The All-New Chart Updates Thread

[Milky Tears]

Cheetah Girls are number two in Woolies.

[Pip Madeley]

I'm buying Jarvis' wares before the weekend - CD and two 7" vinyls. He has my support.

[Simon R]

Kylie is doing well in the album charts apparantly. The TV screening on saturday should give it a push for next week too.

[Milky Tears]

More piss-poor January sales, but look how close the top three singles were!!


From Music Week:

Albums market falls again
15 January 2007 - 09:08:20

The albums market suffered its third straight double digit decline in as many weeks last week and, at 2,403,225 sales, it was down to less than a quarter of its size in the week immediately prior to Christmas, writes Alan Jones.

The compilation sector has been shrinking much faster than the artist sector recently but has weathered the last week better, with 460,789 sales marking a surprise 5.8% increase on the same week in 2006. Artist album sales are down 6.7% compared to last year, at 1,835,803, while combined sales, at 2,296,592, are down 4.4% on the same week in 2006, and 17.9% week-on-week.

Despite the artist album sector's woes, there is better news of sales at the top of the chart, where Take Thats six week reign with Beautiful World is over.

With two singles in the Top 40 - Rehab holds at number 20, while follow-up You Know Im No Good rockets 40-18 - Amy Winehouse is hot, and tops the albums chart for the first time with Back To Black. The album, which features both hits, tops the list at the 11th attempt, and has moved 41-27-20-16-2-1 in the last five weeks. Winehouses second album - debut Frank peaked at number 13 in 2003 - it increased its sales by 28.6% week-on-week to more than 35,500. The only album to sell more than 20,000 copies last week, it increases its career sales tally to more than 360,000.

The only other album in the Top 40 to increase its sales week-on-week is The Automatics Not Accepted Anywhere, which jumps 57-36 with sales up 19.5% at nearly 6,000. Helped by the success of new single Raoul, which is number 30 on sales and number 31 on airplay, the album has increased sales nine weeks in a row - something no other album has managed in the fast cooling sales climate - and returned to the Top 200 four weeks ago, since which time it has moved 187-175-110-57-36. The album, which debuted and peaked at number three last June, has not been in the Top 40 since July. Its return to favour has helped boost its overall sales to more than 162,000.

Live albums almost invariably sell fewer copies than studio sets and have a much faster fade-out. Kylie Minogues Showgirl: Homecoming Live set may be an exception to that rule. The album, which debuts at number seven on sales of 17,000, is a recording of her November 11 2006 gig in Sydney, the first since her cancer treatment, and should get a boost next week from the broadcast of the concert as a TV special on Channel 4 last Saturday. Minogues last studio album Body Language reached number six in 2003; the Ultimate Kylie compilation was number four in 2004. While 110 albums have sold more than 1m copies since 2000, the only live album to sell even half that number is Robbie Williams Live At Kenilworth (614,000)

With all three singles to date (You Give Me Something, Wonderful World and The Pieces Dont Fit Any More still in the Top 75 on sales and the Top 50 on airplay) James Morrisons debut album Undiscovered continues its recent resurgence. The album, which debuted at number one last August, would be number one again but for Amy Winehouse, and has climbed for the six weeks in a row, moving 23-16-14-12-8-5-2. Sales last week of 20,000 take its cumulative 24-week tally to 889,000.

Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys fell short of the Top 75 with his debut solo album Yr Atal Genhedlaeth in 2005, but has more success with follow-up Candylion. Yr Atal Genhedleath, sung entirely in Welsh, climbed no higher than number 128 but Candylion debuts at number 50 this week on sales of 4,000. The title track from the album, released only on seven-inch and as a download, reached number 146 last month. Thirty-five-year-old Rhys has charted nine albums with the Super Furry Animals, most recently Lovekraft, which reached number 19 in 2005.

As introductory single Too Little Too Late vaults 22-6 on sales of 11,000, 16-year-old JoJos sophomore album The High Road finally ventures into the Top 75 for the first time. The album peaked at number three in America, where it has sold more than 493,000 copies in 12 weeks but got off to a slow start here when released in November, despite the fact JoJos self-titled 2004 debut reached number 21 and sold 232,000 copies. Having previously sold fewer than 9,000 copies, The High Road jumps 104-59 this week on sales of 4,000.

