With the race for Christmas Number 1 over, and the country still on holiday, the week between Christmas and New Year is traditionally a dead one, so far as the charts are concerned.  It’s not so much that you can’t buy records – the vast majority of singles are now sold as downloads, so it makes no difference that the shops are closed on public holidays.  It’s more that radio and TV aren’t very interested in new music at this time of year, so it’s a bad time to release singles.  Occasionally a band with a loyal fanbase try to take advantage of the lull to snatch a number one, but not this year.

Nonetheless, we do have a change at the top, as the Christmas number one contenders have flared out rather more quickly than you might expect.  And so this week’s number one is… (more…)

The final chart of the year is traditionally a dead week, with the race for the Christmas Number One over, and the shops closed for at least a day.  This year, it’s slightly different, because Rage Against The Machine reached number one on the strength of a targetted one-week buying campaign which was never meant to be sustained.  X Factor coronation singles, on the other hand, tend to stick at the top for a while.

And so it is that, with the inevitability of death and taxes, “The Climb” by Joe McElderry ascends to the number one position.  (more…)

Well, now.  If you’re British, you already know where this is heading.  But for everyone else, let’s set the scene.

It must have seemed so simple.  The X Factor would crown its 2009 winner on Sunday 13 December, release the single the next day (invariably a rousing ballad about how hard the winner had worked and what an incredible journey they had been on, and a hastily assembled clip-show video), and then soar to the top of the charts to be number 1 on Christmas day.  It worked in 2005 with Shayne Ward.  It worked in 2006 with Leona Lewis.  It worked in 2007 with Leon Jackson.  And it worked in 2008 with Alexandra Burke.  Ratings were huge.  No other record company was trying to compete.  Bookmakers weren’t even wasting their time offering odds on the Christmas number 1, because it was such a foregone conclusion.  They were only taking bets on who’d come second.

What could possibly go wrong?

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I wasn’t expecting to write another one of these until next week, when the X Factor winner’s single is virtually guaranteed to become the Christmas number one.  But, as it turns out, after two weeks the Peter Kay charity single has run out of steam enough for a normal record to snatch a week at the top.

If you think that winning singles from talent shows don’t really count, then this is effectively the last “proper” number one of the year.  And in a happy symmetry, it’s from the same woman who dethroned Alexandra Burke back in January to start the year. (more…)

At long last, a number one record that is no way, shape or form connected with The X Factor!  If you count records which were promoted on the show, then we haven’t had a number one single without a link to Simon Cowell’s ever-growing empire since mid-October.

Which is not to say that this week is a return to normal.  It’s a second consecutive charity single, and it’s a novelty record.  But believe me, there’s plenty to say about this one.

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Well, I said last week that it was a foregone conclusion, and I was right.  “Meet Me Halfway” by the Black Eyed Peas only gets a single week at the top, and it’s replaced by the latest X Factor-related hit.  If you count the Black Eyed Peas (who climbed to number 1 after appearing on the show), it’s the fifth consecutive number 1 to be connected with the show.

Yes, it’s a charity single by the acts who made the live rounds of the show.  And it’s… not desperately good. (more…)

Continuing my series from If Destroyed, there’s yet another new number 1 this week… but not the expected one.  Most of us took it as read that Leona Lewis, the 2006 X-Factor winner, would go in at number 1 with “Happy”, the lead single from her new album.  Especially after she showed up on the X-Factor to promote it.

But instead, the Black Eyed Peas unexpectedly pick up their third (and least irritating) number one of the year, with “Meet Me Halfway.” (more…)