007 Chart Commentary - 26th Dec 2010

Matt Cardle still #1 with When We Collide

X-Factor winner Matt Cardle remains at #1 for a second week as last week’s chart topper and xmas #1 is still selling very well indeed. It is likely for Matt to stay at the top for a third week next week as there is little competition, except perhaps Rihanna/Drake who stick at #2 this week. That being the case, When We Collide will be only the third single to stay at #1 for more than a fortnight this year – Owl City’s Fireflies and Roll Deep’s Good Times are the others. Matt has come a little way short of the year’s #1 single at this stage, although that may well change at the last minute as we have another 6 days to go. That honour looks like going to Love The Way You Lie by Eminem & Rihanna, which interestingly enough only peaked at #2 during its 28+ week chart run.

Katy B feat Ms Dynamite – Lights On enters at #4

This week’s highest new entry goes to Katy Brien and Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley, professionally known as Katy B and Ms Dynamite. Katy B has already had 2 hits this year, the massive #5 hit Katy On A Mission and #16 Perfect Stranger alongside Magnetic Man. For this new single, Katy has collaborated with Ms Dynamite who had 2 top 10 hits in 2002 It Takes More and Dy-na-mi-tee and was last seen featuring on DJ Zinc’s #38 hit Wile Out. Katy B also provides vocals for the Count & Sinden album track Hold Me.

Cheryl Cole – The Flood enters at #26

Cheryl Cole gets her fifth top 40 hit as lead artist with the third track this year entitled The Flood. It breaks in at #26 and spending the last few weeks just outside the top 40. This is Ms Cole’s second single from her Messy Little Raindrops album, following on from #1 Promise This and last year’s Fight For This Love, 3 Words and Parachute. I would expect the flood to get higher over the next couple of weeks before receding, those messy little raindrops must be causing it!

Ben Hazelby, Jamie Hazelby & Chris De Burgh – Lonely Sky enters at #36

This week’s surprise new entry comes from a charity single with very little promotion. Producer Stuart Epps (Elton John, Oasis and Led Zeppelin, etc), was asked to work on a charity single with Chris De Burgh and two brothers as part of the TV show Noel’s Christmas Presents. Chris De Burgh has of course been responsible for hits such as Lady In Red, Missing You and Don’t Pay The Ferryman in the past. Lonely Sky was originally an album track from Chris’s own second album from 1975 Spanish Train and Other Stories. This reworking becomes a #36 new entry in the singles chart, with the proceeds going towards St Ann's Hospice in Greater Manchester.

Take That remain #1 with Progress

Take That continue to fend off all competition (not that there is much) to get a sixth week at #1, last album to stay this long at the top was MJ’s Essential last year following his death. At #2 is Rihanna with her huge selling Loud album, which is incidentally the year’s #4 best seller behind Gaga at #3, Buble at #2 and Take That at #1. There are no new entries inside the weekly albums top 40 but there are re-entries from Mumford & Sons, Take That and Lady Gaga

Personal opinion

Good to see Matt stay at #1 and Rihanna stay at #2, ahead of all the rest. Not keen on Katy B and Ms Dynamite’s song, although it is better than that Katy On A Mission nonsense at least. That Lonely Sky song is reasonable I guess, it’s for a good cause so I’ll not say anything bad really about it. I quite like Cheryl’s new song, although not as good as some of her other songs … pity that she still can’t sing live though!