Official Singles Chart Top 40 on 20/12/2019

Excellent idea because I read the charts on Sundays, not Fridays when it's released😂😂

Ah, so it would be better for you in a sense then! :D

(NEW ENTRY) #01: LADBABY - I LOVE SAUSAGE ROLLS
So in the beginning of this week, I couldn't have told you whether this or Stormzy's "Own It" would be claiming the Christmas #1 spot, but as the week progressed, LadBaby's sales didn't really slow down, and quite the opposite happened, actually - it seems like midweek, he realized that he could game the system and release a second version of the song, which would get its sales added to the original, and… he won by a landslide. I genuinely did not think for a second that Britain would be this interested in supporting the same joke for another year, even if the proceeds from this track are going to charity. Let's ignore that fact for a second, not because it's not important, but because we can't use that argument to excuse this song from a poor review. First of all, even with all proceeds going to charity, you can't deny releasing a remix of the song midweek is a move exclusively to boost sales - Ladbaby might be doing good, but it's painfully obvious he was desperate for another Christmas #1, clogging up the charts for another year with a song that's not even musically decent - and let's be honest, I doubt even a percent of the people who've purchased this song have actually listened to it or enjoyed it. One of the benefits of streaming being incorporated into the charts, apart from that being the de facto way of consuming music nowadays, is that it tells us how much these songs are actually being enjoyed - their replay value is taken into account, which helps avoid songs that would only chart because they're bought based on an the idea that "you're helping a good cause". And that's exactly what happened here. And so, for the second year, we have a sausage roll tribute by a British YouTuber topping the charts. I wouldn't be as upset with this if it was genuinely a different attempt from last year, but it's not. It's the same basic idea - take a popular karaoke song, swap out "rock and roll" for "sausage rolls", throw in some "funny" references throughout, campaign for it like crazy, and bam. Ladbaby has the added benefit of already holding the Christmas #1 and being an established name, so he was always going to have it a bit easier this year, and with the general public seemingly not tired of this concept, he's done it again. At the end of the day, however, this is the same song that topped the charts last year, in new clothing. Speaking to the OCC, Ladbaby stated: "I hope we've re-inspired magic in the Christmas Number 1". Considering that he's apparently going to try for three consecutive Christmas #1s, and seeing as people aren't already tired of this joke, chances are he'll get it again next year if he tries too - and who's to say he's going to stop there. The only thing he's inspired into the charts is the lack of excitement, originality, and the presence of an immense amount of formulaic song production, as he has set the norm for mediocre songs charting as high purely due to people purchasing them as the joke they were intended to be. He's sufficiently positioned himself as the default Christmas #1 at this point, so… let's hope people are a bit more skeptical next year, though this year doesn't give much hope for that. From me, it's going to be an obvious 1/10 for the song, not that it's important here, but neither of them can really sing; 0/10 for originality, but a solid 10/10 for the campaign he's done. You can't deny he knew exactly how to game the charts, and he successfully did just that - desperate, but commendable. Well done, Ladbaby. Now, please, for the love of music… leave music alone.

(NEW ENTRY) #06: STORMZY feat. HEADIE ONE - AUDACITY
Right, onto something more interesting then, and with Stormzy being denied the Christmas #1, and missing out on the album #1, thought that wasn't ever a guarantee considering the busy time of year he's decided to release in, he's still made a heavy impact on the singles chart, and this is, rightfully in my opinion, the second highest charting single from his album. Which is great, because the song itself is great! I wouldn't say it's on the level of "Own It", but they're two entirely different tracks - this is obviously a harder, darker-sounding rap song, while the latter was more of a club/hip-hop mashup. His angry delivery sounds incredibly convincing over the dark production, and, as much as I like Headie One, he's always sounded incredibly bored in most songs he's done - I get that's his thing, but here he sounds like he's genuinely excited, and the beat fits him great. It's gonna be an 8/10 from me, and thank God for Stormzy making a dark-sounding song seem like the brightest shrine of light in this genuinely upsetting week for the charts.

(NEW ENTRY) #09: STORMZY - LESSONS
I was expecting something a bit different from this track, compared to most of Stormzy's recent output, and considering I already knew the track was about his ex, Maya Jama, yeah, I didn't quite expect another angry track like "Audacity". Instead, we have a much more laid-back, groovier and chiller song, where the lyrics have much more importance than the production. His delivery is very pure, very emotional and you can genuinely tell he regrets the way things went down - there's a but, though. I went over this twice, because something genuinely felt off - the lyrics were there, but the song wasn't exactly hitting me right. And I think the problem lays exactly with the instrumental - as I said, that takes a backseat here but I can't help but feel it's not exactly 100% fitting. Sure, it could be worse, but considering the lyrical delivery and Stormzy pouring his heart out, I think something slower, more balladic would have fit this so much better. As it stand right now, it's nothing offensive, I just can't help but think it could have been so much more. Light 6/10.

