Jay Z feat Rihanna & Kanye West - Run This Town is this week's new #1

We have a new #1 single once again this week but not perhaps what many expected. Jay Z has had many hits in the past, both as lead artist and as a featured artist - biggest lead artist single being 1998's Hard Knock Life which reached #2. Amongst his collaborations are 2 of Beyonce's #1s Crazy In Love and Deja Vu and Rihanna's 10 week #1 Umbrella-ella-ella. Rihanna has had a total of 13 top 20 hits (inc TI's Live Your Life) with 2 #1s Umbrella and Take A Bow. Kanye West has had 13 top 30 hits of his own including #1 Stronger and #2 Gold Digger. Now the 3 artists collaborate to Run This Town and also run these charts, a combination like that was hardly likely to fail now was it?

 

Sugababes - Get Sexy enters at #2

Many people fully expected Get Sexy to give Sugababes their 6th number one hit single, however in the end they settle for runner up position. If this goes no further (highly unlikely), this will be the first time a Sugababes single has peaked at #2. However this beats the #3 peak of last year's lead single Girls and bodes well for their 7th album. Get Sexy has more of a dancey feel than previous hits and contains an interpolation of Right Said Fred's tongue-in-cheek hit I'm Too Sexy.

 

Dizzee falls to #4 and KoL surge back up the charts

Dizzee Rascal's Holiday becomes the first single to drop from #1 out of the top 3 since Kelly Clarkson My Life Would Suck... did the same. Kings Of Leon make a triumphant and frankly surprising return to the upper reaches this week. Sex On Fire surges up to #6 on its 37th week inside the top 40, following its performance on the X Factor and the band's appearence at the Leeds & Reading festivals. Use Somebody is also back at #36 this week.

 

Wale feat Lady Gaga - Chillin' enters at #12

US rapper Wale first featured on Daniel Merriweather's top 10 hit Change, and now gets his first hit of his own, as he is Chillin' his way into #12. This is not entirely on his own as a certain Lady Gaga sings alongside him, Gaga's own Love Game surprisingly drops to #31. Chillin' is one of several current singles to feature a sample from Steam's Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.

 

Booty Luv - Say It enters at #16

Go on Say It ... Dance act Booty Luv score their 5th top 20 hit, first from their forthcoming 2nd album which aparently is not to contain any covers.

 

Jamie T - Chaka Demus EP enters at #23

This week Jamie T scores a second hit of the year with Chaka Demus, not to be confused with 90's act Chaka Demus & Pliers.

 

Friendly Fires - Kiss Of Life enters at #30

Friendly Fires have previously released 4 singles in the UK and a highly acclaimed self titled album, none of which have troubled the top 40. Now their new single Kiss Of Life finally provides them with a top 30 single and should help revive the album (due a re-release shortly).

 

Prodigy - Take Me To The Hospital enters at #38

The Prodigy get a new entrry at #38 this week with Take Me To The Hospital, also the name of their record label. Failure of this to progress any further will mean it is their lowest charting single, the first out of 18 full releases to miss the top 20.

 

This week's also-rans

Missing out this week is singer songwriter Remi Nicole who is Standing Tears Apart from the top 40. New girl group and X Factor rejects Dolly Rockers have flopped with Gold Digger (not a cover of the Kanye West track). Jonas Brothers invitation to Fly With Me misses out, as does Jason Mraz and olbie Cailat's Lucky ... unlucky in this instance it seems!

 

Artics retain the #1 album, just above Vera Lynn!

Bah! Humbug the Arctic Monkeys hold on to the number one album this week, which is not surprising. What is perhaps surprising is the climb to #2 experienced by Vera Lynn, who is the oldest singer to have a top 5 album at 92 year old. Kings Of Leon make a huge leap back up the chart with Only By The Night at #4, after only dropping out the top 20 last week after its release almost a year ago. Highest new entry is from Noah & The Whale in at #16 with their 2nd album First Days Of Spring (yes in September), proof again that a flop single does not always lead to a flop album.

