Happy new year, y’all. I don’t know who approved my time off last Monday but I’m sorry for leaving y’all without a Christmas week chart feed.
I am back on the grind tonight because I know we need to start this year right. It’s such a traditionally quiet time of the year for music sales, technically all your underachieving faves should be making the Top 10 with no effort at all. But of course, there aren’t ever any surprises when you’re expecting it.
This week’s chart highlights include Michael Buble‘s record-breaking Christmas sales that has cancelled everything he’s put out before this year, Sia‘s third consecutive Aussie Top 30 appearance in five months, Havana Brown‘s American crossover, and shit loads more.
Ricki-Lee‘s life-changing comeback single ‘Raining Diamonds’ is undoubtedly the most important new entry on our ARIA charts this week. While some of you might throw a stink face at the song’s #62 debut, y’all need to keep in mind that this is purely off one week’s work. Seriously, before last Monday, nobody even knew Ricki-Lee had a record deal and was planning a comeback. That information was well classified and the world wasn’t prepared for the sudden rapture of ‘Raining Diamonds’.
The fact that ‘Raining Diamonds’ managed to crack the ARIA Top 100 with no prior wind up or hype – just building on the few interviews, press write ups, and growing social media support during the week – is halleloo enough for me. It can only move up now. I believe word of mouth is gonna play a big part in relaunching Ricki-Lee – I mean, how many of y’all first heard the single via Feed Limmy and my Facebook? ‘Raining Diamonds’ is the most added new song to Australian radios this week.
Justin Bieber‘s ‘Mistletoe’ is the highest selling new single in Australia this week, debuting at #20. This is the Canadian pop sire’s fifth Top 20 single here and it’s the first taste of his forthcoming Christmas album Under The Mistletoe, which will feature a duet with Mariah Carey on her iconic Yuletide track ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. You Beliebers better have your coin purses ready when the album arrives in Australia this Friday. Boyz II Men – who incidentally appears on Justin‘s Christmas record – will also drop their new album, Twenty, on the same day.
Check out Justin Bieber‘s ‘Mistletoe’ music video, directed by Roman White – the man behind clips for Taylor Swift,Cody Simpson and Lady Antebellum:
Beyoncé has once again been denied entry into the ARIA Top 20 this week with ‘Love On Top’ clipped at #22. Meanwhile over in the UK, the album’s third official single ‘Countdown’ shoots up to #44 and debuts at #85 on the American Billboard Hot 100. The ‘Countdown’ remixes also made a hot shot debut at #35 on the US Bilboard Dance/Club charts. I sense that this is going to be a good era for our Lord Beysus.
Katy Perry‘s ‘The One That Got Away’ is making a run for it, leaping to a new peak of #34 in Australia this week. Over in the UK, the single moves up to #22. As y’all know Kitty’s had a record-breaking five consecutive US #1 singles from this Teenage Dream album and right now ‘The One That Got Away’ is perched at #94 on the US Billboard Hot 100 – a whole continent away from reaching the top spot. Could she pull off six in a row? Let’s see what kinda gimmicks and fuckery she’s got in store for this single campaign.
Nicole Scherzinger is on course for another solo hit in Australia. ‘Wet’ has moved up 10 places to a new peak of #39 on our ARIA charts. With three Top 40 hits now under her belt, shouldn’t Nicole‘s Killer Love album be moving back up the charts? Alas, it is floundering at #83 this week. Something about this shit don’t smell right. I wonder if Australia will cop the Killer Love (Deluxe Edition) that’s coming out in the UK next month?
Nicole is launching a brand new single – ‘Try With Me’ on 31 October in the UK – to coincide with the European deluxe repackage. Check out the absolutely A-grade music video, which was shot in Mexico’s gorgeous Xilitla rainforest:
Coldplay‘s ‘Paradise’ returns to the Australian Top 50 this week at #36, thanks to the arrival of the band’s long-awaited album Mylo Xyloto – which dropped in stores on Friday. It’s gonna one wig-snatching chart battle as Coldplay, Kelly Clarkson, Washington and – don’t snigger – Darren Hayes race for the top spot with their respective new albums.
iTunes has currently got the entire Coldplay back catalogue on sale as well, so don’t be surprised to see a few of their titles returning to the Top 100 next week. Mylo Xyloto is currently #1 on iTunes, Kelly Clarkson‘s Stronger (Deluxe Edition) is riding at #8, while Darren Hayes‘ fantastic Secret Codes & Battleships is holding on at #30.
