12:26 | Monday January 30, 2012
By Alan Jones
ALBUMS: In another week of dire sales, Ed Sheeran’s + returns to the top of the album chart. The album, which debuted at number one last September, and first returned to the summit four weeks ago, claims pole position by default. Helped by the growing exposure of fourth single Drunk – up 75-29 on the Music Control radio airplay chart and 92-29 (10,400 sales) on the singles chart – and TV advertising, + registers a modest decline in sales, from 20,721 a fortnight ago to 20,607.
The latter figure marks the album’s lowest weekly total in 20 weeks on release, and also provides the album chart’s lowest number one tally for more than 16 years – 855 weeks to be precise. The last number one to sell fewer copies in a week was The Levellers’ Zeitgeist, which opened at number two on sales of 23,531 on 9 September 1995 (week 35) and climbed to number one the following week despite a 40.74% dip in sales to just 13,885. + did well to hold off Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto, which also had a marginal decrease in sales – down 0.90% to 19,405 as it climbs 3-2. Mylo Xyloto’s advance is powered by digital sales, which accounted for 49.35% of its total, thanks no doubt to its current £5.99 price tag at iTunes.
Adele’s 21 became the first album to log upwards of 20,000 sales every week for a year last week but it starts its second year in the chart by slipping 1-3, with sales of 19,394. In its previous 52 chart appearances the album sold 3,855,537 copies at an average of 74,145 a week and a median of 45,792, with a top weekly tally of 257,731 on its 10th chart appearance and a lowest weekly tally of 20,978 on its 52nd.
A chart fixture for a week longer than 21, Bruno Mars’ Doo-Wops Hooligans improves 5-4 but sees its sales slide 21.60% week-on-week to just 14,054.
Although its third Top 10 single, Mama Do The Hump reverses 2-4 (43,628 sales), Rizzle Kicks’ debut album Stereo Typical reaches a new peak. The album debuted 12 weeks ago at number nine and climbed back to that peak last week. It now advances to number five, with sales up 6.29% week-on-week at 12,485.
With the album’s only original, Live It Up, getting 54 plays on Radio Two in the last four weeks, Chris Isaak’s covers album, Beyond The Sun, debuts at number six (12,138 sales). Containing the 55 year old crooner’s versions of songs originally recorded by Sun recording acts Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, it is only the fifth album by Isaak to make the Top 75, and provides his highest chart placing since 1991, when his introductory chart album Wicked Game reached number three in the wake of the success of the single of the same name. Live It Up sold more copies in its first two days on release than the 4,056 copies that Isaak’s last album, Mr Lucky, has sold since its release in 2009.
Isaak is in the UK promoting Live It Up, with appearances on Something For The Weekend, BBC Breakfast and elsewhere also helping to generate renewed interest in his first and biggest hit single, the aforementioned Wicked Game, which re-enters the Top 200 at number 95 (2,761 sales). The track has racked up download sales of 106,942 since OCC began tracking them in 2004, 10 times more than Isaak’s number two digital title, Blue Hotel.
Lamb Of God’s fifth studio album, Wrath, earned the American heavy metal band its Top 75 debut in 2009, reaching number 25. Follow-up Resolution improves on that this week, debuting at number 18 (7,371 sales). Despite Wrath’s higher chart peak, its sales of 28,950 to date are significantly less than their personal best seller, Ashes Of The Wake. The 2004 album – their third – never climbed higher than number 126 but has thus far sold 41,575 copies.
Sororial Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit fell short of the Top 200 with 2010 debut set The Big Black The Blue but debut at number 35 (4,324 sales) with follow-up, The Lion’s Roar.
Italian metal band Lacuna Coil secure their third charting album this week, debuting at number 48 (3,373 sales) with their sixth studio album, Dark Adrenaline. They made the Top 75 for the first time with their fourth release, Karmacode (number 47, 2006) and improved slightly on that peak with 2008 follow-up, Shallow Life (number 42).