On the singles chart, although Leona Lewis sales are down 46.9% week-on-week, she remains at number one, and overall the sector remains strong, slipping just 1% to 1,469,601 sales. All of the four debuts in the Top 20 - Mika, Just Jack, The View and The Klaxons - were achieved on downloads alone. Just Jack and The View are available physically today (Monday), while The Klaxons follow next week, and Mika in a fortnight.

A very close top three this week sees Mika and Eric Prydz mounting a tough but ultimately unsuccessful challenge on the supremacy of Leona Lewis, finishing up 400 and 100 sales adrift, respectively, of the X Factor champ. Lewis A Moment Like This matches 2005 X Factor winner Shayne Wards debut single by topping the list for the fourth time .Cumulative sales of the single of 740,000 include fewer than 21,000 copies last week - the lowest for a number one single since Orsons No Tomorrow topped on sales of 17,694 last April.

Bluesman Otis Grand and soundtrack composer Gabriel Yared are Beiruts most famous musical exports to date but the Lebanese capital is also the birthplace of Mika, whose Grace Kelly single storms the chart this week, debuting at number three on sales of 20,000 downloads. Mika - raised in Britain since nine, a former public schoolboy and frequently compared to Freddie Mercury - released his first single Relax, Take It Easy (vinyl and digital only) last October. It reached number 104, and appears on his debut album Life In Cartoon Motion alongside Grace Kelly next month.

Camden-born Jack Allsopp records as Just Jack, under which name he sold fewer than 400 copies of his 2002 debut single Paradise on the independent RGR label. Recently signed to Mercury on the recommendation of Elton John, his first single for the label is Starz In Their Eyes. A genre-defying mixture of pop, hip-hop, dance and myriad other influences, it debuts at number four on sales of 13,000, and will be followed on January 29 by his new album Overtones, the follow-up to his acclaimed but commercially-unsuccessful 2003 debut The Outer Marker.

Dance music had its best year since 2000 in 2006, accounting for 20% of the years 100 biggest-selling singles. It is off to a great start in 2007, too, with Eric Prydz narrowly missing out on his second number one, and The Freemasons registering their third straight Top 20 single with Rain Down Love, which debuts this week at number 12 on sales of nearly 8,000. They previously reached number 11 with Love On My Mind and number 19 with Watchin. Their latest hit features vocals from US diva Siedah Garrett, who shared vocals with Michael Jackson on the 1987 number one I Just Cant Stop Loving You.

Essex boys Koopas first two singles No Trend and Stand Up 4 England were distributed by the worlds biggest record company Universal and still only managed to reach 71 and 79 respectively on the singles chart. The trio is currently unsigned but their new single Blag, Steal & Borrow - available only as a 77p download on their own Juxtaposition imprint - debuts at number 31 this week on sales of 4.000, leading to a flurry of stories about them being the first unsigned band to have a Top 40 hit.

. Chart compiler Millward Brown has now re-run Week 52 data to correct its weighting errors. Despite expectations that it would result in sales for that week being reduced by less than 5%, the eventual reduction was a much more significant 18%. The year-end analyses included in last weeks Music Week will be amended to reflect the corrected figures and will be made available on the website. However, as this will require significant new computations on my part, particularly for the artist rankings, this will not happen until next week.

Mika and Eric Prydz were robbed. Will Mika top the chart next week?

[Matthew T]

According to all sources, Chris Moyles is leading a campaign to get Billie Piper's seminal hit "Honey To The Bee" back in the charts via the medium of downloading! It's in with a bullet at #98 on the iTunes top 100 after one day.

[Matthew T]

It's now up to #52 apparantly.

It's becoming less and less relevent now, but look at the differences on the physical only chart!

