Singles:
Diana Vickers’ debut single Once storms to the top of the singles chart this week (69,407 sales), becoming the 15th number one thus far by a graduate, or a collection of finalists, from the ITV show The X Factor.
18-year-old Vickers – who comes from Blackburn, Lancs, not to be confused with Blackburn, West Lothian, whence Britain’s Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle hails – finished fourth in the fifth (2008) series of The X Factor, and has since gone on to become a star in the London West End revival of The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.
Once is the introductory single from Vickers’ first album, Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree, which is released next Monday (3rd May), and was written by EG White and Cathy Dennis. It is the eight number one penned by Dennis, whose last chart-topper was I Kissed A Girl for Katy Perry (2008) and the third for White.
Previous X Factor number ones have come from Steve Brookstein, Shayne Ward, Chico, Leona Lewis (three), Leon Jackson, Alexandra Burke (two), JLS (two), Joe McElderry and The X Factor Finalists 2008 and 2009.
Last week’s number one, OMG by Usher feat. will.i.am, is pushed down to number two, despite increasing sales by 10.6% week-on-week to 64,592.
Chipmunk’s latest single, Until You Were Gone – which also features Dutch singer Esmee Denters - was no match for Vickers but still managed to sell 57,536 copies in debuting at number three.
All of the top three singles are Sony Music releases: Diana Vickers on RCA, Chipmunk feat. Esmee Denters on Jive and Usher feat. will.i.am on LaFace. It’s only the fifth time in the last five years that the company has occupied all of the top three places. It did so most recently in the final week of 2008, when formidable femmes Alexandra Burke, Leona Lewis and Beyoncé led the way.
Meanwhile, Tina Turner’s 1989 number five hit The Best comes thundering back into the chart, debuting at number nine (28,630 sales) thanks to two separate but synchronous stimuli.
Turner’s signature tune – although first recorded by Bonnie Tyler – The Best was boosted by its use on the first episode of the fourth series of Britain’s Got Talent by an impersonator and, more significantly, a Facebook campaign urging fans of Glasgow Rangers FC – where it is the club anthem - to purchase the track to celebrate the team’s latest Scottish Premier League championship.
Fans of Rangers’ bitter rivals across Glasgow – Celtic – were so enraged by the prospect of The Best charting that they belatedly put their weight behind their own club’s anthem, Gerry & The Pacemakers’ You’ll Never Walk Alone. It too charts this week but it is a case of art imitating life as it is well beaten by The Best, debuting at number 33 (7,021 sales) in much the same way as Celtic trail in a poor second in the Scottish league table 11 points behind Rangers. 70.7% of the track’s sales were in Scotland last week, as were 38.8% of The Best’s.
After a brief respite, the cast of TV show Glee are on the hit trail again, with no fewer than five debuts on the Top 200.
Their cover of All-American Rejects’ 2009 number 18 hit Gives You Hell makes the best showing, debuting at number 14 (17,434 sales), followed by Lionel Richie’s Hello (number 35, 6,723 sales), The Beatles’ Hello Goodbye (number 48, 4,588 sales), The Doors’ Hello I Love You (number 69, 3,413 sales) and AC/DC’s Highway To Hell (number 89, 2,364 sales). The show’s first 14 episodes have thus far generated
48 Top 200 hits for the ensemble, of which
23 have made the Top 75, though Gives You Hell is only the fourth to breach the Top 20. Overall Glee Cast single track sales now add up to
1,082,673.
Earlier this year, 3OH3! reached number three with Katy Perry on Starstrukk and number 11 supporting Ke$ha on Blah Blah Blah. Their debut hit, Don’t Trust Me, has been performing well throughout this period, selling more than 103,000 copies even though it peaked at number 21 last July. Given a full re-servicing, it resumes its chart career this week, re-entering the Top 75 at number 22 (10,772 sales) after a 31 week absence.
Overall singles sales increased for the second week in a row,
rising 4.6% to 2,548,616 – 7.06% above same week 2009 sales of 2,380,620.
