Kit Curran

Not odd at all, it's the January effect. Nothing happens in music in January, nobody you've ever heard of wants to release anything new, so the music press seem to cast around for someone unknown to throw all the hype onto and they dominate the charts all through the month. Then they usually slip back into obscurity, never to be heard of again. Obvious examples are Owl City and Just Jack (yeah, he's had minor hits, but no way did he live up to the January 2007 hype) Mika and Adele look like they're going the same way. Only Lady Gaga has been able to sustain a good chart career on the back of a January debut hit.

6. ( 2 ) Marco Borsato & Guus Meeuwis - Schouder aan schouder This is a Holland World Cup thing isn't it? I've seen a YouTube video of them performing with loads of football and orange lighting effects. It'd be the only reason such a middle of the road song can appear in the hardcore Dutch charts. <_< I like it though! Much better than 'Shout'.

1st Feb The Dawn Chorus feat Frank Turner - Carnivalesque What song is this? Is it an alternative version of which I thought was called 'The Guilt'. I don't know anything about this band except someone sent me this video cause they reckoned I'd like it and yeah, it's pretty good, I'd download this. :dance:

Usual January hype - because it's a dismal, boring month, the media look desperately for something to hype up as the 'Sound' of the new year, and with very little opposition, it tops the chart immediately... such as Mika, who in all honesty, really isn't a good artist and won't have much longevity. Just Jack the same year was a similar situation. And could Basshunter's awful guff been number one for five weeks in ANY other month than January? I think not. The only artist to get past the January hype and have chart toppers later in the year had been Gaga.

Don't remember Please Sir, but I do remember Ralph in Dear John with his motorcyle combination. And 'Dazzling Darren' DJ act, which just involved saying 'boogaloo' completely deadpan at points during the song. Dear John was a funny programme, sad that 'John' is dead too. :(

Probably because the Americans hadn't yet got over the break-up of the Police! That summer, 1986, was chock-full of songs that were heard a lot on the radio, but didn't become big hits. Two examples, 'Right Between The Eyes' by Wax and Bangles 'Going Down To Liverpool', numbers 60 and 56 respectively, but never off the radio that summer.

You may huh, but hey, I have the weirdest selection of musical taste of anyone I know. I bet you don't know anybody in Germany with both Helene Fischer AND Tobias Luetzenkirchen on their Ipod! And I'm English, haha. :D Come to think of it, that would be one freaky collaboration. It might give some of Helene's, shall we say, older fans heart failure! :o

I never said she had to enter with a Schlager song. ;) Helene Fischer is young, attractive, has a nice personality, was born in Eastern Europe, and is a really good singer, so why not ESC, but with a more modern song? She's better than a lot of the stuff she sings to be honest - such as the current poor single. (I quite like Schalger, in an ironic way, even way back to Cindy und Bert and Juergen Marcus ha ha, but even I've decided that Helene's new single is rubbish!) But I've heard her sing standards, also sing in English, and there could be a lot more to her than being trapped in a Schlager ghetto. Maybe we'll never know, as she releases yet another Schlager album for the homes of the 60+ and the Majorca beaches, possibly she's happy there. But it would be nice to see her stretch herself musically and as an entertainer.

Considering the exposure she gets on TV variety shows, Helene Fischer charts quite low in singles, but Zaubermond is still in the Top 50 albums after 63 weeks! :cheer: At the risk of ridicule for liking Schlager (well, some of it), I will admit though that Helene's new song is nowhere near as good as the top songs from her previous albums. So it's weird that it's charted higher than 'Lass mich in dein Leben', which was as close as Schlager gets to an epic... I'm curious to see where the new album will enter, my guess is 8 or 9, because I think her popularity peaked with Zaubermond. It will need some pretty catchy songs on it to match Zaubermond, Schlager thrives on the hummability and joining in factor, lol. My guess is that it won't last 10 weeks on the chart based on this first song. With her Russian background, can't they see that the next move is Eurovision, instead of an ever speeding conveyor belt of rushed albums? She'd get the best German result since the 90s.

