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Nov 3

Charts – 1 November 2019

Posted on Sunday, November 3, 2019 by Paul in Music

It’s the start of November – it’s time to get that album out for the Christmas market.

1. Tones & I – “Dance Monkey”

Five weeks, and after it seemed to have peaked, it’s growing again. Could be here for a while.

3. Selena Gomez – “Lose You To Love Me”
26. Selena Gomez – “Look At Her Now”

Two singles from the upcoming third Selena Gomez album. They weren’t actually simultaneous releases – “Lose You To Love Me” came out as a midweek release during the previous chart week, which seemed to have backfired when it landed at number 65. But now it leaps cheerfully to number 3, understandably, since it’s a very good ballad. This is easily her biggest UK hit; her previous peak was number 7, which she reached with 2017’s “It Ain’t Me” (along with Kygo), and her Disney-era 2010 debut “Naturally”.

And it must be driven in large part by the quality of the song, since the other track lands at a rather less notable 26. Which is fair enough, because it’s much more of an off-the-peg 2019 pop song.

5. Kanye West – “Follow God”
19. Kanye West – “Selah”
20. Kanye West – “Closed On Sunday”

Let no one say Kanye West doesn’t cover all the bases – his last single was 2018’s “I Love It”, which was promoted through Pornhub. These three tracks are from his Christian album, “Jesus is King”, which enters the album chart at number 2. That matches 2018’s “Ye”, so the religion angle doesn’t seem to be putting people off, even if it is provoking a certain amount of raised eyebrows.

“Follow God” is the track that has a lyric video, and it makes the top 5 – and yes, the 1 minute 45 above is the whole thing. The sample is from “Can You Lose by Following God” by Whole Truth (1974). Still, whether it’s curiosity or name value, the album does manage to place the now-routine maximum three tracks into the singles chart. “Selah” is striking but a very unlikely entry on the singles chart; “Closed on Sunday” is a slightly more conventional choice, and the one he performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live. I don’t expect any of these to stick around very long, given that they’re both (a) unusual for the singles chart, and (b) not especially good.

“Good as Hell” by Lizzo climbs 18-7 following the release of an extra mix with Adriana Grande, though it’s not being treated as the lead version for chart purposes, so Grande doesn’t get a credit. It’s Lizzo’s first top ten hit. “Memories” by Maroon 5 climbs 10-8.

22. AJ Tracey featuring Mostack & Not3s – “Floss”

Back in more typical territory, this is the bonus track from the special edition of AJ Tracey’s self-titled album, which duly re-enters the album chart at number 18.

“Hot Girl Bummer” by Blackbear climbs 30-25, for some reason.

27. Coldplay – “Orphans”

The lead single from the album “Everyday Life”, which will be out by the end of the month, in plenty of time for Christmas. Coldplay were last in the singles chart in 2017 with the Chainsmokers collaboration “Something Just Like This” (which got to number 3). And yes, that is a proper video above, it just takes an awfully long time to get going.

“This is Real” by Jax Jones featuring Ella Henderson climbs 33-30.

34. Niall Horan – “Nice To Meet Ya”

Those One Direction solo hits have kind of dried up, haven’t they? The Harry Styles single “Lights Up” is still around, but 3-11-17 isn’t exactly the chart record of an A-lister. Horan had two top ten hits from his first album; this single has taken four weeks to climb to 34 from the lower reaches. But it is climbing, so you never know. There may be life in it yet. Both Harry and Niall seem to have moved already to the sort of soft rock that suggests premature album-chart-hood. Within those parameters, though, “Nice To Meet Ya” is a perfectly decent single.

The album chart is ludicrously busy this week, as we gear up towards the Christmas market.

1. The Stereophonics – “Kind”

Emphatically an albums act these days, the Stereophonics haven’t had a top 40 hit single since 2013. They’ve released three albums since then, all of which have gone to 1 or 2 on the albums chart. This is their seventh number one album.

“Jesus is King” by Kanye West is number 2, but we’ve had that.

3. James Blunt – “Once Upon a Mind”

All six James Blunt albums have placed in the top 6, though they don’t stick around anywhere near as long as they used to – 2017’s “The Afterlove” was gone after ten weeks.

4. Rick Astley – “The Best of Me”

A 30-song, two-hour compilation, and at that length it surely has to extend beyond just the best of Rick Astley. His only number 1 single was you-know-what (1987).

5. Rex Orange County – “Pony”

Rex Orange County feels to me like a more natural fit for the singles chart, but despite Radio 1 support, the single above never got past number 68. Still, the debut album makes the top 5. Despite the name, Rex Orange County is from Hazlemere – the “Orange County” is because his real name is O’Connor. (OC, you see.)

11. Bruce Springsteen – “Western Stars – Songs From The Film”

Well, this isn’t confusing at all. Bruce Springsteen’s album “Western Stars” reached number 1 in June. This is a different one. This is song from the film “Western Stars”, which means it’s basically a live album of the studio album that came out less than six months ago. And given all that, number 11 is pretty impressive.

13. Van Morrison – “Three Chords and the Truth”

It’s his 41st album. The title refers to Harlan Howard’s description of the basic elements of country music (though it isn’t a country album).

17. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Colorado”

And yet more veteran action. The last three Neil Young & Crazy Horse albums all landed between 14 and 17.

20. The Bay City Rollers – “Gold”

A 3-CD box set retrospective of the career of the Bay City Rollers, who were big stars in the mid 1970s before imploding. The fact that something like this can make it to number 20 is pretty telling about the state of the album market. Also, bear in mind that everyone further down this list has to live with knowing that their album was less successful than a project aimed principally at Bay City Rollers completists in 2019. And there’s a lot of them still to go.

28. The Editors – “Black Gold – Best Of The Editors”

Well, they’ve had six top ten albums, so fair enough, I guess. The track above was their only top ten single (number 7 in 2007).

29. Harry Connick Jr – “True Love – A Celebration of Cole Porter”

Self-explanatory, isn’t it? I mean, sure, it could have been an ironic title for a new black metal direction. But it’s not.

33. Desert Sessions – “Vols 11 & 12”

Desert Sessions is a side project of Josh Homme and an ever-shifting line-up, which has been dormant since 2003. There are indeed ten previous Desert Sessions volumes, released between 1997-2003, though the last four came out over two double albums.

34. Hawkwind – “All Aboard the Skylark”

Now on their 32nd studio album, the band celebrate their 50th anniversary.

36. Cigarettes After Sex – “Cry”

The debut self-titled album reached number 27 in 2017, but considering what a busy week this is, they aren’t so far behind.

39. Airbourne – “Boneshaker”

Bringing up the rear, Australian rock band Airbourne, who got their previous album into the top 10 in 2016, but fall drastically short of that now.

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