Bigger Al

They have missed out 7 songs now and have reached no 25 before 5 o'clock. There will have to be lots of "fillers" between now at 7 o'clock.

The songs I was referring to were 5 Colours in Her Hair, Obviously and All About You which as you rightly say were not their first 3 singles, but they were their first 3 number 1's. As this song is better than some of their other hits, I think they will still be number 1 on Sunday, but will drop out of the top 5 next week.

McFly will be number 1 on Sunday, but I agree with the posters that say they could drop out of the top 20 next week. I think Kid Rock will take over at the top next week. For the record, I actually liked McFly's first 3 singles, but the rest have been instantly forgettable. Having said this, they must have made a few decent songs to have built up the fan base in the first place. It was strange to think that 1 act had 2 number ones and neither made the top 200 sellers of the year. Their albums have not done very well either. Edit - just watched the video, and One for the Radio is better than their last few efforts. Deserves top 10 on merit, but not number 1.

I don't think The Ting Tings will "hang on", but will be number 1 comfortably. Next week could be a different story with the excellent single by Rihanna being out on physical. Looking at the album chart, we could have half the Top 40 being new entries, and we look certain to have new entries at numbers 1 & 2 on both the singles chart and album chart.

Agree with 80's pop kid re Madonna and Corinne Baily Rae being the last time 2 new entries were at number 1 & 2. This occured on Feb 26th 2006. Have now heard the Ting Tings and its not as bad as I had feared. Rihanna should be number 1 though.

I predict the top 5 as follows: 1) Ting Tings 2) Rihanna 3) Madonna & Justin 4) Sam Sparro 5) Wiley Coldplay will drop down as they had dropped from the number 1 slot on I Tunes. Must confess I have not heard the song by the Ting Tings yet, I suspect I have not missed much though!

The title track of Scooter's album sounds like a cover of Glass of Champange by Sailor.

Can somebody say which Duffy song is Top 40 please?

After reading some good comments, I watched the video to Love Song by Sara Bareilles and I think it is a brilliant track. With the right airplay, it could do another Hey There Delilah. The video is very good as well. I predict number 2 for this track.

I would not start celebrating just yet. Madonna is only 420 copies ahead and as Estelle is out on physicals, she may catch up on Friday and Saturday. Madonna is still hot favourite to be number 1 though.

If Estelle reaches number 1, this will be the first time since 1983 as far as I can see, that 3 consecutive singles would have been number 1 for 5 or more weeks. The songs back then were Karma Chameleon (6 weeks), Uptown Girl (5 weeks) and that Christmas classic, Only You by the Flying Pickets (5 weeks). My periction for the Top 5 is similar to the current midweeks 1. Estelle 2. Madonna & Justin 3. September 4. Sam Sparro 5. Flo Rida ft T Pain

Westlife's first 7 singles all went straight in at number 1 and it would have been 11 if it hadn't been for Bob the Builder. In all Westlife's first 22 singles all made top 5, but their 23rd only made number 62.

After seeing the information in this thread I will revise my top 5 prediction. Leona will obviously not be in the top 5, and I don't think Madonna will be there either. In fact I think she will remain at no 7. Sam Sparro seems to have literally come from nowhere to be a contender. 1. Estelle 2. Sam Sparro 3. Duffy 4. Flo Rida 5. Nickelback (believe it or not) or possibly One Republic

I was surprised that Madonna only made number 7 last week, but I will predict the top 5 as follows: 1. Estelle ft Kanye West - American Boy 2. Duffy - Mercy 3. Madonna ft Justin Timberlake - 4 Minutes 4. Flo Rida ft T-Pain - Low 5. Leona Lewis - Better in Time Sam Sparro will be just outside the top 5 I think.

Sorry, Martin, but I thought Estelle was No 72 this week, but she was No 72 the previous week and dropped out of the top 75 this week. Still, it is a very unusual chart run a bit reminiscent of Blue by Eiffel 69 which got to number 39 (I think) on import sales, dropped out of the top 40 then went straight in at number 1 the following week.

Estelle will definitely be number 1 on Sunday. I think the best Madonna can hope for this week in number 3 because it was only available yesterday. American Boy is an excellent pop song and deserves the number 1 slot this week. If Estelle makes it, am I right in saying she will be the biggest climber from within the top 100 to go to number 1? I vaguely recall a few years ago some copies of one of Westlife's singles were leaked and they just got into the top 200 before climbing to number 1 the following week.

Surprised to see Muse number 1 in the album chart. I guess they have a cult following who are buying it on the first day so I would be amazed if Duffy isn't back at number 1 by the end of the week. Madonna will struggle to get to number 1 this week as the download is only available today. I predict the top 5 singles as follows: 1 Estelle 2 Duffy 3 One Republic 4 Madonna 5 Leona

I am a Leona fan and was hoping she would have her 3rd number 1 on Sunday. But I must take my hat off and congratulate Duffy for a 5th week at number 1. Duffy won fair and square and I think will be top for a 6th week. Nobody has pointed out that the CD was virtually a triple A side because I bought it, as I am sure others did, for the 3rd track, You Bring Me Down which is not on either version of the album.

I think Leona will be number 1 or 2 by Sunday. Don't forget the Sports Relief show will be on Friday so expect huge sales on Saturday. Also, Mercy was only "Top 40" at the same stage and it was number 1 by a healthy margin. It is unrealistic for Leona to have the same success with BIT as opposed to her other 2 official singles, but even a number 2 would still be great with so many people having bought the album.

Using the "3.5" rule, Duffy should sell around 200,000 copies of Rockferry this week. I suspect Nick Cave will drop down to number 4 or 5 by the end of the week with Amy dropping to number 2 and Mika static at number 3.

I don't think Goldfrapp were cheated out of the number 1 slot, they didn't sell anything like enough copies. If the 2 versions of Back to Black were combined it would have been number 1 for the last 3 weeks. Duffy will definitely be number 1 this week as she is outselling the number 2 by 6:1 according to the Sunday chart thread.

I can remember a few years ago when they only played the new entries from 40 - 21 between 5.15 and 5.30 when they counted down the whole top 20. They played the previous week's top3 (I think) and some new releases until 4.30 and then played the album chart featuring 6 tracks up to 5.00 and then there was the retro before they moved on to the singles chart. Can't remember who was hosting the show, but I think it may have been when JK & Joel started.

I bow to your superior knowledge, but it seems that Duffy has sold another 10k copies in one day. As there is bound to be a higher demand for physical CD's on Friday and Saturday would this not mean she is still in line to sell around 80k copies? When do the midweek sales figures cut off? I always assumed it was up to midnight on the previous day. Thanks for your weekly chart commentary which I enjoy reading very much.

As Mercy is now out on physicals and they were only available from Monday, I would have thought 70k would be a little conservative. I think 100k is out of reach but would expect 80-85k.

I think the charts are more interesting than in 2000 when there was a new number 1 practically every week and 4-6 new entries in the Top 10 most weeks. As songs are staying longer at number 1 these days, it is logically more difficult to get to number 1 so therefore it means a lot more when you actually do get there. If anything the Album charts are getting more like the singles charts were 5-10 years ago with albums entering at number 1 then dropping very quickly eg Jack Johnson, The Feeling and, no doubt next week, Goldfrapp. Meanwhile back at the chart predictions, it seems that the Brits effect is still apparent especially for Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson.