Singles:
The singles market has been a little sluggish in recent weeks, and last week was no exception, with sales falling 0.91% week-on-week to 2,607,024 – 0.92% below same week 2009 sales of 2,631,327.
Part of the problem is a lack of worthy new releases, with OMG by Usher feat. will.i.am the only single able to command enough sales to secure a Top 20 debut this week.
Debuting at number 13 (18,774 sales), the track is the first single from Usher’s new album Raymond V Raymond. It brings to five the number of current Top 75 entries penned by will.i.am, who also co-authored Steve Aoki’s I’m In The House (on which he also contributes vocals as Zuper Blahq) and three Black Eyed Peas hits, Meet Me Halfway, I Gotta Feeling and Rock That Body.
The last of these drifts 11-12 this week (20,211 sales) and seems certain to end BEP’s run of three consecutive number ones, if not its run of eight straight Top 10 singles.
While Glee Cast’s Defying Gravity has singularly failed to do that, falling 38-39-60-87 since its debut, Pixie Lott’s Gravity has shown more of a disregard for the law that what goes up must come down, by growing its sales for 10 weeks in a row. The track enters the Top 20 on its seventh week in the Top 75, climbing 23-20 (12,725 sales). It’s the fourth single from the singer’s Turn It Up album, which holds at number 16 this week, with sales of 11,358 lifting its career tally to 423,380.
01. 58299 Lady GaGa/Beyonce
02. 51335 Tinie Tempah
03. 41146 Justin Bieber/Ludacris
04. 37585 Rihanna
05. 35247 Cheryl Cole
06. 31752 Inna
07. 29652 Ellie Goulding
08. 27764 Jason Derulo
09. 23157 Young Money/Lloyd
10. 22729 Boyzone
12. 20211 Black Eyed Peas
13. 18774 Usher/will.i.am
20. 12725 Pixie Lott
97. 2320 Laura Marling
106. 2026 Glee Cst [Jump]
168. 1349 Glee Cast [Smile]
190. 1163 Charlie Chaplin [Smile]
================================================== ========
Albums:
TV played a big part in determining the number ones this week, with its continued exposure – and I use the word advisedly – of the explicit Lady GaGa & Beyoncé video for Telephone helping them to ring up a second week at number one on the singles chart, while the screening of Boyzone’s Stephen Gately tribute programme earned said act’s Brother a return to the album summit.
After climbing 12-1 last week to become the first chart-topper ever to namecheck Alexander Graham Bell’s communication device, Telephone extends its lead over Tinie Tempah’s Pass Out, which continues at number two.
Telephone sold 58,299 copies last week, while Pass Out –the first number one to name check S****horpe – sold a further 51,335 copies.
GaGa’s album The Fame surged back to number one last week, partly due to Telephone’s success, but is itself knocked off the summit this week by another resurgent album – Boyzone’s Brother.
Helped by the band’s hour-long tribute to Stephen Gately, which drew an audience of more than 7.5m for ITV, Brother returns to number one a fortnight after debuting in that position, with sales increasing 60.1% week-on-week to 61,887.
The album’s introductory single, Gave It All Away, which peaked at number nine three weeks ago, also rallies, improving 29-10 with sales increasing 123.7% to 22,729.
The most recent Boyzone compilation, 2008 release Back Again: No Matter What climbs for the fifth straight week, leaping 57-18 (9,487 sales) to achieve its highest chart placing for more than a year.
Brother is the fifth number one album of Boyzone’s career, and the third to return to number one. Where We Belong – their last studio effort – rebounded 21-1 in 1998, ending a 13-week absence from the summit after then current single No Matter What was added to it, and 1999 compilation By Request climbed 2-1 after a fortnight off the summit.
Canadian teen star Justin Bieber’s first album, My World, catapults 33-3 (36,709 sales), to eclipse the number four position in which it debuted nine weeks ago. Back then, it was a nine track album (seven audio tracks, two videos) but the new 2.0 version of the album features 18 audio tracks, including current single Baby, a collaboration with Ludacris which itself improves 4-3 (41,146 sales).
