Robin Thicke feat Pharrel & TI - Blurred Lines stays at #1

The still massive Blurred Lines spends a 4th week at the top of the official UK charts this week for Robin Thicke and Pharrel. The track sold over 180k during its first 3 weeks on release, a feat which is very rare excepting in December. This week the track has become the 2nd this year to sell over 100k for 4 weeks running, the other being Daft Punk's Get Lucky, also featuring Pharrel. Next week there is huge competition from 2 held back releases from The Wanted and Icona Pop, I would also expect the already massive tracks from Daft Punk, Passenger and Naughty Boy to also be selling consistently.

 

Jason Derulo - The Other Side enters at #2

So the track that came closest to overthrowing Robin Thicke and thus this week's highest new entry is The Other Side from Jason Derulo. The 23 year old US singer songwriter debuted over here in 2009 with #3 hit Whatcha Say, sampling the Imogen Heap track Hide & Seek. He hit #1 for the first time with his second single In My Head, and #2 with next single Ridin' Solo. He then hit #12 with What If but missed top 40 with Sky's The Limit. All were from his self titled debut album, in 2011 2nd album Future History got him his 2nd #1 single Don't Wanna Go Home. Like Jason's first #1, that too featured a sample, this time it was Robin S Show Me Love mixed with Harry Balafonte's Day-O (The Banana Boat Song). #4 hit single It Girl followed, as did #25 Breathing and #15 Fight For You, with the latter sampling Toto's Africa. Now as the lead single to his firthcoming 3rd album, The Other Side debuts at #2 for Mr Derulo.

 

Dizzee Rascal feat Robbie Williams - Goin' Crazy enters at #5

Ghanan / British rapper Dizzee Rascal gets himself yet another top 5 hit this week as Goin' Crazy comes in at #5 featuring a certain Robbie Williams. Dizzee was first seen in the UK top 40 10 years ago with his debut I Luv U and a further 9 singles followed from 3 albums with none peaking higher than #10, Stand Up Tall peaked there. His big commercial breakthrough came in 2008 with the massive #1 Dance Wiv Me, followed by 2 further massive #1s Bonkers and Holiday. #10 hit Dirtee Cash followed, as did You Got The Dirtee Love alongside Florence & The Machine. In 2010 he scored 2 more #1s - Dirtee Disco and England football anthem Shout. He was last in the charts last year with #22 hit Scream and alongside DJ Fresh on their #6 hit The Power. As well as featuring on Jessie J's current top 10 hit Wild, he enters at #5 with Goin' Crazy. The track features Robbie Williams who has previosly had 30 top 10 singles (33 including 3 charity #1s), since initially leaving Take That.

 

Tom Odell - Another Love enters at #10

UK singer songwriter Tom Odell gets his very first top 40 his this week as Another Love comes in at #10. The 22 year old singer won the Brits' Choice Award this year and had released his debut EP Songs From Another Love at the end of last year. The original EP featured this track and spent 6 weeks in the top 100, so technically Another Love is a re-entry at #10. He released his first single proper Hold Me earlier this year but only peaked at #44. His debut album Long Way Down is released tomorrow and fetures the aforementioned tracks as well as Can't Pretend.

 

Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know? enters at #11

Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys get their biggest hit in 6 years this week as Do I Wanna Know debuts at #11, after an out of the blue midweek release. The band first exploded onto the scene in 2005 with #1 I Bet You Lood Good On The Dancefloor and the UK's fastest selling debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. A second #1 hit When The Sun Goes Down followed, then standalone single Leave Before The Lights Come On made #4. The band's second album Favourite Worst Nightmare spawned #2 hit Brianstorm, #5 Florescent Adolescent and #20 Teddy Picker. In 2009, album #3 Humbug gave them a #12 hit Crying Lightning and a few other non charting singles. 4th consecutive #1 album Suck It & See got them #28 single Don't Sit Down Cos I've Moved Your Chair and 3 other non charters. Last year, the band had 2 standalone singles - #23 R U Mine? and #21 cover of the Beatles' Come Together. Now they hit #11 with Do I Wanna Know?, the lead single of their forthcoming 5th album.

 

London Grammar - Wasting My Young Years enters at #31

New London based trio London Grammar conist of Hannah Reid, Dot Major and Dan Rothman who formed the band while at Nottingham University together. After several festival appearences and low key EP releases, the trio get their first chart hit with Wasting My Young Years in at #31. The band's sound has been compared favourably to the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Florence & The Machine and The XX. They also have a debut album which is due out shortly.

 

Leah McFall - Killing Me Softly enters at #36

22 year old Northern Irish singer songwriter gets her 2nd top 40 hit in just 3 weeks as her cover of Killing Me Softly debuts at #36 this week. Leah has been a contestant on the 2nd series of The Voice UK but was subsequently beaten by Andrea Begley in the weekend's final. As there are studio version of the semi-finalists' performances made available, Leah was the first (and thus far only) conestant to chart this year as her cover of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive peaked at #8 last week. Now her cover of Killing Me Softly comes in at #36, first became a #1 hit for Roberta Flack in 1973 and has since been covered by numerous artists including Luther Vandross, Johnny Mathis, Carly Simon, Susan Boyle, Tori Amos and The Fugees. It is the latter hip hop version on which Leah's cover is based. Leah's cover of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You is likely to enter the chart next week as well.

 

Kanye West claims the #1 album with Yeezus

US rapper Kanye West gets his 2nd UK chart topper this week as new album Yeezus goes straight in at #1, following 2007's Graduation to the top. This replaces metal band Black Sabbath whose 13 album drops a place to #2, ahead of the mid week #1. Kodaline see their debut album In A Perfect World debut at #3, containing recent hit singles High Hopes and Love Like This, as well as All I Want. US hip hop recording artist J Cole enters at #7 with his 2nd album Born Sinner, an improvement on his #25 debut 2 years ago. Icelandic alternative group Sigur Ros get their 3rd consecutive top 10 album with their 7th studio release Kveikur, coming in at #9. Other new entries this week include Hanz Zimmer with Man Of Steel OST and New Zealand supranon singer Hayley Westnra.

 

Opinion

I am happy to see Robin thicke stay at #1 for a 4th week as Blurred Lines has grown on me lots, after not really liking the song at first. I quite like Jason Derulo's new one The Other Side, not quite as good as In My Head or Ridin' Solo though. That Dizzee Rascal dirge is awful as expected, the presence of Robbie Williams doesn't help it much either ... I'd be going zrazy if I liked anything with Dizzee on it! Tom Odell's Another Love on the other is great to see in the top 10, really good song ... just hope his album turns out to be good. I am a big fan of the Arctic Monkeys and whilst Do I Wanna Know may not be their best song, it is still really good. I quite like that London Grammar track in a Florence/Fleetwood kind of way. Leah McFall's voice is unique and she can sing very well, however I still think that Andrea was the worthy winner of The Voice ... we'll see what careers they can make.

Roberta Flack's version of Killing Me Softly didn't make number one. I made the same mistake before I checked :lol:

Oops, I just read "number one single in 1973" on wiki but now realise it meant US #1. I see it only got to 6 in the UK but The Fugees version hit #1, I prefer The Fugees version anyway.