poplovedance

My top 100 singles of 2011!

2011-12-26T19:15:00.004Z

And now onto my favourite 100 songs of the year;

100. Rihanna - Where Have You Been
99. Wretch 32 feat Ed Sheeran - Hush Little Baby
98. Jennifer Lopez - Papi
97. Maja Keuc - No One
96. Kelly Clarkson - (What Doesn't Kill You) Stronger
95. Little Mix - Cannonball
94. Keri Hilson feat Nelly - Lose Control
93. Ed Sheeran - One Night
92. Yohanna - Nótt
91. Ed Sheeran - Sofa
90. Karizma - When Life is Grey
89. Reece Mastin - Good Night
88. Coldplay - Paradise
87. Noah And The Whale - Waiting For My Chance To Come
86. Katie Cole - Breakout
85. Same Difference feat Alcazar - Karma Karma
84. The Saturdays - All Fired Up
83. Tove Styrke - Call My Name
82. A Friend In London - New Tomorrow
81. Adaline - Whiter/Straighter
80. Edith Backlund - What I've Become
79. Kate Ryan feat Narco - Broken
78. Leona Lewis / Avicii - Collide
77. Lady Gaga - Judas
76. Jennifer Lopez feat Lil' Wayne - I'm Into You
75. Drake feat Rihanna - Take Care
74. Young London - Let Me Go
73. LMFAO feat Lauren Bennett & Goonrock - Party Rock Anthem
72. The Saturdays - White Lies
71. Sara Bareilles - Love Is Christmas
70. Misty Miller - Remember
69. Agnes - Don't Go Breaking My Heart
68. Christina Perri - Jar Of Hearts
67. Rachel Platten - 1000 Ships
66. Rizzle Kicks - Down With the Trumpets
65. Swingfly - Me And My Drum
64. Take That - Love Love
63. Lena - Taken By A Stranger
62. Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
61. Spiritchaser - These Tears
60. Brittany McDonald - Strawberry Shake
59. Amaury Vassili - Sognu
58. Taio Cruz feat Kylie Minogue - Higher
57. Anna Abreu - Hysteria
56. Emeli Sandé - Heaven
55. Gotye feat Kimbra - Somebody That I Used to Know
54. Hilltop Hoods feat Sia - I Love It
53. Ria - Over You
52. Lady Gaga - Scheiße
51. Yasmin - On My Own
50. The Pierces - Glorious
49. Florence & The Machine - Breaking Down
48. Beyoncé - Best Thing I Never Had
47. Agnes Obel - Riverside
46. Wynter Gordon - Dirty Talk
45. The Pierces - You'll Be Mine
44. Freak Asylum - You Better Leave
43. Jessie J feat B.o.B - Price Tag
42. Lykke Li - Sadness Is A Blessing
41. Sak Noel - Loca People
40. Colbie Caillat - Dream Life, Life
39. Ludovico Einaudi - I Giorni
38. Noah And The Whale - L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
37. Diddy-Dirty Money feat Skylar Grey - Coming Home
36. One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
35. Andrea Corr - Tinsletown In The Rain
34. Christina Perri - A Thousand Years
33. Alexandra Stan - Mr Saxobeat
32. Jenny Silver - Something In Your Eyes
31. Britney Spears - Till The World Ends
30. Florence & The Machine - Shake It Out
29. Military Wives with Gareth Malone - Wherever You Are
28. Lana Del Rey - Video Games
27. Frida Gold - Wovon Sollen Wir Träumen
26. Sunday Girl - Love U More
25. Charlene Soraia - Wherever You Will Go
24. Kelly Clarkson - Mr. Know It All
23. Will Young - Jealousy
22. Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me
21. Chart Music - All My Life
20. Nero - Me & You
19. Lady Gaga - The Edge Of Glory
18. Adele - Rolling In The Deep
17. Katie Cole - Sunrise
16. David Guetta & Sia - Titanium
15. Lise Karlsnes - Red Hot
14. Sanna Nielsen - I'm In Love
13. Adele - Someone Like You
12. Sara Varga - Spring För Livet
11. Ed Sheeran - Lego House
10. Eric Saade - Popular
9. Sheelah - The Last Time
8. Ed Sheeran - You Need Me, I Don't Need You
7. Nadine Beiler - The Secret Is Love
6. Blue - I Can
5. Eric Amarillo - Om Sanningen Ska Fram
4. Rihanna feat Calvin Harris - We Found Love
3. Jennifer Lopez feat Pitbull - On The Floor
2. Ed Sheeran - The A Team
1. Maroon 5 feat Christina Aguilera - Moves Like Jagger

So, a victory for Moves Like Jagger, a song by a soft rock/pop band that peaked in 2004 and an old favourite female artist of mine whose star faded some years ago collaborating on a song that has absolutely no relevance to the music industry of 2011 yet has quickly managed to sell a million copies in the UK. The song came about when Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine and his band teamed up with Christina after the pair appeared together as judges on US reality show The Voice. They performed a new recording on the show one week called Moves Like Jagger and it went into the US top ten. Once airplay kicked in and a video had been made it became a little bit bigger than that and spread worldwide quickly. I'd heard it on the week it initially went top ten in the US and liked it but wasn't exactly wowed by it. However, once it started to get promotion in the UK and I started hearing it more it unexpectedly quickly won me over. Perhaps the fact that it doesn't sound like anything else around at the moment but manages to stand out so much is its main charm?

