100% Hits – best of 99 (CD2), 20 songs featuring a mix of hits from several genres from the well-known to the obscure.

American Woman – Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz covered this No. 1 hit by The Guess Who and had a mixed bag of results around the world, the original was a No. 1 hit in 1970 and peaked at No. 43 in Australia, this version peaked at No. 14 in Australia and No. 49 in America.

The history of the song varies some band members say it is Anti-War as the Vietnam War was getting increasingly more violent at the time of release, and Barton Cummings say it was a song about preferring Canadian women over American.

Goin’ Down – Melanie C

Melanie C’s first single ‘Goin’ Down’ was a Top 5 hit in the UK peaking at No. 4, her follow up single ‘Northern Star’ also peaked at No. 4 and proving that sometimes songs peak in pairs, her next two singles peaked at No. 1 in the UK.

The song done reasonably well in Australia peaked at No. 25, bigger success would come two songs later with ‘Never Be the Same Again’ which peaked at No. 2.

This Kiss – Faith Hill

This hit by Faith Hill climbed all the way up to No. 4 in Australia and No. 7 in the USA, it appeared on five additional charts run by Billboard and hit No. 1 on two of them including the ‘Hot Country Songs’ chart.

The song charted across 1998 and 1999, quite impressive considering the song was released in February 1998 though it did have a slow release as it didn’t get a UK release until November 1998 and resulted in a peak of No. 13 there.

Everywhere You Go – Taxiride

Taxiride’s debut album ‘Imaginate’ peaked at No. 1 in Australia and their debut single, the legendary ‘Get Set‘ peaked at No. 8, ‘Everywhere You Go’ peaked at No. 15 with the song peaking at No. 30 in New Zealand.

There are actually two versions of Taxiride now touring Australia ‘Taxiride ft. Tim Watson, Tim Wild, Sean McLeod, Andy McIvor & Ripley Smith‘ and Taxiride ft. Jason Singh.

This song would also appear on the ‘100% Hits – Best of 2000’ compilation.

Weir – Killing Heidi

Killing Heidi got off to a great start, their debut album ‘Reflector’ peaked at No. 1 and ‘Weir’ peaked at No. 6 in Australia and No. 41 in New Zealand.

The band would go on to chart seven more singles (eight if you count the Double-A side) up until 2004 and only once was out of the Top 30, the band will have a total of three songs (four if you count the double A-side) chart in New Zealand.

So Young – The Corrs

The K-Klass remix of ‘So Young’ didn’t do so great in Australia with the song peaking at No. 61 though the Studio Album it came from ‘Talk on Corners’ peaked at No. 3 and peaked at No. 1 in the UK.

The song peaked at No. 6 in the UK during a run of four consecutive Top 10 singles.

I Don’t Want To Wait – Paula Cole

This song by Paula Cole was released in 1997, but it had such a long run that it charted somewhere in the world into 1999, it peaked at No. 5 in Canada, No. 11 in the US and No. 27 in Australia and charted in other markets as well.

Its longevity was helped by the show ‘Dawson’s Creek’, it used part of the song as its theme song after the licensing to Alanis Morissette’s ‘Hand in My Pocket’ was unable to be obtained, it ended up staying in the Hot 100 for 53 weeks.

Boyzone – No Matter What

‘No Matter What’ is a song from the musical ‘Whistle Down the Wind’, though there are changes to the musical lyrics, Andrew Lloyd Webber is the song’s composer and Jim Steinman wrote the lyrics.

Jim Steinman is well known for writing the entirety of Meat Loaf’s studio albums ‘Bat Out of Hell’ and ‘Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell’ and co-wrote Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding Out for a Hero’ among other compositions.

‘No Matter What’ was a No. 1 hit in the UK, Denmark and New Zealand and peaked at No. 5 in Australia plus had success in many other countries.

Emilia – Big Big World

This song hit No. 1 in at least 11 charts around the world, it peaked at No. 17 in Australia and No. 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 though it had done better in two other Billboard charts peaking at No. 26 on the Pop Airplay chart.

How many times do you hear the word big in the song? the answer according to online lyrics is 30 times.

Jordan Knight – Give It To You

New Kids On The Block were disbanded for five years when former member Jordan Knight released ‘Give It To You’ as his first solo single in 1999.

