007 Chart Commentary - 18th Dec 2011

Little Mix - Cannonball enters at #1

So for the most obvious chart topper of the year, here is this year's X Factor winner's song going straight to #1 on big sales (but not as big as previous years). This year is the first time ever that a girl group has won the X Factor, or even come close for that matter. As per ususal the song is a cover, this year it is Damien Rice's Cannonball, originally released in 2003 with a #32 peak then a 2004 remix got it to #19 and ever since has been a radio favourite. Earlier this year, the track made a reappearence to achieve a new peak of #9 thanks to X Factor, and this week's re-enters at #19. The question now is, can Little Mix get the xmas #1 ... looking unlikely at this stage.

Coldplay - Paradise climbs to #2

Coldplay performed 2 songs at Wembley Stadium for this year's X Factor final, and as a result one of these songs rises up to #2 in this week's chart. When first released, Paradise was ineligible for the chart, as it was made available with album pre-orders and so couldn't be distinguished from single track downloads. However upon album release, the track entered at #14 and hung around the top 20 before rising to #7 last week then #2 this week. This is likely to be Coldplay's 3rd #2 hit - Speed Of Sound and In My Place being the other 2, Viva La Vida is their only #1 so far out of a total of 11 top 10s since their 2000 debut.

Leona Lewis - Hurt enters at #8

Another hit to result from an X Factor performance is this week's second highest new entry from the most successful winner Leona Lewis. This is actually an EP of 3 covers, to tide over her fans whilst waiting on the release of Leona's 3rd album (now due in March 2012). The lead track is a cover of the Nine Inch Nail's track Hurt, which was never a single in its original form but Johnny Cash recorded a cover and hit #39 after his death in 2003. The other 2 tracks to be covered are Iris by Goo Goo Dolls and Colourblind by Counting Crows (not Darius). This is Leona's 8th top 10 hit out of 9 full UK releases to date, biggest of which is the milliion selling Bleeding Love.

Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do the Hump enters at #18

UK hip hop duo Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule score their third hit single as Rizzle Kicks (they were also featured on Olly Murs' chart topping Heart Skips A Beat though) as Mama Do The Hump enters the top 20 at #16. Both of their previous tracks have peaked at #8 and feature on their #9 peaking album Stereo Typical, Down With The Trumpets and When I Was A Youngster being the first 2. Can this one also peak at #8?

Rihanna - You Da One reenters at #35

Rihanna's upcoming new single You Da One entered at #39 following the release of her album Talk The Talk but subsequently dropped out, before reentering this week at #35. This is due to increasing airplay and also a reduction to 59p on iTunes, something that the Christmas classics benefited from last week. This track is likely to make the top 20 in the next few weeks and thus become Rihanna's 22nd UK top 20 hit, out of 23 full releases as lead credited artist. Drake's Take Care drops to #15 this week, a track on which she features. She certainly is "da one" at the moment!

Michael Buble returns to #1 with his Christmas Album

No surprises at the top of this week's album chart then, Christmas by Michael Buble returns to the top after first making #1 4 weeks ago. This is following several TV appearences, including an X Factor performance, and of course the lead up to Christmas. Not much else is noteworthy in the album chart top 40, excepting for reentries at #37 and #38 from Drake and Adele respectively.

Personal opinion

Whilst I really love the original of Cannonball and haven't really liked Little Mix throughout the X Factor, I do quite like their cover of Cannonball. It seems though that every X Factor winner's or finalists charity song is structured the same ... slow start, build up to a key change towards the end and then finally a chior joining in! I love Coldplay and think Paradise is brilliant so am happy to see it get a deserving #2 peak, also I love Leona Lewis and her beautiful cover of Hurt ... Johnny Cash's version is a little better though. I really don't like the Rizzle Kicks track, although it is slightly preferable to their first 2 songs and their pointless feature of Olly Murs' otherwise brilliant track. Whilst not a Buble fan, I do think some of his xmas songs are rather good.

Edited December 19, 201113 yr by loudjamesbond