Sorry A3 cllosed taken 90 mins to get off commentary will be late still in traffic

The Suedehead2 Sub Chart Commentary 28th April 2023

 

It’s a miraculous return to the Tracks top spot for Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding and on albums it’s a tight battle.

 

After a Lewis Capaldi-induced booting-off last week Miracle returns for a third week on top for Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding, with Lewis dropping to 4. That lets David Kushner rise to 2 with Daybreak, which is much higher then Electric Light Orchestra managed with the fab Daybreaker in 1974 which charted in no top 40’s except mine. Lewis Vapaldi is down to 3, Libianca holds at 4 with People and Ed Sheeran has Eyes Closed at 5. Switch Disco break into the top 10 with React, sorry REACT, at 8 accompanied by Ella Henderson on her 8th Top 10 excluding charity ensembles.

 

Nines new at 19, I was hoping to a-n-n-n-n-nounce. It’s 11. Tony Soprano 2 has charted and I’ve never even heard Tony Soprano 1. Judging by this, the N word, the S word, the B word, no tune, bemoaning time spent inside for dealing, but now he’s back etc etc. Can’t wait to hear it playlisted on Radio 2.

 

The Weeknd’s back with another collab partner, this time Future, on Double Fantasy new at 14. John Lennon and Yoko One were the last ones to use that title, of their 1980 album shortly before John was murdered by a lunatic. Fingers-crossed they have better luck, then, with this track taken from a forthcoming soundtrack called The Idol, Vol 1. Which sounds a tad optimistic having listened to this - The Weeknd bits are fine, if a bit suggestive ooerr missus. Shame about the Future rap which is basically generously sharing bedroom habits in detail mixed with what seems to be a low opinion of his current lady (formerly) of the night. Ho hum. So rap biz as usual then and add another one to the growing numbers of top 40 singles to both, which I’ve counted up before for these purposes, so I’m sure we can all agree it’ll go up by another one soon enough and the current total will be out of date, so I’ll skip Wikipedia and say The Weekend has had loads and Future not quite so many.

 

A new entry is awarded to HStickytocky and General G and Twust at 21. Those old enough to remember HR Puffnstuff and General Johnson might be hoping for a kiddie soul combo from the late 60’s, but I’m afraid it’s not a tribute act, it’s a rap dance track speeded up, as you do. I’ll be honest it probably does improve it, so well done British Tik Tok content creator George Elliot (no relation) aka General G and fitness instructor Harrison Sullivan (HStickytocky). Don’t expect a follow-up hit, though, as the pair appear to fallen-out over a girl. Turned out one couldn’t Twust the other one.

 

Meanwhile Fiftyfifty are up to 18, a new peak possibly, and Daveed, Anne-Marie et Coi zey are oop to 19 with Baby Don’t Hurt Me, so there’s at least one I like going up to a new peak. Morgan Wallen climbs to 28, and new at 37, Kim Petras gets a 2nd top 40 hit, after her Unholy chart-topper with Sam Smith, who’s aiming for another too this week. Alone, sadly, has Nicki Minaj on it and immediately contradicts the title. Nicki was referred to as a soul legend today on the radio. Not by any definition of “soul” that I’m aware of. Though she has been clinging on to the chart slots for a good 13 years now with no sign of letting up, even though her peak was over a decade ago - that’ll be a biased reference to Starships from me. As with The Weeknd and Future I’ve previously totalled up her top 40 hits for reference here, and promise to do it again when she has her very last one. There’s a lot of ‘em!

 

Ed Sheeran is not new anywhere. What?!! I need to repeat that. Ed’s new Grat track Boat has bombed!!! The boat has hit an iceberg, mostly as it’s pretty forgettable even by Sheeran standards, I’m presuming. Raye, meanwhile, follows up her recent biggie with a less biggie, Flip A Switch at 35 after yo-yoing for 5 weeks or so outside the 40. Finally there's a late new entry from Tyler The Creator at 36, so new I havent had time list his previous top 40 successes, nor that of Kali Uchis featuring assistant on See You Again. If I hadnt been stuck in traffic since 5 pm I would be able to count that it's his 6th - Tyler that is. Kali = a debut.

 

 

So to albums, and it was a close thing all week with leadership changing between 2 acts who have never had a chart-topper, but in the final run Enter Shikari was the winner. The band specialise in Alt Rock, and duly debut at 1 with A Kiss For The Whole World. That’s not good enough for them though, they also grab a live album new entry at 15 with Live At Ally Pally 3, as we used to refer to Alexandra Palace in the olden days. Their previous album peaked at 2, and this makes 7 top 10’s since their first Take To The Skies in 2007.

 

Not even in the running, it seemed, but The 1975 also debut a new live album at 2, Live With The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra - what with Def Leppard won’t be too long with their orchestral reworks so I wonder when we can expect orchestral revamps of the Sex Pistols, Kanye West and any number of other unlikely suspects. The 1975 have had 5 studio chart-toppers in 10 years, but have to settle for a less-lofty slot for now.

 

Everything But The Girl looked like getting their first chart-topper with their first album in 24 years but if faded at the end and enters at 3, but it's a very mature welcome for Fuse, their 5th top 10 38 years after their first, Love’s Not Money. I was big on their first hit single Each And Every One back in 1984, and Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt are still as cool as ever.

 

It was World Record Day on Saturday, and I will be charting some classic singles on the back of that, but the main act to benefit is Taylor Swift and her vinyl album Folklore - The Long Pond Sessions, the original version already haven topped the chart, the new version hits a slightly lower 4. The Weeknd as usual is top 5 but not number one. At 5.

 

Rokflote enters at 17 to become Ian Anderson’s second album in 2 years to chart, a sudden spurt of activity after a 20-year lay-off. Jethro Tull started out when I was a boy in the 60’s with the wonderful Living In The Past folkpop biggie hit song, but debuted in 1968, had 5 consecutive top 10 albums in 4 years, then a more modest 14 top 40 albums in the next 23 years. This makes 23 studio albums, all but the 2002 Xmas album charting. Plus another load of live and compilation albums, half of them also charting.

 

Post Malone couldn’t get The Diamond Collection higher than 25 despite radio play for the hit Chemical, presumably because his fans already have the tracks on the 4 big albums which include 2 number ones. It’s also, it must be said, rare for any act going for less than a decade to issue a hits album. Streaming, eh, tch!

 

Skala from Songer is new at 30. Wikipedia tells me nowt, though Google suggests Songer is a fearless new voice from UK rap’s underground scene. I can confirm Songer is a cut above the current cliched American variants in the singles chart, having played the new track That’s Money, and finally Tiesto DRIVE’s in at 34 with his 4th top 40 album since first turning the trick in 2007.