It was a success for Jordan, it peaked at No. 5 in the UK, No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 11 in Canada and No. 33 in Australia.

Melanie B – I Want You Back ft. Missy Elliott

Melanie B’s first single was an instant success for the Spice Girl member hit No. 1 in the UK, No. 6 on the Dutch Single Top 100 and No. 12 in Australia.

Melanie B would go on to have two more Top 5 singles in the UK but would not come close to the success she had in the Netherlands or in Australia.

Geri Halliwell – Look At Me

Geri Halliwell was the third Spice Girl to be on this compilation album and had a stunning run of success in the UK between 1999 and 2004.

‘Look At Me’ hit No. 1 in New Zealand, No. 2 in the UK, No. 3 in Australia and No. 5 in Italy.

Geri would go on to record four consecutive No. 1 singles in the UK between 1999 and 2001 and have another three Top 10 hits up to 2004.

The Vengaboys – We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)

Australia likes to party, so it is no surprise that ‘We Like To Party! (The Vengabus)’ peaked at No. 2 in Australia, it done quite well around the world, peaked at No. 3 in the UK, No. 7 in Canada, No. 9 in New Zealand and No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as charting in many other countries.

Colour My Love – Barbarella

This song got to No. 54 in Australia in 1999 and singer Nikki Kosmider-Heuskes has a YouTube channel that has done quite well, 27,000+ subscribers.

The song must have hung around the charts a couple of weeks as it moved from No. 81 to No. 76 on the video and it still had twenty-two spots left to climb, I don’t remember this song at all, so it is a new experience.

LCD – Zorba’s Dance

LCD’s ‘Zorba’s Dance’ was a cover of Mikis Theodorakis’ 1964 composition, a composition that hit No. 1 in three countries and was on the soundtrack for Zorba the Greek, it was actually banned in 1967 by the Greek junta until 1974 and inspired the 1966 classic ‘Bend It!‘ by Dave Dee, Dozey, Beaky, Mick & Tich, a version that was even used in a classic Rev Milk ad.

LCD’s version of ‘Zorba’s Dance’ was released in 1998, and it was released again in 1999 where it got more attention

Pandora – A Little Bit

This music video may have to come with an epilepsy warning as there is a lot of flashes, the song peaked at No. 3 in Finland and No. 10 in Australia, its success in Australia was much later than its original December 1996 release.

Australians loved the song as it stayed in the Top 50 for thirty weeks, a nice comfortable stay that ensured lots of airplay.

Bryan Adams – Cloud #9

This song was Top 10 in the UK and in Canada but fans in Australia weren’t very interested with the song peaking at a lowly No. 67, perhaps the strangeness of Bryan Adams having songs remixed was hard to accept.

Spice Girls – Goodbye

No Geri, No Problem as the Spice Girls with ‘Goodbye’ achieved a third consecutive No. 1 hit at Christmas time in the UK.

The last time an act held No. 1 three Christmases in a row in the UK was The Beatles from 1963 to 1965, Tom Jones would break their run in 1966 before The Beatles reclaimed the spot in 1967, the record is held by LadBaby who started a run in 2018 and finished in 2022 and he done it with a different song each year, the spot is now held by Wham! with ‘Last Christmas’.

It peaked at No. 1 in Canada, No. 1 in Scotland, No. 1 in New Zealand, No. 2 in Sweden, No. 3 in Australia, No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted well around the world.

Jennifer Love Hewitt – How Do I Deal

Jennifer Love Hewitt was riding a wave of popularity in the late 90s thanks to ‘Party of Five’ and some movie roles like I Know What You Did Last Summer; she was already well versed in the music world having been on the show Kids Incorporated and had released three albums and nine singles before this song.

‘How Do I Deal’ was on the ‘I Still Know What You Did Last Summer‘ soundtrack and peaked at No. 5 in New Zealand and No. 8 in Australia, she made her only Billboard Hot 100 appearance with a peak of No. 59.

Jennifer would release the album Barenaked in 2002 and the title track gave her a No. 6 hit in Australia giving her two Top 10 peaks with ‘Can I Go Now’ just missing out by peaking at No. 12.

Armand Van Helden feat. Duane Harden – You Don’t Know Me

This song hit No. 1 in the UK, No. 2 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs, No. 2 in Greece and peaked at No. 15 in Australia plus charted in several other countries.