01 - 01 - Leona Lewis - A Moment like this
02 - 02 - Eric Prydz vs. Floyd - Proper education
03 - 03 - U2 - Window in the skies
04 - 04 - Take That - Patience
## - 05 - Freemasons feat. Siedah Garrett - Rain down love
05 - 06 - Cascada - Truly Madly Deeply
## - 07 - Evanescence - Lithium
06 - 08 - Sharam - PATT (Party All the time)
08 - 09 - Akon feat. Eminem - Smack that
## - 10 - Jarvis - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time
10 - 11 - Booty Luv - Boogie 2nite
## - 12 - Automatic - Raoul
## - 13 - The Cooper Temple Cause Waiting Game
13 - 14 - P. Diddy feat. Christina Aguilera - Tell Me
## - 15 - Cheetah Girls - The Party's Just Began
09 - 16 - Girls Aloud - I think we're alone now
12 - 17 - Chris Cornell - You know my name
07 - 18 - Iron Maiden - Different World
## - 19 - Nerina Pallot - Learning to breathe
18 - 20 - Fedde Le Grand - Put your hands up for Detroit
11 - 21 - Gwen Stefani - Wind it up
17 - 22 - David Gilmour - Arnold Layne
## - 23 - Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm no good
15 - 24 - Lazy Town - Bing Bang (Time To dance)
14 - 25 - Big Bass feat Michelle Narine - What You Do (Playing With Knives)
21 - 26 - Nelly Furtado - All Good Things (Come To An End)
## - 27 - Ben Macklin feat. Tiger Lily - Feel Together
19 - 28 - Justin Timberlake feat. TI - My Love
## - 29 - Grinderman - Get It On
## - 30 - The Game - Let's Ride

Huge differences for Jarvis and Evanescence, and it would've been great to see Freemasons in the top 5. That Ben Macklin record at #27 is only #71 on the combined chart!

[Milky Tears]

The combined chart has destroyed everything. It's a load of old w*nk.

[Matthew T]

This weeks mids:

Singles

1 (3) Mika - Grace Kelly *DOWNLOADS ONLY*
2 (4) Just Jack - Starz In Their Eyes
3 (11) The View - Same Jeans
4 (6) JoJo - Too Little Too Late

Top 10
The Ordinary Boys - I Luv U
Klaxons - Golden Skans
Jamie T - Calm Down Dearest

Top 20
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Kingdom Of Doom

Top 30
Guillemots - Annie, Let's Not Wait
Akon feat. Snoop Dogg - I Wanna Luv U

Top 40
The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control

Top 50
My Chemical Romance - Famous Last Words
Mary J Blige - MJB Da MVP
Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
Mason - Exceeder

Top 75
Lady Sovereign - Love Me Or Hate Me
Billie Piper - Honey Too The Bee
Keane - A Bad Dream
The Fray - How To Save A Life

[Matthew T]

I'm gonna download Billie now, even though I've got the CD single from 1999.

[Perry Vale]

According to all sources, Chris Moyles is leading a campaign to get Billie Piper's seminal hit "Honey To The Bee" back in the charts via the medium of downloading! It's in with a bullet at #98 on the iTunes top 100 after one day.

Yes, it's doing better than the OG Doctor Who Fans Collective, with their silly attempt to get Murray Gold in the Top 10. No sign of it in the Top 200 Downloads, which means 1 of 2 things....

1) They've managed to get less than 156 people to download it.

or

2) It isn't eligible, as I warned people on their thread last week.



Michael Jackson's done better out of CBB than Leo Sayer too.

[Si Hunt]

I thought everything was eligable these days?

Si.

[Perry Vale]

I thought everything was eligable these days?

Si.

Of course not, it has to be an eligible single download, so it has to have a digital single barcode, otherwise it just counts towards the album (or whatever). Well that's how it reads to me. Otherwise you'd have seen loads of album tracks appear in the chart.....

[Matthew T]

Of course not, it has to be an eligible single download, so it has to have a digital single barcode, otherwise it just counts towards the album (or whatever). Well that's how it reads to me. Otherwise you'd have seen loads of album tracks appear in the chart.....

Not true! If the track is downloaded individually, rather than as part of a bundle, then it counts towards the singles chart, regardless of whether it's been released as a single or not. Hence why tracks like "Sweet Home Alabama" can make the chart. They are being downloaded from greatest hits albums and the like, they aren't available as singles.

A song from the High School Musical soundtrack made #74 last week too, that hasn't been issued as a single.

[Perry Vale]

Not true! If the track is downloaded individually, rather than as part of a bundle, then it counts towards the singles chart, regardless of whether it's been released as a single or not. Hence why tracks like "Sweet Home Alabama" can make the chart. They are being downloaded from greatest hits albums and the like, they aren't available as singles.

