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Jan 12

Charts – 11 January 2018

Posted on Saturday, January 12, 2019 by Paul in Music

Christmas is over, and the singles chart is back to something approaching normal.  Just four new entries, but they are normal new entries.

1.  Ava Max – “Sweet But Psycho”

Not that anything is yet breaking through to challenge Ava Max, who gets a third week at number 1.  She has a comfortable lead over the number 2 single (“Thank U Next”), equivalent to 27,000 sales, so she could be here a while yet.  Number 3 is “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Mark Ronson featuring Miley Cyrus, which is now Ronson’s biggest hit since “Uptown Funk”.  “Wow.” by Post Malone climbs to 5, pushing his own “Sunflower” down to 5.

6.  Headie One featuring Dave – “18Hunna”

Headie One is a drill rapper, and his label has high hopes for him to cross over as a mainstream act this year.  A new entry at number 6 is obviously a good start there.  Sure, it’s got a guest verse from Dave, who had a number hit a few months back, but it’s very much a showcase for Headie One, and a pretty convincing one.

“Rewrite the Stars” by James Arthur & Anne-Marie climbs to a new peak of 7, five weeks after it first peaked at 8 (because it was shoulder out of the way by the Christmas records over December).  “Hold My Girl” by George Ezra climbs 14-8 to give him his fifth top ten hit.  “Play” by Jax Jones and Years & Years climbs 19-11, which beats Jones’s previous single.

15.  Chris Brown – “Undecided”

Oh, him.  Chris Brown’s only appearance on the singles chart in 2018 was on Lil Dicky’s novelty record “Freaky Friday”; his last regular single release was “Questions”, which reached number 12 the previous year.  Naturally, this is the lead single from his next album, and it’s based on “I Love Your Smile” by Shanice, a number 2 hit in 1992.  I remember finding that song annoyingly perky at the time, but it’s a lot better than I remembered – the rap break which isn’t on the radio version helps a lot.  It was her only top 40 hit in Britain; she did better in America, where “Saving Forever for You” also made the top 10.

25.  NSG featuring Tion Wayne – “Options”

Making their first appearance on the top 40, NSG are a group from Hackney, from the Afro bashment side of UK rap.  This is really good; it’s a great hook, and deserves to go higher.  “Mo Bamba” by Sheck Wes is another beneficiary of the post-Christmas clearout, reaching a new peak of 26, six weeks after it first peaked at 27.

33.  Lewis Capaldi – “Grace”

Another debut.  Lewis Capaldi is a Scottish songwriter (yes, he is related to Peter, though only distantly) who’s also on the music industry’s list for 2019 – he’s shortlisted for the Brits Critics Choice Award, and he’s been a support act for Sam Smith.  This sort of midpaced balladry hasn’t been overrepresented in the charts of late but the continued success of George Ezra suggests a gap in the market.  The video’s fun.

Over on the albums chart, you’ll never guess, but The Greatest Showman soundtrack is still number one, for the twenty-sixth week in total.  It’s now been on the chart for 55 weeks.  There are actually climbers on the album chart, too – Fleetwood Mac‘s greatest hits album is up to 5, but maybe more noticeably is that Clean Bandit’s “What Is Love” has now reached the top 10 (albeit at 9) and Billie Eilish’s “Don’t Smile At Me” reaches number 20 in its 24th week.  There are just two new entries…

29.  A Boogie wit da Hoodie – “Hoodie SZN”

Somewhat unusual – an album which has climbed from the lower reaches, entering at 57 two weeks ago.  It’s probably connected with the weird decision to release the record at Christmas, but still, it’s something we don’t normally see.  This is his second album; the first didn’t chart in the UK.  He’s a New York rapper, and his real name is Artist Dubose.

35.  The Searchers – “The Farewell Album – Greatest Hits & More”

The Searchers were a Merseybeat group who had 12 hit singles between 1963 and 1966.  Aside from a  previous compilation, they haven’t placed an album since that period either.  Despite that, they’ve still been touring the nostalgia circuit, and as the title might suggest, this compilation is being released to tie in with their billed retirement tour in early 2019.  The Searchers had three number one hits in their heyday: “Sweets for my Sweet”, “Don’t Throw Your Love Away”, and the above track “Needles and Pins”.

Bring on the comments

  1. Joe S. Walker says:

    For me “I Love Your Smile” is one of those records that brings back vivid memories of a good time (summer 1991 surely?). That Chris Brown thing isn’t so much “based on” it as using it to provide something like a hook for a tired blur of prefabricated sounds. And comparing the vocals really shows how bad autotune is. There are all kinds of effects on Shanice’s voice, but it’s still a human being performing. Chris Brown’s vocal sounds like someone pressing keys on a keyboard.

  2. Ryan says:

    ““Wow.” by Post Malone climbs to 5, pushing his own “Sunflower” down to 5.”

    To 5, pushing it to 6 or to 4 pushing it to 5? Given we have a 6 listed, guessing it’s the latter?

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