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[Popchartfreak]

29th December 2018

It's Carpenters on top for a 5th total week (3rd for the 2018 revamp) as the UK singles chart looks a bit like my Christmas 1972 charts when the Carpenters also featured along with The Jackson 5 and John & Yoko, and a bit like xmas 1973 when Elton, Wizzard, Slade featured, and 1974 when Mud & John & Yoko featured, and 1975 when Queen, Greg Lake, John & Yoko featured and....so on and so on. My charts though are having a huge Xmas clearout sale in tribute to HMV, RIP, end of an era if there is no rescue, last shop standing from my youth that sold records. To herald the Mariah-Carey-free dominance of the world for another 10 months, there's an inrush of fresh new music, hooray!

Coldplay and Pharrell add to their already long list of top 10's, Coldplay more than Pharrell as they approach 2 decades of 'em, Ava Max finally breaks the 40, Morrissey takes a 1982 Pretenders song back into the 40 for a grand total of 35 years since This Charming Man broke into my top 10 (and still his best record), while The Faces have taken a mere 45 years to get Ooh La La top 40 (though to be fair to me, I only did a top 20 in 1973 and didn't allow album tracks or anything that wasn't UK top 30 to be listed).

Top newie is yet another Alan Walker track, off his new debut album, giving him 2 on the list, as has Billie Eilish debuting with 2 at once, how greedy! Both lovely though. Albin Lee Medau also debuts (who!?) apparently a Swedish artist keeping the Scandi-tracks strong along with Alan Walker, and Mercury Rev are back! It's been 13 years since they last charted, 20 years since Goddess On A Hiway went top 10, and nearly 18 years since the gorgeous The Dark Is Rising topped my chart. They are back with a reinvention of the cult debut 1967 album by dark country act Bobbie Gentry, of Ode To Billie-Joe fame. Bobbie topped my chart in 1969 with the 4th single I ever bought, I'll Never Fall In Love Again, she released another album in 1970, had duet success with huge fave of mine Glen Campbell - and that was that! Despite acclaim, awards, and success, she pretty much decided to retire from the music biz and has stuck with it, one of the huge losses to country music IMHO. 76 years old now, talk about going out on top in your 20's! Well done Mercury Rev bringing her back, sort of.

Trevor Horn debuts at 53. Actually he debuted in 1979 as a Buggle, and hit in the 80's as part of Yes, and had there been producer-artist labels in those days he would have featured alongside Frankie Goes To Hollywood, ABC, Dollar, Seal, Pet Shop Boys with his trademark synth-wall-of-sound epic symphonies. Technically, though it's his solo debut, covering Tears For Fears thrice chart-topper, helped by an orchestra and.... Robbie Williams! So, 40 years for Trev and 27 years for Robbie, give or take as we are virtually in 2019 now. The Robster also worked with Pet Shop Boys, who can be expected to chart next week as I finally get around to playing the next PSB deluxe album that charted in the UK album charts a year ago or so, and cherry-pick the best previously-uncharted tracks.

Jade Bird debuts, young British singer who sounds pretty fab to me, veteran T.Rex producer Tony Visconti has been impressed with her, so that's good enough for me! He knew a great pop single when he made one. Santigold is back, hooray, always interesting, and now over a decade since Les Artistes went top 10 for me. Tame Impala are back with Theophilus London - didn't he used to be Lenny Henry? (Checks - no he's Trinidad-American. I used to love learning about the Caribbean islands in geography when I was 10, we even had actual BBC TV shows in b&w during the lesson so our young supply teacher could have a sit-down, & Trinidad & Tobago was one of my faves). Lenny was a Theophilus P Wildebeest sex god.

Paul Weller makes it a 3rd lush track off his latest album, 41 years since his noisy Jam debut, Grimes debuts at last, Adelphi Music Factory bring some 90's House anthem-stylee music in, Khalid and Tom walker both return as featurings, Boyzone get a second new track in 20-odd years on from debut, and Thomas Rhett gets a 6th entry since his 2015 fab Crash & Burn.


1 1 1 4 GOODBYE TO LOVE Carpenters & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 625000
2 2 2 5 NOTHING BREAKS LIKE A HEART Mark Ronson featuring Miley Cyrus 326050
3 3 3 5 SURVIVE Don Diablo featuring Emeli Sande & Gucci Mane 300200
4 8 4 5 SUNSHINE ON LEITH The Proclaimers 193000
5 4 1 11 DIAMOND HEART Alan Walker & Sophia Somajo 769500
6 6 1 6 TRUE LOVE WAYS Buddy Holly & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 500000
7 9 7 6 THIS FEELING Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini 176000
8 17 8 4 E-LO Los Unidades (Coldplay) & Pharrell Williams featuring Jozzy 101650
9 13 1 9 SHADOWS Black Atlass 662000
10 10 6 8 THANK YOU, NEXT Ariana Grande 356800

11 11 7 9 BRAZILIAN SOUL The Knocks featuring Sofi Tukker 342000
12 12 4 11 STARFISH Rhys featuring FELIX SANDMAN 446000
13 7 7 4 DOES THE HOMOSAPIEN KNOW Abba vs Pete Shelley 156000
14 5 5 7 DON’T START WITHOUT ME The Fizz 214850
15 18 15 7 BREATHE Camelphat & Cristoph featuring Jem Cooke 129800
16 19 16 6 EVERLASTING LOVE The Love Affair 113800
17 14 1 8 DRIVE (SYMPHONIC VERSION) The Cars 742000
18 16 8 6 IT’S FOR YOU Cilla Black with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 190000
19 15 10 7 KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE The Fizz 192500
20 23 20 5 FAVELA Ina Wroldsen & Alok 76750

