Welsh singer Duffy has kept control of the UK’s singles chart for a 4th week this week with Mercy while her debut album Rockferry has crushed its competition to debut at No.1 in the album chart.

 

With Mercy lodged at No.1 and miles ahead of its competition, its worth looking at this growing trend of long running No.1 singles since the dominance of downloads over physical singles. Since the start of 2007, 14 months ago, only six No.1 singles spent just a week in control, the artists involved being Kaiser Chiefs, Sugababes vs. Girls Aloud, Timbaland, McFly, Robyn and Eva Cassidy with Katie Melua. Of these six, two were charity singles, McFly’s was a fanbase purchase while the other three hung around in the remainder of the chart for months. Every other No.1 single in the last 14 months has lasted at least a fortnight at No.1 with Mercy becoming the seventh chart topper in that period to last for at least a month at the top. Compare this to the start of the decade in 2000 when the longest running No.1 was a mere three weeks for Sonique’s It Feels So Good with an astonishing 35 singles being ‘1 week wonders’.

 

H ‘Two’ O are the runners up for the third successive week with bassline anthem What’s It Gonna Be. The track has been in the top ten now for four weeks, the last three of those at No.2 meaning it equals the three week No.2 run of T2’s Heartbroken, the song that brought the genre back to the mainstream. It is more than likely that this song will outsell Heartbroken though as its weekly sales so far have been much higher. Nickelback’s Rockstar is seemingly destined to never go away and stays at No.3 this week on its 7th consecutive week in the top three and its 18th week in the top 40. American rock group One Republic almost equal the peak position of their first single Apologize as Stop & Stare jumps four places to No.4 after its physical release and on its third week in the top ten.

 

Taio Cruz finally scores a UK top ten single as the urban-electro-dance song Come On Girl moves up six places to No.5 after its physical release. It is the second top five hit for featured vocalist Luciana Caporaso after Bodyrox’ Yeah Yeah peaked at No.2 in 2006. Both tracks as well as collaborations with Super Mal, Michael Gray and Martijn Ven Telden amongst others feature on her new digital only album Featuring Luciana which is available now on iTunes. Basshunter’s former No.1 single Now You’re Gone proves its staying power sliding just two places to No.6 after spending nine weeks in the top ten.

 

Danish band Alphabeat have had huge success in their homeland with their brand of infectious pop and they score their first UK top ten hit this week with Fascination which soars sixteen places to No.7 this week. They headline the Popjustice ‘Wonky Pop Tour’ shortly, which also features Norwegian DJ and singer Annie as well as rising stars Frankmusik and Leon Jean Marie. Up an incredible 32 places to No.8 following its physical release is Us Against The World by Westlife. The Irish band have been having UK top ten hits since May 1999’s Swear It Again, though they have never missed the top five before. However, this is their first original single since 2006’s No.4 hit Amazing and is incredibly their 22nd top ten single in a row if you excuse the album track I’m Already There which managed to get to No.62 in December. Though their run of top five hits is broken, they owe their impressive climb to their dedicated fanbase that have given them 14 No.1 singles and 4 Record Of The Year titles in the last 9 years.

 

On its 4th week in the top 40, the former US No.1, Low by Flo Rida feat T-Pain makes its first appearance in the UK top ten moving up three places to No.9 on downloads alone. Rihanna rounds off the top ten this week with Don’t Stop The Music which has spent an impressive nine weeks in the top ten so far, peaking at No.4 as the fourth release from her chart topping album Good Girl Gone Bad. Therefore in an ever more increasingly international top ten there are three Brits, one Swede, one Canadian, one Barbadian, a Dane, an Irish and two American acts.

 

Outside the top ten is Kylie and David Jordan who are both sliding while British rave act Utah Saints soar twelve places to No.13 after the digital release of the new 2008 radio edit of Something Good. The song originally peaked at No.4 in 1992 and got to No.21 two weeks ago courtesy of an Ian Carey remix. However the song now looks set to join the legions of songs that have reached the UK top ten twice with its physical release due on March 17th. We Are Scientists are an American indie duo who score their biggest hit this week with After Hours which debuts at No.15 this week. The biggest hit for the band before was 2006’s Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt which peaked at No.21.

 

Chris Brown makes a less substantial climb than last week but nevertheless moves up to a new peak of No.16 with his new single With You pushing Timbaland’s yet to be released new single Scream down a place to No.17. The bassline genre gets its third hit of recent times this week as AATW signed act Delinquent feat KCat jump thirteen places to No.19 after the physical release of My Destiny. Girls Aloud move up fifteen places to No.20 with Can’t Speak French, the third single from their current album Tangled Up. With the physical release set for March 17th, it is bound to be another top ten single for the quintet.

