US singer Alecia Moore, better known as Pink, has held off the competition this week to stay at No.1 for a third week with infectious pop rock single So What. Peter Kay’s latest creation Geraldine McQueen goes straight in at No.2 with The Winners Song and X Factor 2007 winner Leon Jackson is in at No.3 with new single Don’t Call This Love.

 

Pink’s third week at No.1 with So What has been completely overshadowed this week by the huge new songs lining up beneath it. Nevertheless, it is the biggest selling single in the UK this week and by far Pink’s most successful chart single to date, not bad over eight years into her chart career. New album Funhouse is due out on October 27th and is expected to be at least as successful as previous album, 2006’s I’m Not Dead. The highest new entry this week goes to Geraldine. Geraldine is the latest Peter Kay creation and the winner of last Sunday’s ‘Britain’s got the Pop Factor…’ The show attracted around six million viewers, incredibly high for Channel 4, and was a parody of reality TV music shows such as X Factor and Pop Idol. Geraldine McQueen, a transsexual character played by Kay, ‘won’ the show and The Winner’s Song, written by Kay and Gary Barlow, goes straight in at No.2 this week. The song is itself a parody of the triumphant ballads that most reality show winners release as their debut single, complete with strings, a key change and a gospel choir. The b-side to the CD single has the ‘losers version’ by male/female vocal group 2 Up 2 Down, who finished second in the show.

 

Now onto a bonafide winner of one of these shows, Scottish teenager Leon Jackson was triumphant in last year’s X Factor and topped the UK chart for three weeks with debut single, and 2007 Christmas No.1, When You Believe, a cover of the 1998 Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston single. His second single was left for ten months to try and emulate the success that Leona Lewis had this time last year with Bleeding Love, which sold over 200,000 copies in its first week following a sensational performance on X Factor. Leon however has not followed in his predecessor’s footsteps and goes in at No.3 with Don’t Call This Love. Don’t Call This Love is a Michael Bublé style jazz ballad and the first single to be taken from his debut album Right Now, which is released on Monday in the UK. Sex On Fire, the former No.1 single from American quartet Kings Of Leon is pushed down to No.4 this week on its sixth week inside the top five.

 

The third new entry to the top five this week is Up, the second single from new British girl band The Saturdays. The group, consisting of Una, Vanessa, Mollie, and former S Club Juniors/8 members Frankie and Rochelle, released their debut single If This Is Love earlier in the year. That single reached No.8 but Up instantly does better, going straight in at No.5 and seen by many as a far superior and more accessible pop song. The band’s debut album, Chasing Lights, is due out on October 27th and it will be interesting to see if it can emulate the success of the two singles. The current two big British girl groups, Sugababes and Girls Aloud, are well known for their ability to have both successful singles and albums in the British charts, both acts having scored No.1 albums and singles in the UK.

 

Snow Patrol’s Take Back The City was released physically this week which helps to push the single up nine places to No.6 from No.15 last week. This was the same place that their monster hit Chasing Cars peaked, although it is doubtful that this new single will sell anywhere near the half a million sales that that single is approaching. Snow Patrol’s long awaited new album, A Hundred Million Suns, the follow up to the multi million selling Eyes Open, is due out on October 27th. Ne-Yo’s Miss Independent is down a place to No.7 from its peak of No.6 last week and Rihanna’s Disturbia slides four places to No.8 after eleven weeks inside the top ten.

 

Following the recent success of Take That, Boyzone, Spice Girls and Oasis, the latest big 90s act to return is German dance collective Sash! Popular from 1997 to 2000 in the UK, Sash! consisting of Ralf, Thomas and frontman Sascha, had a string of hits here, most notably five No.2 singles; Encore Une Fois (1997), Ecuador (1997), Stay (1997), Mysterious Times (1998) and Adelante (2000). The group also had four other top ten singles in this period. Raindrops (Encore Une Fois) is the first Sash! single since the 2000 No.10 hit With My Own Eyes. It is a reworking of the trio’s debut single spliced with the vocals from British dance act Stunt’s 2005 own reworking of the track, Raindrops. The result is yet another huge hit single for dance label Hard2Beat and a triumphant chart return for the German act as the single debuts at No.9 this week. Sash! release their second greatest hits album, The Best Of, on Monday and they will hope to follow dance albums from Cascada, Scooter, Darren Styles and Basshunter to the top end of the album chart. Sash! were no strangers to the album chart in the 1990s, scoring two top ten albums in the 1997-1998 period. Finally, Sugababes are forced down seven places to No.10 with comeback single Girls, last week’s No.3. The top ten is much better for British acts this week, English, Scottish and Northern Irish acts providing five songs inside the top ten. There is also one Barbadian act, one German act and three Americans.

