We have been informed that Steps will be on Dutch channel TMF again on 21 December at 4pm. It is a repeat of last year’s special.

Despite Steps only charting at number seven, it seems the UK chart’s sales this year are way below previous years. If I recall correctly last year both the Spice Girls (number one) and Chef (number two) both sold more than 350,000 copies in the week running up to the Christmas chart, which therefore placed both singles in the top 10 biggest-selling singles of the year after being out for little more than two weeks.

According to statistics, Westlife sold 210,000 copies last week to gain the UK #1 spot, which is nearly half the amount the Spice Girls and Chef sold in the same period a year ago. Strange.

Also, does it seem that Steps singles are having a shorter lifespan in the charts nowadays? 5, 6, 7, 8 and Heartbeat / Tragedy both spent more than three months in the charts. Perhaps this will all come back with the release of Deeper Shade Of Blue on 13 March 2000, the fifth single taken from the multi-platinum album Steptacular.