Sunday, January 17, 2010

UK Singles Chart, January 23, 2010

My UK singles chart commentary is coming while I watch the Golden Globes. Crazy Heart just won best song--saw the film today, and I loved it. Anyway, on to the music...

1. Replay - Iyaz
2. Fireflies - Owl City

Iyaz spends a second week at #1 with "Replay," holding off the week's biggest new single, Owl City's "Fireflies," which was a #1 hit in the United States in November. Since last week also gave us a #2 hit in Sidney Samson's "Riverside," this year so far there are more new #2 hits than #1 hits. Surely that will reverse soon (in any given year, there are generally always more #1 hits than #2 hits--I'll spare you the mathematical reasons for this, but it makes sense).

5. Don't Stop Believin' - Cast of Glee
6. Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

Now this is very, very cool. Every once in awhile a song will appear twice in the top 40, but generally there is a reason for it. Like when Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" re-entered the top 40 a few weeks ago because Joe McElderry's remake of it was out. But this time, the event is purely coincidental, making it all the more special. Glee, the musical dramedy series from Fox that debuted in the US last spring, made its UK bow this week. "Don't Stop Believin'" was the signature song of the series' pilot, and debuts at #5 this week. But that's wholly unrelated to the fact that Joe McElderry's multiple X Factor performances of the song also sparked a renewed interest in the Journey original, which holds at #6 this week. As if that isn't delightful enough, the two version appear back-to-back at #5 and #6 in the top 10. Fun fun fun.

Going forward, it will be interesting to see how future Glee singles fare on the British singles chart. These are the six Glee singles that made the top 40 in the US:

#4 "Don't Stop Believin'"
#28 "Somebody to Love"
#30 "It's My Life/Confessions Pt. II"
#40 "Halo/Walking on Sunshine"
#34 "Sweet Caroline"
#31 "Defying Gravity"

10. Broken Heels - Alexandra Burke

Alexandra Burke climbs two spots to #10 with "Broken Heels," released last week on CD single. Yes, it made the top 10, but just barely, which is a bit of a surprise. If Overcome dries up after only its second single, it will be seen as a disappointment.

13. Young Forever - Jay-Z feat. Mr. Hudson
15. Playing with Fire - N-Dubz feat. Mr. Hudson

If you're a hip-hop musical act with a hyphen in your name and you needed a little vocal assist this week, chances are you sought out Mr. Hudson, who appears on two rising top 20 tracks this week.

23. Empire State of Mind II - Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys rises 12 spots to #23 with "Empire State of Mind II," the non-rap version of her recent #2 hit with Jay-Z. It will now be the official second single from The Elements of Freedom instead of "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart."

32. One Shot - JLS

JLS debuts at #32 with their third top 40 single, the follow-up to #1 hit "Everybody in Love."

38. Many of Horror - Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro is a band whose name I've seen here and there the last few years, but never really interested me until this single. "Many of Horror" is a great rock ballad. It debuts at #38 this week and I'm surprised it wasn't a bigger hit.

Addendum: I just saw that Alexandra Burke and Biffy Clyro's singles are out tomorrow, not last week. Let's hope for some climbs.

2 comments:

Myfizzypop said...

Ah I didn't know Alexandra was not out yet... for some reason I was convinced it was this week. That might give her a bit of a boost then. And of course the next JLS single campaign has started in earnest now that the One Shot video is out...

And yes, it's quite fun to have Glee in the charts but the 5/6 song pairing is rare and much appreciated :)

rcLoy said...

I won't mind having Owl City at #1, Iyaz's Replay is addictive but really terrible in a way :)
I am very happy now that GLEE won the Best Comedy Series *woohooo*