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Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa are still number one
Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa continue their reign at the top of the singles chart. The Greatest Showman soundtrack returns to number one in the albums chart.

Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa complete a month at the top of the singles chart. The Greatest Showman soundtrack returns to the top of the albums chart once again.

Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa get a fourth week at the top of the singles chart with One Kiss. Earlier this week Harris was placed in the list of the twenty wealthiest musicians in the UK. As ever, the list is dominated by veterans who have accumulated their wealth over decades. Artists such as Paul McCartney (number one in the list) can earn huge amounts each year without needing to do anything.

Drake’s Nice For What climbs back up to number two, swapping places with Ariana Grande’s No Tears Left To Cry. Lil Dicky and Chris Brown stay at number four with Freaky Friday while Anne-Marie’s 2002 also holds steady at number five.

When Childish Gambino was eighteen months old and known as Donald Glover Jnr., David Bowie had a top twenty hit with This Is Not America. Thirty-three years on Gambino enters at number fourteen with the grossly inferior This Is America. Gambino’s only previous top forty hit came as the featured artist on Leona Lewis’s Trouble back in 2012. That song’s nine co-writers and five producers was pretty extreme even by 21st century standards.

Jess Glynne gained some early publicity for her new single I’ll Be There when she performed it on Graham Norton’s show last Friday. The song is her first top forty hit as lead artist since Take Me Home in 2015 although she had a number one earlier this year as a featured artist on Rudimental’s These Days. I’ll Be There (not to be confused with the Jackson Five song of that name) enters at number sixteen and has a good chance of adding to Glynne’s six number one singles, already a record for a UK female solo artist.

Shawn Mendes enters at number 35 with Youth. Perhaps the fact that he leaves his teenage years behind him in August is the reason for him babbling on about how “You can’t take my youth away” and how it won’t change him. The song also features who gets his fifth top forty hit in seven months. It is Mendes’ eighth top forty hit in four years.

Anglo-German duo M-22, not to be confused with M83, enter at number 36 with First Time. It is indeed the first time in the chart for them, but the second time for featured artist Medina who reached number 39 with You And I in 2009. Somebody probably remembers it.

Shakka enters at number 40 with Man Down, his first top forty hit since he was the featured artist on Wretch 32’s Blackout in 2013 The song features duo Aluna George whose biggest hit to date was White Noise (alongside Disclosure), also in 2013. Their last two top forty hits both peaked at number 39 - will this do even less well?

B Young’s dreadful Jumanji crashed out of the top forty last week having fallen foul of the Accelerated Chart Ratio, meaning that its streams to sales ratio was adjusted from the standard 150:1 to 300:1. This week it sneaks back in at number 37.

After a week languishing at number two The Greatest Showman soundtrack returns to the top of the albums chart once again, bringing its total up to fifteen weeks at the top. Only Ed Sheeran’s ÷ and Adele’s 21 have spent longer at number one this century. As there are a number of major releases coming up in the next few weeks, starting with the new album from Arctic Monkeys today (Friday), this could be the soundtrack’s final week at the summit. In the ,meantime, Arctic Monkeys’ last album, AM, re-enters at number 40.

Post Malone’s Beerbongs and Bentleys slips to number two after a week at the top. George Ezra’s Staying At Tamara’s moves back up one place to number four.

Many people like to bemoan the number of “poshos” among the most successful in the arts world today. The UK’s most successful actors include Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston while the world of comedy has the likes of Ivo Graham and Miles Jupp who are following in the footsteps of predecessors such as Hugh Laurie. The obvious example in the music world tends to be James Blunt but he is by no means alone. Among those who ty to downplay their background is folk musician Frank Turner who was born in Bahrain (where his father was an investment banker) and educated at Eton.

Turner’s background was not the obvious one for a member of a heavy rock band but that didn’t stop him being part of Million Dead, a band whose successes could be listed on a postage stamp with plenty of room to spare. After the band split he embarked on a solo career with a more folky sound to his output. His albums chart record can only really be described as patchy. His last two albums, Tape Deck Heart (2013) and Positive Songs For Negative People (2015) reached number two, but only one of the other four even reached the top twenty. The run of success continues as Be More Kind enters at number three.

