Posted January 6, 201213 yr The Almost Saturday Charts are a Mike Robinson Production, based on an average of 5 download sites, actual iTunes sales, & the odd physical from HMV. Just before the thread proper. Last week (you may remember) Mike gave us some stuff from 1980/81, when appearently John Lennon unofficially went to #1 with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". Well, both Mike & I were bombarded by emails & calls on the subject. Many people claiming that it probably didn't actually go to #1 really. As you saw, Mike's sales bit was very very close, & a couple of people sent us other charts to compare too. So, did it go to the top or not? The NME & Melody Maker suggest not. These were the NME Charts compared to Melody Maker on that w/k ending 3rd Jan 1981: NME MM 01 01 STARTING OVER - JOHN LENNON 02 02 STOP THE CAVALRY - JONA LEWIE 03 03 GRANDMA - ST WINIFRED'S SCHOOL CHOIR 04 04 HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) - JOHN LENNON 05 07 IMAGINE - JOHN LENNON 06 08 ANT MUSIC - ADAM AND THE ANTS 07 05 DE DO DO DO DE DA DA DA - THE POLICE 08 06 SUPER TROUPER - ABBA 09 09 EMBARRASMENT - MADNESS 10 10 RUNAWAY BOYS - STRAY CATS 11 15 RABBIT - CHAS AND DAVE 12 14 FLASH - QUEEN 13 11 BANANA REPUBLIC - BOOMTOWN RATS 14 12 LIES/DON'T DRIVE MY CAR - STATUS QUO 15 16 TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT - SPANDAU BALLET 16 17 LOVE ON THE ROCKS - NEIL DIAMOND 17 27 THIS WRECKAGE - GARY NUMAN 18 13 LADY - KENNY ROGERS 19 18 OVER THE RAINBOW-YOU BELONG TO ME - MATCHBOX 20 19 NEVER MIND THE PRESENTS - BARRON KNIGHTS 21 22 LONELY TOGETHER - BARRY MANILOW 22 26 DO NOTHING/MAGGIE'S FARM - THE SPECIALS 23 24 TOO NICE TO TALK TO - THE BEAT 24 20 DO YOU FEEL MY LOVE - EDDY GRANT 25 25 CELEBRATION - KOOL AND THE GANG 26 21 THE TIDE IS HIGH - BLONDIE 27 --- MY GIRL - ROD STEWART 28 30 DECEMBER WILL BE MAGIC AGAIN - KATE BUSH 29 29 IT'S HARD TO BE HUMBLE - MAC DAVIS 30 --- DON'T WALK AWAY - ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA --- 23 EARTH DIES SCREAMING/DREAM A LIE - UB40 --- 28 LOOKING FOR CLUES - ROBERT PALMER Now looking at those, it suggests that Lennon probably returned to the top with "Starting Over". Could be that sales of Lennon were badly mixed up in that drunken New Year of 80/81! Noteably in NME & MM, on the w/k ending 10th Jan 1981, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over) actually went down to #6, & rose back up to #3 on 17th Jan. Meanwhile, Radio One announced "Happy Xmas" up to #2 on 10th Jan. Going down the lines of other Professionals from 1980/81, I'm inclined to believe that it was so, tight that "Starting Over" & "Grandma" probably did really stay in the top 2, but did "Happy Xmas" fall? Maybe. "Stop The Cavalry" had been closely in that top 3, all over the period. Infact, take away Lennon's death & Radio One would have announced the following top 10s, through January 1981: The Christmas 1980 chart would have been: 01 GRANDMA 02 STOP THE CAVALRY 03 SUPER TROUPER 04 DE DO DO DO DE DA DA DA 05 ANTMUSIC 06 EMBARRASSMENT 07 RUNAWAY BOYS 08 BANANA REPUBLIC 09 LIES/DON'T DRIVE MY CAR 10 RABBIT 10th Jan 1981 01 STOP THE CAVALRY 02 ANTMUSIC 03 GRANDMA 04 DE DO DO DO DE DA DA DA 05 SUPER TROUPER 06 EMBARRASSMENT 07 FLASH 08 RABBIT 09 RUNAWAY BOYS 10 BANANA REPUBLIC 17th Jan 1981 01 ANTMUSIC 02 DO NOTHING/MAGGIE'S