Welcome, one and all, to a brand spanking new weekly article by me, Alex! If I am away on holiday, this article will be written by another reporter in the department, yet it will still be music-related! We will cover the charts for the new week in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. If there are larger requests for other charts, they may be included. With that short introduction, we shall start!
First, we will start with the US charts, both Singles and Albums.
Billboard Hot 100 (US):
1) We Found Love – Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris
2) Set Fire to the Rain – Adele
3) Good Feeling – Flo Rida
4) It Will Rain – Bruno Mars
5) Sexy And I Know It – LMFAO
6) The One That Got Away – Katy Perry
7) Ni**as in Paris – Jay Z & Kanye West
8) Rack City – Tyga
9) Young, WIld & Free – Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa ft. Bruno Mars
10) Turn Me On – David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj
The 3 singles with the longest time spent on the chart are:
40) Rolling In The Deep – Adele (54 weeks, over a year!)
12) Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock (43 weeks, also very impressive)
37) Give Me Everything – Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer (42 weeks, just short of LMFAO)
The 3 singles with the largest jumps this week, all debuts, are:
60) Drive By – Train
67) Tattoo – Van Halen
78) Called Out In The Dark – Snow Patrol
Unfortunately, the biggest faller this week is #92, The Champ by Nelly, falling from 61 to 92 (31 places).
Billboard 200 (Albums – US)
1) 21 – Adele
2) Give Us Rest or (A Requiem Mass in C [The Happiest of All Keys]) – David Crowder*Band (debut)
3) El Camino – The Black Keys
4) Take Care – Drake
5) Fallen Empires – Snow Patrol (also a debut)
Congratulations to Adele for having the #1 album for a whopping 47 weeks!
#149, Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd has been on the Billboard 200 for an unbelievable 794 weeks!!!
Considering there are only 52 weeks in a year, this is a mammoth achievement, over 10 years on the chart!
The longest rise this week came from #2, a debut from the David Crowder*Band.
All of the top 10 jumpers are debuts this week, ranging from the afore-mentioned #2 all the way to #61.
A giant drop of 113 for Metallica’s ‘Beyond Magnetic‘ was the largest, followed by The Beatles’ ‘1’.
Often, when music analysts look for the most popular singles, they use the Billboard Hot 100.
This is because it is reliable, with over 50 years running-time, and reflects the opinions of the 313 million
people living in the United States. In 1958, the Billboard Hot 100 was founded, but before that, there
were 3 separate, equally-viable charts that, when compiled, created an accurate measure of the
popularity of a song. These were ‘Played by Jockeys’ (such as on the radio) ‘Played in Jukeboxes’
(when the jukebox was popular in things such as diners and public houses) and ‘Best Sellers in Stores’
(typically the most known nowadays). The first and last are combined, with sales taking the more dominant
side, to make the current Hot 100. Instead of jukeboxes, online listening time on video-sharing sites
like YouTube or Grooveshark are included.
And onto the Canadian Top 10. Billboard.com list the Canadian charts in the same way as the US Singles:
1) We Found Love – Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris
2) Good Feeling – Flo Rida
3) Set Fire To The Rain – Adele
4) Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
5) The One That Got Away – Katy Perry
6) Sexy And I Know It – LMFAO
7) It Will Rain – Bruno Mars
8) Without You – David Guetta ft. Usher
9) Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera
10) International Love – Pitbull ft. Chris Brown
It’s clear that We Found Love will do very well all through this year, despite being released so early!
The single with the longest time on the chart is Rolling In The Deep – Adele, much like the US Hot 100.
This is followed 6 weeks behind by Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock at 48 weeks.
Although the highest climber was Drive By – Train, unlike the US, it debuted a further 4 places up.
Glad You Came – The Wanted was 2 behind this at #58.
The worst drop came from All My People – Sasha Lopez from #63 to #89, a drop of 26.
The main chart for the UK, simply known as the Official UK Top 40 in some places, is calculated by the Official Charts
Company. Here is their Top 10, as listed by their website. Billboard also list 1-10, but release the chart
on Thursdays, as they do with the US and Canadian charts. This means that the data they post will
have been released in the UK the previous Sunday. Here are the Top 10:
1) Domino – Jessie J
2) Mama Do The Hump – Rizzle Kicks
3) Titanium – David Guetta ft. Sia
4) Antidote – Swedish House Mafia & Knife Party
5) Good Feeling – Flo Rida
6) Dedication To My Ex (Miss That) – Lloyd ft. Andre 3000 & Lil Wayne
7) Levels – Avicii
8) Kiss The Stars – Pixie Lott
9) Troublemaker – Taio Cruz
10) Paradise – Coldplay
As the Official Charts Company does not display entries after 100 (yet still records them), the highest climbers
can jump very large gaps. This week, One Thing – One Direction raised 91 places from 118 to 29. It’s been proven in
the past that you don’t need to win the X Factor to be signed by Simon Cowell, and to do well. JLS came second to
Alexandra Burke in 2008 and have had a platinum-selling album! Want You Back by Cher Lloyd, also of the same label
SyCo rose 30 places after a late start at #56
The highest riser, also a new entry, was #4, a collaboration between Swedish House Mafia & Knife Party – Antidote. Etta James, who died
earlier this week has re-entered the chart with At Last, her signature song.