Are you 100% sure on that? What happens when a track appears on more than one album. Say a track is on a greatest hits, and a studio album. How do the chart compilers know to combine them? You're probably right, the actual Official Chart Rules website is very vague, but I got the impression it had to have a singles barcode. EMI (for example) have been setting up many of their back catalogue 'tracks' as singles over the last few months, classic bands such as Duran Duran & The Proclaimers ().

[Matthew T]

I don't know how they do it but they must combine them - quite often there are up to 6 or 7 different singles for one song! And you'll often see a song e.g. Take That's Patience in the iTunes chart twice - once from the single and once from the album.

[Dave Tudor]

I wish it was still just a Top Twelve. Things were so much simpler back when 78"s were still eligible.

Is there any particular reason why Chris Moyles has chosen to push 'Honey To The Bee' back into the charts?

[Milky Tears]

Sales info from Music Week:

Amy Winehouses Back To Black remains at number one on the album chart this week, winning the battle for chart honours emphatically, writes Alan Jones.

The album experienced a 34.6% increase in demand, selling nearly 48,000 copies.

Thats over 30,000 more than any other album - the chasing group of Undiscovered by James Morrison (2-2), The Fratellis Costtello Music (5-3) and Eyes Open by Snow Patrol (3-4) are separated by less than 200 sales and each sold a little more than 18,000 copies.

Back To Blacks sales last week represent its second best weekly tally, beating the 43,000 it sold when debuting at number three last October, and trailing the 74,500 copies it sold when at number 20 in the Christmas chart.

This week in 2006, Hard-Fis Stars Of CCTV topped the chart with sales of more than 50,000 copies, with The Editors, James Blunt and Will Young filling the next three slots on sales of 39,000, 32,000 and 23,500.

Sales for every position in this weeks Top 75 artist albums chart were down on the comparative position last year, but an upturn in compilation sales meant that overall album sales last week were ahead of the same week last year, totalling 2,337,921 against 2006s 2,280,272 . They were also up week-on-week, by 1.8%, after falling for three weeks in a row from their immediate pre-Christmas peak.

The only new entries to the artist album chart this week come in the form of My First Love, an album of popular repertoire by Scotish tenor Nicky Spence, and Abbas 18 Hits.

Spences album, My First Love, debuts at number 69 on sales of 3,000. Scottish sales accont for more than a third of that tally, prviding it with a number 10 debut in the Scottish album chart.

With 17 previous chart albums to their credit, Abba log another with 18 Hits, which debuts this week at number 46. Released in 2005, the album houses English, French, Swedish, Spanish and German language efforts from the group, and is widely available at present for less than 5. Sales last week of 3,500 lift its overall tally to 65,000. Previous low price Abba albums have achieved excellent sales without charting, including Spectrum label releases The Name Of The Game (160,000 since 2002) and The Music Still Goes On (230,000 since 1996).

Critical acclaim in year-end journalistic roundups, renewed TV advertising and airplay for upcoming single Baby Fratelli have helped Glasgow band The Fratellis debut album Costello Music to improve its chart status four weeks in a row. The album, which debuted at number two last September and remained there for three weeks, has advanced 19-12-6-5-3 nationally while moving 9-3-2-1-2 in Scotland. Costello Music has now sold 612,000 copies, and has spun off the hits Henrietta (number 19), Chelsea Dagger (number five) and Whistle For The Choir (number nine). Baby Fratelli is due to be born on 26 February.

Lily Allen is the pick of The Brits nominees, picking up shorlistings for best (British) single, album, female and breakthrough act awards. It has done nothing to harm her recent album progress with debut set Alright, Still, which climbs for the eighth week in a row. The album, which debuted at number two last July, has rallied 61-49-46-42-35-29-14-13-6, and is back in the Top 10 for the first time in 13 weeks. Sales last week of 13,500 copies lift its overall tally to 559,000.

In stark contrast to Lily Allen, 15 times winner Robbie Williams received no Brits nominations this year, and to add insult to injury, his latest album Rudebox dips out of the Top 75 this week. The album has fallen without respite since its release, descending 1-2-9-14-20-25-27-28-29-36-47-56-80, and has thus far sold 463,000 copies. Although upcoming single Shes Madonna should reverse its fortunes, the albums introductory 12 week chart stint compares with 19 weeks for immediate predecessor Intensive Care and Williams best of 76 weeks for Ive Been Expecting You.

