Chart Commentary by gooddelta: Sun 28/9/08

Posted September 28, 200816 yr

American indie rock band Kings of Leon have continued their period of dominance at the top of the UK singles chart as comeback single Sex On Fire achieves a third week at No.1. Their new album Only by the Night has become one of the year’s fastest sellers and storms in at the top of the album chart giving the quartet a double whammy this week.

In an incredibly successful week for Kings of Leon, the four piece appear to be at the height of their fame. Even the huge selling debut of their new album has had barely any effect on the single, which is still convincingly ahead of its competition. Sex on Fire has spent three weeks at No.1 now. Katy Perry meanwhile stays strong at No.2 with the former No.1 single I Kissed A Girl. Having spent five weeks at the top of the chart, the worldwide chart topper has now been stuck at No.2 for three consecutive weeks, suggesting that it would have been an eight week chart topper if not for the arrival of Kings of Leon. Despite not receiving a physical release, Rihanna’s Disturbia, the seventh release from her Good Girl Gone Bad album, is still going strong and leaps back up two places to No.3 this week. It has spent eight weeks inside the top ten so far, and has moved 9-6-4-3-4-5-5-3 since it reached the top ten.

When I Grow Up by Pussycat Dolls has proved to be a successful comeback single for the American girl group, it slides a place to No.4 this week but has been inside the top five now for four weeks having peaked at No.3 on two separate occasions. Rounding off the top five is yet another US act, alternative rock act Iglu & Hartly. In This City has made its way gradually into the top five, moving 21-14-5 in its first three chart weeks. It is yet another example of a song reaching its peak in the week after its physical release, in fact this seems almost as commonplace now as songs reaching their peak when their physical is released. Cookie Jar by Gym Class Heroes stays at No.6 this week ahead of the highest new entry at No.7. British soul singer James Morrison made an instant impact on the charts in 2006 with debut single You Give Me Something, a top five hit. Wonderful World, another top ten success, and a No.1 album, Undiscovered followed soon after. You Make It Real is the first single from James’ new second album Songs For You, Truths For Me, another soul ballad, it goes straight in at No.7 after a simultaneous physical and digital release.

Just below at No.8 is the second highest new entry; Sugababes with their comeback single Girls. The female pop trio have had six No.1 singles so far in their career in the UK, Freak Like Me, Round Round, Hole In The Head, Push The Button, Walk This Way and About You Now. Generally regarded as a weaker comeback than most of the girls lead singles, Girls is based on the Ernie K.Doe single Here Come The Girls, which has been popularised recently thanks to its inclusion on advertising campaigns for high street chain Boots. Girls goes in at No.8 on downloads and likely to climb next week, but Amelle, Heidi and Keisha are by no means guaranteed the No.1 we have come to expect from a Sugababes lead single. Its parent album, Catfights & Spotlights, is due out later in the year. Ne-Yo’s new single, Miss Independent, a download only release, stays at No.9 this week.

There is a surprise re-entry at No.10 from US country singer Faith Hill. There You’ll Be, originally from the soundtrack to the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, reached No.3 in the UK charts when it was released, beaten to the top by the Moulin Rouge single Lady Marmalade, and Shaggy’s Angel. A young female X Factor contestant, Amy Connolly sung an emotional rendition of the song on last Saturday’s edition of the show and it duly bounces back into the chart at No.10 this week. In a top ten overrun with American acts then, US acts claim seven songs inside the top ten, with just two Brits and of course Rihanna, our resident Barbadian. With some high profile British artists releasing singles in the coming months though, including X Factor winners Leon Jackson and Leona Lewis, and girl groups Sugababes and Girls Aloud, surely it cannot get much worse than this for home grown talent in 2008.

There are a few new entries to the chart outside the top ten this week and a number of significant climbers. American Idol star Jennifer Hudson’s download only single Spotlight jumps up four places to No.11 whilst Handlebars by US alternative rock/hip-hop act Flobots jumps to No.14 following its physical release this week. The next new entry is from US rapper Kanye West at No.16. Kanye has been enjoying hits in the UK since 2004, and Love Lockdown is the first single from his new album. His last album spawned the No.1 single Stronger and the top ten hit Homecoming. Love Lockdown thus far has no video and has entered solely on the strength of downloads and word of mouth, so it should be a much bigger hit as soon as promotion kicks in. Alternative British act MIA, continues her upwards progress with the US top five hit Paper Planes. The single is continuing to pick up support from radio and TV and moves up a further four places to No.19 this week. The physical re-release of Paper Planes and the re-release of her album Kala are both due out next month.

Swedish DJ Basshunter’s third UK single Angel In The Night climbs a spot to No.21 and with the physical out next week, should find itself inside the top twenty next week, although it looks unlikely to give the star a third top ten hit. With the release of every new James Bond film comes an anticipated soundtrack single and Another Way To Die is the song to be taken from new 007 film The Quantum Of Solace. The track is a duet between White Stripes’ singer Jack White and soul singer Alicia Keys. It makes its debut on downloads at No.26, over a month ahead of the cinematic release of the film and should go higher in the coming weeks. The last Bond theme, Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name, from the Casino Royale film, reached No.7 in 2006. Current chart toppers Kings of Leon score a second simultaneous top forty hit of the week, debuting at No.29 with supposed next single Use Somebody.