(NEW ENTRY) #34: JOHN LEGEND - MERRY XMAS (WAR IS OVER)
Look, let's get this over with quickly, as we all know by know, I'm not really a Christmas song guy, so speaking on such songs is usually painfully difficult, due to the fact that, as with this case, most of the time they're not even original. Not that that's bad but it's something I've, for the most part, already heard. John Legend gives it his best here, and this is definitely the better of the two Amazon exclusives we've had this year (I'm sorry, Ellie's voice gets more and more grating every time I hear "River", and I actually like her voice!) - but that doesn't say much unfortunately. I couldn't care at all for this, so… 5/10, I suppose.

(NEW ENTRY) #39: HARRY STYLES - FALLING
So there's currently two tracks titled "Falling" in the top 40, and, as much as I prefer urban tracks usually, I have to admit this is the better of the two! (I've already reviewed the one by Trevor Daniel, but in short, quite unimaginative and boring) I hate bringing this up every time, but it's true: Harry Styles is not my cup of tea personally, but I really enjoyed "Sign of the Times" back in the day, and this gave me vibes of that song! I think this is what I like hearing the most from him - the slow, touching ballad, and his voice can actually properly shine through! Not a huge fan of some of the high notes, but that's okay, again, hardly as irritating as Ellie. (yikes… sorry Ellie! Hate to bring her up in a negative light, but it's true :/ ) I thought a lot about what to give this, and… I think I'm gonna go with a strong 6/10! This is actually great from Harry - I wish this was pushed as a single in place of the much more boring "Watermelon Sugar"…

And that's about it for this week! Sorry my review took a bit longer to post today, holiday craze is in full force over here, I've had a ton of work, I've been travelling, and… I barely had time to write this up, haha! Plus, I did want to focus my attention on Ladbaby the most, and try to explain why him hitting #1 wasn't good at all - unfortunately, it's just bad timing, really, as "Dance Monkey" went on ACR this week, and the top spot just so happened to clear up for a swift new contender to kick in. Next week, though, should be interesting - Ladbaby should have zero chance of going a second week, and if he somehow does, I'll actually give up on these charts; which leaves us with Mariah and… Stormzy. Huh. Well, she's just managed it in the USA, and with new physicals dropping this week, as well as a brand new video, plus the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day high streaming numbers on her side, she has every advantage to her side. Stormzy seems to be slowing down as well - this could genuinely be the year Mariah gets #1. What a fascinating time.

Finally, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas - have a good one, I hope you spend some great time with your closest people! See you next week for the most Christmas-y chart of the year, and in the meantime, check out my newest CrownNote chart! (link coming shortly!)

Amazing reviews!! Thanks for the hard work!!

Thank you so much, that really means a lot! :)

You could say that both Megan McKenna & Real Like You won it this year, but only for the 'Celebrity' & 'The Band' spin-offs respectively.

Basically, like one of my mates back home put it... X Factor on the Christmas charts is like Manchester United in the Premier League; won absolutely everything at the start of the decade, but have nowhere near as many supporters at the end of the decade!

Matt Cardle's last year album was extremely awesome! So good!
Can't believe Louisa never got her full album dropped.
And finally, Dalton Harris has a wonderful voice. His only single releases was amazing!

Option 1: The Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir - A Bridge Over You (2015)

Option 2: Clean Bandit ft Sean Paul & Anne-Marie - Rockabye (2016)

Option 3: Ed Sheeran - Perfect (2017)

Option 4: LadBaby - We Built This City (2018)

Option 5: LadBaby - I Love Sausage Rolls (2019)

Out there by a million miles, original, different, no extra versions to try and ensure it stayed at no.1 it was just a phenomenal track and not a cover version.

While I think I liked 'Perfect' a bit more personality, this is still awesome! :D

It also relates to Christmas in a way, since it discusses the relationship between single mothers & their children.

So, other than the advice I gave you yesterday, I'd say just go with your heart & stay determined no matter how long it takes!

Ed apparently took months to get something like 20 people to come of one of his gigs, but he never gave up & look at what he's doing now... :)

Man, I'm waiting for an Adele comeback so much! :D

Kendrick Lamar's another one.

Anyone getting to number 2 in the sales chart only in the age of streaming etc is akin to having been the second best selling oil-lamp in the age of electricity.

yes but latbaby #1 in sales chart

yes but only the real chart matters - Jarvis Cocker's performance is even more embarrassing seeing as it only got to 48 after a campaign to get it as high as possible in the charts.

It might after all the Christmas songs drop out, but yeah, it peaked a good few weeks ago to be honest. :/

Britain, why the did you not make 'Arcade' a hit?!

