We’ve only just met but emerging pop starlet Magalie is already making the first move with ‘First Kiss’. It’s a bit forward but frankly, who doesn’t like a bit of that?
The London-based artist counts Taio Cruz as a kinda mentor and has written songs with the likes of Guy Chambers (who has penned numerous hits for Robbie Williams) and Wayne Hector (who has worked with The Wanted and JLS).
Magalie’s debut single ‘First Kiss’ is a stroblit-driven synth pop mania a la Charli XCX. So, like a nod to 80s disco with a modern twist, if you will.
More flash in the pan sellers falling off the charts just as quickly as they came. You really come to appreciate what Adele‘s 21 achieved last year in anchoring the music industry, don’t you?
This week the sun shines on K-pop star PSY and his incredible viral single ‘Gangnam Style’. Guy Sebastian, Matchbox Twenty, Flo Rida, Ne-Yo and TobyMac also come through with the goods.
“There shouldn’t be much to report on this week’s Chart Feed because Beyoncé had her baby and nothing else would be on the news, right?” Sometimes I feel like my little brother is the only one who gets the way the world should be run.
On this week’s Chart Feed, the festive season’s definitely been canned now with Michael Bublé‘s career-defining Christmas album freefalling out of the Top 20 everywhere. We all knew it would come to this. Meanwhile, Empress Adele returns to top the US and UK album charts and comes closer to breaking more records, Kelly Clarkson discounts her way back up the charts, and I have a fit over the new Will Young, The Saturdays and Rebecca Ferguson single choices.
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.
X Factor Australia winner Reece Mastin snatched wigs all the way to the top of the ARIAs this week with his debut single ‘Good Night’. It was reported that ‘Good Night’ managed to sell one copy every 2.7 seconds on Wednesday alone – easily clocking 32,000 sales in the first 24 hours.
Reece‘s debut album – featuring studio recordings of 10 songs he covered on the show – will drop on 9 December. Knowingly missing from the mix is the much-detested cover of ‘All By Myself’. Reece Mastin – the album – is currently charting at #60 on our Aussie iTunes based on pre-orders alone.
Guy Sebastian‘s ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ is the second biggest new single on the ARIA charts – winding up at #7. The X Factor judge was positioned at #2 on our iTunes charts for a few days, behind his apprentice Reece.
Watch Guy‘s brilliant new video ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’:
Israel Cruz‘s ‘Party Up’ rises to #33, somehow resurrecting after looking like it was destined to be another home grown crunk’n’b flop. The Aussie producer – who has crafted numbers for the likes of Jessica Mauboy, Elen Levon and Scarlett Belle – last appeared in the Top 50 seven years ago with ‘Old Skool Luv’.
Ricki-Lee‘s ‘Raining Diamonds’ plummets from #19 to #36, clocking only one week in the ARIA Top 20. Be very fucking worried. The slamming dance/pop epic managed to rise to #23 on the Australian airplay chart in the last week – evidently not enough to sustain interest.
The forthcoming ‘Raining Diamonds’ video sees our girl channeling some kind of Sasha Fierce/Barbarella realness – watch the behind the scenes before the full production premieres hopefully sometime during the week:
Rihanna‘s Talk That Talk debuts at #5 in Australia, sending three new tracks to our ARIA Top 100 in its wake – ‘You Da One’ (#41), the frenetic future club smash ‘Where Have You Been’ (#46) and ‘Talk That Talk’ (#61). The project’s lead single ‘We Found Love’ sits at #4 and is still the most played song on Aussie radios.
Over in the UK, Talk That Talk debuts at #1 – racking up over 160,000 opening week sales to become one of the fastest selling albums there this year. Just so you know, TTT crossed north of 100,000 copies in the first three days alone. RiRi also has four tracks in the UK Top 75 this week – ‘We Found Love’ (still at #1), ‘Talk That Talk (#25), ‘You Da One’ (#39), ‘Where Have You Been’ (#61).
Over in America, Talk That Talk is slated to debut at #3 or #4 this week with predicted sales between 200,000 – 210,000 copies. ‘We Found Love’ is still the most downloaded song in the country while its follow up ‘You Da One’ debuts at #9 on the US Billboard Digital Songs chart, selling 124,000 copies.
Listen to Rihanna‘s slamming ‘Where Have You Been’:
Katy Perry‘s ‘The One That Got Away’ slowly edges up to #32 on our ARIA charts. The driving pop ballad drops from #20 to #29 on our Australian airplay charts in the last week. Meanwhile over the States, ‘The One That Got Away’ cracks the Top 10, making Teenage Dream now the first album in 17 years to spawn six Top 10 smashes.
The last record holder was Janet Jackson‘s Janet circa 1994. Note: only seven albums in music history have snatched six or more US Top 10 hits. Janet‘s Rhythm Nation was the first album by a female artist to do so.