Shannon Noll‘s A Million Suns album debuts at #8 in Australia, making it the second best-selling new album this week. Only after Cold Chisel‘s unbeatable Best of package, which entered at #2. There really is no shame for Nolly there. However, looking at his own personal track record. It’s not so rosy. All three of Shannon’s previous albums have managed to go Top 3 in Australia and yield at least one Top 10 single. I’m not holding my breath for A Million Suns to go Top 3 or for its lead single ‘Switch Me On’ to turn around and make a run for the Top 10.
Sneaky Sound System‘s From Here to Anywhere isn’t headed anywhere I want it to. The Aussie dance/pop duo’s fine album drops from #11 to #27 in its second week. Meanwhile, bad news for their flawless single ‘Big’ – the track sinks from #58 to #73 on our ARIA Top 100. Guess I jinxed them with last week’s well wishes, huh?
Lady Gaga‘s ‘You and I’ has officially left our ARIA Top 50 free of any Gaga songs for the first time in months. All year, even. The rollicking ballad sinks from #46 to #53. Look, there could still be life in the bottom half of the ARIA Top 100 – I mean, ‘Poker Face’ spent a whopping 106 weeks in our Top 100 and I know a lot of it wasn’t reigning in the upper end. Gaga’s label is understandably getting on with the album’s fifth single ‘Marry The Night’, which is the second most added new song to Aussie radios this week. Over in America, ‘You and I’ is now reigning as #1 dance/club song in the country.
Altiyan Childs finally shows up on the ARIA Top 100 with his new single ‘Ordinary Man’ – thanks to last week’s X Factor performance. The song made its debut at #55 this week despite having been out for a month now. Clearly nobody knew this shit was even happening because I don’t see no promo and I don’t hear no radio airplay for ‘Ordinary Man’. This song is actually quite acceptable, y’guys. You recognise the familiar, crisp Ryan Tedder beats but somehow Altiyan makes it his own.
Watch the making of Altiyan‘s ‘Ordinary Man’ video, directed by Peter Ireland – who has done clips for Aussie indie pop sensations Brendan Maclean and Scott Spark:
Stereophonics‘ one-time UK #1 hit ‘Dakota’ re-appears on our ARIA charts this week at #57 – thanks to local X Factor warbler Andrew Wishart’s rather capable cover. Back in its heyday, ‘Dakota’ managed to scale up to #22 on our ARIA charts and it remains as the only hit Stereophonics has ever had in this country. The Cranberries‘ ‘Zombie’ also reappears thanks for contestant Christina Parie’s performance. The 90s classic is now at #69.
Rihanna‘s ‘We Found Love’ stays on top of the UK charts for its third consecutive week, fighting off fierce new singles from The Wanted, Kelly Clarkson, Lana Del Rey and Sean Paul/Alexis Jordan. RiRi has to date racked up six UK #1 singles but ‘We Found Love’ is already her second longest reigning chart topper. The longest UK #1 she’s had is, of course, ‘Umbrella’ (10 weeks). Truth be told, ‘We Found Love’ probably wouldn’t have stayed at #1 for its third week if it weren’t for the flawless video arriving on Thursday and inspiring a sales surge after the midweeks. ‘We Found Love’ ended up selling 92,700 copies in its third week on top.
Over in the US, ‘We Found Love’ has now reached a new peak of #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 – selling 174,000 downloads in its fourth week. Rihallah – as the dear Adem With An E affectionately calls her – will release her sixth album Talk That Talk on 18 November in Australia and 21 November in the UK and US. Peep the Talk That Talk standard and deluxe edition tracklisting.
The Wanted has the biggest selling new single in the UK this week with ‘Lightning’ striking at #2. The single scored opening week sales of 71,500 copies. The lads’ brilliant previous hit ‘Glad You Came’ managed to debut at #1 with first-week sales of 117,200 copies back in July. Mind the gap, y’all.
‘Glad You Came’ also debuted on the US Billboard Dance/Club charts at #49 last week, making this the boyband’s second appearance on the American dance charts. The Wanted will release their sophomore album Battleground on 7 November in the UK. The project’s next single looks set to be ‘Warzone’, tentatively put down for a 9 January release date in the UK.
Watch The Wanted perform their current smash ‘Lightning’ at the iTunes Festival:
Kelly Clarkson‘s ‘Mr Know It All’ debuts at #6 in the UK this week, selling 47,910 copies. This is actually the first time Kelly has had a single in the UK Top 30 since ‘My Life Would Suck Without You’ went #1 in 2009. Over in the States, ‘Mr Know It All’ rises to #24 and is starting to really rake in the dividends. The single picked up an eight percent sales increase last week, selling 52,000 copies. All up, after six weeks in stores – ‘Mr Know It All’ has sold 328,000 copies in America. The song is definitely the biggest American Idol-related single on the charts.
