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Well, it's officially been 20 years since I started my chart. It was the afternoon of January 10, 1999 and I was listening to the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. I'd thought over the previous few months of making a chart of my own, and I figured with a new year just having started, why not then?
The first chart was the hardest to make as I was starting fresh but I had a rough idea of where the songs would be. I'd remembered current songs I'd enjoyed then and ranked them as I thought of them until I had 40 songs, being the only chart I decided the positions randomly as since then, I've been compiling starting on the top and working my way to the bottom.
The top 10 on that first chart looked like this:
1. Shawn Mullins - Lullaby
2. Eagle-Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
3. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
4. Alanis Morissette - Thank U
5. Jewel - Hands
6. Celine Dion & R. Kelly - I'm Your Angel
7. Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston - When You Believe
8. New Radicals - You Get What You Give
9. U2 - Sweetest Thing
10. Cher - Believe
In the initial few years, my charts were mostly based on what songs I'd heard on the radio being based around the pop hits of that era. But then in 2001, I'd joined the Radio & Records message board, which I was a member of for two years until its closure, and while I posted my chart there, which was the first time I'd ever shared it with anyone else, it helped broaden my horizons to the point where, in August 2002, I'd expanded my chart to a top 100, which it has remained to this day. While I've come and gone from many forums over the years, the ones I, and therefore my chart, have been most prominent on are M4B Charts Central and UKMIX, which have hosted my chart posts for most of its existence online and continue to do so today.
In 2008, I first heard of Kate Voegele, who quickly became my favourite singer ever and became a dominant force on my chart, setting many records in the process. The combination of her, and the enduring Kelly Clarkson who had previously been accomplished as one of my chart's most successful artists a few years prior, helped bridge the 2000's into the 2010's where both have remained my most successful core artists, and the only artists with over 20 #1's to date on my chart.
Over the years, my chart has moved away from the pop hits of the day, both due to lessening interest because of varying rap styles such as crunk, ringtone rap and mumble rap and singers with irritating voices dominating the pop charts, as well as exposure to more music that suited my tastes well and favourites of other message board members due to word of mouth (indeed, other songs similar to my core artists' styles became huge hits on my chart in their own right!) But in the 2010's, another big trend has been nostalgia - as I discover deeper into the discographies of artists of the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's that I've always been a casual fan of, I've maintained an interest in hearing current music from them, and in many cases I've enjoyed their newer songs as much as their classics. And many core artists that I enjoyed in the 2000's, despite lessening commercial success, have stayed strong well into the 2010's for me, solidifying my chart as one where core artists maintain consistency.
Over the next 100 days, I will be taking you down my chart's history, with my top 100 artists and top 1500 songs of the past 20 years. We will revisit many favourites of mine that achieved success on my chart and count down the songs that helped make my chart what it is.
The first chart was the hardest to make as I was starting fresh but I had a rough idea of where the songs would be. I'd remembered current songs I'd enjoyed then and ranked them as I thought of them until I had 40 songs, being the only chart I decided the positions randomly as since then, I've been compiling starting on the top and working my way to the bottom.
The top 10 on that first chart looked like this:
1. Shawn Mullins - Lullaby
2. Eagle-Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
3. Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
4. Alanis Morissette - Thank U
5. Jewel - Hands
6. Celine Dion & R. Kelly - I'm Your Angel
7. Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston - When You Believe
8. New Radicals - You Get What You Give
9. U2 - Sweetest Thing
10. Cher - Believe
In the initial few years, my charts were mostly based on what songs I'd heard on the radio being based around the pop hits of that era. But then in 2001, I'd joined the Radio & Records message board, which I was a member of for two years until its closure, and while I posted my chart there, which was the first time I'd ever shared it with anyone else, it helped broaden my horizons to the point where, in August 2002, I'd expanded my chart to a top 100, which it has remained to this day. While I've come and gone from many forums over the years, the ones I, and therefore my chart, have been most prominent on are M4B Charts Central and UKMIX, which have hosted my chart posts for most of its existence online and continue to do so today.
In 2008, I first heard of Kate Voegele, who quickly became my favourite singer ever and became a dominant force on my chart, setting many records in the process. The combination of her, and the enduring Kelly Clarkson who had previously been accomplished as one of my chart's most successful artists a few years prior, helped bridge the 2000's into the 2010's where both have remained my most successful core artists, and the only artists with over 20 #1's to date on my chart.
Over the years, my chart has moved away from the pop hits of the day, both due to lessening interest because of varying rap styles such as crunk, ringtone rap and mumble rap and singers with irritating voices dominating the pop charts, as well as exposure to more music that suited my tastes well and favourites of other message board members due to word of mouth (indeed, other songs similar to my core artists' styles became huge hits on my chart in their own right!) But in the 2010's, another big trend has been nostalgia - as I discover deeper into the discographies of artists of the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's that I've always been a casual fan of, I've maintained an interest in hearing current music from them, and in many cases I've enjoyed their newer songs as much as their classics. And many core artists that I enjoyed in the 2000's, despite lessening commercial success, have stayed strong well into the 2010's for me, solidifying my chart as one where core artists maintain consistency.
Over the next 100 days, I will be taking you down my chart's history, with my top 100 artists and top 1500 songs of the past 20 years. We will revisit many favourites of mine that achieved success on my chart and count down the songs that helped make my chart what it is.
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