Sunday, December 14, 2008

UK Singles Chart, 12/20/2008

1. Run - Leona Lewis
2. Use Somebody - Kings of Leon

Leona Lewis retains the #1 spot for a second week with "Run," fending off the challenge from Kings of Leon's second single from their latest album, Only By the Night. "Use Somebody" has been steadily climbing the charts for the last 3 months since it became available as a download when the album was released, and finally makes a big jump to #2 with its CD single rlease. It's rather surprisingly, isn't it, that an indie rock band like Kings of Leon has, in the last few months, become the hottest rock act in the UK?

3. Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth - Bandaged

Here's an interesting holiday release. It's credited to Bandaged, a charity project sponsored by BBC Radio 2. This single, a remake of the classic '70s track Bing Crosby and David Bowie recorded, is done by Terry Wogan (a long-time radio personality) and Aled Jones (also a radio personality and singer too). Proceeds go to Children in Need, whose "official" single this year, McFly's "Do Ya," bombed last month when it peaked at a lowly #18. Good to know they found another single that would actually raise some money.

12. All I Want for Christmas - Mariah Carey
13. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues Featuring Kirsty MacColl

Here they come! Lots of other old Chritmas favorites are climbing the chart this week, led by these two perennial favorites. While I love "All I Want for Christmas," I don't understand the appeal of "Fairytale of New York."

18. Broken Strings - James Morrison Featuring Nelly Furtado

James Morrison climbs 13 spots to land at #18 this week with "Broken Strings," his fifth top 40 hit and second single from his second album, Songs for You, Truths for Me. The single also features Canadian pop singer Nelly Furtado, making her first chart appearance since appearing with Justin Timberlake on Timbaland's #1 hit in the spring of 2007, "Give It to Me."

22. Better - Boyzone

It's a pity when these pop band reunions--while fun and nostalgic--ruin chart records. As is the case this week with Boyzone, who see their perfect run of 17 top 5 hits come to an end as their latest single, "Better," can manage no higher than #22 upon its physical release. This is a remake of a song by Tom Baxter, which came out just about a year ago. His version, which was great, didn't crack the top 40.

30. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

This is an appropriate note for me to end on, given that this song will likely be #1 next week. Not this version mind you, but the newly recorded version from this year's winner of X Factor, Alexandra Burke. Jeff's version dates back to 1994 but the song was originally done by Leonard Cohen in 1984.

6 comments:

Myfizzypop said...

there is of course a campaign to get the original version of Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah to number one rather than the x factor version that will probably never work but at least bring some attention to how achingly gorgeous Jeff's version is. And oh my - Fairy tale of New York is my joint fave Christmas song ever :(

J.Mensah said...

^^ no it's not and it's already worked!

J.Mensah said...

Anyway... I'm really hoping Alexandra gets to number 1 then all those votes pay off and my punishment for the phone bill will be worthit! yeahhh!

Cook In / Dine Out said...

I'm sorry Paul, but FTONY makes me cringe. What's your other favorite?

J - So she was your pick? The week I was in London was when Bat for Lashes got eliminated, so I never got to see the girls. I listened to Alex's "Hallelujah" a few times today--it's growing on me.

J.Mensah said...

lol you mean "bad lashes" and growing on you? it sounds like something you'd like straight away

Cook In / Dine Out said...

I do like it! I listened to it a lot again today. Better than Leon's "When You Believe" and Leona's "A Moment Like This" (which was a terrible choice for a single from her).