Let’s take a look at Hit Machine 26, released in 1999 by Mushroom Records in conjunction with Sony Music Entertainment (Australia) and BMG Australia.

20 songs were on the compilation album, a nice mixture of music some you’ll really remember, some haven’t been heard in a long time and a few never heard by readers before.

Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of…) – Lou Bega

German singer Lou Bega recorded Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of…) was a smash hit across the world, No. 1 in at least nine countries and peaked at No. 3 in America.

The song was written by Lou Bega, Dámaso Pérez Prado and Zippy Davids, the music came from Dámaso Pérez Prado in 1949, Lou Bega used the riffs and wrote the lyrics and courts ruled it was a new song by the pair.

Lou only had one more charting song in Australia, ‘I Got A Girl’ peaked at No. 31 in also in 1999 though Lou would have a total of six charting songs in Germany between 1999 and 2010.

Lou is immortalised in the video game Tropico where you could select him to be the leader of your island.

Here’s something extra, Lou Bega and Andre Rieu, what a combination that is, especially with that orchestra that has everything under the sun.

Burning Down The House – Tom Jones and The Cardigans

Tom Jones in 1999 made the collaboration album ‘Reload’ and The Cardigans were one of the collaborators, the song chosen was the 1983 Talking Heads hit ‘Burning Down The House’.

It is said that Tom Jones walked into the studio, talked for 5 to 10 minutes, practiced for two minutes and his part was done in the one take.

The song was No. 1 in Iceland, No. 2 in Sweden, No. 2 in Belgium, No. 7 in the UK and No. 8 in Australia and charted in several other countries.

It was The Cardigan’s third and last single to chart in Australia, the band charted fourteen times in the UK.

Forever – Tina Cousins

‘Forever’ was a No. 14 hit for Tina Cousins in Australia and peaked at No. 38 in the UK, it was Tina’s fourth charting single in Australia out of a total of nine up to 2006.

‘Forever’ was written by Mark Topham and Karl Twigg, two names that have been mentioned as songwriters of other songs in the past.

Sometimes – Britney Spears

This song was written by Jörgen Elofsson from Sweden and was Britney’s second single, it was a big hit in Australia as the song peaked at No. 2 and was No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song also charted on four other Billboard charts and hit No. 1 in some countries.

A songwriter from Indiana claimed to have had written the song in 1990 but had copyrighted it in 2003, he claimed that Britney Spears admitted in an email that he had written the song, the lawsuit was dismissed in 2005 with a judge ruling that the song was not stolen.

If I Let You Go – Westlife

The Republic of Ireland absolutely loved Westlife, this song hit No. 1 there, so did another eleven Westlife songs right up to 2006 with near misses in 2007, 2009 and 2019 with No. 2 peaks.

The UK had 13 Westlife songs hit No. 1 but the closest Westlife got to No. 1 in Australia was with ‘You Raise Me Up’, that song peaked at No. 3.

‘If I Let You Go’ hit No. 1 in Norway, peaked at No. 13 in Australia and No. 8 in New Zealand, it taken Westlife until 2005 to get a No. 1 in Australia, the studio album ‘Face to Face’.

Eternal Flame – Human Nature

Human Nature gave this hit by The Bangles a go and they didn’t go too bad in Australia, their double A-side single ‘Eternal Flame/Shake You Outta My Head’ peaked at No. 8, the second time one of their songs peaked at that number.

The music video has a respectable five million views on YouTube.

She’s So High – Tal Bachman

Tal Bachman has a somewhat recognisable name to music lovers, his father is Randy Bachman, the founding member of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

It is likely that few people knew that when ‘She’s So High’ hit the airwaves and they probably didn’t care as the song was a big success, it was No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart, No. 3 in Canada, No. 8 in Australia, No. 9 in New Zealand, No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 30 in the UK.

Tal’s next three singles did alright in Canada and while one made the Adult Pop Airplay chart, he never achieved the same success as ‘She’s So High’, his album ‘Tal Bachman’ peaked at No. 124.

Tal is now a member of his father’s band Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Sing It Back – Moloko

Moloko was an English-Irish electronic music duo that compromised of Róisín Murphy and Mark Brydon.

It was a No. 4 hit in the UK and No. 20 in Australia and had great results in other countries around the world especially on the dance charts like No. 1 on the Billboard’s Dance Club Play chart.

