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May 25

Charts – 24 May 2019

Posted on Saturday, May 25, 2019 by Paul in Music

Well, it’s a busy week for albums, at least.

1.  Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber – “I Don’t Care”

Two weeks.  Since last week, we’ve established that Sheeran’s upcoming album is entitled “No 6 Collaborations Project”, which goes some way towards explaining what Bieber is doing here – commercially, at any rate, because he sure isn’t adding much creatively.  The title refers back to his self-released 2011 album “No 5 Collaborations Project” (numbers 1-4 apparently being earlier EPs, though his discography lists seven earlier EPs, so you may picture me here shrugging and moving on).  It heads up a top 4 made up entirely of records that reached number 1, which “Old Town Road”, “Someone You Loved” and “Vossi Bop” still hanging around – “Old Town Road” is actually still growing, despite being shoved aside by Sheeran.

Lewis Capaldi‘s first charting single “Grace” has been hanging around for a while, but vaults from 28 to 9 on the release of parent album “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent” (I know), which goes straight to number one.  The single’s previous peak was 21. “Someone You Loved” climbs 4-3, and “Hold Me While You Wait” climbs 8-5, giving him the maximum three songs on the singles chart, all in the top 40 – though for once, they’re all song that were on the top 40 already.  It goes without saying that without the three-song cap, we’d be swimming in Lewis Capaldi tracks this week.

“All Day & Night” by Jax Jones & Martin Solveig featuring Madison Beer climbs 11-10, having taken four painful weeks to get here from number 14.  It’s Jones’s fifth top ten hit, and Solveig’s second (to go with 2015’s “Intoxicated”).  “What I Like About You” by Jonas Blue featuring Theresa Rex climbs 19-16, but there’s not much to say about that.

17.  Tyler, the Creator – “Earfquake”
30.  Tyler, the Creator – “I Think”

Tyler, the Creator has had four previous hit albums, going back to 2011, but has never previously registered on the singles chart, even as a guest.  His fifth album “Igor” enters at number 4 this week (improving on number 9 for its predecessor), and he just misses out on getting the maximum three hit singles, with “Igor’s Theme” landing at 41.  Those are the first three tracks on the album, by the way, though not in that order.

The video for “Earfquake” seems to be channelling – at least in the first half – Bobby Conn’s “Never Get Ahead”, which inexplicably used to keep cropping up on lists of the worst video ever, presumably prepared by the sort of people who wouldn’t notice irony if it was kicking them in the teeth.  Though admittedly the sound quality was terrible, because it really did come from a public access TV performance.  Here’s a proper live version from Norwegian TV, if you’ve ever wondered what the song would sound like done properly.  (Short answer: very good.)

“Sixteen” by Ellie Goulding climbs 25-21.

20.  Halsey – “Nightmare”

Halsey more often charts as a collaborator than a lead artist, though she did have a number 3 hit of her own last year, “Without Me.”  “Nightmare” is a bit of a change of direction, with a shouty bit and random collage-y video.  It’s an interesting watch but feels like it’s trying a bit too hard – frankly, it reminds me of t.A.T.u, which I doubt was the intended effect.

“Motorola” by Da Beatfreakz x Deno x Swarmz x Dappy climbs 35-32, and “Late Night Feelings” by Mark Ronson featuring Lykke Li climbs 39-33.

36.  Martin Garrix featuring Macklemore and Patrick Stump – “Summer Days”

While Garrix has never really come close to matching his number 1 debut from 2011 (“Animals”), this is still his tenth top 40 hit.  Macklemore should be a familiar name.  Patrick Stump hasn’t had a solo hit before, but he’s the singer from Fall Out Boy.  It’s a bit of a mish mash, this, and the video is a nice idea that doesn’t work at all in practice.

37.  DJ Khaled featuring Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Big Sean – “Jealous”

This is a track from Khaled’s album “Father of Asahd”, which enters the album chart at number 6 – his third, and marginally highest-placing, top ten album.  It’s not officially a single, but it’s got the big names on it and it does have a video..  That video is as bloated as you’d expect from the self-mythologiser, taking two and a half minutes to get to the actual song, so that they can fit in an extended appearance from Jennifer Lopez, who is not on the record.  The track itself is generic.

39.  Dominic Fike – “3 Nights”

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Chart debut.  This track was originally released on an EP in 2017, but he’s signed to Columbia since then, and it’s being repromoted.  The song’s been a moderate hit in Europe, and reached the top five in Australia.  It’s fairly boring.

Over on the album chart, we’ve already talked about the Lewis Capaldi album at number one.

2.  The National – “I Am Easy To Find”

They don’t repeat the number one place for their previous album, but it’s still a fourth consecutive top five album, which isn’t bad at all.  There’s a whole 26-minute film to go with this, if you want.

3.  Rammstein – untitled

Rammstein haven’t made it above number 16 before, but then this is their first new studio album in a decade, and that makes a difference.  The chart company is actually listing this as a self-titled album, but officially it’s meant to be untitled.  Note of warning: the video above is (very mildly) NSFW, though I’ve never quite understood which workplaces you might be viewing these videos in regardless of content, so I suppose that’s probably academic.

Number 4 is Tyler, the Creator; number 6 is DJ Khaled.

9.  Slowthai – “Nothing Great About Britain”

He’s a rapper from Northampton, and this is his debut album.  The name started off as “Slow Ty” (his real name is Tyron).  Number 11 is “Double Tap Diaries” by Digga D; the single “No Diet” reached number 20, and it’s still on the chart.

26.  Carly Rae Jepsen – “Dedicated”

Carly Rae Jepsen is in the odd position of making pop records that seem to be bought by a niche albums audience.  This is her third album and the lowest charting.  I don’t get why she doesn’t have more hit singles.

35.  Big Big Train – “Grand Tour”

They’re a prog rock band finally charting (just) with their twelfth album; others included “Goodbye to the Age of Steam”, “English Electric Parts One and Two”, “Folklore” and “Grimspound”, so you get the idea.  The video above features the band members miming without instruments, which is presumably a devilish plan by the lead singer to make everyone else look like a tit.  Which is a shame, since the song itself is quite good if you like that sort of thing.

36.  Biffy Clyro – “Balance Not Symmetry OST”

A new Biffy Clyro album would normally make the top five, but this is a film soundtrack – a film co-written by their lead singer, admittedly, but also a film that isn’t out yet.  The premiere isn’t for another month, which makes the decision to release the album now look a little odd.

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