Official Singles Chart Top 40 on 09/3/2018

My thoughts & observations on the UK charts as always…

- ‘God’s Plan’ by Drake spends a seventh consecutive week at #1 on the singles chart. The song also holds at #1 on streaming, drops 6-8 on sales & also falls 22-25 on radio airplay.

- Despite still being the best-selling song of the week, ‘These Days’ by Rudimental ft Jess Glynne, Macklemore & Dan Caplen spends its fifth week stuck at #2. The last song to spend five weeks in the runner-up spot was ‘Galway Girl’ by Ed Sheeran.

- ‘Feel It Still’ by Portugal. The Man becomes the new #1 on radio airplay.

- There were five new arrivals to the Top 40 this week, with the highest of them being ‘Sad!’ by XXXTENTACION, debuting at #26 & becoming his second appearance inside the Top 40. This serves as the lead single to his upcoming second studio album called ‘?’ & to be honest, I had no expectation for this to be good. His vocals either bored me or made my ears hurt on that last album of his & there wasn’t much to the production either here, but hopefully there could be at least some improvement here. Well, it turns out that there actually is! This is the type of emo hip-hop aesthetic that I don’t mind, with the lo-fi synth string loop & crisp percussion, the melody is fine for the most part here. The production is mostly upbeat, although the lyrics are about struggling with suicidal thoughts & depression over an ex-lover. The problem is that XXXTENTACION’s delivery continues to basic & he’s ultimately a forgettable rapper. The song also seems a bit short, with just the hook & one verse, but honestly, I have to say that he’s going in the right direction with his music. He might have committed some crimes in the past which still knock my respect for him significantly, though this song isn’t bad after all. Check it out if you’re curious!

- Rising grime star Dave debuts at #30 with ‘Hangman’ on the latest chart, becoming his third Top 40 appearance. Dave is actually one of my favourite rappers from this sub-genre; he’s emotionally intelligent considering he’s only 19 & I generally like his delivery for the most part. With this, he puts on one of his most interesting & impressive performances to date. Once again, the structure is intriguing, where he just seems to go for one long verse that doesn’t really rhyme much about the struggles of growing up in London (almost like a poem or rant more than song) & the production is dominated by a deep piano melody which is joined by a skittering trap beat later in the song, but what I really like were the higher piano notes to close out the song, leading to what sounds like a happy ending, which is supported by the official video for this. I really hope this guy sticks around, because he’s one of the best grime artists I’ve seen in the charts these past few months. I could see a lot of people liking this & I also hope this gets big!

- ‘Meant To Be’ by Bebe Rexha ft Florida Georgia Line leaps 56-33 on its sixth week inside the chart. I was always wondering when this was going to get recognition in the UK given how well it’s been doing worldwide. Although, while we had Latin artists jump on pop songs a lot in 2017, it could be country artists doing the same to get a hit in 2018, with Chris Stapleton on ‘Say Something’, Maren Morris on ‘The Middle’ & Florida Georgia Line again on ‘Let Me Go’ for example. With ‘Meant To Be’, this turns out to be radio-friendly, pleasant pop-country crossover! The lyrics are repetitive & vague, but there’s definitely some chemistry & good harmonies between the pop diva & the country duo. I definitely the pianos opening up the song & the gentle string section too; it’s an instrumentation choice that can easily grow on you! Given how well its doing on sales & radio here at the moment, I could see this becoming very successful if streaming picks up for it a little. It’s about time we got this sound back in the charts, so let’s keep that momentum for this continuing!

- ‘What I Wanna’ by MoStack makes its Official Chart debut make its Official Chart debut at #37! I didn’t really set myself any expectations going into this, as he seemed to be fine enough on his featured appearances (although not too memorable), but this is the first time I heard a song with him a lead artist. That said, I’m so glad that this doesn’t fall into the generic side of grime unlike so many songs in the chart right now! His flow might seem a bit slurred & choppy at places, but he has enough charisma in his voice to make this sound a lot more fun, even though some of the lyrics he uses to describe his experiences with girls are simply disgusting. The switch-up between the piano & the electronic beat seems to flow really well, so I probably like this more than I should given the content, but the more listens I give this, the more I understand why it’s already had an impact on streaming. Nothing amazing, but mostly enjoyable!

