Look who’s back.

1.  Drake – “God’s Plan”

Drake, then.  I can’t honestly say Drake does a great deal for me.   According to genius.com, this is “a feel good track that discusses Drake’s future”, which is interesting, because it feels to me like blearily meandering locked-groove ennui.  This is Drake’s third number one, following “One Dance”, which was number one forever in 2016, and his guest vocal on Rihanna’s “What’s My Name” back in 2010.  Not many people can have new entries at number one these days, but Drake is one of the rare few.  It probably does help a bit that “God’s Plan” isn’t on YouTube, which doesn’t count towards the chart, thus pushing people towards the streaming services, which do.

(more…)

And the first new number one of 2018 is…

1.  Eminem…

Hold on, seriously?

1.  Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran…

Oh, right.

1.  Eminem featuring Ed Sheeran – “River”

So Ed Sheeran replaces himself at number one.  This song has been hanging around the top three ever since Christmas, when it charted as an album track from “Revival”.  It’s now being upgraded to an official single, though it still doesn’t have a video.  It’s Sheeran’s fifth number one, following “Sing” (2014), “Thinking Out Loud” (2014) and last year’s juggernauts “Shape of You” and “Perfect”, and given his domination of the charts in the last year or so, it’s not surprising to see this one follow suit.

(more…)

The singles chart starts to settle back to the normal routine…

1.  Ed Sheeran – “Perfect”

For the sixth week.  He has to run out of steam soon, right?  Further down the top ten, we have “Barking” by Ramz climbing 8-4, “I Miss You” by Clean Bandit featuring Julia Michaels climbing 6-5, and NF’s “Let You Down” moving 10-6.  And our highest new entry is…

7.  Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B – “Finesse”

(more…)

Not so much a chart as a spasm, this week we see what happens when twenty-odd Christmas songs vanish from the top 40 at once, and there are virtually no new releases to fill the gap.  Basically, it means a bunch of re-entries which I’m not going to bother listing, plus a few records reaching new highs from which the festive brigade had previously been excluding them.  Plus, there’s a handful of genuinely new stuff down at the bottom.

1.  Ed Sheeran – “Perfect”

Predictably, “Perfect” spends a fifth week at number one, with the parent album “÷” also getting a twentieth week at the top.  Below it, the top 10 returns to normal, with new peaks for “Man’s Not Hot” by Big Shaq at 3, “I Miss You” by Clean Bandit featuring Julia Michales at 6, “17” by MK at 7, and “Barking” by Ramz at 8 (which climbs from 30).  Further down, “I Know You” by Craig David featuring Bastille re-enters at 15, and “No Words” by Dave featuring Mostack rebounds from 40 to a new peak of 17 (having entered at 18 back in November).  “Tip Toe” by Jason Derulo featuring French Montana, which dropped out of the top 40 last week and has never been above 30, re-enters at 19.  “Decline” by Raye featuring Mr Eazi similarly re-enters at 22, and “My Lover” by Not3s re-enters at 23, comfortably beating its previous peak of 38.

24.  Jax Jones featuring Ina Wroldsen – “Breathe”

(more…)

There’s still time to vote in our end of year awards!  But first, we have what’s usually the first of two dead charts, covering the weeks of Christmas itself and New Year – too late to be part of the fight for Christmas Number One, too early for anything else to be going on.

And what do people listen to over Christmas?  Well, they hammer the Christmas playlists.  So all those Christmas singles that stayed put last week surge forward this week, bringing with them a bunch of stragglers that were previously hovering outside the top 40.  Which means that there are new entries!  There’s something to write about!  The Christmas singles account for more than half of the chart, but then that’s what people are actually listening to.  It also means the chart is set for a convulsion next week, when all the Christmas tracks are likely to plummet.

1.  Ed Sheeran – “Perfect”

All very well.  But first, Ed Sheeran hangs in there for a fourth week with “Perfect” – not a huge upset.  His other current single, guesting on Eminem’s “River”, slips to 3 this week, but that’s more staying power than other Eminem singles have shown.

(more…)

It’s Christmas, and yes, I will, at last, get started on clearing that review backlog.  You might also want to pop down a post and vote in our end of year poll for the podcast.

But first the Christmas Number One, because it’s topical and because it won’t take long, since nobody releases anything in Christmas week.  Well, almost nobody.

1.  Ed Sheeran – “Perfect”

(more…)

It seems that a lot of you have had the Spotify Christmas playlist on repeat.  Let’s have a look at this week’s top 40 and have a think about what you’ve done.

1.  Ed Sheeran – “Perfect”

But first, “Perfect” lands a second week at the top.  It only needs one more to hang on for Christmas.  And Sheeran wants that badly enough to keep putting out extra versions of the track.  This week, it’s “Perfect Symphony”, a duet with Andrea Bocelli.  One for the mums and dads, apparently.  It’s a completely ridiculous record; Ed Sheeran songs lend themselves to understatement, and a tenor is not understatement.

(more…)

Oh, here we go.  Christmas time.

1.  Ed Sheeran – “Perfect”

In case you were in any doubt that Ed Sheeran would like to be Christmas Number One please, here’s the audio for the Beyonce version, now on YouTube with snowfall throughout.  It’s not an especially good version of “Perfect”, mind you – Ed Sheeran trades in unassuming sentimentality, and there’s something wonkily incongruous about Beyonce wrestling with his run-on sentences.  But here it is anyway.

(more…)

Yup, we’re definitely in the dead period before Christmas…

1.  Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug – “Havana”

That’s five weeks, the longest run since “Despacito” back in the summer.  It’s very close – a mere 1,000 notional sales ahead of Rita Ora – but it’s a fifth week for all that.

“Perfect” by Ed Sheeran edges up 4-3, finally beating the peak of its first run from the spring; the “Perfect Duet” version with a weirdly miscast Beyonce came out on Friday, so he’s clearly angling for the Christmas number one.  “Man’s Not Hot” by Big Shaq moves 6-5, and “I Miss You” by Clean Bandit featuring Julia Michaels jumps 11-6 to restore Clean Bandit’s top 10 strike rate and become Michaels’ biggest hit (her own “Issues” only got to 10).  “17” by MK moves 16-10, technically becoming his biggest hit too.  In theory that used to be “Always”, which reached number 12 in 1995, but this does require you to ignore “Push The Feeling On” by the Nightcrawlers, which was basically his record by the time it was remixed for mass consumption.

11.  James Arthur – “Naked”

(more…)

I suspect we’re now in the pre-Christmas phase where not much happens – a bit too early for anyone hoping to score in the Christmas period, a bit too late for anyone hoping to get in a regular promotional campaign before the festive break.

1.  Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug – “Havana”

Four weeks, and still leading by a comfortable margin.  “Silence” by Marshmello featuring Khalid is up 5-3, and “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran finally makes it back to number 4 – its peak from back in March, when it was charting as an album track.  “Man’s Not Hot” by Big Shaq moves 8-6, and “Blinded By Your Grace – Part 2” by Stormzy featuring MNEK jumps 12-7.  Not quite his highest chart position, but it’s getting close.

9.  Selena Gomez & Marshmello – “Wolves”

(more…)