The song has been heard in the promos for the 2025 season of MasterChef which may have annoyed people greatly as the ad got frequent plays every hour.

When I Grow Up – Garbage

This song by Garbage peaked at No. 9 in the UK and No. 22 in Australia, out of all the songs released that year it was No. 98 for 1999 in Australia.

Love’s Got a Hold On My Heart – Steps

‘Love’s Got a Hold On My Heart’ was a No. 2 hit in the UK and was just in the Top 30 in Australia when it peaked at No. 29, the group were stopped by Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ la Vida Loca’ from reaching No. 1 in the UK but the opposite happened in Steps favor in Scotland.

Commentors on the video have high praise for Claire Richards voice in this song, the music video has 5.7 million views on YouTube.

I Love You – Martina McBride

This song is the only Martina McBride song to hit the ARIA chart in Australia, it peaked at No. 38, it was No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Canada’s country chart as well, it peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100, her best result from 21 charting songs on that chart.

Lucky Me – Batchelor Girl

This song was written by James Roche and peaked at No. 42 in Australia which is quite surprising to me as it had received quite a bit of airplay, and I think it is more enjoyable than ‘Buses and Trains’.

Finland liked the song and had it peaked at No. 19 and it peaked at No. 40 in New Zealand.

Even more surprising is that it has received just 134,000 views in fourteen years.

There She Goes – Sixpence None The Richer

This song is a cover of ‘The La’s’ 1998 song, that version got to No. 13 in the UK and No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while it is suggested that the song is about Heroin, Lee Mavers, singer and songwriter of the song says it was not.

Sixpence None The Richer’s version peaked at No. 14 in the UK, No. 47 in Australia and No. 32 in America, those results are surprising as it is to me a good song, but it must have been hard to top their No. 1 Australian debut single ‘Kiss Me’.

Jesse Hold On – B*Witched

‘Jesse Hold On’ was the lead single for the groups second album ‘Awake and Breathe’, it saw the group land outside the Top 50 with the song peaking at No. 59 in Australia, the second last song to chart in the country.

It done great in the UK with a peak of No. 4 and also peaked at No. 6 in Finland but it was almost all over for the group as after their final single from the album ‘Jump Down’ was released in 2000, that was it until 2019.

Some Kind Of Love Song – Friendly

This may just be the most obscure song we’ve found so far, Australian DJ named Friendly released this song and it got to No. 45 on the charts after entering it in September 1999, the vocalist is Sia, many years before her worldwide fame.

In fact, to find out Sia was the uncredited vocalist, you have to go to ‘Songwriting and other appearances’ on Sia’s Wikipedia page to find it listed.

‘Some Kind Of Love Song’ was one of three Friendly songs to chart in 1999-2000, ‘I Love You But…’ was the highest at No. 42.

We B Cool – Real Blondes

‘Real Blondes’ were formed by three ladies who first met in internet chat rooms, this song was written by mother of member Kelly Webb.

They released just two singles, ‘We B Cool’ was peaked at No. 67 in 1999 before ‘I Won’t Let Go’ peaked at No. 39.

Sexual (li da di) – Amber

Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart absolutely loved Amber, five consecutive No. 1 hits starting with this song ‘Sexual (li da di)’.

It peaked at No. 24 in New Zealand, No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 55 in Australia.

Amber had 12 Top 10 songs on the Dance Club Songs chart from 1996 to 2006 with an additional two songs in the Top 15.

The Roof Is On Fire – Beat-Boy

This song in September 1999 peaked at No. 89 in Australia and yes you can hear Shocking Blue’s ‘Venus’ in the mix as well, it is quite a catchy song, listen to it at your own risk of being sucked into it.

This appears to be one of those songs that if you blinked in 1999 in some parts of the world, you missed the song existing.

If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time – R Kelly

This song peaked at No. 65 in Australia; this was back when R Kelly was a respected artist and not a disgraced and reviled human being who is serving 31 years in prison for among other things production of child pornography.

A Straight Line – Michael Hutchence

Michael Hutchence died in 1997 but his song ‘A Straight Line’ was released in 1998, it peaked at No. 44 in Australia, but the self-titled album was a major success and peaked at No. 3.

The world was robbed of more years with such a talented performer.