Christmas songs plummet as nearly everything else climbs in eccentric chart

 

In one of the oddest charts of all time, almost the only thing that didn’t change was the number one single. X Factor 2007 winner Leon Jackson eases to a second week in control with his cover of Mariah & Whitney’s When You Believe.

 

First X Factor winner Steve Brookstein’s first single only managed a week at the top while the last two winners, Shayne Ward and Leona Lewis both had four week stints in control. 2006 X Factor winner Leona Lewis moves back up a place to No.2 with the mega selling No.1 single Bleeding Love which ends the year as the biggest seller having sold well over three quarters of a million copies. Soulja Boy takes advantage of the post-xmas lull and moves back up to his peak position of No.3 with the former US No.1 hit Crank That.

 

The first of many odd chart movements this week is at No.4. Timbaland’s Apologize had fallen to No.10 last week but rebounds six places this week. It is his third mega hit of 2007 and having spent 40 weeks in the UK top 20 this year with his three singles (not to mention his collaborations) he becomes the most prolific top 20 star since Madonna back in the 1980’s who in 1985 managed 52 weeks in the top 20 in total. Rounding off the top 5 is the year’s official 5th biggest seller, Rule The World by Take That. The four piece can count themselves incredibly unlucky not to have topped the chart with such a huge selling single but Leona who beat them to the top all those weeks ago is of course still ahead of the boys and has been every week since they both released their singles.

 

Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse’s Valerie moved back to the top 10 last week after a week at No.11 and this week moves back up again to No.6 and totals twelve weeks altogether in the top 10 now. Valerie finishes the year as the 9th biggest seller. This is an incredible achievement for the 3rd single off an already highly successful album from Mark Ronson. Girls Aloud prove that Call The Shots truly is their biggest hit in years as Call The Shots becomes the band’s first single to spend its first six weeks in the top 10 since 2004’s Children In Need single I’ll Stand By You. Their only other song to have such a good start was their debut single Sound Of The Underground back in late 2002/early 2003. This is therefore their biggest single not related to a TV show.

 

T2 and Jodie Aysha’s garage anthem Heartbroken took an unexpected tumble from No.2 to No.9 two weeks ago and then fell again to No.11 last week but it regains top 10 status now climbing three places to No.8. The most incredible statistic about this week’s top 10 is that only one song falls. There are 8 climbers and Leon is the only non-mover. The faller is at No.9 and it’s Fairytale Of New York by The Pogues down from last week’s No.4. Considering Christmas is over and most of the other festive songs have fallen a lot further, the song has held up incredibly well.

 

Rounding off the top 10 this week is perhaps this week’s biggest renewed success story. After beginning its chart career with a four week top ten stint and peaking at No.4, pop-indie band The Hoosiers have slowly fallen down as low as No.29 last week with Goodbye Mr A. However, it seems as though many people were disappointed not to receive it for Christmas as the single takes a huge leap from No.29 back to No.10. The last song to return to the top 10 having fallen out of the top 20 is Patience by Take That back at the start of 2007 which moves from No.22 to No.10 after a Brit Awards performance. This week’s top 10 therefore includes seven British, two American and one Irish act, proving that homegrown talent has been the dominating force towards the end of a year which at some points saw more Americans than Brits in the top ten.

 

Outside the top 10 there are some more chart oddities which is to be expected with only one newly released single this week and the sharp downturns in the fortunes of the festive hits. Alicia Keys is back up three places with No One at No.11 while About You Now by Sugababes moves back up seven places to No.12 and finishes the year as the sixth biggest seller. Cascada slide a place to No.13 with What Hurts The Most while Tesco’s closing for two days over Christmas hasn’t helped the fortunes of Tesco-exclusive single What A Wonderful World by Eva Cassidy and Katie Melua which tumbles twelve places from No.2 to No.14. The last song to move 1-2-14 was Walk This Way by Girls Aloud vs. Sugababes, both singles of course being for charities.

 

Nickelback have been hovering around the low-teens to mid-twenties for a few weeks now with Rockstar and the Country-tinged rock anthem takes advantage of the post-xmas new release lull and soars ten places to a new peak of No.15. Their biggest hit is still 2002’s huge No.4 hit How You Remind Me. Lead singer Chad Kroeger equalled that peak later in the same year with Spider-man theme tune Hero. Rihanna’s had a successful weak in which her next single Don’t Stop The Music soars a further fourteen places to No.16 and her former No.1 (and 2nd biggest seller of 2007) Umbrella moves back up twenty places to No.18. The former is now only a place away from the peak of her last single Hate That I Love You which reached No.15 but is itself on the move upwards again this week from No.37 to No.22. Elsewhere in the top 20, Sugababes Change doesn’t look set to be another top 10 hit for the group and falls to No.17. Shayne Ward slides four places to No.19 with Breathless while Mariah Carey slides fourteen places to No.20 with All I Want For Christmas Is You.

