This week's Official UK Singles Chart

This week's Official UK Albums Chart

We had to wait a week, but it was well worth it. Despite an early lead that suggested a third week at Number One was on the cards, Iyaz slips to Number 2 on the singles chart with Replay leaving the path clear for Fireflies by Owl City to take pride of place at Number One. The single thus duplicates its chart-topping success back home in America (it spent two separate weeks on top of the Hot 100 in November last year) and in the process becomes the seventh American Number One of 2009 to also subsequently top the UK charts.

Making its way neatly into the Top 3 is the Glee Cast version of Don't Stop Believin benefiting as expected from the terrestrial airing of the start of the series. In tandem with this climb, Episode 2's signature song Take A Bow makes its Top 40 debut at Number 36 with Gold Digger just a few places behind at Number 44. With the next few episodes containing little in the way of real standout performances, many of the next batch of releases are likely to do little more than make minor chart waves - hence the centrepiece track of Episode 3, Bust Your Windows, making a lowly entry at Number 57. Part of this might also be due to British audiences lack of familiarity with the song, Jazmine Williams' original version from 2008 never charted here and despite her music being readily available online she is unknown on these shores save for her co-authorship of Christina Milian's Say I. I suspect the acid test of Glee's ability to create sizeable hits outside of this initial rush of interest will come in the wake of Episode 5 and the debut of New Direction's take on Somebody To Love which comes close to matching Don't Stop Believin in terms of arrangement and quality of performance.

This sentence is dedicated to all readers who haven't seen the TV series and have absolutely no idea what any of the last paragraph was referring to. I'd hate anyone to feel left out.

Time now to celebrate some British chart stars, starting with the man who has the weeks highest new entry at Number 6. The artist in question is Example who crash lands on the chart with his second hit single Won't Go Quietly. The track is the follow-up to Watch The Sun Come Up which hit Number 19 back in October. The new single builds on the sound of its predecessor, owing more than a little to the sound created by Calvin Harris whilst adding to the mix Example's own impressive vocals which segue between singing and rapping almost seamlessly. Although unashamedly made with one eye on the dancefloor, the pop crossover potential of the single leaps out at you from the very first bars. Highest new entries normally wind up that way for a very good reason and Won't Go Quietly more than deserves its status as the most successful new hit of the week.

Also new to the Top 10 this week after a 22 place leap are JLS for whom repeated chart success is more or less assured at the present time. Arriving at Number 10 this week is their third single One Shot which like its two chart-topping predecessors is taken from their self-titled debut album. The foursome were amongst the biggest winners when the nominations for this years Brit awards were announced, JLS in line for no less than three awards: Best British Breakthrough Act, Best British Group and Best British Single for Beat Again.

Still making steady progress is Alicia Keys with Empire State Of Mind (Part II) which finally outsells what I guess we must regard as the "Part I" version of the track by Jay-Z. The single rises to Number 15 to become the tenth Top 20 hit of her career (including collaborations). Depending on your point of view her target is either to beat the Number 8 peak of her last solo single Doesn't Mean Anything or at the very least to match the Number 2 peak scaled by the Jay-Z version of Empire State Of Mind in October last year.

The second highest new entry of the week is at Number 19, Girls Can't Catch arriving with new single Echo. It is the second chart hit for the new three piece girl band fronted at least in part by former X Factor contestant Phoebe Brown. Echo builds on the baby steps of their first single 'Keep Your Head Up' which limped to Number 26 in August last year. The girls have spent the intervening period steadily building their profile with a support slot for the Jonas Brothers tour at the end of last year - a tour that was supposed to coincide with the release of Echo only for its release to be delayed to the new year. If the hope was that a release at a less crowded time of year would improve its chart prospects then I guess the tactic can only be judged to have been partially successful. A Top 20 entry is an improvement, yes, but a long way short of the kind of impact the girls should be making if they are to turn marketing spend into sustainable sales. Echo isn't a bad record by any means and had it landed in the Top 5 I'd be praising it to the skies as a very worthwhile pop single, but the truth of the matter is that there is nothing here that you won't hear on the Saturdays album and on that basis it is hard to find a reason to care that much.

Number 20 plays host this week to Many Of Horror from Biffy Clyro which takes a flying 18 place jump from its resting spot last week. The track is the fourth to be lifted from their current album Only Revolutions although the single is a reworked version of the song from that which originally appeared on the album last year - hence its trend-breaking surge of popularity that follows the release of the CD single last week. With all four singles from the album having made the Top 20 it can now officially rank as their most successful release to date. [And then along came Matt Cardle and ruined it for everyone.]

Lower down but on the rise with a Top 40 debut at Number 23 is Do You Remember from what I guess must be seen as an all-star collaboration between Jay Sean, Sean Paul and Lil Jon. The second single to be taken from Jay Sean's album All Or Nothing, this single is the follow-up to the massively successful track Down which hit Number 3 here last year in the wake of it topping the Hot 100 in America. This follow-up single has been equally successful giving the British star a second straight US Top 10 hit. Do You Remember isn't officially supposed to be a single here until later next month meaning it charts for the moment as an album cut. Expect nothing less than Top 5 before the month is out.

Turning finally to the album chart, things are a little quieter at the top with Florence & The Machine remaining at Number One for a second week, to the detriment it seems of her current hit singles with You've Got The Love sliding to Number 17 and Dog Days Are Over dipping to Number 33. The highest new entry of the week goes to Lostprophets who arrive at Number 3 with their fourth album The Betrayed, home to recent hit singles It's Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here and Where We Belong. One place behind them is Justin Bieber with his debut album My World, an arrival which should make up for the failure of his single One Time to reach the Top 10 for the moment - it dips to Number 12 this week.