JLS enjoy their second chart topping single while Cheryl Cole holds on at the top of the albums chart

After two weeks at number one, Cheryl Cole drops to number two this week. She is replaced by yet another X-Factor related act as JLS have their second number one of the year with Everybody In Love.

Kesha (or Ke$ha, ugh) featured on Flo-Rida’s Right Round. Now she has a hit of her own with Tik Tok (further demonstrating her inability to spell) entering at number six. The third new entry in the top ten is End Credits by Chase and Status feat Plan B. This is where I lose out by spending less time on research this week because I have no idea what either of these songs are like.

Snow Patrol have a new Greatest Hits album out soon and so, almost inevitably, there’s a new track on it to encourage the fans to buy an album which, otherwise, would have nothing on it that they didn’t own already. The song, Just Say Yes, is new at number 15. Each time I hear it, I keep expecting them to break into the chorus of Crack The Shutters.

Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing has had a curious chart career. It has been in the top 200 for 89 weeks with several runs in the top 75. But it has never got any higher than number 52 which is where it was last week. Until now. All it took was an appearance on X-Factor and suddenly it has risen to number 19. So, all those chart records are no longer theirs.

It was twenty years ago today (Sunday) that East Germans endured their last day before the Communist regime started to collapse. There had been demonstrations in various East German cities for a few weeks but the events of the following day made it clear that the objectives had been achieved. On Thursday 9 November 1989, the first chunks of the Wall which had divided Berlin and even families since August 1961 were hacked away by jubilant Berliners. Why am I including a history lesson in a chart commentary? I am currently in Berlin to take part in the 20th anniversary celebrations. As part of the festivities there will be a concert tomorrow night which will include Bon Jovi and their haircuts performing We Weren’t Born To Follow. The song is a new entry in the UK charts at number 25. At least we’re not going to be forced to listen to The Scorpions performing Wind of Change.

In the last few days, 1000 giant foam dominos (well over two metres high) have been erected following the path of the Wall. At around 20.00 local time tomorrow night (the time the first people climbed on to the Wall), Lech Walesa (whose formation of the first trade union in eastern Europe could be seen as the first act which ultimately led to the events of 1989) will topple the first of those dominos to send the whole lot tumbling (we hope). This not just to commemorate the demolition of the Wall but also to mark the way that Communist regimes across eastern Europe fell like dominos in that remarkable year. East Germany wasn’t the first and it wasn’t the last but the images of those people on top of the Wall are the defining images of that period in history. All this is by way of a preamble to say that The Big Pink’s Dominos has sadly tumbled out of the top 40 this week.

Beyonce’s Broken Hearted Girl has been hovering just outside the top 40 for a few weeks, spending the last two weeks at number 41. This week it finally makes the top 40 at number 27. Laura White who, apparently, is yet another X-Factor loser enters at 32 with You Should Have Known and Chris Brown and Lil Wayne are new at 29 with I Can Transform Ya, this week’s winner of the most ungrammatical song title award.

Bon Jovi have the highest new entry in the albums chart with The Circle at number two, their twelfth successive top ten album (including a greatest hits package and a live album). Cheryl Cole holds on the to top slot for another week with 3 Words.

There’s a chart double for Dave Grohl. He has a new entry at number four With Foo Fighters’ Greatest Hits and his former band, Nirvana enter at number 32 with Live From Reading from the time when he was a mere drummer.

Just a week after entering with Believe, Katherine Jenkins has another new entry at number nine with her Greatest Hits. Sting’s new album, If On A Winter’s Night, is new at number 15 for those who like that sort of thing. Four places lower at number 19 is yet another Bee Gees collection. I prefer the Hee Bee Gee Bees, featuring a very young Angus Deayton and their classic song Meaningless Songs In Very High Voices.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood were of course named after a headline about Frank Sinatra. Any band tempted to name themselves after a Daily Express headline would risk having to call themselves Asylum Seekers Killed Diana or Listening to Westlife Causes Cancer. Unless they left it a couple weeks when they could use the even more implausible Listening To Westlife Cures Cancer. The band were huge for about a year or so in 1993/4 with Welcome to the Pleasure Dome enjoying massive success. They never really came close to matching the three number one hits from that album, either in terms of quality or chart success. However, every few years, they have re-packaged various remixes of songs from that album and some b-sides etc. to form a “new” album. Now they’ve done it again and Frankie Say Greatest Hits (named after their famous slogan-bearing t-shirts) is at number 27.

Rod Stewart has had even more Best Of collections than he has had wives. The latest, Some Guys Have All The Luck is new at number 35. Surely nobody could claim that he has a good voice so it really must be down to luck.