Here are some of my favourite songs of 2014.
Darren Hayes
Darren Hayes ‘Wrecking Ball’
You might’ve seen Darren Hayes pop up in your iTunes store recently under a completely different section (what is a podcast?) but making music is still his main trade.
The talented singer/songwriter has released a pair of songs previously only available in the collector’s edition of his 2011 Secret Codes and Battleships album.
‘Wrecking Ball’ and the demo version of ‘Sweetest Lullaby’ are like two sides of a coin. ‘Wrecking Ball’ is the flamboyant head with a rambunctious hook, driving drums and fluorescent synth brass. It is unmistakably Darren in Glee mode.
‘Sweetest Lullaby’, on the other hand, is a classic, melancholy Darren Hayes ballad that could soundtrack a million black and white cinematic visions. It does what every great pop ballad should: set the tone upon arrival. You already know which way your heart is going to break from the opening line: “It won’t be long before your train arrives at rainy Waterloo. It won’t be long before you’re leaving, you’re leaving…”.
Listen to the Wrecking Ball (EP) on Spotify:
The two-track Wrecking Ball EP is now out in digital stores everywhere.
Some popstars do a reality show in between albums, others – like this thinking man’s pop idol – prefer to produce life-affirming podcasts. You can download Darren’s weekly talk show Talk Talk Talk with Darren Hayes on iTunes and who knows, god willing, a new record is on the horizon.
Feed Limmy Albums of 2011: #20 – #11
Damn, honey gurl. The line up change around here has been swifter and colder than a Sugababes reshuffle.
Basically, within half an hour of me posting the pixelated teaser on Facebook/Twitter, I’ve already changed my mind and switched four albums around. Have I made the right decision? Absolutely. *claps* Silence! Now, bring me my gurls.
The Feed Limmy Albums of 2011 (#20 – #11) category gave me a lot to think about in terms of how I rate my enjoyment versus the overall quality of the album. How do you guys work out your “albums of the year”? I know for some folks it’s down to how much they listen to the album and for others, it’s awarded on what they see as “artistic excellence”. It’s really hard when you have a persuasion for low-rent trashy pop like me. But fuck it, I’m not here to do what Popjustice does. This is what mattered in 2011 according to Feed Limmy. And I’m glad you – appreciator of quality, fun and emotionally relevant pop – and I can share this. Let the games begin.
Check out Feed Limmy’s Albums of 2011 (#20 – #11):
Feed Limmy’s Songs of 2011: #20 – #11
Let me guess, you’re checking to see if I’ve slotted Sugababes‘ ‘Freedom’ or Natalie Bassingthwaighte‘s ‘All We Have’ in the Top 20 Songs of 2011.
So sorry to disappoint but this isn’t the It’s Not Right But It’s Okay list. This is the premium VIP lounge, y’guys. That velvet rope don’t go up for any basic bitch peddling a half decent tune sung with fuck all conviction.
I am looking for songs that have not only connected with me on an emotional level but also earned snaps for interesting musical execution. These ten tracks have all reached out and broken me down with either a killer melody and fierce production, or soul-touching lyrics.
The sonic soundscape represented in the #20 – #11 list varies from Brunswick-style indie to ferocious K-pop and even a touch of gospel. Variety is the spice of life, children. And I’m here for quality pop of all musical persuasions.
Check out Feed Limmy’s Songs of 2011: #20 – #11:
Chart Feed – 14.11.11
Ricki-Lee‘s ‘Raining Diamonds’ rockets back up the charts from #96 to #23 this week, thanks to her no-expense-spared X Factor Australia performance and Sunrise jaunt the morning after. The track immediately leapt from #57 to the Top 5 on iTunes right after Tuesday night’s performance and the girl even became a Twitter trending topic worldwide.
The fabulous Idol star is putting the finishing touches on her album now – which is expected to arrive in the first half of 2012 – and word is, her label has already approved a follow up single to ‘Raining Diamonds’. There’s a few good tidbits in her auspop interview – go have a read.
Watch Ricki-Lee turn out ‘Raining Diamonds’ on X Factor Australia.
Jessica Mauboy and Stan Walker‘s ‘Galaxy’ ascends to a new peak of #13 in Australia, making this J. Mally‘s 10th Top 20 smash and Stan‘s fourth. Meanwhile, Jess‘ Get ‘Em Girls album plummets to #100 on our ARIA charts proving that she might just be a more bankable singles seller after all.
Susan Boyle has once again made her annual showing on top of the album charts with her third LP Someone To Watch Over Me reigning at #1 in Australia and the UK. The chairman cash cow of Simon Cowell‘s label made her maiden trip Down Under last week to promote the new album and voila for results. Over in the US, Someone To Watch Over Me debuts at #4 with opening week sales of 132,000 copies. SuBo will probably never recapture the hysterical success of her debut I Dreamed A Dream – which opened at #1 in the US, selling 701,000 copies in its first week. But I reckon she’ll be right.
