No reviews today – Diamond didn’t actually ship any of the X-books to my store last week, and for that matter they didn’t ship very much else either, so there’s pretty much nothing to write about.  It’ll all be in next week’s parcel, and I’ll cover it next weekend.

While I’m at it, I might as well cover the quietest chart of the year, covering sales in the dead period between Christmas and New Year.  You won’t be surprised to hear that the number one single is still “When We Collide” by Matt Cardle, hanging in for a third week.  That’s the longest run at the top since “Good Times” by Roll Deep in May, though of course they had some more intense competition to deal with.  We haven’t had a four-week number one since “The Fear” by Lily Allen in February 2009, but since Cardle is starting to drop down the iTunes chart, I wouldn’t bet on him matching her.

“When We Collide” was the second-biggest seller of 2010, which isn’t bad for three weeks of sales.  The actual top seller of 2010 was “Love The Way You Lie” by Eminem featuring Rihanna.  That’s a surprise, because although it hung around the chart forever, it actually peaked at number 2.  Apparently it’s the first time the chart of the year hasn’t been topped by a number one single.  But the next eleven singles down were all number 1s, and the one after that was “Empire State of Mind” (whose sales were split between two versions), so it looks like a blip rather than a fundamental shift.

That aside, there is literally nothing going on.  The usual shuffling of places at the lower end of the chart, plus some back catalogue sales from year-in-review airplay, results in five re-entries, all between 35 and 40 – “Higher” by the Saturdays, “Pass Out” by Tinie Tempah, “Barbra Streisand” by Duck Sauce, “Please Don’t Let Me Go” by Olly Murs and “Magic” by B.o.B. featuring Rivers Cuomo – but that’s about it.

Next week… there’s at least something out.