Great Great Great Grandaughter Shaggers
I was as shocked to learn this as you were, but Busted have never before had a No1. album.
The working prototype for the post-millennium pop-rock boy band, Busted were at their absolute height 20 years ago, churning out singles such as What I Go To School For and Year 3000 which wrote themselves into the firmament as long standing classics of their time and handed them a legacy which has meant their sporadic reunions (in whatever form) have always been well-received by long term batches of fans.
But they had never managed a No.1 album. A trio of No.2 records was the best they had managed before, their eponymous debut in 2002, A Present For Everyone in 2003 and 2019 comeback Half Way There all topped out in second place. But this week they finally break that duck with a reworked hits collection (entitled Greatest Hits 2.0) which the trio have been enthusiastically promoting all week. It was a narrow victory for all that, Olivia Rodrigo's GUTS managing a strong Week 2 and in some ways unlucky not to have managed a second week at the top of the albums chart. But her 24,000 chart sales were no match for the 27,000 of Busted, and so they take pride of place at the summit for the first time in their career.
Unlike most Greatest Hits collections the Busted album features many re-recorded tracks along with some surprise guest appearances on the special edition of the record. Techically Busted have only released six albums (not counting a US-only hits collection in 2004) but the existence of the supergroup McBusted and their sole album enables many wags to note that Greatest Hits 2.0 can count as their "seventh album", the one referenced in the lyrics of Year 3000 as the one "everyone bought". And to be fair, that has very nearly come true.
Rather Be Famous
There's a pleasing air of calm at the top of the Official UK Singles chart as a month of turnover at the top has been replaced by some welcome steadiness. That means a third straight week at No.1 for Doja Cat with Paint The Town Red, the track now blessed with the opportunity to write itself neatly into popular culture and live comfortably in everyone's heads. Don't lie, you are reciting the lyrics to yourself as you are reading this. I said what I said.
That leaves Vampire resting in second place, but new to the Top 3 is Strangers from Kenya Grace which continues its meteoric rise, No.3 after three straight weeks of strong climbs. In a perfect world this would be heading for No.1 itself, even if its aping of the sound of The Weeknd means it is essentially a throwback to a throwback. But the formula works and it remains one of the more compelling pop hits of the moment. It also means that for the sixth week running the Top 3 singles are all by solo female artists.
Tamed At Last
The week's highest new entry slams in at No.8. Greedy is the second Top 10 hit on the bounce for Tate McRae, the difficulty she encountered in following up career-opener You Broke Me First now solved thanks to the long-running chart success of Tiesto's 10:35 on which she supplied vocals. Her second solo Top 10 hit can thus be regarded as her own proper reset and after swiftly gaining viral traction online it opens its chart account with a bang. The songwriting hallmarks of Amy Allen and Ryan Tedder are all over this one, but no matter. They know how to make a great pop record and this is manifestly one of them.
Scissor Sisters
By a strange coincidence both of this week's Top 10 hits are performed by Canadian artists. The second of these is Slime You Out from a returning Drake, who benefits here from a guest appearance by SZA. The second single from Drake's forthcoming eighth album, and essentially the direct follow-up to Search And Rescue which hit No.5 back in April, the track marks the first time the former lovers of a decade ago have collaborated together on record. That last detail is possibly more relevant than you might think, given the lyrics of the song are all about bad breakups. Don't think we haven't noticed.
We get to talk about SZA some more as well because she also happens to have one of the fastest-moving tracks of the week. Snooze had in theory already been and gone, enjoying a low-key chart run back in the spring during which time it peaked at a lowly No.36. Having returned to the chart listings a fortnight ago it now explodes back into contention with a 30 place leap to a brand new peak of No.18, occasioned by the release of a brand new acoustic version featuring added Justin Bieber vocals. As ever the prevailing chart rules apply, the duet may well be the one gaining the lions' share of attention but it is not the "primary" release, and so Bieber does not merit a chart credit. The semi-flop follow up to smash hit Kill Bill is now a bone fide chart single in its own right. We just had to wait a little while for it to happen.
The Many Many Others
New to the Top 40 after debuting at No.55 last week is Water from Tyla. The debut hit from the South African singer, its surge in popularity can be attributed to being the subject of the latest in a long line of Tik Tok dance challenges. But hey, it has worked for countless others who have become stars. So why not her?
The great Chase & Status comeback of 2023 continues apace. Hard on the heels of Top 10 singles Disconnect and Baddadan the duo are back once more with their third hit of the year. Liquor And Cigarettes just like all the others has opened slowly but with the potential for much, much more. The track hands credits to Hedex and ArrDee, the latter here with his biggest chart hit since 2022's Come And Go as it debuts at No.31.
After almost a decade of creating trance cuts in his bedroom, Belfast producer Billy Gillies appears to be on the verge of a huge mainstream breakthrough. In theory that should have come early this year when his remix of Madison Avenue's Don't Call Me Baby gained formal backing and a full release only to largely pass under the radar. But now he has a hit in his own right, as after a month making its way up from the depths of the chart DNA (Loving You) makes its Top 40 debut at No.33. The gloriously retro track features a vocal from Hannah Boleyn who makes her own chart debut at the second time of asking, her turn on Hannah Wants' Hard To Breathe having missed out on a chart placing so far. But never say never.
The C&W takeover of the American charts recently saw Zach Bryan and Kasey Musgraves shoot to No.1 with their tender duet I Remember Everything. Britain remains perhaps understandably indifferent to many of these smashes, but most of them do end up with a brief chart run of their own. Hence after a four week climb the track is now a small British hit in its own right, lifting itself to No.35 - just one place above Luke Combs' cover of Fast Car which has similarly turned huge American success into a somewhat lower key British chart run. We remain cool on Morgan Wallen.
There are more club hits to note this week, reggaeton and house fusion Rave Out from Turno, Skepsis and Charlotte Plank has spent the best part of a month and a half on the cusp of glory but is now a Top 40 hit with a climb to No.37. One place below is Zara Larsson who renews her creative partnership with David Guetta for the first time since 2016 hit This One's For You on new single On My Love which duly becomes her second hit of the year (the follow-up to the underperforming Can't Tame Her) as it takes a bow at No.38. It is now David Guetta's 60th Top 75 chart entry.
