Now that we are just over halfway through the year, here’s a look at how the artists that were tipped for big things in the Sound Of 2008 poll at the start of the year have fared:

 

1 – Adele: Adele originally released the single Hometown Glory as a limited 7-inch in 2007. She then received a lot of hype for 2008, including the Critics Choice Award at the Brits. First proper single Chasing Pavements was widely expected to reach #1, but ended up with 3 weeks at #2. She did however reach #1 with the album 19, which also allowed Hometown Glory to chart at #32 (it reached the top 40 again after its use on Skins). Follow-up single Cold Shoulder reached #18.

 

2 – Duffy: Duffy first charted with the single Rockferry, which was initially released in 2007 but did not enter the top 75 until early 2008, where it reached #45. She then reached #1 with her breakthrough single Mercy and with her album Rockferry. Both are currently the biggest sellers of 2008. Her album was anticipated to such an extent that an American group called Duffy received a few unexpected sales of their album online due to people buying the wrong album. She also reached #3 with follow-up single Warwick Avenue.

 

3 – Ting Tings: Having released 2 limited edition singles in 2007, The Ting Tings broke through in 2008 with Great DJ, which was initially ineligible to chart due to free downloads. They then reached #1 with the single That’s Not My Name and the album We Started Nothing. Two other tracks from the album reached the top 40: the album version of Great DJ (#33) and Shut Up And Let Me Go (#24).

 

4 – Glasvegas: Having released two limited edition singles in 2006 and 2007, Glasvegas released another limited edition single It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry in 2008 before signing to Columbia and reaching #16 with Geraldine. Debut album Glasvegas is due out in September 2008.

 

5 – Foals: Having already had a #39 hit in 2007 with Balloons (after several limited edition singles prior to that), Foals reached #26 in March 2008 with Cassius but could only manage #89 with Red Socks Pugie in June 2008. Their album Antidotes reached #3.

 

6 – Vampire Weekend: Having previously released the singles Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and Mansard Roof in 2007, Vampire Weekend had chart hits in 2008 with A Punk (#55) and Oxford Comma (#38) from their self-titled album, which reached #15.

 

7 – Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong: Having released the limited edition single Lucio Starts Fires in 2007, Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong (whose frontman had previously had 2 top 40 hits as the drummer with The Pipettes) reached #43 with Lonely Buoy and #93 with Where Did You Go in 2008. They also performed at Glastonbury (despite the organisers misspelling their name). Their self-titled album is due out later in 2008.

 

8 – Black Kids: Having released an EP entitled Wizard Of Ahhhs in 2007, Black Kids scored UK top 40 hits with I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You (#11) and Hurricane Jane (#36) from their debut album Partie Traumatic (which is due out on 7th July).

 

9 – MGMT: Released their debut album Oracular Spectacular (which reached #12), which spawned the singles Time To Pretend (which initially only reached #49 but re-entered and peaked at #35 after its use on Skins a few weeks later) and Electric Feel (which reached #31). They also performed twice at Glastonbury.

 

10 – Santogold: Having released the single Creator in 2007 (as well as appearing on Mark Ronson’s Version album), Santogold reached #27 with the single L.E.S. Artistes and #26 with her self-titled debut album.

 

11 – Ida Maria: Yet to have any real UK success, but has appeared on Later … With Jools Holland and at Glastonbury.

 

12 – One Night Only: Having reached #46 in 2007 with You And Me, One Night Only scored a #9 hit with Just For Tonight, and a #10 album with Started A Fire. Follow-up single It’s About Time reached #37, and is due to be followed up by a seemingly pointless re-issue of You And Me.

 

13 – Alphabeat: Having missed the chart with their debut UK single Fantastic 6 in 2007, Alphabeat broke through in the UK with Fascination, which had been a major hit in their native Denmark in 2007, and made #6 in the UK in 2008. Follow-up Ten Thousand Nights reached #16, and their album Alphabeat reached #10.

 

14 – Laura Marling: Made #45 with her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim, and missed the chart with her 2 singles Ghosts and Cross Your Fingers/Crawled Out Of The Sea. She did, however, feature on The Mystery Jets’ #34 hit Young Love.

