Singles
We Found Love tops the chart for the third week in a row for Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris, successfully clawing back a midweek deficit to The Wanted, who seemed to be on schedule for their third number one with Lightning. With sales of 92,689 copies in the week, We Found Love ended up with a 29.72% advantage over Lightning. Despite being performed by The Wanted on the X-Factor Results show the day it was released, Lightning sold only 71,451 copies in the week – way down on the 117,166 copies the band’s last single, Glad You Came, sold when debuting at number one in July.
Charlene Soraia’s stripped down version of The Calling 2002 number three hit Wherever You Will Go matches the chart peak of the original this week, climbing 7-3 (66,674 sales), helped by its continued use in the Twinings Tea TV commercial, rapidly increasing radio exposure (it jumps 102-? on the radio airplay chart) and Sophie Habibis’ rendition of the track on The X Factor. The Calling’s version also continues its resurgence, jumping 25-16 (18,189 sales). Soraia’s recording is only the second Top 10 hit for the Peacefrog label in its 20 year history, surpassing the number nine peak of Jose Gonzalez’s Heartbeats, which reached number nine in 2005, having also been used on a TV advert, specifically for the Sony Bravia TV.
The arrival of the new single by The Wanted, and Soraia’s continued improvement mean that Maroon 5’s Moves Like Jagger is finally on the move. After seven weeks at number two – matching the 1994 record for the longest run ever in runners-up position for a record that didn’t reach number one, set by All-4-One’s I Swear - Moves Like Jagger dips to number four. Although its sales are down 25.80% week-on-week to 59,275, it has sold upwards of 50,000 copies in each of the 10 weeks since its release. Overall sales of Moves Like Jagger of 711,348 make it the year’s eighth biggest hit.
Inaugural American Idol Kelly Clarkson racks up her seventh Top 10 hit, debuting at number six (47,910 sales) with Mr Know It All, the introductory single from her fifth album, Stronger. Meanwhile, Video Games – the haunting debut single by Lana Del Rey – debuts at number nine (40,541 sales).
Christmas has arrived a little early this year, with the first of 2010’s seasonal songs, Mistletoe by Justin Bieber debuting at number 21 (16,005 sales) nine whole weeks before the big day. Bieber’s seventh Top 40 hit single, it is taken from his upcoming album of seasonal songs, Under The Mistletoe is the most premature Christmas hit since 1956, when The Goons reached number four with I’m Walking Backwards For Christmas in July. Of course, the best way to measure how ‘Christmassy’ record buyers are feeling is to monitor the sales of Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. A hardy annual since the advent of the download era, the track invariably reaches its peak (natch) just before Christmas but ahead of that its sales increase week-on-week as the great day nears. It has already increased sales 10 weeks in a row, improving 52.30% week-on-week to 463 last week. It also answers the question ‘when do consumers feel least Christmassy?’. Perhaps surprisingly it is not in the sultry days of summer that punters are least likely to buy it – in each of the last three years it has reached its nadir in week 14, in April. With 750,454 copies sold since its original 1994 release, All I Want For Christmas Is You will likely pass the million sales mark in three or four years – though it does face competition from here on with a new version cut by the aforementioned Justin Bieber in collaboration with Carey for Under The Mistletoe.
Also new to the Top 40 this week: Got 2 Luv U by Sean Paul feat. Alexis Jordan (number 11, 28,324 sales); The One That Got Away (number 22, 15,759 sales), the sixth hit from Katy Perry’s second album, Teenage Dream (see album analysis for more info); and Natural Disaster by Laidback Luke Vs. Example. The third single from the latter’s current album Playing In The Shadows, it jumps 74-37 (8,151 sales).
Overall singles sales are down 2.49% week-on-week at 3,115,481 – 16.21% above same week 2010 sales of 2,680,931.
Singles
1 Rihanna/Calvin Harris 92,689 (286,815)
2 Wanted 71,451
3 Charlene Soraia 66,674 (122,570)
4 Maroon 5/Christina 59,275 (711,348)
6 Kelly Clarkson 47,910
9 Lana Del Ray 40,541
11 Sean Paul/Alexis 28,324
16 The Calling 18,189 (355,329)
21 Justin Bieber 16,005
22 Katy Perry 15,759
23 Matt Cardlle 15,507 (55,170)
37 Laidback Luke vs. Example 8,151
To Date Sales
Matt Cardle - When We Collide - 987,657
Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas is You - 750,454
Albums...
The maiden flight of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is a success, with the former Oasis man’s debut solo set perched atop the album chart after securing first week sales of 122,530.
