UK Chart Analysis, 11/19/2005

Singles:

1. "Hung Up" - Madonna

Madonna earns her 11th UK #1 with "Hung Up," her first single to top the chart since "Music" in 2000, knocking Westlife to #2. This ups her tally of UK top 40 hits to 59 (63 if you count releases of "Holiday," "Borderline," and "Crazy for You"), a pretty impressive haul. "Hung Up" is a return to form after no singles from her last album, American Life, were able to hit the top.

3. "Ticket Outta Loserville" - Son of Dork

I said in my review that this reminded of me of Busted, apparently for good reason, as I since read that it is made up of former members of that band. A decent chart placing, but not as impressive as McFly hitting #1 first time out two years ago (McFly being the Westlife to Busted's Boyzone).

4. "No Worries" - Simon Webbe

Simon Webbe matches the peak of his first single, "Lay Your Hands" with his second. Webbe is of course the third member of Blue to test chart waters away from the group. Duncan James did it first (with Keedie) just a month before the band released its last single, followed by in July and Webbe in August. No word yet on when we can expect something from Anthony Costa.

11 "Modern Way" - Kaiser Chiefs

Kaiser Chiefs just miss the top 10 with their fourth top 40 single, the only one not to peak in the top 10. It wraps up a very successful year for the band, who are arguably the biggest new UK band of the year. I read recently that their album Employment is the 3rd biggest seller of the year (behind James Blunt and Coldplay). While the end of the year Christmas sales may change that it bit, it's quite an achievement.

16 "Bad Day" - Daniel Powter

"Bad Day" just won't die, as the song moves up one place to #16 in its 16th week on the chart, despite the release this week of his follow-up single, "Free Loop."

?? "Free Loop" - Daniel Powter

Speaking of "Free Loop," where is it? Apparently, the song was disqualified from appearing on the chart because all versions contain a live version of "Bad Day" as a B-side, and which breaks the chart eligibility rule that a single cannot contain a current top 40 hits as a b-side. Maybe his record company doesn't care, as they will still know how well it sells (and keep the profits), but in the record books and databases, there will be no entry of its appearance.

18 "Ai No Corrida" - Uniting Nations Featuring Laura More

With the exception of Madonna, club music continues to fare poorly on the chart of late. Uniting Nations had a big hit the end of 2004/beginning of 2005 with "Out of Touch," part of the dance movement to take an '80s sample and loop it over and over with a good House beat. The biggest hits derived from this practice were Eric Prydz's "Call On Me," Sunset Strippers "Falling Stars" and LMC's "Take Me to the Clouds Above" (which doubled as a U2/Whitney Houston mash-up, another dance trend). The novelty of this sound appears to be dying, and since it was dance's best trick recently, the whole genre suffers with it.

27 "(Don't) Give Hate a Chance" - Jamiroquai

Jamiroquai continues to reap the benefit of its winning formula of retro disco-funk, albeit with diminishing returns. This is the third single from their most album, the first of which "Feels Just Like It Should" made #8 in June, the second, "Seven Days in Sunny June" #16 in August (and a fair amount of airplay too). While the sound works for the group, it would be nice to hear something different for a change.

37 "You're Beautiful" - James Blunt

James Blunt's huge hit from the summer makes a surprise reappearance in the top 40, in the process selling more this week than his current single, "High" (down 6 places at #40). Like Daniel Powter's "Bad Day," it just won't go away.

Next week should be a health contest for the top, as we have new singles from Will Young, The Darkness, Girls Aloud and a charity release from Liberty X challenging Madonna's biggest hit in five years.

Albums:

Another year, another album from Il Divo. The slick, all-male singing quarter whose sounds is supposed to meld pop and classical singing released their first album a year and a week ago to claim the top spot last November. They've done it again with their new release, Ancora, which tops the UK albums chart to unseat another all-male singing quartet, Westlife, albeit one without any "classical" singing pretensions. Judging by the tracklisting, it's more of the same, and perhaps a love letter to Celine Dion, as it features remakes of two of her hits ("All By Myself" and "Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore") plus a duet with the French-Canadian chanteuse herself ("I Believe in You"). Kate Bush debuts at #3 with Aerial, her first album release in twelve years. Eurythmics celebrate their 25-year career (during which time they released 8 albums and scored 23 top 40 hits, including the classics "Sweet Dreams," "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves," "There Must Be An Angel," and "Here Comes the Rain Again") with the release of Ultimate Collection, which debuts at #5. The 19-track set opens and closes with new material, including current single "I've Got A Life," before plunging into a survey of their hits. Most are included, although strangely omitted is any representation from their 1989 album, We Too Are One, such as "Don't Ask Me Why" or "Angel," which did earn inclusion in their 1991 Greatest Hits. Instead fans get the singles from their 1999 reunion album, Peace. Just below Eurythmics at #6, Anastacia celebrates her 5-year career (during which time she released 3 albums and scored 12 top 40 hits, including the classic, er, "Left Outside Alone"(?) with her greatest hits collection, Pieces of a Dream. No omissions here (otherwise it would be an EP), as all 12 singles are represented, plus her duet with Ben Moody (which was oddly not released in the UK), 3 new tracks, including forthcoming single "Pieces of a Dream" and a megamix melting everything together. The pre-Christmas season always sees a flood of greatest hits collection releases, some of which exist to showcase icons of pop whose catalogues could fill volumes of greatest hits discs, while others have to mine album tracks to justify their length. Anastacia, thankfully doesn't have to result to that to fill this disc, but this still feels premature, as she surely has several albums left in her. The point is made brilliantly by the juxtaposition of chart entries between Anastacia and Eurythmics, a band whose back catalogue is so long they had to omit several key tracks while still delivering a longer, better set than hers. Expect a blog entry on Greatest Hits collections soon. Outside the top 10, Texas debuts at #16 with Red Book, their follow-up to 2003 album Careful What You Wish For. The placing is a bit disappointing, considering that their last album made #5 on the back of weak single "Carnival Girl," while the new album, which has gotten good reviews, has already seen the release of two great tracks, "Getaway" and "Can't Resist," and has been heralded as a return to form for a band whose last album was a disappointment. Next week, it's a sure bet that Madonna will take the top spot.

UK Airplay:

The same songs occupy the top 5 slots this week, the only movement being Craig David's "Don't Love You No More (I'm Sorry)" moving up two places to #3. Madonna, who tops the singles sales chart, spends a second week at #1 with "Hung Up." After falling out the top 10, Athlete's "Twenty Four Hours" makes a big jump, up 7 to #6, pushing Will Young's "Switch It On" down a spot. Liberty X scores a phenominal airplay debut with this year's Children in Need chartity single at #8 with "A Night to Remember," far outpacing the performance of their last single, "Song 4 Lovers." Lower down, David Gray makes a big leap from #42 to #16 with "Hospital Food," second single from Life in Slow Motion, and Gorillaz also makes an impressive jump up 12 spots to #22 with "Dirty Harry," third single from Demon Days. Also debutting within the top 40 are Oasis at #25 with "Let There Be Love," KT Tunstall at #28 with "Under the Weather," The Pussycat Dolls at #32 with "Stickwitu," Girls Aloud at #34 with "Biology," and Tom Novy at #38 with "Your Body."