After modest success with his first album Plan B (Ben Drew) really hit the jackpot with his second album The Defamation Of Strickland Banks in 2010. That album went to number one and spawned two top ten singles. He chose to follow that up with the highly political, and much less commercial, Ill Manors in 2012. Now, after a lengthy absence, he has finally returned, just in time for an appearance on Jools Holland’s first show of the new series this week, with his fourth album Heaven Before All Hell Breaks Loose. It is a new entry at number five.

Over the years of writing these commentaries one of the regular features has been a summary of a rock band’s career starting with a number of unsuccessful albums before gaining increasing success with subsequent albums. One such bane is Floridian band Shinedown. Their first three albums failed to make the UK charts. Those albums included 2008’s The Sound Of Madness which was not a collection of covers of songs by Madness. If it had been, perhaps it would have been more successful.

Album number four was named after a flower but it is not known how many people thought they were being terribly witty and original by going into a record shops, drifting towards the rack marked S and asking an assistant “Is This The Way To Amaryllis?”. Regardless, that album and its 2015 follow-up, Threat To Survival, both reached the top twenty although neither of them managed a second week in the top forty, another regular fate for rock albums by little-known bands. They break into the top ten for the first time this week with Attention Attention at number eight.

The same applies to Australian rock band Parkway Drive whose name sounds more like that of a soap opera. They made their UK top forty debut with their fifth album Ire in 2015. Album number six, Reverence, enters at number fourteen.

It’s the same story for Mancunian rock band Slow Readers Club. Their first three albums failed to provide any work for chart compilers (or writers of commentaries) but they have achieved success at the fourth attempt as Build A Tower enters at number eighteen.

Another regular feature of these commentaries has been a comment about how somebody who seems to have been around for ages is still incredibly young. This week that spot is reserved for Gaz Coombes. He made his name as a member of Supergrass although I had already seen him perform as a member of The Jennifers while he was still at school. Supergrass had a number one album with their debut I Should Coco in 1995 and followed that with a further four top ten albums. Coombes’ first solo album , Here Come The Bombs (2012) failed to make the top forty but 2015’s Matador reached number eighteen. His third solo set, World’s Strongest Man, lands at number twelve. It may well be the first top forty album to contain a song called Oxygen Mask.

There is a double link from Gaz Coombes and Supergrass to the next new entry. Supergrass were formed in Oxford as were Radiohead. As mentioned above, I saw Gaz Coombes (and Danny Goffey) in The Jennifers before they formed Supergrass, They were supporting Thousand Yard Stare at the time. At around the same time I saw Radiohead supporting The Frank And Walters. That was enough for me to arrive in time to see them again when they supported the wonderful Belly who were promoting their debut album Star. While Radiohead have enjoyed substantial success since those beginnings, Belly only released one more album, King in 1995. That is, until now. After a gap of twenty-three years they have finally released a third album, dove, which enters at number 34.

American composer John Williams has written some of the most recognisable film music over the last few decades including for Star Wars, the Harry Potter films and ET. His music for Jaws has been credited by some as one of the reasons the film was so scary. A new collection of some of his most famous tunes, A Life In Music performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, enters at number fifteen.

Jon Hopkins is an English producer who should not be confused with the American university with a similar name. He gets his first top forty album this week with his fifth release Singularity at number nine.

While there is no Glastonbury festival this year we do have a new album from Glastonbury-based band Reef. Many people will consider that to be of scant consolation. Revelation, their first new album since 2000’s Getaway (after which they did exactly that) enters at number 26.

Texan gospel and soul singer Leon Bridges enters at number 28 with his second album Good Thing. His debut set, Coming Home, fared rather better, reaching number eight in 2015.

Rae Sremmurd enters at number 33 with the illiterately-titled SR3MM.

When Kylie Minogue’s album Golden topped the chart I confidently predicted that it would be the first number one of 2018 to leave the top ten. While that prediction ws correct, it is fair to say that I did not anticipate it taking five weeks to drop out of the top tier. It falls this week to number thirteen.
Published on: 2018-05-11 by BuzzJack.com Suedehead2 || 99619 Views
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