Charts – 15 June 2014
The World Cup is here, which means a batch of football-related singles make the chart. Strangely, one of the isn’t really here because of the World Cup at all. Meawhile, at the bottom end of the chart, basically random stuff!
36. Lil Wayne featuring Drake – “Believe Me”
The lead single from Lil Wayne’s upcoming album “Tha Carter V”. Strangely, it has no video yet and isn’t officially on YouTube (not that it’s hard to find unofficially). Wayne has appeared as a guest on tons of tracks dating back to 2005, but he’s had very little UK success in his own right; this is only the third time one of his own singles has charted. And one of the other two had Bruno Mars on it.
Charts – 8 June 2014
Charts – 1 June 2014
Charts – 25 May 2014
It’s getting on in the week, better get this one finished while it’s still vaguely topical…
40. Zedd (featuring Foxes) – “Clarity”
This is a re-entry, having originally got to 29 at the start of last year, but I’m honestly not sure why it’s back. Foxes’ current single “Holding Onto Heaven” drops to 39 this week.
38. Nicki Minaj – “Pills and Potions”
This was an unpromoted midweek release, and it’ll be climbing once it’s had a full week on sale. It’s the lead single from her upcoming album “The Pink Print”, and it’s a curious choice – largely a mid-pace piano ballad.
35. Little Mix – “Salute”
Charts – 11 May 2014
Charts – 4 May 2014
Charts – 27 March 2014
Charts – 20 March 2014
Another batch of dance records! Oh, and Elyar Fox.
38. DJ Snake & Lil Jon – “Turn Down For What”
Well, that video certainly isn’t making MTV UK’s daytime top 40 rundown. This track has gone platinum in the USA, and it’s been climbing from the lower reaches for a few weeks now. DJ Snake is a French producer, getting his first UK hit (if 38 counts as a hit). Lil Jon has had quite a few hits in America, but his only previous UK appearance was as a guest rapper on Jay Sean’s “Do You Remember”, which made number 10 four years ago.
29. Showtek & Justin Prime featuring Matthew Koma – “Cannonball (Earthquake)”
Third hit for the Dutch brothers Showtek, following last year’s top 5 hit “Booyah” and the current David Guetta collaboration “Bad”. They do a lot of collaborating; this one, with Justin Prime, another Dutch DJ, started out as an instrumental back in 2012. But for this release, it’s had vocals added from Matthew Koma, who was previously the featured vocalist on Hardwell’s “Dare You” – a number 18 flash in the pan in January.
13. Meridian Dan featuring Big H & JME – “German Whip”
A crossover grime hit – well, kind of. It was number 6 in the midweeks, so sales must have been pretty front loaded. JME was one of the guest rappers on Wiley’s “Can You Hear Me? (Ayayaya)”, which made number 3 in 2012, but the others are chart newcomers.
Supposedly, a “whip” is an early motoring term which has been dusted off and repurposed as meaning “car”. Originally (if you believe the internet) it actually meant a steering wheel, on the logic that it was equivalent to the coachwhip. But close enough.
11. Elyar Fox – “A Billion Girls”
Follow-up to “Do It All Over Again”, which made number 5 in January. Diminishing returns are already in evidence. At time of writing, it’s at 34 on iTunes, so this looks like another front loaded pop song selling predominantly in first-day fan purchases. Actually, it’s not a horrible record, but the window for achieving any sort of crossover looks small.
3. Shift K3y – “Touch”
UK garage – we haven’t had that in a while. Shift K3y is 20-year-old producer Lewis Jankel, who has a few high profile remix assignments under his belt. Unusually in this day and age, he’s doing his own vocals on this track. He’s got a good voice, though I can’t help thinking the video director could have done him a few more favours.
1. Kiesza – “Hideaway”
Debut hit for house singer Kiesa Rae Ellestad. She’s from Calgary, but that’s Brooklyn in the video. She’s a trained ballerina, which might explain why somebody decided to try a one-shot video like this. Apparently she’s got a broken rib in this video, which can’t have been fun.
This sold 136,000 copies, though that does include several weeks of pre-order sales. It’s the ninth straight week to see a change of number 1, and that’ll be continuing next week. Admittedly one of those weeks was “Happy” returning to the top. But otherwise, we seem to be back in a pattern of records entering at the top after advance promotion. Interestingly, most of the artists in question have been relative newcomers rather than established fan base acts – Sam Smith, Route 94, Duke Dumont, 5 Seconds of Summer, Aloe Blacc, Sigma and now Kiesza. Still, it’d be nice to see something break from the pack and stay at the top a bit longer.
On the album chart:
- “Caustic Love” by Paolo Nutini at 1. It’s the fastest selling album of the year, not that that’s a huge achievement these days. The single “Scream” rebounds to 22 this week.
- “Meet the Vamps” by the Vamps at 2. A pretty solid debut for a teen pop band. The single “Last Night” predictably drops 2-14 on the singles chart.
- “Homo Erraticus” by Ian Anderson at 14. The sixth solo studio album from the front man of Jethro Tull. Again, it speaks volumes about the state of the album market that he’s now getting to number 14, when none of his previous releases got above 35. Single: “Enter the Uninvited”.
- “One Day Like This” by Rhydian at 19. Yes, the guy who came second in the 2007 season of X Factor is still recording. It’s the expected selection of classical crossover covers. With this release, he apparently becomes only the second X Factor alumnus to make it to five albums (the other being JLS). Admittedly, one of his five albums was a low-selling Welsh language release, but still, five albums. Single: “Nights in White Satin”. It’s in Italian, so as to be extra classy.
- “Do The Beast” by the Afghan Whigs at 40. Astonishingly, the first time the indie veterans have actually made the albums top 40 – 1996’s “Black Love” only got to 41. Single: “Algiers”. (I still think their 1993 single “Debonair” was inexplicably overlooked.)
Charts – 13 March 2014
Hey, I haven’t reminded you about our live show for a couple of posts! Buy tickets here! May 31! It’s for charity!
Meanwhile, on the charts: re-recorded remixes, film soundtracks, and somebody gets a hit single after The Voice UK final!
40. Paolo Nutini – “Better Man”
Charts – 6 March 2014
I’m late enough that the midweeks for next Sunday’s chart are out – it’s been a while since that’s happened, so let’s get this one done.
And don’t forget to buy tickets for our live show on 31 May – all details are at this post, including the online ordering details.
We kick off with something unexpected…
40. Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Monn & Idina Menzel – “Do You Want To Build A Snowman”
This is not officially on YouTube, though Disney must be turning a blind eye, giving that there are versions with millions of views up there. It’s presumably in the chart because of the Frozen DVD release. “Let It Go”, which is still hanging around the top 40 after all these weeks, climbs up to a new high of 17 this week. “Do You Want To Build A Snowman”, while a lovely scene, isn’t exactly the obvious track for people to be cherry picking – but here it is, and it’s actually climbing in the midweeks, which show a third Frozen song – “For The First Time in Forever” – set to join them. It’s only at 38, though, so it might not be there on Sunday. Obviously this wasn’t possible until the download era, but the download era has been going long enough that Frozen stands out as doing something truly odd.