There are seven new entries in our ARIA Top 20 this week and I reckon it’s only gonna get more competitive over the next few weeks with new releases falling like rain. Triple J‘s Like A Version 7, which was topping the iTunes charts for most of the week, managed to debut at #6. Other debuts include: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 soundtrack (#9), Il Divo‘s Wicked Game (#11), Powderfinger‘s Fingerprints and Footprints (#15), The Getaway Plan‘s Requiem (#17) and Chris Tomlin‘s Glory In The Highest Christian Christmas compilation (#19).
Watch Angus & Julia Stone do folky cover of Nelly Furtado‘s ‘Say It Right’, which is featured on Triple J‘s Like A Version 7:
The Wiggles tribute album is probably the best thing them indie folk types have come up with ever. Making children’s music is serious shit, y’guys. There’s no fooling around with ‘The Hot Potato’. ReWiggled: A Tribute to The Wiggles debuts at #25 this week on our ARIA charts and it features the likes of Washington doing a very straight-faced rendition of ‘The Monkey Dance’, Architecture in Helsinki giving fluorescent realness in ‘Wiggly Party’ and Living End doing a rocking cover of the aforementioned spud song.
Ed Sheeran has himself a little Aussie hit in his hands, thanks to some promo work. The ginger strummy la la artist’s ‘The A Team’ leaps to #5 on our ARIA singles chart while the album + shoots to #21. Ed has so far earned three UK Top 10 smashes with ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ and ‘Lego House’ both managing to follow the success of ‘A Team’. His album managed to debut on top of the British charts last month, garnering opening week sales of over 102,000 copies.
Jessie J‘s Who You Are album leaps back into the Australian Top 50 this week, placing itself at #35. Interest surrounding the new single ‘Domino’, which is still lingering in our Top 20, has got to help. The Christmas cash-in re-release of Who You Are arrived locally last Friday – that will also help the cause. Over in the UK, Jessie J launches her fifth single ‘Who You Are’ today, so we can expect for the track to break into the Top 20 next week. Over in America, ‘Domino’ rises to #67 on the Billboard Hot 100, thanks in some part to her killer US X Factor performance.
Watch Jessie J wail the house down on ‘Domino’:
Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way is out of the Australian Top 50 for the first time since it dropped in May. The epic top-selling album drops to #63 this week but I reckon it won’t be long before we see the bitch fight back with a vengeance. The project’s next single ‘Marry The Night’ debuts at #88 this week. Y’all better have a ton of popcorn ready too because Gaga has just announced that the forthcoming video for ‘Marry The Night’ will be her longest mini-movie yet.
Darren Hayes‘ Secret Codes and Battleships does a death drop from #15 to #53 in its third week on our ARIA Top 100. I want y’all to stop rocking in the corner because we knew this was bound to happen as soon as all promo activity wraps.
Dazza – although admirable in his plight for a sparkling commercial comeback – will always be one of those pop artists with a cult following. Pick up for his singles ‘Talk Talk Talk’ and ‘Bloodstained Heart’ haven’t improved since the album arrived but then again, he hasn’t had a solo single that really grabbed the Aussie public since 2005’s ‘So Beautiful’. And that was boosted by interest surrounding the Savage Garden best-of compilation.
Listen to Darren Hayes‘ ‘Bloodstained Heart (Monsieur Adi Remix)’:
Kele of Bloc Party‘s new EP The Hunter debuts at #79 in Australia this week. The collection of six new original songs and a cover of Q Lazzarus‘ ‘Goodbye Horses’ arrives a little over a year after Kele‘s first solo album. The Boxer managed to peak at #35 in Australia and #20 in the UK.
Cher Lloyd‘s wigsnatching debut Sticks & Stones shows up at #4 this week, making it the second biggest new album on the UK charts. After the first two days on shelves, the album had already racked up over 26,000 sales – putting the girl roughly 4,000 copies behind SuBo. Over at the singles bar, ‘With Ur Love’ dips a little to #6 in its second week while her fierce chart topping smash ‘Swagger Jagger’ rockets back up to #41.
Here in Australia, they’re actually trying to launch young Cher again after ‘Swagger Jagger’ flopped disastrously. Basically two radio stations in the entire country added that shit. My friend auspop informed me that ‘With Ur Love’ has picked up some local radio love in the last week, getting added to Nova 106.9 (Queensland) and The Edge 96.1 (Sydney) – just to name a few. It’s already on course to fare better than ‘Swagger Jagger’ so we’ll see what comes of it.
Catch a glimpse of Cher Lloyd‘s secret acoustic gig:
The Wanted‘s Battleground becomes the third biggest new release on the UK album charts this week, entering at #5 after selling over 25,000 copies in the first two days. The sophomore album’s a mostly consistent blend of present day boy band fodder. The best showing here is definitely the singles ‘Glad You Came’, ‘Lightning’ (although I prefer the Alias Radio Edit) and future hit ‘Warzone’ (which debuted at #64 this week thanks to interest surrounding the video/album).