Lana Del Rey‘s much-hyped debut single ‘Video Games’ makes a smashing entrance at #9 in the UK, selling 40,541 copies in its opening week. The song – despite having no radio support whatsoever – has already moved up to #86 in its second week in Australia. Yes, visibly slaying smears like Natalie Bassingthwaighte‘s ‘All We Have’ – which, despite being the fifth most added song to Aussie radios last week, still failed to crack the ARIA Top 100.
Marina & The Diamonds‘ ‘Radioactive’ is sinking fast. After just three weeks, the Welsh warbler’s dance/pop effort is now positioned at a lowly #74 in the UK. This is clearly not the look for the girl but then again, even if she puts on a shiny Stargate track – it doesn’t always mean that Marina Diamandis will automatically become a certified hitmaker. There’s a bit more to the puzzle than that.
Noel Gallagher‘s debut solo album Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds enters straight at #1 in the UK this week. The former Oasis singer managed to sell 55,000 copies of his album in its first two days, already more than twice as many as Matt Cardle‘s competing new album Letters. By the end of the charting week, Noel had clocked up 120,000 sales (outselling Matt by some 40%). Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds debuts at #16 in Australia.
Matt Cardle‘s Letters debuts at #2 in the UK, selling a total of 70,896 first-week copies. The album’s lead single ‘Run For Your Life’ couldn’t make its escape from the Top 20 any quicker! The Gary Barlow-penned ballad sinks from #6 to #23 this week, selling 15,507 copies in its second week.
Shall we have a quick comparison of recent UK X Factor winners’ debut album first week sales? Right. Leona Lewis‘ Spirit opened with 376,000 copies (#1), Leon Jackson‘s Right Now did a meagre 37,000 copies (#4), Alexandra Burke‘s Overcome earned 132,000 copies (#1) and Joe McElderry‘s Wide Awake opened with 39,000 copies (#3). Therefore, Matt Cardle technically isn’t doing too bad for a male X Factor winner.
Matt‘s series runner-up Rebecca Ferguson is gearing to release her own debut single ‘Nothing’s Real But Love’. Watch Becca do a charming acoustic performance of the track here:
Pixie Lott will launch her sophomore album Young Foolish Happy and its second single ‘What Do You Take Me For?’ next week but the third single has already appeared on the UK release schedule. ‘Kiss The Stars’ – a track co-written by Pixie and Phil Thornalley – is slated for a 30 January arrival. That sounds sensible, don’t it?
Kelly Rowland has pushed back the release of her new European single ‘Down For Whatever’. This week’s UK release schedule saw the saucy dance track moved from a proposed 31 October drop date to 21 November – meaning it’ll hit stores just a week before the “international version” of Here I Am. The project’s current US single ‘Lay It On Me’ might be getting a UK release after all. It has been put down for a tentative 6 February due date. Whatever, Kelendria. Just make this shit happen.
Gotye‘s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ may be the biggest selling Aussie single of 2011 but the track’s not scheduled to be launched in UK until February next year. According to the UK release schedule, the smash single will follow from ‘Easy Way Out’ – another stunning track from Gotye‘s new Making Mirrors album. The Brits are expected to cop ‘Easy Way Out’ on 28 November while all of us here in Australia will get the uplifting ‘I Feel Better’.
Watch the wicked animated music video for Gotye‘s ‘Easy Way Out’:
Evanescence earns their second US #1 album with Evanescence debuting right on top with 127,000 first-week sales. It’s quite a stark contrast from their last chart topper – 2006’s The Open Door – which scored opening week sales of 447,000 copies. Times are changing and these guys are only just finding their place back in the game. Go easy on them.
Lauren Alaina – this year’s American Idol runner-up – sees her debut album Wildflowers enter at #5 on the US Billboard Hot 200, selling 39,000 copies. Meanwhile last year’s American Idol runner-up, Crystal Bowersox, has been dropped by her label Jive/RCA merely 10 months after they launched her debut album Farmer’s Daughter. It’s quite a contrasting tale of two recent Idol winner/runner ups. I hope Scotty McCreery and Lauren both find a way to keep turning out sales because both their predecessors Lee DeWyze and Crystal have now been dropped after underwhelming chart performances.
Britney Spears‘ ‘Criminal’ debuts at #92 on the US Billboard Hot 100. No pressure but all three previous Femme Fatale singles have gone Top 10 in America, do you think this will continue Brit‘s clean run? For the first time ever, the pop diva has an album that has actually produced more than two US Top 10 hits. Go figure.
