Official Charts Pop Gem #82: S Club 7 – Reach

Every Friday, on Facebook and Twitter, week again where we ask you to nominate overlooked classics or big hits of yesteryear for a place in our Pop Gem Hall Of Fame.

This week, we wanted your KARAOKE CLASSICS – that signature tune you love to croon whenever you have a mic in your hand. Be they storming bangers or heartfelt ballads, sung pitch-perfect or hopelessly out of tune, we wanted your fave go-to karaoke track.

Lots of suggestions came in that were actually million-sellers – well, it figures that the biggest hits are the ones you want to sing! But, as we know, Pop Gem is all about the underdog (kind of) and million-sellers, as lovely as they are, are not invited to the Pop Gem party!

The final 10

So after careful consideration and maybe – just maybe – belting them out until the office next door complained about the noise, we settled on S Club 7 for the Pop Gem honour.

Watch the bright and bouncy video for Reach before we explain why the S Clubbers had to walk away with it.

Why it had to be S Club 7

S Club 7 were an unashamedly peppy and positive bunch of pretty young things who could throw some serious shapes and more than carry a tune. Jo, Bradley, Jon, Paul, Rachel, Hannah and Tina brought a great big smile back to the charts when they first arrived in 1999. While some might call them a guilty pleasure, we don’t believe there’s any such thing. S Club (as they later became known when Paul decided to try something new) were stars of TV and radio with tunes you simply couldn’t get out of your head.

When they eventually broke up in 2003, it felt like they were gone too soon, and reunion rumours have never really gone away. And now, at last, the rumours are a reality, with the band reforming for a special performance of some of their biggest hits for Children In Need last night.

Plus, we hear there is more to come – but we’ll have more news on that next week. don’t click anywhere else!

The song

Reach – commonly mistitled as Reach For The Stars by people who aren’t as big fans of the band as we are, clearly – was the lead single from the band’s second album 7.

Featuring our favourite sunny septet having a great time – but ultimately ignoring all sensible health and safety warnings – on a bus and singing about looking to the future and having faith in yourself.

It was the band’s fourth Top 10 single and despite selling over 120,000 in its first week on sale, it missed out on the Number 1 spot thanks to Sonique’s It Feels So Good (which was a Pop Gem only the other week).

Reach spent three weeks at Number 2 snapping at Sonique’s heels before giving up and falling down the chart. It sold over 460,000 copies that year alone, finishing as 11th bestselling single of 2000.

In total, it’s sold over 570,000 copies in the UK and is the band’s 4th bestselling single.

S Club 7’s chart story

Over the course of their four-year pop career, S Club had 11 consecutive Top 10 hits – never charting lower than Number 5.

The band scored four Number 1 singles – Bring It All Back (1999), Never Had A Dream Come True (2000), Don’t Stop Movin’ and Have You Ever (both 2001). Those last three chart-toppers were consecutive, which is pretty special when you think about it.

Their last chart hit was in June 2003, the double-A side (ask your mum) Say Goodbye/Love Ain’t Gonna Wait For You, which peaked at Number 2 and was kept off the top by the pop juggernaut that was R Kelly’s Ignition Remix.

The band's bestseller is their 2001 Number 1 Don't Stop Movin', with795,000 copies sold.

Over on the Official Albums Chart, all five of S Club’s releases went Top 40, with 2000’s 7 going to Number 1. Three more went Top 3 – S Club (1999), Sunshine (2001) and Best – The Greatest Hits (2003).

S Club, welcome to the Pop Gem club!

Check out the videos for all this week's contenders:

Pop Gem Hall Of Fame

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