FARM 03 STOP THE CAVALRY 04 TOO NICE TO TALK TO 05 RABBIT 06 DE DO DO DO DE DA DA DA 07 FLASH 08 LIES/DON'T DRIVE MY CAR 09 WHO'S GONNA ROCK YOU 10 EMBARRASMENT 24th Jan 1981 01 ANTMUSIC 02 IN THE AIR TONIGHT 03 DO NOTHING/MAGGIE'S FARM 04 I AM THE BEAT 05 DON'T STOP THE MUSIC 06 FLASH 07 YOUNG PARISIANS 08 I AIN'T GONNA STAND FOR IT 09 RUNAROUND SUE 10 RAPTURE 31st Jan 1981 01 IN THE AIR TONIGHT 02 ANTMUSIC 03 RAPTURE 04 VIENNA 05 DON'T STOP THE MUSIC 06 I AM THE BEAT 07 YOUNG PARISIANS 08 I AIN'T GONNA STAND FOR IT 09 DO NOTHING/MAGGIE'S FARM 10 FADE TO GREY So, we find without JL's death Stop The Cavalry, Antmusic, & In The Air Tonight would have been #1s, & later Vienna, & Kings Of The Wild Frontier would of also topped the charts. Most of all, it wasn't Joe Dolce preventing Ultravox because they'd of had a week there, anyway! Let's get up todate. The Top Physicals 01 01 MILITARY WIVES 14,000 02 NE JLS 2,500 03 02 LITTLE MIX 1,000 04 03 NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS 05 04 X FACTOR FINALISTS The Top 10 Albums 01 07 21 - ADELE 02 01 NOW 80 03 03 DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS - BRUNO MARS 04 02 + - ED SHEERAN 05 04 MYLO XYLOTO - COLDPLAY 06 06 LIONESS: HIDDEN TREASURES - AMY WINEHOUSE 07 05 IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW - OLLY MURS 08 14 4 - BEYONCE 09 11 WHO YOU ARE - JESSIE J 10 10 HEAVEN - REBECCA FERGUSON The Top 75 proper KELLY CLARKSON - WHAT KILLS YOU GUETTA/SIA Top 70 SNOW PATROL - CHASING CARS MACCABEES SNOOP DOGG/WIZ KHALIFA/BRUNO MARS Top 60 SKILLREX VACCINES 51 AZEALIA BANKS Top 50 50 MARRY YOU - BRUNO MARS 49 ALESHA DIXON 48 WILL YOUNG - JEALOUSY 47 RIZZLE KICKS - WHEN I WAS 46 IT WILL RAIN - BRUNO MARS 45 PITBULL/CHRIS BROWN 44 NADIA ALI 43 GUETTA/USHER 42 BEYONCE - BEST THING 41 MICHAEL KIWANUKA 40 CHARLENE SORAIA 39 FOSTER THE PEOPLE 38 ADELE - ROLLING IN THE DEEP 8) 37 LADY GAGA 36 ADELE - SET FIRE 35 T.PAIN 34 JESSIE J - WHO YOU ARE 33 LANA DEL REY 7) 32 ED SHEEAN - A TEAM 6) 31 PROFESSOR GREEN 30 SKEPTA 29 JAMES & JESSIE 28 THE WANTED 27 LMFAO - PARTY ROCK ANTHEM 26 CHRISTINA PERRI 25 SEAN KINGSTON 24 ADELE - SOMEONE 23 RIHANNA - YOU DARREN 22 KATY PERRY 21 JAMES VINCENT MORROW 17775 20 OLLY MURS 5) 17952 19 BEYONCE 21265 18 ONE DIRECTION 4) 21892 17 DRAKE 22786 16 LITTLE MIX 23299 15 JLS 3) 24801 14 MILITARY WIVES 2) 26500 13 MAROON FIVE 28491 12 LMFAO 30335 11 ED SHEERAN - LEGO HOUSE 1) 31300 10 LLOYD 32216 09 RIHANNA 33399 08 LABRINTH 37712 07 JESSIE J - DOMINO 38901 06 OLLY MURS 41324 05 RIZZLE KICKS 46461 04 AVICCI 46546 03 TAIO CRUZ 51124 02 COLDPLAY 52008 01 FLO RIDA 61480 ) Position without downloads alone Edited January 6, 201213 yr by davetaylor
January 6, 201213 yr I think Pitbull and Michael are going to push Adele and Foster The People out by Sunday not so much Charlene as she is pretty much top 40 on iTunes. Thanks for posting Dave.
January 6, 201213 yr Thanks Dave! Looks like Michael, Nadia and Pitbull could crack the top 40 if good Saturday sales then!
January 9, 201213 yr Out of interest, are the sales to the right hand side of the songs just projected sales, because everything in the top five ended up selling considerably less than that in the end. What does the 'actual iTunes sales' bit in the top sentence refer to? :unsure:
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