Leona stays in control as Girls Aloud fail in their bid to take the top spot

 

2006 X Factor winner Leona Lewis has stayed at No.1 in the UK singles chart for an incredible 6th week. It is the first year since 1998 that two songs have notched up six weeks or more at No.1 in the same year. The other song was of course Rihanna’s 10 week chart topper of the summer, Umbrella. The ballad Bleeding Love has now sold over 650,000 copies and is by far the year’s biggest selling single. Leona finished last year with the second biggest hit of 2006 with her debut single A Moment Like This which has so far sold just over 800,000 copies in the UK. Staying at No.2 but seemingly gaining in general popularity, at least in comparison to Leona, is the garage act T2 with the song Heartbroken. It is the second week in the runners up spot for the song and by far the biggest hit of the year for All Around The World Records, also the UK home of Cascada, Dannii Minogue and Ultrabeat amongst other acts.

 

No.3 is a rather surprising final result for British girl group Girls Aloud. Call The Shots debuted at No.9 last week taking their run of consecutive top 10 hits to an incredible 17. After its physical release, the track has climbed six places to No.3 though many were expecting it to challenge Leona for the No.1 spot, particularly as it has been No.1 on iTunes for the majority of the week. However, for a band that have been known to sell well physically in the past, it would appear that the CD sales of Call The Shots let the girls down and they mirror the No.3 success of Something Kinda Ooooh from just over a year ago. It does not however take away from the fact that the group appear to have returned to public favour in the last 12 months with this being their 5th consecutive top 5 single. In late 2005-early 2006 the girls suffered a bit of a rough patch where 4 of their singles in a row, all from the album Chemistry, missed the top 3.

 

Take That spend their 6th week in the top 5 with Rule The World which is down another place this week to No.4. It is of course impressive to note that since their chart comeback just over a year ago Mark, Gary, Howard and Jason have notched up 3 top 2 singles each of which have sold over a quarter of a million copies as well as an album that has sold close to two million copies in the UK alone. The only anomaly of the comeback was I’d Wait For Life which stalled at No.17 in the summer. And rounding off the top 5, Timbaland and One Republic slide a place with Apologize which is on its 7th week in the top 10.

 

No.6 is Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse who are still holding up incredibly well with their cover of the Zutons 2006 top 10 hit Valerie. The pair slip from No.5 last week on their 9th week in the top 10. Alicia Keys enjoys her biggest hit since her debut single Fallin’ as No One is a non-mover at No.7 on its 4th week in the top 10. 2005 X Factor winner Shayne Ward slides two places with his 5th UK single, Breathless while Kylie Minogue is down just a place with new single 2 Hearts, outperforming the top 10 longevity of her last No.1 single Slow which could only stay in the top 10 for two weeks in late 2003.

 

And proving that they can still set milestones in their long chart career, Westlife move back into the top 10 with Home, and this is the first time that one of their singles has returned to the top 10 having fallen out. Despite ‘only’ reaching No.3, Home looks set to easily outperform its predecessor The Rose in terms of sales and longevity. They do however end an incredible run of top 5 hits dating back to 1999 this week though. I’m Already There, an album track that the band performed on X Factor last weekend has entered the chart at No.62, providing them with their first ever non top 5 chart hit. The only way to keep this record in tact will be if they release I’m Already There as the next single and hope that it can reach the top 5. The UK top 10 this week therefore features six British acts, an Australian, an Irish act and two American acts.

 

In a low week for sales, Elvis Presley scores his biggest hit for quite a few weeks with An American Trilogy which is in at No.12 this week. The original release reached No.8 in 1972. US rap act Soulja Boy is shaping up for a major Christmas hit with Crank That which continues to gain in popularity, climbing from No.24 to No.14 this week. Nickelback move up to a new peak position of No.19 with Rockstar which has been in the top 40 for four weeks now. Mariah Carey is the first of many Christmas songs destined to re-enter the chart in the coming weeks. The song would have been a top 10 hit last year but chart rules did not allow this to happen. But now the 1994 Xmas No.2 is back into the chart at No.23 this week and looks set to become a permanent fixture in the charts of December for years to come. Phil Collins is back up a couple of places at No.25 with the lingering In The Air Tonight, which has spent 12 weeks in the top 40 in 2007 alone, originally his debut solo single in 1981 reaching No.2.

 

Editors are back with the third single from their latest album An End Has A Start. Racing Rats is new to the top 40 at No.26 this week beating the peak of their last single and the album’s title track by one place. Dance act Pendulum reach the top 40 for the second time in their career with Granite which is at up to No.29 from last week’s No.44. Shayne Ward’s No U Hang Up/If That’s Ok With You is down to No.30 this week but would have been arguably much higher had the sales of the later song on the b-side been added to its total. The track was finally given a separate digital release on iTunes this week (it had previously been only available in a digital bundle or on CD single) and makes its entry at No.72. Sean Kingston follows up his huge No.1 hit Beautiful Girls with Me Love which rather underwhelmingly goes into the top 40 at No.32 after a full physical release.