Lady Gaga‘s ‘Marry The Night’ drops out of our ARIA Top 100 altogether this week. Gag! No radio support, no video out, and various competing Gaga releases all continue to undermind this single’s potential.
Over in the UK, ‘Marry The Night’ stalls at #18 while her brand new Born This Way remix album debuts at #77. Looking at the UK iTunes store now, A Very Gaga Holiday EP sits comfortably at #18 on its first day out. There’s no way this ho’s gonna go through the festive season without making a dollar or two.
Over in the US, ‘Marry The Night’ re-enters the US Billboard Hot 100 at #97 – thanks in some small way to radio pick up and general awareness. ‘Marry The Night’ is the most played new song on US airwaves, debuting at #65 on the airplay charts.
Watch Glam Ma Monster perform ‘Marry The Night’ for A Very Gaga Thanksgiving:
Kelly Clarkson‘s ‘What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)’ is making a killing already on the Australian airplay charts – leaping from #49 to #21. The future smash is currently placed at #42 on our Aussie iTunes charts. Over in the States, ‘WDKY’ re-enters the US Billboard Hot 100 at #99 and on the digital charts at #64. She needs to stop flogging ‘Mr Know It All’ and just go to town on this one already.
Other notable new singles buzzing about our Aussie iTunes include: will.i.am featuring Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger‘s ‘T.H.E.’ (#62) and Cher Lloyd‘s summer-correct ‘With Ur Love’ (#63).
Kylie Minogue‘s Ultimate Kylie compilation shoots up to a breathtaking #95 on the Aussie iTunes chart while Aphrodite – Les Folies Live in London sits at #169 after her defining induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame. No other Kylie albums have returned to the Top 200 in light of all this publicity. Let’s hope her stunning Aphrodite – Les Folies Live in London DVD racks up some serious sales because that tour was just fucking everything. The Aphrodite Live in London album is currently charting at #85 on UK iTunes.
Watch Kylie perform ‘Love At First Sight/Can’t Fight The Feeling’:
Stan Walker‘s Let The Music Play debuts at #18, making it the biggest new Aussie album on the charts this week. Not that there’s much competition – sorry David Campbell. Stan‘s album has done well to stand up in the Top 20 given that ‘Light It Up’ flopped and all he’s got to represent is that ballad borrowed from Jessica Mauboy‘s album.
Dolly Parton‘s new album Better Day debuts at #29 in Australia this week, supported by her recent tour around the country, which included some dates up in some proper country area. I honestly can’t go back far enough to tell you when was the last time the defining music legend had a Top 50 ARIA hit but let’s just say, it’s the first time this century.
Olly Murs‘ new single ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ debuts at #2 in the UK this week, suffering the ultimate cock block by Rihanna‘s ‘We Found Love’. In the first three days on sale, the spunky X Factor star managed to surpass RiRi‘s ‘We Found Love’ by 2,000 copies – but by the end of Thursday, ‘We Found Love’ had pulled up worryingly close at just 49 units away from overtaking Olly. Come weekend, look what happened.
Olly‘s sophomore album In Case You Didn’t Know is currently charting at #2 on the UK iTunes store on its first day out. Check out the dapper man performing ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ on UK X Factor with The Muppets:
Kelendria Trene Rowland, welcome back to the muhfuggin’ UK charts. ‘Down For Whatever’ enters at #6 this week, becoming the former-DC glamazon’s sixth solo Top 10 hit in the region. She’ll be engaging in some serious promo this week to flog the international edition of Here I Am which features her two huge dance collabos: ‘When Love Takes Over’ (with David Guetta) and ‘What A Feeling’ (with Alex Gaudino). Here I Am (International Edition) is currently charting at #26 on UK iTunes on its first day out.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic, Kelendria‘s ‘Lay It On Me’ can probably be written off as a certified flop. The summer radio ready smash sinks to #77 on the US R&B/Hip Hop charts, unable to even scale the Top 30 following ‘Motivation’‘s surprise #1 reign just a few months ago.
Rebecca Ferguson‘s gorgeous debut single ‘Nothing’s Real But Love’ enters at #10 on the UK charts this week. No, it isn’t crash hot by any major label pop star’s standards but I have a really soft spot for the girl. My mind, body and spirit is completely ready for her album Heaven, which arrives next Monday in the UK.
Watch Rebecca‘s charming interview on This Morning and performance of ‘Nothing’s Real But Love’:
One Direction‘s Up All Night debuts at #2 in the UK this week, managing 138,000 opening week sales. The lads’ single ‘Gotta Be You’ does a death drop from its #3 debut last week to #16.
Here in Australia, the physical copy of Up All Night is going at retail outlets for $13 – certainly an enticing offer given that they’re only really known for one very new hit single at the moment. The album is currently placed at #9 on Aussie iTunes. Over on our ARIA Top 100, ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ rises to #8 this week while its b-side ‘Na Na Na’ has astonishingly made it at #84.
