Official Singles Chart on 1/11/2019

Pet shop boys #4 in sales chart
Adam lambert #29 , why steps & Gwen stefani entered sales charts ?

Thanks to the new remix, I have a feeling that "Good As " is gonna be #1 in the US, perhaps around 2020.

Where is Thriller by Michael Jackson and Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. They are usually in the Charts in early November!

This is my fifth review in unsuccessful succession - it's almost guaranteed this one would get flagged as spam if I did things the same, so this time around, I'm going to give a very short review of every song I cover, so my post could properly stay up. And, just because they're going to be so short and I won't be able to express myself as well, I'm going to give songs numerical rankings instead. Let's get started!

(New Entry) #03: Selena Gomez - Lose You To Love Me
An incredible, heartfelt ballad. Selena Gomez has rarely done bad in my eyes, so I'm glad to say she does not disappoint with this one. Strong 9/10.

(New Entries) #06, #19, #20: Kanye West - 'JESUS IS KING' Album Tracks
I'm combining these into one review because I have mostly the same thing to say about all of them: they're weird. I'm not religious, so I get this type of music isn't made for me, but I can't get into these, I'm sorry. So as for rating… 5/10? Yeah, I'm happy with a 5/10.

(Going Up) #07: Lizzo - Good As
It's funny to see that you can get a hot name on your track (in this case Ariana Grande), who will literally say three words and make the song blow up. The song itself is the best Lizzo has charted with, which unfortunately says very little considering 'Juice' and 'Truth Hurts' were a big no for me. As for the remix… actually, I'd rather not speak about that. Light 4/10.

(New Entry) #22: AJ Tracey feat. MoStack & Not3s - Floss
Pretty standard as far as UK rap tracks/AJ Tracey tracks go in general - nothing out of the ordinary. On second listen, it reminds me a bit of 'Dip' by Tyga, actually. Not bad. Strong 6/10.

(New Entry) #26: Selena Gomez - Look At Her Now
I went into this with high hopes - so far listened to it just once, not really doing it for me, I don't expect it to grow on me unfortunately. Also not a fan of the "mm-mm-mm" in the chorus. Still a pretty fun song though, so light 6/10.

WESTLIFE only at 96!! It is an amazing song...When is their new album out again? I thought it was due last September!! Cannot wait...

So glad to hear Selena Gomez is finally getting the success she fully deserves in UK!! Yeah, her first but long overdue Top 3 single..

LIZZO was at 4 mid week but i guess 7 is very respectable and who knows Top 3 next week...She deserves it...We are so proud of you girl even COOLOCELOT 1 who is a huge fan of your work!!

My thoughts & observations on the UK charts as always…

‘Dance Monkey’ by Tones & I spends a fifth consecutive week at #1 on the singles chart, with 85,820 combined chart sales, including 9.54 million streams. That’s the highest combined sales it has achieved so far! It’s also the longest #1 by an Australian act since ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ by Gotye back in 2012!

‘Orphans’ by Coldplay blasts to #1 on the national airplay chart! To give you all an idea how much radio support it gained over the past week, it was #1396 there last week!

On YouTube, ‘Dance Monkey’ increases by 9.1% in weekly views to 3.66 million for the tracking week, giving it a third consecutive week at #1 there.

SELENA GOMEZ - LOSE YOU TO LOVE ME (#3)
I’ll admit I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Selena Gomez; not only does she put in a lot of emotional thought into most of her deeper ballads, but she’s also an amazing actress & has a really sweet personality. Anyway, while her popularity has been gradually growing in the UK over the past few days, this is the comeback single that many are saying is going to be her biggest & I’m totally okay with that, because I love this! In fact, I’d even go as far to say this is the best thing she’s done by herself, almost as amazing as ‘It Ain’t Me’! The first thing to note here is the mature self-awareness that Selena has developed here, coming to terms that a guy (presumably JB) is putting himself first, so she needs to forget about him in order to make herself better. It’s bittersweet, sure, but it makes the tough decision that she made ultimately worth it, especially when you consider the trembly vocals that open the song, bursting into an anthemic & somewhat jubilant hook at we approach the end. Beyond that, Selena’s vocals sound more refined than ever before, including holding some notes that I never thought she’d be capable of, which work even better over the gentle piano line that fades in & out, combined with the twinkles that slowly progress into the second verse. The whole thing just feels like a fresh new era for Selena, which is what she needed how tough her personal life has been like lately. So thanks to everyone both here in the UK & across the world for giving her the chart return she deserves! For me, this is a strong 9/10!

KANYE WEST - FOLLOW GOD (#6)
On the other hand, we have an artist coming back with multiple debuts that I haven’t cared for in a long time! Because, as well as me never getting on board with his personality, Kanye’s musical direction this decade has been really confusing to understand, especially when you’ve just dropped a gospel album of all things! As for this, sorry, there’s just not a lot I can say about it! If I’ll give Kanye credit for something, it’s that his flow is perhaps a bit more creative than average & there are some slick rhymes going on, but for a song that doesn’t even span two minutes, you’d think there’d be more action going on, but instead we get very fuzzy & slow-tempo production that seems to be a very weird fit for Kanye, allowing the song to progress in a rather uncomfortable way. The gospel backing vocals dropping in & out don’t really add any substance to this either, which is a shame because the message of trying to introduce Christian ideas into today’s society being challenging is an important concept. Unfortunately, it’s generally delivered in an underwhelming way, especially coming from an artist that did the opposite literally a decade ago. So yeah, not terrible, but I doubt I’m ever going to care about this. Solid 5/10!

