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Mar 17

Charts – 15 March 2024

Posted on Sunday, March 17, 2024 by Paul in Music

Ariana Grande has a new album out, and nobody’s going up against that with new releases.

1. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

Four weeks. It was fairly close with Benson Boone at number two, though, so he’s got a shot next week. She’s also now relying on the downweighting rule for her number one position – without it, “Stick Season” would be back at the top.

3. Ariana Grande – “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)”
13. Ariana Grande – “Bye”

“We Can’t Be Friends” is the release week single from “Eternal Sunshine”, which enters at number 1 – if you hadn’t figured it out, the video is basically a four-minute remake of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a film released when Ariana Grande was 11. It’s a very Robyn-esque track.  “Bye”, on the other hand, is just an album track. She maxes out her three song limit with “Yes And”, which rebounds to number 6 – though it only dropped out of the top 10 last week. She hasn’t had a number 1 from this album yet, but “Yes And” peaked at number 2 and it’s had eight weeks in the top 10, which I’m sure will do her fine.

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Mar 9

Charts – 8 March 2024

Posted on Saturday, March 9, 2024 by Paul in Music

Evidently the Brit Awards do still move the needle. But first…

1. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

That’s three weeks at number one. She’s never actually had a longer run at number one, whether as a solo artist or with Destiny’s Child – currently, this is tied with “Crazy in Love” and “Beautiful Liar”.

13. Raye featuring 070 Shake – “Escapism”
38. Raye – “Worth It”

Raye won six awards at the Brit Awards last week, which is getting into “why did anyone else bother showing up” territory. And it does result in a surge for her music. “Escapism”, her number one from 2022, re-enters at 13. “Prada”, which was still hanging around in the low 20s, rebounds to number 18 – it’s not exactly a Raye song, but she did include it in a medley at the Brit awards show.

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Mar 3

Charts – 1 March 2024

Posted on Sunday, March 3, 2024 by Paul in Music

Quite a lot of climbers this week, partly because of records getting hit by the downweighting rule and making room for them. However…

1. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

…they’re not shifting this. Two weeks – and yes, it would be number one even without the downweighting rule. (By the way, I know the official term is “accelerated chart ratio”, but that would take even more explanation…) Oddly, sister track “16 Carriages” continues to struggle and has yet to make the top 40. I can understand why it’s not as big, but I’d have thought it would at least chart.

15. SZA – “Saturn”

This is the lead single from…well, it’s weird. It’s the lead single from something called “Lana”, which isn’t actually being released as a standalone album, but as a new second disc on a reissue of her previous album “SOS”. It makes no difference if you’re streaming, of course, but… why? Anyway, it’s a characteristically meandering but charming track, at least until the Mastercard advert at the end. Don’t look at me, this is the only official video I could find. It’s her highest position as a lead artist since “Kill Bill” reached number 3 in 2022.

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Feb 25

Charts – 23 February 2024

Posted on Sunday, February 25, 2024 by Paul in Music

After seven weeks at number 1 – and it would have been more without the Christmas flood – “Stick Season” is finally far enough past its peak to get hit by the downweighting rule, and drops to number 5. Our new number one is…

1. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

Climbing from last week’s number 9, but that was based on a midweek release. Nonetheless, this was absolutely not a foregone conclusion. “Texas Hold ‘Em” is Beyoncé’s eighth UK number one, if you count Destiny’s Child records. The other seven are “Independent Women” (2000), “Survivor” (2001), “Crazy in Love” (2003), “Deja Vu” (with Jay-Z, 2006), “Beautiful Liar” (with Shakira, 2007), “If I Were a Boy” (2008) and “Telephone” (with Lady Gaga, 2009). You may note that the last of those was 15 years ago.

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Feb 17

Charts – 16 February 2024

Posted on Saturday, February 17, 2024 by Paul in Music

I had completely forgotten that Noah Kahan was even in the album top ten but…

1. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”
31. Noah Kahan – “Forever”

That’s seven weeks. You’d think it’d be tailing off by now – it’s been on the top 40 for a total of 19 weeks by now. But Noah Kahan is touring the UK right now, and he’s also released the deluxe edition of his third album, also titled “Stick Season”. That album was released in October 2022, and first showed up in the album chart in June 2023 when his got his first minor hit single (“Dial Drunk”). It re-entered the album top 40 back in October and it’s been climbing ever since. It’s been in the top five all year and it now climbs to number 1. Very, very few albums climb to number 1, let alone on this sort of timescale.