The next new entry at No.30 is US family trio Jonas Brothers with new single Burnin’ Up/When You Look Me In The Eyes. It is the first single from their new album A Little Bit Longer. The UK is playing catch up with the single releases of the popular trio. Former single, the top twenty hit SOS, was from another album entirely, their eponymous UK debut. In the US, the trio have been one of the most popular bands of the last few years, selling millions of singles and albums to an adoring teen audience and are part of an increasingly popular Disney canon that also includes Miley Cyrus and the stars of High School Musical. Directly following Burnin’ Up, the next new entry comes from Demi Lovato and Jonas Brothers’ lead singer Joe Jonas with the single This Is Me. The single is from Camp Rock, the new TV movie being shown on the Disney Channel as a reaction to the success of the High School Musical franchise. The film stars all three Jonas Brothers as well as emerging actress Demi. A number of other tracks from the film have also made the UK chart this week, although this is the only one to reach the top forty so far.

London based rapper and producer Ironik scored a huge top five hit in the summer with the Westlife sampling Stay With Me. Ever popular with viewers of Channel U and Fizz, Ironik returns this week with a second top forty hit, I Wanna Be Your Man debuting at No.35. His debut album, No Point In Wasting Tears, is released on Monday. US singer Pink has been one of the biggest stars of the decade, her most notable successes including the No.1 hit Just Like A Pill and the huge singles Get The Party Started, Who Knew and U + Ur Hand, amongst others. The singer, also known as Alecia Moore, returns this week with So What, the first single from her new album Funhouse. Pink is a hugely successful albums artist in the UK, 2002’s Missundaztood and 2006’s I’m Not Dead have both passed the million sales mark. So What has already been a huge chart topper in her native America, and after reaching the top forty here after less than a day and a half’s worth of sales, Pink is looking incredibly likely to shoot up to No.1 in seven days time. Rounding off the interesting action in the top forty, British rock band and recent Mercury Music Prize winners Elbow once again return to the top forty with the anthemic One Day Like This. It is the third separate time that this single has charted, its peak so far being No.35.

The album chart gets another shake up this week as five new albums go into the top ten. Kings of Leon follow their singles chart success with huge selling new album Only by the Night. It is their second UK No.1 album, following last year’s Because Of the Times. In a packed week for new album’s Rihanna’s now million selling Good Girl Gone Bad album jumps back up another place to No.2, its highest position of 2008. The renewed success of the album can be attributed to a price point of £5 or £4.99 in most shops as well as the continuing success of Disturbia. Duffy’s Rockferry, the biggest seller of 2008, amazingly stays inside the top ten for a thirtieth consecutive week, and jumps back up a place to No3, another beneficiary of cut prices, selling for only £6 in the current HMV sale.

Pussycat Dolls’ first album PCD only peaked at No.7 in the UK but sold well over a million copies thanks to its five top ten singles. New album Doll Domination makes a bigger initial impact, going in at No.4 this week. Ne-Yo’s Year of the Gentleman slides three places to No.5 ahead of another new entry from US singer Bette Midler, whose new compilation The Best Of Bette, is new at No.6. Metallica dive six places to No.7 after two weeks at the top with Death Magnetic. McFly’s Radio: ACTIVE gives them a top ten success, the deluxe retail edition debuting at No.8, despite the fact that a shorter version of the album was given away free in July with The Mail On Sunday. Elbow slip a place to No.9 with The Seldom Seen Kid and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour debuts at No.10 with live album Live in Gdansk blocking US singer Katy Perry from getting a top ten album as she goes in at No.11 with her debut One of the Boys.

Next week’s chart is set to be the battle of the titans as Kings of Leon face a mammoth battle to keep hold of the top spot for a fourth week. Pink’s eagerly anticipated comeback single So What, already a US No.1, is expected to battle it out with Oasis’ new single Shock of the Lightning. Oasis have reached No.1 with every lead album single since 2000’s Go Let It Out, but in the download era with physical sales making up so little of the total sales of most singles, it is hard to see if Oasis will have quite the same impact as they have done in the past. Irish quintet Boyzone also return with their first single since 1999’s Every Day I Love You, the uptempo Love You Anyway. It is unlikely to be a Take That style No.1 comeback, but it should give them another top ten single at the very least.

Elsewhere, Rihanna, Katy Perry, James Morrison and Sugababes should continue to do well with their current singles whilst other notable new physical releases are due from Axwell & Bob Sinclar, Basshunter, Funeral For A Friend, Sara Bareilles and The Streets. Garage trio Platnum could well have a major hit on their hands with Loveshy, a cover of a Kristine Blond track and the follow up to their No.2 hit What’s It Gonna Be. It’s due for a download release on Monday. A number of high profile new albums are also due out next week that could limit Kings Of Leon’s chart topping album success to one week. British soul singer Will Young and James Morrison both release anticipated comeback albums that should both ease into the top five. Other potentially big new releases are due from Trivium, Iglu & Hartly, Travis, T.I., Jonas Brothers, Bring Me The Horizon, Andrew Johnston, The Rasmus, Jennifer Hudson and Ironik.

Thanks to Polyhex, EveryHit, ManicKangaroo and Play.com for various information and resources