Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2006
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2006
So - the Christmas #1 song will again be hijacked by reality television, in the form of Leona, the latest winner of X-Factor. What happened to the days when the Christmas #1 had that Christmassy feel to it, rather than just a cover of another song?
I guess the whole program is scheduled in such a way that they hit the Christmas market, and by dragging it out over a few months, the public get an affinity for the eventual winner after seeing them so many times over the preceding month(s).
I don’t think they’ll be able to get away from recording a cover of a previous song as they don’t know who will be the eventual winner. Therefore, to suit the voice they have to pick a reasonably ‘bland’ song which anyone who can sing, can sing.
Maybe they should dig through the archives then and find a suitable Christmas song - there must be some ‘classical’ songs they can bring up to date…
You can definitely tell that Christmas is coming by the number of ‘odd’ albums in the charts…
Over the last few weeks there’s been an influx of easy-listening artists (for want of a better phrase), such as All Angels, Angelis and Katherine Jenkins. These aren’t the normal type of artist that manages to make it to the artist chart. These are normally the domain of the classical chart. However, as these contain their versions of ‘pop’ songs, they’re ineligible for that chart. I think it’s odd though that there should be so many at the same time.
This week sees the addition of the Fron Male Voice Choir to this ever growing list, as well as the usual Christmas ‘filler’ CD, Now 65, the latest in the series. Also add Westlife and the release of the new Take That album to the list this week and it means that the big guns (and the not-so-big guns) have been wheeled out for Christmas…
No sooner do I post about the changes below, then they change again.
From January 2007 any download that registers enough sales to chart will get a chart placing, irrespective of whether there is a physical CD/vinyl copy available. I presume the stores have agreed to this as well, in some way, or their fears of a wall of singles with gaps could be realised. Additionally any album track released as a download can chart as well, dependent on sales of course.
What this does mean though is that we could get the laughable situation that happened this week in the US charts, where six out of eight new entries were from the Hannah Montana soundtrack. This happened earlier on in the year with High School Musical - another Disney product.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see as to whether these new rules need to be tweaked a bit more…
Well, since the last post there have been some goings-on with the charts. Downloads are now eligible one week before the physical copy. This is still pandering to the record shops though who were concerned that if songs charted on download only, they would have emptier walls for those singles that were not physically available. However, you go into a record shop these days, and you’ll be hard pushed to find the singles. They’re usually in a corner somewhere or not even marked.
Still, this has meant that the usual practice of going in at #1 has mostly been stopped, except for the occasional few big releases. Last year there were about 20-odd singles that went straight in at #1, so far there have only been 7, including this week’s McFly single.
There is talk of removing this one week rule at the beginning of next year, so we will have to wait and see what happens. This may be the start of the end of the physical single, but I guess there will always be some people that want to hold a physical copy of a single rather than going online and clicking a few buttons.
For the first time in about 8 years there is a Brit atop the US charts. Yep, James Blunt got the #1 single this week, with ‘You’re Beautiful’. The song managed 8 weeks at #1 in the UK charts last year, so here’s hoping he mirrors that in the US. Mind you, it’s taken him 16 weeks to rise up through the charts to get the #1, so it may be a brief stint at the top. Still, it makes a change to the R&B stuff that gets to the top with the help of a lot of airplay in the bigger US cities.
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A big week for the #1 single this week, which is effectivley a re-entry as JCB Song by Nizlopi entered there chart for one week in June this year, but only reached #160. Due to extra promotion it now debuts at #1 with sales of 81,000. However, it doesn’t make the Christmas #1 - that honour is reserved for this week’s chart, which looks like it will be X-Factor winner Shayne Ward.
Westlife and Diana Ross, meanwhile, have to settle for the runners-up position, with sales of half that of Nizlopi. Which is perfectly OK with me. Westlife have their sound which works well for them, but does get monotonous after a while when it’s ballad after ballad being churned out. Just a few places lower sees the return of that Crazy Frog with a seasonal offering. This should hopefully be the last we hear of this crazy amphibian as it must surely have exhausted all the words it knows. (Not to mention exhausting everyone who listens to one of the songs.) Other than Robbie Williams and McFly entering lower than that (#8 and #9 respectively), this week is a quiet week for releases as they steer clear of Shayne… On the albums it’s an even quieter week as there are only 2 new entries and 1 re-entry this week. However at the top of the charts is a busy Christmas buying week, as the top 10 albums each sell over 100,000 each. Eminem remains at the top with sales just a Shad-y below 200,000 copies, with Robbie Williams and Westlife close behind. This week will be similar with Christmas buying still making up most of the sales, and there aren’t many new albums released this week, if any… #1 singles sales this year: |
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This week sees the return of the low-selling #1 single as StickWitU registers only slightly over 31,000 sales last week. This lower sales figure allows Madonna to regain one position and move 3-2.
These low sales do not stop the release of other singles from slowing down as there are 22 new entries in the top 75 this week. The highest of these new entries belongs to the Sugababaes with another catchy tune, and which is my favourite from the album. The album itself climbs 13 places to reach the top 10 again, settling at #8. Further down the singles chart are a few entries from albums that have been out a while - Gwen Stefani’s Love Angel Music Baby and KT Tunstall’s Eye To The Telescope. Although KT Tunstall creeps into the top 40 at #39 with what is now the fourth release from the ablum, Gwen Stefani has to settle for #44 with the song Luxurious being the fourth single from the album as well. Enya’s title track from the new album Armarantine only manages to debut at #53. I guess the time has come to call her an album artist… or it could be that her sound is nothing new and people have tired of it in the modern music environment. Most of her old fans are now much older and would tend to buy the album instead. On the albums chart this week there is a surprising number of new entries in the top 75 - the grand total of 2 - one near the top and one near the bottom. Girls Aloud enter the top half of the chart, but only make #11, in a week of strong album sales. Korn get the entry at the other end of the chart, debuting at #71. Christmas buying of alubms has now started in earnest, witnessed by the juggling of positions in the chart - 28 going up, 33 going down - mostly in small numbers. This is also reflected in the sales figures with an increase of 1million sales over last week. There’s every possibility of an increase this week, but probably not as dramatic. However, with Christmas Day falling on a Sunday this year, there’s every chance of last minute buying elevating the sales for Christmas week. #1 singles sales this year: |
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The Pussycat Dolls make it to the top this week on their own, with a very much slowed down song compared to their previous offering. They do this with a fairly commanding lead of 13,000 over second placed Oasis, and Madonna drops from #1 to #3, 5,000 behind Oasis. Last weeks Top 4 therefore all move down two positions to make way for these two new entries at the top.
