 1s, with six albums selling over a million copies. Their bestselling album in the UK is the first volume of greatest Hits, Unbreakable, from 2001. It’s notched up over 1.8 million sales.

Chart Fact: 12 of Westlife’s Number 1s featured all five of them. After Brian left in 2004, they had only two more chart-toppers.

Check out Billy's original chart-topping rendition of Uptown Girl before we rake over the rest of the Top 5 this week in 1999.

2: Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now

Fresh from his first ever chart-topper (as Fatboy Slim, at least) with Praise You, Norman Cook continued his reign as the king of '90s DJs with this much-sampled smash.

Thanks to Westlife, it wouldn’t advance any farther than runner-up position, but it scored him a fourth Top 10 hit. He’d go on to have three more, with the latest being the super-noisy anthem to all party-lovers Eat Sleep Rave Repeat FT Rivastarr and Beardyman, which hit Number 3 in late 2013. Right Here, Right Now has sold 372,000 copies in the UK – over 16,000 of those just last year!

3: Martine McCutcheon – Perfect Moment

As EastEnders’ favourite tragic barmaid Tiffany, Martine McCutcheon captured the hearts of millions. As a pop singer, she managed to sell them a few records too! After two weeks at Number 1 with this, her debut solo single, Martine slipped two places.

But, unlike the time her soap character took a tumble in front of a car on Albert Square, there was plenty of life left in Martine and she went on to have four more Top 10 hits. Perfect Moment managed to shift over 610,000 copies.

4: Texas – In Our Lifetime

While Martine was just starting out, Scottish pop rock band Texas were celebrating a decade in the biz, with their seventh Top 10 hit. Fronted by straight-talking Sharleen Spiteri, the band were regular guests on the huge TV shows of the day, like Chris Evans’ iconic ladfest TFI Friday.

Six more Top 10 hits followed, with Sleep being the last in 2006. In Our Lifetime never advanced on Number 4, and sold 185,000 copies in the UK.

5: Basement Jaxx – Red Alert

London dance duo Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe hit the Top 10 for the very first time. Red Alert would be the first of five Top 10 hits for Basement Jaxx, the highest charting was its follow-up, Rendez-Vu, which peaked at Number 4.

Red Alert was the first single from the band’s debut full-length album Remedy and has sold 270,000 copies.

See the full Top 40 from this week in 1999. There are some corkers of new entries from Janet Jackson and Busta Rhymes, TQ, Faithless, Armand van Helden and BMR FT Felicia (tune, seriously).