JLS‘ big ballad ‘Take A Chance On Me’ debuts at #2 to become the biggest selling new single in the UK this week. The next major impacting new single is Pixie Lott‘s rather dated pop/R&B submission ‘What Do You Take Me For’, which entered at a meagre #10. Both JLS and Pixie launch their respective albums Jukebox and Young Foolish Happy today, so it’ll be interesting to see where they end up next Monday. Right now, JLS‘ album sits at #6 on the UK iTunes charts while Pixie‘s record pulls up at #29.
Watch Pixie Lott‘s sleek ‘What Do You Take Me For’ video:
Next week’s British chart battle would also see two pop groups with two stunning winter ballads go head to head. In one corner, there’s One Direction‘s flawless ‘Gotta Be You’ and the other, The Saturdays‘ ‘My Heart Takes Over’. Day one on the digital shelves and One Direction‘s currently perched at #2 on the iTunes singles chart while The Saturdays trail behind at #17. Both bands will take up battle again on 21 November when their albums drop on the same day.
Looking ahead, 28 November is gonna be a nerve-wracking day at the UK X Factor camp with Kelly Rowland releasing the international edition of Here I Am and fellow judge Tulisa foisting an N-Dubz greatest hits compilation. Xtra Factor host and former show contestant Olly Murs will also drop his sophomore album In Case You Didn’t Know on the same day, while fellow series winner Joe McElderry launches his third album Classic Christmas.
Parade‘s self-titled debut album isn’t about to snatch any trophies, let’s be real about that. But the struggling girl band isn’t doing too badly right now with their record rising to #88 on the UK iTunes album charts. Can they keep it chugging along for the rest of the week?
Melanie C‘s new bruised ballad ‘Weak’ debuts at #29 on the UK indie singles chart. Despite the barrage of TV and radio promo in the last week – performing on Daybreak, This Morning and other places – the Old Spice couldn’t get the track to crack the Top 100.
Watch Mel deliver a knock out live acoustic performance of ‘Weak’:
Nicole Scherzinger‘s ‘Try With Me’ plummets to #29 in its second week on the UK charts. The ex-Pussycat team leader is relaunching her Killer Love album in the UK today with three new tracks, plus the 50 Cent remix of ‘Right There’, which was used to launch her career in the States.
Here’s what you need to know about the new recordings: ‘Try With Me’ – the Nervo co-write – is acceptable but not really on the level of immediate pop excellence like say ‘Killer Love’, ‘Trust Me I Lie’ is an unnecessarily dramatic ballad written by Diane Warren, and ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ is a mid-tempo with a wistful Teenage Dream flavour, probably because it’s a Bonnie McKee co-write.
Little Boots‘ new single ‘Shake’ is currently placed at #105 on the UK iTunes charts after just day on the digital shelves. A feat she said she wasn’t expecting for a “six minute song with no video”. This really is a good Litmus test for Victoria’s fan base because there’s really been no promo prior to this.
Justin Bieber has the #1 album in America with Under The Mistletoe, nabbing first-week sales of 210,000 copies. The teen megastar also made history as the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at #1 in Billboard’s 55-year chart history. Susan Boyle‘s 2010 The Gift was the only other Christmas album to ever open on top of the US charts.
Coldplay‘s Mylo Xyloto (last week’s big #1 entry) and Kelly Clarkson‘s Stronger (last week’s #2 hot shot debut) falls to #7 and #10 respectively on the US Billboard 200. Mylo Xyloto registered a 76% drop in sales (selling 104,000 copies in its second week) while Stronger slumped with 69% sales drop (selling 51,000 copies in its second week).
Listen to Coldplay‘s ‘Paradise (Fedde Le Grand Remix)’:
Rihanna‘s ‘We Found Love’ clocks its second week on top of the US Billboard Hot 100 and picks up even more airplay to support it. The single is still the most downloaded song in America, racking in 236,000 digital sales in the last week. ‘We Found Love’ also managed to top the US Billboard Dance/Club play charts.
Meanwhile, the Rihanna Navy is already going to work stanning for her next single ‘You Da One’. The album Talk That Talk leaked over the weekend and while I have no interest (at the moment) to hear it in web quality, everyone’s already saying that it’s better than Loud.
Katy Perry‘s ‘The One That Got Away’ finally leaps into the US Top 20, placing itself at #18. This chart upgrade was supported by growing radio rotation, which saw the song rise from #33 to #26 on the US airplay charts. ‘The One That Got Away’ dips to #41 in Australia this week and #62 in the UK. Now that the video’s dropped, expect for the single to really pick up pace.
Listen to ‘The One That Got Away (JRMX Remix)’:
Beyoncé‘s ‘Party’ rises to #3 on the US R&B/Hip Hop song chart while her hubby Jay-Z reigns on top with ‘Niggas in Paris’. Looking on the overall Billboard Hot 100, ‘Party’ rises to #54 and continues to lead the pack of 4 tracks currently littered all over the charts. Further down, we have ‘Countdown’ picking up pace to #71. While ‘Party’ is the stronger performer on the American radio airplay charts, ‘Countdown’ is making waves over on the US dance/club play charts – rising to a new peak of #9 this week.
