Do you remember any ?
Chante Moore - "Straight Up"
From around 2000 or 2001.
Fun fact: She had two smaller UK hits in 1993 and 1995, both of which reached the low top 75. "Straight Up" was her only UK top 40, peaking at #11.
Christina Milian - "When You Look at Me"
Great song, it was pretty damn big when it came out. "Never judge a book by its cover."
Love, Inc. - "Broken Bones"
This was the follow-up to the more well-remembered "Superstar" and was also a UK top 10 hit.
Both songs were actually released around 1997/1998, but didn't become UK hits until 2002/2003. This was a bit of a trend in the UK around 2002-2004, songs from the late 90s suddenly becoming hits late on after being big in the clubs. It happened with DJ Casper, Fatman Scoop and Ice Cube.
I remember Top 30 Hits displaying a thing on-screen about "Love, Inc. aka Mike Ink" who is a completely unrelated artist. He is a German techno producer called Wolfgang Voigt, and this Love, Inc. were a Canadian 1990s Eurodance trio active until around 2000.
Rui da Silva - "Touch Me"
#1 on both sides of the Irish Sea in 2001!
I'd say this one of his was better known / got more airplay…
H "Two" O & Platnum "What's It Gonna Be?"
4x4 bassline garage. The group were quickly forgotten shortly after this.
I remember a certain Dublin station announcing this and saying "and here is Rod Stewart! Only joking! It's H "Two" O and Platnum." I kinda know who I prefer!
Daniel Merriweather - "Change"
You may also know him from the song "Stop Me" by Mark Ronson, which of course is a re-titled version of The Smiths' "Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before".
It does sound very like "Secret Smile" by Semisonic, from 1999.
Was hard to escape around late 2008, haven't heard it in years.
...and here's another Jack White side-project, The Dead Weather, fronted by Kill Alison Mosshart.
And there was this as well - her cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" with the Counting Crows.
May 2006
I understand this was a charity single, but I much prefer The Skids' original version.
Technically a 1999 song but for some reason became a UK #2 hit around 2004 or 2005.
This is Ice Cube with "You Can Do It", which I suppose isn't that forgotten to be honest. It's timeless.
"99 baby" is a lyrical hint that it is an older song than most British or Irish people think.
Late 2006
I heard her more obscure second single recently. Ordinary Day.
Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
This song (along with many on here) was always played in Ben Dunne's gym at the KCR.
Speaking of country...
Nelly & Tim McGraw "Over and Over"
This was a UK #1!!!!
Which is surprising when you learn that "Ride wit Me" and "Hot in Herre" only reached #3 and #4 in the UK, respectively.
...one of whom is country star Derek Ryan.
Invisible by D-Side
A single with Liam Gallagher on it was always going to be a hit. Here are Death in Vegas with "Scorpio Rising".
Alex Gaudino with "Watch Out", which was the follow-up to "Destination Calabria". Like "The Weekend", this track features Shéna on vocals.
It peaked at #16 in what was a fairly competitive week in the UK charts. In Ireland, it got to #23 (Destination Calabria reached #2 here but only #4 in the UK, surprisingly "What a Feeling" didn't reach the Irish top 30, peaking at #38).
It was late 2004.
There was also this one, "Borderline" (with Shelley Poole), from 2006. Michael Gray is one-half of Full Intention.
Around 2005
A mid/late 00s emo band that never quite matched the same success as Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco or Paramore, it's Taking Back Sunday with "MakeDamnSure".
To be precise, this song only peaked at #36 in the UK, while the "Big Four" of the time all had top 20 hits during the 2005-2009 period.
Even before then, I knew from the Guinness Book of Records that it was a Kelly Clarkson song.
Leona Lewis covered it and that's the version we're more familiar with I'd say.
More Kelly Clarkson, this is "A Moment like This", her debut single after she won the very first American Idol. Never released in Ireland or Britain.
could be fake memory but seem to remember this getting a ton of play on Spin1038 in its very early days.
Cornershop - "Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III" (2002 I think)
It peaked at #37. This made it the band's third and final UK top 40 single.
