This year's X-Factor finalists top the singles chart while former winner Leona Lewis has a second number one album.

It’s another double triumph for X-Factor with the finalists topping the singles chart and Leona Lewis leading the way in the albums chart.

When used together the words charity and single are enough to instil dread in many music lovers. There have been some good charity singles but there have also been some real shockers. The assumption is that many people will buy any old rubbish if it’s “for a good cause”. People could just give the money to charity without expecting anything in return but things don’t always work out that way. Two contrasting examples enter the charts this week.

The new number one, predictably enough, is You Are Not Alone by this year’s X-Factor finalists. This is threatening to become an annual event. Officially the aim is to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital - a cause which is almost impossible to oppose. However, cynics might feel that it also generates useful publicity for Simon Cowell and the show. The choice of a Michael Jackson song can only fuel that cynicism. Either way, the record is truly dire. I’m not exactly a fan of the song in any case but this version is woeful.

By contrast, Peter Kay’s latest assault on the charts is good fun with an entertaining video to accompany it. I rather like the way the na na nas from Hey Jude slide into One Day Like This at the end. The Sgt Pepper-inspired cover is also well done. The Official BBC Children In Need Medley by Peter Kay’s Animated All Star Band was only made available for download on Friday night but has already entered the chart at number 18. With the CD released tomorrow, this must be a good bet for next week’s number one and an end to the run of X-Factor related chart toppers.

This week’s popular dance track is Whatcha Say by Jason Derulo which enters at number three. It’s not my type of music at all so it’s no surprise that I don’t like it. However, many people clearly disagree. Similarly, Alesha Dixon isn’t exactly a favourite of mine and To Love Again (a new entry at number 15) does nothing to change that.

50 Cent (with a contribution from N-Yo) is at number 23 with Baby By Me and Shakira gets a second song in the top 40 with Did It Again at number 26 joining She Wolf which is back up one place to number 34. At her best Shakira has made some very good songs. This isn’t bad but it’s well short of her best.

Taken By Trees are new at number 38 with a version of Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Sweet Child Of Mine. It’s what a cover version should be - sufficiently different from the original to make it worthwhile without going so far as to ruin it. The song currently features on a commercial for John Lewis so if you find it cheaper somewhere else perhaps you could ask them to refund the difference.

Agnes sneaks in at number 40 with I Need You Now, the follow-up to Release Me which reached number three earlier this year. Among others, Pitbull’s Hotel Room Service has checked out and the top 40 run of the Saturdays’ Forever Is Over is over. And, to avoid confusion with the number one, Tinchy Stryder’s version of You’re Not Alone has also gone.

Pixie Lott climbs five places to reach the top twenty at number 20 while Florence + The Machine also climb into the top twenty at number 16 with You Got The Love.

X-Factor also maintains its hold on the albums chart this week with Leona Lewis’ second album, Echo, topping the chart. The album is not a tribute to Ian McCulloch’s drum machine or Martha and the Muffins’ favourite beach. My despair at the success of the programme is highlighted by the fact that Lewis is about to embark on her first major tour. In my view it’s better for musicians to start by playing in pubs and clubs, move on to support other acts on tour and only then start to release material. Even manufactured boy bands have played gigs at schools or venues such as gay clubs before releasing anything. They may wait until the release of their first album before embarking on a major tour but they certainly wouldn’t wait until the second album. Ah well, that’s this week’s X-Factor rant over.

Queen’s Greatest Hits is the best-selling album ever in the UK having notched up over 5 1/2 million sales. Even allowing for the fact that some people will have bought the collection on vinyl and then again on CD that is a phenomenal figure. A second collection has sold over 3 3/4 million while Greatest Hits volumes 1, 2 and 3 has sold around 1 3/4 million. So now we have another single volume with the best of those three collections. It has only one song from their first two albums (Seven Seas of Rye) and, naturally, ends with Bohemian Rhapsody, the only song to be a million seller on two separate occasions. The album, Absolute Greatest, is perhaps surprisingly, the first album with that title to chart, entering at number three. Let’s hope this doesn’t start a title biding war with record companies releasing Absolute Very Greatest or maybe Absolute Very Very Best.

Given the time of year it’s no surprise that the Queen album is not the only Greatest Hits album to enter the chart this week. At number nine Will Young becomes the first solo artist to emerge from the whole X-Idol Pop-Factor phenomenon to release a Greatest Hits album. The fact that he has survived long enough to do so makes him eligible to consider himself as rather more than someone who once won a talent contest. His career has flagged a little recently but at least he’s still got one.

Last week N-Dubz had their first top ten single in their own right. This week, they have followed it with their first top ten album as Against All Odds enters at number six.

Stereophonics’ last five studio albums have all reached number one and their Greatest Hits package released last year also sold very well. It is, therefore, rather surprising that their great new album, Keep Calm and Carry On has only reached number 11 this week. Even more surprisingly, the excellent lead single, Innocent, has missed out on the top 40 altogether. Similarly 50 Cent’s three previous albums peaked at numbers two, one and two. His fourth, Before I Self Destruct, is no higher than number 22 this week. It’s the same story for Norah Jones. After three successive number one albums, The Fall (appropriately named it seems) is at number 24.

Another week, another side project / super-group. Them Crooked Vultures were this year’s surprise act at the Reading and Leeds festivals in August. Made up of, among others, Dave Grohl (back on drums) and Josh Homme (who produced Humbug for Arctic Monkeys), their eponymous debut album is at number 13.

Ronan Keating’s Winter Songs does what it says on the tin. The album is a collection of Christmas songs as well as other songs associated with winter in general. It includes a version of Little Drummer Boy featuring Stephen Gately on backing vocals in what was to be one of his last recordings. Keating topped the chart for two weeks earlier this year with Songs For My Mother but, for now at least, he has to be content with a number 16 placing for this album.


The latest Carpenters compilation benefited from a tribute programme on ITV this week which has seen it enter at number 21. The general consensus seems to be that it demonstrated what a good voice Karen Carpenter had compared with the people trying to emulate her. They were always a decent MOR type band who made one outstanding single, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognised Anthem of World Contact Day) originally recorded by Klaatu.

There have always been artists who are huge in the US but who achieve very little in the UK. One such is John Mayer who has sold over 13 million albums on the other side of the Atlantic. Here his sales are closer to 13. However, this week he enjoys his first top 40 album as Battle Studies enters at number 35.

Foster and Allen have had 28 top 100 albums although none of them have made the top ten. The 29th doesn’t change that, entering as it does at number 34. As their tally of top 40 singles stands at just two with a peak of number 18, it’s no surprise that the Million Sellers referred to in the title are not their own. In fact, I’m not entirely sure in what way songs such as The Bluebell Polka, Wabash Cannonball and My Happiness count as million sellers at all.