Britney Spears‘ ‘Criminal’ is still slowly happening in the States, rising to a new peak of #55 on the Billboard Hot 100. I honestly can’t see this song scaling the Top 20 unless radio comes around to playing it more. The song tumbles from #67 to #74 on the American airplay chart – not at all promising. ‘Criminal’ has yet to crack the ARIA Top 100 and as for its fate in the UK, we’ll have to see after it’s formally released on 21 November.
Wynter Gordon‘s ‘Buy My Love’ moves up to #21 on the US Billboard Dance/Club play charts. Almost in the Top 20 league, boo boo. Elsewhere, other exciting new movers in the club sphere include Anjulie‘s ‘Brand New Bitch’ (#18), Eddie Amador and Kimberly Cole‘s ‘Arrow Through My Heart’ (#32) and Chris Willis‘ new piece ‘Too Much In Love’ (debuting at #40).
Chart Feed – 07.11.11
One Direction has the highest selling new single in Australia this week with ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ debuting at #15. I feel like X Factor has become my minor in this great school of pop music commentary, in which I have already acquired adequate majors in Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Girls Aloud and Sugababes disciplines. Every corner I turn, I seem to be asked or be offering unsolicited spiels on X Factor contestants circa 2010/2011.
One Direction was formed on last year’s ultra defining UK X Factor series and it’s truly a testament to their global appeal to have their first single lapped up like that. ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ still holds the record for fastest selling single in the UK this year, pulling opening week sales of over 153,000 copies in September.
Jessica Mauboy and Stan Walker‘s ‘Galaxy’ debuts at #28 in Australia this week, serving what I’d consider to be a pretty satisfactory chart position given that most of their core fans would’ve already purchased the track when Jess relaunched Get ‘Em Girls. There are basically two reasons why ‘Galaxy’ will never be as big as its preceding single ‘Inescapable’: one – ‘Inescapable’ is a better song and has radio-readiness coated all over, two – ‘Inescapable’ wasn’t available prior to its first media impact so almost everyone had to buy it. ‘Galaxy’ is also the most added new song to Aussie radios this week.
Watch Jess and Stan outwail each other in the first televised performance of ‘Galaxy’:
Ricki-Lee‘s A-grade single ‘Raining Diamonds’ is hanging by the arse hairs of the ARIA Top 100 right now. I am clutching my pearls in shock, struggling to comprehend how her team had failed to schedule in proper promo to fanfare this comeback. ‘Raining Diamonds’ dives from #55 to #96 in its third week and fingers crossed her X Factor appearance tomorrow night will help turn fortunes around.
Havana Brown‘s ‘Get It’ makes a big leap back into the ARIA Top 50 as predicted. Her fierce X Factor Australia performance sent the club-ready single to #39 and resurrected her breakthrough ‘We Run The Night’, which re-entered this week at #66. Similarly, Stan Walker‘s appearance helped his flailing single ‘Light It Up’ finally debut at #45.
Katy Perry‘s ‘The One That Got Away’ drops to #40 on our Australian ARIA charts and sinks to #61 in the UK – the obvious lack of radio support right now is what’s kinda killing the sixth Teenage Dream single. Meanwhile over in the States, ‘The One That Got Away’ manages to move up to #34 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Check out the trailer for the forthcoming ‘The One That Got Away’ video, which will premiere in full on 11 November. Look who’s trying to recapture the essence of RiRi‘s ‘We Found Love’:
The Wanted‘s ‘Lightning’ shoots to #79 in Australia in its second week, proving that there’s still a chance for these lads to sustain a second smash Down Under. The Wanted‘s new album Battleground arrives on UK store fronts today, setting us up for what’ll surely be an epic chart battle between these guys and Cher Lloyd. Over in the States, The Wanted sees their smash ‘Glad You Came’ bullet to #33 on the US Billboard Dance/Club charts after playing a gig in New York.
Lana Del Rey‘s ‘Video Games’ rises to #81 in Australia in its third week, still gaining momentum from viral recommendations. The bewitching single also makes its way back up the UK charts this week to #12 probably thanks to a placement on CW’s drama Ringer, which started airing in the UK over a month ago?
Listen to ‘Video Games (Club Clique for The Bad Girls Remix)’:
Wynter Gordon‘s ‘Buy My Love’ drops out of the ARIA Top 100 this week. I don’t wanna strike panic in the hearts of Wynter Warriors in the UK but there’s more bad news as both ‘Buy My Love’ and album With The Music I Die have been crossed off the November release schedule. Over on the US Billboard Dance/Club charts, ‘Buy My Love’ shoots to #26 in its second week. There’s promise of new material around the corner so perhaps ‘Buy My Love’ will be the last gem lifted from With The Music I Die.
