Charts – 16 February 2014
An interesting day for the charts, as the BBC has just announced that streaming services are going to be incorporated into the top 40. There are obvious questions of weighting here, but the basic idea of counting audiences on streaming services is plainly right. Judging from the OCC’s existing streaming chart, the main impact will be to slow the charts down; it’ll be interesting to see how they do the weighting.
As for this week’s chart, we may be a first – a top 40 with two records deemed completely unbroadcastable by the Radio 1 chart show.
40. Nina Nesbitt – “Selfies”
Charts – 9 February 2014
Charts – 2 February 2014
As we enter February, the release schedules are back to something approaching normal. Of course, there’s always something odd going on.
40. Dappy – “No Regrets”
This was the only solo number one for the N-Dubz bozo, back in 2011. He was last in the chart in September 2012, and the only apparent reason for “No Regrets” to suddenly reappear now is his recent stint on Celebrity Big Brother, the once-mighty Channel 4 ratings titan now eking out a living in reduced circumstances on Channel 5.
34. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – “Young Blood”
Charts – 26 January 2014
Charts – 19 January 2014
Charts – 12 January 2014
Charts – 5 January 2014
Not exactly a regular chart week – this chart still covers the holidays between Christmas and New Year. But this time there are a scattering of singles trying to sneak a hit in the dead period.
39. Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams – “Get Lucky”
35. Chase & Status featuring Jacob – “Alive”
34. Wilkinson – “Afterglow”
A handful of re-entries at the lower end of the chart, where things are sort of swirling around in the absence of anything better to do.
18. Matrix & Futurebound featuring Max Marshall – “Control”
Charts – 29 December 2013
Welcome to the annual Weird Chart. Once upon a time, the two charts after Christmas were basically a write-off because the shops were closed for so long. In the download era, that’s no longer a consideration, but almost nobody releases new material in Christmas week because of the near impossibility of getting anyone to pay attention. Next week’s chart will be a bit closer to normal, as Pitbull tries to sneak himself a number one.
In the meantime, we have a chart in which the top 75 is basically shoved into a blender and rearranged in a random order. This is because, even though there’s no new material available, there are plenty of people who got gift cards or MP3 players for Christmas, and who want to fill them up. Cue the march of the re-entries…
Charts – 22 December 2013
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our annual detour into the utterly predictable parallel world of the Christmas Chart, where regular music fears to tread. In fact, it’s so predictable that for the most part irregular music fears to tread here as well, leaving us with what’s mostly a motley collection of reality show tie-ins and failed Facebook campaigns.
Let’s take the album chart first, since it’s dead. “Swings Both Ways” by Robbie Williams is the Christmas number one. Literally nothing else is happening. Right, onto the singles.
40. John Newman – “Love Me Again”
Originally a number 1 hit in July, I’m honestly not sure why this is suddenly back.
39. Little Mix – “Little Me”
Charts – 15 December 2013
It’s the final chart before Christmas number one, which means it’s a calm week before next week’s flurry of novelty records overambitiously going head to head with the X Factor winner (for, yes, they’ve gone back to gunning for the Christmas Number One this year).
Still, there’s a bit of activity this week – and some massive climbers that would have been high new entries if they hadn’t snuck into the low thirties last week…
This week’s token back catalogue re-entry. Good to see Andrew Ridgley remains financially secure.
36. Sub Focus – “Turn Back Time”
