Joe Corry and MNEK's Head & Heart gets a second week at number one. Taylor Swift's surprise release gives her a fifth number one album.
Joel Corry and MNEK get a second week at the top of the singles chart with Head & Heart. Taylor Swift surprises us with a new album and it goes straight to number one.
After climbing to number one last week, Joel Corry and MNEK comfortably hold on to the top spot with Head & Heart. The number of one-week number ones this year therefore foes back down to seven including two charity songs.
The rest of the top three is also unchanged with Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo still at number two with Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat) and Rockstar by DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch at number three. The similarly-titled Popstar by DJ Khaled featuring Drake has plummeted to number thirty which still leaves it far higher than it deserves. Drake also features on the song at number five, Headie One’s Only You Freestyle which climbs four places.
The two highest new entries have something of a 1970s grandfather theme. Picture the scene as he sits in front of the fire with his pipe and slippers, digging into his pocket to get out his Lighter, the title of the song at number four by Nathan Dawe featuring KSI. Dawe’s previous top forty hit, the Flowers which our grandfather may have bought for his wife, is still in the top thirty. KSI’s spending habits seem to have taken something of a massive drop since his first hit in 2015 with Lamborghini.
The pocket in which the lighter was kept may have been in our stereotyped grandfather’s Cardigan which brings us to three new entries, all in the top ten, for Taylor Swift. She surprised her fans last week with the release of a new album and it is no surprise that most of the tracks were downloaded and streamed enough to reach the top forty. Thanks, though, to the current chart rules, only three of them can appear in the chart at any one time.
As well as Cardigan at number six, Taylor Swift is also at number eight with Exile and number ten with The 1. Exile features indie band Bon Iver who have had two top ten (and three top eleven) albums but just one hit single, Blood Bank, which reached the dizzy heights of number 37 in 2009. Their most famous song is probably Skinny Love which Birdy took into the top twenty in 2011. The songs are Swift’s fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth top ten hits and bring her tally of top forty hits up to 31.
In a normal year, many Britons would currently be away somewhere enjoying a break. The appearance of a song called Holiday would be considered perfectly apt, This year, it might be seen as rather unkind. Nevertheless, Little Mix have followed up their successful Break Up Song with a number called Holiday and it is a new entry at number seventeen. They remain the only former X Factor winners who can consistently get singles into the top twenty. Their 25 top forty hits may even be more than the combined total managed by all the subsequent winners.
The same three-song rule that has prevented Taylor Swift dominating this week’s singles chart has also led to some rather odd chart runs as an artist’s third most popular song changes from week to week. Last week Pop Smoke re-entered at number 37 with Dior and Mood Swings was dumped out of the chart from the previous week’s number 36. This week Mood Swings is more popular than Dior once again so it returns at number 33 while it is Dior’s turn to be banished altogether.
From the moment Taylor Swift let it be known that she was releasing a new album last Friday, there was no doubt who would be sitting atop the albums chart this evening (Friday). Even without a string of pre-album singles or a period of heavy promotion, Swift’s legion of fans were certain to buy and stream the album in sufficient numbers to take it to number one with ease. And so it has come to pass.
The album has been written and recorded in the last few months of lockdown, leading to some logistical challenges to be overcome. The rapid development of the album also helps to explain why it has not yet been released in physical format. It marks a further departure from her early years as a country singer; as well as the song with Bon Iver, many of the tracks have been co-written with Aaron Dessner of The National. Folklore is Swift’s fifth consecutive number one album, a sequence that began with Red in 2012. Her last album, Lover, returns to the top forty at number 22.
What album, then, has missed out on a week at number one by Taylor Swift’s instant release? For starters, it is not last week’s chart-topper. That album, Ellie Goulding’s Brightest Blue, has tumbled all the way to number nineteen.
Instead, Taylor Swift has spared us the horror of one of the blandest of the bland, Ronan Keating, getting a number one album. Yes, just a week after one of his former Boyzone bandmates foisted an album by Westzone, Boyzlife or whatever they were called on us, Keating has released a new solo set. Twenty Twenty includes collaborations with Robbie Williams, two members of Westlife and Ed Drewett who has written songs for Little Mix and One Direction and also wrote this year’s UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest that never was. Without Swift’s intervention, it could have become his second number one album as a solo artist. Instead, it is at number two,
Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim At The Moon is still at number three. The equally dead Juice Wrld falls three places to number five with Legends Never Die.
When Pointless has a question asking contestants to name Welsh bands or singers with at least three top ten albums, my advice is to go for Neck Deep. They reached number eight with their debut set Life’s Not Out To Get You in 2015 and went four places higher with The Peace And The Panic two years later. Neither of those albums managed a second week in the top forty, perfect for a Pointless answer. The same fate probably awaits All Distortions Are Intentional which enters this week at number four.
Shortly before the release of his sixth album, No Pressure, rapper Logic announced that he was retiring from the music business. As he is only 30, he has plenty of time to make comebacks and retire again several times before he is finished. If, on the other hand, he is true to his word (and we can always hope), he bows out with a number eleven album.
In order to give us a break from American and British rappers, we have an Australian rapper at number 12. The Kid Laroi, for it is he, makes his UK chart debut with an album whose title won’t be read out on Radio 1. Let’s just say that the first word rhymes with duck and the second word is Love.
Seasick Steve was well into his fifties (his exact age is uncertain) before he released his debut album Cheap in 2004. That album failed to reach the chart but nine subsequent albums all made the top forty. This week he gets a tenth as Love & Peace enters at number 39.
Blues is a musical style we usually associate with the USA and Seasick Steve is just one of many American blues musicians to have enjoyed success over here. One of the few British blues musicians to have graced the charts is Peter Green who died this week at the age of 73. He formed Fleetwood Mac in the 1960s and wrote their only number one single Albatross. However, he left the band in 1970 after just three albums. That meant that he played no part in the massively successful Rumours album released in 1977. Nevertheless, that album climbs eleven places to number thirteen this week, its highest position for six years. The 50 Years - Don’t Stop compilation climbs to number ten.
It has been said many times that a lot of the most successful acts to have emerged from X Factor didn’t actually win the show. As stated above, Little Mix are a rare example of winners who have gone on to enjoy prolonged success. Among the most successful acts to have started on the show are One Direction who only came third. This week they have been celebrating the tenth anniversary of the formation of the band and, as a result, three of their albums have re-entered the top forty. Take Me Home (number one, 2012) is at number 25, Made In The AM (number one, 2015) is at 37 and Four (number one, 2014) is at 40. Harry Styles’ second solo album Fine Lines climbs to number seven. It has spent 33 weeks in the top ten, just eight weeks short of the combined total of all One Direction albums.
Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters returns at number 33 after a physical release.
Published on: 2020-07-31 by BuzzJack.com Suedehead2 || 21790 Views
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