007 Chart Commentary - 24th Mar 2013

Saturdays - What About Us? enters at #1

This week Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, Frankie Sandford and Vanessa White collectively score their first UK #1 hit single, 5 years after debuting. What About Us is the brand new #1 for The Saturdays on sales of over 114k, making it the year's fastest seller so far. The girl group first came on the scene in 2008 with #8 hit If This Is Love, followed by 2 big top 5 hits Up (their biggest current seller at almost 350k) and Issues which sold respectably. Then the girls hit #2 with their Comic Relief cover of Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough. #22 single Work followed that, also from debut album Chasing Lights. They then made #2 with Forever Is Over, followed by Ego which actually sold better despite its #9 peak. In 2010, the girls fell short of the top again, as Missing You hit #3 as the first single from their Headlines EP, followed by #10 hit Higher which again sold a "higher" amount than its predecessor. 2011 saw the girls hit #8 with Notorious and another #3 with All Fired Up, My Heart Takes Over could only make #15 though after that. Last year, they hit #7 with 30 Days (To Love) but sold poorly. However they can now lay claim to their first #1 single with big sales to go with it. What About Us features Sean Paul on the main UK version of the single, although a solo version is being released tomorrow (Monday).

Taylor Swift - 22 climbs to #11

Very little movement can be seen in the top 10 this week. However rocketing up and landing 1 place short for this week, is US country turned pop singer Taylor Swift. She feels like she is 22 (actually now 23 years old), as her latest single looks set to become her 3rd top 10 hit in a row and 4th in total since 2008 UK debut Love Story. Love Story was Taylor's only top 20 hit in the UK, until she hit #4 last year with We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together then #2 with I Knew You Were Trouble. Both of these singles and 22 are taken from her current album Red, the formar 2 have both gone on to sell over 500k and in the process outsell her debut hit.

Kodaline - High Hopes enters at #16

Dublin based indie rock quartet Kodaline get their first UK top 40 hit this week as their second single release High Hopes debuts at #16. Originally known as 21 Demands, the band made chart history in their native Ireland by having the first independently released #1 single with Give Me A Minute. In 2011, the band changed their name to Kodaline and have released an EP as well as being nominated for the BBC Sound Of 2013 Poll. A track from their Kodaline EP entitled All I Want made #74 after being a Radio 1 Record Of The Week and featuring in TV series Grey's Anatomy. High Hopes is the first proper single to be taken from their forthcoming album In A Perfect World, and sits at #1 in Ireland at present. The title track Perfect World was made available to download free from iTunes in January this year.

Pitbull feat Christina Aguilera - Feel This Moment enters at #27

32 year old US rapper Armando Perez gets another top 40 hit this week, under the better known name of Pitbull. After having several smaller hits in his native US, the rapper debuted here with #4 smash hit I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) in 2009. This was followed by #9 hit Hotel Room Service as well as several other smaller hits. In 2011, he hit #1 with his biggest selling hit Give Me Everything (featuring NeYo, Afrojack and Mayer), followed by #28 Rain Over Me (featuring Marc Anthony) and #10 peaking International Love (with Chris Brown). Last year he made #21 with Back In Time then scored a #7 hit with Don't Stop The Party (featuring TJR). Now he teams up with Christina Aguilera, thus getting the US singer songwriter her 22nd UK top 40 hit in total (including collaborations) since her 2000 debut.

ReConnected - One In A Million enters at #32

ReConnected are a British boy band, who were originally conestants on Britain's Got Talent in 2010 as part of the 5 piece boy band Connected. Now they have reformed (minus 2 of the original group), adding "Re" onto their name. They are now signed to record label RKA, which is partly owned by Dragon's Den business man Duncan Bannatyne. The group now consists of Harry Mondryk, Max Mondryk, and Matthew Fitzgerald. One In A Million is the debut single and has been released with multiple versions selling in small numbers as well as physical sales and a digital EP, a trick famously pulled off by Alex Day for his 3 single releases. The end result for ReConnected is a #32 placing for One In A Million, sure to drop right out the top 100 next week.

Jakwob feat MaiDay - Fade enters at #35

23 year old British dubstep producer James Edward Jacob gets his first UK top 40 hit this week, as Fade enters at #35. Jakwob has been making music since he was 10 years old and has been involved with many bands since then. As well as releasing several singles, he has also remixed for the likes of Ellie Goulding, Temper Trap, Lily Allen and Lana Del Rey. It is these remixes that have helped him break into the mainstream, together with his increasing online following. Fade features female singer MaiDay, who wrote Girls Aloud's last single Beautiful Cause You Love Me and Wretch 32's Don't Go.

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience is the #1 album

US mega star singer / actor Justin Timberlake debuts at #1 to claim his 3rd straight #1 album with hotly anticipated album The 20/20 Experience, featuring Suit & Tie as well as the #1 smash Mirrors. Just as we got the year's fastest selling single this week, JT can claim the year's fastest selling album with sales over 100k. Last week's #1 from David Bowie slips to #2, Emeli Sande's massive album stays at #3 and Les Mis climb back to #4, ahead of Bastille who stay at #5 with Bad Blood. Indie rock band Suede are back after 11 years, at #10 with their new album Bloodsports, having been massive throughout the 1990's and now scoring their 5th top 10 album out of 6 releases. Other new entries come from Billy Bragg, Daughter, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Hadouken.

Personal Opinion

What About Us is far from being the best Saturdays song, that would have to be Up or Ego for me. I am however happy to see the girls finally get their first UK #1 with this (should have been Up or Ego but still), I have to say Sean Paul really ruins this song for me though. I actually quite like Tayor Swift's 22 even if it does have naff lyrics, it is quite catchy really. I love Kodaline and have done ever since I discovered them via an iTumes free download, great to see High Hopes get a top 20 placing. Pitbull on the other hand is utterly rubbish as usual, even Christina Aguilera does little to save this tripe from being diabolical. Another diabolical song entering this week is that ReConnected one, they should have stayed disconnected I think! On first listen, I'd say Fade by Jakwob is actually quite good, I wouldn't complain if that went on to have Disclosure's type of success.

Edited March 25, 201312 yr by loudjamesbond