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Aug 13

Charts – 11 August 2017

Posted on Sunday, August 13, 2017 by Paul in Music

Movement!

1.  Calvin Harris featuring Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry & Big Sean – “Feels”

We’re a good way into August, and here’s the eighth number one of 2017.  And for the second time in a month, it’s number one with an asterisk, because “Despacito” remains number 1 on both the sales and the streaming charts.  It’s purely the downweighting of “Despacito” streams (under the rule that applies to long-running hits which have passed their peak) that allows “Feels” to be number one.  But since “Despacito” drops to 4 this week on the main chart, it does looks like we’re finally rid of it.  “Feels” probably isn’t going to be here long either – it’s been out for two months, and it climbed 21-21-6-4-4-4-3-1 to get here, so it seems unlikely that a long run lies ahead of it.  But who knows, these days?

This was the fourth single from Harris’s self-explanatory album “Funk Wav Bounces Vol 1”, which until now was looking like a bit of an underperformer on the singles chart – “Slide” peaked at 10, “Heatstroke” at 25, and the promotional single “Rollin” didn’t even make the top 40.  At one point, the idea was supposedly to release every track as a single and basically treat the album as a hits collection.  Sales did not justify this course.  But “Feels” is probably the most successful track to emerge from Harris’s MOR funk direction, and it gives him his eighth number one – the others being Dizzee Rascal’s “Dance Wiv Me” (2008), “I’m Not Alone” (2009), Rihanna’s “We Found Love” (2011),  “Sweet Nothing” (2012), “Under Control” (2013), “Summer” (2014) and “Blame” (2014).  So it’s been a while, but that’s a nine year span now.

Pharrell Williams gets his third number one, after Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and his own “Happy”, both from 2013.  Katy Perry can probably count herself lucky for getting a technical fifth number one to add to “I Kissed A Girl” (2008), “California Gurls” (2010), “Part of Me” (2012) and “Roar” (2013).  And Big Sean gets his first number one, largely from being in the right place at the right time.

Below this, it’s a quiet chart until we reach the very bottom.  A lot of climbers, but mostly incremental.  “Unforgettable” by French Montana featuring Swae Lee climbs 4-2.  “New Rules” by Dua Lipa moves 9-5, for her first top five hit.  “Sun Comes Up” by Rudimental featuring James Arthur climbs 8-6.  “Subeme La Radio” by Enrique Iglesias featuring Sean Paul & Matt Terry is up 12-10, which gives Enrique Iglesias his first top ten hit in three years.  (At present, this is overwhelmingly a sales track – it’s only at 33 on streams – which suggests that the Matt Terry X Factor fans are turning out.)

“Back To You” by Louis Tomlinson featuring Bebe Rexha & The Digital Farm Animals moves 14-12, thus overtaking 2016’s “Me Myself and I” as the biggest Bebe Rexha hit.  “Sorry Not Sorry” by Demi Lovato goes 16-14, while the rather better “Instruction” by Jax Jones featuring Demi Lovato & Stefflon Don goes 22-16.  “Rain” by The Script climbs a more impressive 31-17, and I suspect it’s going further, since the Script can usually manage one top ten hit per album.  This is another sales-driven hit: 4 on sales, 55 on streams.   “Mi Gente” by J Balvin & Willy William climbs 21-19.  “Bestie” by Yungen featuring Yxng Bane is up 30-24.  “XO Tour Llife3″by Lil Uzi Vert moves 29-27.  “Congratulations” by Post Malone & Quavo is 37-29.  And “Most Girls” by Hailee Steinfeld goes 38-34.

Right.  Time for this week’s highest new entry!

35.  Charli XCX – “Boys”

Charli XCX was for many years a strange anomaly in the music industry – somebody working in pop who gets good reviews, doesn’t have hits, and is still here anyway.  She has a technical number one to her name because she was given a “featuring” credit on the UK release Icona Pop’s “I Love It” (which she wrote).  She did manage two top ten hits from her previous album – “Boom Clap” and “Doing It”.  But the lead single from this album – “After the Afterparty” – couldn’t get past number 29, and that was back in January.  So it’s been more than six months between fully promoted singles for this album, and that’s not a huge sign of confidence.  A lot of celebrity supporters in the video, though, and it’s getting reviews.  She always does, though.  Personally, I get a lot of ironic distance from tracks like this, but that’s not how her supporters seem to view her.

36.  Duke Dumont & Gorgon City featuring Naations – “Real Life”

House music.  It’s… a cyberbullying video, I guess?  People spend a lot of time looking at their phones, I don’t know if you’ve noticed.  Duke Dumont had a couple of number 1s in 2013-14 but this is the first time we’ve seen him in a couple of years; Gorgon City hasn’t been around since 2014 either.  Making their first appearance in the top 40, Naations is a duo consisting of producer Nicky Night Time and singer Nat Dunn – their own single “Alive” is here.

40.  Martin Garrix & Troye Sivan – “There For You”

School of Major Lazer, basically.  Garrix has had plenty of previous hits, including the 2013 number 1 “Animals” and this year’s Dua Lipa collab “Scared To Be Lonely”.  Troye Sivan is making his first top 40 appearance – he’s an Australian/South African singer.  He played the young Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

On the album chart…

  • “÷” by Ed Sheeran returns to number 1 yet again, for its fourth run and its fifteenth total week.  It’s been out for 23 weeks now and it’s still never been lower than 3.
  • “Adios” by Glen Campbell, which came out in June and was still hanging around the chart, rebound to a new peak of 2 following his death during the week.
  • A 30th anniversary re-issue of “Hysteria” by Def Leppard is 14.  Originally a number 1 in 1987.  The biggest hit single was “Animal”, which reached number 6, and to be honest is better than I remembered it being.
  • And “Pop Voodoo” by Black Grape is 15.  It’s a 20th anniversary reunion album.  Here’s the title track.

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