Beyoncé, the Amercian superstar and former Destiny’s Child lead singer, has moved up two places to top the UK chart this week with If I Were A Boy. Hero by the X Factor Finalists drops a spot to No.2 whilst Human by The Killers moves up to a new peak of No.3.

 

American star Beyoncé first went solo from Destiny’s Child back in 2002 with the No.7 debut single Work It Out, which was taken from the Austin Powers: Goldmember soundtrack. She has had a number of hit singles before now, the biggest being her other No.1 singles, 2003’s Crazy In Love and 2006’s Déjà vu, both of which featured her now husband Jay-Z and her 2007 Shakira duet Beautiful Liar. If I Were A Boy, the first single from her new double album, I Am Sasha Fierce, debuted at No.2 two weeks ago before falling back a place to No.3 last week when it was physically released. However, with sales of the X Factor single declining, the star has enough power to haul herself up two places to score a fourth UK solo No.1 this week. It is the sixth UK No.1 single that she has featured on if you include the Destiny’s Child chart toppers, Independent Women Part 1 and Survivor. It is the seventeenth UK No.1 single of 2008, equalling the 2007 total tally, and the ninth to climb to the top from a lower position. An astonishing turnaround to the start of the decade where nearly every No.1 single debuted at the top of the charts.

 

Hero by the X Factor Finalists, now 2008’s biggest selling single with a convincing lead over nearest competitor Duffy, drops a spot to No.2 after three weeks at the top, and Human by The Killers, the first single from their new album Day And Age, moves up a spot to No.3 this week, their third UK top three hit now after Somebody Told Me and When You Were Young. Live Your Life by T.I. and Rihanna soared from No.39 to No.2 last week but falls back to No.4 this week, still on download sales with the physical due out on Monday. The song remains at No.1 in the US this week but looks unlikely to peak higher than No.2 here now. Also out on Monday and climbing two places to a new peak of No.5 this week is Hot ‘N’ Cold by Katy Perry. It is the second big single of 2008 from the rising American star who had one of the year’s biggest hits with the pop anthem I Kissed A Girl.

 

Alesha Dixon’s The Boy Does Nothing slides a place to No.6 this week whilst Girls Aloud’s former No.1 single, The Promise, drops a spot to No.7 after five weeks inside the top ten so far. Infinity 2008, the dance anthem from Guru Josh Project, climbs back up a place to No.8, Womanizer by Britney Spears is down a spot to No.9 with the physical release due on Monday, and Forgive Me by Leona Lewis stays put at No.10 on its third week inside the top ten. In a mildly shuffling top ten with no newcomers there are once again five British acts, four American acts and one American/Barbadian act.

 

In a very slow moving chart there is similarly little action outside the top ten, although Pink moves back up a place to No.11 with the former No.1 single So What. Akon is the most notable top twenty climber as he moves up six places to No.14 with new single Right Now (Na Na Na). Duffy’s Rain On Your Parade, one of the new tracks on the deluxe edition of her album Rockferry which is out on Monday, moves up seven places to No.15 after a physical release. I Hate This Part by Pussycat Dolls continues to make slow progress but it is upwards nonetheless, going up three places this week from No.19 to No.16. Use Somebody, the second single to be taken from Kings Of Leon’s Only By The Night, is also moving in the right direction as it climbs four places to No.17 this week. Canadian rock act Nickelback also benefit from the physical release of new single Gotta Be Somebody as they climb six places to No.20 this week. Let Your Love Flow by American country act The Bellamy Brothers, which has recently become popular again due to its use on a Barclaycard advert, has started to pick up notable airplay and as a result continues its climb up the chart, moving up seven places to No.21 this week.

 

Although not quite as noticeable as its effect has been in the past ‘the Now effect’, the process of songs from the latest Now That’s What I Call Music’ compilation album being cherry picked enough to help them to rise back up the chart, has had some effect this week. A number of songs from the compilation are on their way back up whilst others have stabilised or are having a slower than expected decline this week. Katy Perry has two songs on the album and whilst Hot ‘N’ Cold would arguably have climbed without the help of the album, I Kissed A Girl, which moves back up four places to No.26 this week, clearly owes its climb to its inclusion on the compilation. Album releases in the past used to hinder singles but now it would seem that the complete opposite happens and instead of buying the albums, of which sales are in a quick decline, people would rather buy one or two tracks as singular downloads instead. A prime example of this is Beyoncé whose album has missed the top five but has seen her single climb to No.1 on the week of her album release. Rihanna’s Disturbia is another beneficiary of ‘the Now effect’, the former No.3 hit moving back up four places to No.27 this week.

