Official Charts Flashback: Kylie Minogue vs. Elvis Presley for Number 1 in 2002

18 years ago this week saw an unlikely battle of chart icons.

In a battle of icon vs. icon, the Official Singles Chart this week in 2002 saw an unlikely tussle between Kylie Minogue and Elvis Presley for the Number 1 spot.

In the red corner was Kylie with Love At First Sight. The star was enjoying a hugely successful run of success with her Fever album: lead single Can't Get You Out Of My Head was a global Number 1, while follow-up In Your Eyes was a Top 5 UK hit. Third single Love At First Sight - a slice of sparklingly stylish nu-disco pop - was everywhere, a hit on radio and TV music channels. A seventh Number 1 was within reach.

In the blue corner was Elvis, who was experiencing a revival (of sorts) in the summer of 2002. To mark 25 years since his death, Elvis's estate went into promotional overdrive, releasing a new retrospective Elv1s: 30 No.1 Hits and releasing a remix of A Little Less Conversation, a well-known song that had only been a minor hit in the US upon its original 1968 release.

The new version by Junkie XL (aka Tom Holkenborg) marked the first time an artist outside the Presley organisation had been allowed to remix an Elvis song. Boosting the track's popularity even further was its use in Nike's inescapable 2002 FIFA World Cup advertising campaign.

In the end it wasn't exactly a photo finish for the top spot: A Little Less Conversation debuted at Number 1 selling a staggering 243,000 copies, while Kylie's Love A First Sight took second place on 82,000 copies. It gave Elvis his 17th UK Number 1 single, logging four weeks at the top, while for Kylie, it ranks as one of her 11 Number 2s. A Little Less Conversation went on to be 2002's fifth best-selling single, with 634,000 copies sold that year.

Elsewhere in the Official Singles Chart that week, two more new entries landed in the Top 5: Sophie Ellis-Bextor's third release Get Over You/Move This Mountain was her third consecutive Top 3 hit at 3, and Nickelback's Chad Kroeger landed his first UK solo hit at 4 with Hero, recorded for the Spider-Man film soundtrack.

View the Top 100 Official Singles Chart from this week in 2002 here

Listen to the Official Chart Flashback playlist on Spotify below.

Also listen on Apple Music | Deezer

Related artists

Velvet Android

18th June 2020

Bit of a stretch to call A Little Less Conversation "a well-known song". Part of its unexpected charm and 'pull factor' was that it was a pretty much entirely unknown, yet clearly great song (even before its JXL remix) – which, for almost everyone hearing it, had emerged from seemingly out of nowhere to add so surprisingly to the King's chart repertoire 25 years after he'd been gone. I don't think anyone who wasn't a fan ever expected a new Elvis Presley single in the 21st century to be exciting, so it was a bit of a thrilling surprise.

I'd forgotten that it was Kylie who ran him the 'closest' that first week, a fascinating head-to-head indeed. But yes, with Kylie being on her third single from a successful album it was never going to compete with an effectively brand new release from one of the biggest stars of all time, which had the kudos and novelty of a catchy remix, an inventive video also on high rotation on the music channels, and the association with that brilliant Nike all-star World Cup ad.

(And the pleasing irony of Junkie XL having to shorten his name on the release, as the Presley estate obviously didn't want any unfortunate reminders that Elvis ended his days as an XL junkie, is still amusing even now...)