 

Just behind is a Xmas track that has already graced the UK top 10 three times. It originally reached No.2 in 1987 and returned to the top 3 in 2005 after a physical re-release. The song popped up again last year peaking at No.6 as it had not yet fallen foul of the old 52 week chart rule which meant that it could chart with the majority of its sales coming from downloads. With these old rules lifted the song can have a new life of its own without the need for a physical release. Other Xmas songs that are in the top 100 this week and look set to climb in the coming weeks are from Andy Williams (#43), Wham (#50), Wizzard (#65), Shakin’ Stevens (#78), Band Aid (#82) and Chris Rea (#98).

 

Sugababes are also shaping up for a Xmas hit with new single Change, the second single from the No.1 album of the same name and the follow up to the massive No.1 single About You Now. Change is new to the top 40 at No.36 this week. And once again, X Factor act Hope have made an impact on the chart. Despite going out of the competition last week, the girl group performed Christina Aguilera’s Hurt on the show last week and the song, a No.11 hit last year, has re-entered the top 40 at No.39 this week. The group previously helped Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black back to the top 40 a couple of weeks ago.

 

Over in the album chart Leona Lewis holds onto the No.1 spot and the chart double for a third week in a row with Spirit, which is looking increasingly likely to be the Xmas No.1 album. Fellow X Factor winner Shayne Ward has an impressive debut at No.2 with new album Breathless. This is an incredible success for an act that was completely written off by many people after his third single Stand By Me missed the UK top 10 last year. And Westlife are down a place at No.3 after 4 weeks on the chart with Back Home. Kylie Minogue’s long awaited 10th studio album X is new at No.4 this week, matching the peak of single 2 Hearts. This is a far cry from the ‘certain’ No.1 single and album comeback most people were expecting. Eagles and Led Zeppelin continue to attract the Xmas buyers with their albums swapping places in the top 10 while Katherine Jenkins slides from No.3 to No.7 with Rejoice. Andrea Bocelli stays at No.8 once again with his best of album while Amy Winehouse returns to a top 10 that she has rarely been out of in 2007 with Back To Black back up to No.9. Whitney Houston rounds off the top 10 with The Ultimate Collection which is back up to No.10.

 

Next week’s singles chart will be another interesting fight as Leona’s sales start to slide slowly. Bleeding Love could well make it a seventh week at the No.1 spot but T2 will be looking to overtake her with Heartbroken. Girls Aloud are still No.1 on iTunes and are unlikely to move very far next week as a result. There are no singles released next week that are likely to make a huge impact. The singles released physically on Monday that could make the top 40 are due from Arctic Monkeys, Bon Jovi, Connie Talbot, Dannii Minogue vs. Jason Nevins, Elvis Presley, Foo Fighters, Ian Brown, James Blunt, Lee Mead, Maximo Park and Peter Gelderblom.

 

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Yay Valerie is still in the top 10

Over in the album chart Leona Lewis holds onto the No.1 spot and the chart double for a third week in a row with Spirit, which is looking increasingly likely to be the Xmas No.1 album. Fellow X Factor winner Shayne Ward has an impressive debut at No.2 with new album Breathless. This is an incredible success for an act that was completely written off by many people after his third single Stand By Me missed the UK top 10 last year

 

I do agree that Shayne was written off by many but (re my addition in the top 75 thread) he has worked blooming hard, up and down the country to promote himself, seeming not too proud in any choice of venue. It has paid off and he has done extremely well. Good Luck to him but I can't help feeling a little bit jealous, wishing it was Gareth.

 

Thanks for the commentary once more. Always enjoy reading it.

Edited December 2, 200717 yr by dindy

Its been nearly 9 years since 2 songs got over 6 weeks? Sounds a lot more impressive though if you say 4 songs got over 5 weeks at no.1

 

Well Done Goodelta good work and i might just give you a chocolate bar as a special offering from Father Christmas HO HO HO HO HO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :yahoo:

Its been nearly 9 years since 2 songs got over 6 weeks? Sounds a lot more impressive though if you say 4 songs got over 5 weeks at no.1

 

Yep! I can't believe the number of long runners we are having now!

I do agree that Shayne was written off by many but (re my addition in the top 75 thread) he has worked blooming hard, up and down the country to promote himself, seeming not too proud in any choice of venue. It has paid off and he has done extremely well. Good Luck to him but I can't help feeling a little bit jealous, wishing it was Gareth.

 

Thanks for the commentary once more. Always enjoy reading it.

 

Thanks for the kind comments

Well Done Goodelta good work and i might just give you a chocolate bar as a special offering from Father Christmas HO HO HO HO HO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :yahoo:

 

sounds good to me :wub:

 

LOL :D

Great commentry as always, I always read this but havent commented- It's just amazing. Well done. :heart:

 

But :angry: @ T2.

very impressed by shayne wards albulm sales

i realy hope danni minogue can go top 10 tuis week

very impressed by shayne wards albulm sales

i realy hope danni minogue can go top 10 tuis week

 

It will never happen...I can see it missing the top 40

Great commentry as always, I always read this but havent commented- It's just amazing. Well done. :heart:

 

But :angry: @ T2.

 

Thanks a lot :cheer:

That's a really interesting read :)

 

I hoped Girls Aloud would make the Top 2 :(