Anjulie‘s feisty ‘Brand New Bitch’ finally impacts the American dance/club charts, debuting at #36. The Canadian singer who was often compared to early Nelly Furtado and Corinne Bailey Rae has given her image and sound a drastic shake up. It’s away with the cafeteria pop with hip hop beats and in with fluorescent dance/pop.
Check out the video for ‘Brand New Bitch’ – indeed she is:
LMFAO has the biggest selling single in Australia this week with the charming and timeless jam ‘Sexy and I Know It’. The American dance duo managed to dethrone Kelly Clarkson after her one-week reign on top with ‘Mr Know It All’. This is LMFAO’s second #1 hit here following the massive ‘Party Rock Anthem’. Fun fact: ‘Party Rock Anthem’ is the second longest running #1 single Australia has had in this century – reigning for 10 whole weeks. The longest staying #1 single we’ve had since 2000 is still Eminem‘s ‘Lose Control’, clocking 12 weeks. That’s the one to beat.
Beyoncé‘s ‘Love On Top’ rises to a new peak of #21 in Australia this week. We remain as the only territory to have picked up this track and run with it. Over in the US, ‘Love On Top’ makes its way back up to #82 on the US Billboard R&B/ Hip Hop charts. Other Bey singles to be making waves right now include ‘Party’ (featuring André 3000) – cracking the US Billboard Hot 100 at #93 and seeing this success naturally reflected on the R&B/Hip Hop charts, where it rose to #9 – and ‘Countdown’, her third official single, rising to #66 on the American R&B charts. Over in the UK, ‘Countdown’ leaps from #171 to #77.
Ed Sheeran‘s ‘The A Team’ debuts at #32, becoming the highest charting new entry on our ARIA Top 50 this week. Elsewhere, major pick up from the following three singles who all managed to crack the Top 50 in their second week – Simple Plan ‘Can’t Keep My Hands Off You’ (#45), Katy Perry ‘The One That Got Away’ (#48) and Nicole Scherzinger‘Wet’ (#49).
Watch Katy Perry performing an acoustic run down of ‘The One That Got Away’ on X Factor:
Cody Simpson‘s ‘On My Mind’ enters at #51 in Australia this week. It must really irk his minders to not see this at least crack the Top 50 after all the promo and Skyping he’s had to endure in the last seven days. On the plus side, the blonde teen’s album Coast to Coast rises ten spots to #16. I suppose he is winning after all.
Speaking of winning Aussies, Vanessa Amorosi‘s ‘Amazing’ finally cracks the Top 100 at #83 this week – no doubt thanks to the X Factor performance last week. Meanwhile, other Australian pop new releases like Natalie Bassingthwaighte‘s ‘All We Have’ and Stan Walker‘s ‘Light It Up’ have yet to show up in the ARIA Top 100. Change might be coming Nat Bass’ way, though. ‘All We Have’ suddenly enjoys some radio pick up, becoming the fifth most added new song to our airwaves this week. Shannon Noll‘s ‘Switch Me On’ plummets to #71 this week. People probably stopped buying it because they knew the album was coming [Editor’s note: in fact, A Million Suns as it is called came out on Friday].
Wynter Gordon‘s stunning ‘Buy My Love’ finally cracks the ARIA Top 100 at #77 after what has seemed like an eternity since the single was first issued to radios. I am not sure what’s inspiring the sudden pick up of late, but I’m sure glad it’s happening. It would be great to see this go Top 20 eventually just like its predecessors ‘Til Death’ (certified gold sales) and ‘Dirty Talk’ (last summer’s #1 which went on to be certified four times platinum sales). The album With The Music I Die shamefully remains well outside our Top 100.
Watch Wynter Gordon‘s ‘Buy My Love’ video:
360‘s debut album Falling & Flying tumbles to #10 in its second week. Meanwhile, over on the ARIA Top 100 – two of his tracks surface: ‘Boys Like You’ featuring Melbourne singer Gossling (#81) and his current single ‘Killer’ (#88).
Lana Del Rey‘s eagerly anticipated breakthrough single ‘Video Games’ debuts straight in at #98 this week. We all kinda saw this doing well ever since it started appearing on the iTunes charts based on pre-orders alone. ‘Video Games’ comes out in the UK this week, so check back next Monday to see where she lands on the British charts. LDR really is one of the best discoveries 2011 has brought to date. You can peruse reviews and pick up so many great descriptors of her style (eg. “gangster Nancy Sinatra“) but the package is probably best first experienced by watching the ‘Video Games’ video.