It touches my heart every time I hear it.

How could you rate that awful drippiness of the Portugal song higher than Ukraines powerful 1944?

This was the Eurovision where the whole fo Europe turned rpound and told Russia exactly what they thought of them.

And it deserved to win.

Toy is worth more than 4 and Satellite was dire.

1944 was dreadful......

Because for as uninteresting as Portugal's song was, it was at least inoffensive.

ESC always try to promote the idea that it's all about the music & not the politics (that's why the contest began in the first place, to bring Europe together), so the fact that Ukraine just lashed out at Russia like that in 2016 just went against that entirely is honestly extremely spiteful in my opinion. It also doesn't help the production never escalated to much & Jamala sounded so strained in the hook. Sorry, but it's one of my least favourite ESC winners ever!

As for 'Toy', look, if I'm going to listen to female empowerment anthems, I'd them not to have so many chicken impressions! It was potentially a good opportunity to send out an important message to all women in music, but instead, she just never ended up taking it seriously & that's the real disappointment here.

'Satellite' might've been cheesy, but I think that's partly why it was so charming to me given how flirty the content was, especially when Lena had such a cheeky yet cute attitude in that song!

Merry xmas Piran. I guess this just goes to show how little impact iTunes has on the charts these days although I'm guessing lad baby was no.1 there and that had an impact. Crazy really as for all the people that bought that download and will most likely not even listen to it, they could have just donated to the charity direct the amount they paid for a download and the charity would have got the full amount. Crazy world we live in sometimes....

Merry Christmas to you too! :D

I guess in LadBaby's case, he did have the biggest download week of 2019 so far, so this was a rare instances where downloads played a massive part in his success.

Honestly, try not to worry about that, since every artist experiences the same thing!

Have to agree with Piran here, it's something everybody experiences whether it being musicians making music, sports people playing sports, builders building houses etc etc. At the end of the day there is always going to be people who like and appreciate it and people that dont like it as much. As long as you enjoy making music that's the main thing that matters.

No worries! I always enjoy checking out your recommendations. :)

Sure, I'll post a few more a little later!

Roxanne has got a good set of pipes.

I like her singing.

It's looking the most likely to be next week's #1 at the moment.

Aww... I'm already missing those long reviews. It's one of the reasons I come down here :( . Anyways, nice scores but I can't say for Happy Xmas by John Legend cause I haven't heard it yet.

Aw... well, how about me doing long reviews on the Fridays I have off work?

Next week is going to be one of them, so my might go back to my original format one last time for the final chart of 2019! ;)

Hi Piran !!! I'm also missing your long reviews of the Chart, but don't worry about it now. Have a wonderful Xmas time, and I wish you all the best in the New Year !!!

Hey Ireneusz! :)

I'll probably bring them back in the New Year, but only late Friday evenings or on weekends, since a lot of people want me to keep them.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas too & all the best for 2020!

Thanks Frank! :D

Yeah they usually do mate. I bet you that Last Christmas by Wham will be #1 next week.

Be interesting to see if it wasnt on acr if it would still have been No.1 though?

UK has always awful music taste. Not surprised

And why isn't this great cover not in the chart???
#

What’s this? KEiiNO have recorded a cover of the Christmas classic ‘Fairytale of New York’ by The Pogues.
Why? They performed it live at a recent advent show on TV2 in Norway, and it went down so well, they’ve released the live recording.
What’s it like? Better than the original.
How? It’s got joiking in it.
Fair. We now, as a planet, no longer need to worry about any problematic lyrics perceived within. For we can now, as a planet, just joik our way through the song instead.

Let's hope all those festive songs will climb some ore because it is not Christmas yet. Streaming fun for all! I hope EARTHA KITT to re-enter this year with SANTA BABY! She was at #95 in the midweek chart this week!!!

Ladbaby.... a big NO NO NO!

Totally agree mate, at least, Mariah got her deserved #1 on BB chart finally!

Morning Dami! How are you? Ready for Xmas? BTW i was surprised how the UK chart(s) didn't even get any single or album after Marie from Roxette passed away!! I am shocked really...The same goes for Sweden!! Only her solo best off album charted at a low 39 in her native country!! Weird, weird, weird!!

Thats number 1 next year lol

Thanks Piran. Merry Christmas!!

Thanks! You too. :)

Did someone seriously dislike this despite me wishing them a Merry Christmas?!

Man, I wouldn't like to meet them in person... :D

Wish you a really merry Xmas Piran from.sunny and hottest Buenos Aires city! I know you'll get part of the music biz big leagues one day soon! Greetings!!!

Thanks, you too! Yeah, I can imagine it's scorching in Argentina right now.

Aw, I appreciate those words! I really hope you're right, haha. ;)