Joel Corry and MNEK top the chart for the first time with their joint effort Head & Heart. Ellie Goulding has her third number one album.
Joel Corry and MNEK each get their first number one single. Ellie Goulding tops the albums chart.
In only its third week in the chart, Head And Heart climbs to number one to give Joel Corry his first number one single in the UK at the relatively old age (for a first-time chart-topper) of 31. He has been releasing singles for five years but didn’t break into the chart until last year. The song features MNEK who also gets his first number one single after a few years of trying.
Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo’s Savage Love looked like it might be set for a lengthy spell at the top but, after three weeks at number one, it falls to number two. The previous two number one singles complete the top four with Dababy (and Roddy Ricch)’s Rockstar at number three and Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande’s Rain On Me at number four. Harry Styles’ Watermelon Sugar finally makes it into the top five, at number five, in its eighteenth week in the top forty.
When the Official Charts Company introduced a rule limiting the number of songs an individual act could have in the chart to three, it was not hard to guess that somebody would get round that by appearing as the featured artist on several songs and release them at the same time. The obvious suspects were Ed Sheeran and Drake. This week, with Chicago Freestyle - on which he is the lead artist - still in the top forty - we have three new entries which feature the Canadian’s characteristically dull contribution.
Two of Drake’s entries come courtesy of DJ Khaled and they both start with somebody announcing the lead artist just to make sure we know who is responsible for the ensuing tedium. Greece is a new entry at number eight with Popstar at number eleven. Greece, the country, has only appeared in the title of one other top forty single - Three Drives’ Greece 2000 in 1999. Greek artists to have appeared in the UK charts include Vangelis, Nana Mouskori and Demis Roussos while George Michael had a Greek-Cypriot father. The homophonic Grease was a hit single for Frankie Valli at the time when songs from the film of that name dominated the charts. Popstar joins Rockstar in this week’s chart.
The other Drake contribution comes on Only You Freestyle, officially credited to Headie One and Drake and a new entry at number nine. Drake has now had 55 top forty singles in the UK in ten years. One day, he might release something good enough to be called mediocre.
There is yet more rap in the shape of the new entry from Abra Cadabra, a name which suggests the Tottenham resident should be a permanent fixture on the playlist of Magic Radio. On Deck, a new entry at number 39, has just one redeeming feature - it is all over after just under three minutes. Abracadabra was a number two hit for the Steve Miller Band (David and Ed’s American brother) in 1982.
After his success with a remix of Whitney Houston’s version of Higher Love, producer Kygo is trying to repeat the trick with Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It. The original version reached number three in 1984 (when Turner was under 100 years old); this new version is at number 40 to give Turner a first new(-ish) top forty hit for sixteen years.
Pop Smoke’s Dior re-enters at number 37. Niko B is back at number 35 with Who’s That What’s That. Oh joy.
Thankfully, the albums chart has a rather wider range of new entries than the singles chart. That starts at the very top with a new entry at number one. Ellie Goulding won the BBC Sound Of 2010 poll a decade ago and has gone on to have three number one singles, including her version of Joni Mitchell’s River at the end of last year. Two of her first three albums also topped the chart and she now makes it three out of four with Brightest Blue. In a sign of how much the singles market has changed, none of the tracks released as singles have come anywhere near the top forty.
Ellie Goulding has collaborated with a range of other artists, including Juice Wrld on the 2019 single Hate Me. His Legends Never Die album slips to number two after a week at the top. Its predecessor at the top, Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon is at number three.
Bob Dylan’s Rough And Ready Ways climbs back up to number four following its release on vinyl.
When deciding on a name for a band (or, indeed, a brand), there are a host of things to consider. For example, is your chosen name a terribly rude word in another country of which you know little? Could it be misconstrued? One of the imponderables is the possibility that events might change the perception of your choice. The bands Corona and The Coronas (and, indeed, the beer brand Corona) are obvious examples.
Some acts decide that a change in attitudes necessitates a change of name. One such band are American country-pop group Dixie Chicks who have decided that the association of the word Dixie with the slave trade makes it unacceptable in 2020. Some might say that the removal of one word serves to focus even more attention on the use of the word Chick as a derogatory term.
The Chicks (as they are now known) add to their reputation for wearing their political consciences on their sleeves (they were once heavily criticised for saying that they were ashamed that George W Bush came from their home state) by calling their latest album Gaslighter, referring to the habit of some domestic abusers of indulging in behaviour deliberately designed to make their victims question their own sanity. The album enters at number five, a new peak for them in the UK charts.
In the week that a “song” called Greece enters the singles chart, we have an album from someone with a Greek father and a Jamaican mother. Lianne La Havas, for it is she, reached the top five with her first two albums. She hasn't done quite as well with album number three but the unimaginatively-titled Lianne La Havas still enters at a respectable number seven. It includes a cover of Weird Fishes, a track from Radiohead’s In Rainbows album. The rest of the tracks are her own compositions (with various co-writers).
At number eleven we have the welcome return of Mr Jarvis Cocker with his new project, the cornily-named Jarv Is. The lanky git from Sheffield (his description) is largely known for his work with Pulp in the 1990s (although the band had been around for some time before they achieved any success) and has also dabbled in journalism and broadcasting. The first single from Jarv Is, the brilliant Must I Evolve, was released over a year ago and we now finally have a full album, Beyond The Pale.
Lancaster rock band Massive Wagons enter at number nine with their fifth album House Of Noise. Boyzlife, a horror show featuring one member from each of Boyzone and Westlife, enter at number twelve with Strings Attached. Rapper Unknown T is at number fourteen with Rise Above Hate.
There is another album with Hate in its title at number 29 Hate For Sale is the eleventh studio album from The Pretenders and is, in my opinion at least, their best album for some time. It enters at number 29 to give them a thirteenth top forty album (including compilations) and their best chart position for twenty years.
Oliver Nickell decided to abandon his surname for the purposes of his recording career and take the George Ezra route of using his two forenames. That left him with the name Oliver Tree. His album Ugly Is Beautiful is at number 32.
Two re-issued albums enter the chart this week - one highly acclaimed, the other rather less so. Joy Division’s second album, Unknown Pleasures, only reached number 71 when it was released in 1980 just a few months after the death of singer Ian Curtis. A re-issue in 2009 reached number five and now another re-issue lands at number six.
Many singers start in a band before embarking on a solo career. Some of them go on to re-form the band when the solo career isn’t as successful as they’d hoped. David Bowie did things the other way round, forming the much-derided Tin Machine in 1988, nearly twenty years after his first solo hit. The band’s first album, Tin Machine, reached number three, largely because of Bowie’s involvement. By the time they released Tin Machine II in 1991 people had realised they weren’t very good and they only got to number 23. The re-issue is at number 27.
There is one other re-entry. A Bee Gees collection, Timeless - The All TIme Greatest Hits, is at number 36.
Finally, a piece of shameless self-promotion. I have just started a countdown of the sixty songs that have topped the UK singles chart in my lifetime. Feel free to join in the discussion in the Countdowns & EOY Charts section in this forum.
Published on: 2020-07-24 by BuzzJack.com Suedehead2 || 15000 Views
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