The Saturdays‘ On Your Radar shockingly debuts at #23 on the UK charts this week, making it the girls’ first album to completely miss the Top 10. Fuck, I know the album wasn’t that great but surely it deserved more than this epic floppage? Regardless of the results, On Your Radar has surprisingly been quietly released on Aussie iTunes – making this the first Saturdays album to reach our shores since Chasing Lights. I need to lie down.
Pixie Lott continues the flow of British pop flops with Young Foolish Happy plummeting from #18 to #42 in its second week. Her underappreciated new single ‘What Do You Take Me For’ sinks from #20 to #42. Pixie‘s label has swung into damage control, bringing forward the third single – ‘Kiss The Stars’ – for a 26 December release. Here in Australia, I guess Pixie‘s Young Foolish Happy is doing alright to even be seen at #165 on our Aussie iTunes chart.
Watch Pixie flog ‘What Do You Take Me For’ on Loose Women:
The X Factor Finalists 2011‘s charity single ‘Wishing On A Star’ is surprisingly reigning at #1 on the UK iTunes chart right now on its first day out. Surprising reception given how shit it is but also altogether unsurprising given the involvement of JLS and One Direction.
Drake scores the third largest opening week album sales of 2011 with Take Care pushing 631,000 copies to debut at #1 on the US Billboard 200. It’s a sizable improvement on Drake‘s 2010 smash Thank Me Later, which managed 447,000 first week sales to also debut at #1.
Adele‘s 21 clocks its 39th consecutive week in the US Billboard 200 Top 5 bracket, making history as the longest time an album has remained in the Top 5 since its debut. The last record holder was Michael Jackson‘s legendary 1987 album Bad, which clocked 38 weeks.
Watch Adele perform ‘Turning Tables’ live at Royal Albert Hall:
Glee‘s The Christmas Album, Vol. 2 debuts at #6 in the US Billboard 200 at #6, pulling 71,000 opening week sales. Talk about a significant drop compared to the cast’s first Christmas album, which debuted at #8 with 161,000 first week sales last year.
Elsewhere, the Glee cast’s A-grade mash up of Adele‘s ‘Rumour Has It/ Someone Like You’ debuts at #5 on the US Billboard Digital Songs chart, racking up 160,000 downloads. This is now Glee‘s fifth largest weekly sales figure for any of their singles. ‘Rumour Has It/ Someone Like You’ is only bettered by ‘Teenage Dream’ (214,000), ‘Loser Like Me’ (one of two originals written for the cast – 210,000), ‘Forget You’ (192,000) and ‘Don’t Stop Believin” (177,000).
Mariah Carey continues to bathe in gold this lucrative Christmas season. Her classic ‘All I Want For Christmas’ is currently covered in three albums in the US Billboard Top 10 – Michael Buble‘s seasonal record (#2), Bieber‘s Under The Mistletoe (#5) and Glee‘s newest Christmas album (#6).
Selena Gomez & The Scene‘s ‘Love You Like A Love Song’ still has some unbelievable mileage left in it. The single rises to #46 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the A-level remixes soar to #2 on the dance/club play chart.
Watch the stunning video for Selena‘s next single ‘Hit The Lights’:
Other notable new entries on the dance/club play chart include Taio Cruz and Flo Rida‘s ‘Hangover’ (the biggest debut at #33), Florence + The Machine‘s ‘Shake It Out’ (entering at #45) and Flo Rida‘s ‘Good Feeling’ (opening at #46).
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.
Hold the fuck up, is this for real? David Guetta is collaborating with Aussie indie pop queen Sia?
Nothing But The Beat is the much talked about follow up to the French DJ/producer’s defining One Love opus – an album that spawned six monster hit singles and sold over three million copies. That record was so major in redefining and marrying dance, pop and R&B sonics that I kinda dread a carbon copy situation with this one.
The first single from Guetta‘s Nothing But The Beat era – ‘Where Them Girls At’ with Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj – didn’t quite do it for me. It’ll be interesting to see how it all comes out in the wash because judging by the familiar faces guesting on this record, it’s looking less and less likely to be something revolutionary.
You’ll be far less impressed when you hear the second single ‘Little Bad Girl’ featuring Taio Cruz and Ludacris:
I mean, no shade. It is what it is. A commercial dance/urban project designed to impact clubs and sub woofers in the back of your bro’s car. I would probably still drop it low and shamelessly strut to this shit. You know what I’m like.
Nothing But The Beat will feature collabos with some of the biggest names in the urban sphere: will.i.am, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Akon and Timbaland. But also interestingly enough – Jennifer Hudson, Dev and Sia.
I am probably most excited about hearing tracks with the latter three women, especially Sia, because that’s just unexpected. Perhaps the Guetta album cameo can do for Dev and Sia what it did for Wynter Gordon when she guested on One Love‘s ‘Toyfriend’.
Footnotes:
David Guetta‘s Nothing But The Beat arrives on 26 August in Australia and 30 August in the US. Stay tuned for the final tracklisting.
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