{"id":2242,"date":"2013-10-30T23:11:48","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T23:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2242"},"modified":"2013-10-30T23:11:48","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T23:11:48","slug":"charts-27-october-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2242","title":{"rendered":"Charts &#8211; 27 October 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So, mmm, yeah, probably not going to get to that\u00a0<em>Wolverine Max<\/em> review this week after all\u2026 \u00a0With an eye on the time, though, let&#8217;s see if I can finish this off while it&#8217;s still mildly topical.<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\">35. \u00a0Sean Paul &#8211; &#8220;Turn It Up&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rPo8rcfrRZc?rel=0\" height=\"225\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--more-->So. \u00a0Is there anything to say about this beyond &#8220;I&#8217;ve heard worse&#8221;? \u00a0Well, the single&#8217;s a bit of a mystery, really. \u00a0It&#8217;s got a video, but it&#8217;s not exactly been hyped, and Wikipedia seems to suggest it hasn&#8217;t even been released outside the UK (even though Sean Paul regularly has hits in several major European markets). \u00a0It&#8217;ll be gone next week, anyhow. \u00a0Slightly surprised this didn&#8217;t go further, since while Sean Paul is hit and miss with his chart placings, this seems like something that should have done okay with a bit of promotion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>34. \u00a0Rizzle Kicks &#8211; &#8220;Skip to the Good Bit&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5ESHJKat6ds?rel=0\" height=\"225\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Mini aren&#8217;t subtle with their product placement in music videos, are they?<\/p>\n<p>This is the follow-up to &#8220;Lost Generation&#8221;, which made the top 10, but it&#8217;ll be charting as an album track download on the strength of early promotion. \u00a0The midweeks have it climbing &#8211; to 28, admittedly, but climbing nonetheless.<\/p>\n<p>The sample &#8211; and there must be <em>some<\/em> of you too young to remember &#8211; is from <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/waacof2saZw\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Unbelievable&#8221; by EMF<\/a>, a number 1 hit in 1990\u2026 in America. \u00a0In Britain it only got to number 3, though it&#8217;s still probably better remembered than most of that year&#8217;s number ones. \u00a0It&#8217;s aged pretty well, actually. \u00a0EMF were one of those indie\/dance\/pop hybrid acts that flourished around 1990. \u00a0Despite perennial rumours that the E stood for Ecstasy and the MF stood for the obvious, the band always insisted that it stood for Epsom Mad Funkers (which would have been a reference to a New Order fan club, and thus isn&#8217;t quite as implausible as it sounds).<\/p>\n<p><strong>33. \u00a0Reconnected &#8211; &#8220;Time of our Lives&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mxBX8UaVW_s?rel=0\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Wow, are these guys still going? \u00a0This is the boy band signed to the indie label that Duncan Bannatyne invested in, which still sparks a level of cognitive dissonance that&#8217;s difficult to look past. \u00a0Their previous single &#8220;One in a Million&#8221; made number 32 in March, so no progress there.<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\">31. \u00a0Icona Pop &#8211; &#8220;All Night&#8221;<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0FWRT9C9XMQ?rel=0\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Follow-up to &#8220;I Love It&#8221;, which was a number 1 in July when the record company finally got around to releasing it here. \u00a0A bad choice of follow-up, if you ask me; the tune&#8217;s too similar to &#8220;I Love It&#8221; at times, and that makes it come across as a pale imitation of the better-known hit. \u00a0The midweeks suggest it&#8217;s going no further.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/iFP9AjWpNi4\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>28. \u00a0Justin Bieber &#8211; &#8220;Hold Tight&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This week&#8217;s &#8220;Music Monday&#8221; single. \u00a0Quite the woozy mid-paced album, this is turning out to be. \u00a0Also of note is that this was at 9 in the midweeks, so it really did sell almost\u00a0<em>exclusively<\/em> to the fans in the first couple of days. \u00a0It&#8217;s going to be interesting to see if Bieber can actually get all of these tracks into the top 40. \u00a0He also appears as a guest on a Tyga single out this week, which failed to chart.