This week's Official UK Singles Chart
This week's Official UK Albums Chart
"A few weeks of patience may be involved" were my exact words last week, speculating on the rather tantalising prospect of Gotye and Kimbra topping the UK singles charts with the gorgeous Somebody That I Used To Know. As it turns out, no patience at all was required. The captivating single ends a six week climb up the charts to grab pride of place as the biggest selling single of the week. Put it down to the slow start to the year or a lack of outstanding big new releases hitting the market, but it is rather pleasing to note that the last two Number One singles have been tracks which have had a steady and organic growth in sales - no one week wonders these.
David Guetta and Sia may have only had a solitary week in the sun but it seems the Frenchman's greatest chart competition may well be himself. Not only is Titanium still selling strongly at Number 2, but following the release of a video for the track his next hit Turn Me On, this time featuring a guest vocal from Nicki Minaj, is accelerating up the singles chart at a fair old rate - jumping 33-11 this week with a huge increase in sales. Turn Me On wasn't part of the pre-release package of track releases from the album last summer but instead shoulder barged its way onto the singles chart as an album cut when the full set was released, originally hitting Number 20 in September, a peak it has now comfortably surpassed.
It is the world of unexpected collaborations which provides the most interesting story of the biggest new hit of the week. Continuing the love of titular acronyms started by the last Black Eyed Peas album, single T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever) is the new solo release from will.i.am, the first track to be lifted from his forthcoming solo album #willpower. Guest singers on the track are Jennifer Lopez and no less a musical legend than Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. The highly anticipated track debuts at Number 3 in the UK this week, landing the lead artist his first Top 3 single since he featured on Usher's OMG in 2010, J-Lo another smash hit to follow her Number One On The Floor from last year, but in the case of Mick Jagger his first directly credited appearance on a Top 10 single since he topped the charts with his Live Aid charity duet with David Bowie Dancing In The Street, way back in 1985. Given that one of the biggest worldwide smashes of 2011 was a track dedicated to his unique style of dancing, it seems only appropriate that he features on a major hit single in 2012 - all at the grand old age of 68.
Whilst it may be a great week for one veteran, another finds the British reception to her latest single to be rather more muted than she would like. I mentioned last week that the initial sales of Madonna's Gimmie All Your Luvin were ineligible for the singles chart thanks to an iTunes promotion which saw it being given away as an 'Instant Grat' download for pre-purchasers of her album MDNA. The promotion remained in effect at the start of last week only to end on Tuesday, freeing the single to register sales for the chart survey for the first time. Admittedly the track had missed out on two days of sales and we have no way of knowing just how many sales were "lost" during its ineligible days, but there is no hiding from the fact that the single's arrival at a miserable Number 37 this week is nothing less than a disaster. A midweek release need not be an issue these days - Lady Gaga planted two different singles inside the Top 20 after releasing them just before a weekend last year - and it is hard to escape the fact that for all the fuss, for all the effort she has put into the fun and bubbly track, this for now is shaping up to be one of Madonna's lowest charting official singles ever. Unless future weeks have a surprise in store that is.
No change at the top of the album chart this week as Lana Del Rey clings doggedly on for a second week at the summit. This does then mean that Maverick Sabre's highly acclaimed debut album Lonely Are The Brave has to be content with a chart placing at Number 2. The 21 year old star has already clocked up two Top 20 singles to his name and both Let Me Go and I Need feature among the tracks on this release.
A recurring theme of the album chart so far this year appears to be veteran acts managing some of their best ever chart achievements. Hard on the heels of Chris Isaak and Leonard Cohen comes Paul McCartney whose new release Kisses On The Bottom enters at Number 3. Although he is no stranger to the Top 10, having hit Number 5 in 2007 with Memory Almost Full this is his highest charting release since he topped the listings with Flowers In The Dirt back in 1989. By a strange coincidence his co-writer for that release was Elvis Costello, husband of Diana Krall who sings alongside McCartney on many of the tracks on Kisses On The Bottom. Oh yes, and the more observant will have noticed that this week we have a Rolling Stone in the singles Top 3 and a Beatle in the equivalent place on the album chart - the first time this situation has occurred since the 1960s heyday of both men.
The parade of veterans doesn't stop there either, nestling at Number 5 is A Different Kind Of Truth by Van Halen which marks their first studio album since the 1980s with David Lee Roth on lead vocals. Extraordinarily it becomes their highest charting album ever in this country, their only previous Top 10 hit to date being 1995 release Balance.
