Rolling UK Pop/Chart/"Few people would dispute that Elbow have given us the album of the year" Thread 2009

Probably very little. Generally they were designed as loss leader promos for albums.

Also the FT graph cited is misleading - I suspect one showing actual singles sales would have told a very different story.

Things pick up a little, but not to the extent that GaGa's not number one anymore or anything. Howeverrrrr - Stryder's climbed to number 3, which is sort of something; "Sober" gets to 9, and "Heartless" cracketh the top 10 at last at, er, 10. "Breathe Slow" clambers to 13. Yr highest new entry - Franz, with "Ulysses" debuting at a Maximo Park-tastic number 20. And that's with physicals factored in. Still, their being on Domino means they're probably not gonna have to worry about being dropped or anything, which is alright. Jay Sean is at number 23 and is sort of OK in an unremarkable manner, but there's a wee surprise lurking further down - yes, Bon Iver has now had as many top 40 hits as The Bravery, with "Blood Bank" entering at number 37.

White Lies heroically top the album chart for no reason at all, and they're not even in the 2 for £10 or anything. Triumph for real music, I guess. Mraz, Saturdays and UMMGUMMT make their first incursions into the album chart top 10 at 8 thru 10, with Seasick Steve re-entering at 17 off the back of his being featured on BBC 4 last Friday. Antony and The Johnsons are at 18 (DEAL WITH IT, TALVIN SINGH), and some other Seasick Steve album makes its chart debut at 37.

Maybe it's all their adverts on TV and on Spotify.

TOP FIVE ALBUMS
1. To Lose My Life - White Lies
2. The Script - Script
3. Only By The Night - Kings Of Leon
4. The Fame - Lady GaGa
5. Songs For You Truths For Me - James Morrisson

Has there been a worse top 5 in the past year?

Incidentally, despite his singles chart superstardom, Bon Iver's album has yet to grace the UK top 40.

White Lies heroically top the album chart for no reason at all

The White Lies album is selling for under £7 at Sainsbury's.

Seasick Steve re-entering at 17 off the back of his being featured on BBC 4 last Friday

also the Brit nom probably

Also £7 at HMV.

Midweeks:

1 (up from 168!) Lily Allen
2 GaGa
3 Cudi
4 Tinchy
5 Jim Morrison & Nelly F
6 Alesha
7 Kevin Rudolf
8 Beyonce
9 Saturdays
10 Leon and the Kings
11 Tommy Reilly (que?)

In the albums, the Boss at 1, Franz at 2 and, erm, Rifles at 17.

Tommy Reilly was on Mobile Act Unsigned, the indie X-Factor on T4 Sunday mornings.

Rifles (que?)

Bog standard English pseudo-indie beloved of Dermot O'Dreary.

http://designermagazine.tripod.com/TheRiflesPIC1.jpg

That hat guy looks really annoying.

^^^ This is never not true.

Hmmm, I wonder which band they sound exactly like.

http://img.skysports.com/08/05/218x298/TheRifles_841585.jpg

Is it me or does the Lily Allen single sound like 'Calling America' period ELO, a sound I never thought would be revived?

I really like the sound of that song as long as I don't pay attention to the words.

After two whole weeks, Little Boots has vanished from the Radio 1 playlist. Oh. Instead, they look to be giving Ladyhawke another go. Also: first appearance for Chipmunk, and returns for PCD, Wombats, Friendly Fires, Kings of Leon, Red Light Company, Kelly Clarkson and Akon Ft. Kardinal Offishal Ft. Colby O'Donis. Also the fourth single off the Ting Tings album is on the B-List. Still, at least "Hwawt & Cwowld" has finally buggered off.

Wombats? Bit late for "Is this Christmas" init?

Gaga finally trumped by The Triumphant Return Of Lily Allen, garnering her second number one with "Bad Things Are Bad, I Suppose". Except for Alesha's second incursion into the top 10, at number six, nothing else to note up there...

So what else? Well, OrangeUnsignedAct (it might have spaces, but it doesn't feel as though it would) winner Tommy Reilly gets what may end up being the first of many hits for him at number 14. Having watched a couple of episodes of said programme, I can confidently say this might have turned out significantly worse. Then again, having watched a couple of episodes of said programme, I was fairly certain that it wouldn't actually have any impact on anything outside of its allotted running time, so for a top 20 hit to have come out of it... we shall see how developments unfold, eh? Another first-time hit sees Shontelle at 25, and then at 35 THE FRAY ARE BACK, and at 38 ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS ARE BACK, and at 39 The Airborne Toxic Event are, um, a band, I guess.

Albums - BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCE is at number one, with Franz Ferdinand slotting in behind. Rifles (why?) at 27, and Naturally 7 - NO INSTRUMENTS, JUST VOICES, FUCK YOU "MOGWAI" - at 29. Ah, January, we barely knew ye...

Lillah has herself a merry little second week ahead of Gaga, with Tinchy Stryder up at number three. Right behind them - new entry! Eminem = Back! Lovely. Daniel Merriweather's shit-awful "Change" pings in at eight.

Below the ten - "T-Shirt" climbs to 13, "Gives You Hell" climbs to 20. Coldplay's "Life In Technicolor 2" takes a bow at 28. Airborne Toxic Event are up to 33, and N-Dubz get (I think) their third top 40 hit at number 40.

Bruce stays almighty in the albums. However, who's that roaring up to number 3? It's Fleet Foxes, that's who! They get advertised on telly now and everything! The View's Very Important Second Album debuts at 4. That also gets advertised on telly, but they're not allowed to call it "Which Bitch" on telly. Elbow are also on the climb, up to 6 from 17, and Alesha is knocking on the door of the top 10 for the first time in ages, up to number 12. One behind her is A Buddy Holly Compilation; two further down, Luciano Pavarotti's "Duets" album; four after that, The Love Songs Of UB40. Yes. Then at 23, The Cover Songs Of James Taylor. Uh-huh. And at 27, The Love Songs Of Luther Vandross. Officially eight places less good than The Love Songs Of UB40.

Incidentally, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand drops from 2 to 21 this week. Hmm.

They're so Last Night.

The strongest top ten singles chart in years - James Morrison the only real dud in there unless you count 50 Cent's deflating/delibidinising contribution to "Crack A Bottle." If that doesn't get to number one I'm putting all the blame on him.

Sad about the evaporation of interest in Franz because their new album is very good indeed.

So, Saint Etienne high in the midweeks? Hmm?

Well, Top 30, so it looks like another case of straight in at 26 and straight out again.

They pulled out the stops: 3 formats, each limited to 1500, signed I don't know how many, and distributed via orders off their website linked to an affiliated (i.e. chart counting) company.

Also, downloads.

Chart hyping is so 2004.

Sad about the evaporation of interest in Franz because their new album is very good indeed.

someone tell me about the dub mixes please.
are they proper dubbed up (a la mad professor/on-u for example), or just instrumentals ?

no, they're proper dubbed up dubs and certainly as good as if not better than the album proper.

damn .. going to regret not getting it then aren't i?
i did think that the dub version would be a lot more up my street ..

Well, HMV Online seem to have the box, still.

£45 though!

I mean, I'm sure all those 7" singles look very nice, and the DVD is worth one eplay, maybe two. But, let's call CD1 at £8, and CD2 (the dubz) as £8 also (being generous), that's an extra £29 for a bunch of 7" singles that'll never get played, a DVD and a nice box.

This is what Downloading is supposed to be for. And is it? No.

Downstairs in the singles:

The Fray get dunked to 42 after one week in the top 40; "YOO-LUH-SEEES" falls 20 to 26; Tommy Reilly drops from 14 to 60. Kyla's "Do You Mind" drops from 48 to 55, and its continued marooning on Radio 1's 1-Upfront list suggests its chips are basically had. Akon's "Beautiful" gets to experience "Ruby" Syndrome, i.e. first single off album hangs about for so long that it basically eclipses all subsequent singles off album, and is at 56 from last week's 52.

