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Oct 24

Charts – 23 October 2020

Posted on Saturday, October 24, 2020 by Paul in Music

It’s another of those awkward weeks when the chart rules that were designed to stop older records hanging around become a little too visible. “Mood” by 24KGoldn has now been out for 10 weeks, and it’s several weeks past its sales peak. That means it switches to getting fewer points for its streams, and so its four week run at number 1 is followed by a glaringly abrupt drop to number 9. The lucky beneficiary is…

1. Internet Money featuring Don Toliver, Gunna & Nav – “Lemonade”

This is unusual, since Internet Money isn’t actually an act, but a producer collective. It’s a bit like Savage Dragon being credited to Image Comics featuring Erik Larsen. Still, they do exist in some form, and they become the latest additions to the one-hit-wonder list for now: one number 1 single and nothing else in the top 40. The same goes for Nav. Not so for Don Toliver (who managed a week at number 39 over Christmas) or Gunna (who once made the dizzy heights of number 28), but this is still way bigger than anything they’ve released in the past.

It’s taken them ten weeks to get here, starting at number 70 and climbing from there. They’ve already been in the top 10 for a month, so the question is how much more staying power they have.

Vast numbers of climbers down below. Number 3 is “You Broke Me First” by Tate McRae (up from 5). “What You Know About Love” by Pop Smoke climbs 7-4, and “Midnight Sky” by Miley Cyrus is up 6-5. “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson & Hardy Caprio climbs 15-6, giving Caprio his first top 10 hit (as for Nelson, this is his debut). “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance climbs 10-7.

“Tick Tock” by Clean Bandit & Mabel featuring 24KGoldn climbs 12-8 – it finally makes the top 10 in its ninth week on the chart, having spend the last six weeks hovering between 11 and 14. That means that their previous single “Baby” was an anomaly; it’s their only single to miss the top 10 since their atypical debut hit “Mozart’s House” back in 2014. “Lasting Lover” by Sigala & James Arthur climbs 13-10. That’s Sigala’s eighth top ten hit since 2015, and Arthur’s seventh since debuting as an X Factor winner in 2012.

Outside the top 10… “Giants” by Dermot Kennedy climbs 17-12, and “Levitating” by Dua Lipa climbs 22-13. And the highest new entry…

18. Digga D – “Chingy (It’s Whatever)”

Digga D has had three top 30 hits before, but this is his first time in the top 20. The title is a reference to “Right Thurr” by Chingy, which reached number 17 in 2003.

19. Justin Bieber & Benny Blanco – “Lonely”

Well, that’s a nice pandemic-friendly video. It’s a ballad, co-written by Finneas (Billie Eilish’s brother and regular collaborator), and comes out while his previous single is still climbing in the top 10. I see what they’re going for with the chorus, but it’s a bit yodelly, isn’t it? Blanco, the producer, makes his first appearance as a credited artist since 2018.

“Diamonds” by Sam Smith climbs 23-20, and “Daisy” by Ashnikko climbs 30-24 – it’s actually gaining momentum, albeit slowly. “Put Your Records On” by Ritt Momney climbs 31-25, and “Come Over” by Rudimental featuring Anne-Marie & Tion Wayne climbs 28-26.

29. Chunkz & Yung Filly – “Hold”

Debut hit. They’re another case of YouTubers crossing over to music and making a reasonably credible show of it.

“Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac actually climbs 37-35, which I wasn’t expecting.

39. Jax Jones featuring Au/Ra – “I Miss U”

Jax Jones is in the singles chart all the time. Au/Ra appears only briefly in this video, which I’m pretty sure is because she doesn’t live in the country and the times are, well, what they are. Her only previous hit was “Panic Room” with Camelphat, which reached number 30 in 2018.

40. Keith Urban & Pink – “One Too Many”

Keith Urban has a long chart history in the US and Australia, but he’s only had some minor appearances on the UK album chart, and this is his first appearance in the singles chart. Pink clearly isn’t quite ready to move on to the album chart market just yet – she’s been around since 2002, which is unusual staying power. She’s hasn’t had a top 40 hit in every year since 2002, but the only years she missed are 2005, 2014 and 2015 – in each of which she simply didn’t release anything.

On the album chart…

1. The Vamps – “Cherry Blossom”

It’s unusual for a band like the Vamps, originally marketed to the boy band market, to successfully transition into the albums market after the singles dry up, but they’ve done okay. Their previous album, in 2017, also reached number 1 – though admittedly it dropped straight to number 35 the following week, so they remain very much a fanbase act. Still, they’re holding on to that fanbase.

3. Daniel O’Donnell – “Daniel”

The veteran Irish MOR singer celebrates his 40th top 40 album with his joint highest position – matching 2003’s “Daniel in Blue Jeans” and 2004’s “The Jukebox Years”. The first of those 40 albums was in 1991, which was only 29 years ago. Having built his massively successful career on the combination of a prolific output and a highly recognisable but rather narrow formula, he may have been a key influence on D-Block Europe.

7. Katie Melua – “Album No 8”

She’s actually had ten top 40 albums, but the other two were compilations, so fair enough. All of her studio albums have made the top 10, in a career going back to 2003.

8. Beabadoobee – “Fake It Flowers”

Debut album, though she’s released some substantial EPs before. She’s credited on Powfu’s “Death Bed (Coffee for your Head)”, which reached number 4 earlier in the year, and samples her song “Coffee” – but that song’s from 2017 and it’s not on this album. She was also touring as the support act for the 1975 until… well, until the sky fell.

11. The Struts – “Strange Days”

The Struts have been around for years but two previous albums missed the top 40 entirely. I’m not immediately sure what’s changed here, but clearly number 11 is miles ahead of their previous positions.

19. Tom Petty – “Wildflowers & All the Rest”

Expanded reissue of Tom Petty’s 1994 album “Wildflowers”, which reached number 36 on release. Technically it was his second solo album, credited to him alone rather than to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – but in practice it’s basically the Heartbreakers playing on it. Supposedly the original album was conceived as a double album and cut back at the insistence of the label, so the reissue is meant to be restoring songs that were cut on that account.

21. Matt Berninger – “Serpentine Prison”

Debut solo album by the singer from The National.

26. The Eagles – “Live from the Forum MMXVIII”

And finally, a live album by the Eagles recorded in 2018, but it sounds more impressively vintage if you do it in Roman numerals. The Eagles were last in the album chart with a compilation album in 2013; their last studio album, in 2007, was a number one.

Bring on the comments

  1. Mika says:

    “Having built his massively successful career on the combination of a prolific output and a highly recognisable but rather narrow formula, he may have been a key influence on D-Block Europe.”

    Ha! Amazing. There’s some nostagia for me in O’Donnell’s comtinued chart appearences – I remember as a young teen getting into the charts recoiling at the incongruity of his 1990s UK hit singles to the rest of the landscape. I’m not sure I can face a listen to see if I’ve thawed to his music at all…

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