Here it is, in case you haven’t already been clued in on the Lana Del Rey movement:
Gotye‘s Making Mirrors remain as the biggest selling Australian album out there right now – sitting at #4 this week with a shiny new double platinum accreditation. The ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ warbler has earned seven 2011 ARIA Awards nominations including Single of The Year, Best Male Artist and Highest Selling Single for the aforementioned track with Kimbra. Gotye has also been confirmed to perform at the award ceremony on 27 November. Looking on the UK release schedule, I was surprised to find ‘Easy Way Out’ etched in for a 28 November release. Dude, this song is like less than two minutes long.
Sneaky Sound System‘s From Here to Anywhere debuts at #11 in Australia this week – becoming the third biggest new entry here. Other debuts ahead of the Aussie duo include Chris Isaak‘s new one Beyond The Sun coming in at #3 and Evanescence‘s much-touted self-titled comeback at #5. Meanwhile, the Sneaky’s current smash single ‘Big’ moves to a new peak of #58. It’s actually the second week in the row that the song has jumped ten places up the chart. At this rate, they should be well in the ARIA Top 50 by this time next week – right?
Bjork‘s Biophilia enters at a humble #48 this week in Australia and #21 in the UK – making this the lowest charting positions ever for her in both territories (I am, of course, only comparing this with her other studio albums – not greatest hits package, remix albums etc). Biophilia wound up with only 9,872 first week sales in the UK. I’ve come to expect a bit more from Bjork given all the publicity and attention she has garnered for this project’s multimedia elements. The experimental artiste definitely has more of a cult following, which usually means heavy first week sales, then you fall off the charts. If this is as good as it gets for the first week then we might be in trouble.
Watch the video for Bjork‘s newest single ‘Moon’:
Steps scores a comeback #1 album with their Ultimate Steps collection scorching up the UK charts this week, meaning the band can now proudly say they’ve had a #1 album in every one of the last three decades. But before we start toasting, Ultimate Steps pulled a humble 34,200 first week sales to go #1 – making it the second lowest selling #1 in the UK this year. Back in their hey day, Steps managed three million-selling albums – Step One (1.39 million, even though it never actually made #1), Steptacular (1.28 million) and Gold: The Greatest Hits (1.11 million). Could the Ultimate Steps collection gather enough momentum to reach those heights come their April reunion shows?
Evanescence‘s self-titled third album looked so certain to go #1 in the UK when the midweeks came in but by the week’s end, it finished the race at #4 with a total of 26,221 copies sold.
Adele is still canceling every other ho in the game here. The British soul siren is on course to become the first artist to score both biggest selling album and single in both the US and UK since The Beatles did it in 1964. Over in the US, ‘Rolling In The Deep’ is still unmatched as the biggest selling single of the year so far. ‘Someone Like You’ is hands down the biggest selling single of the year so far in the UK – clocking over 1.2 million copies. Y’know, at this rate, I don’t even think this year’s British X Factor winner has a chance of outdoing that come the finals in December. If you wanna compare, last year’s series winner Matt Cardle managed 810,000 copies to go #1.
Looking on the album charts, Adele has not only got the biggest selling album in UK this year with 21 (hitting 3.1 million sales), she’s also got the second biggest in its predecessor: 19. The third biggest selling album in the UK so far in 2011 is Bruno Mars‘ Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Rihanna‘s mega hit album Loud and Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way rank at fourth and fifth place respectively.
Watch Gaga getting caught up in a little ‘Bill Romance’ just for Bill Clinton’s Decade of Difference Concert:
Rihanna‘s ‘We Found Love’ surprisingly holds on to the #1 spot for its second consecutive week. This is basically the first time since July that we’ve had a single stay longer than a week at #1. The Brits are going hard for RiRi. ‘We Found Love’ registered at 20% sales increase in its second week, taking home over 106,553 sales. Meanwhile, Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera‘s ‘Moves Like Jagger’ clocks its seventh week at #2. Apparently this is only the second single in history to have spent seven weeks at #2 (and never go #1). The last one was All-4-One‘s ‘I Swear’ back in 1994.
Gym Class Heroes and Adam Levine have the highest selling new single in the UK this week with ‘Stereo Hearts’ debuting at #3 with 68,287 first week sales. This is Gym Class Heroes‘ highest charting position there since their breakout single ‘Cupid’s Chokehold’ in 2006. That one also made #3.