 

There is plenty of action outside the top ten too this week. Kanye West’s new single Love Lockdown continues to grow now that the video is out. It climbs another three places to a new peak of No.11 this week. MIA’s Paper Planes was physically released this week, which helps the former US top five hit back into the UK top twenty this week, but it is still a place short of the No.19 peak it had previously reached on downloads. Paper Planes climbs back up to No.20 this week. British indie rock trio Keane released their new album, Perfect Symmetry, this week and it gives yet another boost to their Q award winning comeback single Spiralling. The song moves back up eleven places to its previous peak of No.23 this week. The album has done little for new single The Lovers Are Losing though, which has failed to reach the top forty thus far despite being released physically on Monday. The physical release of American indie/electronica duo MGMT’s new single Kids propels the single up ten places to No.25 this week. It is their third top fourty hit from debut album Oracular Spectacular, following Time To Pretend and Electric Feel.

 

US pop singer Katy Perry has been one of the success stories of the year with I Kissed A Girl being one of the biggest worldwide hits of 2008. Another perfect pop song, and her second single, Hot ‘N’ Cold, goes into the top forty for the first time at No.26 this week and is sure to be a future top ten hit allowing Katy to shake off the possibility of being a one hit wonder. British indie/pop male/female duo The Ting Tings have had an incredible year, with a No.1 single and album, That’s Not My Name and We Started Nothing respectively, and another huge top ten hit, Shut Up & Let Me Go. The slightly less instant third single, Be The One, makes its first top forty appearance this week at No.28 following its physical release.

 

American female singer and former American Idol winner Jordin Sparks has two songs in the top forty again this week, although there order is reversed in favour of her new single this week. Tattoo, a former top ten hit in the US, is up a place to a new peak of No.29 this week, unlikely to go substantially higher as its download growth slows down and no physical release is due. Jordin’s former No.3 hit, No Air, slides to No.32 this week. Finally, British/Swedish indie rock group Razorlight return to the chart this week with new single Wire To Wire, the first to be taken from their upcoming third album Slipway Fires, which is due out on November 3rd. Making its entry at No.30 on downloads alone, the single is certain to climb into the top ten next week ahead of its physical release on October 27th. The band have been one of the success stories of the decade scoring chart topping singles and albums in the last few years, most notably the 2006 No.1 single America.

 

There is a new No.1 at the top of the album chart this week from Battle trio Keane. Perfect Symmetry, Keane’s third album, marks a significant and well documented change of sound for the band, and they are rewarded with their third successive UK chart topper following Hopes & Fears and Under The Iron Sea. Last week’s No.1 from Oasis, Dig Out Your Soul, is down a place to No.2 in its second week, and Kings Of Leon’s Only By The Night is down one at No.3.

 

Reformed Irish boy band Boyzone continue their renewed success with their first top five album since 1999’s By Request. That album was their first greatest hits collection and spent nine weeks at No.1, selling almost two million copies in the UK, so it is surprising to see their new album Back Again…No Matter What, new at No.4 this week, reach the top five considering that most of the content is the same as that album. This album does however feature current single Love You Anyway, as well as other new tracks Better, Can’t Stop Thinking About You and Life Is A Rollercoaster (live). Another Boyzone album, B-Sides and Rarities, available exclusively in Woolworths, has also reached the top forty this week, debuting at No.34. The success of Back Again…No Matter What in the coming months will determine whether or not the band will record a new studio album for release next year.

 

Ne-Yo’s Year Of The Gentleman is back up a place at No.5 this week and Will Young’s Let It Go slides three places to No.6. Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad is down three places at No.7 followed by Bette Midler’s The Best Bette which slides just a place at No.8. James Morrison’s Songs For You, Truths For Me falls four places to No.9 whilst Duffy’s Rockferry refuses to leave the top ten, a non-mover at No.10 after thirty three weeks inside the top ten.