21 20 15 6 YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME Connie Francis 131750
22 21 9 6 RISE Raaginder 164250
23 32 23 3 WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME The Monkees 49050
24 24 13 9 BABY Clean Bandit featuring Marina & The Diamonds & Luis Fonzi 183900
25 26 25 10 BURN Super8 & Tab featuring Hero Baldwin 154400
26 27 26 8 LOVE OF MY LIFE Queen 120700
27 25 3 8 ARREST THE PRESIDENT Ice Cube 313400
28 28 28 4 TIMBUKTU Cassper Nyovest & Los Unidades (Coldplay) featuring Stormzy & Jess Kent 64500
29 33 29 8 LONELY STAR Ariana and The Rose 110300
30 38 30 8 HEY DJ CNCO, Meghan Trainor & Sean Paul 114450

31 29 4 12 JOY. for KING & COUNTRY 387100
32 48 32 7 SWEET BUT PSYCHO Ava Max 63300
33 43 33 5 PUNK RIGHT NOW HYO & 3LAU 60800
34 37 34 5 DREAM ON Aerosmith 50500
35 50 35 4 BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG Morrissey 46100
36 30 20 8 ALGORITHM Muse 137900
37 39 37 6 INFINITY (MOVEMENT 6) Jean-Michel Jarre 82700
38 42 38 6 SEE THE DAY Dee C. Lee 82950
39 22 22 4 DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS Chris Rea 66400
40 49 40 7 OOH LA LA The Faces 70300

41 34 8 11 HEAVEN LET ME IN Friendly Fires 266200
42 36 3 12 NEED YOU TONITE Mylo featuring Judie Tzuke 347800
43 NEW 43 1 LOST CONTROL Alan Walker & Sorana 13500
44 44 25 10 HOW LONG WILL THIS LAST? Blossoms 150850
45 NEW 45 1 WHEN THE PARTY’S OVER Billie Eilish 13000
46 46 2 7 GOOD NIGHT The Beatles 341050
47 NEW 47 1 BOUNCE Albin Lee Meldau 12500
48 41 12 9 FRENCH CLASS HalfNoise 205300
49 NEW 49 1 SERMON Mercury Rev featuring Margo Price 12100
50 31 18 4 EVERYBODY’S HAPPY NOWADAYS Buzzcocks 71650

51 45 1 14 TOOGOODTOBETRUE Gallant featuring Sufjan Stevens & Rebecca Sugar 679350
52 55 52 4 LOVE YOU MORE Buzzcocks 40600
53 NEW 53 1 EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD Trevor Horn featuring The Sarm Orchestra & Robbie Williams 11250
54 58 54 5 TERE NAAL NACHNA Badshah & Sunanda Sharma 44300
55 NEW 55 1 LOVE HAS ALL BEEN DONE BEFORE Jade Bird 10800
56 53 1 28 HEY LOOK MA, I MADE IT Panic! At The Disco 1987600
57 NEW 57 1 COO COO COO Santigold 10400
58 64 58 5 PAPER DREAMS Jamie N Commons 35100
59 62 59 5 SPEECHLESS Robin Schulz featuring Erika Sirola 36500
60 51 45 7 TINTS Anderson .Paak featuring Kendrick Lamar 74050

61 NEW 61 1 ONLY YOU Theophilus London featuring Tame Impala 7500
62 35 35 3 A SPACEMAN CAME TRAVELLING Chris De Burgh 31100
63 NEW 63 1 MAY LOVE TRAVEL WITH YOU Paul Weller 7200
64 54 2 15 NOTHING BURNS LIKE THE COLD Snoh Aalegra featuring Vince Staples 607300
65 NEW 65 1 WE APPRECIATE POWER Grimes featuring HANA 7000
66 NEW 66 1 JAVELIN (CALLING OUT YOUR NAME) Adelphi Music Factory 6800
67 NEW 67 1 LOVELY Billie Eilish & Khalid 6600
68 40 40 2 MARY’S BOY CHILD/OH MY LORD Boney M 23400
69 56 20 9 LOVE Boyzone 131350
70 60 46 7 HUFF + PUFF Just A Band 66750

71 61 53 6 HANDS UP Merk & Kremont featuring DNCE 52650
72 NEW 72 1 HOLA (I SAY) Marco Mengoni featuring Tom Walker 5600
73 NEW 73 1 SIXTEEN Thomas Rhett 5400
74 52 41 6 SAIL AWOLNATION 60100
75 NEW 75 1 NORMAL BOY Boyzone 5000

DROP OUTS
47 47 1 LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS Mud 12500
57 57 3 STOP THE CAVALRY Jona Lewie 22900
59 59 3 ONE MORE SLEEP Leona Lewis 26800
63 63 1 ISOBEL’S DREAM Kim Wilde 7200
65 60 3 EVER FALLEN IN LOVE (WITH SOMEONE YOU SHOULDN’T’VE) Buzzcocks 24200
66 66 3 SHE MAKES ME Rick Astley 17800
67 67 3 DECEMBER WILL BE MAGIC Kate Bush 19000
68 68 2 WHAT WOULD SANTA DO The Monkees 12800
69 56 3 THE POWER OF LOVE Frankie Goes To Hollywood 27000
70 70 2 HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) John & Yoko & The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir 12000
71 30 7 JAPAN Plastician 96550
72 72 1 CHRISTMAS WRAPPING The Waitresses 5600
73 73 1 YOU MAKE IT FEEL CHRISTMAS Gwen Stefani featuring Blake Shelton 5400
74 48 7 MAPACHE Cari Cari 64300
75 75 1 SLEIGH RIDE The Ronettes 5000