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Nov 25

Charts – 22 November 2019

Posted on Monday, November 25, 2019 by Paul in Music

We’re only a week or so away from the march of the Christmas hits. But for now…

1. Tones & I – “Dance Monkey”

Eight weeks. More to the point, its numbers went up this week – which means it’s not going to get downweighted any time soon, as that only happens when a record is three weeks past its peak. It could realistically sit there until the Christmas releases arrive.

3. Billie Eilish – “Everything I Wanted”

A new Billie Eilish single was always going to do well, and this is a lovely track to boot. It’s not quite her biggest UK hit – “Bad Guy” entered at 2 – but it must have a decent shot.

“Memories” by Maroon 5 climbs 6-5, so it’s now their biggest hit since “Don’t Wanna Know” in 2016. “Roxanne” by Arizona Zervas leaps 24-10, and for some reason “Hot Girl Bummer” by Blackbear continues to climb, moving 19-14.

19. Lewis Capaldi – “Before You Go”

This is the single to promote the special edition of “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent”, which is naturally out in time for Christmas. It was a midweek release, charting here on the basis of just two days on release, so it’s virtually certain to climb next week when it has a full week of sales behind it. It’s your typical Capaldi song – heartfelt ballad, rousing chorus, does this sort of thing much better than most. He has three singles on the top 40 now, without even the benefit of a first-week album: “Someone You Loved” rebounds from 31-28, and “Bruises” returns to its previous peak of number 6. The album rebounds from 8 to 4.

“Don’t Rush” by Young T & Bugsey featuring Headie One climbs 28-27, and “Pump it Up” by Endor climbs 36-29 – slightly to my surprise, since it feels like a dance record way out of time.

32. Tory Lanez & T-Pain – “Jerry Sprunger”

Canadian rapper Tory Lanez has appeared in the top 40 before, but only as a guest on 6ix9ine’s single “Kika”. This is the single from his album “Chixtape 5”, which enters the album chart at 10. T-Pain is a more familiar name, but he hasn’t had a hit in years – his last chart appearance was in 2011 when his single “5 O’Clock” reached number 6. Much of that time was spent on failing to produce an album; it finally emerged in 2017, aptly titled “Oblivion”.

“Gangsta” by Darkoo & One Acen climbs 34-33.

35. Harry Styles – “Watermelon Sugar”

“Lights Up” looked at first like it might be on course to crash out of the chart after a first week fanbase surge. As it turns out, it stabilised in the mid-table – its chart run is 3-11-17-16-23-16 as of this week – which isn’t so bad. On the other hand, that’s some way short of setting the world on fire, so here’s a second single already, continuing the soft-rock direction. It’s unoccupied territory right now, but “Lights Up” was a better song.

On the album chart…

1. Westlife – “Spectrum”

Westlife haven’t released a studio album in nine years, and they haven’t had a number 1 in twelve. Still, like them or not – and the single above is characteristically heavy-handed – Westlife have had eight number one albums, and in a career dating back to 1999, they have never placed a studio album below number 3.

2. Celine Dion – “Courage”

This is Celine Dion’s highest-placing album since “A New Day Has Come” reached number 1 in 2002, though she’s have several top five albums since then. The title track is… well, maybe that Westlife single wasn’t so bad.

5. Take That – “Odyssey – Greatest Hits Live”

That’s the current three-man line-up, with their 30th anniversary live tour. No videos for anything on this album; the link is to a one-minute album trailer.

7. Kidz Bop Kids – “Kidz Bop 2020”

Ah, Christmas. For you and me, the main entertainment value in these things tends to be the lyrical rewrites on the more wildly inappropriate songs, but the tracks posted on YouTube this time round largely avoid walking into that trap, partly because they seem to have become a little less sensitive. They now seem to be editing to radio-edit level rather than worrying if the song makes sense for kids – the version of “Beautiful People” above understandably drops the line “champagne and rolled-up notes” (swapping something that works fine), but retains its couplet “prenups and broken homes”.

8. Chris Kamara – “Here’s To Christmas”

Yes, the retired footballer who now works as an analyst for Sky Sports – that Chris Kamara. This sounds like an insane release, but his version of “Let It Snow” is actually pretty respectable – it’s certainly had a lot more effort put into the arrangement than you might expect for something like this.

17. The Police – “Every Move You Make: The Studio Recordings”

This is a reissue of a vinyl set that came out last year, but still counts as new entry now. It’s a complete career retrospective over six CDs (all the studio albums plus a B-sides disc). I was four when the video above came out, and I remember being very confused about how the drumming worked.

22. Collabro – “Love Like This”

The Cowell-sponsored musical-theatre-ish outfit don’t make videos, and since their chart positions over five albums have run 1, 2, 7, 19, 22, you suspect the “quit while you’re ahead” tipping point is imminent.

29. Lady Antebellum – “Ocean”

Finally, a regular release! Lady Antebellum are one hit wonders on the singles chart – “Need You Now” reached number 15 in 2010 – but their albums have kept charting. Number 29 is actually quite bad for a regular Lady Antebellum album – the last two reached 12 and 14 – but I like the single.

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