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[ThePensmith]

Hello everyone - and welcome to one of the most exciting personal top 20s from yours truly for weeks. Question is though can Alphabeat hold firm at #1, or will the might of new entries from Capulets, Rick Astley, Pet Shop Boys, Louise and not one but two new singles from a returning McFly prove too strong a challenge? Here's the moment of truth...

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

1. (HNE) MCFLY - Touch the Rain
2. (NE) MCFLY - Red
3. (1) ALPHABEAT - I Don't Know What's Cool Anymore
4. (2) ONEREPUBLIC - Wanted
5. (NE) CAPULETS - Act One EP
6. (3) MARK RONSON FEAT. CAMILA CABELLO - Find U Again
7. (NE) RICK ASTLEY - Every One Of Us
8. (4) CRAIG DAVID - Do You Miss Me Much
9. (NE) PET SHOP BOYS FEAT. YEARS & YEARS - Dreamland
10. (NE) LOUISE - Breaking Back Together

11. (5) JONAS BLUE FEAT. HRVY - Younger
12. (6) KATY PERRY - Small Talk
13. (7) PAIGE CAVELL - Figure It Out
14. (8) SHAWN MENDES FEAT. CAMILA CABELLO - Senõrita
15. (NE) NINA NESBITT - Black & Blue
16. (9) JIMMY BALITO - Perfume
17. (NE) DES'REE - Don't Be Afraid
18. (11) JAMES BLUNT - Cold
19. (10) ANDY BROWN - John Travolta
20. (15) HIMESH PATEL - Yesterday

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



I'd suggest going and getting yourself a tea or coffee, maybe some biscuits too before we take a look at our top 20 this week, as it's not very often we get a week like this one. Twelve records go down, there's an unprecendent eight new entries including six inside the top 10, and once again, a brand new number one. And a history lesson behind it too.

First there was Busted. A three piece boyband - Charlie Simpson, Matt Willis and James Bourne - with a difference, that played guitars and wrote their own cheekily laced rocky leaning pop material and, when launched back in 2002, flipped the traditional concept of the boyband model completely on its head with a string of hit singles, albums, sell out tours and awards aplenty. They burned brightly to say the least though, their initial run of success only lasting eight singles and two albums before their split in January 2005.

And then there was McFly. A four piece concept from the same team behind Busted, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd supported them on tour, and started life with a modest but impressive run of four top 10 singles exactly fifteen years ago in 2004. But catapulting them to superstardom was their fifth single, raising money for Comic Relief. That was 'All About You / You've Got a Friend'. That spent five weeks at number one on our chart in the spring of 2005, becoming our biggest single that year, and it promptly set them off on a run of success which took in a further nine number one hits (a feat only matched by JLS for boybands), another five inside the top 10, and more hit albums and tours.

It was a formula that - save for a well noted wobbly patch on their 2010 album 'Above the Noise', which produced their two lowest charting singles and divided fans - was still producing hits as recently as November 2013 when they released 'Love Is On The Radio', the first single from their then recorded but yet to be confirmed sixth studio album, which hit #2 on our chart. And then McBusted happened.

What started as a cute brief supergroup merging of McFly with Busted's Matt and James at their 10th anniversary concert then turned into a behemoth of a pop comeback, and the two sold out arena tours, hit album and three top 10 singles they enjoyed over the next two years immediately put plans for the sixth McFly album on the back burner. So when Busted reunited as their full lineup and McFly unofficially began a hiatus/break of sorts to pursue solo projects of varying degrees of success after the last McBusted show in 2015, that appeared to be that. Until this week.

For even though they were neither confirming or denying anything in the media as recently as two months ago (Danny was in our chart as a solo artist with 'Muddy Water', his last single back in June), last week they announced to the world's press and their fans that they were both finally releasing that much delayed sixth studio album titled 'The Lost Songs' and performing a one off show at London's O2 Arena this November, followed by a bigger tour in May next year. At which point everything went ballistic.

Topping it all off for impatient fans was the news that each song from the album would be released, week by week every Sunday until the O2 show on 20th November. The twist being for the first week they'd be getting not one, but two new songs. It was all but apparent therefore, that we'd be welcoming McFly back to the top of our chart this week for the first time since 'Shine A Light' hit the top almost nine years ago in 2010. But which song would it be?





