London based rapper Dizzee Rascal and featured artists Calvin Harris and Chrome have topped the UK charts for a third week with their dance/rap crossover Dance Wiv Me. The song topped the chart on downloads alone in its first week of release and makes it a third week in control having looked to lose out to McFly in early midweek projections. Instead the British pop group settle for No.2 with One For The Radio just ahead of Kid Rock’s All Summer Long which jumps to No.3.

 

Dizzee, Calvin and Chrome’s Dance Wiv Me is proving to be one of the hits of the summer and becomes the first song to top the chart for at least three weeks since Madonna’s 4 Minutes. 2008 had looked to have an incredibly slow turnaround at the top with the first four number ones all spending at least a month at the top of the chart. However, chart toppers from Rihanna, Mint Royale, Coldplay and Ne-Yo could not manage more than a week or two in control. The song, which has shifted almost 150,000 copies in three weeks on sale, will aim to join the ‘month at No.1 club’ next week. Whatever happens, it is by far the biggest ever hit single for all three artists involved.

 

Dance Wiv Me looked set to lose its top spot in the first set of midweek’s to McFly. The British male quartet have had seven UK No.1 singles so far in their four year chart career; 5 Colours In Her Hair, Obviously, All About You/You’ve Got A Friend, I’ll Be Ok, Don’t Stop Me Now/Please Please, Star Girl and Baby’s Coming Back/Transylvania. In a chart era dominated by download sales, the majority of McFly’s sales this week came from physical formats and their relative lack of download success has meant that One For The Radio, the first single from new album Radio: ACTIVE, their new album, free with the Mail On Sunday today, has stalled at No.2 on its release week, and is their first single to reach No.2, all of their other singles having peaked at odd numbers, either 1, 3 5 or 9. It looks likely to plummet next week with few download sales to back it up and the fact that anyone who wants the track will have been able to get it for free today. The boys hold the record for the biggest genuine fall from No.1 with their last chart topper, Baby’s Coming Back/Transylvania, diving from No.1 to No.20 on its second week on the chart last year. Elvis Presley had the same drop with his 2005 single One Night/I Got Stung, although this was on limited release, unlike the McFly single. Nevertheless, it is the fourteenth straight top ten hit for the band who seem to be one of the only acts left who can guarantee a top ten hit with every release.

 

American singer Kid Rock shot from outside the top forty to No.6 with new single All Summer Long last week and after a full physical release the singer’s biggest UK hit to date continues to grow, moving up three places further to No.3 this week. Basshunter’s dance hit All I Ever Wanted, his second top five hit, slides two places to No.4 as does No Air, the duet by Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown, down two places to No.5 on its fifth week inside the top ten. Ne-Yo’s former No.1 single Closer is also down a couple of places to No.6.

 

The next newcomer to the top ten is Give It 2 Me by Madonna. The singer’s last single, 4 Minutes, was a hugely successful No.1 single earlier in the year but despite that single eventually going to No.1 on downloads alone, the superstar has had to wait for the physical release of her new single before it continued her run of UK top ten singles. The second single from Hard Candy jumps ten places to No.7 but has rather underperformed as far as second singles from Madonna go. Her last album’s second single, Sorry, was a No.1 hit in 2006, Hollywood a No.2 hit in 2003, Don’t Tell Me a No.4 success in 2000 and Ray Of Light a No.2 hit in 1998. Should the singer decide to release a third single from Hard Candy, it could well end up as her smallest hit single since 1996 if it peaks lower than No.11, which it may well do if the ‘law of diminishing returns’ is anything to go by, and is something that is especially evident in today’s chart climate. With no download incentive for many music lovers to repurchase a track they already own on an album, second and third singles from many acts’ recent albums are charting lower and lower all the time. Madonna, McFly and Kylie Minogue still have enough of a physical fanbase to send their releases top ten for the time being, but it is only a matter of time before even the majority of these fans switch from buying physically to downloading and even these artists may then start to regularly miss the top ten, only breaking into it when the song truly captures the attention of the music buying public.

 

Ironik’s Stay With Me spends a third week in the top ten, sliding three places to No.8 this week and there is another newcomer to the top ten at No.9. Last week’s No.16 from The Ting Tings; Shut Up & Let Me Go, climbs seven places ahead of its physical release on Monday. The track was used a couple of months ago on an iPod advert and became a hit in the US from the exposure. It made the top forty a long way ahead of its release here and has been lingering about for a while now but makes its jump into the business end of the chart just at the right time. It is the Salford duo’s second UK top ten hit in a row following the No.1 single That’s Not My Name which is down just a place to No.15 this week on its tenth week inside the chart. Chris Brown’s Forever rounds off the top ten this week, down three places to No.10, but still his second top ten hit of the week, Therefore the UK top ten this week features four British acts, five Americans and a Swede.