Florence + The Machine‘s Ceremonials debuts straight on top in Australia and the UK, making this the second consecutive week where we’ve matched Mother England in #1 debut albums. The indie pop diva’s sophomore album managed to sell 38,000 copies in the UK in just two days and wound up with opening week sales of over 90,000 copies. In Australia, Flo‘s current single ‘Shake It Out’ bullets to #36 on our ARIA charts, making this her fourth Top 40 smash here.
Watch the classy video for ‘Shake It Out’ here:
Darren Hayes‘ Secret Codes and Battleship sustains its second week in our Aussie Top 20 with a placement at #15. I’m sure the three-date Aussie tour he served last week helped inspire some more buzz around the record. The Secret Tour was very much a one man show of wonders, mixing unexpected moments with a healthy dose of nostalgia propelled by Savage Garden hits. Dazza’s current single ‘Bloodstained Heart’ drops from #80 to #88 on our ARIA charts.
Washington‘s Insomnia EP plummets from #24 to #51 in its second week. Speaking of tragic Aussie pop drops, Sneaky Sound System‘s From Here to Anywhere sinks from #48 to #80 – will it still be here in our Top 100 next week?
Ronan Keating is once again capitalising on his X Factor gig. Last week’s performance not only sent his recent covers album When Ronan Met Burt back into our ARIA Top 100 (#70) but also rekindled interest in his greatest hits compilation: 10 Years of Hits (#62). Just imagine what Hot would sell if Mel B had so much popped a squat to a medley of ‘Tell Me’/’Feels So Good’/’I Want You Back’.
Cher Lloyd‘s ‘With Ur Love’ is the biggest selling new single in the UK this week, debuting at #4. At the time the midweeks were published, ‘With Ur Love’ was on course to become Cher‘s second chart topper with just a 1,000 copies ahead of its nearest competitor. By the second half of the week, the likes of Professor Green, Rihanna and Labrinth had overtaken her on the sales board.
The 18-year old feisty femmecee’s debut album – Sticks & Stones – drops today and being a typically “front heavy” artist, her best promo strategy is to actually sit back and let her hard core fans drive the first week sales, then go to work in the second week to sustain the record’s chart debut. Sticks & Stones is currently going for a discounted price of £6.99 at HMV – that has got to help.
Watch Cher Lloyd perform an acoustic rendition of her current smash ‘With Ur Love’:
Nicole Scherzinger‘s new recording ‘Try With Me’ debuts at #18 in the UK this week, making this the ex-Pussycat’s fifth solo Top 20 smash in the region. Her trashy last single ‘Wet’ deserves a mention for peaking at #21 but with that being the only Killer Love single Nicole didn’t promote in the UK, you can kinda see why it didn’t fare as well as it could’ve.
Matt Cardle‘s lead single ‘Run For Your Life’ is completely over, it seems. The track sinks from #52 to #96 this week, completely validating his label’s response to issue another single before Christmas. I don’t think the man’s gonna be getting a lot of support from his label after the peak buying periods. They might as well milk it now while Christmas is around the corner and the X Factor‘s still on air.
Watch the video for Matt‘s second single ‘Starlight’, which comes out on 5 December in the UK:
Melanie C‘s brand new single EP ‘Weak’ is actually #1 on the Greek iTunes album chart right now – believe it or not. The Old Spice just launched her second international Sea single yesterday but fans in Germany, Switzerland and Austria will be treated to ‘Let There Be Love’ instead on 2 December.
Rihanna‘s ‘We Found Love’ dethrones Adele to top the US Billboard Hot 100, making this the Barbadian bombshell’s 11th #1 smash. As I said last week, the only thing really standing between ‘We Found Love’ and ‘Someone Like You’ was radio airplay, which RiRi picked up a significant amount of in the last week. The stronger airplay coupled with second week as the nation’s most downloaded song led ‘We Found Love’ to an overall #1 victory.
‘We Found Love’ racked up 243,000 sales in its second week on top of the digital charts, pushing the accumulated sales to date to over 1 million. This is Rihanna‘s 20th song to cross the million-download sales mark. Rihallah also co-signs on the biggest new entry on the digital charts – ‘Princess of China’ with Coldplay, which debuted at #8 with 105,000 downloads. ‘We Found Love’ is also the biggest gainer on the US Billboard Dance/Club play charts, now cracking the whip at a new peak of #5.
Coldplay‘s Mylo Xyloto breaks into the US Billboard 200 at #1 with opening week sales of 447,000 copies. How unsurprising and barely newsworthy. Nevertheless, there are a couple of cool accomplishments for this album that deserve nods. This is the third biggest first week sales in the US this year – only outdone by Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way (1.1 million copies) and Lil Wayne‘s Tha Carter IV (964,000 copies). Mylo Xyloto also clocked the biggest weekly sales for a rock album since U2‘s No Line On The Horizon debuted in 2009.
Mylo Xyloto may be the third Coldplay album to debut straight at #1 in the US but it’s actually their lowest selling #1 yet. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends opened with 721,000 copies back in 2008 and its predecessor X&Y did 737,000 in 2005.
