Due to the UK-specific phenomenon of songs being held back from downloadability in order to maximise their first week sales and chart position, the UK iTunes chart often contains opportunistic pre-release cover versions of upcoming big hits (so dubbed 'fake versions' on this website). Most of the time these songs do not make the official chart - and indeed before January 2011 the majority of them were not even eligible to chart, with the OCC's stance on them changing since then - but a number of them have done so. Here's a full list.

 

Since the inclusion of streaming into the chart in 2014 it is now significantly harder for these songs to make the overall top 100, as naturally these songs don't pick up many plays on Spotify et al. This thread will continue to reflect only the chart positions on the overall top 100 though some other fake versions made the top 100 on the Singles Sales chart and others charted much higher there.

 

2008

#50 Nicki Bliss - I Kissed A Girl (original by Katy Perry: #1)

#52 Ameritz - Run (original by Leona Lewis: #1) *

 

2009

#22 Airi L - When Love Takes Over (original by David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland: #1)

#60 GG - Sexy Bitch (original by David Guetta feat. Akon: #1)

#84 HelenaMaria - Love Story (original by Taylor Swift: #2)

 

2010

#26 Marco Calliari - We No Speak Americano (original by Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP: #1) **

#94 XNRG feat. Alex K - Riverside (original by Sidney Samson feat. Wizard Sleeve: #2)

#97 Vandarth - Nothin' On You (original by B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars: #1)

 

2011

#35 The Hype Squad - Black And Yellow (original by Wiz Khalifa: #5)

#53 My Hearts A Stereo - Stereo Hearts (original by Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Levine: #3)

#54 The Cover Girl - We Found Love (original by Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris: #1)

#55 The CDM Chartbreakers - Loca People (What The Fuck!) (original by Sak Noel: #1)

#56 Trackstarz - Grenade (original by Bruno Mars: #1)

#84 Cover Masters - On The Floor (original by Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull: #1)

 

2012

#9 Precision Tunes - Payphone (original by Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa: #1)

#38 Can You Blow My - Whistle (original by Flo Rida: #2)

#40 Kings Of Pop - T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) (original by will.i.am feat. Mick Jagger and Jennifer Lopez: #3)

#49 Carly Rae Jepsen Tribute Team - Call Me Maybe (original by Carly Rae Jepsen: #1)

#49 The Dream Team - Payphone (original by Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa: #1)

#52 Big Hits 2012 - Tea And Toast (original by Lucy Spraggan: #50)

#54 Rainbow Mix - We Are Young (original by fun. feat. Janelle Monáe: #1)

#61 Big Hits 2012 - Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself) (original by Ne-Yo: #1)

#65 Big Hits 2012 - Bom Bom (original by Sam And The Womp: #1)

#72 Hit Masters - Call Me Maybe (original by Carly Rae Jepsen: #1)

#74 Big Hits 2012 - Last Night (Beer Fear) (original by Lucy Spraggan: #11)

#77 Wild Flo - Wild Ones (original by Flo Rida feat. Sia: #4)

#78 We Are Young Singers - We Are Young (original by fun. feat. Janelle Monáe: #1)

#81 The Teenage Dreamers - Part Of Me (original by Katy Perry: #1)

#89 Cover Mogul - Next To Me (original by Emeli Sandé: #2)

#100 The Beautiful People - Turn Up The Music (original by Chris Brown: #1)

 

2013

#26 Spark Productions - Wake Me Up (original by Avicii: #1)

#49 Remix Junkies - I Don't Care I Love It (original by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX: #1)

#51 New Music Masters - I Don't Care I Love It (original by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX: #1) ***

#61 Remix Chix - I Love It (original by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX: #1)

#71 Select Hits - Talk Dirty (original by Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz: #1)

#71 Venus Palermo - I Love It (I Don't Care) (original by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX: #1)

#74 Loreen Harris - I Love It (I Don't Care) (original by Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX: #1)

#79 Select Hits - Sonnentanz (Sun Don't Shine) (original by Klangkarussell feat. Will Heard: #3)

