At last, a near-total hiatus in the release schedule means a week without a brand new number one!  Plus, the first of this year’s Eurovision hits – though we can guarantee seeing more next week…

38.  Katy Perry – “Birthday”

The song starts at 1:57, and I’m not altogether convinced this song really needed an eight minute video in which Katy Perry attempts to upset children by posing as inept party entertainers.  Supposedly the parties are genuine; people were told they were being filmed for a reality TV show.  Of course, that makes it an exercise in deliberately upsetting children, which I could live without.

34.  Jason Derulo featuring Snoop Dogg – “Wiggle”

The fourth single from Derulo’s album “Tattoos”.  There’s no video for this and it doesn’t seem to be (officially) on YouTube.  Snoop hasn’t been in the top 40 since 2011, but apparently he is indeed still making records, and not just advertising car insurance.  (Because if you were looking for car insurance, you’d trust Snoop Dogg’s endorsement, wouldn’t you?  He’s famed for his knowledge of the UK insurance market, and sure to have done his research before taking the money.)

33.  Molly – “Children of the Universe”

This is the UK’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on Saturday.  It’s the first solo chart credit for Molly Smitten-Downes, but she was also the vocalist for Stunt, who had a top 10 hit in 2008 with a mash-up of their track “Raindrops” and Sash’s “Encore Une Fois”.

For once, there was actually some hope that this might do respectably, and it is indeed a rather better effort than we’ve made in a while.  It’s a stock Eurovision we-are-all-one chorus, married to some trappings lifted from Florence Welch.  But it came 17th out of 26th, because while it wasn’t awful, it still got lost in the shuffle alongside some much more instantly memorable performances.

Since most UK viewers only hear the Eurovision songs on the night of the contest itself, and the weekly chart window closes at midnight that night, the downloads of contest songs will hit next week’s chart.  For once, it seems there could be quite a few of them.  At time of writing, the iTunes top 40 has the Dutch and Austrian songs (which came first and second) selling in quantities that are almost sure to place them in the top 40 on Sunday, with the Dutch looking set to make the top 10.  The Swedish and Danish entries are also in realistic chart contention.  But we’ll get to them next week.

22.  Gary Barlow – “Let Me Go”

Originally a number 2 hit in November, this appears to have re-entered on the back of a TV special.  A number of other Barlow tracks are floating around in the lower reaches of the top 75, presumably for the same reason.  His album “Since I Saw You Last” rebounds from 38 to 2, and Take That’s “Ultimate Collection” greatest hits album re-enters at 21.  All in all, a productive hour’s TV for Gary.

14.  Foxes – “Holding Onto Heaven”

Her third solo hit, just missing the top 10.  Still, that’s three top 20 hits from the as yet unreleased album, which isn’t bad at all for an act who’s being positioned as a songwriter more than a pop star.  This one’s got a hint of Florence Welch too, come to think of it.

 

7.  Paloma Faith – “Only Love Can Hurt Us”

This week’s highest climber, up 13 places.  It’s her third top ten hit, equalling the peak of her 2012 single “Picking up the Pieces”.

6.  Pitbull featuring G.R.L. – “Wild Wild Love”

That… is not how I would launch a new girl group.  Playing second fiddle to Pitbull?  And in the Playboy Mansion?  Does anyone still think Playboy is a fashionable brand?  Then again, this bunch started life as a recruitment drive to fill vacancies in the Pussycat Dolls, so you get what you sign up for, I guess.

It’s one of Pitbull’s less annoying, and less memorable, singles.  It understandably fails to make a huge impact on the chart even in a week with no competition.

1.  Mr Probz – “Waves”

Returning to number one after a one week interruption.  This ends a run of new entries at number 1 which stretches back to March, though we haven’t had a record spend two consecutive weeks at number 1 since Clean Bandit in February.  It won’t be happening next week, either, since Rita Ora’s new single has been building up pre-orders for a while.

On the album chart, a busier week.

• “Sheezus” by Lily Allen at number 1.  The singles haven’t done well – “Hard Out Here” and “Air Balloon” both made the lower end of the top 10 before swan diving, and “Our Time” didn’t even make the top 40.  But given the state of the albums market, it would still have been a major shock if her third album hadn’t topped the chart in a week with no real competition in terms of major mainstream releases.
• “Magic Stone Mountain” by Black Stone Cherry at 5. Southern rock.  It’s their third album to chart in this country (the fourth in total), and the highest to date.  Single: “Me and Mary Jane”.  (It’s as subtle as you’re expecting.)
• “Luminous” by The Horrors at 6.  Fourth album for the English indie outfit, who don’t sound anything much like their name would suggest.  The previous one went top ten as well, so apparently somewhere along the line they’ve been quietly accepted as UK indie veterans.  Single: “So Now You Know”.
• “Resurrection” by Anastacia at 9.  Anastacia hasn’t had a hit single since 2005, but she’s made three albums since then – one of which didn’t even get an official release in this country.  Single: “Stupid Little Things”.
• “Supernova” by Ray LaMontagne at 18.  Fifth album from the American folk singer, all of which have done at least respectably in this country, albeit with hitherto diminishing returns.  (Platinum, gold, silver, none of the above…)  Single: “Airwaves”.
• “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Michael Bolton at 19.  A Motown covers album that seems to have been out for months – I’m guessing it was marked down somewhere.  There doesn’t seem to be any official promotional material on YouTube.
• “American Interior” by Gruff Rhys at 24.  This is the fourth solo album from the Super Furry Animals’ frontman, and the third in English – but remarkably it’s the first to chart, even though the Animals have had 10 hit albums.  Title track video.
• “Natalie Merchant” by Natalie Merchant at 34.  Her sixth solo album, following on her career with 10,000 Maniacs.  Strangely, only the second to chart in this country (and the other one got to 39).  Single: “Giving Up Everything”.