Singles sales slipped 3% week-on-week to 1,422,024 but were 30.3% ahead of their 1,091,338 tally for the same week in 2006. CD singles sales dipped below the 100,000 mark for the first time since 1985 a fortnight ago, and stayed below it last week at 98,991. Downloads accounted for 90.5% of all singles sales last week, a little below the record 91.3% share they held the week before.

For the number one single, downloads were 100% of sales.

Rejected by Simon Cowell seven years ago, Mika gets his revenge on the Sony BMG exec, ending his latest protg Leona Lewis four week reign at number one with A Moment Like This. Mikas Grace Kelly climbs 3-1 on sales of 30,500, and is only the second song to top the chart on downloads alone, following Gnarls Barkleys Crazy.

Grace Kelly is not released in physical form for another week. Meanwhile, Mikas Dodgy Holiday EP (download only) and Relax, Take It Easy (predominantly download) advance to new peaks, moving 126-97 and 91-83, respectively.

Though many previous number ones (Chico Time, Brimful Of Asha et al) give partial namechecks to real people, Mikas Grace Kelly is the first to feature a forename AND surname as its title, though its lyrics have very little to do with the eponymous former film star and Monagasque Princess.

The View reached number 15 with their first two singles, Wasted Little DJs and Superstar Tradesman but comprehensively beat that with third single Same Jeans which jumps 11-3 this week on sales of 22,500 copies. Its perfect timing for the group, whose debut album Hats Off To The Buskers is released today (22nd).

The View are from Dundee, and their support north of the border far exceeds the rest of the UK - Same Jeans is a runaway number one in Scotland selling more than three times as many copies as any other single.

Though a great deal more eclectic, Just Jack and Jamie T have both been compared to The Streets and continue their rapid rise to fame this week. Just Jacks maiden hit Starz In Their Eyes jumps 4-2 while Jamie T climbs 40-9 with Calm Down Dearest, on sales of 29,000 and 9,500, respectively. Jamie Ts previous hits, Sheila and If You Got The Money, peaked at numbers 22 and 13, respectively. Ironically, The Streets had to settle for a number 25 peak for his Pete Doherty collaboration Prangin Out last time out.

16 year old JoJos Too Little Too Late improves 6-4 on sales doubling to 22,000, The success of the single - the first from JoJos second album ,The High Road, help the set to jump 59-30 this week. It charted for the first time last week, 12 weeks after its release, and is the follow-up to JoJos self-titled 2004 debut, which reached number 21.

The only singles to sell more in physical form than on download in this weeks Top 20 are Leona Lewis A Moment Like This (CDs slightly exceeding dowonloads), and The Good, The Bad & The Queens Kingdom Of Doom, which is selling predominantly on good, old fashioned 7-inch vinyl.

The dawning of the digital age means sales can occur instantly, and the Radio One audiences response to Chriss Moyles repeated airing last week of Billies Honey To The Bee - in a deliberate attempt to influence the chart - saw the 1999 number three hit, which nobody at all downloaded the previous week, sell nearly 6,500 copies to re-enter the chart at number 17. Its arrival comes six years to the week since Billies last hit, Walk Of Life, exited the chart

Meanwhile, Celebrity Big Brothers Jackson 5 tribute bands cacophonous rendition of the groups I Want You Back resulted in nearly 2,000 sales of downloads of the 1970 number two hit, enough for a number 53 chart placing. And proving that any publicity is good publicity, member Jo OMeara - whose support of the disgraced Jade Goody in the Big Brother house had resulted in massively negative press for the former S Club 7 member, who is rarely seen without a dressing gown and cigarette as props - sold just eight copies of her 2005 solo album Relentless in the week before entering the competition but the album immediately perked up to 33 sales once she was in, climbed to 119 sales in the week that the controversy started and improved again to 163 sales last week. Similarly, the revelation that quitter Leo Sayer was not always a ray of sunshine when he was in the house didnt stop his 2006 compilation At His Very Best from rocketing 180% to 328 sales the week he kicked his way out of the house.

Finally, more positive publicity generated by the success of the new Rocky film Rocky Bilboa, spurred sales of nearly 1,500 downloads of Bill Contis Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky), which makes its UK chart debut at number 75, 30 years after topping the US singles chart.

Good stuff from The Fratellis and The View.

[Matthew T]

...and Jo O'Meara.

[Milky Tears]

Still good stuff from The View.

