Official Singles Chart Top 40 on 23/11/2018

My favourite song on the chart right now is charlie xcx and Troye Sivan 1999 but it sounds like a nice dance tune. Im also happy panic at the disco from the greatest showman reamigned album is up big this week and into the top 40 im happy that movie soundtrack songs are doing well on the charts right now. why is kanye west i love it and pinkkfong baby shark still in the top 100. Wait a couple of weeks and the chart will be compiled with a bunch of Christmas songs.

Why is Stefflon don senseless a reentry this week. And why hasnt zero by imagine dragons debut yet

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I'm too wanted YAZZ & Plastic Population

Mariah is back omg

Mariah's Xmas War started once again....

My thoughts & observations on the UK charts as always…

- It might be off the top spot on in sales, but massive streaming carries ‘Thank U, Next’ by Ariana Grande to a third consecutive week atop the singles chart. This week, it has a 24,000 combined sales lead over its nearest competitor.

- With ‘Thursday’ rising 7-4, Jess Glynne ties Rita Ora for the British female artist with the most Top 5 hits (nine each).

- ‘Let You Love Me’ by Rita Ora goes back to #1 on the airplay chart for a second non-consecutive week.

- ‘Girls Like You’ by Maroon 5 ft Cardi B is somehow still #1 on the national YouTube chart, although it going down 12.2 percent from last week to 1.88 million views must make it one of the weakest #1s on that chart in a long time.

- JAMES ARTHUR & ANNE-MARIE – REWRITE THE STARS (#16)
So the reason I love the original by Zac Efron & Zendaya so much is because of how much life they brought to this heart-breaking ballad; it really was a whirlwind of emotions watching that in the film. With this cover… eh, it’s good, but I really thought there was a possibility of greatness here. Both singers are working so hard to try & sell this, but that level of chemistry you need to make this song work fantastically just isn’t here, even the two complement each other harmonically. Also, it is just me, or does the production have a tropical beat vibe to it, particularly towards the start & end when it’s pushed to the front of the mix? I certainly don’t mind that, but you can tell that they wanted this to be the cover that gets the most radio support to fit in with current trends. I mean, good for it getting a Top 20 debut, but the original deserved to peak higher. For the cover version, light 7/10 from me.

- LITTLE MIX FT SHARAYA J – STRIP (#25)
So as some of you know, I really like every Little Mix album & own all of them other than their debut, but ‘LM5’ is sadly their worst one to date. What makes things more annoying is that I’m not sure I could even put ‘Strip’ in my Top 5 tracks from this album. If I’m going to praise anything in this song, it’s the lyrics; being proud of your physical appearance & loving yourself for who you are, no matter what the haters or bullies say. However, while they took risks in all other aspects, none of which paid off! They had so much with that a cappella intro but sound almost out of breath, the beat is rather basic, the tempo switches up too much & Sharaya J puts on a most forgettable performance here. Look, I have respect for these girls for the message they’re trying to deliver in this song, but when they’ve also got other female empowerment anthems like: ‘Salute’, ‘Little Me’, ‘Word Up’ & ‘Wings’ to name a few (all of which are better songs than 'Strip'), I’m going to stick with those. Yeah, sorry, light 5/10 from me.

- GEORGE EZRA – HOLD MY GIRL (#33)
After the jolliness of ‘Paradise’ & ‘Shotgun’, I kind of expected George Ezra to choose a slower track from his sophomore album from the next single, so seeing ‘Hold My Girl’ isn’t that much of a surprise. However, for the content, it seems a lot more serious & honestly kind of boring to what I would’ve expected from him, sadly one of the least thrilling songs from ‘Staying In Tamara’s’. Now, George Ezra going into his signature robust & husky soulful vocals will be a solid fit whatever; his deeper range always sounds consistently impressive. As for the production, it starts off with gentle guitars, but becomes fuller later in the song with the addition of piano & strings. This is fine in general, but it’s my least favourite of his three new singles so far. It’s a solid 6/10 from me!

- SHECK WES – MO BAMBA (#37)
Before checking this out, I heard a ton of negative buzz about this from other chart-followers, with mainly the same criticisms of most American trap music. That said, I don’t think this is anywhere as near as bad as most of those hip-hop songs that have crossed over into the British mainstream. A couple of the issues here are fairly obvious though; Sheck Wes’ vocals are ridiculously off-key, while the lyrics are just bragging about money & girls. Although, while Sheck Wes might be boring as a rapper, he seems to be a convincing MC with the intensity halfway through the song & in most of the ad-libs, while the jingling production line only adds to the menacing vibe even further. I’m not going to say this is all that good as a whole, but it’s at least tolerable compared to most rap in the charts right now. I’d say a strong 5/10!

- THE PLUG – BROKEN HOMES (#38)
Since this is their debut chart appearance as a group, “The Plug” are a trio of British & American rappers: Nafe Smallz, M Huncho & Gunna. While what I’ve heard from the latter so far has been mostly mediocre, I had no idea what the two other artists would bring to the table. Unfortunately, none of the artists here show any notable quality & it leads quickly into another trap song that has nothing to come back to because it’s so basic. Seriously, I forgot what the production sounded like literally five minutes after I listened to this! The lyrics are in a similar lane to ‘Mo Bamba’, but Gunna’s references are even worse here, while Nafe Smallz & M Huncho try to sound more serious, but given the content & auto-tune, I’m just not buying this. Combine that with swearing or racial slurs on almost every line, that just puts me off this even more. For me, unsurprisingly it’s the worst new arrival of the week, solid 4/10.

- PANIC! AT THE DISCO – THE GREATEST SHOW (#39)
The second song I’m covering from ‘The Greatest Showman’s second chart takeover… & I’m really surprised that out of the songs that made the Top 40, this is the lowest of them given its sales & particularly radio traction. Just like ‘High Hopes’ though, Brendon Urie & his band have impressed me yet again, even if to a lesser extent this time. Combine an up-tempo rhythm with Brendon’s vocals slowly building momentum & excitement, then you get an electric cover that captures all the qualities of the original reasonably well. If anything was going to make this better, maybe they should’ve included the bridge & there were clearly some tuning issues in the intro, but overall, I like this a fair bit! Strong 7/10!

- On the albums chart. ‘Love’ becomes Michael Bublé’s fourth #1! It debuts with 66,794 combined sales, 80% of which were from physical CDs.

- The rest of the Top 5 is: ‘Delta’ by Mumford & Sons (debuts at #2, 58,294 combined sales), ‘LM5’ by Little Mix (debuts at #3, 56,840 combined sales, #1 on streaming), ‘The Greatest Showman: Soundtrack’ (3-4) & ‘Bohemian Rhapsody: Soundtrack’ by Queen (11-5).

- Looking ahead to next week, these songs could enter the Top 40 for the first time: ‘Piano Man’ by Tom Odell, ‘Make You Feel My Love’ by Nick Knowles, ‘No Drama’ by James Hype ft Craig David, ‘Come Out & Play’ by Billie Eilish, ‘Summer Love’ by Rudimental ft Rita Ora, ‘Grace’ by Lewis Capaldi & maybe even more.

- 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-40-103