This is our first update of the new year. There wasn’t any update yesterday as I wasn’t in the right state of mind after the party the previous night! Did anyone see Pete Waterman on the TOTP history programme yesterday? He seemed to tell everyone why Steps haven’t been singing live on television. Pete was saying that he doesn’t see why his acts should be singing live on TV and that fans should just be happy seeing the acts perform.

Today I bought the new single, It’s The Way You Make Me Feel. Observations at my local HMV store in Croydon were pretty good as only a few were left on the shelf. The only point that I will make is that the Rui Da Silva single was also selling well and if anything was a few copies ahead. Obviously this doesn’t show the national sales and it could be a totally different story where you live!

Thanks to many people in the US who have noticed that Steps appear in the US magazine Backstage Pass. There is a picture of Steps backstage on tour. The only not-good thing for Steps was that there was a two page special on Westlife!

Now on to the news that I have received over the past few days:

This is taken from Dotmusic:

Steps have charted at an abysmal number 72 with their new single, after almost 1,000 copies were sold across the country a week before the actual release, dotmusic has learned.

It’s The Way You Make Me Feel was due in the shops on 1 January 2001, but was put on sale by some bungling stores who had been issued with the CD early to ensure stock was available.

A spokesman for the band’s record label Jive today confirmed the cock-up, but suggested there would be no action of behalf of the band, despite the long-term impact on the single’s chart placing.

“About 980 have been sold over the counter,” the spokesman said. “We’re looking at it as a nice early New Year present for some Steps fans who got hold of it early.

“We’ve not seen the midweeks yet, but if the figures prove significant then it will be a bit of a disappointment, but we don’t plan on grumbling about it.”

James Masterton, dotmusic’s official chart spokesman, commented on the situation: “Despite being plastered with huge labels saying ‘do not sell until January 1st 2001’, some copies did find their way on to shelves and subsequently into the hands of the paying public.

“The charts do not discriminate between leaked and officially released tracks and so the sales have registered and the single has been given a chart position”.

It is not the first time such an error has occurred. In January 1992, The Prodigy’s Everybody In The Place was made available prematurely and charted at number 48, before rising to number 10 the following week on general release.

If Steps climb to number one this week, it will signify that biggest ever leap to the top spot.

This takes me on to a news item that was sent in by Dave. It says: “Steps could therefore make history next week by having the biggest ever climb to number one (71 places if successful). Regardless, even if it fails to hit the top spot, it will probably register one of the biggest ever climbs within the UK singles chart.”

It’ll be interesting to see if Steps do miss out on the top spot by less than the 980 sold. If you did mistakenly buy it last week and they do miss out on the number one spot by a few hundred copies you better keep it quiet from your Steps mates!

A lot of people have been asking about the Steps dolls for non-UK residents. I’ll continue looking at online stores BUT if you have bought them online please email me with the store details as there are a lot of non-UK residents interested in buying them. The Toys ‘R Us website has them listed but you can’t choose which one you want!