Hassaan

I guess it's subjective but what Sam Ryder had really worked, in my opinion. Doesn't need to be grand, but suitable for the song. I think ultimately people vote for the performance but the staging can help. I think it had the opposite effect last year.

They've introduced a golden buzzer to the live shows: https://www.itv.com/britainsgottalent/articles/introducing-the-live-semi-final-golden-buzzer

It has, but we're going back 2 years since that last happened. It's probably even harder now to debut at #1.

An odd one cos the HMV listing has it down as the 7th when it shows up on Google Search, but the 30th like you say when you enter the website.

#3 in the midweeks as of today. Physicals out today. Before anyone worries too much, neither Ordinary or Pink Pony Club entered at #1. Very few tracks do nowadays.

I have high expectations for this as much as anyone, but it hasn't even been out for a day. There's another 6 days of sales/streams to be considered, and the first week is not as big a thing as it was 15 years ago.

I really like it.

I am loving the fact we're finally getting a new mainline Donkey Kong game.

I have previously described Subtract and Autumn Variations as a passion project, but I think it's fair to say Subtract was not. It was just a lower key release given the subject matter, he quite clearly wasn't going for big pop or anything.

It appears to be out in territories such as New Zealand (and that part of the world).

I just completed the series today, watching at weekly pace. It was a definite step up on the previous one for me. That one felt too heavy on villains, if anything. I think they handled the Libby & Jared stuff as well as they could have. I will miss Amy though if she's not back. I'm glad they have given Donte a bit more to do as well. Nicky didn't feature much but her & Debs scrapping got old. I'm liking Neil a lot more too.

It's a tricky one because if I was him, I wouldn't drastically change his sound. You don't want to alienate the massive number of people who are already your fans to cater to those who are not. I think anyone over 25 at least will have grown up with him - they'll have been teenagers when he was breaking out.

Basically anyone born after 2010.

I think you're sadly quite right with regards to TikTok working against him, but I'm optimistic that he's got a strong enough fanbase to weather all of that. Even if he can't get a #1 with this, he had #1 singles that spanned a period of 9 years (2014 to 2023) and that's a pretty good innings.

I can't see it not being #1, but sales wise, I dunno. It could be on the top end of what we've seen this year so far though.