Official Singles Chart Top 40 on 11/9/2015

THROWBACK CHART REVIEW:

Thanks to MusicLover for the request. :)

Ah, 2015, a year where Corona was nothing more than the 'Rhythm Of The Night' singer (& a rather delicious beer!), face masks were only worn by Alan Walker in his music videos & "trolls" on OCC was just a film that would be released the following year starring Anna Kendrick & Justin Timberlake!

Either way, with the state that the world & the comments section on this site is right now, I'd at least like to think I could take some you guys here back to simpler times! Just because I can't review the current charts, doesn't mean that I can't look at nor discuss previous ones, especially when there are like nearly 4,000 Official Charts to go back over (they're celebrating their 70th anniversary next year).

The truth is though, 2015 was a real high for me personally in terms of music! The UK was still riding high on the massive EDM wave sweeping across Europe, my favourite artist of all-time just came out of by far the most successful album cycle of her career to date & the charts also had excitement every week to go along with the quality!

The thing is though, while 2015 didn't see any real changes as far as chart compilation is concerned, it was definitely the final year where the impact of streaming wasn't really felt on the charts! I remember that in the first half of the 2010's, 1-2 week #1's were standard, 3 week #1's were impressive & 4+ weeks #1's would be among the biggest hits of their respective years. Now, even songs that six weeks at the top aren't all that special in terms of modern day smashes & while I'm sure you've all seen the spamming of "the sales chart is the proper chart" on more recent threats, I will agree with those people that the achievements made by songs nowadays aren't really comparable with those of this era nor beforehand.

Anyway, that's a very long introduction, so on to the chart itself! :D

The #1 song of week was 'Easy Love' by Sigala! I wouldn't call this one of hits that defined the huge club boom of the mid-2010's, but if there was one subgenre of dance music that it dominated in, it was tropical-house! The thumping upbeat piano keys already give this song a huge amount of cheer & the drop just kicks in at exactly the right time. As I'm sure you'll all notice, it samples the iconic 'ABC' by The Jackson 5 & while Michael Jackson's vocals didn't really need to be pitched up again as he's already in his upper register, at least it's modified in a way that it suits the mix! Yeah, he still sounds strained at times & I much prefer his funky or soulful delivery, but this is still an interesting & respectful tribute to him. MJ would've absolutely loved hearing this version of it! The tempo is also notably faster than the original & while the "simple melody" vocal loop on the drop can get a bit annoying if you pay too much attention to it, the explosive bass that's paired with gives you too much of a euphoric rush to even care. Man, I had a lot of fun revisiting this one & if this is the first chart that MusicLover is going to recommend to me, then that only proves how incredible his music taste really is! I loved this banger back then & I still do to this day.

Heck, even Justin Bieber was at his best back around this time! Maybe he just had a terrible start to his mainstream career due to the cheesiness in his music & highly rebellious behaviour, but 'What Do You Mean?' highlights how much his vocals had matured. Also, unlike most of his hits, especially recently, I feel like he's self-aware about trying to understand how girls feel in this! He actually admits that he can misunderstand them at times & that he's at least showing a genuine effort to know more about their polarising emotions in a relationship. He goes for a more breathier vocal delivery, but it also feels both smooth & chilled! In terms of production, there's everything from tropical synths to a flute instrumentation. Not what I'd expect coming from Skrillex of all people! Overall though, this might be an unpopular opinion, but this my favourite Justin Bieber song to date. I really hope he goes back to making an album like 'Purpose' again someday!

Elsewhere in this Top 10, we've got possibly one of the most overhated songs of all-time (seriously, so many YouTube critics despised this with a burning passion) with 'Fight Song' by Rachel Platten! Sure, the chorus might be a bit anticlimactic given how generic the melody is & how many times she rhymes the word "song" with itself, but the metaphors that she uses in her verses to depict a bad time in her life, starting off with the trembling anxiety in the first verse which gradually elevates to the powerful confidence in the final verse, really shows how hard she's battled through the challenges that she's faced. We don't really get the details of those here, although Rachel Platten did express in multiple interviews how vulnerable she felt in the music industry & this was her response to that! Again, I feel like this is a song than more people have come to respect than actually enjoy, including me. It was incredibly captivating when it came to getting through difficult times in my life, but other than that, I'm not really sure why anyone else would choose to revisit it! I'm still happy that she got a hit out of it though, although it's a shame that that's also all we ever heard from her.

Unfortunately, that's not to say that everything was going perfectly inside the Top 10! For one, we still have the utter cringiness that was 'Marvin Gaye' by Charlie Puth ft Meghan Trainor, based on the fact that both artists try to convey a music legend as a $ex metaphor alone. Also, we have the immense disappointment that was 'Peanut Butter Jelly' by Galantis breaking into the region too, featuring some of the most autotuned vocal mixing I heard all throughout that year, not helped either by the entirely messy drop! Also, 'Wildest Dreams' by Taylor Swift deserved far better than just about making the Top 40. You guys really slept on that one!

That being said, reviewing this chart was a blast! I can't wait to carry on doing this at least until the trolls go away, but you know what, I think I might enjoy doing this more than talking about the current charts anyway, so I'm sure there'll be loads more of these to come.

Thank you for reading everybody! ;)

WickedSkengMan 4

How about a printable version guys???

Must admit I don't like the basic stripped version of Wonderful Life by Katie Melua, very disappointed version. Much prefer the original dramatic power ballad by Black. Good 2c Iron Maiden at No1 I the album charts!

The new #1 on ClipPlanet.uk! And of course all the other hits! http://www.clipplanet.uk/sigala-easy-love_80c8f8b42.html

NOOOOO Easy Love is 1! The charts is ruined!!!

Wheres better love by foxes?!