 

There is very little happening outside the top ten this week in another painfully slow chart and all of the songs from No.11 to No.18 are songs falling from last week. Flo Rida and T-Pain’s Low is the only other song to penetrate the top twenty, itself a No.2 hit earlier in the year, moving back up three places to No.19 this week. The song from the US rappers was popular at the same time as the film that it comes from, Step Up 2 The Streets, and with that film having had increased exposure again recently due to its DVD release, Low has regained some momentum. As it stands, it’s currently at No.7 in the year to date chart, having shifted well over 300,000 copies so far, an impressive tally for a No.2 peaking single.

 

The next new entry is at No.24 for London folk rock band Noah & The Whale. After a couple of limited release singles, their new single 5 Years Time (Sun Sun Sun) makes a big impression this week as a download only release and is sure to go further in the coming weeks. The male quartet release their debut album Peaceful The World Lays Me Down next month. Duffy’s Mercy continues its renewed success, climbing a place back up to No.32 this week while rather more impressively Chris Brown’s With You bounces back up six places to No.33 this week. The song was a No.8 hit earlier in the year and has so far racked up an astonishing twenty two weeks inside the UK top forty so far this year, surely approaching a record for the amount of time spent in the top forty for a No.8 peaking single. It is the third simultaneous single in the chart for the young American singer, for the sixth week in a row. Quite a turnaround for an artist who only a year ago was struggling to get noticed with his 2007 releases Kiss Kiss and Wall To Wall.

 

About You Now, last year’s huge selling No.1 from Sugababes is a surprise re-entry at No.34 this week, having returned to the top 75 at No.47 last week. The reason for its re-entry is due to its use in an episode of British soap opera Hollyoaks. It is the Radio 1 Live Lounge version of the song that is receiving the most downloads this time around, as this is the version associated with that particular episode of the show.

 

The final new entry to the top forty is from another US urban act, this time Usher. The singer’s last single, Love In This Club, was a No.4 hit which has gone silver, selling over 200,000 copies so far. But new release, the more laidback Moving Mountains, is struggling to get noticed and eases into the top forty for the first time this week at No.35, ahead of its physical release on Monday. Usher’s last single to miss the UK top twenty was 1998’s Nice And Slow, which peaked at No.24, although his R Kelly duet Same Girl stalled at No.26 last year. Again, Usher is a victim of ‘the law of diminishing returns’ as many of his fans will already own the song on his No.1 album Here I Stand. And finally, Basshunter’s former No.1 single Now You’re Gone benefits from the promotion of his new album and is the second re-entry to the top forty this week, back in at No.38.

 

There is finally a new No.1 in the album chart as Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends is replaced by the aforementioned Swedish DJ Basshunter. Basshunter is no stranger to success having had a No.1 and No.2 single this year but this marks the second occasion of the year that we have had a dance album at No.1, following Scooter’s unexpected triumph in May with new studio album/greatest hits collection Jumping All Over The World. Credit must be given to dance label Hard2Beat, as all of the other dance successes in recent times have been from the independent record label All Around The World. This proves that Scooter was not an anomaly and that trends have changed to allow artists who were previously big singles sellers to become big album sellers too. Even in its heyday in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, commercial pop-dance/eurotrance artists failed to do well in the album chart, Alice Deejay and Ian Van Dahl creeping into the back end of the top ten with their debut albums in 2000 and 2002 respectively.

 

Coldplay then slide to No.2, just ahead of the next new entry at No.3. Texas have always had huge album success, most notably with 1997’s White On Blonde, 1999’s The Hush and 2000’s Greatest Hits, all chart toppers in the UK. After last album Red Book only managed to reach No.16 however in 2005, the band have been quiet. But lead singer Sharleen Spiteri is back in the charts with her debut album Melody which makes an impressive debut at No.3 this week. Duffy spends an incredible twentieth consecutive week in the top four with Rockferry which is close to a million sales now. She drops to No.4 just ahead of Abba’s Gold – The Greatest Hits. One of the UK’s all time best selling albums and always a consistent seller, Gold returns to the top ten for the first time since 2004, moving back up to No.5 thanks to the hype of the UK No.1 film Mamma Mia, which uses the music of Abba. The soundtrack to that album is in fact the biggest selling album in the UK this week, topping the compilations chart with ease. The Ting Tings are down at No.6 with We Started Nothing and Chris Brown’s Exclusive dips four places to No.7. Nickelback stick at No.8 with All The Right Reasons and Billy Joel’s Piano Man – The Very Best Of benefits from a £4 price tag in Woolworths this week and re-enters at No.9. Finally, Madonna’s former No.1 album Hard Candy returns to the top ten this week, back up four places to No.10. The album top ten therefore features four British acts, three Americans, a Canadian and rather more oddly, two Swedish acts.

