John_Squire

Whenever the X-Factor (plus Kylie, Pet Shop Boys and the Manics) stop releasing singles.

I think Bruno will definitely clear 100k next week. I was expecting him to sell about the same as Katy Perry first week, but I actually think Bruno is probably bigger in Britain right now than Katy was when she released Teenage Dream. I don't think Adele will sell anywhere near 150k though. What did 19 do, 80k? 120K max for Adele, double platinum overall this year.

Adele will do 100k. I would say Bruno would do 80k but he could do 100k. Adele to edge it, but Bruno should go to #1 at some point.

I actually think Adele has a chance for top 2. RITD is getting a LOT of airplay, and it's really bloody good! IMO it's easily her best song yet. Chasing Pavements got to #2 with fairly decent sales for the time, and she wasn't nearly as famous then (she had the BBC Sound Of... hype, etc, but since then she's had a massive album and of course MYFML). I think Bruno, Britney and Adele could all clear 70k next week.

Valerie. I don't hate it but it's surely going to go soon...

Bruno and Britney top 2. I fancy Britney to do it but not by much. Adele #5, she'll get the #1 album with over 100k when she releases. The other two lower top 10? Then again what else would be top 5? Jessie J probably, but will Rihanna still be outselling Adele (who I can see doing over 50k easily). It could well be 4 new ones and Bruno in the top 5.

Stronger, though most of the songs mentioned above are OK by me to go (not Give It To Me though, it's great!)

I doubt that these closures will mean the end of HMV on the high street, but give it 20 years or so (maybe less) and it will probably be very scarce indeed (maybe big stores like Oxford Street will stay open for a long time to promote the brand, but small-town branches will probably die off). For probably everyone on this site, CDs (or at least physical music, cassettes, vinyl or whatever) have always been around, and so have the shops to sell them in. For someone born after 2000, certainly 2010, they will as a general rule have grown up with downloads being the main way of buying (or stealing) music. They won't have had the experience of physically buying singles and albums from a shop like anyone born pre-millennium will have. Those who aren't nostalgic about that old fashioned way of getting music (and some will be obviously) won't be too bothered about not having record stores IMO. CDs will keep going for a long time - and maybe vinyl will re-emerge as the collector's item of choice. Small independent record stores will stay open selling what they can, because with those kinds of shops it's about more than just selling product. But HMV? Probably not going to last past...let's be generous and say 2040. Probably sooner. I'd be more worried about Waterstones and other bookshops closing - if Kindles etc continue to take off, then all new books will be electronic files at some point - with physical copies being sold as high-price collector's items. Not for a while yet though...

Though I'm not generally a fan of Westlife singles (probably about 1/4 are bearable, many are simply $h!te), I would like them to keep up their all-top 10s run. Girls Aloud and the Spice Girls (and Pink and Blue) broke theirs with number 11s, so it would be good if Westlife could keep theirs up. It won't, though. Top 20. Probably another number 11...

I'm quite surprised at how 7" singles sales have fallen so much recently. Weren't they up about five/six years ago? I remember there being a news report about five years ago saying something along the lines of 'the young people think it's cool to buy vinyl again'. And HMVs in particular always sold a reasonable selection up until 2009/10. I suppose any short-term boom must have coincided with the 2003-06 period when guitar music, always more popular on vinyl, was dominant - 7" singles aren't really an urban/rap/dance format, and certainly aren't for pop/r'n'b any more, and these are more popular genres now. I suppose the slump in 12" sales is due to DJs playing everything from their laptops.

There must have been some massive sales back in the 70s (obviously figures are very scarce). Slade for example - the bulk of Merry Xmas... sales must have come back in 1973 but the song was only in the chart for 9 weeks (5 at number 1). Another Brick In The Wall too - only 12 weeks top 75 but 5 at number 1 in 79/80

Human, surprised it's still there!

150k/500k. 500k could be over-generous though - potentially 350-400k for the week. Total 2010 sales anywhere from 600k to 900k I think.

Parallel Lines is probably their best overall although I have at times preferred 'Blondie', 'Autoamerican' and 'Eat To The Beat' (not Plastic Letters though, never that fussed on it). So not my personal outright favourite but a worthy best album.

One Direction, cause they're best suited to the Syco machine (and as a band only have a realistic shelf life of 4-5 years max, probably less)

Thought Adele was out earlier than that so voted for her, probably Cheryl or Bruno though.