One of the best (in my opinion) new songs 5 O’Clock – T-Pain & Wiz Khalifa & Lily Allen is this week’s biggest faller,
stooping 35 places to spot 81.
My favourite of 2011, Love on Top by Beyoncé fell from #13 to #15, whilst staying in the chart for a great 15 weeks!
The song with the longest time however, was a complete outlier, at #96, Iris – Goo Goo Dolls. Although
only re-entering low in the chart, it is still there, and in numerous spells, has been there for 230 weeks!
Next was Lose Yourself – Eminem for 167 weeks. Adele, the longest of other charts, had 52 weeks
with both Set Fire to the Rain and Someone Like You at #53 and #43 respectively.
And now, on to the final chart of the week, the ARIA Australian Chart. As the Australian culture is much
different to that of the US and UK, it is obvious why their charts are frequently different. Here are the
Australian Top 10 singles:
1) Wild Ones – Flo Rida ft. Sia
2) Set It Off – Timomatic
3) Turn Me On – David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj
4) Paradise – Coldplay
5) Young, Wild & Free – Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa ft. Bruno Mars
6) Summer Paradise – Simple Plan
7) Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People
8) Don’t Worry Be Happy – Guy Sebastian
9) What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
10) Hey Hey Hey – Laurent Wery ft. SwiftKid
On their website, only the top 50 singles are displayed, making the chart much smalled than other
countries’. Despite this, they do supply multiple charts of different types.
There were not many competitors for the highest climb, but #10 Hey Hey Hey – Laurent Wery ft. SwiftKid
hopped 13 to snatch it away from Bangarang – Skrillex and Turn Me On – David Guetta ft. Nicki
Minaj.
The biggest drop came from Adele with Rolling in the Deep, only 8 places, and is now at #43. It is unusual
for drops to be so small, but clearly the Australian taste in music is not easily swayed
Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock is this week’s longest stayer with 47 weeks,
almost a whole year! It is doing reasonably well at #31.
A feature appearing in this article every week (sometimes there may be a lost week) will be the Star Spotlight.
One singer will be picked and featured, whether it be for a momentous occasion or just a star in the making.
This week, we will be paying homage to Etta James, who died on January 20th 2012, just a few days ago.
Born January 25th 1938 in Los Angeles, then-Jamesetta Hawkins was raised by caregivers, as her family were not fit themselves. She was vocally trained by the head of the local choir, and one carer ‘Sarge’ even tried to get the church to pay her to sing! At home, she was beaten into singing for his friends at poker games, which created her hatred of singing on demand. In 1950, the favourite of her carers ‘Mama Lu’ died, and her real mother Dorothy Hawkins took her to San Francisco, where she created the singing group the Creolettes. The girls were just 14 years of age at the time, and were met by Johnny Otis, and after careful work, signed with him. Their name then changed to the Peaches, and Jamesetta swapper her name around, to make Etta James. The group released ‘Dance With Me, Henry’ in 1955, which hit #1 in the Hot Rhythm & Blues Chart.
In 1960 Etta signed with the Chess label, and experienced great success. Most notable of these was the song ‘At Last’. It has been covered by artists such as Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Christina Aguilera, to mention just a few. It was featured in an older Simpsons episode where Marge rips the jukebox from the local tavern. However, it was not her song originally! Glenn Miller was the first to sing it.
In 1978, she quit the label after touring with the Rolling Stones, battling drug addiction for nearly a decade. In 1989, she released another album, ‘Seven Year Itch’.
In April 2009, she performed for the final time on Dancing With The Stars, performing her signature song ‘At Last. Later that year, she won the Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year, for the ninth time!
In early 2010, her health took a turn for the worse, when she was diagnosed with the antibiotic-resistant MRSA. The next year she was also diagnosed with leukemia. It was announced as terminal in December that year. On January 20th of this year, just last Friday, it was announced she had died in hospital.
Our thoughts are with her family, friends and fans in this dire time.
I do not mean to close in such a negative way, but Etta was a truly great asset to the world of music.
What do you think of the charts? Was your favourite #1? Or did someone else beat them to it? Did a shock entry steal the top stop? Leave your thoughts below! Most importantly, if you have a suggestion for the next article, suggest it! If lots of people want me to cover the Ethiopian chart, I will!
(No Ratings Yet)