 

One of the biggest music stories of the week revolves around an unreleased single from former X Factor winner Leona Lewis. The singer performed her cover of Snow Patrol’s Run on last weekend’s X Factor to great critical acclaim, much in the same vein as her breakthrough performance of Bleeding Love on the show last year. It was expected that the song would have been released to download on Monday and would have duly flown to No.1 this week. However, despite the deluxe edition of Leona’s album Spirit, which features the track, being released on Monday physically, the package is not available digitally until December 1st, which will be the date that Run will be able to purchase as a standalone track. Until that date, anybody that wants a legal copy of the track is forced to buy the new version of her album. Of course not everybody is willing to do this and this has resulted in the original Snow Patrol version of the track, a No.5 hit back in 2004, returning to the chart at No.28 this week. A number of karaoke versions of Run in the style of Leona Lewis’ version have also proved popular on iTunes this week in the absence of the track itself.

 

The week’s first new entry, way down at No.29, goes to Swedish stars Christian Falk and Robyn. Dream On is a track essentially by producer Christian, who had another top thirty hit back in 2000, the No.22 single Make It Right. The track has featured on various albums over the past year or two including the US version of Robyn’s own eponymous album. The Swedish singer has of course had an unexpected career revival in the past 18 months, returning to the UK charts last year with With Every Heartbeat, a No.1 single, over nine years since she had last been in the top ten with Show Me Love. Since then she has had a well received album, which peaked at No.11 in the UK, and further hit singles with Handle Me, Be Mine and Who’s That Girl. Dream On is therefore Robyn’s fifth hit single in the last eighteen months and will be featured on a new version of her album, which is due for release on Monday. It also includes new versions of the aforementioned Show Me Love and the European hit, Keep This Fire Burning, which was made famous here when soul singer Beverley Knight covered it in 2005.

 

The only other new entry inside the top forty this week is from London hip-hop trio N-Dubz. The band, who have been slowly building up a fanbase in the last few years, released their debut album, Uncle B, on Monday and Papa Can You Hear Me, their new single, has been cherry picked from that album by enough people to ensure a top forty entry this week. The single goes in at No.30 this week quickly following up previous hit Ouch, a No.22 success just last month. It is the third top forty success in total for the band, the other being 2007’s reactivation of their debut single You Better Not Waste My Time. Girls by Sugababes is back up four places to No.33 on its ninth week inside the top forty, another ‘Now effect’ beneficiary, the only other major gainer from this album being Beggin’ by Norwegian rap duo Madcon which returns to the top forty at No.38 this week having previously peaked at No.5.

 

After the controversial decision to stop the digital release of Run, enough people have bought the deluxe edition of Leona Lewis’ debut album Spirit to ensure that it goes back to No.1 this week, the same position that it originally reached exactly a year ago. The new version, which features Run as well as other new tracks Misses Glass and Forgive Me, and a bonus DVD with her music videos, marks the eighth occasion that Spirit has topped the UK album chart in total now, after its initial seven week run last year. This has denied Dido, another of the UK’s biggest selling female artists of the decade, the chance to have a third consecutive No.1 album. No Angel and Life For Rent both sold around three million copies in the UK, but after a five year break and a poorly received comeback single, new album Safe Trip Home goes in at No.2 this week.

 

Welsh trio Stereophonics fall a spot to No.3 with A Decade In The Sun – Best Of, and Canadian group Nickelback score their second top five album of the year with Dark Horse, which goes in at No.4. Girls Aloud’s former No.1 album, Out Of Control, drops two places to No.5 whilst Kings Of Leon’s Only By The Night, another former No.1, goes down two places to No.6. Last week’s No.1 from Il Divo plummets to No.7 this week ahead of Pink’s Funhouse which drops three spots to No.8. A couple of new entries round off the top ten. Simply Red’s Greatest Hits 25, which marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the British band, fronted by Mick Hucknall, goes in at No.9 this week. Beyoncé is having huge success with If I Were A Boy but this has not translated into as much albums success as expected; her new double album I Am Sasha Fierce goes in at No.10 this week, seven places lower than her last album B’Day peaked at.

