Charts – 13 May 2022
Well, at least the album chart is busy. Meanwhile, on the singles chart…
That’s six weeks. It heads up a moribund top ten, with four other non-movers, one climber (Lizzo) and four records going down one place. I mean, I’m all for records having decent runs in the top 10, but a bit of turnover would be nice.
19. Jack Harlow featuring Drake – “Churchill Downs”
33. Jack Harlow – “Dua Lipa”
Two tracks from his album “Come Home the Kids Miss You”, which enters the album chart at number 4. He also has “First Class” as a non-mover at number 2.
It’s his second album, and the first to reach the album top 40. His 2020 debut “That’s What They All Say” made the album top 10 in the USA and Canada, but in the UK it could only limp to number 73. His profile has risen a lot since then.
Charts – 6 May 2022
Well, at least someone released an album.
Five weeks, still leading by quite some margin, though it is trending downward. It’s not in any danger from the records in the rest of the top 10, though, all of which have been there for a while. Except for…
8. Future featuring Drake & Tems – “Wait for U”
Feels like more of a mood than a song, but oddly pleasant. It’s the current single from Future’s album “I Never Liked You”, which enters the album chart at 2 – his highest place to date, though his previous solo album, “High Off Life”, got to 5.
Future’s track record on the singles chart is decidedly mixed; he’s been around for a decade plus, but this is only his second top ten hit. The other one was “Life is Good”, which reached number 3 in 2020 – and that had Drake on it too. That said, it’s not just a case of getting in a guest star with a bigger fan base; there are plenty of guest verses by Drake that go nowhere. (He’s also on “Bubbly” by Young Thug, for example, and that got to number 60.)
Charts – 29 April 2022
The singles chart has slowed to a crawl in the last few weeks, but at least we’ve got some mid-table entries this time.
Five weeks, with Jack Harlow’s first class also stuck at number 2. There’s not much else going on at the top end of the chart, frankly. There’s one track climbing into the top 10 – “BMW” by Bad Boy Chiller Crew, which is a bit of a surprise – but everything else in the top 10 has been there for over five weeks now. “Peru” by Fireboy DML & Ed Sheeran has been in the top 10 since January.
13. Ed Sheeran – “2Step”
Another single from his last album. There’s a remix with a verse by Lil Baby, but the chart is listing the album version as the principle version. The most notable thing about it is the video, which was filmed in Kyiv just before the invasion; it’s also a genuinely good video.
Charts – 22 April 2022
Yet again, the singles chart is almost aggressively uneventful, and this week the album chart has chosen to join it. There really is a dearth of new material breaking through this spring.
Three weeks. It’s peaked, but it’s still comfortably ahead of the competition. “First Class” by Jack Harlow is stuck at number 2 (and to be fair, that is a new hit), and the rest of the top 10 consists entirely of tracks shuffling a place up or down. The only significant activity in the top 20 is the highest new entry…
18. Lauren Spencer-Smith – “Flowers”
This is the follow-up to her self-released single “Fingers Crossed”, which reached number 4 in January. Unsurprisingly, she is now signed (to Island). It’s a slightly repetitive ballad, and unrelated to any of the various earlier hits of the same name, but it might have a chance by standing out as something different.
Charts – 15 April 2022
We’ve had some dull singles charts lately, but gosh, this is a really boring one.
Second week – which is more than he managed with his only other solo number one, “Sign of the Times”, back in 2017. It was closer than expected; at the start of the week his lead over the single below was equivalent to a few hundred sales, but it wound up being in the thousands.
2. Jack Harlow – “First Class”
This is… a surprise, to be honest. Jack Harlow has had two previous top 40 hits in the UK – “Whats Poppin”, which reached number 25 in 2020, and his guest shot on Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby”, which got to number 3 last year. His previous single “Nail Tech” missed the top 40, so he’s certainly not here on the strength of fanbase. I wouldn’t have thought this was an obvious candidate for a breakthrough hit – the chorus is lifted from “Glamorous” by Fergie, which is one of her better singles, but hardly a lost classic. (It reached number 6 in 2007.) Harlow’s version is better, mind you.
Charts – 8 April 2022
It’s another week with very few new entries, but at least this time it’s because nobody wants to go up against…
1. Harry Styles – “As It Was”
I see you’re the Weeknd now, Harry. Fair enough. This is the lead single from his third album, and his second solo number one. The first was his solo debut “Sign of the Times”, which was number one in its first week of release in 2017 – it dropped to 4 the following week, but to be fair, it hung around the top 10 for seven weeks total.
Charts – 25 March 2022
We won’t be long with this one.
A third week for Dave in a very, very dull top ten – the top seven is completely static. By the way, his only other number 1, “Freaky Friday”, only had a week. So by that metric, this is comfortably his biggest hit.
Anyway, in search of new entries we have to trawl all the way down to…
31. Joel Corry, David Guetta & Bryson Tiller – “What Would You Do”
They’re not kidding about that strobe warning at the start of the video, by the way. Anyhow, this is very much what you expect from something credited to Joel Corry and David Guetta – it’s very polished, it’s very professional, you can hear their signature stuff in it. You don’t come to these guys for innovation.
Charts – 18 March 2022
Another quiet week for singles.
That’s two weeks, and it’s on course for a third.
2. Aitch featuring Ashanti – “Baby”
Dave might be able to afford to buy out the sample credits, but Aitch is still doing it the traditional way. Ashanti’s “featuring” credit is thanks to this track sampling her 2003 hit “Rock Wit U (Aww Baby)”. That track got to number 7 in the UK and was part of a respectable run of top 10 hits, though her only number one was as a guest on a Ja Rule single, “Wonderful”. She hasn’t had a hit single since 2008.
Charts – 11 March 2022
Behold the changing of the guard.
1. Dave – “Starlight”
Surprise release of (presumably) the lead single from his new album. It’s his second number one, the first being 2018’s “Funky Driday”, but he’s had another nine top ten hits in the interim. So hardly a surprise that he gets there in the end.
Somehow or other, Dave has managed to get himself a sole writer credit on this, despite the entire backing track being based on the Macaron Project’s cover of “Fly Me To The Moon”.
Charts – 4 March 2022
Well, at least nothing’s happening on the chart.
That’s seven weeks at number one. All three Encanto songs are still in the top 10, with “Surface Pressure” at 5 and “The Family Madrigal” at 10 – the other two do seem to have peaked, though. And our highest new entry is…
25. Central Cee – “Straight Back To It”
Ah, filming your video at Chelsea’s stadium. Good week for that. Anyway, this is the last in a veritable barrage of singles that Central Cee has released in support of his album “23”, which enters at number 1 – his debut last year, “Wild West”, was a number 2 album. Central Cee has really churned out the supporting singles for this album, which is an interesting technique – “Straight Back To It” is his fifth top 40 hit of the year. One was the “Daily Duppy” freestyle (number 35), but the four proper singles all landed between 21 and 25. No guest stars on any of them, either – Central Cee has appeared as a guest on the D-Block Europe song “Overseas” (currently at 9), but he’s unusually un-keen on having other people on his own records.
