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Before
moving on to discuss this weeks chart it would be wrong of
me not to at least pay a passing tribute to the King Of
Pop Michael Jackson who passed away this week aged 50.
I remember queueing outside the record store on the day
‘Bad’ was released just to get a copy in my hands as
soon as possible, and I marvelled as each track became a
hit single in its own right. I remember watching
live coverage of his acquittal following accusations of
child abuse, and it seemed everything he did left him in
the spotlight.
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‘Thriller’
is the best selling album of all time, and few will dispute its
brilliance as a pop album, a dance album and a visual album (the
‘Thriller’ video remains the stuff of legends). Let’s hope
he is remembered for his talent and his music, not for rumours and
speculation.
Although
he triumphed in the album chart with his ‘Number Ones’
compilation he failed to dent the top ten leaving the path clear
for synth duo La Roux to debut at the top with their second hit
‘Bulletproof’. Their success meant that last weeks
number one ‘When Love Takes Over’ by David Guetta featuring
Kelly Rowland fell a place to no.2.
Black
Eyed Peas held their no.3 spot with ‘Boom Boom Pow’ while Lady
Gaga advanced four places to no.4 with ‘Paparazzi’. Keri
Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo were a non mover at no.5
with ‘Knock You Down’ while Agnes went down two to no.6 with
‘Release Me’. Pixie Lott fell five places to no.7 with ‘Mama
Do (Uh Oh Uh Oh)’ and Daniel Merriweather also went down one to
no.8 with ‘Red’. Dizzee Rascal featuring Armand Van Helden
went down three to no.6 with ‘Bonkers’ and the top ten was
concluded by The Veronicas who got a non mover at no.10 with
‘Untouched’.
There
was one re-entry, one new entry and two climbers in the remainder
of the top twenty. Michael Jackson got the first of his six top
forty singles at no.11 as ‘Man In The Mirror’ re-entered ten
places ahead of its original peak. The hotly tipped Florence &
The Machine made their debut at no.12 with ‘Rabbit Heart’ and
Freemasons featuring Sophie Ellis Bextor climbed two to no.13 with
‘Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)’. The final climber inside the
top twenty went to
Linkin
Park
who went back up two to no.19 with ‘New Divide’.
There
were five re-entries, two new entries and three climbers in the
lower half of the chart. Basement Jaxx got the highest of
those new entries as ‘Raindrops’ went straight in at no.21
while Michael Jackson re-entered at no.23 with ‘Thriller’.
He also got a re-entry at no.25 with ‘Billie Jean’ and no.28
with ‘Smooth Criminal’. The Saturdays broke things up a
bit as ‘Work’ climbed two to no.29 while Michael Jackson aslo
re-entered at no.30 with ‘Beat It’. The Noisettes got a
new entry at no.31 with ‘Never Forget You’ while Jason Mraz
went back up four to no.35 with ‘I’m Yours’ spending a
twenty ninth week on the chart. Gossip climbed three to no.37 with
‘Heavy Cross’ and the final re-entry went to ‘Earth Song’
at no.38 by Michael Jackson.
Those
positions were achieved in just two days of sales following
Jackson
’s death on Thursday night
UK
time. With publicity and tributes likely to continue he may yet
break Elvis Presley’s record of seven top forty hits in one
week.
There
were a further fourteen
Jackson
5 / Michael Jackson tracks in the top 75 which is some
achievement. ‘You Are Not Alone’ returned at no.44, ‘Black
& White’ found itself at no.45 and ‘The Way You Make Me
Feel’ was at no.47. ‘Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough’ was
at no.48 and ‘Dirty Diana’ was at no.50. Further down saw ‘I
Want You Back’ at no.55, ‘Bad’ at no.57 and ‘Ben’ at
no.58. ‘ABC’ was at no.65 and ‘They Don’t Care About Us’
was two places lower at no.67. ‘I’ll Be There’ was at no.70,
‘Wanna Be Startin’ Something’ found itself at no.72 while
‘Rock With You’ was at no.73. The final entry was
‘Blame It On The Boogie’ at no.75.
