007 Chart Commentary

Posted February 14, 201015 yr

Helping Haiti – Everybody Hurts enters at #1

No surprises then that the Simon Cowell backed Haiti relief single has gone straight to #1 on massive sales. Just 3 weeks ago, Simon Cowell was approached by none other than Gordon Brown to arrange a charity single featuring as many of today’s big artists as possible. Rather fittingly due to its lyrics and the fact that it is a popular ballad, the song chosen to cover was REM’s 1993 hit Everybody Hurts. This version features many different acts associated with Mr Cowell but equally as many that are not. The acts appearing are Leona Lewis, Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey, Cheryl Cole, Mika, Michael Buble, Joe McElderry, Miley Cyrus, James Blunt, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Bon Jovi, James Morrison, Alexandra Burke, Susan Boyle, 2 of JLS, 2 of Westlife, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams. Next week there is another Haiti charity single coming out with US stars, this one will take some beating sales wise though.

Glee Cast – Halo/Walking On Sunshine enters at #9 & It’s My Life/Confessions enters at #14

Out of this week’s Glee Cast releases there are 2 mashup singles entering the top 20, one by the boys and one by the girls. The highest new entry of the 2 is the one by the girls, which mixes up Beyonce's Halo with Katrina & The Waves 80's classic Walking On Sunshine. The mashup sung by the boys is a mix of Bon Jovi's It’s My Life and Usher's Confessions Part 2. This now means that the Glee Cast have 10 top 75 hits and 5 top 40's to their name, all of which are from this year alone.

Rihanna – Rude Boy climbs to #10

Climbing 10 places to #10 with Rude Boy, Barbadan singer Rihanna now scores her 12th UK top 10 hit with the second single to be lifted from her Rated R album. This week the video to the track was released which seems to help singles better than a physical release nowadays, full physical is not due for this track. I fully expect that her rudeness will find its way to the top 5 at least in the next few weeks, at least it’s not a Rude Box!

Cheryl Cole – Parachute enters at #26

So X-Factor judge, Girls Aloud member, footballer’s wife and now solo star Cheryl Cole gets her third top 40 hit in short order. Forthcoming new single Parachute enters at #26 and nicely follows up top 5 hit 3 Words and chart topper Fight For This Love, expect this at the very least to go top 10.

Calvin Harris – You Used To Hold Me climbs to #27

Scottish dance producer and singer Calvin Harris fully released his latest single You Used To Hold Me this week, and thus sees it rise to #27. As well as it being the forth top 30 hit from his latest album, it is also his sixth top 40 hit out of 7 releases in total (not including 2 Dizzee Rascal collaborations - one credited and one not).

DJ Zinc feat Ms Dynamite – Wile Out enters at #38

Drum 'n' bass / break step DJ Benjamin Pettit gets his second top 40 hit this week, better known as DJ Zinc. DJ Zinc had a #27 hit in 2007 with 138 Trek then had a further 6 top 75 singles before a 5 year break and reinvention of his sound. This new track features Ms Dynamite, last seen in 2005 with #25 hit Judgement Day, she also had 3 top 20 hits in 2002 with It takes More, Dy-na-mi-tee and Put Him Out.

This week’s Flop of the Pops!

Amongst the tracks not quite making the grade this week is Chris Brown’s new single Crawl, following up top 30 hit I Can transform Ya. Paolo Nutini doesn’t score Ten Out Of Ten with this one, however it does help the Sunny Side Up album to sell its millionth copy. Mumford & Sons hide in their cave which is outwith the top 40. Sade make their return with Soldier Of Love, as a single this misses the top 40 this week, as does Hurtful by newcomer Erik Hassle.

Alicia Keys –Element Of Freedom stays at #1 in the album chart

Despite several strong challengers during the week, Alicia Keys manages to retain the #1 album this week keeping Andre Reiu at #2. This week’s highest new entry is the first album from Sade in 10 years and sixth in total, Soldier Of Love debuts at #4. At the beginning of the week it looked like Massive Attack were going to score a third #1 album, in the end though they debut at #6 with 5th studio album Heligoland. Other new entries come from metal band HIM, veteran reggae band UB40, blues star Seasick Steve and opera singer/"Popstar to Opera Star" judge Rolando Vilazon.

Next week’s big releases

All eyes will surely be on next week’s chart to see how well the US Haiti single will do here in the UK, it is a cover of We Are The World. Also set to make appearances next week are the Courteeners, Lemar, Pixie Lott, Demi Lovato, Big Pink and Leona Lewis amongst others. Not much in the way of album releases, expect for Glee Cast and perhaps Peter Gabriel or Cobra Starship.

Personal opinion of the author!

I am very happy to see the Helping Haiti charity song debut at #1 with the huge sales it deserves, the song itself is OK but the original is miles better … it’s for a very good cause so good on Mr Cowell! I am happy to see Alicia Keys get the success she so much deserves now, with the album still at #1 and single climbing to #4 … I now hope Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart can also do this well. I hate all these Glee Cast covers/mash-ups and think they are ruining the charts at the moment, even worse that the Journey classic Don’t Stop Believing has dropped out the top 10 but Glee Cast’s awful version is still top 5. I didn’t like Rude Boy at first but now quite like it, not Rihanna’s best song by a long way but still quite good nonetheless. I love Cheryl Cole’s new song Parachutes and think it’s probably her best yet, way better than 3 Words definitely. The new Calvin Harris song is OK but nothing special, better than Ready For The Weekend and Flashback anyway. Finally, I don't think much of DJ Zinc & Ms Dynamite's Wile Out, prefer Dynamite's previous work personally.