 

2014

#13 Power Music Workout - All About That Bass (original by Meghan Trainor: #1)

#24 DJ Stay The Night - Stay The Night (original by Zedd feat. Hayley Williams: #2)

#43 The Mega Giants - Prayer In C (original by Lilly Wood and Robin Schulz: #1)

#70 Meghan Tonjes - All About That Bass (original by Meghan Trainor: #1)

#85 A.C.T. - Sing (original by Ed Sheeran: #1)

#92 Sam Redden - Say Something I'm Giving Up On You (original by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera: #4) ***

#99 Second Avenue - Rude (original by MAGIC!: #1)

 

2015

#49 Normanrockx - Cheerleader (original by OMI: #1)

#60 Daytuner - Are You With Me (original by Lost Frequencies: #1)

 

* "In the style of Leona Lewis" (though the original version of the song was by Snow Patrol)

** Marco Calliari's recording of the song 'Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano' charted under this title due to the release of a re-titled remix that mimicked the Yolanda Be Cool track (which samples 'Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano')

*** Charted after the release of the original versions, due to appearing above the originals in search results on iTunes for certain search terms

 

Please do let me know if I've missed any out.

As we can see fake versions are becoming more downloaded and it is beginning to hurt the peak positions of singles too!

Honourable mention to Ke$ha's We R Who We R - an illegal early release charted at #95 prior to its actual single release, but this was actually the real version, just a 'fake' release.

 

Please do let me know if I've missed any out.

 

Didn't the same thing happen with 'Billionaire' by Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars? It got as high as #11 but this was actually an illegal release too.

 

Taio Cruz 'Dynamite' springs to mind as well but not so sure about that one.

Didn't the same thing happen with 'Billionaire' by Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars? It got as high as #11 but this was actually an illegal release too.

 

Taio Cruz 'Dynamite' springs to mind as well but not so sure about that one.

 

The illegal release of Billionaire didn't chart in the top 100 (or even top 200 IIRC).

 

I did check Dynamite as well but nope :P

#94 XNRG feat. Alex K - Riverside (original by Sidney Samson feat. Wizard Sleeve: #2)

#97 Vandarth - Nothin' On You (original by B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars: #1)

 

I'm not sure if these two "count" completely. Because XNRG are genuine artists. They cover and remix songs all the time. They work for the record label AATW, and they've covered/remixes other songs such as Seek Bromance, 10 Minutes (by Inna), Loca People, Cry (Bingo Players), etc. I think in that case it may've been a genuine cover and they just happened to release it before the original. I have their version of Seek Bromance on my mp3 player, and it's very different to the original.

 

Similar with Vandarth's version. It's completely different to the original, and it was released worldwide. It wasn't like most of the others which attempt to get sales due to the original being released, since it was released when the song was already out in most countries, so I think he just got "lucky" in the UK more than anything.

 

But if you decide to include those still, which I understand, you could also include We Are Young by Glee Cast. It charted at #56 last year.

Edited March 6, 201213 yr by Eric_Blob

I'm not sure if these two "count" completely. Because XNRG are genuine artists. They cover and remix songs all the time. They work for the record label AATW, and they've covered/remixes other songs such as Seek Bromance, 10 Minutes (by Inna), Loca People, Cry (Bingo Players), etc. I think in that case it may've been a genuine cover and they just happened to release it before the original. I have their version of Seek Bromance on my mp3 player, and it's very different to the original.

 

Similar with Vandarth's version. It's completely different to the original, and it was released worldwide. It wasn't like most of the others which attempt to get sales due to the original being released, since it was released when the song was already out in most countries, so I think he just got "lucky" in the UK more than anything.

 

But if you decide to include those still, which I understand, you could also include We Are Young by Glee Cast. It charted at #56 last year.

 

But they vanished from the chart very quickly after the originals were released, indicating that they essentially acted like 'fake versions'. Compare for example to Walk Off The Earth's cover of Somebody That I Used To Know.

