The Script feat Will.i.am – Hall Of Fame rises to #1

Irish pop group The Script are sitting in the hall of fame this week, as they score their first #1 single, after entering at #2. They debuted in 2008 with #15 hit We Cry, followed by huge #2 hit The Man Who Can’t Be Moved. This was followed by hit single Breakeven which sold very well despite only getting a #21 peak. Second album spawned #4 smash For The First Time, but the 3 follow up singles flopped. Hall Of Fame features US superstar Will.i.am, who is best known as a Black Eyed Pea and also as a mentor on The Voice, alongside The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue. Will has had 16 UK top 20 hits including 5 #1s as part of Black Eyed Peas. This is his third chart topper outside of the group, following Usher’s OMG from 2010 and This Is Love from earlier this year.

 

Amelia Lily – You Bring Me Joy enters at #2

X-Factor contestant Amelia Lily gets this week’s highest new entry with You Bring Me Joy, going straight in at #2. Amelia was a contestant of last year’s X-Factor, finishing third behind Marcus Collins and Little Mix. The latter scored their second #1 single 2 weeks ago with Wings, whilst the former hit #9 with his cover of Seven Nation Army. #4 placed Misha B also scored a #11 hit with Home Run. Amelia’s next single is apparently called Shut Up, presumably not a Black Eyed Peas cover.

 

Flo Rida – I Cry climbs to #6

US rapper and singer Flo Rida scores his fourth successive top 10 hit of the year as I Cry ascends to #6 this week. It follows #1 smash Good Feeling, #4 Wild Ones featuring Sia (more from her later) and #2 hit Whistle. This marks Flo’s most successful era in terms of singles success, mostly following up massive hits with lesser hits previously. Debut #2 smash Low was followed up with #20 Elevator, #1 Right Round was followed by #18 Sugar and #1 Club Can’t Handle Me preceded #41 Turn Around (5 4 3 2 1).

 

Tulisa feat Tyga – Live It Up enters at #11

The second highest of this weeks 10 new entries goes to X-Factor judge and former member of N-Dubz Tulisa Contostavlos as she lives it up. This is following up Tulisa’s debut solo #1 hit Young, well she should really live it up while she’s young! Tulisa has featured on 8 top 20 hits with N-Dubz and charity single I Got Soul, so this is her 11th in 4 years. This track features US rapper Tyga, whose name is an acronym for Thank You God Always. Last year, Tyga had a #39 hit Rack City and has had several minor US hits since.

 

Gerry & The Pacemakers – You'll Never Walk Alone re-enters at #12

Gerry & The Pacemakers were formed in the 1960s and alongside the Beatles, played a big part in the Mersey sound of that era. The group was formed by Gerry Marsden and saw their first 3 singles all go to #1 – How Do You Do It, I Like It and You’ll Never Walk Alone. The latter was originally a show tune from the 1945 musical Carousel and was covered by Gerry & The Pacemakers. The song has since been adopted as the official anthem for Liverpool Football Club and is used on numerous occasions. There is now an online campaign to get the song to number one to raise awareness of the Hillsborough tragedy, where 96 people lost their lives. As a result the track re-enters at #12 with a strong possibility of reaching the top next week, thus making it almost 50 years from the date it first charted to now – October 1963 to September 2012.

 

David Guetta enters at #14 with She Wolf and #22 with Play Hard

French producer David Guetta gets not 1 but 2 new entries this week, as new single She Wolf (Falling To Pieces) enters at #14 and album track Play Hard enters at #22. She Wolf is also the title of a top 5 hit for Shakira, however David Guetta has added the subtitle of Falling To Pieces to distinguish. She Wolf sees David Guetta team up with singer Sia once more, as he did on huge #1 hit Titanium. Play Hard features Neyo and Akon, Guetta has also previously had a #1 hit with Akon on Sexy Bitch. Play Hard uses a sample from Alice Deejay’s hit Better Off Alone. This is now David Guetta’s 21st top 20 hit on which he is credited since his 2001 debut, including 5 #1s – When Love Takes Over, Sexy Bitch, Getting’ Over You, Club Can’t Handle Me and Titanium.

 

Mumford & Sons – I Will Wait enters at #17

English folk rock band Mumford & Sons formed in 2007 by Marcus Mumford and his sons Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane. They played small venues around London and released an EP entitled Love Your Ground. However it wasn’t until 2009 that they got their commercial breakthrough with massive selling debut album Sigh No More. That spawned a few minor hits including #33 The Cave and #24 single Little Lion Man, the latter of which was their highest charting to date. They now beat that as I Will Wait enters at #17, as the first single from their highly anticipated second album Babel out next week (Mon 17th).

 

Killers – Runaways enters at #18

US rock band The Killers make their return to the singles charts this week as Runaways hits #18, also preceding their new album release. The band first made an impact in 2004 with huge hit singles Somebody Told Me and Mr Brightside, the latter has become something of a sleeper hit, selling over 500k copies despite only peaking at #10 and having 3 weeks in the top 40 originally. The band have had several other hits since, including #2 hit When We Were Young in 2006 and #3 hit Human in 2008. In 2010 Brandon Flowers released a solo album and had a #8 hit with Crossfire, however now the band are back with a tenth top 20 hit in an 8 year career.

