Dedication's What You Need
It was the legendary journalist and broadcaster Paul Gambaccini who was part of the team responsible for originally identifying British chart records, as part of his work in creating the original British Hit Singles back in 1977. The book that is for so many people like me part of the reason we are here in this world.
But he also noted to a friend of mine a few years ago that technically there should have been a cut off, a delineation between the old-fashioned pure sales era and the new streaming world. As any chart watcher knows, free from the natural brake of purchase saturation and high street stock, it is easier than ever to break chart endurance records. So technically it isn't a level playing field in terms of the hits of the past and hits of today.
He may well have a point, but for the moment we treat the entirety of chart history as a whole for statistical purposes. And believe it or not, there are still long-standing records still to fall, which means it is still significant when a modern record breaches one of those.
Yes, you guessed there is a point here. Sabrina Carpenter remains at No.1 with Taste, as her third smash hit of the year spends a fifth week at No.1. But that also takes her total of weeks at the top of the pile in 2024 to 17, thus breaking a record for female artists that has been held by Olivia Newton-John since 1978.
If Sabs spends any longer at the top of the charts she will elevate herself into rare company indeed, but I'll save that for next week if we get there. I can tell you though that the all-time record for "weeks at No.1 in a calendar year" stands at 28, accumulated by Frankie Laine back in 1953. Sabrina Carpenter in theory can still break that, but she will need to remain at No.1 from now until Christmas and end up with the Christmas No.1 to boot. So I don't see it happening somehow. And it also puts paid to Gambo's theory. There are some chart records from the past that even in the streaming era it is phenomenally hard to break.
Familiarity
A static Top 3 means a further week in the upper reaches for Espresso. This is now its 21st week in total as a Top 10 single - the joint 4th longest chart run for a single by a solo female. By a weird coincidence she shares that total with another of this year's hits - Austin by Dasha which also notched up 21 weeks before exiting. The only other female hits to have spent longer in the Top 10 are: Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift (29), Secret Love by Doris Day (27) and Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa (25).
The all-time record for this particular feat did fall in the streaming era, ironically overcoming Frankie Laine (him again) who had held it since the 1950s. I Believe had a 35 week spell in the Top 10, now overtaken by As It Was by Harry Styles which clocked up 37.
Sabrina with singles at 1 and 3 means yet another week lodged at No.2 for Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan. Her eternal bridesmaid status goes on, the single repeatedly doing very well but never quite well enough to overcome its blonde competition. Taste enjoyed 53,000 chart sales this week while Good Luck Babe did 44,000. Good, but just not good enough. Roan is however edging slowly towards matching Sabrina for three Top 10 singles. She also has Hot To Go at No.7 and despite a scare on the first look update when it appeared it might drop out of contention, Pink Pony Club moves up once more and is now No.15.
Kill Me Now I'm Smiling
In the mix amongst all of this is Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' Die With A Smile which really deserves more than being mentioned as a side note. Now six week into its chart life it edges to a new peak of No.4. A massive hit which has just had the misfortune to be surrounded by record breakers that command the lions' share of attention. Shame on us. Or me.
The upper end of the singles chart remains, shall we say, familiar. With the odd exception the hits of the summer are still hanging around. Although the continuing rise (up to a glass ceiling No.11 this week) of Sailor Song by Gigi Perez remains pleasing. Meanwhile Ndotz' similarly viral Embrace It is also on the charge and rockets 36-20.
Teddy Swims update: older single The Door still surges forward, moving to a new peak of No.13. Brand new track Bad Dreams, a new entry at No.28 last time out is down two places to No.30. This remains enormously amusing.
I've yet to hear a whisper from anyone inside the industry as to exactly what their Q4 strategy is for pop hits. Every year people become more conscious of the Festive Horizon, that point in time (which gets earlier every year) when the Christmas songs make contemporary hits invisible. And so as we approach the end of the year you have two options: go for a double tap, with a chart run in November and January or simply not bother and hold off until the new year to properly push new music. If the latter strategy is coming to the fore it is sad. When I was growing up November and December were when the charts got really good. And these days they don't have the room to.
And The Whole Bar Applauded
Browsing YouTube for Shaboozey's hit (you know the one) the other day I spotted something amusing.
Talk about underestimating the track. This week A Bar Song (Tipsy) started its 11th week at No.1 on the Hot 100. Shaboozey's song never topped the charts here, but 24 weeks into its life and some time after it fell to ACR it is still hanging around, back up this week to No.21. I mention it because Shaboozey is in severe danger of falling victim to the same issue that has befallen Dasha, the performer of a hit of such magnitude that nothing else they offer in the immediate future is going to compare.
Coldplay are determined to turn We Pray into a major smash hit, the track benefitting (in theory) from differing versions with different guest stars and with a video filmed for each. But each time it threatens to catch fire it falls back again, the track up this week at No.27, one place below the No.26 peak it scaled a week ago. What does make it notable though is the way it hands a first ever singles chart credit to Little Simz, the much-awarded industry darling who until now has not managed to register a mainstream profile to match the level of critical adulation she commands.
A Man With A Rabbit Up His Bum
A fortnight after his single Carry You Home made the Top 40 for the first time in an extended chart run that stretches back to the start of the summer Alex Warren now has a second chart hit to call his own, with new single Burning Down landing the honour of being the week's highest new entry at No.35. Carry You Home still has the edge, but it is still doggedly refusing to become a big hit, edging up this week to No.32. If he didn't sound like the bastard child of Hozier and Rag N'Bone Man it would probably help.
Speaking of critically adored artists, American singer Addison Rae has been on the "one to watch" list for some time, but until now her most prominent chart performance has been on the remix of Charli XCX's Von Dutch. After a five-week wait her solo debut Diet Pepsi finally makes it into the Top 40, landing at No.37.
To finish, I may be getting ahead of myself here but watch out for Keep Up by Odetari which has the proverbial momentum behind it, rocketing 72-51 in a manner which suggests it may well break into the Top 40 in short order. Mind you, I keep saying the same about Cry Baby by the theoretically guaranteed combination of Clean Bandit, David Guetta and Anne-Marie. That's back up to No.49 this week, a position it has now occupied twice in the last month. But it still ain't a proper hit, which is frustrating.
