007 Chart Commentary - Year 2012 (Part 2 of 2)

July

July saw Florence & The Machine perhaps unexpectedly score their first #1 and stay for 3 weeks, thanks to the Calvin Harris remix of Spectrum. Lady Antebellum's 3 year old song Need You Now got a new lease of life, reaching #15 due to price reductions and TV usage of the track. X-Factor contestant Misha B scored her first hit with Home Run, which made #11. Katy Perry released the 7th single from her Teenage Dream album Wide Awake and hit #9 with it. Conor Maynard got a fleeting #4 hit with Vegas Girl, girl group Karmin made #8 with Broken Hearted but was also quick to drop out. Nicki Minaj climbed to peak at #8 with Pound The Alarm and Angel eventually peaked at #9 with his track Wonderful. Cover Drive scored another top 20 hit, alongside Far East Movement on Turn Up The Love. In July, there ware more flash in the pan #1 albums from Newton Faulkner, Chris Brown and Elton John, as well as Frank Ocean and Plan B doing quite well. Album sales continued to be poor!

August

Olympics performances resulted in sizable hits for Arctic Monkeys' version of Come Together (#21), Underworld's Caliban's Dream (#12), Emeli Sande's own version of Read All About It (#3), Kate Bush's new version of her hit Running Up That Hill (#6), Elbow's One Day Like This (new peak of #4) and George Michael's new single White Light (#15). Wiley got his first #1 as Heatwave beat Calvin Harris & Example's We'll Be Coming Back, Calvin's 4th #2 in a row. Rita Ora got her 3rd #1 with How We Do (Party), as did novelty dance act Sam & The Womp with Bom Bom. X-Factor winners Little Mix hit #1 with their first proper single Wings, after winner's single Cannonball. Taylor Swift finally shook off her "one UK hit wonder" tag as her new single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together peaked at #4. There were more single week and low selling #1 albums from Conor Maynard and Rita Ora. Rihanna's Talk That Talk also became the first UK #1 album to sell less than 10k, although that album has been a massive success.

September

September saw Neyo get himself another #1 hit with Let Me Love You, this time with a bit more staying power. The Script got their first #1 hit with Hall Of Fame, helped by a certain will.i.am. Pink got to #3 with new single Blow Me (One More Kiss), Fun got a second top 10 hit with Some Nights, and Flo Rida got his 4th straight top 5 hit with I Cry. Cheryl Cole followed up her huge #1 with top 20 hit Under The Sun, meanwhile Mumford & Sons got their first top 20 with I Will Wait.Amelia Lily hit #2 with debut single You Bring Me Joy, meaning the top 4 X-Factor finalists have had at least 1 UK top 10 hit in 2012 (Misha B will later). However, X-Factor judge Tulisa could only limp to #10 with Live It Up. David Guetta teamed up with Sia again for She Wolf (Falling To Pieces), this time peaking at #8. South Korean rapper Psy rose to #1 with the dance/rap phenemonan Gangnam Style, going on to get over 1 billion YouTube views. Conor Maynard got a 3rd top 10 alongside Neyo with Turn Around, Example got a #2 hit with Say Nothing but was quick to disappear. Relatively big albums came from Two Door Cinema Club, Vaccines, The XX, The Script, Killers and Pink.

October

Rihanna's new single gave her yet another huge hit as Diamonds debuted at #1, ahead of the much anticipated new One Direction single Live While We're Young which debuted at #3. Adele's theme for the new James Bond film Skyfall got her to #2, the film quickly became the highest grossing in UK history. Ellie Goulding came back with #5 hit Anything Could Happen. However Leona Lewis was in Trouble as her single only made #7 and her Glass Heart album made #3, both plummeted quickly. Swedish House Mafia announed they were calling it a day and scored a huge #1 with final single Don't You Worry Child. Calvin Harris finally got a 2nd #1, as did Florence Welsh, with the track Sweet Nothing. The Voice UK's only contestant to get a top 40 hit as a result was Tyler James, Single Tear got to #28. JLS hit #6 with Hottest Girl In The World, and Maroon 5 peaked at #8 with One More Night. Emeli Sande featured on a #10 and a #1 hit in the one week - Naughty Boy's Wonder and Labrinth's Beneath Your Beautiful respectively. Big albums came from Mumford & Sons, Jake Bugg and Taylor Swift.

November

This month saw Robbie Williams come back with a huge #1 single Candy, staying for 2 weeks and indeed still in the top 20. Wiley scored a #3 hit with Can You Hear Me, The Wanted also hit #3 with flash in the pan hit I Found You, and Misha B hit #9 with Do You Think Of Me (also flash in the pan). Christina Aguilera could only limp to #16 with Your Body and her Lotus album flopped majorly. One Direction on the other hand hit #1 with the Ed Sheeran penned Little Things and hit #1 with 2nd album Take Me Home. Little Mix got a 3rd top 5 hit single and album with DNA. Bruno Mars hit #2 with comeback single Locked Out Of Heaven, also McFly got another top 10 hit with Love Is Easy. Stooshe flopped with their cover of Waterfalls. Olly Murs came back with a huge #1 single Troublemaker, well ahead of Girls Aloud's comeback Something New, which was a flash in the pan #2 single. Alicia Keys came back with #5 hit Girl On Fire. Robbie Williams scored another huge #1 album, ahead of Andre Reiu and JLS, Calvin Harris' 18 Months also made #1 ahead of Kylie's album of reworks Abbey Road Sessions.

December

The final month of the year began with Ke$ha scoring another top 10 hit with Die Young. Then Gabrielle Aplin rose to #1 with her version of The Power Of Love, feautred on the John Lewis TV advert. Pitbull got another top 20 hit with Don't Stop The Party, and Pink rose to #8 with new single Try. Tulisa flopped with her flash in the pan #18 single Sight Of You, debut album also flopped badly. As has been the case since downloads came in, numerous Christmas classics recharted this year, Farytale Of New York was the highest this year peaking at #12. Will.i.am scored a #2 hit (could be #1 shortly) alongside Britney Spears with Scream & Shout. The X-Factor winner's single this year is from James Arthur, his cover of Shontelle's Impossible became the fastest selling winner's single as it hit #1. Justice Collective though, got this years Christmas #1 with their charity cover of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. Big albums include Rihanna, Olly Murs, Bruno Mars and Emeli Sande (again), as well as festive offerings from Michael Buble (again) and Rod Stewart.