Suedehead2’s Sub Chart Commentary w/e 10th Aug 2023

Suedehead2’s Sub Chart Commentary w/e 10th Aug 2023

It’s a 9-week Sprint as Utopia arrives on album pole.

It seems much longer, but it’s only a 9-week run for Dave & Central Cee’s Sprinter. Surely his legs are tired by now?! Anyway, that blocks the way of the much better lovely Billie Eilish track, What Was I Made For? The first of 3 Barbie tracks in the top 4, the first movie to achieve that since Grease first did it in 1978 with Summer Nights at 1, and Sandy and Hopelessly Devoted To You giving both John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John a double feature. Of course they were actually singing the tracks in the film, while the Barbie ones are soundtrack placements. Dua Lipa is at 3 with Dance The Night, and Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice mumble all over Aqua’s Barbie Girl at 4. Vampire is down to 5 for Olivia Rodrigo. Charli XCX makes it 4 Barbie’s in the top 10, though, as Speed Drive hits 9 and creates a new chart movie soundtrack record of 4 consecutive top 10 tracks, and also a record with 5 consecutive top 20’s with Ryan Gosling up to 14 with I’m Just Ken, and meanwhile Lizzo is up to 27 with Pink, despite some negative publicity this week for a total of 6 Barbie dolls.

Peggy Gou takes the catchy Nanana back up to 6 and the highest new entries all come from streaming of Travis Scott’s new album, with MELTDOWN at 10, FEIN at 13, and HYAENA at 21, aided and abetted by uncredited famous mates (at least here, for now). I’m not fussed about PLAYING them partly cos SHOUTY type titles are ANNOYING, and partly for other reasons - I don’t want to contribute to streaming figures, but it gives Scott a total of 18 top 40’s if I totted them up right. Becky Hill & Chase & Status are up to 15 with Disconnect, and Calvin Harris and Sam Smith get together again for some dance and do a bit better than Sam’s Barbie track, entering at 18 with Desire, Calvin’s 41st top 40 in 16 years, and Sam’s 22nd in 10 years.

Drake’s back twice this week, with a welcome uncredited assist to MELTDOWN, and new at 26 with Central Cee on On The Radar Freestyle. So Central Cee just can’t wait for himself to vacate the top spot, the main surprise is this is Drake. And the co-number-one act. And it’s only 26. Who says Miracles never happen!? Drake is still clearly trying for the magic 100 Top 40 hits, Central Cee is on 21 so far.

New at 30, the late Sinead O’Connor is back with her career-defining Nothing Compares 2 U. Sinead’s genius was to spot how a fairly pedestrian version of the song should be done, and then do it justice. In spring 1990 I was in Florida with the family, and this classic was all over the radio there, and it’s very sad she had so many problems in her life.

New in at 31, BOO! Sorry, Bou might be dropping with Closer, but tags along with Chase & Status also getting a 2nd top 40 hit this week, with Baddadan. Badderdan? Chase & Status wait 10 years for another hit and 2 along at once! That’s 10 top 40 hits in 14 years. There’s a cast of thousands on this one, IRah, Flowdan, Trigga and Takura all hopefully get a writing credit. Maybe they were in the audience! Not quite sure what language is it, but I can state with absolute certainty that it’s not English, and it’s a tad Jungley-drum’n’bass. There even might a slight melody in there somewhere.

On albums, Travis Scott wins the three-way battle for the top spot with his UTOPIA album, follow-up to 2018’s Astroworld which peaked at 3. His first album came out in 2015, Rodeo, so it’s only taken 8 years and 4 albums to get the top spot. It’s a shouty-text new entry at 2 for unlucky Anne-Marie, UNHEALTHY just getting pipped at the post, sadly, as the current Shania feature title track is pretty fab and there’s other decent stuff on it. It’s also her 3rd top 3 in a row, Speak Your Mind hit 3 in 2018, and Therapy 2 in 2021. Finally, new in at 3 it’s a trio of shouty album-titles as AUSTIN arrives for Post Malone. featuring his recent goodie Chemistry, which pops back into the singles chart at 24. His 5th album, and 5th top 10, including chart-toppers Beerbongs & Bentley’s in 2018 and Hollywood’s Bleeding in 2019.

The traditional non-new-entry top 5 album is always The Weeknd’s The Highlights, so this time it’s 4, just ahead of Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (Swifty Versh) at 5, down a bit. There’s a new entry at 6 for Dexy’s, or as we used to call them back in the days I was buying their singles, Dexy’s Midnight Runners. The Feminine Divine is a proper collaboration between the band, in the olden days Kevin Rowland WAS Dexy’s. He sacked his entire band in 1981, who set up as The Bureau, I saw them supporting The Pretenders that year, cracking both acts. This is Dexy’s 6th studio album, all of them top 40’s, and their highest-charting since 1982’s Too-Rye-Ay. Jim Patterson was around for the first album, Searching For The Young Soul Rebels, popped back briefly in the mid-80’s and more-substantially in the 21st century, including this one. Whoah-oh-oh-Geno! That leaves a final re-entry at 39 for Forty Licks, The Rolling Stones hits package that isn’t one of the ongoing everlasting Hits collections in the top 40.