007 Chart Commentary - 21st Apr 2013

Rudimental feat Ella Eyre – Waiting All Night is the new #1

English drum & bass quartet Rudimental get a third UK top 20 hit this week and second chart topper, as Waiting All Night debuts at the top. The group formed in 2011 and hit it big last year with the huge #1 hit single Feel The Love, featuring vocals from 22 year old UK soul singer John Newman. The follow up single Not Giving In also features vocals from Newman, and got to #14 last year. Now single #3, featuring vocals from Ella Eyre, does much better by topping the singles chart. All 3 tracks are from Rudimental’s forthcoming debut album entitled Home.

Will.i.am feat Justin Bieber - #thatpower enters at #2

US rapper Will.i.am is back at the top end of the UK charts this week, alongside Canadian teen singer Justin Bieber. The rather oddly titled new single #thatpower, from Will’s upcoming album, debuts at #2. This is a follow up to Will’s huge #1 smash Scream & Shout, which featured a certain Britney Spears and is at #35. William also debuts at #34 with Fall Down, which features Disney star (and daughter of Billy Rae) Miley Cyrus. Will is of course a mentor on the current series of The Voice UK and started his career as a Black Eyed Pea in 1997, getting a first breakthrough in 2000 with Where Is The Love? 19 year old Justin Bieber first started in 2008, #thatpower is now his 5th top 10 hit in total since then.

Daft Punk – Get Lucky enters at #3

For surprise big hit of the week, Daft Punk make a somewhat unexpected return to the upper reaches this week with Get Lucky. The track was released on Friday and debuts in the top 5, a feat repeated recently with Born This Way and Skyfall’s releases. The French electronic music duo made their debut in 1996 with #7 hit Da Funk, followed by #5 hit Around The World and a few smaller hits. 2000 got them their biggest hit to date as One More Time came in at #2, behind Can’t Fight The Moonlight by LeAnne Rimes. #14 hit Digital Love and #25 Harder Better Faster Stronger followed, the latter being sampled by Kanye West for his #1 hit Stronger. In 2005 the duo had 2 minor hits with Robot Rock and Technologic, and have been quiet ever since. Now they seemingly come out of nowhere and debut at #3 … they did indeed Get Lucky!

PSY – Gentleman enters at #10

South Korean rapper PSY gets his second top 10 hit in the UK as Gentleman debuts at #10. This is of course the follow up to the million selling #1 Gangnam Style, which was a huge #1 in over 30 different countries. Its accompanying video has become the most viewed video in YouTube’s history with over 1.5 billion. This track therefore has a lot to live up to, it has nonetheless entered at #11 in the UK and comes from PSY’s sixth album PSY6 (Six Rules) Part 1.

Clean Bandit – Mozart’s House enters at #17[/u]

For another very unusual song, Mozart’s House by British pop group Clean Bandit. The band first formed in 2009 and have released several independent singles since, including A&E and Telephone BAnking. Now Mozart’s House is their first chart hit, coming in at #17, effectively a dance song containing a sample from a classical piece. As the title suggests that sample is from classical composer Mozart, the first movement of Mozart's String Quartet No. 21 in D (AKA the Prussian No 1).

Little Mix – How Ya Doin’ enters at #23

X-Factor winning girl group Little Mix get their 5th UK top 40 hit this week, as How Ya Doin’ debuts at #23. For the single mix, they have enlisted the help of music producer and rapper Missy Elliot. Consisting of Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and Jade Thirlwall, the 4 piece group first came to light as winners of 2011’s X-Factor. Their winners cover of Damien Rice’s Cannonball is the lowest selling winners single, totalling less than 500,000. Despite that, they went on to hit #1 again with Wings, which sold quite respectably. The girls hit #4 with single DNA which is taken from their album of the same name. Then they made #12 with Change Your Life, and now debut at #23 with How Ya Doin’ with the likelihood of rising into the top 20.

Mat Zo feat Porter Robinson – Easy enters at #28

23 year old British trance / house / drum and bass music producer Matan Zohar gets his first UK top 40 hit under the name of Mat Zo, Easy debuts at #28. Mat Zo has remixed for the likes of U2, Kylie Minogue and Above & Beyond, and has several of his own tracks available from his MySpace page. Easy is however his first commercial release and features US dance producer Porter Robinson, who had a #9 hit last year with Language, featuring an uncredited vocalist Heather Bright.

Michael Buble tops the albums chart this week

37 year old Canadian singer Michael Buble tops the album chart this week for the third time as his sixth studio album To Be Loved becomes the year’s fastest seller. US rock band Fall Out Boy debut at #2 with their fifth album Save Rock & Roll. Emeli Sande is back up to #3, ahead of Pink and Justin Timberlake, with Paramore dropping from #1 to #6. Other new entries can be found from the likes of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Angel, Steve Earle and Kid Cudi.

Opinion

I am not a big fan of Rudimental really, although Waiting All Night is alright and far far better than that Will I Am / Bieber rubbish at #2. I am not a fan of Daft Punk but I do rather like Get Lucky and glad to see it almost #1. I admit to actually liking Gangnam Style eventually, but I don’t think much of Gentleman … just sounds the same really. I actually quite like Little Mix’s How Ya Doin’ even if it is a bit gimmicky. Not a fan of that Clean Bandit song much, nor of the Mat Zo/Porter Robinson one really. Not a fan of Buble either, although I do like his single and the Bryan Adams duet on his album.