RSS Feed
Jul 27

Charts – 24 July 2020

Posted on Monday, July 27, 2020 by Paul in Music

This would be a quiet week if it wasn’t for Drake.

1. Joel Corry featuring MNEK – “Head & Heart”

Climbing from number 3, in its third week on chart. Three top five singles in a year, and the third gets to number one. Not bad for someone whose previous claim to fame was being a fringe participant in Geordie Shore. MNEK gets his first number one too. It’s also a dance record at number one, and we haven’t had one of those in ages – maybe “Promises” by Calvin Harris, and that was 2018.

“Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles climbs 6-5, to become his third top five solo hit. This track has been around for ages, remember – it first charted at number 35 last November. “West Ten” by AJ Tracey & Mabel climbs 7-6. And “Secrets” by Regard & Raye climbs 8-7.

8. DJ Khaled featuring Drake – “Greece
11. DJ Khaled featuring Drake – “Popstar”

I know it’s only a “visualiser”, but that thing is terrible. These are both tracks from Khaled’s upcoming album, but while Khaled does have hits, Drake is probably the bigger draw in this market. Khaled is, shall we say, more of a curator than an artist in any conventional sense, and predictably this sounds more like second-tier Drake than anything else.

9. Headie One & Drake – “Only You Freestyle”

And another Drake collaboration, this time with Headie One – who’s actually had bigger hits with Dave and Stormzy, both reaching number 6. Drake’s interest in UK drill seems to engage his less commercial leanings, and this is a better record than the two Khaled singles – though none of them are exactly essential.

Since guest appearances on other people’s records don’t count towards the three-song cap, Drake also has a fourth single on this week’s chart – his own “Chicago Freestyle”, still hanging in at number 29 after twelve weeks out.

A bunch of mid-table climbers: “Go Crazy” by Chris Brown & Young Thug climbs 25-14. “Dancing in the Moonlight” by Jubel featuring Neimy climbs 22-21. “Heaven on my Mind” by Becky Hill & Sigala climbs 31-23. “Whats Poppin” by Jack Harlow is up 27-25. And PS1 featuring Alex Hosking climbs 40-31.

39. Abra Cadabra – “On Deck”

He’s a rapper from North London, and this is his first hit. Apparently there’s a feud with Tion Wayne in here, if that’s your sort of thing. Good production, though.

40. Kygo & Tina Turner – “What’s Love Got To Do With It”

Because remixing Whitney Houston worked out so well, I guess. But that was an obscure rarity that actually benefitted from a better mix – “What’s Love Got To Do With It” was a number 3 hit in 1984, and everyone knows the better original version. Tina Turner was last in the singles top 40 in 2010, when a reissue of “The Best” reached number 10. She’s now 80 years old, so technically this makes her one of the oldest living people to have a hit single – though it doesn’t really count, having been recorded over 35 years ago.

On the album chart…

1. Ellie Goulding – “Brightest Blue”

Her fourth album and her third number 1. It’s also her first album to produce no hit singles at all – the lead single above is perfectly decent, but only reached number 78 – so she seems to have made the transition to selling albums to a legacy audience.

5. The Chicks – “Gaslighter”

That’s the band formerly known as the Dixie Chicks. They haven’t released an album in 14 years, so this is the first one to appear under that name. That previous album reached number 10, making this a new best for them. The video above is worth a play – the sheer mismatch between visuals and musical genre is kind of fascinating.

6. Joy Division – “Closer”

40th anniversary reissue. “Closer” reached number 6 on release in 1980; there are no videos.

7. Lianne La Havas – “Lianna La Havas”

Her third album. Lowest-placed of the three, but not by much – and three straight top 10 albums isn’t bad.

9. Massive Wagons – “House of Noise”

Throwback pop-rock. It’s their second album, and the first to make the top 10.

11. Jarv Is… – “Beyond The Pale”

Jarvis Cocker’s new outfit, principally the name used for his live backing band. It’s the first time he’s released an album under that name, and it’s the highest place any of his solo albums have reached. Widely regarded as the best thing he’s done in years.

12. Boyzlife – “Strings Attached”

That’s Brian McFadden of Westlife and Keith Duffy from Boyzone, but with an orchestra. Strings attached, you see…

14. Unknown T – “Rise Above Hate”

This week’s debut UK rap album. Unknown T has had several tracks place in the hinterland just outside the singles top 40, but he’s never quite made it into the main chart before.

27. Tin Machine – “Tin Machine II”

Reissue. The album got to number 23 on release in 1991 – hard as it may be to believe in hindsight, this was the period when it was generally thought that David Bowie had lost the plot. The Tin Machine albums have been viewed rather more favourably with hindsight. They certainly weren’t hugely commercial; the lead single (above) got to number 33.

29. The Pretenders – “Hate for Sale”

Their highest position for new studio album since “The Isle of View” (number 23 in 1995). Not that they’ve released that many albums since then, admittedly, but there have been some. The founder members of the Pretenders are now pushing 70, and the title track doesn’t sound it.

32. Oliver Tree – “Ugly is Beautiful”

Chart debut. Definite tendency towards wackiness in his visuals, but the music is actually done straight.

Be the first to comment.

Leave a Reply