Billie Piper’s career began when she was selected to appear on the Saturday-morning children’s television show Scratchy & Co. She later landed a role in a television commercial promoting the pop magazine Smash Hits. She was offered a record deal at the age of 15, and in 1998, became the youngest artist to debut at number one in the UK Singles Chart with “Because We Want To”, released under the stage mononym “Billie”. Her follow-up single “Girlfriend” also debuted at number one.
Piper’s debut album Honey to the B was released immediately afterwards, and entered and peaked at number 14 in the UK, selling more than 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom alone along with a platinum certification, and a double-platinum certification in New Zealand, where it peaked at number three on the New Zealand. However, Honey to the B found limited success in other territories, such as Australia, where it entered and peaked at number 31 on the Aria Albums Chart despite the success of “Honey to the Bee”, and in the US it went almost completely unnoticed, peaking at number 17 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart.
At the 1998 Smash Hits Poll Winners’ party, Piper was nominated for Best New Act (for which she came second, it being won by B*Witched) and won Princess of Pop (she was the first to win this award). She then released “She Wants You” as the third single from the album. The song reached number three. “Honey to the Bee” was released as the fourth single from the album; like the previous single, it reached number three. At the same time, “She Wants You” was released in the US, reaching number 9 on the “Hot Club Dance Play” chart.
In 1999, Piper was nominated for two BRIT Awards and won two awards at the 1999 Smash Hits Poll Winners’ party, although she was reduced to tears at the latter ceremony after being booed by fans of Ritchie Neville, whom she was dating at the time. She then started to tour and release in Asia. The singles and the album were released during mid-to-late 1999. In August of that year, the follow-up to “Because We Want To” was released in Japan, a single comprising “Girlfriend” and “She Wants You” combined. She recorded a song for Pokemon: The First Movie titled “Making My Way (Any Way That I Can)”.
During that time, Piper recorded her second album. She decided to release further records under her full name of Billie Piper. She returned to the Singles Chart in May 2000 with her third number-one single “Day & Night”. She waited until September to release “Something Deep Inside”, which reached number four, but her success waned. In October 2000, Piper released her second album, Walk of Life, which reached No. 14 in the UK Album Chart, but quickly fell off the charts and was certified silver in the UK. The album charted in two other countries: New Zealand, where it reached No. 17, and Australia, where it peaked at No. 23. In Piper’s autobiography, she states that the album was a “commercial bomb”. The song “Walk of Life”, the final single off the album, was released in December 2000 and reached No. 25 in the UK Singles Chart.
