Charts – 2 December 2022
It’s the first chart of December, what did you think was going to happen?
That’s six weeks. Still two weeks to go until it matches LF System’s “Afraid to Feel” – in fact, three number ones this year have had longer runs than six weeks.
18. Brenda Lee – “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
Right, then, here we go. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was recorded in 1958, and reached number 6 in the UK at Christmas 1962. It did nothing in the early years of the streaming era, but it’s charted every year since 2016. Last year, it made its all time peak of number 5.
Charts – 25 November 2022
From the look of it, we’re now in the holding pattern where it’s too near to Christmas for anyone to bother releasing big singles, but the Christmas takeover hasn’t hit yet. Which means…
1. Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero”
Five weeks. The previous number 1, “Unholy” by Sam Smith & Kim Petras, spends its fifth week at number 2. You get the idea. The only new record in the top 10 is…
9. Clavish featuring D-Block Europe – “Rocket Science”
This is the debut hit for North London rapper Clavish, though he’s placed a few tracks in the lower reaches of the top 75. Obviously having D-Block Europe on the track helps, but it’s not as if they routinely get into the top 10 either – in fact, their only previous top 10 hit was “Overseas”, which reached number 6 last year. It’s familiar musical territory if you’re heard DBE before, but it’s one of the good ones.
Charts – 18 November 2022
No. Not that. Not now…
But first… Taylor Swift gets her fourth week at number one. This has grown on me, to be honest. It is a return to Taylor Swift banging on about fame, but it’s a better version of that song than many of her previous singles in the same vein.
We’re going a long way down for the first new entry…
18. Bugzy Malone & TeeDee – “Out of Nowhere”
Bugzy Malone had another track get to number 39 in September, but this matches his all-time peak of 18 with “M.E.N. III”. It’s a weird track – more mainstream dance than typical UK rap, but a bit too wonky to quite count as that either.
Charts – 11 November 2022
It’s another week when a major album release dominates the singles chart. But first…
That’s three weeks, which is her longest run at number 1. Her only previous number 1 single is 2017’s “Look What You Made Me Do”, which lasted two weeks. (Yes, really. Forty-three top 40 hits, and that’s the only other one that made number one.)
3. Drake & 21 Savage – “Rich Flex”
5. Drake & 21 Savage – “Major Distribution”
7. Drake & 21 Savage – “Circo Loco”
That’s the maximum three tracks from their album “Her Loss”, which enters the album chart at 1. It’s Drake’s second album of the year, after “Honestly Nevermind”, which reached number 2 in June. That got three singles into the top 10 as well, but the highest got to number 7, and that one had… er, 21 Savage on it. Drake now has a total of 37 top 10 hits, thanks in part to album tracks, and this is his fifth number 1 album.
Charts – 4 November 2022
Taylor Swift, it turns out, can dominate the top 10 for two weeks in a row.
Two weeks. The parent album “Midnights” remains at number one for a second week. The other two tracks that charted from it, “Lavender Haze” and “Snow on the Beach”, drop out of the top five… but only to numbers 6 and 8.
3. Rihanna – “Lift Me Up”
Huh. And there was me thinking that a new Rihanna single was bound to be challenging for number one. She hasn’t had a single out, even as a guest vocalist, since 2020 (when she appeared on a PartyNextDoor single that got to number 12). She hasn’t released a single of her own since 2016. So you’d think this would be a bigger deal. I mean, number 3 is quite a big deal. But bigger.
Charts – 28 October 2022
The chart rules were changed a few years back to limit the number of tracks by the same artist to three, after Ed Sheeran and Drake managed to swamp the top ten. In practice, not that many acts have shown the ability to swamp the top end of the chart when they release a new album. But there are some.
1. Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero”
3. Taylor Swift – “Lavender Haze”
4. Taylor Swift featuring Lana Del Rey – “Snow On The Beach”
The maximum three tracks from “Midnights”, which obviously enters the album chart at number 1. It’s her ninth consecutive number one album, including her re-recordings of “Fearless” and “Red”, as well as the two folk-style albums she released during the pandemic. With “Midnights”, we’re back to mainstream pop and songs about her celebrity status, which is… kind of what I was glad to see her moving away from? “Anti-Hero” is one of her better songs in that mode, but it still feels like a step backwards.
Charts – 21 October 2022
Gosh, an actually busy week.
1. Sam Smith & Kim Petras – “Unholy”
Four weeks. The whole top 5 is static, so we’re waiting for something to break through as a challenger. In the meantime, Todd in the Shadows’ review of this track is worth a watch.
7. Stormzy – “Hide & Seek”
This, apparently, is the lead single from his next album. Not to be confused with “Mel Made Me Do It”, which reached number 12 just three weeks ago – but isn’t on the album. “Hide & Seek” is one of his gentler tracks, with an obvious Afrobeat influence that seems to be the trend this year; the uncredited singers include Oxlade.
Charts – 14 October 2022
Another fairly quiet week at the top end of the chart, but it picks up when we get further down.
1. Sam Smith & Kim Petras – “Unholy”
Three weeks. It’s peaked but it doesn’t have much in the way of competition – the top three remains static for a second week. The midweeks have the whole top 4 staying static next week too. Anyway, for our first new entry, we have to go out of the top 20 and meet…
23. Mimi Webb – “Ghost of You”
This is the follow-up to “House on Fire”, which reached number 6 in the spring. I’m not wild about it; there’s something very limp about that chorus production. Mimi Webb singles tend not to be slow climbers, though her debut “Good Without” was an exception. The midweeks have it at 27.
Charts – 7 October 2022
A busy week for new entries – so to make up for it, we have a static top 5.
1. Sam Smith & Kim Petras – “Unholy”
Which means two weeks for these guys.
6. Ed Sheeran – “Celestial”
This is, of all things, a track promoting Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, the upcoming instalment in the long-running children’s cock-fighting simulator franchise. The actual song is typical Ed Sheeran with no Pokémon content; you can see why somebody thought it was good enough to merit actually promoting it as a proper single, but you can also see why he gave it up to a side project in the first place.
Charts – 30 September 2022
Four number 1s in as many weeks? It’s like the old days.
1. Sam Smith & Kim Petras – “Unholy”
Now this was close. They were behind in the midweeks and wound up taking it by about a 2% margin. Still, it’s another new number one, shoving David Guetta back down to number 2.
Sam Smith’s chart career started with guest vocals for the likes of Disclosure and Naughty Boy, but over time it was the ballads that tended to be the big hits. This is a big swerve back in a much more camp and theatrical direction, and it clearly works. To put that in context, it’s Sam Smith’s eighth number one hit, but the others came between 2013 and 2018. The 2020 album “Love Goes” was not especially successful by their standards, failing to get any singles into the top 10 and only going gold where its predecessor had gone double platinum. A good time for a rethink, then.