Highs: Return to more 2000/2001 chart patterns - top 5 hits leaving the top 40 after 8-10 weeks YBC selling absolute bucketloads for a dance track High sales Rumer going top 20 with 'Slow' Lows: Many forgettable/crappy number 1 singles All the X-Factor re-entries Lack of anything remotely 'rock/indie' in the upper reaches of the chart most weeks Tinchy, Dizzee and Taio releasing absolute $h!te There are lots more, these are just off the top of my head.

No-one from the 1890s got to number 1 then :( Does anyone have the same for albums?

Apart from the 50s ones I don't know, I'm not averse to any of these: 2009 Rage Against the Machine - "Killing in the Name" 2003 Michael Andrews & Gary Jules - "Mad World" 2002 Girls Aloud - "Sound of the Underground" 1998 Spice Girls - "Goodbye" 1997 Spice Girls - "Too Much" 1996 Spice Girls - "2 Become 1" 1995 Michael Jackson - "Earth Song" 1994 East 17 - "Stay Another Day" 1988 Cliff Richard - "Mistletoe and Wine" 1987 Pet Shop Boys - "Always on My Mind" 1986 Jackie Wilson - "Reet Petite" 1985 Shakin' Stevens - "Merry Christmas Everyone" 1983 The Flying Pickets - "Only You" 1982 Renée and Renato - "Save Your Love" 1981 The Human League - "Don't You Want Me" 1979 Pink Floyd - "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" 1978 Boney M - "Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord" 1977 Wings - "Mull of Kintyre" 1976 Johnny Mathis - "When A Child Is Born (Soleado)" 1975 Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody" 1974 Mud - "Lonely This Christmas" 1973 Slade - "Merry Xmas Everybody 1971 Benny Hill - "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)" 1968 The Scaffold - "Lily the Pink" 1967 The Beatles - "Hello, Goodbye" 1966 Tom Jones - "Green, Green Grass of Home" 1965 The Beatles - "Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out" 1964 The Beatles - "I Feel Fine" 1963 The Beatles - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" 1962 Elvis Presley - "Return to Sender"

Al Martino, first from the 1920s :D I'd hazard guesses at: Ruby Murray for the 1930s Frankie Lymon for the 1940s (possibly Paul Anka) Frankie Laine for the 1910s

Simon's harping on about Matt's cold - wtf?! Simon with 'I've had a cold', and did he say something like 'I'm not a singer but I've got to do things with my throat'?? I'm sorry but IMO that's a load of $h!te. Simon may have had a bad cold perhaps rendering speaking hard but at the end of the day this would not possibly screw up his chances of giving a good and important performance - he is not a bloody singer! I don't actually think that Matt, even if he had sounded much worse than he did, would not make the final - but it is obviously a possibility if the voting was close (don't think he'd be last, but possibly 3rd/4th?) I guessed that what Simon was getting at was that Matt was performing OK so why go on about his cold at all - but it came across to me as Simon saying Matt was making bull$h!t excuses. Anyway, having a bad cold would be a genuine excuse for sounding crap - which Matt didn't (except at the end of YAAW) - lots of singers miss gigs due to colds/flu/etc, and at least Matt (and Mary) tried their best.

Human!

Best performances: easily the first ones for everyone. Rebecca: 1st, brilliant, 2nd, technically good but very boring Mary: 1st, good despite being out of time towards the end, 2nd, typical Mary, decent Cher: 1st, shockingly good! Probably my favourite of hers, 2nd, high-school karaoke yet again Matt: 1st, good male version of YGTL until the choir, 2nd, predictable 2010 choice, OK but missed quite a lot of notes 1D: 1st, actually pulled that off (if that was a single would easily be #1), 2nd, tolerable inasmuch as one can bear CC without smashing the source of the song! Less mawkish than the SP version at any rate. So: Rebecca 1 Cher 1 1D 1 Matt 1 Mary 1 Mary 2 Cher 2 1D 2 Matt 2 Rebecca 2 I suppose that makes Cher my favourite on the night though Rebecca's first performance was easily the best of night, no contest.

Mary's doing 'The Key, The Secret' by Urban Cookie Collective One Direction are doing 'Flawless' by The Ones Rebecca's doing 'Hands Up' by Trevor and Simon Or are they :o

Favourite singer: Matt when not growling Favourite person: Mary Threw a vote Ms Byrne's way.