This week's Official UK Singles Chart
Of all the chart feats and single movements of note, the most unusual of all is possibly the record that retakes the Number One position after being deposed by another. Such events can be few and far between - I was 20 years old before it happened at all in my lifetime and indeed before today just four other singles this decade had managed the feat. To their number we now have to add Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas which first hit the top three weeks ago only to be shunted rudely down to second place by Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden with Bonkers. Over the last couple of weeks, the single has more than held its own and is now rewarded for that consistency as sales of Bonkers slip enough to ensure that the American trio can reclaim the Number One position. Thus Boom Boom Pow becomes the first single to have two distinct runs at Number One since Hips Don't Lie by Shakira back in the summer of 2006.
The highest new entry storms into the singles chart at Number 3 as Kasabian get the promotion for new album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum which hits the shops this week. Fire is the track chosen to kick things off and it seems to have been an inspired choice. It is a wonderfully subtle single that takes a good few listens to properly appreciate it, the choruses sounding for all the world like a laid back bluegrass ballad before the chorus explodes with their trademark anthemic style. It is the group's fourth Top 10 hit in this country and far and away the biggest. Cutt Off peaked at Number 8 in January 2005 whilst they have also had singles peak at 9 and 10 thanks to Empire and LSF respectively.
Also new to the Top 10 is Keri Hilson who rises to Number 6 with Knock You Down. As we previously noted, this single was released in almost embarrassing haste after her first release Return The Favor could only peak at Number 19 earlier last month. Knock You Down is Keri Hilson's first taste of Top 10 success since 2007 when she supplied vocals on Timbaland's The Way I Are which hit Number One. For her co-stars on this single, it is quite a different matter naturally. Kanye West makes his second Top 10 appearance of 2009 following his own Heartless at the start of the year whilst Ne-Yo grabs his biggest chart single since Miss Independent also peaked at Number 6 at the tail end of last year.
On the climb inside the Top 20 are Empire Of The Sun who now rise to Number 14 with We Are The People. The Australian electronic duo have taken their time establishing a foothold in this country despite many tips at the start of the year that they were one of the names to watch in 2009. Debut single Walking On A Dream could only limp to Number 64 back in March whilst even this single started slowly out of the gate and is only now picking up steam. Now that the track has momentum behind it, a Top 10 placing within the next couple of weeks seems on the cards, and even the aforementioned Walking On A Dream has come alive again in a mini halo effect, the single now at Number 72 after reappearing at Number 74 a week ago. With Daniel Merriweather and The Veronicas also selling strongly this week, it means three of this weeks Top 20 acts are Australian.
New at Number 21 are... The Pet Shop Boys who grab their second hit of the year with Did You See Me Coming. Needless to say, its chart placing largely fits the pattern of it being the second single from the album, drifting from a strong start earlier in the week to a rather indifferent mid-table placing and at the risk of stating the obvious it is unlikely to do anything to stimulate sales of the album. In actual fact this is something of a huge shame as Did You See Me Coming is far and away the best track on the album and indeed one of the best songs Tennant and Lowe have created for years, and acoustic guitar intro giving way to a bubbly, bouncy pop record with a singalong chorus and naturally a cheeky wink towards the almost certainly intentional innuendo of the title. In the hands of anyone else this would have wound up a massive hit but as a Pet Shop Boys release it is little more than an also-ran. What on earth possessed them to give the rather weak The Loving Kind to Girls Aloud instead of this one?
There is an all-too-rare chart entry at Number 28 for Enter Shikari who get what is only their second ever Top 40 single with Juggernauts. The single arrives ahead of the release of their second album 'Common Dreads' which is released next week and for sheer enthusiasm, you will find little to top it this week. Juggernauts sounds for all the world like five tracks jammed together into one, Rou Reynolds demonstrating his full vocal range as the song veers wildly from alt-rock anthem to thrash metal screamer right the way down to a laid back Streets-esque poetry recital with the middle portion of the song given over to an impassioned monologue set to a low key synth backing. The track possibly loses something after the first time you hear it, during which time you are on the edge of your seat wondering just where it is going to go next, but records that grab you by the balls in this manner are few and far between and I'd personally love this to be more than just a one week wonder.
Next at Number 31 is Show Me What I'm Looking For by Carolina Liar who are based in Los Angeles but who are almost all Swedes, with the exception of lead singer Chad Wolf. This Scandinavian connection means they can boast a debut album helmed by production legend Max Martin although if you didn't know better you would swear their debut chart hit was a Killers track, Wolf sounding so much like Brandon Flowers it is almost scary.
The final Top 40 new entry of the week goes to Kelly Clarkson who edges up to Number 36 with I Do Not Hook Up which has spent the past month sculling around just outside the upper reaches. It is the follow-up to Number One smash My Life Would Suck Without You which is still floating around the lower end of the Top 75 despite making what is in this day and age a rather rapid exit from the top end of the chart after its week of glory at the summit. The slow progress of this second single probably befits is status as a slightly lesser record, although her powerful vocals are as ever-present as usual.
Turning to the album chart, and an unexpected two-way battle developed at the top during the course of the week, one that was eventually won by Paolo Nutini who grabs his first chart-topping album with Sunny Side Up. This in spite of the rather lacklustre performance of its lead single Candy which made Number 19 two weeks ago and then swiftly plummeted. In one of those astonishing facts you never considered significant until it actually happens, Nutini is the first ever Scottish male soloist to top the UK album chart. The runner-up is Daniel Merriweather whose popularity I think caught one or two retailers on the hop and so who grabs a Number 2 album with his solo debut Love & War. This comes against the backdrop of his current single Red which still continues to sell steadily and spends a third straight week at Number 5.
Finally, we do have a new Number One on another chart of note - the best sellers of the year so far. Lady Gaga has the strange honour of toppling herself as Poker Face this week overtakes the sales of Just Dance to claim the title of biggest selling single of 2009 thus far. Both singles have sold over 650,000 copies each which means Lady G has sold over 1.3 million singles already this year. Third release Paparazzi could well add to that tally - it just misses out on a Top 40 place this week, rising to Number 43.