Uqxt9Mt962U Chart Commentary: It's her sixth number one in this chart, and her second to go straight in at the top - Madonna has a new entry at the top of the chart this week with 'Celebration'. About to release a grand retrospective of her twenty-five year chart career, Madge celebrates her silver jubilee with an instant number one, and a track which continues 2009's dance-centric trend. Last week's cricket-dominated top three is broken up with Shannon Noll dropping down to number two with 'Shine' and the two Duckworth Lewis Method singles dropping out of the top five. Taking their place are the long-running collaboration between David Guetta and Akon, which finally starts to roar up the chart, and the R n B 'supergroup' involving Jay Z, Rhianna and Kanye West... though 'Run This Town' had been expected to challenge for number one, so maybe a new entry at four is something on a disappointment. The other brand new entry in the chart is from Muse at 14, in what is otherwise a fairly slow moving chart... but as Autumn gets going, a raft of new singles from big names looks set to make week after week up to Christmas a tense battle for the top spot... This week's chart 1 (NEW) Celebration - Madonna (New number one!) 2 (1) Shine – Shannon Noll 3 (12) Sexy Bitch – David Guetta feat Akon 4 (NEW) Run This Town - Jay Z, Rhianna and Kanye West 5 (5) Holiday – Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris and Chrome 6 (3) Test Match Special – Duckworth Lewis Method 7 (8) Boys and Girls – Pixie Lott 8 (2) Meeting Mr Miandad – Duckworth Lewis Method 9 (10) Outta Here – Esmee Denters 10 (7) Remedy – Little Boots 11 (4) Ready For The Weekend - Calvin Harris 12 (17) I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas 13 (9) Get Sexy - Sugababes 14 (NEW) Uprising – Muse 15 (11) Dressed To Kill – Preston 16 (6) Get Shaky – Ian Carey Project 17 (14) Nobody Does It Better – Inger-Lise Rypdal 18 (23) I'll Be Around – Daryl Hall and John Oates 19 (13) Grand Guignol – Bajofondo 20 (21) You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift

_uAr4Mnb6N4 Oh the irony, how England's Ashes cricket victory has taken an Australian to the top of the Radio Newtown chart. Shannon Noll was Australia's very own 'Pop Idol' four years ago, and hit the top of the charts there with his song 'Shine'. But for most people in this country, it's known as the theme tune to Cricket on Five, and with this having been the most thrilling of Ashes summers, Shannon finds his song as the most popular of the week, denying Calvin Harris the chance to take over from himself at number one. Despite having overtaken the song he's produced for Dizzee Rascal with his own title-track 'Ready For The Weekend', Calvin remains stuck at number two, with 'Holiday' dropping to three. The Ian Carey Project and Grand Guignon complete the top five, but it seems the Top Ten has gone cricket mad this week! Not only does Shannon rule at the top, but there are TWO hits from Neil Hannon's cricket inspired project Duckworth Lewis Method. 'Test Match Special' entered last week at 13 and climbs to six today, but with more momentum, the jaunty 'Meeting Mr Miandad' shoots up from 33 to 8. But will the current cricket mania last long enough to keep these songs high? Preston continues his steady progress and is in something like a cricket sandwich at seven, and three talented ladies, Dutch star Esmee Denters, our own Little Boots and the American diva Mariah Carey, have Top 20 entries at 17, 18 and 19 respectively. 1 (4) Shine - Shannon Noll (New number one!) 2 (2) Ready For The Weekend – Calvin Harris feat Mary Pierce 3 (1) Holiday – Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris and Chrome 4 (5) Get Shaky - Ian Carey Project 5 (3) Grand Guignol – Bajofondo 6 (13) Test Match Special – Duckworth Lewis Method 7 (10) Dressed To Kill – Preston 8 (33) Meeting Mr Miandad – Duckworth Lewis Method 9 (9) Jump – Flo-Rida feat Nelly Furtado 10 (6) Paparazzi – Lady GaGa 11 (8) I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight - U2 12 (20) Dreamer – Jacksons 13 (12) You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift 14 (7) Evacuate The Dancefloor – Cascada 15 (15) Bicycle – Memory Tapes 16 (14) So You Win Again – Septimus 17 (23) Outta Here – Esmee Denters 18 (26) Remedy – Little Boots 19 (34) Obsession – Mariah Carey 20 (11) Poppiholla – Chicane And here's the new Number One! Z_9id4I0pCw

