Welcome to the fifth week of the Music Mash-Up! I certainly can’t believe it’s been over a month, can you? Remember you can always tell us your views about the Weekly, and give us some opinions for what to implement next week!

First this week we will switch it all up and focus on the Billboard Top 200 Albums:

 

1.) 21 – Adele

2.) A Different Kind Of Truth – Van Halen

3.) NOW 41 – Various Artists

4.) Scars & Stories – The Fray

5.) Kisses On The Bottom – Paul McCartney

6.) Whitney: The Greatest Hits – Whitney Houston

7.) Home – Dierks Bentley

8.) 2012 Grammy Nominees – Various Artists

9.) 19 – Adele 

10.) Take Care – Drake

 

‘Greatest Hits‘ by Guns N’ Roses is this week’s longest stayer, with 226 weeks, followed closely by one 

from Bob Marley And The Wailers at 209 weeks. All of the top 10 stayers this week are over 140 weeks,

a great achievement for any artist.

#2 ‘A Different Kind Of Truth‘ and #3 ‘NOW 41‘ are both debuts this week, as well as #4, #5, and #7, with #6 returning from Whitney Houston.

Unfortunately for Ringo Starr ‘Ringo 2012′ dropped 112 slots to end in #192 this week, having peaked 

at just #80.

 

Next, we will look at the ARIA Australian Singles Chart:

 

1.) Wild Ones – Flo Rida ft. Sia

2.) Ass Back Home – Gym Class Heroes ft. Neon Hitch

3.) Boys Like You – 360 ft. Gosling

4.) Hey Hey Hey – Laurent Wery ft. SwiftKid 

5.) Paradise – Coldplay

6.) Turn Me On – David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj

7.) Lonely Boy – The Black Keys

8.) I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston

9.) I Love It – Hilltop Hoods ft. Sia

10.) Summer Paradise – Simple Plane

 

#2 rose 15 places from 17 for this week’s high climber, which was not closely met at all. A song I personally

favour was the biggest drop for the ARIA chart. It was ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’‘ by Madonna ft. Nicki Minaj

& M.I.A., which fell 19 from #25. ARIA make a special mention of the songs in their chart that are by Australian

artists. Both #3 and #9 were examples of this, and the featured artist for #1 is also Australian, Sia. 
It was a close contest for the longest contender, but ‘Moves Like Jagger‘ by Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera won with 33 weeks, 
closely followed by Gotye ft. Kimbra at 32.

 

The penultimate chart this week, will be the Billboard Hot 100:

 

1.) Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) – Kelly Clarkson

2.) Set Fire To The Rain – Adele

3.) We Are Young – fun. ft. Janelle Monae

4.) Sexy And I Know It – LMFAO

5.) Good Feeling – Flo Rida

6.) We Found Love – Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris

7.) I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston

8.) Turn Me On – David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj

9.) Rack City – Tyga

10.) Give Me All Your Luvin’ – Madonna ft. Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.

 

Once again, Kelly Clarkson took the top spot through Airplay. Some music fans criticise Billboard for using other methods to obtain data, 
rather than just sales. Being played on a radio station may not always represent the favourite songs in the general public.

The top 3 soarers (and they definitely did soar) were all from Whitney Houston, re-entering at #7, #35 and #41.

This is an obvious and common occurrence: an artist dies and their music gains massive publicity, occasionally awarding them a
posthumous chart-topper.  ‘Rolling In The Deep’ by Adele is sitting pretty on 58 weeks, the longest this week. Adele is constantly earning similar
honours in other charts, which explains her massive 6 Grammy wins!

The Glee Cast ft. 2Cellos (which I believe to be like the instrument, cello) dropped to 93 this week with ‘Smooth Criminal‘, 67 places lower. 
The next single was just a dip of 20, for Rihanna with ‘You Da One’.

 

To end this week’s recap, we will have the UK Official Top 100:

 

1.) Hot Right Now – DJ Fresh ft. Rita Ora

2.) Next To Me – Emeli Sandé

3.) Somebody That I Used To Know – Gotye ft. Kimbra

4.) Titanium – David Guetta ft. Sia

5.) Wild Ones – Florida ft. Sia

6.) Domino – Jessie J

7.) Alone Again – Alyssa Reid ft. Jump Smokers

8.) T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) – Will I Am ft. Mick Jagger & Jennifer Lopez

9.) One Thing – One Direction

10.) Twilight – Cover Drive

 

‘Iris‘ by Goo Goo Dolls is still staying strong with 234 weeks, followed by Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep‘,

‘Someone Like You‘ and ‘Set Fire To The Rain‘. ‘Make You Feel My Love‘ was above all of these at 98 weeks.

Both of the top two singles this week were brand new entries, beating my least favourite track ‘Somebody

That I Used To Know‘ into #3. 

‘Turn This Club Around‘ by Rioft U-Jean dropped 48 to #84 for the biggest dip, which was once a number 5 hit.

Maverick Sabre also had a bad week, falling 41 with ‘No One‘.

As usual, we will end with the Special Artist Feature. This week was really difficult to think about, because there seemed
no artist suitable. Ultimately, it came down to the late Whitney Houston and Adele, a comparatively new artist.
I believe that Adele will have many more years to accumulate fame and that Whitney Houston is currently
more deserving of this “great honour”.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born on August 9th 1953 in a middle-income neighbourhood, daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston and army soldier John Russell Houston Jr. Cissy, along with Whitney’s cousins Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, godmother Darlene Love and honourary aunt Aretha Franklin were all famous figures in the world of music, helping Whitney progress as a child into a gospel choir.
As a late teenager, she performed in clubs with her mother, and at the age of 15 she sang background vocals on Chaka Khan’s hit ‘I’m Every Woman‘.
Lou Rawls and Jermaine Jackson have also used her talents on albums.
In February 1985, Whitney released her eponymous (self-titled) album ‘Whitney Houston‘. Critics around the US praised the album, which led to the release internationally, mainly Europe. Soulful ballad ‘You Give Good Love‘ hit #3 on the US Hot 100, exploding her into fame.
The rest of the album performed excellently with worldwide-known ‘Greatest Love Of All’ reaching the top spot in many countries. She was then nominated for 3 awards at the 1996 Grammy’s, great for a new artist.
Fast forwarding to 2000, after millions of sales with multiple albums, Whitney began to arrive late for different occasions, and even missed shows completely. She was suspected of drug abuse, and her executive assistant resigned.
She continued having problems, and split from her husband Bobby Brown in 2006, winning custody of their daughter.
On Oprah Winfrey she admitted to drug use, shocking fans.
Her last big performance was a role in the remake of 1976 film ‘Sparkle‘. She played the main characters’ mother, and the film is set for release in August 2012.
On February 11th 2012, she was found dead, submerged in a bathtub.
She had a private memorial on the 18th, with stars such as Alicia Keys performing over 4 hours. The next day, she was buried next to her father in the Fairview Cemetery.

Whitney Houston: 1953 to 2012

What do you think? Do you miss Whitney as much as I do (which might be difficult, because I’m still gobsmacked at the news)? Or did you prefer the chars for this week? Leave your thoughts below!