It’s Gallagher’s ninth number one album – all seven Oasis studio albums and the compilation Time Flies... 1994-2009 also topped the list – and although its first week tally is well down on the 200,866 that Oasis’ last studio album, Dig Out Your Soul sold when it topped the list in 2008, it is significantly more than the 66,817 copies that Different Gear, Still Speeding – the debut album by brother Liam’s Beady Eye, essentially Oasis without Noel – sold when debuting at number three in March.
Outspoken on many issues, 44 year old Gallagher has recently been taking shots at The X Factor, so it must be very satisfying for him that High Flying Birds easily won the tussle for chart supremacy with the TV talent show’s reigning champion Matt Cardle, whose introductory album Letters lags far behind.
28 year old Cardle’s introductory single When We Collide topped the chart for three weeks at the turn of the year, and has thus far sold 987,657 copies but follow-up Run For Your Life has been less successful, and descends from its debut position of number six to number 23 (15,507 sales) this week. Its performance has doubtless impacted Letters, which sold 70,896 copies last week to secure its number two debut. Three of the six previous X Factor winners opened at number one, and four of the six had higher first week sales than Cardle. In order of release, the roll of honour: Steve Brookstein (Heart & Soul debuted at number one on sales of 50,989), Shayne Ward (Shayne Ward, number one, 201,266), Leona Lewis (Spirit, number one, 375,872), Leon Jackson (Right Now, number four, 37,197), Alexandra Burke (Overcome, number one, 132,065), and Joe McElderry (Wide Awake, number three, 39,405). We should note that Wide Awake is the lowest selling debut album by a winner of the competition – the 238 copies it sold last week raise its overall tally to 100,040, just short of the 105,016 copies that Brookstein’s album has sold – but McElderry has been significantly more successful with second album Classic since its release nine weeks ago. Dipping 24-26 (6,162 sales) on the current chart, Classic has already sold 177,530 copies.
In the same week last year, nine new albums debuted inside the Top 40 but last week was a surprisingly quiet one for new releases, and aside from Gallagher and Cardle’s efforts, the only new releases to dent the Top 40 are The Ultimate Collection by Daniel O’Donnell and Footsteps 2 by Chris De Burgh.
Debuting at number seven (15,585 sales), The Ultimate Collection is Irish country/MOR crooner O’Donnell’s 14th Top 20 album since 2000 – more than any other act - and his second of the year, following Moon Over Ireland, which reached number nine in March. Even more impressively, the 49 year old from Donegal has charted an album on the Top 75 every single year since his 1988 chart debut – that’s 24 years in a row, and something no other act can match – and has 28 Top 40 albums and 32 Top 75 albums to his credit, more than any other Irish act. The Ultimate Collection is a double disc set, comprising 30 previously released tracks and 10 new recordings.
O’Donnell’s fellow Irishman Chris De Burgh is now his labelmate at DMG TV, making his bow for the label with Footsteps 2. Debuting at number 38 (4,437 sales) it is the 63 year old’s 23rd chart album, and includes covers of The Beatles’ Let It Be, Abba’s S.O.S. and The Doobie Brothers’ Long Train Running.
Last week’s top three are all in decline: The Ultimate Collection by Steps stumbles 1-3 (27,765 sales),Ed Sheeran’s + falls 2-5 (22,994 sales), and Adele’s 21 trips 3-4 (23,232 sales).
Three 2010 albums surge back into the Top 20: Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream leads the stampede, rocketing 27-8 (15,057 sales) following her appearance on the X Factor Results show (16th October) to publicise the set’s sixth single, and UK concert dates, Maroon 5’s Hands All Over bounces 23-10 (10,765 sales), securing its seventh straight week in the Top 40 since being reissued with their smash Christina Aguilera collaboration Moves Like Jagger appended; and Rihanna dashes 29-12 (10,536 sales) with Loud capitalising on the buzz created by We Found Love, the chart-topping introductory single from her next album Talk That Talk. It’s the highest position for Perry’s album for 42 weeks, Maroon 5’s since it debuted at number six 57 weeks ago, and Rihanna’s for eight weeks.
Overall album sales are up 2.88% week-on-week at 1,664,893, 8.00% below same week 2010 sales of 1,809,661.
Albums
1 Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds 122,530
2 Matt Cardle 70,896
3 Steps 27,765 (61,965)
4 Adele [21] 23,232 (3,204,768)
5 Ed Sheeran 22,994 (258,854)
7 Daniel O’Donnell 15,585
8 Katy Perry 15,057
10 Maroon 5 10,765
12 Rihanna 10,536
26 Joe McElderry [Classic] 6,162 (177,530)
38 Chris De Burgh 4,437
To Date Albums
Joe McElderry - Wide Awake - 100,040
Steve Brookstein - Heart & Soul - 105,016