Singles
While not nearly as depressed as the album market (see separate piece on musicweek.com) singles sales are suffering too and had their worst week in 26, sliding 16.9% week-on-week to 2,368,806. They were 11.65% below same week 2009 sales of 2,681,079.
There’s no change at the top, with This Ain’t A Love Song remaining at the summit for Scouting For Girls, albeit with a 27.2% dip in sales week-on-week to 52,393 copies.
Usher and will.i.am’s OMG is one of only two songs in the Top 10 to show growth, climbing 8-2, with sales up 28.7% at 40,982.
The other is another urban teaming, namely that of Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, whose Carry Out collaboration climbs 16-6 (24,890 sales). It’s the 17th chart hit to credit Timbaland as an artist, of which eight have reached the Top 10. More impressively, it’s the 75th Top 75 hit to feature a composing credit for Timbaland since his first, Aaliyah’s If You Only Knew (1996), which he wrote with Missy Elliott. Carry Out earns Timberlake his 27th Top 75 entry – including 10 as a member of ‘N Sync - 20 of which have made the Top 10.
It is the third hit to feature credits for both, following the 2007 hits Give It To Me, by Timbaland feat. Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake, and Ayo Technology, which was by 50 Cent feat. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.
Last week’s runner-up, Telephone, slips to fourth (37,797 sales) for Lady GaGa and Beyoncé but Plan B’s She Said remains at number three, despite sales falling 28.6% week-on-week to 38,928.
In a very quiet week, the only new entry with enough clout to debut inside the Top 20 is I’d Rather Be With You by Joshua Radin, which enters at number 11 (16,589 sales) after weeks of radio exposure.
The 34 year old, originally from Shaker Heights, Ohio, is currently touring here in support of the single and parent album Simple Times. Radin is shaping up to be bigger here than in the states, where I’d Rather Be With You performed modestly, reaching number 82 in 2008. Simple Times fared better, peaking at number 34.
Cheryl Lynn’s Got To Be Real (number 70, 2,857 sales) makes its UK Top 75 debut 32 years after its US success thanks to its use in the current M&S TV advertising campaign.
Meanwhile Liverpool’s loveable Half Man Half Biscuit enter the singles chart for the first time, some 26 years into their existence, thanks to the latest Facebook campaign. This one is aimed at saving the BBC’s embattled 6 Music. HMHB’s campaign song Joy Division Oven Gloves – from their 2005 album Achtung, Bono – debuts at number 56 (3,971 sales). Last week’s big Facebook campaign brought a number four debut for History Makers by Delirious? – but that track now slumps to number 61 (3,461 sales).
1 Scouting For Girls 52393
2 Usher/Will.i.am 40982
3 Plan B 38929
4 Lady GaGa/Beyonce 37797
6 Timbaland/Justin T. 24890
11 Joshua Radin 16589
56 Half Man Half Biscuit 3971
61 Delirious? 3461
70 Cheri Lynn 2857
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Albums
In a week when Lady GaGa’s The Fame rises to the artist album summit again, Now That’s What I Call Music! 75 remains compilation king and Scouting For Girls continue atop the singles chart, it is sales, or the lack of them, that must be addressed first.
After receiving a modest boost from Easter gift-buying in the previous frame, sales were in rapid retreat last week, taking a massive 30.1% hit, as they tumbled to 1,571,359. They have only been lower once in 535 prior chart weeks thus far in the 21st century, and barely beat the century low of 1,564,412 albums sold in week ending 13 May 2000.
The Fame’s latest resurgence comes a year and a week after it first topped the chart – a residency that lasted four weeks. It returned to the summit for a week at the start of March and for a further week at the end of March.
It’s the first album to enjoy four separate runs at number one since The Scissor Sisters’ self-titled debut, which did likewise between July 2004 and February 2005, and the first by a female solo artist since Dido’s Life For Rent in 2003/4.
In keeping with the overall distressed state of the market, The Fame sold only 25,211 copies last week – just 282 copies more than Boyzone’s Brother which dips to number two.