 

Kanye West feat Jay Z & Big Sean – Clique enters at #29

US rapper and producer Kanye West is back, alongside fellow rappers Jay Z and Big Sean. Kanye Omari West first made his UK impact in 2004, with #9 hit Through The Wire followed by #10 All Falls Down and #16 Jesus Walks, all from his College Dropout album. Then Late Registration brought him 3 huge top 10 hits Gold Digger (#2), Diamonds From Sierra Leone (#8) and Touch The Sky (#6). 2007 saw his first #1 hit Stronger, followed by several smaller hits and #9 Homecoming (with Chris Martin). His 4th album 808s & Heartbreaks was a departure from the rap genre, it got him top 10 hits Love Lockdown and Heartless. In 2010 My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy saw a return to his rap style, but just minor hit singles including All Of The Lights (featuring Rihanna and others). Last year, he teamed up with Jay Z for Watch The Throne, which gave him a controversial #10 hit Niggas In Paris. New album Cruel Summer is due out this year and Clique is its first top 40 single, debuting at #29 this week.

 

PSY – Gangnam Style enters at #37

Now for something completely different, the first K-Pop single entering the UK charts at #37. Korean rapper PSY has been well known for his imaginative stage performances and videos for several years now. However it has only been with the release of a video on the Internet featuring some rather unusual dance moves that he has achieved worldwide recognition. That video is for Gangnam Style, already a sizeable hit in New Zealand, Canada, Netherland and Denmark (getting to #1 in the latter country). With an entry position of #37, it is looking like the song is catching on in the UK also.

 

The XX – Coexist is this week’s #1 album

This week, UK alternative band The XX debut at #1 with their second album as they Coexist with a top 3 made up of new entries. The Script come in at #2 with their third album entitled #3, 1 place short of their first 2 albums but 1 place higher than the title may suggest! Bob Dylan gets his 25th top 10 album in a career which has spanned over 50 years, as Tempest enters at #3. After their performance at the Paralympics Closing Ceremony, Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto rises to #4. X-Factor winner Joe McElderry gets himself a 4th top 20 album with Here’s What I Believe, who’d have thought? Pet Shop Boys grab an 11th top 10 studio album out of 11 releases since 1986, a further 3 compilation albums have made top 10 also. David Guetta is back with a new version of Nothing But The Beat, Billy Talent and ZZ Top also make top 40 entries in this week’s album chart.

 

Personal Opinion

I am very happy to see The Script get their first #1 single with the brilliant Hall Of Fame, they were great live. Shame their album couldn’t be a third #1, especially as I find The XX quite boring and don’t see the fuss. Anyway, I quite like You Bring Me Joy and glad to see it doing far better than expected. I really don’t like Tulisa’s Live It Up and am glad it has missed the top 10, Young was ok but nothing brilliant however this is utter rubbish. I love You’ll Never Walk Alone, not for its football connections, but because it is a very meaningful and nice song. I quite like David Guetta’s 2 entries and also really like Mumford and the Killers new ones too. All this positivity comes to an end now as I hate Kanye West’s new one but at least not as awful as that Niggas In Paris (a contender for my most hated song ever). I think that Gangnam Style is really bad in an LMFAO type of way, even the new Conor Maynard entry is better and I find it unappealing.

 

Thanks for doing the commentary this week. I missed out on the chance to say good things about Mumfords and The Killers. I'll have to save that for the albums.

 

I agree with your comments on The XX. They're OK but I can't see why some people eulogise them quite so much.

 

It's looking less likely now that YNWA will make number one but top ten is a distinct possibility, just in time for Gerry Marsden's birthday.

PSY is like marmite, you either love it or hate it, at first I really couldn't make up mind on it, but now its beginning to irritate me quite a bit, I dread to think of seeing the track at #1 now, for me it sounds like a novelty one hit wonder.

 

And I agree with Suedehead regarding YNWA, I think the buzz around it has died, I think in the end its going to finish at #6 or #7 mind you as I said earlier, I never liked the track, but its nice to see that all the proceeds of the single are going to charity. I also like to add the track is been used as theme tune to the new channel 5 TV series Being Liverpool on Fridays.

Yes it would be nice to see You'll Never Walk Alone get back to #1 but looking at iTunes, it's looking unlikely now. Still top 10 is great for a 50 year old song (67 year old if you take the original from Carousel) and raising money for a good cause. It would have been better to see it beat Example and Dappy, whose new songs I don't really like.

 

Both Mumford & The Killers are great too in a different way of course, they'll be the next albums I'll be buying I think as I've liked the previous material from each act respectively.

 

After hearing Gangnam Style a few times, I can safely say that I am firmly in the latter category of hating it, I can see it becoming a fair sized hit here now unfortunately. As others have said, it sounds like an even worse LMFAO "song" if that's possible.