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Apr 22

Charts – 20 March 2014

Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2014 by Paul in Music

Another batch of dance records!  Oh, and Elyar Fox.

38.  DJ Snake & Lil Jon – “Turn Down For What”

Well, that video certainly isn’t making MTV UK’s daytime top 40 rundown.  This track has gone platinum in the USA, and it’s been climbing from the lower reaches for a few weeks now.  DJ Snake is a French producer, getting his first UK hit (if 38 counts as a hit).  Lil Jon has had quite a few hits in America, but his only previous UK appearance was as a guest rapper on Jay Sean’s “Do You Remember”, which made number 10 four years ago.

29.  Showtek & Justin Prime featuring Matthew Koma – “Cannonball (Earthquake)”

Third hit for the Dutch brothers Showtek, following last year’s top 5 hit “Booyah” and the current David Guetta collaboration “Bad”.  They do a lot of collaborating; this one, with Justin Prime, another Dutch DJ, started out as an instrumental back in 2012.  But for this release, it’s had vocals added from Matthew Koma, who was previously the featured vocalist on Hardwell’s “Dare You” – a number 18 flash in the pan in January.

13.  Meridian Dan featuring Big H & JME – “German Whip”

A crossover grime hit – well, kind of.  It was number 6 in the midweeks, so sales must have been pretty front loaded.  JME was one of the guest rappers on Wiley’s “Can You Hear Me? (Ayayaya)”, which made number 3 in 2012, but the others are chart newcomers.

Supposedly, a “whip” is an early motoring term which has been dusted off and repurposed as meaning “car”.  Originally (if you believe the internet) it actually meant a steering wheel, on the logic that it was equivalent to the coachwhip.  But close enough.

11.  Elyar Fox – “A Billion Girls”

Follow-up to “Do It All Over Again”, which made number 5 in January.  Diminishing returns are already in evidence.  At time of writing, it’s at 34 on iTunes, so this looks like another front loaded pop song selling predominantly in first-day fan purchases.  Actually, it’s not a horrible record, but the window for achieving any sort of crossover looks small.

3.  Shift K3y – “Touch”

UK garage – we haven’t had that in a while.  Shift K3y is 20-year-old producer Lewis Jankel, who has a few high profile remix assignments under his belt.  Unusually in this day and age, he’s doing his own vocals on this track.  He’s got a good voice, though I can’t help thinking the video director could have done him a few more favours.

1.  Kiesza – “Hideaway”

Debut hit for house singer Kiesa Rae Ellestad.  She’s from Calgary, but that’s Brooklyn in the video.  She’s a trained ballerina, which might explain why somebody decided to try a one-shot video like this.  Apparently she’s got a broken rib in this video, which can’t have been fun.

This sold 136,000 copies, though that does include several weeks of pre-order sales.  It’s the ninth straight week to see a change of number 1, and that’ll be continuing next week.  Admittedly one of those weeks was “Happy” returning to the top.  But otherwise, we seem to be back in a pattern of records entering at the top after advance promotion.  Interestingly, most of the artists in question have been relative newcomers rather than established fan base acts – Sam Smith, Route 94, Duke Dumont, 5 Seconds of Summer, Aloe Blacc, Sigma and now Kiesza.  Still, it’d be nice to see something break from the pack and stay at the top a bit longer.

On the album chart:

  • “Caustic Love” by Paolo Nutini at 1.  It’s the fastest selling album of the year, not that that’s a huge achievement these days.  The single “Scream” rebounds to 22 this week.
  • “Meet the Vamps” by the Vamps at 2.  A pretty solid debut for a teen pop band.  The single “Last Night” predictably drops 2-14 on the singles chart.
  • “Homo Erraticus” by Ian Anderson at 14.  The sixth solo studio album from the front man of Jethro Tull.  Again, it speaks volumes about the state of the album market that he’s now getting to number 14, when none of his previous releases got above 35.  Single: “Enter the Uninvited”.
  • “One Day Like This” by Rhydian at 19.  Yes, the guy who came second in the 2007 season of X Factor is still recording.  It’s the expected selection of classical crossover covers.  With this release, he apparently becomes only the second X Factor alumnus to make it to five albums (the other being JLS).  Admittedly, one of his five albums was a low-selling Welsh language release, but still, five albums.  Single: “Nights in White Satin”.  It’s in Italian, so as to be extra classy.
  • “Do The Beast” by the Afghan Whigs at 40.  Astonishingly, the first time the indie veterans have actually made the albums top 40 – 1996’s “Black Love” only got to 41.  Single: “Algiers”.  (I still think their 1993 single “Debonair” was inexplicably overlooked.)

Bring on the comments

  1. Joe S. Walker says:

    I checked out that Ian Anderson single. Bad idea to have a lyrics video when your lyrics are dreadful.

  2. Paul says:

    Yes. I thought that too.

  3. Joe S. Walker says:

    Actually it’s pretty good musically, in a “Thick As A Brick” way. But those lyrics… oh dear. Especially the Walking Dead reference.

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