Few
could have predicted just how well The Saturdays would kick off
their career with each of their first single releases making the
top ten. ‘Work’ is the fourth single to be taken from
their ‘Chasing Lights’ album and has already made the top
forty on the strength of download sales. They started out
supporting Girls Aloud on tour but are now set for a headline tour
of their own later this year. The album made no.11 on its original
release in November last year while it later made no.9 following
the success of their Comic Relief cover of Depeche Mode’s early
80s hit ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. A second album is due for
release later on this year. ‘Work’ has been remixed for radio
airplay by Phil Tan and is released on a physical CD format this
week with a new bonus track ‘Unofficial’.
Cheesy
dance act Cascada first charted back in 2004 with their single
‘Miracle’ which got to no.8. Although the DJs behind the act
(DJ Manian and Yanou) are both German, they are fronted by the
English singer Natalie Horler. They have notched up worldwide
album sales of over 4m copies worldwide. Since ‘Miracle’ they
have since gone on to enjoy five top forty hits, four of which got
as far as the top ten including their biggest hit ‘Everytime We
Touch’ which made no.2 back in 2005. They are now back
with their new single ‘Evacuate The Dancefloor’ and its their
first single to be taken from their forthcoming album of the same
name. It comes released on CD and download formats and could well
do well with people jetting off on their European holidays over
the coming weeks.
‘Disrespectful’
is the brand new single by Chaka Khan featuring Mary J Blige.
Despite her reputation Chaka Khan has only made the
UK
top forty on ten occasions. Her only number one came back in 1984
with her cover of the Prince track ‘I Feel For You’. It’s
been twenty years since her last appearance in her own right
though she did guest on the 2000 De La Soul hit ‘All Good’.
She has also charted with Quincy Jones, Guru and Rufus. Mary J
Blige has enjoyed twenty five top forty hits though she has never
made the top spot. Her biggest hit came on her U2
collaboration ‘One’ and her last appearance was last year with
‘Just Fine’. This is a great combination of soul legends
and deserves to do well in the charts this weekend. It is
released on a CD format this week.
Jamie
T returns this week with his ‘Sticks N Stones’ EP which
features 4 new tracks. ‘Sticks N Stones’ is the main track but
the CD and 12” formats also features new songs ‘St
Christopher’, ‘On The Green’ and ‘The Dance Of The Young
Professionals’. He is twenty two years old and hails from
Wimbledon
, with ‘Calm Down Dearest’ has been his biggest hit making
no.9 back in 2007. However he is perhaps best known for his
song ‘Sheila’ which features Bob Hoskins in the video and
charted in both 2006 and 2007 making no.22 first time around
before reaching no.15 on its reissue. He is currently
working on his second album ‘Kings & Queens’ which is the
follow up to his 2007 album ‘Panic Prevention’. Assuming
it complies with chart rules this should be inside the top thirty
next weekend.
New
Jersey
based four piece rock band Gaslight Anthem release their new
single ‘The 59 Sound’ this week. It comes released on CD
and vinyl formats with the CD containing bonus tracks ‘State Of
Love And Trust
’ and ‘We Came To Dance’. This week sees the
band making appearances around Europe including the Roskilde
Festival, the Vainstream Festival in
Germany
and Ruisrock in
Finland
. They are also pencilled in for appearances at Oxegen in
Dublin
and T In The Park in
Glasgow
later this Summer. I’m not sure whether this will chart
particularly well as fans will already have this on the album of
the same name released last August. It was their
second studio album released as a follow up to their 2007 debut
‘Sink Or Swim’ though it peaked at a relatively lowly no.154.
New York
alternative rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs release their new single
‘Heads Will Roll’ this week. The band have built up a solid
fanbase over the years and are known for their charismatic singer
Karen O. The single comes on physical 7” vinyl and CD formats
with both versions coming backed with the Passion Pit remix of the
track. It is the follow up to their last single ‘Zero’
and both tracks feature on their third studio album ‘It’s
Blitz’ which made the top ten earlier this year. To date they
have managed five top forty appearances starting with
‘Machine’ back in 2002 and most recently featuring ‘Gold
Lion’ in 2006. The video to the single was directed by Richard
Ayaode who is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Moss on
Channel 4’s programme ‘The IT Crowd’.