 

Elsewhere in the top 40 there are climbs for Kylie’s 2 Hearts (26-21), Scouting For Girls’ Elvis Ain’t Dead (28-26, a new peak), Kylie’s Wow (32-28, a new peak), Bloc Party’s Flux (36-31) and Kate Nash’s Pumpkin Soup (40-39, a new peak). The only new entry in the top 40 this week comes from Booty Luv’s Some Kinda Rush which makes its top 40 entry at No.29. It is the duo’s fourth single from their debut album which reached No.11 earlier in the year. Their biggest hit remains Boogie 2Nite from this time last year, which peaked at No.2.

 

There are however an incredible nine re-entries to the top 40 this week which have taken the place of the falling Christmas songs. Kanye West’s former No.1 single Stronger is back in at No.24 while The Hoosiers continue their successful week with Worried About Ray returning at No.25. Timbaland’s former No.1 (and the year’s 7th biggest seller), The Way I Are is back at No.27 while Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black is back in at No.30, incredibly still having never reached the UK top 20.Mika’s Happy Ending returns to the top 40 at No.32 while Plain White T’s summer hit Hey There Delilah returns at No.33. 50 Cent’s Ayo Technology is back at No.34 while Scouting For Girls She’s So Lovely returns at No.35. The final re-entry is the year’s tenth biggest seller, Kaiser Chiefs’ former No.1 single Ruby, which returns at No.39.

 

The albums chart isn’t quite as eccentric as the singles chart as it would have had a heavy weighting from mega sales on December 23rd and Xmas Eve, when people still would have been buying albums as Christmas presents. The full effects of the sales should be seen in the album chart next week. Leona Lewis gets an incredible 7th week at No.1 with her debut album Spirit while Westlife’s Back Home stays in 2nd place once again. A price reduction to less than five pounds in many shops has helped Take That’s Beautiful World back to No.3 while Call Me Irresponsible by Michael Buble slides a place to No.4. Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black moves back up to No.5 (though the special edition slides to No.15) and Andrea Bocelli is down to No.6 with Vivere. Shayne Ward stays at No.7 with Breathless while Led Zeppelin are down a couple with Mothership at No.8.

 

Mika’s million selling former No.1 album Life In Cartoon Motion moves back to No.9 while the unexpected success story of the year are at No.10 this week. Earlier in the year, anglo-German dance act Cascada released their debut album Everytime We Touch to little fanfare or expectation, even off the back of three top 10 singles, and it reached the top 10 on release, eventually peaking at No.2 and selling over 400,000 copies in the UK alone. The trio very cleverly decided to capitalise on their 2007 success by releasing second album Perfect Day in time for Christmas. It sold around 200,000 copies in three weeks and reached No.12 but the post-xmas chart sees it climb to a new peak of No.10 this week rounding off a sensational year for an act that now have two UK top 10 albums and four top ten singles under their belt. Not bad for an act who were expected to be a one-hit wonder.

 

Only a few minor singles are released on Monday. Mika finally releases the European hit Relax Take It Easy, though it leaked into some stores earlier in the week creeping into the top 50 for the first time. It was originally marked as a double a-side with album favourite Lollipop but that has been relegated to the b-side now. Mutya Buena releases B-Boy Baby, the 4th single from her debut album Real Girl (if you count her Groove Armada duet). It features Amy Winehouse on backing vocals but even that fact doesn’t look set to give the single any sort of notable success. Orson, Queen, Bjork and Electrovamp also release singles that probably won’t have any sort of major success. Therefore it looks as if Leon Jackson will score a third week at No.1 unless Leona Lewis, Soulja Boy or Timbaland can gain enough momentum this week to take the coveted spot. Or of course the rate that The Hoosiers are going, perhaps Goodbye Mr A could make an unexpected climb from No.10 to No.1!!!

 

Related Link: http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59790

. Or of course the rate that The Hoosiers are going, perhaps Goodbye Mr A could make an unexpected climb from No.10 to No.1!!!

 

its is those awfully cheesy sub-ben stiller comedy hoosier adverts that are doing it???

Really :o I haven't seen any of those...

Really :o I haven't seen any of those...

 

well i dont know what your opinion on them are, but if you think they are annoying at the moment, they move into a new area of total cringemaking with their links

Come to think of it, I think I saw one before xmas but it didn't strike me as being very funny...I really don't like the band at all. They are in the same genre as other 'pop pretending to be indie' acts like Scouting For Girls

Come to think of it, I think I saw one before xmas but it didn't strike me as being very funny...I really don't like the band at all. They are in the same genre as other 'pop pretending to be indie' acts like Scouting For Girls

 

yeah totally, Scouting For Girls are another one of those 'guilty pop pleasure revival acts' that annoy me as well. so bad i think i would like to hear the darkness again, they dont seem as bad nowadays :w00t:

To be honest i don't see what the problem is with Hoosiers, Scouting For Girls, Orson, Jack Penate etc.

To be honest i don't see what the problem is with Hoosiers, Scouting For Girls, Orson, Jack Penate etc.

 

well it could be said its nice that you've added jack - should be always twined with kate nash

To be honest i don't see what the problem is with Hoosiers, Scouting For Girls, Orson, Jack Penate etc.

 

:puke2: Orson are the worst...No Tomorrow was passable. Everything since then has been appalling melody free noise

A great comprehensive report.

 

Thanks once again.

cheers dindy! you're welcome