1. You Are Not Alone - The X Factor Finalists
To no one's surprise, the X Factor Finalists top the UK singles chart this week with "You Are Not Alone," their remake of the 1995 Michael Jackson #1 hit. The power of the X Factor has been a recurring theme on the singles chart this fall, which has been dominated by tracks performed by established artists (Alexandra Burke, Cheryl Cole, JLS, Black Eyed Peas in particular, who saw their singles hit #1) and re-entries from the original artist's versions of songs the contestants sang on the show. Finally the contestants themselves get a crack at the chart, selling over 193,000 copies, more than twice what Black Eyed Peas' "Meet Me Halfway" sold to be this week's #2.
As great as that sounds though, this is actually not as wonderful as it could have been. For one, it's a far cry from the 312,000 that the 2008 X Factor Finalists sold last year of "Hero" in its first week. When "Hero" hit #1, it did so with a week's worth of sales that was about 5 times bigger than any other single had done that year. In contrast, this year's finalists did about as well as Alexandra Burke did a few weeks ago with "Bad Boys," and about 100k less than Cheryl Cole did recently when she bowed with "Fight for This Love." Could the show's popularity be slipping a bit? After all, this even had the Michael Jackson nostalgia factor going for it (this is the first remake of a Michael Jackson song to hit #1). Of course the real test will be how the winner does Christmas week--less than 1 month away now.
3. Whatcha Say - Jason DeRulo
A recent US #1 becomes a UK #3 as Jason DeRulo's "Whatcha Say" debuts at #3. This is DeRulo's first hit single.
8. Bad Romance - Lady GaGa
Lady GaGa climbs back into the top 10 at #8, achieving a new peak position. Her new EP The Fame Monster hits stores next week. Will it push the single up even further? In the US, "Bad Romance" is currently #1 at iTunes.
15. To Love Again - Alesha Dixon
Alesha Dixon debuts at #15 with "To Love Again," the new single to promote the re-release of her album The Alesha Show. I'm surprised to not see this in the top 10, as it's a pretty decent song. At #15, it charts lower than the three singles from the original version of the album. "To Love Again" is co-written by Take That member Gary Barlow.
16. You've Got the Love - Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine scores her second top 40 hit with "You've Got the Love," a remake of the Candi Staton dance classic, "You Got the Love." The single first emerged in 1986, but wasn't a hit until 1991, when a remix of the song--credited then and afterward to The Source featuring Candi Staton--hit #4. Six years later, a new version, the "Now Voyagers Remix" hit #3. Seven years after that in 2004, the Now Voyagers Remix was featured in the final moments of the last episode of Sex and the City. Then in 2006, another remix, the "New Voyagers Remix" came out, sending the single once again into the top 10 at #7. Florence misses the top 10, but does gives us the fourth top 40 version of this song--the first by a different artist.
23. Baby By Me - 50 Cent (feat. Ne-Yo)
50 Cent lands his 19th top 40 hit. Ne-Yo nabs his 10th.
40. I Need You Now - Agnes
Somebody has messed up big time. No other way to explain how Swedish pop singer Agnes, who had a major summer hit with "Release Me," now gets a flop follow-up. Here are the mistakes as I see them: 1) Failing to capitalize on "Release Me." "Release Me" was a great single--good enough to launch the album Dance Love Pop (it's not like it wasn't ready to go, it came in Sweden over a year ago--I have it, it's great). At a minimum, there should have been a follow-up single sooner. 2) Remixing a slow song. Even dance pop artists need to show some diversity, and it's a common practice to release a ballad as a third or fourth single after a few uptempo hits. "I Need You Now" is one of Dance Love Pop's great slow songs, but by turning it into a dance tune--of which there were already several other great choices--they lost the opportunity to use the song in that manner. 3) Lack of promotion. "I Need You Now" is only #45 on the UK airplay chart and it's not on either the BBC Radio 1 or Radio 2 playlists. Isn't anyone doing PR for her? I hope this doesn't spell an end to Agnes' chances of getting her album out in the UK.
3 comments:
the number one and number 40 songs are a bit of an oddity really for the very reasons you point out. You Are Not Alone should have sold oodles more, though the fact that they have raised so much money for charity is excellent of course (and gives the x factor a chance to crow over having the number one single and album as it were...) Number 40 - poor Agnes. Bad choice of single too I think, plenty of other gems from the album could have been bigger, though perhaps the lack of promotion would have stifled them also! Shame...
I'm hoping this means something other than X Factor can be #1 before X Factor takes over again at Christmas. "Bad Romance" and "Tik Tok" would seem to have a fair shot now.
no suprise for the No.1
but very dissaponted the fact that Leona failed to top the chart
*sob sob
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