Usher feat Will I Am – OMG climbs to number 1

In a much busier chart than last week we have an influx of new entries and a new #1 in the process. After climbing to #2 last week, US superstar Usher Raymond IV climbs another place to reach number one. OMG is Usher’s fourth UK chart topper in total and first since 2004’s Burn, You Make Me Wanna and Yeah were the other 2. This means that Scouting For Girls fall to #2 after a fortnight at the top, this year we have yet to see a #1 last longer than 2 weeks there. Oh My Gosh!

 

Professor Green feat Ed Drewett – I Need You Tonight enters at #3

UK rapper Stephen Paul Manderson makes his debut this week under the name of Professor Green with I Need You Tonight. The track heavily samples Need You Tonight by INXS, a 1987 #2 hit for the Australian rock band. The track features vocals by Ed Drewett and is this week’s highest new entry in at #3 following lots of airplay and exposure over the last month or so.

 

Kelis – Acapella enters at #5

US R&B singer songwriter Kelis Jones made her UK chart debut in 1999 with her #4 debut Caught Out There. She is perhaps best known though for her massive #2 hit Milkshake which came in 2003, followed up with Trick Me (#2) and Millionaire (#3) in 2004. Kelis didn’t manage another top 5 hit until 2007’s Lil Star made #3, after which she took a break to sort out marital problems and to have a baby. Now she returns to the top 5 with acclaimed new single Acapella which is from her forthcoming fifth album.

 

Selena Gomez & The Scene – Naturally enters at #7

Making her natural debut inside the top 10 this week is Disney star Selena Gomez with her backing band called The Scene. Selena Gomez is an 18 year old s actress turned singer, probably best known for her roles in various Disney films and TV shows. Selena is now keen to be recognized as a serious recording artist along with her band and not merely as “another Disney singer”. Now she manages what Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato haven’t which is to get a top 10 hit with uptemo electro-pop song Naturally.

 

Joshua Radin – I’d Rather Be With You stays at #11

American singer songwriter Joshua Radin debuted last week at #11 and stays there this week with his very first UK single I’d Rather Be With You. The style of this track can be compared with the likes of Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz, strangely enough this track has peaked at #11 as did I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. I'm sure he'd rather be with a top 10 hit!

 

Taio Cruz feat Ke$ha – Dirty Picture climbs to #12

UK R&B singer Taio Cruz first made his debut in 2006 with #29 hit I Just Wanna Know, however he did not hit it big until 2008 when Come On Girl made #5 with 2 further top 20 hits I Can Be and She’s Like A Star to follow. Last year he hit #1 with Break Your Heart but for whatever reason, the followup No Other One only made #42. This week his Dirty Picture rises from #40 to #12, which also gives Ke$ha a third top 20 hit and himself a fifth in total.

 

Kate Nash – Do Wah Doo enters at #15

London based singer songwriter Kate Nash first found fame with her #2 hit and signature song Foundations in 2007, followed by 3 more minor hits Mothwash, Pumpkin Soup and Merry Happy. However it is only now that she manages another top 20 hit with Do Wah Doo, the first single to be taken from her forthcoming second album. This single was released early last week but was actually removed and reappeared properly this week, the same seems to have happened to Christina Aguilera’s comeback single also.

 

Eliza Doolittle – Skinny Genes enters at #22

Relatively unknown UK singer songwriter Eliza Doolittle makes her debut this week at #22 with the track Skinny Genes. The song uses a sample from the Andy Williams song Butterfly, and the style can be compared to the likes of Lily Allen and Marina. Doolittle’s father is a stage director/writer and her mother is musical theatre actress. Not to be confused with the character of the same name from the play Pygmalion or Dr Doolittle who talks to the animals!

 

Florence & The Machine – Dog Days Are Over stays top 30

This week saw the first full release of Dog Days Are Over by Florence & The Machine, last week saw it reach top 30 again but this week it goes 24-25. The track was first released as a buzz track prior to the release of her album Lungs, then reached the top 40 following a Jools Holland appearance at the beginning of the year, peaking at #23 which she almost matched.