- Finally, ‘Love Lies’ by Khalid & Normani rises 44-38 on its third week charting. After Camila’s big break into the mainstream as a solo artist, it’s not surprise that other Fifth Harmony members were going to attempt to do the same & Normani is definitely one of the best vocalists of that group. This collaboration means that I can give a thumbs up to all five of the new arrivals to this week’s Top 40! The firmer bass beat provides the foundations to the production & also has a catchy groove to it, along with desaturated guitars. There’s both giving & taking in the lyrics, which makes this track sound more flirtatious & shows that Khalid & Normani have good chemistry here. I’m not sure if I like the fuzziness around the edge of the mix & the hook does seem to be a bit flat, which does kill the mood of the song a little bit unfortunately & it just doesn’t have that spark to really impress me. That said, she was always one of the better singers of Fifth Harmony & overall this is decent, so I’m happy that it at least got this far in the Official Chart so far.

- On the albums chart, ‘The Greatest Showman’ rules for a ninth week in a row, selling 42,000 copies this past week.

- In doing so, it matches ‘x’ by Ed Sheeran for the second longest consecutive run atop the albums chart in the past 20 years. The record is currently held by ‘21’ by Adele, at 11 weeks.

- The rest of the Top 5 is: ‘A Real Labour Of Love’ by UB40 (debuts at #2), ‘÷’ by Ed Sheeran (2-3), Dua Lipa’s self-titled album (3-4) & ‘Love Is A Basic Need’ by Embrace (debuts at #5).

- Looking ahead to the next chart, these songs could be entering the Top 40 for the first time: ‘Sanctify’ by Years & Years, ‘Bad Vibe’ by M.O. ft Lotto Boyzz & Mr Eazi & maybe even more.

- Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you all have a good week. :)

- My latest Crown Note chart: https://crownnote.com/charts/piran-delves/pirans-top-40-67

Where is "Pop Don't Stop"? Surprise surprise (as really I'm not surprised) that it hasn't even got into our charts. If Kim hadn't been absent from the charts for so long, she may well still be picked up. But I think she has lost her recognition altogether in britain in spite of promotion. Let's just hope her album gets noticed well.

Wag1 bois and girls, my conclusion on the charts

Drake 'Gods Plan' spends a 7th week at number one, the song is still new and fresh but Drake dominates the chart everytime he drops a new song and it's getting stale every week with practically the same top 3. Although i still like the song and the music vids great.

There is 3 new entries in the top 40 this week, first being MoStack 'What I Wanna'. It's a decent song with an upbeat vibe and could see it climb a little more next week.
Second is Dave - Hangman. Dave is a grime artist that has dominated the grime scene in the UK recently especially with 'No Words'. Hangman is one of my favourite songs from Dave. nuff said
The final new entry and highest at #26 is XXXTentacion's new song 'SAD!'. This is one of my favourite songs atm as the beat is great and I can't stop humming it lol. It includes a catchy hook with only one verse. If it were two verses I would prefer that but none the less it's still a very decent song.

Post Malone 'with 'Psycho' goes from #4 to #6. This is one of Posty's best performances yet and the hook is again catchy. Ty Dolla is a feature on the song and he comes in in the second verse (i think). He fits very well with Post Malone's style and I could see this song doing really well like Rockstar did, but maybe not as well. Again one of my favourite songs atm.

Have a great weekend everybody! x

Something else at number one please?

Hope Calum Scott tops the Album chart next week. Give me a reason should be Top 10 come on guys. Get it NOW

Not surprised to see 'God's Plan' still at the top & at the rate it's going, I think it could end up reaching a double digit number of weeks at #1.
I'm happy that 'Fine Line' is getting close to the Top 10 & I like that big gain for 'Meant To Be' lower down!
My full review should be up at some time tomorrow! :)