X Factor winner Matt Cardle didn’t go stomping into #1 after all. His new single ‘Run For Your Life’ – which was written by Gary Barlow – debuted at #6, selling 39,633 copies to become the second biggest new release on the charts. Consider this, the previous year’s winner Joe McElderry also clocked #6 with his first original single ‘Ambitions’.
Watch Matt Cardle performing his next single ‘Starlight’ at an album showcase gig:
One Direction sees their hit single ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ drop to #10 in its fifth week. The X Factor formed boy band is primed to launch their second single ‘Got To Be You’ on 14 November in the UK, a week before their debut album Up All Night arrives. The album features a track titled ‘Tell Me A Lie’ which was reportedly co-written by Kelly Clarkson. There’s also a RedOne produced track called ‘Save You Tonight’.
This year’s UK X Factor finalists will release their charity single – a cover of ‘Wishing On A Star’ – on 21 November. These charity records have all gone #1 and traditionally sold quite generously as well. The very first one, a cover of Mariah Carey‘s ‘Hero’ recorded by the 2008 finalists, went double platinum in the UK.
Scotty McCreery – the latest American Idol winner – has made history in his own way, y’all. The 18-year old’s debut album Clear As Day enters at #1 on the US Billboard 200, making him the youngest man to have a debut album enter at #1. The last record holder was R&B singer Omarion who saw his first album O debut at #1 in 2005 when he was aged 20.
Amazingly enough, Scotty is also the first American Idol winner since 2003 to have a debut album enter at #1. Clear As Day sold a meek 197,000 copies to top the charts. The last Idol winner to have an album debut at #1 – Ruben Stannard – pulled off 417,000 first-week sales. Just saying.
Gloria Estefan‘s comeback album Miss Little Havana made something of a death drop, y’all. After debuting at #28 – selling something like 17,000 first week copies – the Latin dance/pop album sank to #129 in its second week. I mean, damn. It’s almost enough to make a girl vow to never dance again. I love how the forums are crying murder now, blaming the album’s “Target exclusive” deal for the commercial floppage. Basically, if she had done a Walmart exclusive – which a lot of stars manage – instead of a Target one, things wouldn’t have looked this dismal. There are reportedly over 4,700 Walmart stores around the US and only 1,800 Target branches. There you go. Less Mami Gloria CDs to go around. Meanwhile, looking on the US dance/club charts, Gloria’s current single ‘Wepa’ tumbles from #1 to #7.
Watch Gloria going on The View to promote the new record and perform ‘Wepa’:
Taio Cruz‘s new single ‘Hangover’ (featuring Flo Rida) debuts at #62 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, further down, J.Lo‘s ‘Papi’ returns at #96 – possibly pushed by stronger club plays? The ‘Papi’ remixes move up to #3 on the US Billboard Dance/Club charts. Speaking of dance hits, Nervo‘s debut recording artist single ‘We’re All No One’ moves up to #31 on the US Billboard Dance/Club charts.
Monica‘s new single ‘Until It’s Gone’ makes a surprising leap in its second week to #55 on the US R&B/ Hip Hop charts. Its superb predecessor ‘Anything (To Find You)’ has done pretty well for a buzz single to reach #25 there. Old Mo’s seventh studio album New Life will drop on 29 November in the US.
Kelly Rowland‘s ‘Lay It On Me’ drops a few place back to #47 on the US Billboard R&B/Hip Hop. Wait a minute, shouldn’t it be moving up and not the other way? Here I Am [International Version] is slated for a UK release on 7 November, a week after the dance/pop single ‘Down For Whatever’ drops. Make what you will of this “international version”. She told That Grape Juice that it’ll be a revised tracklisting with more dance-oriented material but who knows, there hasn’t been any more information teased.
Gotye and Kimbra chalk up their second week on top of the ARIA charts with ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, now certified platinum sales. No prize for guess where his new album will land on next Monday’s charts. Y’all know Gotye‘s Making Mirrors is pretty much set to come out on top, I mean, he’ll at least debut at #2 if he’s unable to mount the gargantuan Adele. Gotyemania is already heating up this week with his last studio album – 2006’s Like Drawing Blood – reaching a new peak of #12.
Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera‘s ‘Moves Like Jagger’ is still surprisingly cock blocked from reaching the top, staggering at #2 in Australia after oh so many weeks of loitering about. ‘Moves Like Jagger’ may be the most downloaded song in America but it’s also stalling similarly at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has already ascended to #1 position in New Zealand last week and over in the UK, it debuts at #3 this week. ‘MVJ’ is the most played song on Australian radios this week. What I find interesting about the airplay charts is that the Top 5 most played songs in every capital and major city is vastly different to each other and sometimes almost estranged from the overall nation-wide tally.