Watch the video for Coldplay‘s ‘Paradise’:
Kelly Clarkson‘s Stronger is the second biggest new entry on the US album charts, debuting at #2 with 163,000 opening sales. It’s not quite on par with the success of her last album – All I Ever Wanted – but hey, by the time that album arrived it was already well supported by a top-selling single (‘My Life Would Suck Without You’). Stronger, on the other hand, is only seeing fortunes turn around for its lead single ‘Mr Know It All’ now.
‘Mr Know It All’ managed a 60% sales increase in the last week with 106,000 download sales. It finally cracks a new peak of #10 – making this Clarko’s ninth single in the US Billboard Hot 100’s Top 10. Elsewhere, the wig-snatching future single ‘What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)’ debuts at #64 – based solely on interest surrounding the new record. Stronger – the album – drops to #7 and #14 in its second week in Australia and the UK respectively.
Michael Bublé‘s first full-length Christmas album – imaginatively titled Christmas – hits #3 in the US, selling 141,000 copies to be the biggest seasonal record for now. I expect for the crown to be well snatched by Justin Bieber‘s Under The Mistletoe, which will debut sometime later this week. Elsewhere, She & Him‘s A Very She & Him Christmas debuts at #12 on the US Billboard 200.
Kaskade‘s Fire & Ice debuts at #17 on the US Billboard Hot 200, making it the biggest dance/electronic album in the country. The American DJ/producer is known for turning out #1 club play remixes of Lady Gaga‘s ‘Bad Romance’, Justin Timberlake‘s ‘LoveStoned’ and Nelly Furtado‘s ‘All Good Things (Come To An End)’.
Jessica Sutta, the only ex-Pussycat Doll that matters right now, grabs her first ever solo #1 smash this week with ‘Show Me’ topping the US Dance/Club play charts. Following close behind is Sutta’s rival and former team leader, Nicole Scherzinger, with ‘Don’t Hold Your Breath’ edging to #2.
Watch Chairman Sutta‘s ‘Show Me (Alex Gaudino and Jason Rooney Remix)’ video:
Gloria Estefan‘s ‘Wepa’ is sadly migrating south of the charts. Despite the red-faced commercial flop of Little Miss Havana, The Estefun‘s comeback appears to have successfully reconnected her with old
Leann Rimes scores the biggest new entry on the US Billboard Dance/Club play this week with ‘Give’ charting at #43. Remixes of the country song is obviously proving to be a smash with party people. Never would I have expected for a country/inspirational Leann Rimes song to snatch wigs like this.
Watch Le Rimes‘ touching ‘Give’ music video. Have some Kleenex close by.
Jennifer Lopez‘s ‘Papi’ debuts at #38 on the US Billboard Pop Songs charts but disappears from the overall Billboard Hot 100. The addictive Latin-flavoured dance smash is also painfully denied radio airplay with most American stations still preferring to bump ‘On The Floor’. It’s pretty much the same sitch everywhere else in the world.
Kelly Rowland‘s ‘Lay It On Me’ is struggling to match the flash success of ‘Motivation’. The arguably more radio friendly single is not garnering enough airplay and is rapidly falling down the US R&B/Hip Hop songs chart. ‘Lay It On Me’ tumbles to #68, behind ‘Motivation’ (#22) and her sister Bey’s singles ‘Party’, ‘Countdown’ and ‘Love on Top’.
Beyoncé‘s ‘Party’ is outselling ‘Countdown’ in the States. ‘Party’ moves up to #57 on the US Billboard Hot 100 while ‘Countdown’ sinks to #83. The media’s not embracing ‘Countdown’ for some reason, even though it’s long been a fan fave ever since 4 came out. Peeking over in the UK, ‘Countdown’ rises to #35 and ‘Love On Top’ is still etched for a 12 December drop date.
Chart Feed – 31.10.11
Darren Hayes has the biggest selling new Aussie album here this week with Secret Codes & Battleships debuting at #10 on our ARIA charts. This is the ex-Savage Gardener’s first Top 10 placement since 2004’s The Tension & The Spark. Darren‘s current Aussie single ‘Bloodstained Heart’ also finally cracks our ARIA Top 100 this week at #80, after two months of languishing on the digital shelves. The man is set to kick off his three-date Australian Secret Tour this Wednesday in Melbourne and I absolutely can’t wait to be there, finally seeing my idol live and in the flesh. Over in the UK, Darren‘s Secret Codes & Battleships debuts at #29 this week, despite a promising placement of #11 in the mid-weeks.
Watch Darren Hayes performing ‘Bloodstained Heart’ on Sunrise last week:
Coldplay effortlessly topped the Australian and UK charts this week with Mylo Xyloto. The album was instantly certified gold sales in Australia (for shipments of over 35,000 copies – whatever that means) while over in the UK, Mylo Xyloto managed to pull 208,000 copies in its first week. This means that Coldplay now has the second biggest opening week sales of 2011 – only marginally trumped by Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way, which debuted with 215,639 copies. Mylo Xyloto is expected to also debut at #1 in the US later this week, scaling sales north of 450,000 copies. The album’s currently #1 on every iTunes store in the world – except Denmark, they just don’t get it.