<\/p>\n<p><strong>22. \u00a0Eminem &#8211; &#8220;Survival&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NlmezywdxPI?rel=0\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The third Eminem single in as many weeks, and diminishing returns are clearly setting in. \u00a0This one&#8217;s on his upcoming album\u00a0<em>and<\/em> it&#8217;s in\u00a0<em>Call of Duty: Ghosts<\/em>. \u00a0The uncredited vocalist on the chorus is Liz Rodrigues of the New Royales.<\/p>\n<p>This\u00a0<em>definitely<\/em> won&#8217;t be in the top 40 next week, and to explain why, we must take a detour into the arcane and tedious world of chart rules. \u00a0In fact, we need to touch on this anyway in order to explain why Lady Gaga isn&#8217;t in the chart&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>So. \u00a0Remember back in January when David Bowie released &#8220;Where Are We Now?&#8221; and the broadsheet papers had a collective fit that it was going to be disqualified from the chart because it was also available as a freebie for anyone pre-ordering the album? \u00a0And remember how the chart compilers explained that technically it was eligible to chart as long as they were provided with separate figures for the standalone track, but since they didn&#8217;t have that data they couldn&#8217;t figure out which sales were of the single and which were of the album? \u00a0And remember how David Bowie is a special case for some reason, so iTunes and everyone else somehow decided to provide that information after all? \u00a0And remember how this whole issue kind of dropped off the radar after that?<\/p>\n<p>Well.<\/p>\n<p>It turns out that, in fact, David Bowie <em>was<\/em> indeed a special case because of the publicity. \u00a0Retailers still aren&#8217;t providing data that allows the chart compilers to distinguish between sales of the individual track, and freebie downloads for people who pre-ordered the album. \u00a0So, as a workaround, they changed the chart rules instead. \u00a0The rules (as interpreted in practice, because god knows this isn&#8217;t readily apparent from reading them) apparently now provide that any album which is available for pre-order can nominate one &#8220;instant gratification&#8221; track, and as long as pre-orderers pay for that track up front, it will count as a single on the charts &#8211;\u00a0<em>even if you were actually buying the album.<\/em> \u00a0In the absence of data that allows the sales to be separated out, the chart compilers appear to have accepted this as the best compromise available to them.<\/p>\n<p>Why limit it to one track? \u00a0Because otherwise you could manipulate the chart by converting a single album pre-order into multiple singles sales. \u00a0That&#8217;s the theory. \u00a0But it kind of breaks down when all of those instant grat tracks really\u00a0<em>have<\/em> been promoted separately as singles. \u00a0Lady Gaga has actively promoted several tracks from her upcoming album ARTPOP, but only one of them, &#8220;Applause&#8221;, is currently chart eligible. \u00a0Eminem has taken a slightly different approach: he released this track, &#8220;Berzerk&#8221; and &#8220;Rap God&#8221; as regular singles, but as of this week they&#8217;re also available as instant grat tracks for album pre-order along with a fourth track, &#8220;The Monster&#8221;. \u00a0Now, &#8220;The Monster&#8221; has been nominated as the\u00a0<em>eligible<\/em> instant grat track, so that means that the other three get disqualified from the chart until the album comes out, at which point they count again.<\/p>\n<p>Got that? \u00a0No, probably not. \u00a0While you can see the chart compilers&#8217; problem, it&#8217;s plainly a very awkward compromise, and it doesn&#8217;t do wonders for the credibility of the chart. \u00a0And while the chart exists primarily as a marketing tool for the music industry, its effectiveness as a marketing tool does depend on its underlying credibility. \u00a0Fortunately for the chart, we&#8217;ve yet to have the spectre of a number 1 single being disqualified under these rules &#8211; but it can only be a matter of time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. \u00a0Union J &#8211; &#8220;Beautiful Life&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mE3v4Bv8NaY?rel=0\" height=\"225\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Union J are the boy band who came fourth in\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> last year, and have now been dutifully pressed into service as the Lidl One Direction. \u00a0This is their second single &#8211; yes, I&#8217;d forgotten the previous one too. \u00a0It was called &#8220;Carry You&#8221; and it got to number 6. \u00a0Two singles, neither making the top 5 &#8211; that&#8217;s not usually good for teen acts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. \u00a0Showtek featuring We Are Loud &amp; Sonny Wilson &#8211; &#8220;Booyah&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QCyIY10KBnk?rel=0\" height=\"300\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Showtek are brothers who started off as a hardstyle duo from Eindhoven, but they&#8217;ve been collaborating with people from more &#8211; well, more\u00a0radio friendly genres for a while now. \u00a0Still, there&#8217;s more than a hint of their roots in this, which makes it an odd track to find so far up the chart. \u00a0We Are Loud are also Dutch, and consider themselves more progressive EDM. \u00a0Sonny Wilson? \u00a0Dutch singer. \u00a0So yes. \u00a0Very Dutch.