In Sydney, ‘Moves Like Jagger’ is moving out – their most played song this week is Calvin Harris and Kelis‘ ‘Bounce’, incidentally also the #1 club song in Australia. Sydney airwaves have some of the strongest concentration of dance music anywhere in the country. This week, they’re the only city to have Alexandra Stan‘s ‘Mr Saxobeat’, Cobra Starship feat. Sabi‘s ‘You Make Me Feel’ and David Guetta feat. Ludacris and Taio Cruz‘s ‘Little Bad Girl’ in their Top 10. The radio support for the latter two reflected favourably on their overall ARIA chart performance with Cobra Starship debuting at #31 and Guetta et al re-entering the digital charts at #18.
Here in Melbourne, ‘Moves Like Jagger’ dominates the airwaves and unlike the rest of the nation, we’re still keeping Katy Perry‘s ‘Last Friday Night (TGIF)’ and Lady Gaga‘s ‘The Edge of Glory’ on Top 5 rotation.
Brisbane radios love them some Jessica Mauboy ‘Inescapable’ – it’s the second most played song there this week, giving it more priority than any other Australian city. ‘Inescapable’ holds tight to #4 position on the ARIA charts while her Get ‘Em Girls album make a triumphant re-entry this week at #9, thanks to the new beefed up two-disc deluxe edition. It’s a huge feat for Jess once again to still be the nation’s best selling female solo popstar. Just take a look around – there are no other homegrown solo pop artists around the Top 50 mark. Bossbitch.
Eskimo Joe‘s Ghosts of The Past debuts at #3 in Australia to become the highest selling new album this week. The single ‘Love Is A Drug’ starts charting at #38, enjoying the strongest radio support in Perth this last week. Elsewhere, speaking of our fellow countrymen – Shannon Noll‘s comeback single ‘Switch Me On’ may have yet to crack the ARIA Top 50 or even the Australian digital Top 40 but he’s #1 on the Gold Coast airplay charts. Golf claps for Nolly.
I really think it’s time for a video break, there’s been too many texts scrolling down. Eskimo Joe‘s ‘Love Is A Drug’ video, anyone? *slurps drink loudly*
David Guetta and Sia‘s ‘Titanium’ bullets through to #10 in Australia this week – making this Sia‘s first Top 10 entry ever. Good to see that Guetta’s local label is wasting no time with this track, sending it off to radios despite ‘Titanium’ only being initially issued as just an iTunes digital promo to foreshadow his album release.
‘Titanium’ is the third most added new song to Australian radios this week. In the US, the single enters the Billboard Hot 100 at #66. Needless to say this is Sia‘s first time on the chart. She’s had two US Top 40 albums and two Top 30 dance singles but this is shaping up to be a proper mainstream single success, y’all. Over in the UK, ‘Titanium’ tumbles out of the Top 30 after just two weeks. Further down, Guetta’s new digital promo single ‘Lunar’ – an instrumental dance track with Afrojack – debuts at #90.
Jason DeRulo‘s dreadful new single ‘It Girl’ debuts at #16 here and #39 on the US Billboard Hot 100 this week. I’m sorry y’all. Sometimes doing my Monday breakfast radio segment is the only time I experience what most daytime radio listeners have to endure and today when ‘It Girl’ came on – mmph! Let me tell you, it was bleak.
Lady Gaga‘s ‘Yoü and I’ enters at #34 in Australia this week. Over in the US, the single re-enters the US Billboard Hot 100 at #96. Rejoice. Have y’all had the pleasure of line-dancing to this amazing Shania-friendly Mark Taylor remix yet?
Dolly would be proud:
Calvin Harris still rules the Australian club charts with ‘Bounce’ but his follow up single ‘Feels So Close’ is one of the biggest movers there this week, leaping from #34 to #8. Looking further down, there’s a huge selection of new impacting dance tunes on the Australian club scene. Highlights include Denzal Park‘s ‘Militia’ (#26), The Potbelleez‘Midnight Midnight’ (#31), David Guetta/Sia‘s ‘Titanium (#35) and finally, mah gurl Wynter Gordon‘s ‘Buy My Love (Chuckie Remix)’ entering at #47. Yes!
Emeli Sandé‘s superb single ‘Heaven’ debuts at #2 in the UK in what’s evidently been a mad-rush of a week for three strong new releases. The UK Top 3 this week is all taken up by new records with Wretch 32 feat. Josh Kumra‘s ‘Don’t Go’ taking the top spot.