Meanwhile over at the singles bar, Coldplay‘s current hit ‘Paradise’ leaps to a new peak of #18 on the Australian ARIA chart and ‘Every Tear Drop Is A Waterfall’ re-enters at #32. Over in the UK, ‘Paradise’ belatedly debuts at #14. Even though it’s been released since mid-September, it wasn’t eligible to chart because the song was sold as a free download when you pre-ordered the album. The next Coldplay single – ‘Princess of China’ (featuring Rihanna) – debuts at #33 in the UK this week, making this RiRi‘s 27th UK Top 40 single all up.
Listen to Coldplay‘s ‘Paradise (Electrolightz Remix)’:
Kelly Clarkson‘s Stronger is the second biggest new album in Australia this week, debuting at #3. This is now Clarko’s fourth consecutive Top 5 album in this country, the only one to never chart as favourably was her debut album Thankful (which only made #33). Over in the UK, Kelly Clarkson‘s Stronger enters at #5 and later this week, we can expect for it to debut well in the US Top 10.
Washington‘s Insomnia EP debuts at #24 in Australia this week. A pretty unsurprising entrance, given the minimal promo and airplay for her stunning new single ‘Holy Moses’. Insomnia, the collection of eight new tracks, is meant to appease her Aussies while the Brisbane-born singer sets off to do an international release of her massive I Believe You Liar album. The international version of I Believe You Liar (featuring ‘Holy Moses’) will arrive in the UK on 7 November.
Watch Washington‘s defining ‘Holy Moses’ video, if you haven’t already:
Ricki-Lee‘s wig-snatching ‘Raining Diamonds’ rises to #55 in its second week. I think what’s obviously missing now is some well-placed television promo for the girl. She’s already started doing the odd live performances here and there for ‘Raining Diamonds’ – the word is well and truly out by now. In fact, if you’re not doing anything this Friday night, come join me at the GH Hotel to watch the ex-Young Diva perform this song with full force eleganza.
Havana Brown‘s ‘Get It’ rises to #57 this week on our ARIA charts, demonstrating surprising staying power beyond the realms of my comprehension. I suppose we can expect for it to go back into the Top 50 next week after this Tuesday’s X Factor performance? Hovana will be sharing the elimination episode line up with fellow Aussie popstars Jessica Mauboy and Stan Walker, who will both warble their new single ‘Galaxy’.
Altiyan Childs‘ new single ‘Ordinary Man’ drops to #61 after only two weeks in our ARIA Top 100. Is there no returning this man to the Top 50? Elsewhere, other Aussies on the way out include Shannon Noll‘s ‘Switch Me On’ (#59) and 360‘s ‘Killer’ (#91), while all of the following fall out of the ARIA Top 100 altogether: Elen Levon ‘Naughty’, Vanessa Amorosi ‘Amazing’, Short Stack ‘Bang Bang Sexy’, Stan Walker ‘Loud’ and Israel Cruz ‘Party Up’.
The Wanted‘s ‘Lightning’ impressively debuts at #99 in Australia this week sans any promo or rapid radio addition. All I know is, they’ve now got a captive audience of teenage girls and the EP was plastered all over the iTunes home page. You do the math. Over in the UK, ‘Lightning’ drops from #2 to #9.
Check out The Wanted‘s ‘Lightning (Chuckie Remix)’:
Professor Green scores his first ever UK #1 smash this week with ‘Read All About It’ (featuring Emeli Sandé). The song managed opening week sales of 153,000 copies – just one per cent shy of One Direction‘s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’, which is currently the UK’s fastest-selling single of 2011. This is singer/songwriter Emeli Sandé‘s fourth UK chart appearance (third as a featured artist). The divine Ms Sandé will release her second solo single ‘Daddy’ (featuring Naughty Boy) in the UK on 21 November and her long-awaited album Our Version of Events will drop on 30 January.
Lana Del Rey‘s flawless ‘Video Games’ sinks from #9 to #15 in the UK this week. Amidst all the excitement surrounding her recent signing to Interscope Records, it would seem that her debut album and next single ‘Born To Die’ is now etched for an early 2012 release. Could she be the Adele of 2012? Or will she end up as a basic success like Rumer or Clare Maguire? ‘Video Games’ is in the iTunes Top 10 in three different countries right now.
Watch Lana Del Rey performing ‘Video Games’ live at The Premises:
Matt Cardle‘s ‘Run For Your Life’ continues its rapid exit from the charts, plummeting from #23 to #52 in its third week. Meanwhile, his album Letters slips from #2 to #6. You can see why his label is anxious to rush out another single before the year’s end, right? ‘Starlight’ is scheduled to drop in the UK on 5 December.
Florence + The Machine‘s ‘Shake It Out’ sinks to #57 after just four weeks on the UK charts. The flame-haired diva is expected to launch her third Ceremonials single – ‘No Light No Light’ – on 16 January in the UK. Fingers crossed for a favourable album chart entry on Monday.
