I thought it might be interesting to look back at those artists who made their first appearance on the UK Singles Chart in 2010, i.e. ten years ago. That is plenty long enough to show who built sustained successfil careers and who were flashes in the pan. It might also flush out a few forgotten gems.

 

There are just over 150 qualifying acts, some of whom just had a fleeting appearence (their "15 minutes of fame"?) and others who are still chart regulars today.

 

I've used the same criteria as on some of my older threads, if all you have is one "featured" credit on someone else's record, I'm disregarding you. Anything more than that, you're in.

 

All dates are week ending dates

 

The chart data will almost exclusively relate to the singles chart, but I may make reference to an album from time to time.

 

I'll also link to a few Youtube vidoes, usually including the debut hit and maybe 1 or 2 more of the artists more successful hits.

 

 

 

There were no qualifying acts on the first chart of the year (2/1/10) so moving swiftly on to the following week, and we have our first "here today, gone tomorrow" artist

 

XNRG

Anonymous pre-release cover group

09 Jan 10 Riverside (XNRG featuring Alex K) 94 1 wk

Total Hits : 1 Total Weeks : 1

 

 

Alex K had previously had appeared in the lower reaches of the chart, 10 years earlier with "You Got It" so he's not the subject here, but XNRG is/are.

 

All Discogs have to say about them is "Cover group specialising in mainstream house tracks around 2010-2011"

 

Pre-release cover acts didn't really approach their peak until 2013, but here we have an example. The song in question would go on to be a hit next week which I will cover in a few posts time. This version cuts out most of the lyrics, merely retaining the title of the song and adds frequent refernce to the Oedipal noun. It also speeds up the beat quite significanly. HonestLy, you're missing nothing if you don't listen to the youtube clip.

 

Five artists appeared for the first time on the chart of 16/1/10. Three of the five reached number one, one reached number two, and the other one managed a best of 79. We'll deal with that one first.

 

DELPHIC

British male vocal/instrumental group - Richard Boardman, Matt Cocksedge, James Cook & Dan Hadley

 

16 Jan 10 Doubt 79 2 wks

Total Hits : 1 Total Weeks : 2

 

 

According to Wikipedia, "Delphic were an alternative dance band from Stockport, England" They evolved from an earlier band with a much better name, Snowfight In The City Centre. This single, very reminiscent of New Order, was their only Top 100 single (but the accompanying album, "Acolyte" did rather better, reaching the Top 10.

 

They finished 3rd in the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, so they were expected to do good things, but never approached the success of the top 2, Ellie Goulding and Marina & The Diamonds. Ellie first appeared on the chart in 2009, so is outside the scope of this thread, but Marina will be featured here in a dozen or so posts time.

 

Acolyte by Delphic is a fine album as was their second album,Collections. They are best known on here for winning the 24th Buzzjack Song Contest.

IYAZ

British Virgin Islander male singer, born Keidran Jones, 15/4/87

 

16 Jan 10 Replay 1 24 wks

05 Jun 10 Solo 3 11 wks

28 Aug 10 So Big 40 6 wks

02 Oct 10 Pyramid (Charice featuring Iyaz) 17 4 wks

25 Jun 11 The Mack (Mann featuring Snoop Dogg & Iyaz) 28 8 wks

Total Hits : 5 Total Weeks : 53

 

 

 

 

The first artist here whose chart career extended, albeit briefly, past 2010, and so far as I know the only chart act from the British Virgin Islands.

 

"Replay" entered the chart at Number One and stayed there for two weeks, and managed 6 weeks in the Top 10 before slowly sliding down. The follow up fared less well (3-10-20....) and his only other solo hit managed a single week in the Top 40.

 

Iyaz also appeared as part of the "supergroup" Artists For Haiti on the charity remake "We Are The World 25 For Haiti" of which more anon.

 

He is still active in 2020, but chances of resurrecting his chart career look slim.

 

 

Doubt was a personal chart number 1 for me - still love the song 10 years on.

Iyaz is quite interesting. He appeared somewhat out of nowhere, surprisingly wasn't a one hit wonder but then fizzled out just as quick haha. My favs of his are a non-hit (Pretty Girls ft Travie McCoy) and his Charice (now Jake Zyrus) feature.

 

Also I'm loving this idea. Hope to see other years covered as well later!

Edited September 29, 20204 yr by diva thin muffin

'Doubt' and 'Halcyon' by Delphic are both great songs. Can't say I particularly remember anything else from them.

