Of late, the charts seem to have slipped back into their old habit of having records enter high on release, and drop from there.    The last three number ones all entered at the top – though admittedly, one of them was a charity single, which is a special case.  Thankfully, this week we’re back to a record that has seemingly taken forever to climb the chart.

“Telephone” by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce is one of the bonus tracks from the “Fame Monster” special edition of Lady Gaga’s debut album.  It first charted as an album track download back in December 2009, when it got to number 30.  It’s been hovering around the top 75 almost uninterrupted since then.  A slow-build towards promoting it as a proper single led to it re-entering the top 40 several weeks ago, and make a painfully slow 39-39-34-37-31-12-1 climb to the top.  (more…)

Well, I told you that Jason Derulo wouldn’t be number one for long.  Having sneaked a week at the top during a scheduling lull, he drops to number three this week.  And so, it’s back to business as usual, with yet another grime act making the leap from an underground following to the singles chart.

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Almost a week late, I know.  So I’d really better cover this one today, because it won’t be number one in 24 hours time…

When last we spoke, the number one record was the charity single “Everybody Hurts”, credited to Helping Haiti.  Despite a stellar start, its sales tailed off quickly.  That was enough to give it two weeks at the top – it did start very well – but this week it plummets to number 9.  That’s a much bigger drop than normal, and suggests that the single is going to flare out very quickly.

As for its American counterpart, “We Are The World” – well, that was released in the UK, but it didn’t get a huge amount of publicity, and it crashed out at number 50.  So the British have less appetite for Haiti charity records than some people had predicted.  In fairness, that’s partly because the singles emerged weeks into the fundraising effort, and there were plenty of ways to donate without buying mediocre cover versions.

Anyhow, this all leaves the way clear for… (more…)

Cometh the disaster, cometh the charity single.  The Haiti earthquake has prompted plenty of fundraising efforts, and the British record industry’s contribution is this cover version of “Everybody Hurts”, credited to Helping Haiti.  The official video isn’t on their YouTube channel, but here’s an officially sanctioned set of still photos.

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Iyaz managed two weeks at the top with “Replay”, but gets knocked off the top a little earlier than planned.  As I’ve mentioned before, record companies still like to promote records for ages before officially releasing them, even though promoting an unavailable product which has already been released in other countries is a huge incentive to piracy.  The new number one was supposed to come out in February, but when knock-off clone versions started selling on iTunes, they rush-released it.  Turns out they didn’t need the weeks of hype anyway, as the track goes straight to number one on its first week of release (though by a relatively slim margin).  And the track in question is…

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With the Christmas period over and X Factor out of the way at last, the charts finally return to business as usual, with 2010’s first wave of new releases.  Apparently it was a fairly close-run thing this week, with new entries at numbers 1 and 2 running neck and neck over the week.  But the first new number one of 2010 is “Replay” by Iyaz.

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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…)