 

Paul Weller – No Tears To Cry / Wake Up The Nation enters at #26

Now for the return of the mod father to the top 40 with new double A side No Tears To Cry coupled with the title track to his forthcoming tenth studio album Wake Up The Nation. As with the singles from his last album, this is released as a double A side featuring a slower song and a faster tempo number. Paul Weller's first solo release was Into Tomorrow, released under the banner of The Paul Weller Movement. Despite a modest chart performance, the follow-up Uh Huh, Oh Yeh made top 20, a feat Weller last achieved with 2008’s Have You Made Up Your Mind / Echoes Round The Sun. This is his 31st solo top 40 hit, not including 18 with The Jam and 15 with Style Council … so he hasn’t done much then!

 

Paramore – The Only Exception climbs to #31

Pop/punk band Paramore got themselves a third top 40 hit last week with The Only Exception as it entered at #33, this week the track rises another 2 places to #31. The title of this track is a fair description of its style, as it is indeed the only exception being a ballad of a somewhat slower tempo than their previous output has been.

 

Futureheads – Heartbeat Song enters at #34

UK based indie group Futureheads make their chart comeback this week with acclaimed new single Heartbeat Song. This is now the band’s seventh top 40 hit in total since their 2003 debut, to date their only top 10 hit is still their cover of Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love #8 in 2005.

 

Snow Patrol feat Martha Wainwright – Set The Fire To The Third Bar re-enters at #36

So last week we had re-entries for the Saturdays and Florence, this week it is the turn of Snow Patrol who return to the top 40 with Set The Fire to the Third Bar. This is following the track's use in an advert for Dear John, it made #18 when first released in 2006 as a direct follow up to their massively long running hit Chasing Cars.

 

Jay Z feat Swizz Beats – Onto The Next One enters a #38

US superstar rapper Jay Z returns to the top 40 with the fourth single to be lifted from his current Blueprint III album. This one is another collaboration like most of his other tracks, this time with DJ / producer / rapper Swizz Beats who was last seen alongside Chris Brown on I can Transform Ya last year.

 

Chart misses this week and last week

1980’s girl group sensation Bananarama miss the top 40 again with their new single Love Don’t Live Here. Same for Norwegan pop singer Maria Mena, Ash (again) and Welsh opera star Katherine Jenkins. Whilst Darwin Deez, Hadouken and Doves were amongst last week’s unfortunate flop releases to miss the top 40.

 

Plan B tops the album charts

Rapper turned singer Plan B enters straight in at #1 with second album The Defamation of Strickland Banks, off the back of #9 hit Stay Too Long and current top 5 hit She Said. In an all new top 2, Scouting For Girls come in at #2 with their second album entitled Everybody Wants To Be On TV following up their #1 debut. Electro group MGMT debut at #4 with Congratulations, also their second album … I spot a theme here! Another second album enters in the top 10, Simple Times from US singer songwriter Joshua Radin.

 

Personal opinion

I am happy to see Usher make #1 with his track OMG which I guess is quite catchy, more especially because it has stopped the sacrilege that is Professor Green’s I Need You Tonight … what a rubbish rap song (add a ‘c’ in there)! I really like Acapella from Kelis, I love how almost every song she’s done has been that bit different and far from predictable. I rather like the Selena Gomez song, much more than I thought I would from a Disney child actress. I quite like Kate Nash’s new one even if it does have a daft title, not as good as Foundations on saying that. I don't particularly like Taio/Kesha's Dirty Picture and hate N-Dubz new one Say It's Over ... I wish they would! On the other hand, I always have been and still am a big Paul Weller fan and really like both his new songs, not his best but still very good indeed IMO. Futureheads new one is ok, however Jay Z’s one is predictably terrible … please don't go on to the next one!

Good read - Dirty Picture is Ke$ha's fourth top 20 hit, you've evidently missed out her guest appearance on Flo Rida's Right Round.

 

How unusual that the 4 top 10 débuts in the albums chart are all the followups to first albums which performed modestly (MGMT and Scouting For Girls) to downright awfully (Joshua Radin) in their first week (with Plan B being in the middle).

Good read - Dirty Picture is Ke$ha's fourth top 20 hit, you've evidently missed out her guest appearance on Flo Rida's Right Round.

 

How unusual that the 4 top 10 débuts in the albums chart are all the followups to first albums which performed modestly (MGMT and Scouting For Girls) to downright awfully (Joshua Radin) in their first week (with Plan B being in the middle).

Thanks Bray ... I always tend to forget Ke$ha's appearence on Right Round.

Thanks Bray ... I always tend to forget Ke$ha's appearence on Right Round.

I just try to forget Kesha's appearance on anything :wacko: