Official Singles Chart on 18/5/2018

Not many comments this week, I can understand why.

My thoughts & observations on the UK charts as always…

- ‘One Kiss’ by Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa gets a fifth week in a row at the top of the singles chart! It’s a very fitting title for the #1 song given that tomorrow is the day of the Royal Wedding.

- ‘No Tears Left To Cry’ by Ariana Grande remains at #1 on the airplay chart for a second consecutive week.

- ‘Girls’ by Rita Ora ft Bebe Rexha, Cardi B & Charli XCX enters the Official Chart at #22 this week. Given the huge pop diva names attached to this song, I definitely understand why there would be such huge hype for this, but some people were comparing it to ‘Lady Marmalade’ & no, it’s nowhere near that level. Look, I’ll give them credit for making a catchy, girl-squad anthem & they do harmonise well together in some places, but by themselves they just don’t put on a very good vocal performance at all; with Bebe Rexha’s nasal coo being way too strong, Cardi B not landing punchlines the same way she usually does (although I like her flow here) & Rita & Charli just not sounding all that interesting. What’s caused more controversy is the content & I can appreciate them making a song supporting LGBT, but some of the lyrics here are unquestionably offensive, particularly those from Cardi B. Again, I appreciate the effort of writing a song where the content is celebrating differences, but this could’ve been done so much better!

- ‘If You’re Over Me’ brings Years & Years’ number of Top 40 hits to seven, as the song starts at #38 on the new chart. While I feel like Olly Alexander is the only member of the group people really know of or have their attention on, I can’t deny that I’ve genuinely loved the production from the rest of the trio! The big difference here than their usual style is that the production is a lot lighter, with the hand claps to the high synth sounds, but that brings an infectious & breezy attitude to the chorus that I enjoy a lot! It would make you expect a happier subject matter, however the content is finding out that your partner is done with you, although they don’t have the guts to say that to your face. Luckily, this makes the singer realise that he would be better off without this guy anyway. This, as a whole, might not have the same spark as ‘King’ or ‘Shine’ did, but it’s certainly pleasant & I’m glad to see it here!

- Finally, ‘Back To You’ by Selena Gomez debuts at #38 on the new chart to become her 13th Top 40 single. This is taken from the upcoming second season of ’13 Reasons Why’ & the soundtrack will have the likes of: OneRepublic, Logic, Billie Eilish & Khalid featuring on it, but ‘Back To You’ seems to have the most traction right now & I’ve got to say, I’m impressed! Like Taylor Swift, she has a way of evoking so much emotion in such simplicity with her lyrics, but I also love the acoustics in this & then there’s that explosive chorus! What’s more interesting is that her voice carries a tone of longing for love (some media outlets say it could be about Justin Bieber). I don’t really see this gaining much more traction, at least not in the UK, but it would be cool to see that happen, because this is good!

- I’d usually review all three of the debuts from The Arctic Monkeys, but since I’m a bit pushed for time this week, I’ll give a summary on my thoughts on their new album as a whole. I’ll start by saying that I can’t believe it’s been five years since the last album from them called ‘AM’, which I still really like & even come back to every so often! Sadly, I can’t say the same about ‘Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino’, even though it’s still not a bad album. I certainly adore the consistent David Bowie tributes all throughout this project, especially those on ‘Four Out Of Five’, but it’s such a shame that this album strips out the rock that made me a fan of theirs in the first place, as let’s be honest, they’re probably one of the biggest British bands who’ve made this kind of mainstream indie guitar music. I still think all members contribute to achieve the same vibes, especially in the soulful falsetto backing vocals, but their instruments seems a lot more muted, allowing frontman Alex Turner to take centre stage. So yeah, check it out if you’re curious, but I could see some Arctic Monkeys fans being a little disappointed.

- Speaking of ‘Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino’, it becomes The Arctic Monkeys’ sixth consecutive #1 on the album charts. Of the 86,000 combined chart sales it accumulated since release, 24,500 of them came from vinyl, making it the fastest selling album on vinyl in the past 25 years!

- However, this becomes Alex Turner’s eighth #1 album, as he had another two as part of The Last Shadow Puppets.

- The rest of the Top 5 is: ‘The Greatest Showman OST’ (1-2), ‘Beerbongs & Bentleys’ by Post Malone (2-3), ‘Voicenotes’ by Charlie Puth (debuts at #4) & ‘Staying At Tamara’s’ by George Ezra (4-5).

- Looking ahead to next week, these songs could enter the Top 40 for the first time: ‘Fake Love’ by BTS, ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ by The Backstreet Boys, ‘Solo’ by Clean Bandit ft Demi Lovato, ‘Oh My’ by Dappy ft Ay Em, ‘Where Were You In The Morning?’ by Shawn Mendes, ‘Sangria Wine’ by Pharrell Williams & Camila Cabello, 'Family Tree' by Ramz & maybe even more.

- Finally, another thing that just came to mind is that a fifth of this week’s Top 10 consists of comedians; Lil Dicky & Childish Gambino.

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

- My latest Crown Note chart: http://crownnote.com/charts/piran-delves/pirans-top-40-76