 

Next week’s chart could see a new No.1 although Pink will be hoping for a fourth week in control with So What. Girls Aloud are expected to have one of the highest new entries next week with new single The Promise. Their first single since Can’t Speak French at the start of the year, that single had impressive sales for a No.9 hit, shifting around 150,000 copies. The female quintet will be hoping for a nineteenth consecutive top ten single with the new single which they performed on X Factor this weekend. It is quite possible that it could give the group their fourth UK No.1 single in seven days time. A couple of big songs doing well on downloads and ready to make a major impact next week are Razorlight’s comeback single Wire To Wire and the huge European dance hit, Infinity 2008 by Guru Josh Project. Other singles released physically on Monday that should make an impact next week are due from Bloc Party, Fall Out Boy, The Game feat Lil’ Wayne, Jack White & Alicia Keys, Keane, The Last Shadow Puppets and The Pigeon Detectives. Geraldine and Leon Jackson might begin to lose momentum next week but The Saturdays and Sash! could potentially both go higher in seven days time. Kaiser Chiefs will be hoping to knock Keane off the top the album chart with third long player Off With Their Heads next week. However they have stiff competition with albums from Leon Jackson, AC/DC, Sugababes, Katherine Jenkins, Sash!, John Legend and Mariah Carey all due out on Monday as well as the anticipated High School Musical 3 Soundtrack and the third edition of Radio 1’s Live Lounge compilation series.

 

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

Part of me wanted Geraldine to shoot to the top of the charts for it's send up of the X-Factor, but not at the expense of Leon Jackson. It's just a shame it has been released the same week (or perhaps that was the idea)? Hope the fans aren't too dissapointed.

 

US pop singer Katy Perry has been one of the success stories of the year with I Kissed A Girl being one of the biggest worldwide hits of 2008. Another perfect pop song, and her second single, Hot ‘N’ Cold, goes into the top forty for the first time at No.26 this week and is sure to be a future top ten hit allowing Katy to shake off the possibility of being a one hit wonder.

Looks like it.

 

Thanks for another great commentary (oh and I didn't know Pink was Alecia Moore) :huh: .

Edited October 19, 200816 yr by dindy

Part of me wanted Geraldine to shoot to the top of the charts for it's send up of the X-Factor, but not at the expense of Leon Jackson. It's just a shame it has been released the same week (or perhaps that was the idea)? Hope the fans aren't too dissapointed.

Looks like it.

 

Thanks for another great commentary (oh and I didn't know Pink was Alecia Moore) :huh: .

 

yes, that is her real name :D

 

being christened P!nk would have been much funnier though :heehee:

 

glad you liked the commentary dindy :D

next weeks albums will be interesting ....with Keane,Oasis,Kings of leon still selling strong. i think kaiser chiefs should get to #1 leon maybe #2... i dunno if sugababes will go higher than #5 IMO

 

 

I would love Leon's album to flop to be honest...

 

I hope Sash! gets a good position after his last Best Of stalled at No.32 in 2000

 

Great Read Rich are The Saturdays and Sash really looking to go higher :o I don't think that'll be a big possibilty :D

thanks Rob :D The Saturdays might stick or go down a place, Sash might go up a place

Thanks for the article, gooddelta. Interesting read.

 

' P!nk' s So What is the biggest selling single in the UK this week' - yay! :cheer:

 

Glad Duffy is still on the top 10. 33 weeks at the top... now that is a nice achievement.

Loving Katy Perry's chart run and I hope she gets another no.1 or Top 10 with HNC - maybe this week?

It is quite possible that it could give the group their fourth UK No.1 single in seven days time

 

You wrote this on... Friday? And you're right! :P

Thanks for the article, gooddelta. Interesting read.

 

' P!nk' s So What is the biggest selling single in the UK this week' - yay! :cheer:

 

Glad Duffy is still on the top 10. 33 weeks at the top... now that is a nice achievement.

Loving Katy Perry's chart run and I hope she gets another no.1 or Top 10 with HNC - maybe this week?

 

who knows, the signs are suggesting that Katy could go top ten this week! glad you liked the article :D

You wrote this on... Friday? And you're right! :P

 

Thursday :P it always seemed obvious to me that The Promise would be a No.1...even when other doubted it