The winner is 'Touch the Rain', which smashes in at the summit with a commanding lead to give them their eleventh number one hit on my chart, thus edging them ahead of JLS, but putting them behind Girls Aloud (13) and Olly Murs (15) in our all time list of serial chart toppers. Meanwhile, their other new song, 'Red', debuts at #2, meaning the boys are the first artist since Ed Sheeran in 2017 to simultaneously hold down the number one and number two slot with new material. If you wanted the final confirmation they were back with style, this is it.

'Touch the Rain' is unquestionably the stronger of the two records, calling to mind their more anthemic moments like 'Shine A Light' or 'The Heart Never Lies', whereas 'Red' is from the more tougher edge of their remit, akin to 'One for the Radio' or 'I Wanna Hold You'. All that is left to do now is wonder what the next seven or eight chart weeks are going to look like for the next couple of months. Could it be that by the time November rolls around, McFly are occupying every slot in the top 10? Watch this space.

Before we get on to the rest of the other brave souls who had the misfortune of releasing new material this week, a moment of commiseration to Alphabeat, who without McFly's dominance would've held on for a second week with 'I Don't Know What's Cool Anymore' (and were actually leading for the top again in the early part of the week). They dip two places to #3 accordingly.

Actually, for the first time in well over two years, only the top 4 of last week's top 10 survive this week to accomodate all the newcomers. Onto the next new record then at #5, from Brighton based band Capulets who land with their debut EP 'Act One'. Whilst the name may be new, one of them is familiar in our chart terms, as their guitarist and vocalist is none other than Florrie, the Xenomania helmed discovery who notched up a string of solo top 40 hits including three inside the top 10 at the start of this decade, the most recent of which was 'Live A Little' that got to #16 back in May 2013. This release matches the peak of her biggest hit, 'Fascinate Me / Sunday Girl' from October 2010.



Rick Astley returns to our top 10 this week - his sixth such appearance since his triumphant comeback in 2016 - with brand new single 'Every One Of Us' debuting at #7. The track is one of several new recordings that appears on his forthcoming new greatest hits package, titled 'The Best of Me', due for release at the end of October.



Another long standing name from the 80s is new at #9 this week, as Pet Shop Boys team up with Years & Years for their latest single 'Dreamland'. This too is off a new album, as yet untitled, but which won't be released until the new year, and is their second top 10 hit of the year after 'Give Stupidity A Chance' made #10 back in February.



Louise's fourth solo album 'Heavy Love' has now been pushed back until January next year for its release, possibly no doubt as a result of the underperformance of its three singles thus far which have all been top 20 entries but fallen away to nothing. There is at least a small glimmer of positvity this week though, as 'Breaking Back Together', the fourth single - and arguably the best of her new material so far - enters at #10 and thus returns her to a top 10 berth for the first time since exactly 16 years ago when her last single before her hiatus from the industry, 'Pandora's Kiss', made #5.



Nina Nesbitt is currently readying a repackage of her second album, which now has a new title to reflect this ('The Sun Will Come Up, The Seasons Will Change and The Flowers Will Fall') and several new tracks, including brand new single 'Black & Blue' which enters at #15 to give her a third consecutive top 20 hit from the album.



Finally this week - remember Des'ree? The 90s soul singer was big news with songs like 'Life', 'I'm Kissing You' and most famously of all 'You Gotta Be', which was a top 10 hit on my chart in 1999. Now sixteen years after her last studio album, she is returning with a new album, 'A Love Story', due to hit the shelves on October 11th, and 'Don't Be Afraid', her first new single from that album debuts at this week's #17.



Well done for getting to the end of all that. So will McFly be replacing themselves at the top seven days hence? Will they have the whole top 3? We'll have to wait and see...

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 2003: Rachel Stevens makes her solo debut at number one, plus classic hits from Dido, Black Eyed Peas and Jamelia



1. (HNE) RACHEL STEVENS - Sweet Dreams My L.A Ex



2. (1) DIDO - White Flag
3. (2) BLACK EYED PEAS - Where Is The Love?
4. (3) BIG BROVAZ - Baby Boy
5. (NE) LOUISE - Pandora's Kiss / Don't Give Up
6. (NE) JAMELIA - Superstar
7. (NE) NICKELBACK - Someday
8. (4) ELTON JOHN - Are You Ready For Love?
9. (NE) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE - Senõrita
10. (5) BLU CANTRELL FEAT. SEAN PAUL - Breathe

This post has been edited by ThePensmith: Sep 27 2019, 01:25 PM