 

Leona Lewis follows up 2007’s biggest selling single Bleeding Love with the double a-side Better In Time/Footprints In The Sand. The physical single is released on Monday but for now the songs are listed separately with Better In Time the more popular track, climbing fifteen places to No.23 this week while Footprints In The Sand is down at No.63. British rock act The Futureheads have the next new entry at No.30 this week with The Beginning Of The Twist. By far their biggest hit in the UK was their 2005 cover of Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love which peaked at No.8. British male vocalist Sam Duckworth performs as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and he scores his 4th UK top 40 hit single this week with Find The Time. Its his biggest hit to date as his previous three singles reached No.38, No.39 and No.37 respectively.

 

The third single from the Sugababes’ No.1 album Change is Denial and it makes its first top 40 appearance this week at No.34, up from No.64 last week. It is due for physical release on March 17th. Three further new singles creep into the lower end of the top 40 this week too. Doug Walker, a singer from Manchester who has been championed by Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles, debuts at No.36 with debut single The Mystery. American rock group Jimmy Eat World get their 4th UK top 40 single with Always Be which debuts at No.37 this week. Their biggest hit to date is The Middle which peaked at No.26 in 2002. Finally, indie-dance act Hercules & Love Affair, a New York based group, debut at No.40 with debut single Blind.

 

There is no contest for the top spot in the album chart this week as Duffy’s debut album Rockferry storms in at No.1 with a highly impressive first week sale. This means that Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black – Deluxe Edition slides a place to No.2 this week. Nickelback move back up to No.3 with All The Right Reasons while Australian act Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds debut at No.4 with Dig Lazarus Dig. Goldfrapp slide to No.5 with Seventh Tree while Mark Ronson is back up a place with Version at No.6. Michael Jackson’s Thriller 25 has been a success in the UK and moves back to No.7 this week. Mika’s Life In Cartoon Motion slides to No.8 while Adele’s 19 is down four places to No.9. Amy MacDonald’s This Is The Life finishes off the top ten moving back up two places from No.12 last week. The only other new entries in the top 40 this week come from Swedish band The Cardigans (No.32) and Billy Bragg (No.33).

 

Duffy’s aiming for a 5th week at the top of the singles chart next week with Mercy and the only act standing in her way looks set to be X Factor 2006 winner Leona Lewis. She releases her new double a-side single tomorrow and at the very least it should shoot into the top five, particularly as it is for charity. One Republic, Nickelback and H ‘Two’ O should continue to sell well while Flo Rida and Utah Saints are almost certain to climb as well next week. Physical releases that could make an impact next week are due from Hard-Fi, Elbow, Foals, Futureheads, Mystery Jets feat Laura Marling, T-Pain and Timbaland.

Nice commentary . You do a good job each week :D, this week is no exception

Edited March 9, 200817 yr by Harve

thanks Harve!

Excellent, Rich - a very good read as usual.

Enjoyed reading as always. Could you explain why a song doesn't make the chart, e.g., Great DJ by The Ting Tings? I know this has been discussed throughout the forum, but many of us expected it to finally chart this week, but then it's a limited physical single release. I guess the label wants them to flop or are waiting for the next single (following an Adele and Duffy approach). Also it may be worth mentioning when a group is virtually unknown in their home country. It seems almost silly to refer to We Are Scientists as an American group when their new album has no scheduled release date in the US.

gooddelta, excellent work again. You should consider getting your work published somehow.

Excellent, Rich - a very good read as usual.

 

Thanks Jester :cheer:

Enjoyed reading as always. Could you explain why a song doesn't make the chart, e.g., Great DJ by The Ting Tings? I know this has been discussed throughout the forum, but many of us expected it to finally chart this week, but then it's a limited physical single release. I guess the label wants them to flop or are waiting for the next single (following an Adele and Duffy approach). Also it may be worth mentioning when a group is virtually unknown in their home country. It seems almost silly to refer to We Are Scientists as an American group when their new album has no scheduled release date in the US.

 

Thank you Paul...I'm not actually sure about The Ting Tings issue...I thought they would have been eligible for the chart this week...and I didn't know that We Are Scientists have had no success in the US

gooddelta, excellent work again. You should consider getting your work published somehow.

 

High praise indeed, thanks very much! I don't know where I would go to do that?!?

Hey delta what a way to return to buzzjack after a few days off with a great chart read good job :)

Edited March 10, 200817 yr by RobTheMusicMania

Thanks Rob!