 

Next week’s chart could well see a new chart topper in the form of Take That’s Greatest Day. The British group, who reformed in 2005 and have scored huge success since with classic singles such as Shine, Patience and Rule The World, are expected to score another chart topper next week ahead of the December 1st release of new album The Circus. Beyoncé and The Killers should remain at the top end of the chart but a huge number of acts release singles physically on Monday and many are set to make a notable impact in seven days time. Akon, Alphabeat, Bob The Builder, Britney Spears, Chris Brown, Frankmusik, George Sampson, Katy Perry, Madonna, McFly, N-Dubz, Pussycat Dolls, Same Difference, Solange and T.I. feat Rihanna will all have varying levels of success with their new singles. The most likely acts to feature in next week’s top ten out of those are Britney Spears, Katy Perry, McFly, T.I. and Akon with outside chances for George Sampson, Bob The Builder, Same Difference and Pussycat Dolls. Madonna’s Miles Away has had little promotion and is not expected to give the queen of pop a huge hit but her loyal fanbase should at least ensure a top forty hit, though it looks poised be her smallest hit in years. In the quickly approaching run up to Christmas, the albums market is also set to be flooded with new releases next week to halt Leona Lewis in her tracks. The Killers are expected to score a third No.1 album with Day And Age although the long awaited new Guns N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy should give The Killers a good run for their money. Other albums expected to be big are due from Kanye West, Rhydian Roberts, The Priests, Duffy, Coldplay, Only Men Aloud!, Alesha Dixon, Lemar, Linkin Park, John Barrowman, Dr Dre, Paramore, James Blunt, Craig David, Gabriella Cilmi, The Ting Tings, James Morrison and Robyn, a large number of those being reissued deluxe versions of previously released albums.

 

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

Now comments for 35 minutes :o

 

Although not quite as noticeable as its effect has been in the past ‘the Now effect’, the process of songs from the latest Now That’s What I Call Music’ compilation album being cherry picked enough to help them to rise back up the chart, has had some effect this week.

 

I know its quite odd. Maybe it hasn't sold that much :thinking:

 

Great again! :yahoo:

 

Great read Rich again. Gosh its going to be really jam packed next week :o

cheers Harve and Rob

 

Harve: I think the Now effect could have been lessened just because we are in a really high sales climate...in the summer when Now 70 had such a huge effect on the singles chart, you only needed 10k for the top 10 and 25k-ish for No.1...

Nice read, I think Take That will remain at #1 until the X Factor winner releases now, that's if there is no more surprises coming next Sunday.

Cheers as usual, Rich! I think TT will be #1 for 2 weeks, then Leona :o

Cheerz mucho Richy boy :P Can't wait to read next weeks though! :funky:

Nice read, I think Take That will remain at #1 until the X Factor winner releases now, that's if there is no more surprises coming next Sunday.

 

Leona!?!

Cheers as usual, Rich! I think TT will be #1 for 2 weeks, then Leona :o

 

is Leona not releasing next Monday? TT might only get a week unless Leona doesn't do as well as I've been anticipating

Leona's released next week on physical according to Music Week. :P

Cheerz mucho Richy boy :P Can't wait to read next weeks though! :funky:

 

yes this week's was a bit of a struggle with only 2 new entries and a couple of re-entries[/excitement] :heehee:

 

next week should be better!

Great commentary as usual. :)

is Leona not releasing next Monday? TT might only get a week unless Leona doesn't do as well as I've been anticipating

 

Well at least they'll get their 11th number 1! Even if it only lasts a week. And I suppose its a bit of payback as they'll surely be taking the number 1 spot in the albums the week after.

 

Norma

 

Well at least they'll get their 11th number 1! Even if it only lasts a week. And I suppose its a bit of payback as they'll surely be taking the number 1 spot in the albums the week after.

 

Norma

 

it's a shame this looks set to be a big No.1 when the stunning Rule The World could only get to No.2 -_-

 

still Greatest Day is quite good, and the much better b-sides bode well for the album which I will be second in line for next Monday (behind Norma :heehee:)