Unusual for the charts these days, there are artists with more than one song in the charts. The full rundown is as follows: Gorillaz 3, Kelly Clarkson 3, James Blunt 2, Kaiser Chiefs 2, Oasis 2, Pussycat Dolls 2, Sean Paul 2, Rihanna 2 and Simon Webbe 2. Many of these are previous releases which are still hanging around, possibly due to the influence of the includsion of downloads prolonging the chart life of a record. Band Aid 20 makes a re-entrance to the Top 75 this week as well, a year after it was re-recorded. The Bodyrockers don’t seem to want to go away either, with a re-entry this week at #73, which allows them to notch up their 32nd week in the Top 75. Not bad for a song that entered the chart way back in April. On the albums chart Eminem Greatest Hits package - Curtain Call - enters at #1 with sales approaching 113,000. Robbie Williams bounces back up to 2, buoyed by Christmas buying and also possibly with the prospect of Take That re-uniting for their tour next year. Although this theory is dampened somewhat by the drop of Take That’s Ultimate Collection dropping one place from #3 to #4. G4, runners up to Steve Brookstein in X Factor 2004 do well with their second album, G4 And Friends. Not bad for runners-up, considering that Steve Brookstein was winner, released one album and was subsequently dropped by his record label. What prospects then for this year’s winners? The Darkness make a return to the chart this week with the release of their new album, One Way Ticket To Hell… And Back. The title song sounds very familiar to me, and I can’t help thinking of Belinda Carlisle’s Heaven Is A Place On Earth in parts of the song. James Blunt climbs back into the Top 10, possibly as a result of the release of his next song taken from the album. Meanwhile, further down the chart the olders artist to make the chart makes a debut - Santa, no doubt singing many Christmas Carols #1 singles sales this year: |
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On the singles chart it’s a fairly quiet week this week as the top 3 singles remain locked at the top. It’s that quiet that three songs climb within the Top 10, and overall there are 8 singles climbing in the Top 75 this week. Simon Webbe climbs three places from #7 to #4 with No Worries, and his previous entry, Lay Your Hands, registers a 6 place climb further down the chart (#64 to #58). Although a quiet week, there’s only slightly less than the usual number of entries in the Top 75, but only 4 of the 18 this week manage to debut within the Top 20. The highest of these new entries goes to Gorillaz whose Dirty Harry track enters at #6. This means that they currently have 3 songs in the chart - Dirty Harry #6, Dare #28, Feel Good Inc #68. Feel Good Inc registers its 30th week in the Top 75 and there are currently a few contenders who could top this before leaving the chart. James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful is currently on it’s 26th week, and just outside the Top 40, and Daniel Powter’s Bad Day in on 18 weeks and sitting at #20. Surely downloads are bringing some ’stability’ to the chart these days? On the albums chart, Madonna stays at the summit for another week, only narrowly staying ahead of Will Young’s latest offering by 3,000 copies. This is Will Young’s third album in four years and his first week sales are way down on previous tallies. Enya does her usual and releases a new album just in time for Christmas and enters at #8. However, with this album sounding just like the rest, it will be interesting to see if any previous success can be emulated. In the US, where Only Time was played constantly after the 9/11 attacks, it will be even more interesting to see if the new album catches on more. Busted re-incarnation Son Of Dork only manage to enter at #35. Definitely not worth splitting up for… #1 singles sales this year: |
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It’s another double top this week as Madonna holds both #1 positions on the singles and albums charts this week. She holds on to her #1 singles spot with sales of 60,000, and runs away with the albums title with over 217,000 sold. Westlife, meanwhile, stay steady at #2 with their cover of a cover (it’s been sung before by many an artist, although none of them have been as successful as Westlife).
It’s a busy week this week at the top of the singles chart with six new entries in the Top 10 alone - Black Eyed Peas, Girls Aloud, Will Young, Liberty X, The Darkness and the White Stripes making their entrance in the Top 10. For all of them it’s not their debut single, so I would presume it’s the start of the big guns getting ready for the Christmas market and the usual Christmas cash-in album that usually gets released. It’s interesting that the rest of the new entries further down the chart are by not as big artists as those at the top. Take That make a return to the albums chart, complete with the talk of recent weeks that they are considering a ‘reunion’. They’re still popular despite quitting about 10 years ago, in part due to everyone being reminded of them in the form of Robbie Williams, but I feel a reunion would not be in their best interests. Although pop is still pop, times and tastes have changed since then. Alanis Morrissette mirrors the poor showing of her last single with her latest album, a Greatest Hits package entering at #44. There was a time when she’d be sitting near the top of the charts. The War Of The Worlds makes a return this week as well, no doubt helped by the release of the DVD last week, and also as Christmas presents. Spare a thought for Bananarama this week - their single takes a dive down the singles chart, but this is not as bad as the debut position of their latest album, which only manages to enter at #169. A sad state of affairs for one of the great groups of the 80s. |
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