The View top album chart
29 January 2007 - 11:55:23

There was little change in the recorded music market last week, with singles sales up 3% week-on-week at 1,462,642 while albums drifted gently downwards by 1.2% to 2,309,851, writes Alan Jones.

These are fairly typical moves for the time of year but hide major differences when compared to the same week in 2006.

Album sales last week were 13.2% below the 2,659,422 that were sold in week four last year, when the figures were temporarily inflated as Arctic Monkeys enjoyed the biggest ever debut weeks sales for a new act, selling 364,000 copies of Whatever People Say I Am, Thats What Im Not.

A new band also makes an emphatic debut at number one on the album chart this week - Dundees much-fancied The View, whose introductory long player, Hats Off To The Buskers, raced to first week sales of 103,000 copies, following the success of third single Same Jeans, which peaked at number three last week. While thats a long way from comparing to Arctic Monkeys stellar tally, it is historically an excellent figure for a debut album by a new band in January.

Outselling its nearest rival by a margin of more than two to one in the UK as a whole, it achieved a spectacular result in Scotland, where it sold nearly seven times as many copies as its nearest challenger, and significantly more copies than the whole of the rest of the Top 10 combined.

In the beginning there was Blur, then Gorillaz and now Damon Albarn is fronting The Good, The Bad & The Queen, whose self-titled debut album enters the chart at number two on sales of 40,500.The band also features Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Africa 70), and their album has already spawned the hits Herculean (number 22) and Kingdom Of Doom (number 20).

Gorillazs last album, Demon Days (2005), sold 1,620,000 while Blurs most recent release, Think Tank (2003), sold 240,000. Both reached number one.

Keanes Under the Iron Sea has climbed 60-49-46-24-8 in the last four weeks and is back in the Top 10 after a 22 week absence. The album is being helped by fourth single A Bad Dream, which is now fully released, and climbs 61-23 on sales of 5,000, while advancing 3-2 on the airplay chart.

Under The Iron Sea previously spawned Is It Any Wonder (number three), Crystal Ball (number 20) and Nothing In My Way (number 19) and has now sold 729,500 copies, (including 14,000 last week) compared to predecessor Hopes And Fears 2,539,000.

While latest single I Luv U slips 7-9, The Ordinary Boys third album How To Get Everything You Ever Wanted continues its recovery. Debuting at number 15 last September, it disappeared from the chart three weeks later, and was absent from the Top 200 until four weeks ago, since when it has climbed 162-114-64-37-18.

Its sales jumped 62.7% last week to 8,000, taking its overall total to 60,500 but it is still the bands least successful album saleswise, trailing debut Over the Counter Culture (81,000) and Brassbound (135,000) - the latter album, of course, being boosted by lead singer Prestons stint in Celebrity Big Brother 3 a year ago.

Third single Annie, Lets Not Wait dips 27-40 but it has certainly done its bit in reviving the fortunes of The Guillemots debut album Through The Windowpane, which debuted and peaked at number 17 last July. The album absented itself from the Top 200 for several weeks but returned when Annie, Lets Not Wait started to get airplay, it has climbed steadily for six weeks in a row, moving 200-173-150-109-77-52-41.

Although it largely missed out on the Christmas sales bonanza, it has quietly moved on to sales of 111,000, including more than 4,000 last week.

Meanwhile, the singles market last week was 41% higher than in the same week last year, with downloads continuing to command the vast majority of sales, (1,316,764 of them , representing a 80.03% market share), although all three major physical formats showed improvements.

After a fortnight below the 100,000 mark, CD single sales increased 1.1% to 100,101, 12-inch vinyl sales were up 18.4% to 19,336, and 7-inch sales surged ahead 39.1% to 25,592. 845 DVD singles and four cassettes were also sold.

The 7-inch formats massive improvement was helped by new singles from My Chemical Romance, Larrikin Love and Little Man Tate, which take the top three places in the formats own chart, while Masons Perfect (Exceeder) debuts atop the 12-inch chart, in an all Ministry Of Sound top three also housing Eric Prydzs Proper Education and Fedde Le Grands Put Your Hands Up (For Detroit).