Okay, time for one of the biggies:

 

JUSTIN BIEBER

Canadian male vocalist (born 1/3/94)

 

16 Jan 10 One Time 11 15 wks

16 Jan 10 Love Me 71 3 wks

23 Jan 10 One Less Lonely Girl 62 3 wks

30 Jan 10 Favorite Girl 76 1 wk

20 Mar 10 Baby (Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris) 3 27 wks

03 Apr 10 U Smile 98 1 wk

17 Apr 10 Never Let You Go 84 2 wks

22 May 10 Eenie Meenie (Sean Kingston & Justin Bieber) 9 15 wks

12 Jun 10 Somebody To Love 33 10 wks

04 Dec 10 Never Say Never (Justin Bieber featuring Jaden Smith) 34 10 wks

02 Apr 11 Next To You (Chris Brown featuring Justin Bieber) 14 16 wks

29 Oct 11 Mistletoe 21 23 wks

05 Nov 11 The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) (Justin Bieber featuring Usher) 91 1 wk

21 Apr 12 Boyfriend 2 19 wks

19 May 12 Live My Life (Far East Movement featuring Justin Bieber) 7 6 wks

19 May 12 Turn To You (Mother's Day Dedication) 39 2 wks

09 Jun 12 Die In Your Arms 34 2 wks

16 Jun 12 All Around The World (Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris) 30 4 wks

23 Jun 12 As Long As You Love Me (Justin Bieber featuring Big Sean) 22 21 wks

30 Jun 12 Beauty And A Beat (Justin Bieber featuring Nicki Minaj) 16 24 wks

29 Sep 12 Beautiful (Carly Rae Jepsen & Justin Bieber) 68 1 wk

09 Feb 13 Nothing Like Us 68 1 wk

27 Apr 13 #ThatPower (Will.I.Am featuring Justin Bieber) 2 14 wks

28 Sep 13 Lolly (Maejor Ali featuring Juicy J & Justin Bieber) 56 2 wks

19 Oct 13 Heartbreaker 14 2 wks

26 Oct 13 All That Matters 20 3 wks

02 Nov 13 Hold Tight 28 1 wk

02 Nov 13 Wait For A Minute (Tyga & Justin Bieber) 41 1 wk

09 Nov 13 Recovery 28 1 wk

16 Nov 13 Bad Day 31 1 wk

23 Nov 13 All Bad 34 1 wk

30 Nov 13 PYD (Justin Bieber featuring R Kelly) 30 1 wk

07 Dec 13 Rollercoaster 37 1 wk

14 Dec 13 Change Me 39 1 wk

21 Dec 13 Confident (Justin Bieber featuring Chance The Rapper) 33 13 wks

01 Feb 14 Gas Pedal (Sage The Gemini featuring Justin Bieber & Iamsu!) 100 1 wk

21 Mar 15 Where Are U Now (Skrillex & Diplo featuring Justin Bieber) 3 57 wks

10 Sep 15 What Do You Mean $ 1 62 wks

05 Nov 15 Sorry $ 1 68 wks

12 Nov 15 I'll Show You 15 15 wks

26 Nov 15 Love Yourself $ 1 64 wks

26 Nov 15 Company 25 21 wks

26 Nov 15 Mark My Words 33 8 wks

26 Nov 15 The Feeling (Justin Bieber featuring Halsey) 34 8 wks

26 Nov 15 Purpose 41 8 wks

26 Nov 15 No Pressure (Justin Bieber featuring Big Sean) 38 8 wks

26 Nov 15 Children 44 5 wks

26 Nov 15 No Sense (Justin Bieber featuring Travis Scott) 50 5 wks

26 Nov 15 Life Is Worth Living 61 4 wks

26 Nov 15 Been You 63 3 wks

26 Nov 15 We Are (Justin Bieber featuring Nas) 74 3 wks

26 Nov 15 Get Used To Me 77 3 wks

26 Nov 15 Trust 88 2 wks

26 Nov 15 All In It 91 2 wks

04 Aug 16 Cold Water (Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber & MØ) 1 32 wks

18 Aug 16 Let Me Love You (DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber) 2 34 wks

22 Sep 16 Deja Vu (Post Malone featuring Justin Bieber) 63 1 wk

27 Apr 17 Despacito (Remix) $ (Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber) 1 74 wks

(Original version (without Bieber) listed for the first three weeks)