etJA23vWQ8A Having already had the biggest hit of the year so far, Calvin Harris dominates the chart this week, with hits at number one and number two in the new countdown. At the top of the chart, it's a repeat of the combination that hit the top last year: Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris and Chrome combined to make 'Dance Wiv Me' one of the biggest songs of 2008, now in 2009 'Holiday', after a steady climb up the Top 20, finally makes it to the top for the unstoppable trio. What Calvin thinks about the track he produced keeping his own track off the top of the chart, but 'Ready For The Weekend', his collaboration with the shoe-loving Mary Pierce, also climbs two places to number two. Bajofondo, the South American instrumentalists who have topped the chart for three weeks, drop to number three, but two strong contenders for number one climb into the top five - Ian Carey Project's dance smash 'Get Shaky' climbs six places to 5, but he is overtaken by Aussie idol Shannon Noll, and his cricket coverage theme 'Shine', which jumps to number four in the run-up to the final crucial Ashes Test Match this week. It's not the only cricket-related hit this week, as Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon's side project Duckworth-Lewis Method climb into the Top 20 at 13 with 'Test Match Special'. Other entries into a slow moving lower half of the chart are at 14, where Norwegian band Septimus' iconically bad cover version of a classic Hot Chocolate hit climbs for comedy value; and at 20, the Michael Jackson memorials continue, 'Show You The Way' drops off the chart but climbing today is the poignant Jacksons song 'Dreamer', which will keep the memory of the legendary singer in the chart for a few mor weeks. Here's the chart... 1 (3) Holiday - Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris and Chrome (New number one!) 2 (4) Ready For The Weekend – Calvin Harris feat Mary Pierce 3 (1) Grand Guignol – Bajofondo 4 (13) Shine - Shannon Noll 5 (11) Get Shaky – Ian Carey Project 6 (2) Paparazzi – Lady Ga-Ga 7 (5) Evacuate The Dancefloor – Cascada 8 (6) I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight – U2 9 (9) Jump – Flo-Rida feat Nelly Furtado 10 (15) Dressed To Kill – Preston 11 (7) Poppiholla - Chicane 12 (12) You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift 13 (23) Test Match Special - Duckworth-Lewis Method 14 (21) So You Win Again – Septimus 15 (17) Bicycle – Memory Tapes 16 (10) Bichiluz – Los Auténticos Decadentes 17 (14) Diamond Rings – Chipmunk feat Emeli Sande 18 (16) Foot Of The Mountain – A-Ha 19 (8) Bulletproof – La Roux 20 (32) Dreamer – Jacksons

Ef-rfb-qgRE No change in the top two this week, Bajofondo stay at number one with 'Grand Guignol', keep Lady Ga-Ga's 'Paparazzi' at two. But Calvin Harris continues to enjoy a fantastic 2009, now placing two tracks inside the top five. The one he's produced for Dizzee Rascal and Chrome, 'Holiday' climbs to number three, just ahead of his own hit, 'Ready For The Weekend'. It could be a fair bet that Calvin will chalk up his fourth number one next week, but with which song? Or maybe some of the exciting new tracks entering the chart this week could beat him to it. You would think that U2 (up four places to six), Flo-Rida and Nelly Furtado (up eight to nine) and Taylor Swift (climbing seven to 12) would have high hopes of a top five place next Tuesday, but not with what's coming up behind... The big features of the Radio Newtown chart this year have been the twin sucesses of trancy dance music and a revival of early 80s sounding electronica, and both these are reflected in the new entries, with The Ian Carey Project's club smash 'Get Shaky!' the highest of these at 11. Meanwhile, former Ordinary Boys singer Preston is going in for the 80s sound with his excellent new 'Dressed To Kill', leaving the ska scene behind for a slice of Fiction Factory/Blancmange type action at 15. And Memory Tapes with their hypnotic 'Bicycle' comes in at 17. But a strong outside bet for the top enters at 13 today. Shannon Noll was one of the early contestants in the 'Asutralian Idol' competition, but has been virtually unknown on these shores since... except that for the last few weeks, cricket fans have heard his voice accompanying Five's highlights programmes of the Ashes Tests on TV... 'Shine', a song that hit the top in Oz back in 2005, is accompanying England and Australia's hopes to hit the top with bat and ball, and with one crucial Test still to play, five more plays could propel it to the upper reaches of the Radio Newtown chart before August's out. Here's the chart... 1 (1) Grand Guignol - Bajofondo (Third week) 2 (2) Paparazzi – Lady GaGa 3 (6) Holiday – Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris and Chrome 4 (8) Ready For The Weekend - Calvin Harris 5 (3) Evacuate The Dancefloor – Cascada 6 (10) I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight – U2 7 (5) Poppiholla – Chicane 8 (4) Bulletproof – La Roux 9 (17) Jump – Flo-Rida feat Nelly Furtado 10 (9) Bichiluz – Los Auténticos Decadentes 11 (NEW) Get Shaky! - Ian Carey Project 12 (19) You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift 13 (NEW) Shine - Shannon Noll 14 (13) Diamond Rings – Chipmunk feat Emeli Sande 15 (NEW) Dressed To Kill – Preston 16 (15) Foot Of The Mountain – A-Ha 17 (NEW) Bicycle – Memory Tapes 18 (7) Show You The Way – Jacksons 19 (13) Battlefield – Jordin Sparks 20 (11) Story Of A Heart – Benny Andersson Band

