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Top 40 flashback to this week in 1998: Stop ends Spice Girls' run of consecutive Number 1s
Plus see how the rest of the Top 40 looked this week 25 years ago, including new entries from Texas, Kylie Minogue and The Wombles
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They'd been an unstoppable force on the Official Singles Chart for almost two years, but this week in 1998, the Spice Girls discovered they couldn't always get what they want, what they really, really want.
After six straight chart-toppers, which kicked off with million-selling Wannabe in summer 1996, the ladies' run of good luck was thwarted by a bit of a surprise. Jason Nevins' banging reworking of Run DMC's It's Like That had been a smash all over Europe, and on its release in the UK, demand was high.
MORE: Remixes that gave songs a massive chart boost
The unthinkable happened: Spice Girls went straight in at Number 2, while Run DMC and Jason took it all the way.
Spice Girls' Stop – the third single from their sophomore effort Spiceworld, had impressive first-week sales of over 115,000, but this was dwarfed by It's Like That's monster numbers – a whopping 242,796 copies flew off the shelves to see it romp home to Number 1.
Stop's lifetime combined sales stands at 776,000; made up of 334,000 physical sales and 44 million streams.
MORE: Spice Girls' complete Official UK Chart history
There was much hype in the media about the Spice Girls missing the big one for the first time, and indeed, in a way, it did spell the beginning of the end. While there was another single to come with Geri – Viva Forever – by the time of its official release, she had departed, meaning Stop is kind of their last one with her as a part of the group. For a few years anyway.
Looking at the rest of the Official Singles Chart that week, Texas continued their streak of Top 10 hits, notching up their fifth consecutive one with their Wu-Tang Clan collaboration Say What You Want/Insane (yes this really happened), while Italian Europop star Alexia landed at 10 with her debut single Uh La La La.
Further down, The Wombles had resurfaced and landed at 13 with a re-release of their signature hit Remember You're A Womble, and Kylie Minogue was in the middle of her experimental phase; the third single from her Impossible Princess album, Breathe, entered at 14.
If it was any consolation to the Spices, they were beaten to the top by a true phenomenon. It's Like That spent six weeks at the top and is a million-seller (1.7 million pure sales to be precise, plus 44 million streams). Spice Girls' fans may not like it, but that's the way it is. HUH.
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Sunshine Gal
oh and you all should've seen the spice girls on the billboard hot 100 chart back then :). i wasn't a fan per se', but it would be a LONG while before they fell out of both the hot 100 and billboard 200's top 10's. even their first u.s. album would get the coveted #1 album of the year by billboard.
Sunshine Gal
also, 1998 was the very first time i ever saw justin timberlake on the hot 100 chart with nsync's first u.s. single 'i want you back'. the time sure flew by!
Sunshine Gal
i def. remember madonna's ray of light singles on the hot 100 chart back then...also it's been 25 yrs since celine dion's 'my heart will go on!??" dang! over here, her 'let's talk about love' album debuted @ #1 and then right afterwards the titanic soundtrack would lock the #1 spot for 16 straight wks! even bigger selling albums couldn't budge it from the #1 spot.
Sunshine Gal
i had no idea run-dmc had a #1 single in the uk! over here, 1998 was a FUN musical year! esp. on the hot 100 chart. but i do remember the spice girls over here on the billboard charts the prior year. fun times! also elton john's 'candle in the wind' had that long run @ #1 in 1997 if memory serves me right.
AUCF
Angry UK Chart Fan
I thought the title meant a group named Stop ended Spice Girls' #1 run, not the song itself 'Stop' by Spice Girls. It's like saying "Untouchable breaks Girls Aloud's run of consecutive Top 10s".
C
Cloudbuster
Kylie Minogue and The Wombles!!! WTF? lmao.
eric effiong's publicist
so funny how this was such a big deal considering it sold so well. the pressure for women (and specifically girl groups) to stay consistently on top is so absurd.
thierry henon
I still love the SPICE GIRLS..25 years later..and still miss them..do hope they will eventually release a brand new album in the near future?