YEYYY!!!!!! So happy for them!!!! <3

Surprised Evanescence went in at #4..... With all the fuss, I was expecting it to be a top 2 place for both!

Thrilled for Steps though! They must be extremely happy! I am, anyway!

Play downloads, Evanescence are 1, and Steps are 2...

...but according to the BBC website...

1. Steps
2. Ed Sherrin
3. Adele
4. Evanescence
5. James Morrison.

Hooray! Well done Steps. You have put the bright sound of Stock Aitken & Waterman and Pop back to their rightful place...the top of the Hit Parade!

LOL, are you 10 years old are something?

Steps have sold 10 million albums worldwide and even that is an unsourced number from Wikipedia.

Face it, Steps are a successful UK band, Evanescence are a successful global act. There is no comparison.

1 I'm 24
2 That's from Sony themselves
3 Crapsanesance are not hugely successful globally - the have a massive following in English speaking countries only
4 Steps have huge followings in countries that don't even speak English
5 And to date, Crapsanesance have sold 19.5million records worldwide
6 To date, Steps have sold 25.2 million worldwide.....

ooooo you go gurlfriend *Snaps Fingers*

Being British, the only market to me that matters / that I'm interested in is the UK market. Forget whether an 'act' is globally successful or not. It matters not.

Steps are hugely popular and successful because lots of people enjoy their brand of positive pop.

What Steps have achieved, with very little promo, is mega!

What they are YET to achieve is going to be more "mega"!

I'm happy for them.

Well done to Steps woohoo! Can't wait to see them next year on their Reunion Tour.

I like 'Pure Pop', too. I also do Chart Statistics for UK Chart Books.

ABBA are the biggest Male/Female Pop Group in UK Chart History.
(The way some Steps Fans are going on, anyone would think that it was Steps!).

Steps have done well to go in at No.1, just under 10 Years, since their 'Gold' Album was at No.1.

But, they mean little next to ABBA.

Steps - it is their 3rd UK No.1 Album, & 8th Week at No.1. ABBA - 9 No.1 Albums, & 57 No.1 Weeks.

It is Steps 52nd Top 10 Week, & 25th Top 5 Week in the Album Chart. ABBA - 224 Top 10 Weeks, & 149 Top 5 Weeks.

Oh - They've had 2 No.1 Singles - 2 Weeks at No.1. ABBA - 9 No.1 Singles, & 31 Weeks at No.1.

And ABBA were Globally big - Steps never were. They were briefly big in Australia & New Zealand, but, not for very long.
In Continental Europe, only Belgium gave them more than 1 Top 5 Hit. (They had 1 Top 5 Hit in Sweden).

They were really only consistently big in the UK & Ireland - with their Irish success being at quite a lower level than their UK success.

Look at their Global Chart Stats here - as you can see, they were only ever truly huge in the UK:,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steps_discography

Here is Evanescence's Global Chart Stats. As you can see, at no time did Steps have an Album as big as the first 2 by Evanescence,
or a Single as big as the first one by Evanescence.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evanescence_discography

I'm not a Fan of either Act - I merely show Chart Statistics.....

You did miss the point about neither Abba nor Evanescence being able to get me line dancing in a club. Statistics don't show everything.

Best comment I've seen in a long time
Seconded.

All the ABBA stats are very interesting. I love ABBA...they are my favourite band.

You're making this up as you go along. I did some looking and found only a single source that suggested Steps had sold 25 million of anything - and even then, it was 25 million records (which includes singles AND albums), with 15 million albums. The vast majority of these sales came from the UK.

Conversely, the first Evanescence album - Fallen - has sold 15 million copies worldwide. The Open Door, their second album, sold 6 million copies worldwide. It remains to be seen how this new album will do; it certainly won't shift those sorts of numbers, but it will easily do another million.

Oh yes, and if Evanescence aren't popular in non-English speaking countries (a ridiculous assertion to begin with), I wonder why they played the main stage on the final night of the Rock In Rio festival in Brazil?

Anyways, I won't waste any more of my time debating the bloody obvious with the most deluded 24 year-old in the world.

OK you have made your point, can we drop it and STOP comparing STEPS to Evanescence, they are on two completely different bands for a start, Evanescence is a Metal/Rock band where as STEPS are a Pop band, yes we know Evanescence have have good success worldwide where has STEPS have incredible success in the UK. It is pointless comparing a well known US Rock band to a Pop band that is and have always been VERY UK Based. But it just goes to show people STEPS still have their niche in the UK music industry and to have a Greatest Hits album that is pretty much the same as one that was released about 10 years ago and has gone in straight at # 1 is phenomenal! Take That and even Spice Girls didnt manage to pull that off!

I actually came into this thread today after hearing the chart results and wanted to say well done to Steps, no point in me denying that they clearly have a strong UK fanbase.

But then I noticed that myscrapbook2011 was still trolling and making up nonsense about a band they know nothing about, so had to get in my two cents before leaving you good people to your thread

When when this collection was announced I don't think anybody ever imagined it would make top 20 let alone #1! I'm so happy for them all

That and the tour sales pretty much confirm that the love for Steps is still strong. Maybe they'll announce new material!

I agree. Good for them. Can we have some new songs now please?

I really hope so. It would be so nice to see them back in the music scene again.

I got tickets so I'm very happy

And woooo! They're number 1! This is brilliant, Steps no 1 in 2011, who would've thought it!

well done to steps I am very pleased for them..and evanescence should still be happy with top 4
and I certainly never said Steps were better than Abba..I like them both
abba didnt have cheesey dance routines though (well in theory you could make your own)

I think that this has been a shock for everyone to be honest, I think that most people thought that it would be a flop or just squeeze into the top 20. This news has shut up alot of doubters, STEPS have proved they still have something and now they should run with it

Anyone know what the song well album 'Bittersweet' was recorded for?

All I know is that is was the B-side on Words are not enough/I know him so well. It didn't appear live until the Gold tour so would have thought it came quite late.

That is soo sad! it is such a waste of such an amazing song! with a lil bit of tweaking here and there and it could stand up today!