KANYE WEST - SELAH (#19)
Unfortunately, while there are perhaps are more interesting themes being explored here than in ‘Follow God’, it ultimately ends up being the bigger disappointment! I don’t deny that the opening of the song does transcend into some undeniable beauty, especially with the sweeping organs & his vocals gradually building intensity in just the right way, but the hammering beats eventually drown all of that potential out, as do the choir just repeating “hallelujah” for like 45 seconds afterwards! It also just feels a bit unsettling as to how abrupt the song ends too, where the second half didn’t really evolve on anything that came from the first half. Overall, I really think this could’ve ended up working based on how the song started out, but I regret to say that it ends up being a really flat end result. For me, solid 4/10!

KANYE WEST - CLOSED ON SUNDAY (#20)
Right, last Kanye song I’ll be covering for today & I’ll be blunt, I’m really not impressed! I mean, he dedicated the first half of the song to Chick-Fil-A (an American chicken sandwich restaurant) for goodness sake, which even when you’ve got a gentle & groovy guitar line beneath all that, it still can’t be taken seriously by any means! It somehow gets worse though, as Kanye alternates between a grating falsetto & an extremely annoying electronic pulse that runs through until the end of the song, which again, is another unnecessary & rough transition! I’ve heard other bad things about the rest of the album, but it’s got to take something truly horrendous to beat this. As it is, light 2/10!

AJ TRACEY FT MOSTACK & NOT3S - FLOSS (#22)
If I’m being honest, I forgot about this despite seeing on the chart update a few days ago & I shouldn’t have given how all artists have grown on me a lot since I last spoke about them here. That being said, this works surprisingly well for me! All three rappers seem to have a decently amount of chemistry between one another & for someone whose often been a fan of Mustard’s production, the opening sounding very similar to that kind of vibe is certainly a warming entrance. Now, despite this being the nearest thing to a dance song than all artists here have done before, there’s still a lot of bragging, but AJ Tracey & Mostack sound mostly convincing, although I’m not too sure if Not3s gets there for me. Overall, while it’s not likely this’ll creep up on me in the same way that ‘Ladbroke Grove’ did, I’m not going to rule out the possibility either. At the moment, strong 6/10!

SELENA GOMEZ - LOOK AT HER NOW (#26)
So here’s the other Selena song to enter our charts this week & yeah, while it’s still good, I definitely see why it’s not getting anywhere the same reception as ‘Lose You To Love Me’ is. I’m not sure if I’m entirely sold by her subtle & gimmicky tones throughout the majority of the track, although the flashier ending definitely sounds a lot more within her comfort zone & works so much better for her in general! As for the production, again, it’s an approach that we’re not used to from Selena, opting for a quicker tempo where the beat seems to embrace elements of urban, electro & pop, all at the same time! I think taking that risk causes the song to sound a lot more choppier than it should (along with the hums on the hook), but it’s an intriguing idea nonetheless! What I do respect a lot more about this is how confident Selena sounds in how far she’s progressed lately & how sure she is that she’ll eventually find love. Personally, it doesn’t have that same connection with me that it’s accompanying single did, but I still like it regardless! I’m thinking a strong 7/10.

COLDPLAY - ORPHANS (#27)
Hey, it’s the return of one of all-time favourite groups! That said, here’s the thing, among my expectations of Coldplay, this is far from their best, probably because while this song certainly feels nostalgic, it’s nothing we haven’t heard from them before. I also find that Chris Martin’s vocals are a lot more strained than usual, but that’s not too surprising when you consider how much power he’s bringing with his voice here. Although, what makes up for this is the anthemic synths, the belting guitar riff & the hook that sounds more like a chant! Overall, while I’ve certainly heard better from them, I’m still happy to see this here. Light 7/10!

NIALL HORAN - NICE TO MEET YA (#34)
Yup, eight new songs inside the Top 40 today, unusually busy week! Thankfully, we’re finishing up with a very interesting musical pivot from Niall, which reminds me a lot of what Harry did recently too! He really captures the rock vibe surprisingly well actually, bringing in a dominant piano riff, which escalates into hand-claps & a sturdy bass, which on those elements alone makes this a very dynamic listen as it is! That said, Niall’s not done here, as his vocals become all the more engaging in attracting a girl’s attention that he’s not been able to do just yet. So yeah, if we’re going to get more songs from Niall in this lane, I feel like I’m really going to enjoy that sophomore album! Solid 7/10 for this!

On the albums chart, ‘Kind’ by Stereophonics lands straight in at the top of the chart! Over the past week, it shifted 30,000 chart sales overall, including just over 3,000 from vinyl.

Stereophonics’ eleventh studio album is also their seventh #1, allowing them to tie a chart record between: Coldplay, Take That, The Prodigy & Westlife among groups.

The rest of the Top 5 is: ‘Jesus Is King’ by Kanye West (debuts at #2), ‘Once Upon A Mind’ by James Blunt (debuts at #3), ‘The Best Of Me’ by Rick Astley (debuts at #4) & ‘Pony’ by Rex Orange County (debuts at #5).

Looking ahead to next week, these songs could enter the Top 40 for the first time: ‘Don’t Start Now’ by Dua Lipa, ‘Bad To You’ by Ariana Grande, Normani & Nicki Minaj, ‘How I Look On You’ by Ariana Grande, ‘We Got Love’ by Sigala ft Ella Henderson, ‘G Love’ by Krept & Konan ft Wizkid, ‘Kiss & Tell’ by AJ Tracey & Skepta, ‘Better Half Of Me’ by Tom Walker & maybe even more.

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

My latest Crown Note chart: https://crownnote.com/charts/piran-delves/pirans-top-40-153

My baby girl LIZZO is finally getting her first ever Top 10 single!! Yeah, you go girl...so proud of you...Love you, , love you!!