Chart Commentary by gooddelta: Sun 15/12/08

Posted December 14, 200816 yr

British singer Leona Lewis has remained at No.1 for a second week with her cover version of Snow Patrol’s Run. American rock act Kings Of Leon achieve their second consecutive top three hit as Use Somebody soars from No.10 to No.2 and Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth by Bandaged, featuring Sir Terry Wogan and Aled Jones, debuts at No.3.

With this year’s X Factor coming to an end last night, the new victor, Alexandra Burke, will hope that she can have as much chart success as the 2006 winner of the show, Leona Lewis. Since she won the show two years ago, Leona has scored three UK No.1 singles as well as her debut album Spirit hitting No.1 in two different guises, in 2007 and 2008. The album was also a worldwide chart topper, as was Bleeding Love which gave the singer a US No.1 hit, the first British female to top the charts there since Kim Wilde in the early 1980s. Her immediate successor, Leon Jackson, has so far been far less successful, proving that you winners must have the star quality and the right material to have a truly substantial career that lasts longer than their practically guaranteed debut No.1 single. Leona’s current single, the Snow Patrol cover Run, stays at No.1 for a second week despite a midweek hiccup that saw it playing catch up on iTunes for a few days when the most popular version of the track was deleted in favour of another version.

Another act that could rival Leona in terms of substantial worldwide success this year however are American rock group, Kings Of Leon. The trio scored their first UK No.1 single earlier in the year with Sex On Fire, also a chart topper in Australia and Ireland and down just a place to No.15 this week here on its fourteenth appearance. Second single, Use Somebody, made an instant chart impact a few months ago when the album was released and has so far moved 29-29-38-48-50-30-25-21-17-15-10-2 in the top fifty, taking an incredible twelve weeks to what will surely be its peak. Their album, Only By The Night, has also been one of 2008’s biggest sellers, currently third in the year to date charts.

The highest new entry this week goes to Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth by an act called Bandaged, who are actually Radio 2 presenter and former Eurovision commentator Sir Terry Wogan, and classical singer Aled Jones. The song, a cover of the Christmas duet by Bing Crosby and David Bowie, a No.3 hit in 1982, also goes in at No.3 this week after a simultaneous physical and digital release. The single, which is raising money for Children In Need, which Sir Terry also presents, is his first UK hit single for thirty years. His last single, Floral Dance, peaked at No.21 in 1978. Aled Jones meanwhile has had a successful career for over twenty years since he was a schoolboy. His biggest hit single is still the 1985 No.5 hit Walking In The Air, best associated with the Christmas animated British film, The Snowman.

Womanizer, the comeback single by Britney Spears, slides a spot to No.4 after it gained a second wind last week after her X Factor performance. It has now spent six weeks inside the top ten. Take That’s former chart topper, Greatest Day, slides three places to No.5 this week after three weeks on the chart whilst Akon’s Right Now (Na Na Na) continues its slow progress upwards, moving up another two places to a new peak of No.6 this week. Human by The Killers is down two spots to No.7 after five weeks around and Katy Perry’s Hot ‘N’ Cold slides four places to No.8 after eight weeks inside the top ten. Beyoncé’s former chart topper, If I Were A Boy is down three places to No.9 but looks likely to move back up the chart next week after a highly praised performance of the song on last night’s X Factor final. Finally, Live Your Life, by T.I. and Rihanna, the US No.1 once again this week, also dips three places to No.10 after five weeks inside the top ten. The top ten this week therefore features three British acts, five American acts, one American/Barbadian duet and one Senegalese act.

Outside the top ten, a lot of the upwards movement and entries come courtesy of the Christmas songs, many of which are lining up in the same or a similar order to this time last year, albeit a lot lower due to the fact that a lot of people evidently purchased them twelve months ago. Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You is up five places to No.12, The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl climb six places to No.13 with Fairytale Of New York, Wham’s Last Christmas is up ten spots to No.26, Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday re-enters at No.31, Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade returns at No.32 and Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin’ Stevens is back in at No.36. Next week should realistically see the 2008 peak for all of the Christmas songs, although due to Christmas Day falling on a Thursday this year, the Christmas songs will all still have five days worth of sales counted towards the final chart of the year and so will all still be around for another two weeks yet. There are also a number of new Christmas songs making an appearance this week, which I shall touch on later.

There are other songs in the top forty making upwards movement however. Rihanna’s Rehab, the eighth single to have been released from Good Girl Gone Bad, if you include her Maroon 5 duet If I Never See Your Face Again, climbs four further places to a new peak of No.16. After a physical release, Broken Strings by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado moves up thirteen places to No.18. It should easily climb into the top ten next week after he the singer performed the track with Girls Aloud on their Saturday night show ‘The Girls Aloud Party’ this weekend. Also benefitting from a physical release, and finally moving into the top forty, is Better by reformed Irish band Boyzone. Better is a cover of Tom Baxter’s small hit from exactly a year ago. Obviously Boyzone were looking to continue their old pattern of covering other people’s ballads in the hope of a top five hit a la Words, Baby Can I Hold You, Love Me For A Reason and You Needed Me. For now, this pattern has not continued showing just how much the charts have changed in their eight year absence. Better, which debuts at No.22 this week, is their first single to ever miss the top five, the fourth notable chart run to end in recent times. McFly, Madonna and Oasis have also recently seen chart records shattered with unusually low peaking singles.

Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), the b-side to If I Were A Boy is doing the opposite to it’s a-side and climbing quickly up the chart, moving thirteen places north to No.24 this week. Australian singer Gabriella Cilmi has the first of three new Christmas songs to enter the chart this week. Warm This Winter, a cover of an old song by Connie Francis, is taken from Gabriella’s reissued version of her top ten debut album Lessons To Be Learned. Like her debut single, this song has been on the soundtrack to an advert, this time promoting the supermarket, The Co-Operative. It is her third UK top forty hit of this year, following the huge No.6 hit Sweet About Me, and the No.33 follow up, Save The Lies (Good To Me). Despite winning six ARIA awards (the Australian equivalent to the BRITS) recently, only really Sweet About Me has had notable success for her in her home country, the follow up there, Don’t Want To Go To Bed Now peaking at No.28. Of course, she could not release this song in Australia due to the seasonal differences; they celebrate Christmas in the middle of summer, so a song about cold weather and snow would probably not go down too well at the moment.

Alexandra Burke beat off stiff competition from boyband JLS last night to win the final of this year’s X Factor. Her debut single, a cover of Leonard Cohen’s classic song Hallelujah, is almost certain to be the Christmas No.1 this time next week. The most well known of the countless cover versions of the song however is by late American singer Jeff Buckley, who recorded it in the early 1990s to great critical acclaim. Up until now, the song had been a cult hit but had never reached the UK top forty. This changes now though and the song goes in at No.30 and is almost certain to climb to another new peak next week as a campaign lifts off to try to get this version to the Christmas No.1 spot. The song already topped sales listings in America earlier in the year after contestant Jason Castro sang the song on American Idol.

Another act making a long awaited first top forty appearance this week is New Zealand indie pop singer Ladyhawke. Real name Pip Brown, Ladyhawke first broke into the UK chart earlier in the year with the No.61 hit Paris Is Burning. The follow up, Dusk Till Dawn, missed the top seventy five but third single My Delirium makes its top forty debut at No.33 this week. American R&B singer Ne-Yo debuts at No.37 this week with Mad, the third single from his well received current album, Year Of The Gentleman. It follows the No.1 single Closer and the top ten hit Miss Independent. Although not on his UK album, Now You’re Gone – The Album, Basshunter’s dance cover of Jingle Bells reaches the UK top forty this week, climbing three places from No.41 to No.38. It is the Swedish singer’s fourth UK top forty hit so far this year following Now You’re Gone (#1), All I Ever Wanted (#2) and Angel In The Night (#14). This single is physically released tomorrow, as is his official fourth single, I Miss You, which is yet to make the UK top seventy five. Finally, veteran British rock group Status Quo return to the top forty this week with their new Christmas offering, It’s Christmas Time, which debuts at No.40. They feature on two songs inside the top seventy five this week; their unlikely collaboration with German techno act Scooter, Jump That Rock (Whatever You Want), is in at No.57 this week.

Take That top the album chart for a second week with The Circus, looking increasingly likely to score their second Christmas album chart topper in three years, following the lead of 2006’s Beautiful World, such is the nature of its lead over everything else at the moment. Last year’s Christmas No.1 album, Leona Lewis’ Spirit is back up a place to No.2 this week, albeit in a new form, and Day & Age by The Killers slides a spot to No.3. Kings Of Leon are back up a place to No.4 with Only By The Night and rounding off the top five of current or former No.1’s is Il Divo’s The Promise, soaring back eight places to No.5 after a well timed X Factor performance last weekend. Stereophonics climb back up a place to No.6 with A Decade In The Sun, their best of album, whilst The Priests’ eponymous debut album is back up a place to No.7. Girls Aloud’s Out Of Control is also back up a place at No.8 whilst Rhydian Roberts’ Rhydian is down three places to No.9. Pink’s Funhouse, the seventh chart topper inside the top ten this week, is a non-mover at No.10.

Next week’s chart is of course the Christmas chart and for the fourth year in a row, the top spot will undoubtedly go to the X Factor winner. Alexandra Burke, who won the fifth series of the show last night, becoming only the second woman to do so after Leona Lewis, releases her cover of the Leonard Cohen track Hallelujah this week. The aforementioned fact that Jeff Buckley’s version was a big sales hit in the US earlier this year after an American Idol contestant performed it was clearly a key role in Simon Cowell’s choice of the track to be the eventual winner’s debut single. X Factor looks set to play a massive part in the Christmas chart aside from just the No.1. Jeff Buckley’s version should leap up from No.30, whilst Beyoncé’s Listen and If I Were A Boy should both benefit greatly.

Other singles that should be high up in the Christmas chart include current hits from Leona Lewis, Kings Of Leon, Britney Spears, Sir Terry Wogan and Aled Jones, Akon, Gabriella Cilmi, James Morrison & Nelly Furtado and some of the Christmas songs. Aside from Alexandra Burke’s winning single, other singles released physically that may have an impact on the Christmas chart are likely to come from Basshunter, Britannia High, Jason Mraz, Kaiser Chiefs, Katie Melua, Outsiders feat Amanda Wilson, Scooter vs. Status Quo, Snow Patrol, Wombats and Geraldine McQueen, the Peter Kay character, who will look to match the success of her debut No.2 single, The Winners Song.

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