This week's Official UK Singles Chart

This week's Official UK Albums Chart

 

The top end of the singles chart this week contains a particular lineup of tracks which will make even the most casual chartwatcher go "wow, when did that last happen?". You have come to the right place to find out.

An unusually busy week for major new releases (in stark contrast to what we've had to write many times over the last few weeks) means that every single one of the Top 3 singles is is a brand new chart entry this week, and if you are thinking that it has been a rather long time since this state of affairs came out, you would be absolutely correct. In fact an all-new Top 3 hasn't happened at all since the start of the download era in 2007, last occurring on January 28th 2006 - a full five years and seven months ago - with the Number One single of the week being When The Sun Goes Down by the Arctic Monkeys.

In the event the singles chart this week wasn't really that much of a three horse race as from the very start of the week there was only going to be one clear winner. In a manner which if you had studied his chart form was more or less inevitable, Wretch 32 storms to the summit with his third single of the year and a first ever Number One single with Don't Go. To date he has yet to miss the Top 5 with any single - Traktor hitting Number 5 at the start of the year and his last hit Unorthodox peaking at Number 2 in April. All three tracks are taken from his debut major label album Black And White which is in stores this week by a rather odd coincidence. Incidentally the presence of the Tottenham-born star at Number One marks another "when was the last time that happened" moment, as he is now the sixth British star in a row to top the singles chart, a run which stretches back to the presence of Louder by DJ Fresh at the top in the middle of last month. This equals the run put together by home grown acts between September and November 2009 when we also had six in a row. With the chart race next week apparently set to be a two way battle between new singles from Olly Murs and Calvin Harris, we could well be noting a seven-hit stretch for UK acts this time next week.

[Superstar (solo) debut klaxon!] Slap in the middle of our new entry sandwich is Heaven, the debut solo chart single from Emeli Sande which makes a strong showing at Number 2. Whilst this is the first time she has charted under her own steam, the Glaswegian singer and talented songwriter in her own right has to date appeared on two other Top 10 singles as guests of other acts. She made her chart debut in 2009 as the singer on Chipmunk's Diamond Rings as well as the Wiley single 'Never Be Your Woman' in 2010. Her songs have appeared in the past on albums by artists as diverse as Tinie Tempah and Cheryl Cole, whilst Alesha Dixon just missed the Top 40 at the end of last year with the Sande-penned track Radio.

Another "when was the last time that happened" moment pops up again at Number 3 as we welcome back to the top end of the singles chart after an extended absence American popstars Maroon 5. A full four years and three months since they last had a Top 3 hit single with Makes Me Wonder they return to the top end with Moves Like Jagger which storms to Number 3 from nowhere. Fans of some of their older hit singles from the middle of the last decade will find the new single a surprising switch of genres, for Moves Like Jagger is an inspired and devastatingly catchy four minutes of electropop in which the lead protagonist attempts to impress the ladies with the kind of dancefloor action normally utilised by the Rolling Stones frontman of the title. Forget the fact that two other singles outsold it this week, the track is easily the most instantly appealing and above all fun pop record to hit the stores this week and it more than deserves to reverse the declining chart fortunes of the group and restore them to Top 10 status. Guest vocals on the track are supplied by no less a star than Christina Aguilera, this in turn her own biggest chart single since Ain't No Other Man made Number 2 way back in August 2006. Lest you think the addition of some superstar pipes made all the difference, we should take time to note that this isn't the first time Maroon 5 have attempted to attract some record sales with the addition of some star power - sadly not even a contribution from Rihanna could help 2008 single If I Never See Your Face Again any higher than Number 28.

With three new singles shoulderbarging the existing competition out of the way, the prospects for the further chart success of last week's Number One single Promises by Nero were bleak, and indeed the single takes an almighty 1-5 tumble in a most inauspicious manner. Not that the pair (threesome?) will mind too much, as we noted last time around this week saw the release of their album Welcome Reality which in one of the more surprising moves of the week has outsold the rest of the market to debut at Number One on the album chart. Number 2, and maintaining a Top 2 position for no less than the 30th week running is 21 by Adele. Incredibly this is now one more than the 29 week run maintained by Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel between February and September 1970. Her next milestone is perhaps a little insurmountable even for her - beating the 105 consecutive weeks spent in the Top 2 by the Sound Of Music soundtrack between 1965 and 1967.

There is more dance music of an alternative bent in the next new entry on the singles chart as Sunlight from Dubstep group Modestep arrives at Number 16. The track is their second Top 40 single of the year, following hard on the heels of Feel Good which crept to Number 38 back in February. Meanwhile two singles which we noted down the lower end of the Top 40 last week make a strong climb together as both Who's Laughing Now from Jessie J and Wet from Nicole Scherzinger climb 16 places to sit at Numbers 21 and 22 respectively. Being singles released from already well-mined albums does not appear to be holding them back for the moment.

Rounding things off this week there is what is effectively the first ever solo hit single for American star Devin "Dev" Tailes as In The Dark charts at Number 37. She is naturally no stranger to chart success already having had hit singles of her own and thanks to the work of other people. She first came to our attention when her early single Booty Bounce was sampled as part of the Far East Movement's 'Bass Down Low' leading to her and backing group The Cataracs getting a co-credit on the Number 5 hit. She then made her chart debut proper on the track Bass Down Low again alongside The Cataracs with the single making Number 10. More recently she hit Number One as guest singer on the JLS track She Makes Me Wanna which is still riding high on the chart at Number 9 this week. The rather understated opening of In The Dark and the single looks unlikely to progress further, but it does at least keep her name in lights ahead of the late September release of her album The Night The Sun Came Up.

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