As for “Forever”, that’s the token original track from the new edition of the album – the rest of the new tracks are the duet versions of existing album tracks that he’s previously released as singles. “Forever” is not officially a single, which is unsurprising given that it has a very slow two and a half minute introduction. Kahan also has a third track in the top 40, “Homesick”, at number 11.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is still stuck at number 2, where “Murder on the Dancefloor” has spent five of the last six weeks.

9. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

Beyoncé goes country. There was a time when I’d have said this might be a tough sell for the international audience, but country’s having a relatively good year in the singles chart. That said, it’s the more folky side of country that’s been doing okay in the UK, so I’ll be interested to see how this plays. It’s certainly a bold move.

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Feb 9

Charts – 9 February 2024

Posted on Friday, February 9, 2024 by Paul in Music

Sometimes I hope for a nice quiet week. Sometimes the charts really, really deliver.

1. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”

Six weeks. It heads up a gloriously uneventful top four of non-movers.

40. Good Neighbours – “Home”

There you go. That’s this week’s new entries. They’re a London duo and this is their debut single. Entirely pleasant! It’s also climbing from last week’s number 81, so there’s every reason to think that it’s likely to go further.

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Feb 3

Charts – 2 February 2024

Posted on Saturday, February 3, 2024 by Paul in Music

Still here, then?

1. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”

As the number one in waiting throughout Christmas, I figured this would hang on long enough to get a couple of weeks after the festive rush. But no, here we are in February and week five. He’s seen off Ariana Grande; his biggest challengers right now is “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims, climbing to 3, and “Murder on the Dancefloor” continuing its revival run at number 2.

It’s a quiet week for new entries in the top end of the chart, so we move on to…

20. YG Marley – “Praise Jah in the Moonlight”

Debut hit. YG Marley is the grandson of Bob Marley, and the son of Lauren Hill, which is quite the pedigree. “YG” stands for “Young God”, apparently – his first name is Joshua. The song is partly based on “Crisis”, a 1978 album track by Bob Marley & the Wailers. We don’t get much reggae on the singles chart, but this is pretty appealing quite aside from the family name. It’s already been number one in New Zealand and made the Dutch top ten.

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Jan 27

Charts – 26 January 2024

Posted on Saturday, January 27, 2024 by Paul in Music

It’s the end of January and the charts are now firmly back in their normal rhythm.

1. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”

Four weeks, and having seen off Ariana Grande, he seems to be settling in for the long haul. This week’s biggest challenge, for example, comes from…

5. Noah Kahan & Sam Fender – “Homesick”

This is the latest in a series of reissues of Kahan’s album tracks with guest verses by other singers – basically the equivalent of the single remix with the guest rapper. This time it’s Sam Fender, who understandably has completely different lyrics for his verse because he plainly did not grow up in New England. They didn’t change the chorus, though, making him a weird fit.

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Jan 19

Charts – 19 January 2024

Posted on Friday, January 19, 2024 by Paul in Music

Well, I didn’t see this coming.

1. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season” 

That’s three weeks at number one, and a total of 13 weeks in the top 10. Consecutive weeks, even during the Christmas deluge. This is a very big hit, but it’s been around for a while now, so you’d expect it to be easy prey for a big new release by now. Nope.

2. Ariana Grande – “Yes, And?”

This is the lead single from her next album. I must admit I expected her to take number 1 almost by default, particularly since her last album was in 2020. Apparently we’re doing Madonna homage now, and why not? It’s probably due for a revival. I’m not wild about the song, though – lyrically, it’s pretty hamfisted.

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Jan 14

Charts – 12 January 2024

Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2024 by Paul in Music

Things are getting back to normal, but we’re still in an odd kind of limbo where the post-Christmas hype cycle is taking its time to get going, and back catalogue material is filling some of that void.

1. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”

Two weeks. I can’t see him managing a third, because Ariana Grande has a new single out, but I suppose anything’s possible.

11. The Weeknd, Playboi Carti & Madonna – “Popular”

The soundtrack to the much-maligned The Idol is experiencing some kind of resurgence. “One of the Girls” entered at 21 last week, and it’s still at 25 this week. Now “Popular” resurfaces at 11 – precisely where it peaked last summer.

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