11 May 17 I'm The One $ (DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo & Chance The Rapper) 1 23 wks

22 Jun 17 2U (David Guetta featuring Justin Bieber) 5 16 wks

31 Aug 17 Friends (Justin Bieber & BloodPop) 2 16 wks

09 Aug 18 No Brainer (DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber Quavo & Chance The Rapper) 3 13 wks

23 May 19 I Don't Care (Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber) 1 51 wks

11 Jul 19 Don't Check On Me (Chris Brown featuring Justin Bieber & Ink) 29 6 wks

17 Oct 19 10000 Hours (Dan & Shay featuring Justin Bieber) 17 9 wks

16 Jan 20 Yummy 5 12 wks

13 Feb 20 Get Me (Justin Bieber featuring Kehlani) 61 1 wk

20 Feb 20 Intentions (Justin Bieber featuring Quavo) 8 24 wks

27 Feb 20 Forever (Justin Bieber featuring Post Malone & Clever) 29 5 wks

21 May 20 Stuck With U $ (Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber) 4 16 wks

01 Oct 20 Holy ➜ (Justin Bieber featuring Chance The Rapper) 10 1 wk

Total Hits : 71 Total Weeks : 930

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very impressive list of hits. Bieber started (before his 16th birthday) the way he meant to go on when he had two records both chart on his debut week, "One Time" at 14 and "Love Me" at 82.

 

For a while it looked like he might become a chart irrelevance, for despite having 5 more solo entries in the next 3 months, none of them reached the Top 60.

 

Alongside those solo records, came the first sign of how he became omnipresent, teaming up with Ludacris on "Baby" which made No. 3

 

He had to wait until 2015 for his first chart topper, but then he made up for lost time by having three in quick succession (all of which also made became US Billboard number ones)

 

Since then, he's had four more number ones, three of them as a featured vocalist and one in partnership with Ed Sheeran.

 

Other notable feats including a run of 10 hits in successive weeks in late 2013, all released in a campaign entitled "Music Mondays", only the last "Confident" had a sustained chart career, and placing all 18 tracks from the album "Purpose" on the chart of 26/11/15.

 

He has only had one solo hit since 2015, but has remained in the public eye with a series of collaborations (16 of his last 17 chart entries)

 

(You'll notice a couple of the symbols I use in my data here. The dollar sign means it was a US number one, and the arrow indicates it is still in the chart as of this week. There is another symbol which does not apply here and will be explained when it does become relevant!)

 

One measure of how successful Bieber has been over the last 10 point something years is in the all-time list of "most weeks in the top 10 by artist"

386 - Elvis Presley

333 - Cliff Richard

289 - Shadows

265 - Rihanna

228 - Madonna

200 - Ed Sheeran

192 - Beatles

187 - Frankie Laine

173 - Calvin Harris

167 - Justin Bieber

(Some tallies may give slightly different numbers for some artists if they credit various combinations of featured artists at times)

 

OWL CITY

American male singer/multi-instrumentalist (Adam Young, born 5/7/86)

16 Jan 10 Fireflies $ 1 38 wks

27 Feb 10 Vanilla Twilight 94 1 wk

01 Sep 12 Good Time (Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen) 5 20 wks

Total Hits : 3 Total Weeks : 59

 

 

 

Sounding more like a group rather than an individual, Owl City debuted on the chart wih "Fireflies" halfway up the Top 100, but exploded towards the top quickly thereafter, leaping to No. 2 the following week, then settling in for three weeks at number one.

 

There was one more decent hit alongside Carly Rae Jepsen, but other than a token week at No. 94 that was it for his UK singles chart action.

 

 

SIDNEY SAMSON FEATURING WIZARD SLEEVE

Dutch male DJ (born 2/10/81) with American male rappers/producers Lex One (Alex Cruz), Mike Beatz (Michael Barnett) and DJ/producer Pusher FM (Pedro Calcano)

16 Jan 10 Riverside (Let's Go) 2 19 wks

Total Hits : 1 Total Weeks : 19

 

 

Originally a house record with the vocals just consisting the same phrase as the XNRG cover version above (here sampled from Tupac Shakur), the hit record was augmented by a rap track by Wizard Sleeve.

 

Neither Samson nor Wizard Sleeve ever bothered the Top 100 again.

 

To show how much of a "one trick pony" he was, Samson made a reworking of the same basic song with Tujamo in 2018, and later that same year yet another version with Oliver Heldens called "Riverside 2099". He does, however, have a more successful career thread as a club DJ.

 

Wizard Sleeve probably have to have the title of least notable performers with a UK #2 hit from the decade, with a grand total of 3,396 monthly Spotify listeners (which doesn't include Riverside streams as they're only the featured artist)

they only had one single that wasn't a collab with a dance act which scored... 11,447 streams in the decade since it was released. that's their 2nd-most popular track too (the first is a joint collab with Denzal Park which got 3m streams).