 

Next week's releeases

Interesting singles and albums chart battles are likely to take place next week. New singles are due from Mika, Pixie Lott, Muse, Mini Viva and David Gray amongst others. The Beatles are due to release remastered versions of all their albums, along with Jamie T, Cilla Black and Sean Kingston amongst others.

 

Personal opinion of 007!

I have always hated Jay Z and all he stands for including his music, so that does not endear me to much to Run This Town, however it does feature Rihanna which is its only redeeming factor for me. I admit to quite liking some of the Sugababes previous songs (Push The Button and About You Now particularly), however I don't really like this Get Sexy. I hate the Wale record and don't care too much for the Jamie T or Prodigy's new ones either. On a more positive note, I am happy to see Friendly Fires get their first top 40 hit as I think they have a good unique sound.

Hmm... it seems to be a bit more detailed than last week so, well done. :D

Edited September 7, 200915 yr by FM11

Thanks for posting - good read!

The Album chart is going to be pretty chock a block this week with the re-mastered Beatles albums, 13 altogether, hopefully not all 13 will chart inside the top 40 I don't have £130 quid on me to splash on them especially with the credit crunch, and some albums will have the Mercury Awards knock on effect after Tuesday.

 

Thanks for sharing, great read.

The Album chart is going to be pretty chock a block this week with the re-mastered Beatles albums, 13 altogether, hopefully not all 13 will chart inside the top 40 I don't have £130 quid on me to splash on them especially with the credit crunch, and some albums will have the Mercury Awards knock on effect after Tuesday.

 

Thanks for sharing, great read.

Chers Mikey! Yeh it'll be an interesting one ... I think Sgt Pepper will end up #1 with Revolver or Abbey Road a close second. Florence, Kasabian and possibly Bat For Lashes should all benefit from their Mercury nominations too. I reckon Pixie will take the singles #1, just ahead of Mika's newby.

Sugababes - Get Sexy enters at #2

Many people fully expected Get Sexy to give Sugababes their 6th number one hit single, however in the end they settle for runner up position. If this goes no further (highly unlikely), this will be the first time a Sugababes single has peaked at #2. However this beats the #3 peak of last year's lead single Girls and bodes well for their 7th album. Get Sexy has more of a dancey feel than previous hits and contains an interpolation of Right Said Fred's tongue-in-cheek hit I'm Too Sexy.

it would have been their 7th #1 btw.

 

1 - Freak Like Me

2 - Round Round

3 - Hole In The Head

4 - Push The Button

5 - Walk This Way

6 - About You Now

Great read, but three minor problems - one just pointed out is that Sugababes already have 6 #1s, the other two both being related to Friendly Fires.

 

1) Even before this week, the album has been in the top 40 - it debuted at #38, this year reached a new peak of #37 and a few weeks later yet another new peak of #36.

2) The album re-release was this week, and the album shot up to #21. It seems the single version of Kiss Of Life was either never added to iTunes or never impacted, as all its sales came from the album version (as a bonus track)

Edited September 7, 200915 yr by Brayden

Great read, but three minor problems - one just pointed out is that Sugababes already have 6 #1s, the other two both being related to Friendly Fires.

 

1) Even before this week, the album has been in the top 40 - it debuted at #38, this year reached a new peak of #37 and a few weeks later yet another new peak of #36.

2) The album re-release was this week, and the album shot up to #21. It seems the single version of Kiss Of Life was either never added to iTunes or never impacted, as all its sales came from the album version (as a bonus track)

OK I wasn't counting Walk This Way but yeh it would have been their 7th #1 including this collaboration.

 

Yeh I noticed the 2 points about Friendly Fires album just after I posted and meant to go in and correct.

 

What would a commentary be without the odd mistake or 2 eh! Thanks for letting me know though! :rolleyes: