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[ThePensmith]

Good afternoon people, hope you're all doing well - time to bring you my first new personal top 20 for April - we're in the second quarter of the year already? Actually just whilst we're here, now seems a good time to tell you all I shall be counting down my personal Chart of the Year so Far on Easter Monday at 4pm on the Countdown and EOY Forum - hope you can join me then. Back to this week though, can Jonas Brothers stand off the stiff competition of big new entries from Westlife, Olly Murs, Lauv and Kelly Clarkson and do what no one else has managed so far this year to make it three weeks at the top? Let's find out...

THEPENSMITH'S TOP 20 SINGLES CHART
Week ending 5th April 2019
© AM LIMITED 2019

1. (1) JONAS BROTHERS - Sucker
2. (HNE) WESTLIFE - Better Man
3. (NE) OLLY MURS - Feel The Same
4. (2) MABEL - Don't Call Me Up
5. (3) P!NK - Walk Me Home
6. (NE) KELLY CLARKSON - Broken & Beautiful
7. (NE) LAUV FEAT. JULIA MICHAELS - There's No Way
8. (7) ALPHABEAT - Shadows
9. (5) LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY - My Salvation
10. (NE) DONEL - Planets

11. (8) GEORGE EZRA - Pretty Shining People
12. (10) NOW UNITED FEAT. BADSHAH - How We Do It
13. (NE) ZARA LARSSON - Don't Worry Bout Me
14. (6) THE VAMPS FEAT. ALOK & FELIX JAEHN - All The Lies
15. (9) UNA HEALY - Strangers
16. (11) BOB SINCLAR FEAT. ROBBIE WILLIAMS - Electrico Romantico
17. (13) RAK-SU - Into It
18. (4) WILL YOUNG - All The Songs
19. (NE) LOUISE - Stretch
20. (19) JULIA MICHAELS FEAT. NIALL HORAN - What A Time

Compiled from my own personal listening in the last seven days across streaming, digital and physical formats.

KEY

(1) - last week's position
(HNE) - highest new entry
(NE) - new entry
(RE) - re-entry

CHART COMMENTARY



In what's been considerably one of the busiest weeks for months - seven new singles make their debut on my chart this week, including five inside my top 10 - Jonas Brothers are to be congratulated, for they have once again flown in the face of all challengers to make it three weeks at number one with 'Sucker'. This hattrick is now enough to make it my longest running chart topper of the year, and the first to survive for more than two weeks since Jess Glynne's 'Thursday' back in December. If it makes to it a fourth week next week, there's every chance it could become my biggest single of 2019 so far - P!nk's 'Walk Me Home' is the current title holder, having wrestled it away from Julia Michaels' 'What A Time' a fortnight ago.

The story of Westlife's comeback single 'Hello My Love' has been one of the most heartwarming chart stories of the last quarter. Only just falling out of my top 20 a couple of weeks back after eleven weeks - during which time it peaked at #2 in January - Ireland's most globally famous boyband now prove that was no fleeting success by scoring this week's highest new hit with the follow-up, 'Better Man', also debuting at the same position.



Once again, Ed Sheeran and their long time collaborator Steve Mac have had a hand in co-writing and producing this one for them, which returns the tempo down a notch to their usual power ballad stylings, but it's actually none the worse for all of that, a soaring sing along ballad that can't fail to charm. Expect another long chart run for this one ahead of their 20th anniversary tour in the summer.

With another series of The Voice drawing to a close this weekend, it's almost time for Olly Murs (who is coach to two of the remaining favourites to win, Jimmy Balito and Molly Hocking) to get back to his day job, with preparations now under way for his sold out arena tour to mark his 10th anniversary in pop, scheduled to start next month. Just in time for then comes the third single from his 'You Know I Know' album, 'Feel The Same', which follows his chart topping 'Moves' with Snoop Dogg and #2 hit 'Excuses' by entering at #3 - which also now puts him second behind good mate Robbie Williams for the most top 10 hits for a male solo artist in my chart history (27).



The single's co-writers not only boast Olly's good friend and co-writer on his former number one from 2013, 'Dear Darlin' in Ed Drewett, but it's also got some pedigree behind it, being as it is a celebrated collaboration with disco legend Nile Rodgers, who thus has a reversal of sorts in his own chart fortunes after the underperformance of his last single with Chic, 'Do You Wanna Party', which couldn't advance beyond the #20 entry point it scaled back in January.