But on their way up:

TI in "possibly getting two hits off this album" shocker, with "Dead & Gone" creeping up to 47 from last week's 58; "Theme from Barclaycard Fraud" re-enters at 52; a 28-place leap puts Miley's "Fly On The Wall" at 54, but also suggests that that might be its peak; The Killers' "Spaceman" goes up a much more sensible 19 places, to 57 - more of a stealthy crawl there, methinks. Katy Perry's "Thinking of You" holds 62 for a second week, lurking in an unexploded-bomb-tastic kind of a way; The View's "Shock Horror" debuts at 64. What with their last single doing the wrong side of fuck-all, don't bet on it bothering the 40. A super-uber-massive leap puts New Take That Single at 72, one ahead of, er, "I'll Be Missing You". At 75 is something called "Don't Stop The Rock" by someone calling themselves Freestyle. Dunno what that is. Then lolcharts:

76) SWAY FT AKON - SILVER & GOLD
77) SAM SPARRO - BLACK & GOLD

Presumably this is not quite so lol if you're Sway. 50 place climb for him, tho, and 13 up for Sparro. That fairly awesome ad for Mad Men Series Two results in "Paint It Black" making a fairly welcome return at 82 (from last week's 106) and there's also substantial climbings for Kardinal Offishall ft. Keri Hilson (84), "Sweet About Me" (87) and "Don't Stop Believin'" (89). Other low-end lurkers of interest - "I'm So Paid" at 83, Muse's cover of "Feeling Good" at 97 (up from 100).

Oh, I was meaning to add:

That "Let it rock" track was bugging me, then I recalled what track I was thinking of: "Are Everything" Buzzcocks...

Muse's cover of "Feeling Good" at 97 (up from 100).

those TV syncs really do make some tracks work that little bit better dont they
- this is being used on the Film4 one at the moment isn't it.

'dead and gone' is going to be massive, and deservedly so. what a song. even hearing it 9383029484003494 times on the video shoot last week couldn't make me sick of it.

was awaiting paleface & kyla's 'do you mind' becoming the first crossover uk funky hit but it seems to have peaked at 48...i have no idea why chart success isn't happening for the big funky anthems, even bassline eked a couple of top 3 hits out.

holding back a Summer holiday clubbing anthem's full release for over 6 months = disappointing chart position

altho Kid Cudi/Crookers may argue otherwise

h two o and platnum would also argue otherwise

i don't think i heard that until just before it actually came out tho

i heard it in like may 07. and you wouldn't have heard paleface & kyla before it came out if the funky thread hadn't flagged it up.

that is true. i blame industrial fragmentation + general indifference.

also can't be arsedness of today's kids to spend money on stuff rather than just downloading it wch means charts/release schedules remain dominated by geriatric cocque rocque to satisfy demands of ppl who still buy cds, viz. fifty yr old blokes.

Midweeks:

1 Lily
2 GaGa
3 Alesha
4 Eminem - paying the price for having boring 50 Cent on board an otherwise excellent record
5 Tinchy
6 Morrison & Furtado
7 Cudi
8 Beyonce
9 Rudolf
10 Merryweather

New entries for Morrissey at 18, Prodigy at 25 and St Et at a rather disappointing (for them) 26.

In the albums, Lily straight in at the top and the Fray in at number three.

I dunno, first top thirty hit for StEt since May 1998!

Big news in the Radio 1 playlist side of things: this is the year that Taylor Swift gets to happen in the UK. Or at least that's the theory - "Love Story" parachutes onto the C-List anyhow. It's joined by Scouting For Girls, The Script, and Wayyyyysis, along with Flo Rida's reimagining of "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" and The Saturdays' version of "Just Can't Get Enough", BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY IT IS JOINED BY:

New Royksopp single! Whey!

Also on the 1-Upfront side of things we can find Dan Black, Bon Iver, In Case Of Fire, YouMeAtSix and The Noisettes. ILM Trax Poll 2008 superstars Friendly Fires have wound their way onto the B-List, meaning they get to rub shoulders with Gary Go, while Kelly Clarkson, Chase & Status ft. Kano and The Prodigy all get to take up space on the A-List.

Friendly Fires were such a disappointment on the NME tour this week. Hell, even White Lies out-performed them.

The bar raised to Olympian heights there...

'Jump In The Pool' is the new single? good it's the best thing on the album

never mind, that came out in September (man what a shit video too).

They should just outsource everything to Aeroplane and Au Revoir Simone from now on...

Chase & Status ft. Kano

I really like this, even if its a bit LOL Big Beat Grime. The drums seem to suit Kano's flow.