Attracting huge media interest as a result of his marital problems with Heidi Klum, Seal has the chart’s biggest climber with Soul 2 soaring 68-17 (7,761 sales) to eclipse the number 24 position in which it debuted and peaked nine weeks ago. A collection of RB covers, the album has already sold 114,654 copies, more than twice as many as immediate predecessor Commitment, an album of original songs that reached number 11 in 2010 but sold only 52,932 copies. However, Soul 2’s sales to date are barely a quarter of his first album of RB covers, Soul, which reached number 12 in 2007 and has sold 419,841 copies. Soul 2’s fillip is likely due more to his appearance on Jonathan Ross’ ITV show ti promote Soul 2 than to coverage of his separation from Klum.
At their lowest level for 19 weeks, overall album sales of 1,569,703 are down 1.39% week-on-week and are 19.38% below same week 2011 sales of 1,947,080.
SINGLES: A song called Barbados topped the chart for Typically Tropical in 1975 but the Eastern Caribbean island of that name had to wait until 2001 for one of its natives (Rayvon) to have a number one, helping out Shaggy on Angel. Its most famous export to the charts, of course, is Rihanna, who has had six number ones since 2007 – but while Rihanna’s latest hit You Da One reverses 19-27 (12,409 sales) a third act from Barbados races to number one.
‘Caribpop’ quartet Cover Drive are the act in question, and enter the chart in pole position with second single, Twilight dethroning Jessie J’s two week topper, Domino. Twilight sold 76,109 copies last week, almost as many copies as the band’s debut hit Lick Ya Down – number nine in September – has sold since its release 22 weeks ago. The 3,497 copies it sold last week to re-enter the Top 200 at number 80 raise Lick Ya Down’s sales to 83,313
Titanium is David Guetta’s seventh top three hit, and climbs 3-2 this week, increasing its sales 35.22% week-on-week to 66,043. The track features Australian singer Sia, who also guests on Flo Rida’s new hit Wild Ones, which debuts at number five (42,584 sales). The latter collaboration completes a perfect triangle – before Guetta and Flo Rida teamed with Sia, they teamed with each other, hitting number one with Club Can’t Handle Me in 2010. Wild Ones is the second single from Flo Rida’s upcoming Only One Rida (Part Two) album. The first – Good Feeling – is in the Top 10 for the 11th week in a row, falling 5-9 (29,787 sales). That’s enough to make it the fifth song featuring Flo Rida to sell more than half a million copies. The list: Bad Boys (Alexandra Burke feat. Flo Rida) – 736,956, Low (Flo Rida feat. T-Pain) – 613,434, Club Can’t Handle Me (Flo Rida feat. David Guetta) – 550,571, Good Feeling – 512,842, and Right Round (Flo Rida feat. Ke$ha) – 505,434.
While Domino slips to number three for Jessie J (58,311 sales), her second single Price Tag (feat B.o.B) racks up its millionth sale as it completes a year of chart duty. Price Tag debuted at number one last February, and has remained in the Top 100 ever since, never slipping below 92nd place. It has spent 44 weeks in the Top 75, including the current one, which sees it slip 67-74, with 3,804 sales lifting its career tally to 1,002,010. Who You Are climbs 10-7 on the album chart, with sales of 11,543.
Stronger becomes Kelly Clarkson’s eighth Top 10 hit, climbing 11-8 (30,677 sales).
Lana Del Rey’s second single debuts lower than her first and with lower sales. Video Games debuted and peaked at number nine, with first week sales of 40,541 last October. Follow-up Born To Die enters at number 14 this week, selling 23,881 copies. Video Games remains at number 20, selling a further 17,770 copies to take its career tally to 271,596. Both songs are included on Del Rey’s debut album which is released next Monday (30th), and is also called Born To Die
Bristol DJ and producer Redlight’s debut hit Get Out My Head debuts at number 18 (20,746 sales).
Belgian-born Australian Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) continues its chart ascent, improving 21-7 (31,344 sales).
T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever) teams Will.I.Am with Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger and reached number 36 in the USA last November – but it isn’t out here until 5 February, although it is getting lots of airplay. There’s a huge number of opportunistic covers of the song for download on iTunes and Amazon – well over 100 are listed, although some are the same recording given different ‘artist’ credits – but the one which, for some reason, is outselling the rest by a massive margin is by The Kings Of Pop. It sold 7,198 copies last week, and jumps 82-40 as a result. A second version – credited to William The Party Rockers, debuts at number 177 (1,544 sales).
Singles sales are up 4.48% week-on-week at 3,444,091 – 5.72% above same week 2011 sales of 3,257,615.