Chart commentary by gooddelta

Posted September 30, 200717 yr

UK pop storms back in style as Sugababes celebrate their 6th No.1

British girlband the Sugababes have jumped an incredible 34 places to No.1 this week with About You Now. The single which is physically released on Monday (October 1st) is their 6th No.1 following Freak Like Me, Round Round, Hole In The Head, Push The Button and Walk This Way. A pure pop song, it was written by Sweden’s ‘Dr Luke’ and the girls and is the first single from new album Change. The huge jump to No.1 beats Captain Sensible’s Happy Talk which jumped from No.33 to No.1 though it is worth noting that it was a remix of the song that caused it to debut as low as No.35 this week with the radio edit only being made available this week.

No.2 is the highest new entry and it comes from Shayne Ward, the winner of X Factor 2005. Written off after the dismal No.14 showing for last single Stand By Me, Shayne has proved to have some staying power with the double a-side No U Hang Up and If That’s Ok With You giving him his 3rd top 2 hit after the million selling That’s My Goal and the No.2 follow up No Promises. The American urban songs are all pushed down due to the return of British pop though 50 Cent is only down a place at No.3 with Ayo Technology. Sean Kingston’s Beautiful Girls has been No.1 for 4 weeks but loses its crown this week falling back to No.4.

Rounding off the top 5 is Danish singer Ida Corr who has enlisted Dutch producer Fedde Le Grand (Put Your Hands Up For Detroit/The Creeps) to send her soaring into the top 5 with the infectious club anthem Let Me Think About It. Plain White T’s chances of scoring a No.1 appear to be over as Hey There Delilah slides to No.6 this week. Kanye West’s former No.1 Stronger is also down 3 places at No.7 while James Blunt is down to No.8 with 1973. Scouting For Girls spend a 4th week inside the lower end of the top 10 as She’s So Lovely dips two places at No.9. Rihanna rounds off the top 10 with Shut Up & Drive which slides to No.10.

There are 11 new entries into the rest of the top 40 this week. Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse surge to No.12 from No.41 with Zutons cover Valerie. The Elvis re-issues continue though Hard Headed Woman comes in a place lower than the last 4 singles debuting at No.15. Jack Penate scores a second top 20 hit as Second Minute Or Hour is at No.17 while Enrique Iglesias follows the massive Do You Know with new top 20 hit Tired Of Being Sorry. Katie Melua returns at No.23 with If You Were A Sailboat which in all honesty could have come from any of her albums. The Cast Of High School Musical add another 2 top 40 hits to their belt this week. The physically released You Are The Music In Me (#26) and the download only Gotta Go My Own Way (#40).

A thirty six second long song called The Ladies Bras by Jonny Trunk and Wisbey has been championed by Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills all week and debuts at No.27 as a result. Re-released after winning best single at the Kerrang Awards, The Kill by 30 Seconds To Mars finally reaches the top 40 this week at No.28. Refreshingly after the summer of American R & B draws to a close, Jennifer Lopez and Will.I.Am scrape into the back end of the top 40 with their new singles though Do It Well by J.Lo is on downloads alone so could become a top 10 hit yet. A mention has to go to Canadian singer Feist who jumps to No.16 with 1234, the soundtrack to the iPod advert. The single was released physically a few months back but didn’t trouble the top 100 but this increased exposure has given the singer a long overdue top 20 hit.

This week’s album chart victor is Foo Fighters who storm in at No.1 with Echoes Silence Patience and Grace. James Blunt therefore loses the top spot after just a week with the underperforming All The Lost Souls. Amy Winehouse continues her excellent year (success wise) with Back To Black staying at No.3. Further new entries in the top 40 come from Ian Brown (#4), RyanDan (#7), PJ Harvey (#11), Jose Gonzales (#19), Fightstar (#27) and Joni Mitchell (#36). Next week will almost certainly see a second week at the top of the singles chart for Sugababes with About You Now physically released. Other new singles come from Elvis Presley, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Nash, Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics.

Star Profile: Shayne Ward

Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984 in Clayton, Manchester) is an English pop singer who rose to prominence in the UK and Ireland after becoming the winner of the 2005 series of the talent show The X Factor.

During The X Factor competition, Shayne Ward was mentored by manager Louis Walsh. The Bookies' favourite to win the show, he defeated duo Journey South and singer Andy Abraham in the final, screened by ITV1, by a margin of 1.2% of the vote, out of a reputed 10.8 million phone votes cast by viewers (since the programme was watched by an audience averaging 9.2 million people, it is likely that some viewers cast multiple votes for all finalists).

His first single, "That's My Goal", was released in the UK on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 and became the Christmas number one in 2005. It sold 313,000 copies on its first day of sales,[ though technically it was not in one day because sales of downloads for this song were around 70.000 which had been on sale for four days before the physical release] making it the fourth fastest selling single of all time (behind Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" and Will Young's "Anything Is Possible/Evergreen", which sold 685,000 and 403,000 copies in their first days of sale respectively, and 335,000 for Gareth Gates' "Unchained Melody").

His second single "No Promises" (a cover of a Bryan Rice song) was released on 10 April 2006, and it reached number two in the UK Singles Chart. His album was released on Monday April 17, and it sold over 95,000 copies on the first two days of release. By the end of the week, the album sold 201,266 copies at number 1. The album has sold 450,000 copies in total in the UK.

Ward's third single "Stand by Me" failed to set the charts alight like the previous two, entering the UK top 20 at #14. It fared slightly better in the Irish charts, reaching #9. Although this single reached number 9 in Ireland, many people inside and outside of music have now labelled him the new Steve Brookstein due to the decrease in popularity.

Sony BMG released Ward's debut album on 14 July 2006 in Taiwan and other [Asia] countries. He is currently enjoying major success there and in South Africa and he has had some success across Scandinavia.

Ward is currently working on a new album to be released on 26th November 2007. Prior to the release of the new album, Ward went on tour across the UK and Ireland in early 2007, taking in eighteen concerts in twenty-eight days from late January to mid February. The tour commenced in Dublin on 21 January and ended in Birmingham on 17 February 2007.

It was confirmed that Ward's new single would be "If That's OK with You", with a release date of 20th August 2007, but given the lack of airplay from radio and the lukewarm response on the music channels, it was announced that it would be delayed and become a double A side single with 'No U Hang Up'. It has a release date of 24th September 2007, with the new album to follow in November.

Bio: Wikipedia