Adele‘s back to ruling both the US singles and albums chart with ‘Someone Like You’ retaining the top spot and album 21 returning to #1. In the last week, Adele managed to sell 106,000 copies of 21 in America – pushing its total sales to 4.1 million. Most definitely the biggest album of the year now. Next in line is Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way, managing 1.9 million sales to date. That’s quite a gap there.
The British warbler will release her next single – ‘Rumour Has It’ – on 21 November in the UK. The song has already impacted Aussie radios to coincide with her first live CD/DVD set – Adele: Live at The Royal Albert Hall – which will arrive here on 25 November and 28 November in the UK.
Watch Adele performing ‘Rumour Has It’ – fuck, I love her banter:
Rihanna could actually lynch the US #1 spot from Adele this coming week. ‘We Found Love’ is currently the most downloaded song in America, racking up 231,000 digital sales in its fifth week. On the overall US Billboard Hot 100, ‘We Found Love’ has ascended to a new peak of #2 – the only thing realistically preventing it from toppling Adele‘s ‘Someone Like You’ is radio airplay. Here is where the gap widens between these two hits. ‘Someone Like You’ is the second most played song on American radios while ‘We Found Love’ is placed at #11 on the airplay charts. ‘We Found Love’ is currently the #1 iTunes single in 11 different countries including US, UK, France and Canada.
Justin Bieber‘s ‘Mistletoe’ is the biggest new single in the US, debuting at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 164,000 first week downloads. The teen pop sensation is set to film the music video for ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ with Mariah Carey this week in New York City. This’ll be Mimi‘s first music video appearance since she had her gorgeous twins.
Beyoncé‘s ‘Countdown’ rises to #77 on the US Billboard Hot 100 while the urban single ‘Party’ (featuring André 3000) fares better at #75. Meanwhile over in the UK, ‘Countdown’ flies to #39, making this the megastar’s 21st UK Top 40 smash (not counting the ones with Destiny’s Child).
Beysus‘ brand new live DVD package – Live in Roseland: Elements of 4 – lands in Australia on 2 December. Just in time for Christmas. On top of the live tour show, there’ll also be a bonus disc containing seven music videos – including one of the deluxe edition album track, ‘Dance For You’. Santa better come correct for me this year.
Listen to Beyoncé‘s ‘Countdown (Jochen Simms Club Remix)’:
Kelly Rowland‘s ‘Down For Whatever’ drops in Australia and some European nations today, complete with a slew of A-grade remixes. At the moment, this new release is not publicised anywhere on our iTunes store. I’ve checked the pop, dance/electronic and even R&B sections – tumbleweeds. Even Estelle‘s got a single on display but not Kelendria. ‘Down For Whatever’ is currently in the iTunes Top 10 R&B/Soul songs chart in Denmark and Norway.
It’ll be interesting to see if ‘Down For Whatever’ fares any better than her last solo single (‘Commander’) and whether people are any more motivated to buy her album. The international edition of Here I Am – which should technically contain more pop/dance inflected material – is set to drop on 2 December in Australia. Over in the UK, Kelendria will release ‘Down For Whatever’ on 21 November and the album will drop the following week. Seriously gagging to see how big they’ll make her X Factor performance. Trust me, you don’t wanna settle for less than what Cheryl Cole has delivered in the last two years.
Listen to Kelendria‘s ‘Down For Whatever (Max Sanna & Steve Pitron Club Mix):
Jennifer Lopez‘s ‘Papi’ finally ascends to #1 on the US Billboard Dance/Club Play charts, making this her sixth consecutive solo single to do so. Basically, every song since 2007’s ‘Do It Well’ has been a dance chart topper – yes, even ‘Louboutins’. Meanwhile, ex-Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta‘s ‘Show Me’ rises to #2 on the US Billboard Dance/Club Play charts. Nicole who? The Scherzingernator‘s ‘Dont’ Hold Your Breath’ pulls up to the bumper at #3.
Wynter Gordon‘s amazing ‘Buy My Love’ finally debuts at #45 on the US Billboard Dance/Club charts! I am extremely overjoyed for my gurl. Let’s hope this moves up to the Top 3 in the way that ‘Dirty Talk’ and ‘Til Death’ did. Wynter opened for The Wanted‘s New York city shows recently, so let’s hope this association strikes a chord with pop music lovers who are yet to discover With The Music I Die. ‘Buy My Love’ and the album will drop in the UK on 7 November, five months after it was first launched in Australia.
David Guetta has the #1 iTunes dance song in 16 different countries right now – 13 of them belong to ‘Without You’ (featuring Usher) and three to ‘Titanium’ (featuring Sia).
Gotye and Kimbra‘s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ is currently the #1 single on Netherlands and Belgium iTunes. It feels like some European countries are more receptive to his stuff than others. Back in Australia, Gotye‘s next single ‘I Feel Better’ becomes the third most added new song to local radios.
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