Trouble creating bar graphs with numerical categories

[nryan_design]

I'm trying to make bar graphs showing financial data over several years. However when I use "2019, 2018" etc as categories, Illustrator thinks I'm giving actual data and tries to map the numbers on the graph. I end up with two side-by-side columns, with blank category names.

This what it's supposed to look like (manually created in InDesign using last year's data):

I'm on a tight deadline but would love to crack this puzzle! Any ideas how to get Illustrator to recognise these numbers as names?

[CarlosCanto · Accepted solution]

enclose your years in quotes

[nryan_design]

Perfect thank you!!