London
based indie band Bombay Bicycle Club release their third official
single ‘Dust On The Ground’ this week. It comes released
on CD and 7” vinyl formats with both versions featuring the new
track ‘Curl Up Like A Dead Leaf And Go Where The Wind Blows’.
The single is the follow up to their last release ‘Always Like
This’ with both tracks featuring on their new studio album ‘I
Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose’. They famously played the
opening performance of the V Festival in 2006 as they won the
‘Road To V’ competition on Channel 4. They have yet to
make the mainstream chart though ‘Always Like This’ did reach
the lower end of the top one hundred. Their ‘How We Are’
EP did make no.2 on the Indie chart and the band have started to
build a decent following.
Finally
this week comes Indie five piece The Rumble Strips with their new
single ‘Not The Only Person’. It comes released on CD with the
bonus track being ‘The Hard Way’. It’s the first
single to be taken from their second studio album ‘Welcome To
The Walk Alone’ which is the follow up to their 2007 debut
‘Girls & Weather’. They hail from Tavistock in Devon
and have narrowly missed out on chart glory previously with
‘Alarm Clock’ peaking at no.41 and ‘Motorcycle’ charting
at no.46 despite an acclaimed cover of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back
To Black’. That particular cover impressed renowned
producer Mark Ronson so much that he offered to work with the band
on this new album. I think this will give them a debut top
forty hit next Sunday though expect to see it lower down in the
chart.
White
Lies were initially known as Fear Of Flying but have enjoyed
considerably more success since changing their name. Their debut
album ‘To Lose My Life’ went straight in at no.1 earlier this
year and has yielded top forty singles in the shape of ‘Farewell
To The Playground’ and its title track. Now comes the
reissue of ‘Death’, which made no.52 on its first release last
year. It comes released on two limited edition 7” vinyl singles
with the first featuring the Crystal Castles remix alongside the
Mistabishi remix while the other contains the M83 remix of
‘Nothing To Give’. Normally they would expect to creep
into the lower reaches of the top forty but with Michael Jackson
mania likely to take up even more top forty places next weekend
they may well end up being forced out.
Also
released this week are ‘Summertime Clothes’ by Animal
Collective, ‘Stop The World’ by The Big Pink, ‘Rusted From
The Rain’ by Billy Talent, ‘Hooligans’ by Don Diablo &
Example, ‘Lust For Vampyr’ by I Monster, ‘Not Me Not You’
by Jacks, ‘The Crown Jewels EP’ by Marina & The Diamonds,
‘Her Diamonds’ by Rob Thomas, ‘Angel Falls’ by Robin
Guthrie, ‘The Girl & The Robot’ by Royksopp featuring
Robyn, ‘Panic Switch’ by Silversun Pickups and ‘Twilight’
by Vogue. Download only releases include ‘Out From Under’ by
Ali Campbell, ‘Cape Wrath’ by Colin McIntyre, ‘The Age Of
Revolution’ by The Duckworth Lewis Method, ‘Blame It’ by
Jamie Foxx featuring T-Pain, ‘Notion’ by Kings Of Leon, ‘Go
Hard’ by Lethal Bizzle featuring Donaeo, ‘I Don’t Know’ by
Lisa Hannigan, ‘Maybe I’m Crazy’ by Milke, ‘Feel’ by
Opposite Worlds and ‘My Fantasy’ by Shena.
‘Man
In The Mirror’ was selling at 10k a day last week and so looks
to have a good shot at next weeks summit but La Roux might have
enough in them to see him off. Don’t forget to stop by next week
when new releases look set to include Franz Ferdinand, Lady Gaga,
The Maccabees and VV Brown. Until then have yourself a good
week.
JHME Music Correspondent
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