After another week's break - the chart was ready to post but Buzzjack was down - the Radio Newtown Top 20 returns... it's still number one, it's Top of the Charts! wx84REDFnE0 The tango sounds of Uruguyan-Argentinian combo Bajofondo continue to dominate as their massive instrumental 'Grand Guignol' spends a second week at number one, but a surprise challenger has emerged in the form of Lady GaGa's 'Paparazzi'. Surprise, because Gaga has never charted in this top 20 before, as her brand of vocoded electronic dance showed little sign of impressing the Radio Newtown audience... but a catchy melody and a little bit of Gwen Stefani sound-alike have done wonders, and the song is a possible number one next week. Maybe poor weather continues to hamper the latest Dizzee Rascal/Calvin Harris collaboration... after Dance Wiv Me went to number one last year, 'Holiday' was widely tipped as a 2009 chart topper, but it does continue to climb, this week up five to number six in an otherwise pretty slow-moving top ten, and could be ready to pounce in the event of a return of summer. Calvin had a number one in his own right a few months ago, and currently has two songs in the top ten, with 'Ready For The Weekend' off his own album climbing to number eight. And a new entry into the top ten, helped by the current Blackberry tv ad, is 'I'll Go Crazy...' by U2, in at ten, though maybe a return to the top isn't as strong a possibility as it was with the more powerful 'Maginificent' a few weeks ago. There's good movement for Chipmunk at 12 and Jordin Sparks at 13, while new entries come from Nelly Furtado in collaboration with Flo-Rida at 17, and Taylor Swift at 19, both names that have graced the top three in the past, though are these singles strong enough to keep up their hitmaking reputations? Here's the chart... 1 (1) Grand Guignol - Bajofondo (Second week) 2 (5) Paparazzi – Lady GaGa 3 (3) Evacuate The Dancefloor – Cascada 4 (2) Bulletproof - La Roux 5 (6) Poppiholla – Chicane 6 (11) Holiday – Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris and Chrome 7 (4) Show You The Way – Jacksons 8 (14) Ready For The Weekend – Calvin Harris feat Mary Pearce 9 (7) Bichiluz – Los Auténticos Decadentes 10 (NEW) I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight – U2 11 (8) Story Of A Heart - Benny Andersson Band 12 (23) Diamond Rings – Chipmunk feat Emeli Sande 13 (20) Battlefield - Jordin Sparks 14 (9) Back Together Again – Daryl Hall and John Oates 15 (16) Foot Of The Mountain – A-Ha 16 (10) Queen Bitch – David Bowie 17 (NEW) Jump – Flo-Rida feat Nelly Furtado 18 (12) Pearl's Dream – Bat For Lashes 19 (NEW) You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift 20 (13) Telegram – Silver Convention And, performing live in the studio, here's Bajofondo, still at number one... gEg59ySj1fU

I hope the public don't fall for Mika again. :puke2: If I have to listen to any more of his drivel, I think I will have to cut off my ears.