 

15 – Cajun Dance Party: Having released 2 singles in 2007, Cajun Dance Party released their debut album The Colourful Life in April 2008 (which made #49). Single The Race failed to chart, and next single The Colourful Life is due out later this month.

 

16 – Courteeners: Having already had a #44 single with Acrylic, The Courteeners scored 2 top 20 hits with What Took You So Long (#20) and Not Nineteen Forever (#19) and a third top 40 hit with No You Didn’t, No You Don’t (#35) from their debut album St Jude (which reached #4 after being #1 in the midweeks).

 

17 – Gabriella Cilmi: Broke through with the single Sweet About Me, which appeared to have peaked at #38 initially but subsequently reached #6 (it made #1 in Australia). Her debut studio album Lessons To Be Learned reached #8 in the UK and #2 in Australia.

 

18 – Late Of The Pier: Having formed in 2005 and released 2 limited edition singles in 2007, Late Of The Pier have released 2 singles in 2008 (The Bears Are Coming and Space And The Woods/Focker), both of which failed to chart. Next single Heartbeat, Flicker, Line and debut album Fantasy Black Channel are due out in August.

 

19 – Black Mountain: Having been around since 2004, Black Mountain released their second album In The Future in January 2008, which made #72 in the UK, and the EP bast*rds Of Light.

 

20 – Lil’ Wayne: Having been big in the US for several years, and having featured on UK hits by Chris Brown, Lloyd and Wyclef Jean, Lil’ Wayne’s 6th studio album Tha Carter III gave him his first US #1 album (selling over 1 million copies in its first week), reaching #23 in the UK, and spawned the single Lollipop, which reached #1 in the US and #26 in the UK.

 

They've got pretty much most of the artists right this year, just maybe not in the right order. I'm sure a couple of them might become a little bit "bigger" in terms of chart success as the year goes on too.

They've got pretty much most of the artists right this year, just maybe not in the right order. I'm sure a couple of them might become a little bit "bigger" in terms of chart success as the year goes on too.

 

Quite. Duffy is already leaving everyone thinking "Adele who?"

 

I also expect MGMT to gain in popularity throughout the year, and I think Gabriella Cilmi has achieved a lot more than most of the artists above her.

I think in 5 years time a maximum of 4 will be still around. Duffy and 3 of the following: Adele, Ting Tings, Santagold, Alphabeat, Gabriella Cilmi, MGMT and Lil Wayne :puke2:, i'm not sure which though. I think acts such as Foals, Glasvegas, Courteeners and Vampire Weekend might be still around then at the same level of success they are at now, but i don't think they will ever have major "commercial" hits. I think Black Kids and One Night only might dissapear altogether though

As much as I do like Adele, I loved it when Duffy eclipsed her. Goes to show hype isn't everything!

Gabriella Cilmi has done much better than most of the acts above her hasnt she.

But that's only because of an appearance in an advert. You can't really count that as no one making the list would've known in May someone would use her song to advertise deodrant!

 

It's a pretty accurate list, there's not too many people who haven't done something and not really many people I can think of that should've been in. I maintain Last Shadow Puppets wouldn't have eligible for it. And if you look at all of the descriptions pretty much everyone had released something last year so there was some hype around everyone atleast. Did the likes of Sam Sparro and Jonas Brothers release anything? Sara Barielles and David Jordan probably counted as misses...

2 – Duffy: Duffy first charted with the single Rockferry, which was initially released in 2007 but did not enter the top 75 until early 2008, where it reached #45. She then reached #1 with her breakthrough single Mercy and with her album Rockferry. Both are currently the biggest sellers of 2008. Her album was anticipated to such an extent that an American group called Duffy received a few unexpected sales of their album online due to people buying the wrong album. She also reached #3 with follow-up single Warwick Avenue.

 

:heehee:

 

(And I love how the Yanks are saying that her father's gotta be Tom Jones, on account of both having powerful voices. Yup, that's proof alright.)

Adele is only on top because she won the Brit Award, personally Duffy should have been #1, the list looks pretty accurate, with the exceptions of a few, Gabriella should be higher, and Ida Maria she is just breaking out, her debut single is released next week.

Ida Maria she is just breaking out, her debut single is released next week.

It's not her debut single as RFC showed us in the BJSC last month when he sent "Queen Of The World" but I think it's her first single that's getting attention.