But back to Ms Sandé – her time as a solo artist has been a long time coming. She has appeared on two UK Top 10 smashes – first on Chipmunk‘s ‘Diamond Rings’ and then on Roll Deep‘s ‘Never Be Your Woman’. She has written for the likes of Tinie Tempah, Cheryl Cole, Susan Boyle, Cher Lloyd and Leona Lewis – excelling in soulful compositions. It’s great that she’s such a gifted writer and all, but I really hope she finds success as a recording artist too.
Watch her stunning video for ‘Heaven’:
Joe Jonas‘ new single ‘See No More’ debuts at #53 in the UK this week. Expect this to pick up when he joins Britney on her Femme Fatale tour of Europe in the coming weeks. Back in the States, dude hasn’t bettered his Billboard Hot 100 peak of #92 and he’s just starting to prove to all of us that even the mighty Jonas reputation isn’t always as bankable as it seems.
Nero scores a UK #1 debut with their first album Welcome To Reality intercepting the almighty Amy Winehouse and Adele tandem ruling. Dub step is definitely the flavour of the moment right now and Nero’s the latest success story for the electronica sub genre. Their single ‘Promises’ broke out at #1 last week, making it the second dub step single to ever top the UK charts. The pioneering single only came last month when DJ Fresh‘s ‘Louder’ ascended to the top. It’s no surprise that everyone’s jumping on board and clamouring for a Skrillex remix – or the like – these days. Even young Cher Lloyd‘s in on it with her dub step inflected ‘Swagger Jagger’ remixes and rather blatant follow up single ‘Dub On The Track’ set to impact soon.
Jedward‘s second album Victory enters at #34 in the UK this week. Remember when nobody even wanted to sign them for any more than two singles? Look how times have changed for X Factor‘s stylised Twiddle-dee and Twiddle-dum. The pair were inducted into the Celebrity Big Brother house last week and once again, you gotta hand it to Louis Walsh for making cringeworthy decisions work for these two. Jedward’s Victory contains the singles ‘Lipstick’ and ‘Bad Behaviour’ – and was entirely produced by DEEKAY, the team behind records for Sugababes (circa Change), Joe McElderry and even K-pop bands like TVXQ and Girls’ Generation.
Watch Jedward‘s latest music video ‘Bad Behaviour’ featuring a cameo from Piggy Perez:
Kelly Rowland‘s Here I Am dips on the UK urban charts to #26 this week. It’ll be interesting to see how her album fares on next Monday’s charts – I mean, by the grace of Beysus, it could even crack the UK Top 100! She’s practically new TV royalty there now, if the strong ratings for X Factor‘s season premiere was anything to go by. 12 million people tuned in to watch Kelendria judge, flirt with Gary and sass out a rude contestant on Saturday night. I doubt she’ll be doing very much else in the UK apart from the show because she’s got a tour to hit up with Chris Brown over in the States soon. Back in America, Here I Am falls out of the Top 20 in just three weeks – landing itself at #24.
Jay-Z and Kanye West‘s Watch The Throne has entered at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 200 as expected, pulling over 436,000 first week sales. Scanning the globe, the album has also gone #1 in Canada and Norway, and managed to go Top 3 in the UK, Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Evanescence‘s comeback single ‘What You Want’ debuts at #68 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It’s been one hell of a campaign to get these guys back to mainstream attention and it seems like their team’s working the social networking sites to great effect. Billboard reports that during the single’s debut week, Evanescence gained 110,000 Facebook fans and 5,600 Twitter followers. Streaming media from Facebook and Myspace were also factored into their overall comeback success – with ‘What You Want’ garnering over 100,000 plays on Facebook and 10,000 on Myspace.
Britney Spears claims her third consecutive #1 US dance single with ‘I Wanna Go’ leapfrogging Kylie‘s ‘Put Your Hands Up’ to the top spot. Femme Fatale is so far Britney’s second album to ever have all its singles go #1 on the American dance charts. You might’ve guessed that the other was her equally fierce Blackout album. So whatever that fourth Femme Fatale single is, don’t fuck it up.
Elsewhere on the dance charts, major movers include Leona Lewis/Avicii‘s ‘Collide’ (#22), Luciana‘s ‘I’m Still Hot’ (#23) and Jennifer Hudson‘s ‘No One Gonna Love You’ (#33) – all moving at least 10 places up. That’s nice about the J Hud song but really, it’s only gonna clear the dance floor when everybody hears what she’s offering on David Guetta‘s ‘Night of Your Life’ [see above]. The song serves as the French DJ/producer’s third and final digital promo single to precede the release of Nothing But The Beat.
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