 

I'm not going to count 'We Are Young' because the original was available at the time but didn't sell anywhere near as much because it was the Glee version being 'promoted'. Same deal with 'Jar Of Hearts' (the Glee version entered at #63 the same week the original entered at #90).

Edited March 6, 201213 yr by Engelbré

But they vanished from the chart very quickly after the originals were released, indicating that they essentially acted like 'fake versions'. Compare for example to Walk Off The Earth's cover of Somebody That I Used To Know.

 

I'm not going to count 'We Are Young' because the original was available at the time but didn't sell anywhere near as much because it was the Glee version being 'promoted'. Same deal with 'Jar Of Hearts' (the Glee version entered at #63 the same week the original entered at #90).

 

I thought I saw the original We Are Young on iTunes back then too, but I checked the other day for it, and it wasn't there, so I thought I was just imagining things. :lol: I guess when the song blew up in the US the record label probably thought they'd remove it to hold it back.

 

Yeah, I remember both versions of Jar of Hearts were released at the same time iirc.

As we can see fake versions are becoming more downloaded and it is beginning to hurt the peak positions of singles too!

And there's a very easy solution.

What about parodies (Weird Al Yankovic, etc) - do they count?

 

Also, back in the 50's, there were often several versions of the same song charting at once - on one occasion even sharing the #1 spot, IIRC?

 

OK, they weren't actually 'fake' versions, but they *were* opportunistically covering a song they knew would/were being successful - which is quite similar to what happens nowadays.

Edited March 7, 201213 yr by vidcapper

This used to happen a lot with dance records in the early 90s. Remember Double You's version of 'Please Don't Go' and Los Del Mar's version of 'Macarena'? The difference is...I'm pretty sure these were the original mainland European versions of hits had by KWS and Los Del Rio (who had a bigger distribution in the UK). So it was the other way around :)

This used to happen a lot with dance records in the early 90s. Remember Double You's version of 'Please Don't Go' and Los Del Mar's version of 'Macarena'? The difference is...I'm pretty sure these were the original mainland European versions of hits had by KWS and Los Del Rio (who had a bigger distribution in the UK). So it was the other way around :)

 

Also there was the other version of Living Next Door To Alice (XXXX Version) by Gonpi which went Top 40.

 

Added the fifth victim of the year - The Teenage Dreamers' cover of 'Part Of Me', which charted at #95 today.

The Teenage Dreamers climbed to #81 last week. Peak duly updated in first post. The real version should hit #1 in 6 days' time. Will Chris Brown repeat this next week?

Updated, with Katy and Chris real versions both being #1s and 2 fake versions of Call Me Maybe charting. Perhaps the same for We Are Young this week (and the real Carly going to #1).

 

We've already had more charting fakes in just the first 14 weeks of 2012 than in the whole of 2011.

Updated with the peak for the real 'Call Me Maybe' (#1 as expected ofc) and added the two fakes of 'We Are Young' that charted last week. Now up to nine fakes this year already!

Edited April 10, 201213 yr by M.I.É.

Rainbow Mix climbed to #54 today. Peak updated. Also added the peak of the real 'We Are Young' - although this will obviously not be its final peak.

Please do let me know if I've missed any out.

Like A G6?

 

 

 

Wasn't there a cover of Dirty Talk by Wynter Gordon charting for ages?

This used to happen a lot with dance records in the early 90s. Remember Double You's version of 'Please Don't Go' and Los Del Mar's version of 'Macarena'? The difference is...I'm pretty sure these were the original mainland European versions of hits had by KWS and Los Del Rio (who had a bigger distribution in the UK). So it was the other way around :)

 

Double You was the original (well, the original dance version), but Los Del Mar was a cover, though European in origin as well.

 

Also there was the other version of Living Next Door To Alice (XXXX Version) by Gonpi which went Top 40.

 

That was kind of the original too, they came up with the "who the f*** is Alice" hook.

When those tribute songs went top 40, did Reggie (or whoever presented) play those versions or the actual song? I wasn't listening during those weeks :)