CD, 12-inch and 7-inch should all receive a further boost from the physical release of Grace Kelly today (29th). Mikas breakthrough hit is the first single to spend more than a week at number one on downloads alone. Extending its lead on its second week at the summit., it sold 38,500 copies last week - an increase of 26.4% on the previous frame - and boosts its advantage over Just Jacks Starz In Their Eyes - which remains at number two, and registered a modest 6.9% dip in sales to 27,000 - to 42.5%.

Having topped the Upfront Club Chart first in instrumental form as Exceeder and then as Perfect (Exceeder) with the addition of Princess Superstars rap. Masons electro house monster rockets 11-3 on the sales chart having finally been given its physical release.

Selling 23,000 copies last week the track originates from The Netherlands but was first released in Germany on Tomcrafts Great Stuff label last May. The first hit for Mason, it provides a belated second hit for Princess Superstar, who previously reached number 11 in 2002 with Bad Babysitter.

This Aint A Scene, Its An Arms Race is the introductory single from Fall Out Boys new album Infinity On High, and provides the Chicago band with its biggest UK and US hit this week. In America, it debuts at number two, after selling 162,000 downloads, while it arrives on the UK chart at number six on sales of 16,500 downloads.

The bands previous best placing on either side of the Atlantic is number eight, a position attained by Sugar Were Going Down in both countries and by Dance Dance in the UK.

Bloc Party pulled five Top 40 hits off their debut album Silent Alarm, and ahead of the release of follow-up A Weekend In The City on 5 February, first single The Prayer debuts at number 13 on sales of 8,500 downloads. The first single off the album in America is I Still Remember, which debuts at number 39 on the Modern Rock chart in Billboard.

Their only previous appearance on the chart was when Banquet reached number 34 in 2005. As a result, Silent Alarms US peak was 114. In the UK, it reached number three.

New rave band The Klaxons release their debut album, Myths Of The Near Future today (29th), and ahead of its launch the London lads secure their first Top 10 hit with Golden Skans, which jumps 14-7 on sales of 13,500, Its the second single from Myths Of The Near Future, following Magick, which reached number 29 last year.

The Klaxons appeared on Radio Ones Live Lounge programme last week, performing Golden Skans and Justin Timberlakes hit My Love, and will be headlining the NMEs Indie Rave tour, which starts next month.

The inclusion of digital only releases in the chart continues to throw up intriguing hits, none more than Placebos version of Kate Bushs classic Running Up That Hill, which debuts at number 66, on sales of nearly 1,750.

Remakes of the track by The Elastic Band, Levy 9, Cartouche and Sweep have all failed to chart in the last decade but Placebos version was only ever released as a bonus track on their 2003 album Sleeping With Ghosts but gained a download only release last October.

Placebo have been performing it in concert recently, and it has also been featured on popular US TV programmes The O.C. and Bones, all of which doubtless helped its belated chart debut this week.

The Guillemots are doing well.

[Milky Tears]

This thread is dying on its arse...



but what can you expect when the charts are so poor.

It's a titanic battle between Rim Block Party and Mika at the top of the album chart.

Looks like Kaiser Chiefs could be heading for the top five in the singles chart.

Ellis-Bextor, Stefani, Kelis, Jessica Simpson and Smelly Fanjita are scrapping for a top fifteen place.

FHM's High Street Honkers piss-poor cover of 'I Touch Myself' might be top fifty.

Take That's 'Sh*te' is also top twenty! :'(

[Carol Baynes]

Good to hear that the 7" is continuing to bring lots of enjoyment. I love the cassette statistics though...four cassettes in one week!

[Rob McCow]

The problem I'm having is that a song will be at #1 before I've even heard it, or heard of the artist. Mika? Three weeks ago he was nothing!

The new Kaiser Chief's single is epically rubbish. It's a pure exercise in getting a simple tune into your head by repeating it over and over.

They'll be as big as Oasis!

[Milky Tears]

Interesting site:

http://www.itshouldhavebeennumber1.co.uk/



Probably won't make much impact.

[Simon R]

The problem I'm having is that a song will be at #1 before I've even heard it, or heard of the artist. Mika? Three weeks ago he was nothing!

Surely that's not a new situation? Lots of new artists get to the top before everyone has heard their wares.

[Pip Madeley]

I see Phil Collins' Love Songs is back in the top 20 album charts, must be cause of Valentines Day... shame Bloc Party couldn't get to number one, though.

I think it says a lot that I've only heard five of the top 20 singles.