It is a total The Fame has topped on 24 occasions, and the lowest sale for a number one artist album since The Last Broadcast by The Doves topped the list on a paltry sale of 22,437 eight years ago next month. The Fame has thus far spent 48 weeks in the Top 10, and has sold 1,890,276 copies, of which 501,312 have been sold in the last 14 weeks – enough to make it the biggest-selling album of 2010, with Paolo Nutini’s Sunny Side Up in second place on sales of 440,057 copies.
Now! 75 suffers a 65.7% dip in sales week-on-week to 86,675. Its 13-day sales tally of 339,756 is 14.43% below same stage sales of 397,028 for 2009 equivalent Now! 72. However, it remains the dominant album, outselling the second best-selling compilation by a margin of more than eight to one, while matching sales of the rest of the Top 20 combined.
One album to take advantage of the market’s torpor is London folk/rock group Mumford & Son’s debut Sigh No More, which rebounds 9-7 (13,240 sales). It’s the fourth time the album has ventured this high but no higher. Debuting at number 11 six months ago, the album first reached number seven 13 weeks ago, and returned to peak at the same position 10 weeks ago and five weeks ago. The album has sold 387,609 copies to date.
The Doves’ first hits compilation, The Best Of Doves: The Places Between is this week’s highest new entry. Including tracks from all four of the Manchester group’s albums and the new track Andalucia, it debuts at number 12 (9,714 sales),
Meanwhile, Jonsi from Icelandic band Sigur Ros, debuts at number 20 (7,163 sales) with first solo album, Go. It arrives less than nine months after his Riceboy Sleeps collaboration with boyfriend Alex reached number 66. The most recent Sigur Ros album, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust, gave the band its highest chart placing, reaching number five in 2008, and selling 96,855 copies.
Rufis Wainwright’s last studio album, Release The Stars, has sold much the same (98,289 copies) since its release in 2007, including 28,653 copies the week it debuted at number two. He has issued two live albums since then – the Garland tribute album, Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall, which reached number 171, and the uncharted Milwaukee At Last - but seems to have lost his impetus. Despite favourable reviews, Wainwright’s new studio album All Nights Are Days: Songs For Lulu debuts at number 21 on sales of 6,924 copies.
The number 30 debut (4,455 sales) of Guns N’ Ross/Velvet Revolver legend Slash’s self-titled first solo album is also below par but American indie duo She & Him do well to debut at number 62 (2,357 sales) with second album Volume 2, considering 2008’s Volume 1 never made the Top 200.
Ultravox returned to the Top 40 for the first time in 23 years a year ago this week, reaching number 35 with The Very Best Of, released to coincide with the band’s UK tour. Their London Roundhouse gig from that tour makes up the new CD/DVD release Return To Eden, which enters the chart at number 75 (1,914 sales), providing Midge Ure and his cohorts with their 10th chart album.
1 Lady GaGa 25211 (To Date 1,180,276) / 501.312 (2010)
2 Boyzone 24929
7 Mumford & Sons 13240
12 Doves 9714
20 Jonsi 7163
21 Rufus Wainwright 6924
30 Slash 4455
40 Madonna 3610
62 She & Him 2357
75 Ultravox 1914
100 Madonna [Celebration] 1378
131 Sugababes [Sweet 7] 1129
To Date Albums
Scouting For Girls - Scouting For Girls 824,431
MGMT - Ocarular Spectuclar 465,862
Paolo Nutini - Sunny Side Up 440,057
Plan B - Who Needs Actions When You Got Words 64,449
Flaming Lips - Embryonic 14,517
Jeff Beck - Jeff 10,501
Natalie Merchant - The House Carpenter's Daughter 8,004
Forever The Sickest Kids - Underdog Alma Maker 4,378
Joshua Radin - We Were Here 2,428
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Mikey @ Buzzjack
i was expecting this to smash!!!!
It is way too short.
My favs taking up 4 spots in the top 5!!!!