There are three new entries to the Top 20, with first ever appearances at this level for Laura Marling and Joe Bonamassa, and a welcome return for Goldfrapp.
20 year old singer/songwriter Marling’s 2008 debut Alas I Cannot Swim peaked at number 45 but, helped by a Mercury Music Prize nomination, has thus far sold more than 75,000 copies, paving the way for I Speak Because I Can, which debuts at number four (25,274 sales). Despite enjoying considerable support from Radio 1, Radio 2 and Absolute Radio, among others, Marling has considerably less success with her singles. Her latest, Devil’s Spoke climbs 107-97(2,320 sales) on its second week in the chart, providing her first ever Top 100 single with her sixth release.
One of the world’s pre-eminent blues-rockers, Joe Bonamassa has taken longer than Marling to reach the sharp end of the chart.
His latest release Black Rock is Bonamassa’s 11th album, and includes his interpretations of Leonard Cohen’s Bird On A Wire, Jeff Beck’s Spanish Boots and Wille Nelson’s Night Life. It hastens to a number 14 debut (12,550 Sales), and is the fourth Bonamassa album in a row to provide the 32-year-old New Yorker with a new career peak.
His first seven albums failed to chart at all but 2007’s Sloe Gin reached number 50, 2008’s Live From Nowhere In Particular reached number 45, and The Ballad Of John Henry raised the ante even more, climbing to number 26 last year.
After consecutive number two albums with Supernature (2005) and Seventh Tree (2008), Anglo/Irish duo Goldfrapp have to settle for a less lofty number six debut for latest album, Head First on sales of 23,261 copies. Lay the blame on the relatively poor performance of introductory single Rocket, which reached number 47 a couple of weeks ago.
It’s interesting to note that despite not generating a Top 40 hit between them, the Marling, Goldfrapp and Bonamassa albums all fared better than or as well as last week’s top entry, Sugababes’ Sweet 7, which is home to three Top 10 hits but could only debut at number 14, and now dives to number 43 (4,125 sales).
Gabriella Cilmi’s introductory hit, Sweet About Me, took 14 weeks to make the Top 10 in stark contrast to latest single On A Mission, which debuted at number nine a fortnight ago but dropped immediately.
The slow but steady growth of Sweet About Me was also reflected by Cilmi’s 2008 debut album, Lessons To Be Learned, which debuted at number 31 on sales of 6,052 copies and peaked at number eight six weeks later, before going on to sell 267,000 copies. Follow-up Ten - from which On A Mission is the first single – arrives at number 28 this week, on sales of 6,370 copies.
Cilmi was only a year old when Mary J Blige made her album chart debut 17 years ago last week, with What’s The 411. But Blige is one of R&B’s more enduring talents, and chalks up her 10th charted set as Stronger With Each Tear debuts at number 33 (5,111 sales). Introductory single I Am reached number 34 three weeks ago, providing Blige’s 37th Top 75 single.
After reaching a 26 week low last week, album sales recover slightly, climbing 3.72% week-on-week to 1,861,332 – 5.69% below same week 2009 sales of 1,973,600.
01. 61886 Boyzone
02. 51364 Lady GaGa
03. 36709 Justin Bieber
04. 25274 Laura Marling
05. 23788 Glee Volume 2
06. 23262 Goldfrapp
07. 19738 Paolo Nutini
08. 18181 Alicia Keys
09. 18137 Florence + The Machine
10. 17399 Mumford & Sons
14. 12550 Joe Bonamassa
16. 11358 Pixie Lott (To Date: 423,380)
18. 9487 Boyzone
28. 6370 Gabriella Cilmi
33. 5110 Mary J Blige
43. 4125 Sugababes
Albums To Date
Madonna - Celebration 348,895
Gabriella Cilmi - Lessons To Be Learned 267,000
Craig David - Trust Me 99,794
Kids In Glass Houses - Smart Casual 28,908
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part 1 16,631
Bonobo - Days To Come 9,785
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury 8,970
From -Jay- @ BuzzJack
Lady GaGa Totals:
Telephone 232,879
The Fame/Monster 1,820,199
