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Nov 13

Charts – 12 November 2021

Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2021 by Paul in Music

At last, a busy week.

1. Adele – “Easy on Me”

Not right at the top, admittedly. The top three is all non-movers, with Ed Sheeran at both 2 and 3 (and he’s at 6 too). “Easy on Me” gets a fourth week at number 1; it still needs a fifth to match 2011’s “Someone Like You”.

5. Arrdee – “Flowers (Say My Name)”

This is Arrdee’s third top ten hit and the biggest – marginally, following two number 6s. It is what it is. The chorus draws on both “Flowers” by Sweet Female Attitude (number 2 in 2000) and “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child (number 3 the same year). “Flowers” is a heavily referenced track – Nathan Dawe’s cover reached number 12 in 2019, and Pinkpantheress used it on “Pain” earlier this year, which got to 35.

20. Post Malone & The Weeknd – “One Right Now”

Sounds more like the Weeknd, actually, which is no bad thing. Post Malone’s previous single “Motley Crew” only got to number 31, which isn’t the best way of kicking off the promotion for a new album, so probably a smart move to reach for the track with a high profile guest star. He hasn’t been this high up the chart since 2019, when “Hollywood’s Bleeding” just missed the top 10.

23. Travis Scott – “Escape Plan”

Travis Scott is one of those acts whose chart positions vary wildly, depending in part on collaborators. Number 23 isn’t bad at all for a completely solo track. Since this single came out on the same day as the Astroworld Festival crowd crush, from which nine people have now died, Scott probably has other things on his mind than promoting it.

24. Summer Walker & SZA – “No Love”

Walker’s second album “Still Over It” enters the album chart at number 5 – its predecessor “Over It” reached number 7 in 2019. She’s had two previous hits on the singles top 40 – “Playing Games” also reached number 24 in 2019, and she guested on a Fredo track that got to 21 in February. The previous single from this album, “Ex for a Reason”, just missed the top 40.

25. Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak) – “Smokin Out the Window”

Their second hit, following “Leave the Door Open”, which reached number 20. There was a follow-up single, “Skate”, which just missed the top 40. I normally find Bruno Mars’ throwback records a bit obvious, but the Silk Sonic tracks with Anderson .Paak really work for me.

29. Amaarae featuring Moliy – “Sad Girlz Luv Money”

Now that’s a title. This is this week’s better-than-you’d-expect viral track; Amaarae is Ghanaian-American, and this is her first UK hit. I’ve used the official video above, though I think the version getting more actual play is the mix with Kali Uchis. They’re pretty similar, though.

36. Acraze featuring Cherish – “Do It To It”

Gosh, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a video with extensive footage of a DJ promoting his single by gently shuffling behind a set of decks on a deserted rooftop. I know it’s technically a lyric video, but come on.

Acraze, making his chart debut, is a DJ from Florida. Cherish were a US girl band – still are, apparently, though they don’t seem to have released anything since 2017 – and this is a remix of their 2019 single of the single name. The original reached number 30, and was their only UK hit. For once, I prefer the remix; the original is a bit fiddly.

This week’s climbers:

  • “Coming For You” by SwitchOTR featuring A1 & J1 climbs 20-14.
  • “Drive” by Clean Bandit & Topic featuring Wes Nelson climbs 26-17, finally reaching the top 20 in its 13th week on the top 40. This has taken an insanely long time to get this far.
  • “I Wish” by Joel Corry featuring Mabel climbs 23-19.
  • “Seventeen Going Under” by Sam Fender, which entered at 26 a month ago and dropped out of the top 40 last week, re-enters at 22. Not sure what that’s about.
  • “Alone With You” by Arz climbs 27-25.
  • “Better Days” by Neiked, Mae Muller & Polo G climbs 33-32.
  • “Ghost” by Justin Bieber climbs 39-35.

On the album chart…

1. ABBA – “Voyage”

The singles “Don’t Shut Me Down” and “I Still Have Faith In You” charted in September. This is ABBA’s 10th number 1 album, though there are four compilations on that list. Nonetheless, it includes everything they released between 1976 and 1982, plus the 90s compilation “Gold – Greates Hits”, which spent 384 weeks in the album top 40.

3. James Arthur – “It’ll All Make Sense in the End”

The success of “Train Wreck” as a viral hit last year didn’t do much for the singles from this fourth studio album – “Medicine” did best, placing at number 41. It’s… obviously trying to lean towards melodic rap at points, which is not what people want from a James Arthur single, I suspect. Still, number 3 on the album charts isn’t bad, and he’s unarguably on the list of X Factor winners who had a real, sustained career – it’s been nine years since he won it and he’s still here.

4. Radiohead – “Kid A Mnesia”

This is a straight reissue of the albums “Kid A” and “Amnesiac”, number 1s in 2000/1, together with a third disc of extra unreleased material and… a B-sides cassette. Okay then.

Number 5 is Summer Walker. We’ve covered that.

7. Diana Ross – “Thank You”

Her 25th album, recorded during lockdown. She’s now 77, and she last released an album 15 years ago. Number 7 is her highest position for since her greatest hits album reached number 1 in 1991; she hasn’t been this high with a studio album since “Love Songs”, which reached number 5 in 1982.

8. Gregory Porter – “Still Rising – The Collection”

Basically a best-of set, with the obligatory few new tracks. It maintains a clean sweep of top 10 positions for his albums since he first charted in the UK, with his 2013 album “Liquid Spirit” (his third).

13. Bullet For My Valentine – “Bullet For My Valentine”

Normally people get the self-titled album out of the way first, but Bullet For My Valentine have left it to album seven.  It lands in exactly the same position as album six, from 2018.

35. Snail Mail – “Valentine”

Finally, Snail Mail – her name is Lindsey Jordan and this is her second album. The debut made no impact on the UK chart.

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