Next to play and it's a welcome return to my top 10 for Kelly Clarkson this week. Premiered online last week, 'Broken & Beautiful' is the title theme from the forthcoming new animated film Ugly Dolls, which the original American Idol star has contributed several songs to the soundtrack of, including two with Janelle Monae. Arriving at #6, it's now her first top 10 hit since 'Heartbeat Song' back in February 2015, and her twelfth such hit overall.



Julia Michaels' former number one from February with Niall Horan, 'What A Time', spends another week on my chart at #20 this week and as mentioned above is my second biggest single of the year so far, whilst she is back inside my top 10 this week, but this time with her role reversed to featured artist on the new single from Lauv. 'There's No Way' is now the US star's third top 10 hit on my chart, but it'll have to climb next week to avoid being his smallest so far with this #7 entry point - the first two, 'I Like Me Better' and 'Superhero' both made the top 5.



There's more action further down the top 10 this week relating to the current series of The Voice. On last weekend's semi final, last year's runner up Donel Mangena, who was mentored by will.I.am, performed his brand new single 'Planets' for the first time. Simply recording and releasing mononymly as Donel, it thus speeds in at #10 - not only surpassing the #38 peak of 'Bang Like A Drum', his first release last July, but it also becomes the third highest charting single by a former contestant in my chart history, behind 'All You Good Friends' (#6 for 2016 champ and former Liberty X star Kevin Simm) and 'Gecko (Overdrive)' (#1 for 2014 finalist Becky Hill, appearing as guest vocalist for Oliver Heldens).



Zara Larsson notches up another top 20 hit, debuting at #13 with 'Don't Worry Bout Me'. It's the follow up to 'Ruin My Life' which hit #12 last October. Of this week's top 10, only the records which held the top 3 and numbers 5 and 7 on last week's chart survive. It means that after claiming the biggest new hit of last week at #4, Will Young's comeback with 'All The Songs' takes a quite specutacular tumble of fourteen places to this week's #18 on its second week - not exactly the best start to his new album campaign all told. Still, he has it much better than the lady who he appeared on the 2016 series of Strictly Come Dancing with that makes a return today.



A member of one of the 90's biggest girl groups in Eternal, Louise left their number for a quite fruitful solo career 25 years ago, good for a run of twelve hit singles - biggest of all on my chart being '2 Faced', which got as high as #3 in July 2000. The arrival of motherhood indicated that she appeared to have thrown the towel in on her pop days back in September 2003 when 'Pandora's Kiss' became her final top 5 hit. All of which brings us neatly to fifteen years later. First came her reintroduction to the public in a performing sense on the series of Strictly mentioned above. After then weathering a storm of tabloid controversy in the last year following the break down of her long standing marriage to Jamie Redknapp, and making steps into the West End with appearances in both Cabaret and 9 to 5, she announced the signing of her first new record deal for over a decade with Warner Music last month. A new album, 'Heavy Love', is scheduled for release in October, and 'Stretch' was released as its first single last week.



And depending on your point of view, it has done either as well as it could do, or underperformed badly with this #19 entry. But take into account that Emma Bunton recently had a top 3 hit on my chart with her first single within even less time passed between her last hit, and with something that got everything right about her as a 'heritage' solo artist, and I'm inclined to view this as a flop. The trouble is that it is unsure if it wants to tap into Louise's saucy sound of old (remember 'Naked'?) or if it wants to be a current pop hit, and as such succeeds at neither. She's produced some fine work in the past but this isn't one of them. I await to see if any subsequent singles are a radical improvement on this.

FLASHBACK TOP 10
Your chance to see how my personal top 10 was looking on this week in the last 20 years. This week in 2007: Sugababes and Girls Aloud meet on their cover of a Run DMC and Aerosmith classic for Comic Relief in its third week at the top, plus classic hits from Avril Lavigne, Gwen Stefani, Fergie and Nelly Furtado



1. (1) SUGABABES VS. GIRLS ALOUD - Walk This Way



2. (HNE) AVRIL LAVIGNE - Girlfriend
3. (2) GWEN STEFANI - The Sweet Escape
4. (3) FERGIE FEAT. LUDACRIS - Glamorous
5. (4) NELLY FURTADO - Say It Right
6. (5) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE - What Goes Around (Comes Around)
7. (6) TAKE THAT - Shine
8. (7) KAISER CHIEFS - Ruby
9. (8) CALVIN HARRIS - Acceptable In The 80s
10. (9) THE FRAY - How To Save A Life