 

Dizzee Rascal and friends will be hoping for a fourth week at No.1 next week having held off the competition of McFly, and it looks as if they could well just do it. There are notable new physical releases from Adele, DJ Q feat MC Bonez, Ida Maria, Melee, Roisin Murphy, Sneaky Sound System, The Ting Tings and Usher. Kid Rock, Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown and Basshunter should stick around at the top end of the chart while McFly will no doubt leave the top ten in their second week on the chart. Basshunter will be aiming for a second week at the top of the album chart with new releases due from Primal Scream, Liam Finn, CSS and Cyndi Lauper as well as Now 70, the new edition of the long running compilation series, which is certain to topple the Mamma Mia soundtrack from the top of the compilation chart in seven days time.

Should the singer decide to release a third single from Hard Candy, it could well end up as her smallest hit single since 1996 if it peaks lower than No.11, which it may well do if the ‘law of diminishing returns’ is anything to go by, and is something that is especially evident in today’s chart climate. With no download incentive for many music lovers to repurchase a track they already own on an album, second and third singles from many acts’ recent albums are charting lower and lower all the time. Madonna, McFly and Kylie Minogue still have enough of a physical fanbase to send their releases top ten for the time being, but it is only a matter of time before even the majority of these fans switch from buying physically to downloading and even these artists may then start to regularly miss the top ten, only breaking into it when the song truly captures the attention of the music buying public.

 

well said it's completely true....

Gone are the days when we used to have 3 or 4 number 1 singles from the same album....

I wonder how many times a single entered the chart at #1 on Tuesday midweeks, but later in the week, it actually fell of the top spot.

 

I am not sure if I am dissapointed with the McFly guys slipping from No. 1. I admire their work ethic, their contuing to tour and the fact they have taken a chance.I hope they are pleased with the result, this week. Good luck to them.

I am loving the Dizzy Rascal track hence my indecision.

 

Dance Wiv Me looked set to lose its top spot in the first set of midweek’s to McFly. The British male quartet have had seven UK No.1 singles so far in their four year chart career; 5 Colours In Her Hair, Obviously, All About You/You’ve Got A Friend, I’ll Be Ok, Don’t Stop Me Now/Please Please, Star Girl and Baby’s Coming Back/Transylvania. In a chart era dominated by download sales, the majority of McFly’s sales this week came from physical formats and their relative lack of download success has meant that One For The Radio, the first single from new album Radio: ACTIVE, their new album, free with the Mail On Sunday today, has stalled at No.2 on its release week, and is their first single to reach No.2, all of their other singles having peaked at odd numbers, either 1, 3 5 or 9. It looks likely to plummet next week with few download sales to back it up and the fact that anyone who wants the track will have been able to get it for free today. The boys hold the record for the biggest genuine fall from No.1 with their last chart topper, Baby’s Coming Back/Transylvania, diving from No.1 to No.20 on its second week on the chart last year. Elvis Presley had the same drop with his 2005 single One Night/I Got Stung, although this was on limited release, unlike the McFly single. Nevertheless, it is the fourteenth straight top ten hit for the band who seem to be one of the only acts left who can guarantee a top ten hit with every release.

 

Thanks for another great commentary.

I wonder how many times a single entered the chart at #1 on Tuesday midweeks, but later in the week, it actually fell of the top spot.

 

It's not that uncommon, I remember last year Maroon 5's 'Makes Me Wonder' was shunted down to no.2 by thursday or friday by 'Umbrella', it broke my heart to see it

:yahoo: Basshunters number 1 with th eINCREDIBLE album and is that two major upsets in the album charts? :heehee: Not as big as Scooter knocking off Madge but Basshunter knocking off Coldplay is always good :lol:

 

Isnt Ultrabeat released this week? :thinking: or is it the week after when Cascada and The Script (:heart: Preordered Both :lol:) are released? Ushers got a major flop :( Shame really :(

well said it's completely true....

Gone are the days when we used to have 3 or 4 number 1 singles from the same album....

 

thank god as it was usually Westlife that did it :lol:

I am not sure if I am dissapointed with the McFly guys slipping from No. 1. I admire their work ethic, their contuing to tour and the fact they have taken a chance.I hope they are pleased with the result, this week. Good luck to them.

I am loving the Dizzy Rascal track hence my indecision.

Thanks for another great commentary.

 

glad you liked it Dindy :D

:yahoo: Basshunters number 1 with th eINCREDIBLE album and is that two major upsets in the album charts? :heehee: Not as big as Scooter knocking off Madge but Basshunter knocking off Coldplay is always good :lol:

 

Isnt Ultrabeat released this week? :thinking: or is it the week after when Cascada and The Script (:heart: Preordered Both :lol:) are released? Ushers got a major flop :( Shame really :(

 

I don't know, I think Scooter's was more impressive as Madge had only been at No.1 for a week and nobody expected them to do it :lol: quite a few people, including myself, thought Basshunter would do it as he has a couple of major hits to back it up

 

Ultrabeat's been shoved back to next week...they might make the top 40 before then, they are at No.41 this week on downloads...