A GREAT EXAMPLE OF WHAT THE 90S LET HAPPEN IN MUSIC: 2001
EXCUSE ME, HERE CONVENES MY TEDTALK TITLED "A GREAT EXAMPLE OF WHAT THE 90S LET HAPPEN IN MUSIC: 2001"
Note: I'm not an expert on anything. One night I heard a song that I hadn't heard in a while and I fell down a rabbit hole and I wrote my journey down and shared it with a small group of friends. …now, you can have it. I wrote this in August 2022.
~~~
In 2001, Enya's Only Time broke onto the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, debuting on that chart at #88. In July. It lingered on the charts for thirty-two weeks in total. If you don't know this song--Yes you do. I mean, if you didn't, you will. (Apparently it's in the new Thor film.) But here, experience it and its official music video: Enya - Only Time
Celtic Pop New Age World Music--these are the major headings Enya existed under. Only 4 other Enya songs ever broke onto the US Billboard Hot 100 - 1989 Orinoco Flow (Sail Away), 1992 Caribbean Blue, 1998 Only If…, and 2004 I Don't Wanna Know (w Mario Winans ft P.Diddy).) In November 2001, Only Time peaked at the #10 position. That's right! Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100. I keep giving the name of the list because it is a non-niche'd/non-genre'd list. Unlike other lists such as… Adult Contemporary, Adult Alternative, etc.
Now, let's see what else was going on in the US Billboard Hot 100. And you should absolutely think about Only Time laid out (metaphorically) next to each of these songs.
We'll move down the chart a little for a couple movers/shakers coming up the charts under Enya for context. We'll start at number 12.
Number 12: Michelle Branch - Everywhere
This was the big breakout on a major label for Michelle Branch. Not much to say here. It was solid song and yes, I know it. But who was at number 11?
One of my favorite examples of cognitive dissonance in American music: Nickelback - How You Remind Me - and oh yes I linked it.
For a song/band that no one liked/everyone hated, they sure did really well! Nielsen Soundscan declared this song to be the number one most played song on US radio in the entire 2000s decade. Played over 1.2 million times on the radio from 2001 - 2009. I'd like to point out that the above linked music video has been played 131,205,632 times since March 2010.
Fun Bonus fact: Avril Lavigne recorded a cover of the song that was used for One Piece Film: Z (2012).
So then there's Enya doing her chill thing here at number 10. And the top of the alt-rock sandwich she's in at number 9?
Staind - It's Been Awhile
Then we take a sharp turn and at number 8 is Ja Rule (ft Case) - Livin' It Up
This song peaked at some point on the list at #6 (but for this week it was #8 and moving up). Incidentally, this is around the era in time where I was not listening to as much rap, so I'm not familiar with this song. But! The album this song is from went triple platinum! Which… dang.
Then, the number 7 position, which was slipping, brought us Ginuwine - Differences
Another third-album release (by that, I mean that Differences was from Ginuwine's third album and Livin' It Up was from Ja Rule's third album) and a solid success. Differences peaked at number 4. Interesting fact--it was the first track on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart to reach the #1 spot without a physical single being available for retail. (That was a thing.)
A pause here! Let me remind you!
These are the top 10 colleagues of Enya's Only Time. A song for all your fantasy wistfulness needs.
…but now my hyperfixation is wearing off, so I'm not going to keep showing off as much.
Number 6 is Usher - U Got It Bad
U Got It Bad was #1 on the Hot 100 chart for one week before getting bumped out for 4 weeks… Who bumped Usher out of the spot? The band everyone swore they hated for so long -- Nickelback. They battled it out with Usher topping Nickelback again for a few weeks longer. Usher was notably the only solo male act to have a #1 in the US Hot 100 in 2001. (Hey, I hate copying these statements from Wikipedia, but they are pretty succinct and factual.)
This song also performed very well in Australia, New Zealand, and Belgium.
Though this number 6 position was in November 2001, it went on to chart in 2002 as well.
Then came number 5, Nelly Furtado - Turn Off the Light
This song is a very vague memory in the haze of my mind. The only two songs I can think of and associate immediately with Nelly Furtado are… I'm Like A Bird and Big Girls Don't Cry. But Turn Off The Light is from her debut studio album and did quite well for her all over the world. At a glance, it performed better on mainstream charts than on R&B lists in the US.
The video is extremely 90s. Please watch it for your neon outfit desires.
Following up this perky number -- and remember, sharing the top 10 with Enya -- came number 4: Enrique Iglesias - Hero
Before we have to get serious - Look at baby Enrique and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
This is one of the best selling singles of all time, apparently, selling - as a single - over 8 million copies worldwide. I would not have guessed that. Except … it released on Sept 3rd, 2001. 8 days later, the World Trade Center buildings were attacked and collapsed. The song gained a life of its own because of that -- overtaking all of Enrique's previous successes. Eventually the song fell off the charge completely but re-entered later - not something songs typically do.
At number 3: Alicia Keys - Fallin'
R&B was a real sweet spot (for me personally) during chunks of the 90s, and I credit all those works for leading to the place where we find Alicia Keys. This song won three Grammy Awards. It was nominated for the Hot 100 Single of the Year but lost to Lifehouse's Hanging By A Moment. Don't think about that too long. I'll do that later.
(Narrator: This was a lie. She never did - and cannot remember now where she meant to go with this side trail. I can only guess that she - she being I - meant to talk about how this song was the most successful song of 2001. It spent 54 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart...)
Number two? Jennifer Lopez (ft Ja Rule) - I'm Real
This song feels bit like an 80s jam if we're honest with ourselves. It evokes not a little bit of early Whitney Houston and Paula Abdul. One of the songwriters on this song ALSO worked on Ginuwine's Differences. Maybe Troy Oliver should be credited for being on the charts.
And topping off this whole week at number one? Remember - in context with Enya's Only Time at number 10?
Mary J. Blige - Family Affair
Personal anecdote; I was listening to Mary J. Blige back with What's the 411? (released in 1992… 30 years before I'm writing this) and it seemed to me like she didn't really land on the more mainstream lists until this song.
In fact, the song which I know Mary J. Blige for best is Reminisce, which peaked at 57 on the Billboard Hot 100, and 6 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. I'm going to link it and I encourage you to have a listen if you don't know the song - but be warned! Flashing images! - there's fake lightning for the music video and it is rough - Are you forewarned? Okay... here you go. Mary J. Blige - Reminisce
Anyway, back on track!
This list of music all happened in late 2001, but I just wanted to share my journey through 'wait, remember when Enya got on the top 100 charts?' moment. And the memory of how completely and wildly diverse the range of music was that I listened to and was exposed to through general radio play. It wasn't the wildest music experience I had and I know that the 1990s had some weirder things going on (anyone remember when a compilation album of Benedictine monk chants hit number three on the Billboard music charts and was certified double platinum?), but… Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk (not really a TEDTalk). Or not. I had fun doing it anyway.
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KITSUNE (FOX SPIRIT)
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DRAGON
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LADY OF THE LAKE
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PARI (FAIRY)
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MERMAID
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GNOME
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