It's the last week before the Christmas chart. Sadly, we all already know who will be #1 next week: The X Factor winner, Leona Lewis, with her remake of Kelly Clarkson's first single, "A Moment Like This." This week though it's a fourth week at the top for...
1. Patience - Take That
Holding strong on a fairly competitive week, Take That scores a fourth week at the top with their big comeback single, now clearly one of the biggest singles of the year. By spending four weeks at the top, it matches the 4-week peaks of their two previous singles to spend the longest at the top, "Pray" and "Back For Good." Their new album, Beautiful Life, spends a third week atop the albums chart, giving them a 3-week triple. According to one chart source, this is the first time someone's done that in 10 years, when the Spice Girls topped the singles chart with "2 Become 1" and the albums chart with Spice. While their album is probably safe at the top for another week, their single will surely succumb to young Leona Lewis's debut.
2. 21st Century Christmas / Move It - Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard holds the record for most UK #1 singles. Luckily he doesn't extend that run with "21st Century Christmas," perhaps the most poorly titled Christmas song in recent memory. I haven't heard it, but it sounds really cheesy. His last top 5 hit was another Christmas song, 2003's "Santa's List."
3. Wind It Up - Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani climbs to #3, giving her the highest-charting solo hit of her career. In the US it's her second-highest charting hit, hitting #6 a couple of weeks ago, although it's top 40 airplay hasn't been so hot.
4. Truly Madly Deeply - Cascada
Cascada hit the top 10 in both the UK and the US with her first single, "Everytime We Touch." Luckily she's remained a one-hit wonder in the US. This is a tepid remake of Savage Garden's massive 1998 hit, set to a hi-NRG House beat. Boring.
7. You Know My Name - Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell's Casino Royale Bond Theme scores another top 10 hit for the international spy thriller franchise. I made a mistake in my discussion a few weeks ago about Bond themes. "Licence to Kill" was recorded by Gladys Knight, hitting #6 in 1989. So that makes "You Know My Name" the 11th Bond theme to hit the top 10. Here are the others, in descending peak order:
A View to a Kill - Duran Duran #2 (1985)
We Have All the Time in the World (From "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") - Louis Armstrong #3 (1969)
Die Another Day - Madonna, #3 (2002)
The Living Daylights - A-ha #5 (1987)
License to Kill - Gladys Knight #6 (1989)
Nobody Does it Better - Carly Simon #7 (1977)
For Your Eyes Only - Sheena Easton #8 (1981)
James Bond Theme (From "Tomorrow Never Dies") - Moby #8 (1997)
Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney #9 (1973)
Goldeneye - Tina Turner #10 (1995)
8. Tell Me - P Diddy Featuring Christina Aguilera
He's known now in the US as "Diddy," but in Europe he's still "P Diddy," due to some legal rights to the name "Diddy." One wonders why he finds "Sean Combs" so objectionable, but that's his choice. This single peaks one spot higher than his last single, "Come to Me," his collaboration with Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. This is Christina Aguilera's third appearance as a featured artist following her appearance on Ricky Martin's "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely (#4, 2001) and Nelly's "Tilt Ya Head Back" (#5, 2004).
10. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues
The Pogues rise into the top 10 on downloads this week. Supposedly, this song won't be chart eligible next week, so expect it to vanish next week, despite the fact that the week before Christmas it will probably sell even better than it did last week. It will vanish because current rules allow a single to chart no longer than 1 year after it's release, and this single was re-released last year at exactly this time.
12. A Whole New World - Katie Price & Peter Andre
People buy this? For real? Why? Peter Andre is a has been beefcake popstar, whose biggest contribution was a couple of #1 hits in the mid '90s. Katie Price, also known as Jordan, is a well-endowed model and tabloid fodder. They're married now, and this is from an album full of duet remakes from them.
16. Last Christmas - Crazy Frog
Wham's original version of "Last Christmas" is readily available at on-line shops (and would probably be charting in the top 20 this week, if it was allowed), so why on Earth would anyone want this? Christmastime seems to really bring out the worst in the singles-buying public's taste.
21. Littlest Things - Lily Allen
Meanwhile, Lily Allen scores a disappointingly low #21 with "Littlest Things," the lovely and earnest ballad that's the third single from her debut album, Alright Still, but becomes the first to chart outside the top 10, following #1 hit "Smile" at #6 "LDN."
34. Illegal - Shakira Featuring Carlos Santana
"Hips Don't Lie" may have been an international #1 hit, but "Illegal" scores a lowly #34, strengthening the argument that "Hips Don't Lie" was a one-off for her. Perhaps a Wyclef Jean collaboration album will be in the works?
42. Land of a Thousand Words - Scissor Sisters
Normally I ignore anything outside the top 40, but I had to note the dismally fast decline of the Scissor Sisters' latest single, "Land of a Thousand Words," which plunges from its lowly peak ot #19 all the way to #42, making it the only Scissor Sisters single to spend only 7 days in the top 40. Meanwhile, their last single, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin" is riding high at #27 and is still in the UK airplay top 10. What went wrong with this release? Hopefully they'll turn things around with the third single, which I'm hoping will be "She's My Man."
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