Bieber is always quite hit and miss for me. I wasn't a huge fan of his at first, only 'Baby' and 'Somebody To Love' making a dent in my own chart but then in 2012-2013 he released some solid bangers. 'Boyfriend' is great even if the lyrics are a bit cringey, the FEM collab is great, 'As Long As You Love Me' is among his best to date and '#thatPOWER' was his first chart topper of mine. There's a lot of duds in his discography but lots of great ones too. 'Sorry' was and still is a banger. 'Where Are You Now' still smashes hard. '2U', 'Friends', 'Cold Water' and 'Let Me Love You' all proved his talent in dance music and 'Despacito' is .. well, Despacito. You either love it or hate it. I personally love it. Not been a huge fan of his recent output though. Hopefully that changes sometime soon.

 

Owl City.. I've never been a fan of Adam Young. Something about him just irks me. He's gives off major tumblr vibes for some reason that I can't explain. His facial expressions while singing are also very annoying lmao. 'Fireflies' was ok. Carly is the only good thing about 'Good Time'.

 

Finally Sidney Samson and Wizard Sleeve. Idk this Wizard Sleeve thing. Never listened to this version of the song really so I'll pass. Sidney however has made a handful of good songs since. Notably 'Change Your Life' with Far East Movement was a bop. I hated 'Riverside' at the time but have come to love it in the decade since.

FUGATIVE

British male rapper/singer, born Harry Byart, 11/3/94

30 Jan 10 Supafly 48 2 wks

22 May 10 Crush 26 2 wks

07 Aug 10 Bad Girl 59 1 wk

Total Hits : 3 Total Weeks : 5

 

 

 

The chart of 30/1/10 saw two debut artists, one from each side of the Atlantic. The British representative was one Harry Byart who went by the name Fugative, and later was known as Harry James (James was his middle name)

 

He had three hits, none of which hang around for more than a fortnight. Later efforts, including one with Wiley and another with a still-emerging Ed Sheeran, failed to chart.

 

"Supafly" was a light-ish rap number, while the two follow-ups were very poppy and neither have aged very well at all.

 

YOUNG MONEY

American/Canadian male/female rap collective - Lil Wayne, Drake, Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, Nicki Minaj & Tyga. Other acts appear as part of Young Money on the accompanying "We Are Young Money" album

30 Jan 10 Bedrock (Young Money featuring Lloyd) 9 24 wks

Total Hits : 1 Total Weeks : 24

 

 

Listing exactly who is on "Bedrock" can be a problem because there were so many different versions. The above listing is designed to be inclusive rather than be limited to one particular version.

 

Some members had already appeared on the charts (e.g. Lil Wayne & Drake), while for Nicki Minaj it was to be the first of many visits to the Top 100. She will be featured here in her own right in good time.

 

MIDNIGHT BEAST

Briitsh male comedy vocal group (Stefan Abingdon, Ashley Horne & Andrew Wakely)

06 Feb 10 Tik Tok (Parody) 90 2 wks

25 Sep 10 Booty Call EP 64 1 wk

(Tracks: Booty Call (A Bit Rude)/Booty Call (clean version)/Daddy/Fashion Innit)

14 Jul 12 Begging 70 2 wks

Total Hits : 3 Total Weeks : 5

 

 

 

I must admit that this group had totally passed me by. They even had a sitcom series on E4 in 2012, according to Wikipedia "The series consists of 6 episodes, and details a fictionalised version of the band's members as they attempt to become successful musicians". Sounds a bit S-Club to me.

 

Their first small hit was a parody of Kesha's "Tik Tok", and apparently she liked it

 

@6676461438

 

I can't believe it has been 10 years since the Bieber launched. :drama:

PASSION PIT

American male vocal/instrumental group Ayad Al Adhamy, Michael Angelakos, Jeff Apruzzese, Nathan Donmoyer & Ian Hultquist with contributions on the single by the choir of elementary school PS22 from Graniteville, New York

06 Feb 10 The Reeling 99 1 wk

Total Hits : 1 Total Weeks : 1

 

 

Angelakos still operates as Passion Pit, although now it is essentially a solo project.

 

DANNY BYRD

British male DJ/producer, born 4/5/79

13 Feb 10 Sweet Harmony (Danny Byrd featuring Liquid) 64 4 wks

09 Oct 10 Ill Behaviour (Danny Byrd featuring I-Kay) 36 3 wks

19 Feb 11 Tonight (Danny Byrd featuring Netsky) 91 1 wk

Total Hits : 3 Total Weeks : 8

 

 

 

Three hits, all with different collaborators, with only the middle one squeaking into the Top 40.

 

He is still active, both making music of his own and remixing that of other artists.

 

really seems like an eternity instead of 10 years for Bieber

I remember Danny Byrd for "Planet Earth", which I have listened to hundreds of times since getting it as an iTunes Single Of The Week back in the day