On March 23 1996, Celine Dion went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Because You Loved Me’, her second US No.1, a No.5 hit in UK. The Diane Warren song was taken from the film Up Close And Personal starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. And on the same day her album ‘Falling Into You’ went to No.1 on the UK album chart.

On June 11th 2000, Aaliyah went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Try Again’. It became the first “airplay-only” song to reach No.1 on the US singles chart (no points from a commercial single release). It was written by Static Major and Timbaland, and produced by the latter. The song features an intro in which Timbaland pays homage to Eric B. & Rakim by rapping the duo’s opening verse from “I Know You Got Soul“. “Try Again” was released as the lead single from Romeo Must Die on March 21, 2000, by Blackground Records and Virgin Records. It was later included as a bonus track on international editions of Aaliyah’s eponymous third and final studio album (2001).

On March 16 1964, The Beatles set a new record for advance sales in the US with 2,100,000 copies of their latest single ‘Can’t Buy Me Love.’ When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song’s ‘true’ meaning, Paul McCartney stated ‘I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggests that ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ is about a prostitute, I draw the line’.