007 Chart Commentary - 6th May 2012

Tulisa - Young enters at #1

Singer and X Factor Judge Tulisa Contostavlos claims her first #1 hit, as her solo single release Young debuts at #1 this week. Tulisa is perhaps best known as a member of 3 piece hip hop group N-Dubz, formed in 2000 along with cousin Dappy and friend Fazer. The now defunct N-Dubz scored 10 top 40 hits of their own with the biggest being 2009's #5 hit I Need You, they also hit #1 with Number One alongside Tinchy Stryder. Tulisa's debut solo single was intially marketed as We Are Young but following the success of Fun's single (still at #3 this week), it was shortened to Young. The track's sales of over 120k mean that the track is now this year's fastest selling single, following sales around 100k for the last 4 weeks of Carly Rae Jespen's reign. As can be seen in the weekly sales threads, single sales are looking healthy at the moment but album sales are most certainly not.

Cover Drive - Sparks enters at #4

Brabadan pop group Cover Drive get their 3rd top 10 hit with their 3rd single release, as Sparks debuts at #4 this week. The band consisting of lead singer Amanda Reifer, T-Ray, Barry Hill (AKA Bar-man) and Jamar Harding are aged between 18 and 22, Amanda aparently met T-Ray when she was his babysitter and the rest met whilst at college or school. The band started writing and recording material just last year, and hit #9 in the UK with their debut single Lick Ya Down. In January this year however, they hit #1 with Twilight and now follow it with #4 hit Sparks. All singles are on their debut album Bajan Style, which is released this week.

Train - Drive By climbs to #7

Californian band Train got their third UK top 20 hit as Drive By entered at #14 a fortnight ago, the track then climbed to #10 to equal their biggest hit. Now they surpass Drops Of Jupiter by climbing to #7 with the single. Also their biggest selling hit to date, the #18 peaking Hey Soul Sister re-enters at #38 after a 59p price reduction. This now means that their only 3 UK top 20 hits have all been in the top 40 in the last 2 months, not bad for a band who were written off as one hit wonders 11 years ago! Typical of trains, you wait for 11 years then 3 come along in quick succession ... albeit 2 return fares!

Rihanna - Where Have You Been enters at #21

Talking of Barbadan stars, chart regular Robyn Rihanna Fenty racks up an impressive 30th UK top 40 hit this week (including 7 as featured artist) since her 2005 debut. Where has she been? Well precisely nowhere it seems as she had hardly been out of the top 40 in the last few years. Where Have You Been is Rihanna's 4th single release from her Talk That Talk album, following on from the million selling We Found Love and the smaller hits You Da One and Talk That Talk. This track is likely to progress further in the coming weeks and become the second highest peaking single from this era.

Sub Focus feat Alice Gold - Out Of The Blue enters at #23

Right out of the blue comes English electronic music producer Nick Douwma with a new entry as Sub Focus at #23, his second top 40 hit and highest charter to date. Sub Focus has been releasing material since 2003, and has produced for The Prodigy, Deadmau5, Rusko, Empire Of The Sun, Dizzee Rascal and most successfully Example. However he only hit the top 40 in his own right in 2009 with #38 double A sided single Rock It / Follow The Light. Then came 2 #41 singles Could This Be Real and Splash, the latter featuring Italian born singer Coco (aka I Blame Coco). Out Of The Blue features vocals from English singer songwriter Alice Gold, who released 5 singles last year but has not charted until now.

Avicii - Silhouettes enters at #26

22 year old Swedish DJ Tim Bergling gets another top 40 hit this week under the name of Avicii as Silhouettes casts a shadow over the #26 position. His debut single was Seek Bromance, a top 20 hit in 2010 under the name of Tim Berg. After a court battle last year with X Factor winner Leona Lewis, Avicii got a feature credit on her #4 hit Collide, which samples his track Penguin. Also last year, Avicii scored a massive selling #4 hit of his own with the Etta James sampling Levels. Now he enters at #26 with Silhouettes, which provides him with a 4th top 41 appearence!

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans enters at #32

US singer songwriter Lana Del Rey gets herself a third UK top 40 hit as new single Blue JEans finally makes the top 40, after a several weeks lingering just outside. This comes after a live performance of the track as a guest singer on The Voice UK last week, originally appearing as a B side on the Video Games digital EP. Both the aforementioned Video Games and Born To Die singles made #9 and the Born To Die album hit #1 this year for Lana. Also appearing due to The Voice is Jame Vincent McMorrow's cover of Higher Love, re-entering at #37.

Flux Pavillion feat Example - Daydreamer enters at #39

English dubstep producer and DJ Joshua Steele gets his very first top 40 hit this week, under the name of Flux Pavillion as Daydreamer enters at #39 alongside Example. Flux released his debut single entitled Cheap Crisps, followed by F**king Noise and Crunch ... the f**king noise must have been him crunching on those cheap crisps! In 2011 he released a single called How Rude, so he acknowledged that fact then! Bass Cannon and Superbad singles both reached the top 75 last year, however Daydreamer is his first foray into the top 40, featuring UK singer / rapper Example.

Marina & The Diamonds tops the album chart

Marina Diamandis hits #1 with her second album Electra Heart, featuring her current #11 peaking single Pima Donna. Lana Del Rey climbs to #2 and Jack White falls to #3, while Norah Jones improves on her last 2 albums by entering at #4 with Little Broken Hearts. Adele drops a massive 3 places with the huge flop of an album that is 21, so much a flop that it now ranks at #5 in the all time best selling albums list! X Factor runner up Rebecca Ferguson returns to the top 20 with Heaven, and Marilyn Manson debuts #14 with Born Villain, whilst Alex Clare progresses to #17 with The Lateness Of The Hour.

Personal Opinion

I quite like Tulisa's song Young, even if it is a blatant rip off of Rihanna's We Found Love. I would have preferred Fun's We Are Young to rise to #1, as I absolutely love that song right now. Quite like Cover Drive's Sparks, it's ok but not brilliant by any means. Same can be said for Rihanna's new single, it's an improvement on her last 2 efforts anyway. Whilst not bad really in their ownr rights, I don't care much for Avicii, Sub Focus or Flux Pavillion's songs either. I do really love Marina's new album and am glad to see it at #1, as it features her most successful and best single Prima Donna.