I Know Jack
So as you were for As It Was, so to speak. It wasn't always a given but Harry Style's globe-conquering hit remains at No.1 on the Official UK Singles chart for a second week. And that's an extraordinary career first for him, effectively the first time he has ever had a No.1 single spend more than a solitary week at the top. A single week of glory was the fate that befell his solo debut Sign Of The Times but also all five of Wand Erection's chart-topping hits (including the 2011 X Factor finalists single on which 1D and JLS were credited guests). The only single on which his vocals featured to beat the jinx was the 2010 X Factor Finalists charity single Heroes which did indeed enjoy a fortnight at the summit.
The reason there was briefly some doubt over whether Harry would get over the line is the presence of the single that at one point in the early going was a few hundred copies in the lead but which eventually finishes some 8,000 behind. American trap rapper Jack Harlow made his chart debut exactly two years ago this week, charting with What's Poppin' which would eventually haul its way to No.25 later in the summer. His most notable turn however was as the co-credited guest star on Lil Nas X's Industry Baby which reached No.3 in the summer of 2021.
For all that the sudden rush of interest that greeted the release of his new single First Class came as something of a surprise, particularly given the failure of his last single Nail Tech to climb any higher than No.55 (this despite it being effectively a companion piece of Industry Baby, using the same horn sample as its base). But here we are, and First Class is far and away the hottest streaming release of the week although it wasn't quite the instantaneous No.1 that at first looked on the cards it shakes up a still moribund Top 10 to land smartly in second place. It is based around a sample from Fergie's 2007 hit Glamorous, just in case you were wondering why it also sounds oddly familiar. And just by the by this is the highest-charting single by an artist called Jack since Stars In Their Eyes by Just Jack also reached No.2 in January 2007.
Oh yes, and the sudden Jack Harlow attention sparks Nail Tech back into life, and it re-debuts at No.66.
We Remember
The second biggest new hit of the week is… not the one that was predicted last weekend (but we'll come to that in due course). Instead it is yet another hit from comeback kid David Guetta who this time engineers a clash of the dancefloor titans with both Becky Hill and Ella Henderson taking co-vocals on Crazy What Love Can Do. The track is, admittedly, slightly derivative and sounds for all the world like a female analogue to Head And Heart but it is another chirpy dance-pop single to add to the growing tally of such hits in 2022. No.20 with a bullet to start out, so let's see where this one ends up.
Other Stuff Of Note
Digga D's third mixtape Noughty By Nature came out today (Friday 15th) and it is heralded by the release of a fourth teaser single Hold It Down which slides in at No.35. That's the first to reach the Top 40 since Pump 101 made it into the Top 10 back in February, a track which has since been followed by teaser cuts G Lock and What You Reckon which both fell short of the Top 40.
Huge things were expected of the shock Pink Floyd reunion single Hey Hey Rise Up, recorded with Ukrainian musician Andriy Khlyvnyuk and with all proceeds to go to Ukraine charity appeals, the track nailing itself to the summit of iTunes and posting a surprise Top 10 placing on the First Look chart on Sunday. But as I noted in the newsletter, early support on the tiny download market means very little in the grand scheme of things, and the single winds up at No.49, at the very least the first Pink Floyd chart single since Wish You Were Here reached No.68 in 2012 in the aftermath of the London Olympics closing ceremony.
Snooze Button
For the second week running though, new entries aside, the Top 40 singles chart takes on an absurdly static look as the hits of the last few weeks all line up in pretty much the same order they have done for a bit. The tastes of the public have settled and for now there is very little to shift them. So let's break it down once more.
3 of the Top 40 are brand new entries.
4 of them are non-movers (including Harry at the top and Ed/Taylor at No.40).
17 of them (6 in the Top 10 alone) move just one place up or down.
7 move two places.
4 move three places.
3 more move four places.
That leaves just two singles unaccounted for. And the biggest movers of the week are both fallers. Lil Tjay's In My Head plummets 10 places to No.28 and Potter Payper's Gangsteritus slides 6 to No.31. The week's highest climber is Light Switch by Charlie Puth, climbing 4 to No.26.
It is what it is I guess.
There is at least some fun to be have on the albums chart where what is being sold as an "indie takeover" takes place. Every one of this week's Top 3 albums is a new entry from an act on an independent label. Wet Leg's eponymous debut is at No.1 (released on Domino Recordings), Chloe And The Next 20th Century by Father John Misty (Bella Union Records) is at No.2 (albeit a long way behind in sales terms) and Fear Of The Dawn by Jack White (Third Man Records) is at No.3. It has been 11 years since that has happened.
