This week's Official UK Singles Chart
This week's Official UK Albums Chart
As I mentioned last week, the presence seven days ago of no less than two "spoiler" cover versions of the Carly Rae Jepsen song Call Me Maybe in the lower reaches of the British charts was a fairly sound indication of a pent up demand for the full release of the single. So it proves, as this week the original version charges straight to the top of the singles chart to give us a fourth different Number One single in as many weeks.
A finalist on the 2007 series of Canadian Idol, Jespen duly becomes the first ever alumnus of that show to have a major chart hit in this country. The feat is all the more impressive considering that even the still mighty American Idol (which unlike the Canadian version is screened here) has only ever managed to spawn two British chart stars (Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks), both of whom were winners. Jepsen didn't even win her version of the show, although her subsequent international success as a recording artist has little to do with her reality TV appearances and everything to do with her own ability as a performer.
With a sale of just over 106,000 copies, Call Me Maybe is only the second single this year to shift a six digit total during the course of a single week, following in the footsteps of Hot Right Now by DJ Fresh which raced to 128,000 copies in its first week on sale back in February. [I've a theory that 2012 is another of those years where pop managed to achieve perfection. And this is one of the singles that gives weight to it].
Keeping the runners up slot warm once more is Sean Paul with She Doesn't Mind which now has the slightly unhappy distinction of having been Number 2 behind three different chart-topping singles in succession. This immediately calls back memories of the unfortunate Moves Like Jagger last year which set a new benchmark of being runner-up behind no less than seven different tracks. At least Sean Paul is continuing to outsell those who bested him initially by a considerable margin, with last week's victor Chris Brown taking a surprise dip all the way to Number 5, just one place ahead of the Katy Perry track which he replaced at the top seven days ago.
The other big new entry of the week lands at Number 15 as Lady Godiva gives unsigned act Alex Day his second Top 20 hit single in the last few months. You may remember this gentleman from Christmas when he first attempted to gatecrash the big boys party with the release of multiple versions of his debut hit Forever Yours, all of which were promoted heavily to his army of online followers, most of whom immediately did his bidding to buy as many copies as possible, rewarding him with a Number 4 hit and besting most of the other attempts to hijack the Christmas countdown. Much was made of the fact that with half a million online followers to his YouTube channel he had the ability to market his music outside of the normal music industry channels, and indeed he claims to have spurned offers of proper recording deals in preference to doing the hard work and thus reaping most of the financial rewards himself. Second time around however the stunt is harder to pull off and by my reckoning Lady Godiva has only managed to sell around 20,000 copies to creep inside the Top 20. No matter how numerous his followers are, getting them to actually pay for his work seems to be another step altogether and whilst it is hard to fault his enthusiasm and desire to make it on his own terms, the overall quality of his releases so far only serve to underline that he's actually unsigned for a reason and by no means the finished product as a performer. Curiously the song itself isn't his own original work, a cover of the song which was originally a Number 16 hit for Peter and Gordon back in 1966.
One of the more surprising Top 20 hits of the week is the presence at Number 18 of The Man Who Can't Be Moved by The Script, a full four years after the track gave the Irish band its biggest ever hit when it peaked at Number 2. Its reappearance is thanks largely to the onscreen presence of lead singer Danny O'Donoghue on TV screens as one of the judges and coaches of the British version of The Voice which debuted a couple of weeks ago. His most famous hit started to sell in small quantities from the moment his spell of TV stardom began, but its surge into the upper reaches of the chart is as a result of one contestant actually performing the track for their audition in what surely has to be one of the most blatant displays of sucking up going.
Over on the album chart, a two way battle between Labrinth and Nicki Minaj ended in victory for the American star as the rapper's second album Pink Friday - Roman Reloaded storms to Number One, easily eclipsing the Number 16 peak of her original 2010 Pink Friday album, one which it scaled in August last year. Labrinth's Electronic Earth is his chart debut and houses his three Top 5 hits so far, including current chart smash Last Time.
Finally, just to prove there is nothing so bizarre that will not sell, the third biggest new album of the week has turned out to be Music Rox, a compilation of musical performances by the characters of the online Moshi Monsters game which lands at Number 4. This seems to be as good a moment as many to gracefully exit until next week… the Beliebers are about to land in force after all.
