Singles
Fifty weeks after debut single All Time Low stormed to a chart-topping debut, The Wanted return to the summit, this time with Glad You Came.
Written by the same team of Steve Mac, Wayne Hector and Ed Drewett, it sold 117,166 copies last week, the highest weekly sale of any single thus far by The Wanted, and the fourth-highest weekly tally of 2011. It beats the 84,174 copies that All Time Low sold on its debut, and the 82,489 copies the band’s last single Gold Forever sold when it reached number three in March.
Lifted from their yet-to-be-named second album, it rounds off a great first year for the band, who have amassed five Top 20 hits, with total sales of 1,188,278, of which All Time Low contributed 440,965. While the release date for the follow-up has yet to be announced, The Wanted’s self-titled debut album advances 85-45. It has climbed for four weeks in a row and reaches its highest chart position for 18 weeks, selling 3,252 copies, and raising its career sales tally to 391,384.
Despite securing the highest weekly sale of any single for 25 weeks on its debut, DJ Fresh’s Louder slips to number two on sales of 79,083 copies.
Meanwhile, with radio and TV support growing rapidly, Best Thing I Never Had – the second single from Beyoncé’s 4 – rebounds 6-4 (46,172 sales), just failing to pass Ed Sheeran’s The A Team, which holds at number three (46,583 sales).
With four number ones and 10 Top 10 hits to his credit, David Guetta is France’s most successful export to the UK singles chart ever, and his career sales passed the 4m mark last week, thanks largely to the continued success of Where Them Girls At, his Flo-Rida & Nicki Minaj collaboration which dips 17-18 19,191 sales) on its 11th week in the chart; and follow-up Little Bad Girl (feat. Taio Cruz and Ludacris), which debuts at number 16 (20,210 sales).
Both tracks are taken from the 43-year-old Parisienne’s fifth studio album Nothing But The Beat, which is released on 22 August. Guetta’s biggest selling singles are Sexy Chick (659,791) and When Love Takes Over (543,480), with vocals from Akon and Kelly Rowland, respectively.
Scouting For Girls secure their eighth Top 40 hit with Love How It Hurts, from their as-yet-unnamed third album, debuting at number 17 (20,183 sales).
Girls Aloud star Nicola Roberts’ debut solo single Beat Of My Drum has had a rollercoaster time thus far. Moving 27-64-88-145-76-50, its revival has coincided with a blitz of TV by Roberts, including appearances on T4 On The Beach, Paul O’Grady, Style The Nation and Tonight’s The Night. The track has a peak position of number 792 on the radio airplay chart but its promotional videoclip has fared better, reaching number 37 on the TV airplay chart.
Singles sales slip 3.70% week-on-week to 3,084,956 – 9.44% above same-week 2010 sales of 2,818,794.
1 The Wanted 117,165
2 DJ Fresh/Sian Evans 79,083 (219,654)
3 Ed Sheeran 46,584
4 Beyonce 46,172 (141,966)
16 David Guetta/Taio Cruz/Ludacris 20,210
17 Scouting For Girls 21,183
18 David Guetta/Flo Rida/Nicki Minaj 19,191
50 Nicola Roberts 6,664 (32,059)
63 Horrors 4,224
To Date
David Guetta - Sexy Chick 659,791
David Guetta - When Love Takes Over 543,480
The Wanted - All Time Low 440,965
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>
Albums
After seven straight weeks at number two, Adele’s 21 returns to the top of the album chart.
With sales of 43,556 last week, the album – which previously topped the list first for 11 weeks, then for a further five – climbs 2-1, swapping places with Beyoncé’s 4 (32,438 sales), which topped the list for the last two weeks.
In 25 weeks on the chart, 21 has spent 17 weeks at number one, the rest at number two. Although its sales last week edged up by 27 over the prior frame, 21 sold fewer copies last week than any number one since The Script’s Science & Faith 40 weeks ago.
It surpasses The Singles 1969-1973 by The Carpenters to secure the longest run in the top two since Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water put together a run of 29 straight weeks in the top two in 1970. Bridge Over Troubled Water also has the distinction of being the artist album to spend most weeks at number one, amassing 33 weeks at the summit in eight separate runs in 1970 and 1971 – a record which may prove beyond even 21.
Adele’s 2008 debut album 19 rebounds 4-3 (18,435 sales) on its 27th straight week in the Top 10, and completes the first ever top three made up entirely of numeric titles.
Of 28 chart weeks thus far in 2011, female solo artists have held sway for 24, with the only interruption to their superiority coming with single-week reigns from the latest albums by Bruno Mars, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys and Take That. With another 24 charts to go in 2011, they have already beaten the previous record for most weeks at number one by female solo artists in a calendar year, set in 2003, when albums by Avril Lavigne, Kelly Rowland, Norah Jones, Madonna, Beyonce, Eva Cassidy and Dido racked up 23 weeks at the apex.
Adele is joined in the Top 10 this week by XL Recordings labelmates The Horrors, whose third album Skying secures this week’s highest debut honours, arriving at number five (13,924 sales). It far exceeds the band’s debut album Strange House, which got to number 37 in 2007, and follow-up Primary Colours (number 25, 2009). Still Life – the first single from Skying – is the last of four debuts on the Top 75 singles list at number 63 (4,224 sales).
Put together by the Nickleodeon channel in 2009 to star in its series of the same name, Big Time Rush reached number three in the US with their debut album BTR earlier this year. Helped by £4.99 pricing at Amazon and Tesco, the album now debuts here at number 14 (7,742 sales) for the quartet whose average age is 21.
Two other albums debut inside the Top 40: Californian rock band Incubus recover from the number 52 peak their last album Light Grenades reached in 2006 to make the Top 20 for the third time, debuting at number 20 (5,316 sales) with seventh studio album, If Not Now, When; and Ricky Martin debuts at number 24 (5,083 sales) with Greatest Hits. It is Martin’s fifth chart album since his self-titled 1999 debut, and eclipses the number 42 peak of his previous compilation, The Best Of, which has sold 177,064 copies since its 2001 release.
Joe McElderry won the second series of Popstar To Operastar on ITV eight days ago, beating Bucks Fizz star Cheryl Baker in the final. It caused a 127.60% uplift in sales of McElderry’s debut album – from 76 to 173 – which had its best week in 21, raising its career tally to 96,885. Guest Andrea Bocelli’s 2007 compilation Vivere: The Best Of fares better, sprinting 173-19 (5,368 sales), to re-enter the Top 40 for the first time since March 2008. The album, which peaked at number four, has sold 782,018 copies.
Meanwhile, The Vaccines’ debut album, What Do You Expect From The Vaccines?, is also resurgent, jumping 36-21 to achieve its highest chart placing for 13 weeks. Selling 5,149 copies last week, the album has sold 123,116 copies since its release 18 weeks ago.
As the lacklustre figures above suggest, overall album sales – down 5.05% week-on-week to 1,534,428 – reach a new 21st-century low for the second time this year. In fact, they are at their lowest level since week 18 of 1999 – 636 weeks ago, when they totalled 1,529,035 – and 18.80% below same-week 2010 sales of 1,889,629.
1 Adele 43,555 (2,717,706)
2 Beyonce 32,437 (166,577)
3 Adele 18,435 (1,594,001)
5 The Horrors 13,924
14 Big Time Rush 7,742
19 Andre Bocelli 5,368 (782,018)
20 Incubus 5,316
21 Vaccines 5,149 (123,116)
24 Ricky Martin 5,083
45 Wanted 3,252 (391,384)
To Date
Ricky Martin - The Best of 177,014
Joe McElderry - Wide Awake 96,885