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Aug 3

Charts – 31 July 2015

Posted on Monday, August 3, 2015 by Paul in Music

It’s a podcast weekend, so check one post down for the latest episode (or, if you prefer, two posts down for another Chikara show).  Meanwhile, the singles chart remains pretty quiet, though this looks to be the latest week in that vein.

29.  Disclosure featuring Sam Smith – “Omen”

This is the second single from Disclosure’s upcoming album – the first was “Holding On”, which surprisingly missed the top 40 entirely.  So here’s one with Sam Smith on it.  And it’s pretty good, actually; Smith’s voice seems like a better fit for this sort of material than it often does for his own records.  Smith previously appeared with Disclosure on “Latch”, which made number 11 in 2012, back at the start of both their careers.  It’s charting at this stage on streaming alone, so it’ll climb next week when it has actual sales to add.

28.  Aston Merrygold – “Get Stupid”

It was bound to happen – one of JLS tries for a solo career.  Yes, Marvin Humes is a member of LuvBug, but that was an attempt to subsume himself into an anonymous group, rather the the usual boy band solo approach.

And it turns out that the world was not on tenterhooks for a solo single by one of JLS; number 28 is not great, and the midweeks show it on course to drop straight out of the top 40.  Besides, something about this track doesn’t quite work; it’s trying for Mark Ronson, I guess, but feels a bit tinny.

25.  Foxes – “Body Talk”

The lead single from Foxes’ second album.  It’s good – Foxes does the 80s synthpop thing as an influence rather than a template, and makes the sort of record that they love on certain pop blogs.  But after her previous album got her into the top 20 three times, a number 25 debut is backsliding badly.  This is an under-performer.

17.  The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”

This has moved 34-33-34-37-25-26-17 as the promotion starts to pick up, and it’s going further.  Its move up the chart coincides with the release of the video, so apparently they do still make a difference.  As for the actual content of the video, it’s basically “Rock DJ” but taken terribly seriously.  There was a time when if you made a video where you set yourself on fire (don’t worry, kids, not really), you’d be doing it for the faux-controversy of getting your video banned from daytime TV.  In the YouTube era, these considerations no longer hold, so I guess he just likes being on fire.

4.  Sigma featuring Ella Henderson – “Glitterball”

This week’s highest new entry, which cements Sigma’s place as the Tesco Value Rudimental.  Sigma, you might recall, are the producers who got to number 1 last year with “Nobody To Love”, which was basically a bootleg remix of the radio-friendly bit from Kanye West’s “Bound 2”.  The follow-up “Changing”, with Paloma Faith, also got to number 1, and “Higher”, featuring Labrinth, got to number 12.  Now we have Ella Henderson lending her voice to one of their tracks.  The odd thing is that Sigma aren’t actually credited with writing any of these songs, so from the look of it they’re really just adding a fairly generic drum and bass production to the work of outside songwriters.  But the midweeks have it climbing, so the formula works.

1.  Little Mix – “Black Magic”

Third week.  It won’t manage a fourth, One Direction have got a new single out.

On the album chart:

  • “Born in the Echoes” by the Chemical Brothers at 1.  Every Chemical Brothers studio album has made number 1, except for their debut “Exit Planet Dust” back in 1995.  Like many bands of that vintage, they no longer need trouble themselves with hit singles.  Single: “Go”.  (It’s a Michel Gondry video, so worth a look.)
  • “VII: Sturm und Drang” by Lamb of God at 7.  The highest they’ve ever got in the UK.  By some counts it’s actually their eighth studio album, depending on whether you count the first one, which they released under the name Burn The Priest.  (They don’t, obviously.)  Disappointingly mellow single: “Overlord”.
  • “Walk With Me” by Bugzy Malone at 8.   Rapper from Manchester, debut album.  Single: “Watch Your Mouth”.
  • “Amused to Death” by Roger Waters at 10.  Remastered reissue of an album originally released in 1992.  Single: “What God Wants, Pt I”.
  • “Key Markets” by Sleaford Mods at 11.  Eight albums and eight years in, Sleaford Mods suddenly appear in the chart for the first time at number 11.  You couldn’t call this a commercial turn: see single “Tarantula Deadly Cargo”.
  • “Shockwave Supernova” by Joe Satriani at 22.  His 15th studio album, and the first to make the top 40 since 1998.  Another case of the decline of the album market favouring the veterans.  Single: “On Peregrine Wings”.

Bring on the comments

  1. K says:

    The Gondry link is broken. Probably of more interest than most.

  2. Paul says:

    Whoops. Fixed now.

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