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. \u00a0James Arthur &#8211; &#8220;You&#8217;re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lHjUuojffds?rel=0\" height=\"225\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The first single proper from last year&#8217;s\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> winner, though of course the obligatory coronation single (&#8220;Impossible&#8221;) was a number 1 last Christmas. \u00a0By the standards of\u00a0<em>X Factor<\/em> winners still under contract, this is really not bad at all; there&#8217;s actually a bit of passion to it. \u00a0It&#8217;s a little surprising that, despite being performed on the results show last week, it hasn&#8217;t made number 1 &#8211; but then it was up against a strong challenger. \u00a0What ought to be more worrying is that it drops to 10 on the midweeks, though that&#8217;s partly due to a raft of high new entries.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. \u00a0Lorde &#8211; &#8220;Royals&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LFasFq4GJYM?rel=0\" height=\"225\" width=\"400\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Lorde is a sixteen-year-old from New Zealand, and this has already been a somewhat surprising number one in the USA. \u00a0I wouldn&#8217;t have guessed this as a global hit, but I like it a lot. \u00a0Minimal, mid-paced, a video in which she barely appears (she&#8217;s in the US version \u00a0a lot more, but not the edit being used in this country)&#8230; but it sure stands out, and it&#8217;s a got a fantastic chorus. \u00a0This isn&#8217;t a Gotye-style viral hit; the record company is actively promoting her in this country. \u00a0Still, it&#8217;s a nice change of pace at the top of the singles chart.<\/p>\n<p>It won&#8217;t be number 1 next week, but it&#8217;ll be hanging around the top end for a while to come.<\/p>\n<p>On the album chart:-<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Prism&#8221; by Katy Perry<\/strong> at number 1. \u00a0Yes, she sells albums too. \u00a0This is her second number one album, following &#8220;Teenage Dream&#8221; in 2010.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Moon Landing&#8221; by James Blunt<\/strong> at 2. \u00a0His fourth album, and they&#8217;ve all made the top 5. \u00a0The single &#8220;Bonfire Heart&#8221; got to number 4 a couple of weeks back.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Live in Portofino&#8221; by Andrea Bocelli<\/strong> at 5. \u00a0An ideal Christmas present for the Classic FM listener in your life.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;The Message&#8221; by Andrea Begley<\/strong> at 7. \u00a0The winner of last year&#8217;s\u00a0<em>The Voice<\/em>, and the producers with breathe a sigh of relief that at least this one has sold a few records. \u00a0It&#8217;s a covers album, though, which doesn&#8217;t exactly suggest massive confidence on the label&#8217;s part. \u00a0In case you&#8217;d forgotten that she&#8217;s the blind one, the single is a cover of <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/x8taBOkFJcE\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Dancing in the Dark&#8221;<\/a>. \u00a0Seriously.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Now Then and Forever&#8221; by Earth Wind &amp; Fire<\/strong> at 25. \u00a0Despite the title, this isn&#8217;t a greatest hits album, it&#8217;s a new studio album &#8211; though not featuring founder Maurice White. \u00a0Single: <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/PyV4iMKxjl8\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;My Promise&#8221;<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Shulamith&#8221; by <b>Poli\u00e7a<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0at 33. \u00a0Second album by a synthpop group from Minneapolis, first to chart. \u00a0Single: <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/D_26olfQeHU\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Warrior Lord&#8221;<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, mmm, yeah, probably not going to get to that\u00a0Wolverine Max review this week after all\u2026 \u00a0With an eye on the time, though, let&#8217;s see if I can finish this off while it&#8217;s still mildly topical. 35. \u00a0Sean Paul &#8211; &#8220;Turn It Up&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2242"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2248,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242\/revisions\/2248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}