1 Diana Vickers 69407
2 Usher/Will.i.am 64592
3 Chipmunk/Esmee Denters 57536
9 Tina Turner 28630
14 Glee Cast [GYH] 17434
21 Kate Nash 11090
22 3OH!3 10772 (To Date: 103.000+)
33 Gerry & The Pacemakers 7021
35 Glee Cast [Hello] 6723
48 Glee Cast [HG] 4588
69 Glee Cast [HILY] 3413
86 Glee Cast [HTH] 2364
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Albums:
Veteran Anglo/Aussie rockers AC/DC unexpectedly top the album chart with Iron Man 2, which debuts at number one on first-week sales of 56,936.
It beats midweek leader Paul Weller whose 10th solo studio album (17th, including compilations and live discs), Wake Up The Nation debuts at number two on sales of 52,563 – a little shy of the 58,924 copies that earned his last studio set, 22 Dreams, a number one debut in 2008.
Iron Man 2 is AC/DC’s 16th chart entry since their 1977 debut, and their third number one, following 1980 classic Back In Black and sensational 2008 comeback album, Black Ice.
A compilation – it anthologises tracks ranging in vintage from 1975 to 2009 – Iron Man 2 is also the audio accompaniment to the superhero film Iron Man 2, and is the first soundtrack set to top the chart since 1998, when Titanic was number one. Ramin Djawadi’s soundtrack to the first Iron Man film (2008) failed to chart, and has sold 3,256 copies to date.
Four other albums debut inside the Top 20 on a busy week for high-profile releases.
Meat Loaf’s latest, Hang Cool Teddy Bear debuts at number four (31,034 sales).
With introductory single Do-Wah-Doo falling 15-21 on its second week in the chart (11,090 sales), Kate Nash’s second album, My Best Friend Is You, debuts at number eight (13,689 sales). Her 2007 debut, Made Of Bricks, debuted at number one on sales of 58,756 copies, and has so far sold 547,868 copies.
Disney’s latest singer/actress hitmaker, Selena Gomez and her band The Scene, make a solid number 12 debut (11,239 sales), while Mancunian veterans James arrive at number 20 with mini-album The Night Before (6,996 sales). It is their 10th Top 20 album, and is one of two they propose to release this year, with the similarly slim The Morning After set to follow in August.
With so much action going on, last week’s top three all take tumbles: Plan B’s The Defamation Of Strickland Banks ebbs 1-3 (47,950 sales); Scouting For Girls’ Everybody Wants To Be On TV skids 2-5 (25,068 sales); and Lady GaGa’s The Fame falls 3-6 (15,932 sales). MGMT’s Congratulations, which was number four a week ago, dives to number 19 (7,405 sales).
Veteran crooner Tony Bennett, 83, increases his span of hit albums to nearly 45 years, debuting at number 35 (4,180 sales) with new compilation, Sings The Ultimate American Songbook 1. Bennett’s last studio album, Duets – An American Classic, reached number 15 in 2006, and sold more than 158,000 copies.
Despite this week’s new intake, album sales remain depressed,
rising only 1.9% week-on-week to 1,633,399. That’s 3.07% below same week 2009 sales of 1,685,195.
1 AC/DC 56936
2 Paul Weller 52563
3 Plan B 47950
4 Meat Loaf 31034
5 Scouting For Girls 25068
6 Lady GaGa 15932
8 Kate Nash 13689
12 Selena Gomez & The Scene 11239
19 MGMT 7405
20 James 6996
35 Tony Bennett 4180
To Date Albums
Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks 547,868
Usher - Here I Stand 214,465
Glee Cast - Season 1 Vol 1 134,235
Bullet For My Valentine - Scream Aim Fire 102,752
Dead Weather - Horebound 44,581
Boys Like Girls - Boys Like Girls 17,044
Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent 11,417
David Holmes - Holy Pictures 11,193
Forever The Sickest Kids - Underdog Alma Maker 4,434