An infectious whistling introduction leading into Adam Levine's distinctive vocals, this is far more of a Maroon 5 song than a Christina one, she doesn't appear until towards the end where she gives a world class cameo and some amazing ad-libs. Essentially everything about this song sounds like 2004 - it might as well have been lifted off Songs About Jane, it's the last time that both acts were simultaneously relevant and production wise it's at least seven years out of date. So why on earth is it so good? Kids are singing it everywhere and it's one of the defining songs of the year. Kids. In 2011. Singing Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera songs. How did this happen? And why is it my favourite song of the year when I couldn't care less about Maroon 5 and have always been completely indifferent to them? What the hell is everybody's obsession with Mick Jagger recently? Too many questions which I have no answer to. And let's not discuss the seven weeks at #2 it had in the UK behind a different flash in the pan #1 every week, it's still a sore point. But Wham! had better watch their backs - Moves Like Jagger is coming for your crown of the most essential non UK #1 of all time! So Maroon 5, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez end up in my top three of 2011. Perhaps this time next year, Dannii Minogue's 700k selling comeback single will be battling Ashanti feat Ricky Martin's new million selling slow jam. Would you bet against it? As a final point, well done to Suffolk singer Ed Sheeran who gets two singles in the top ten, another just outside and my third favourite album of the year, I think it's fair to say that he's been my favourite artist of 2011!

My top 40 albums of 2011!

2011-12-26T12:34:00.011Z

So it's the end of the year and time for the roundup of my favourite music from the past 12 months. A decent, if not incredible year for music, and after much thought here are my 40 favourite albums of 2011, the top ten including blurb!

40. Slow Moving Millie - Renditions
39. Sara Varga - Spring För Livet
38. Nero - Welcome Reality
37. Lenka - Two
36. Agnes Obel - Philharmonics
35. Ke$ha - Cannibal
34. Birdy - Birdy
33. Lena - Good News
32. Nicole Scherzinger - Killer Love
31. Beyonce - 4
30. Misty Miller - Misty Miller
29. Natasha Bedingfield - Strip Me
28. Same Difference - The Rest Is History
27. Wonderland - Wonderland
26. Cascada - Original Me
25. The Sound Of Arrows - Voyage
24. Colbie Caillat - All Of You
23. David Guetta - Nothing But The Beat
22. Jessie J - Who You Are
21. Veronica Maggio - Satan I Gatan
20. Kelly Clarkson - Stronger
19. Nicola Roberts - Cinderella's Eyes
18. Andrea Corr - Lifelines
17. Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor
16. September - Love CPR
15. The Saturdays - On Your Radar
14. Will Young - Echoes
13. Take That - Progressed
12. Rihanna - Talk That Talk
11. Rihanna - Loud

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10. Ed Sheeran - Loose Change

1. Let It Out 9/10
2. Homeless 9/10
3. Little Bird 9/10
4. Sofa 9.5/10
5. One Night 9.5/10
6. Firefly 8/10
7. The City (Live at Sticky Studios) 9/10
8. Firefly (Bravado Dubstep Remix) 7/10

Initial pressings of this EP included The A Team instead of Let It Out but the version that I bought has the latter so that's the one that I'll focus on. Ed's most accomplished EP yet, I was unsure as to whether include it here but I always included it in my weekly chart so I'm going to do so here. Loose Change may only have six main tracks, and then a live song and a remix, but as a package it was definitely a firm favourite of mine. With great production, the likes of Sofa, One Night and Homeless arguably all should have made the cut for +, they wouldn't have even needed any production tweaking! Little Bird did make the tracklisting of +, albeit only the deluxe version. Ed's other EP's are great and I'd also recommend No 5 Collaborations Project, but if you're looking for something that sounds most like + then this is for you.

9. Jennifer Lopez - Love?

1. On The Floor (feat Pitbull) 10/10
2. Good Hit 7/10
3. I'm Into You (feat Lil' Wayne) 9.5/10
4. (What Is) Love? 9/10
5. Run The World 8/10
6. Papi 9.5/10
7. Until It Beats No More 9/10
8. One Love 8/10
9. Invading My Mind 8.5/10
10. Villain 8/10
11. Starting Over 9/10
12. Hypnotico 8.5/10
13. Everybody's Girl 8.5/10
14. Charge Me Up 9/10
15. Take Care 8/10

Jennifer Lopez's long delayed Love? finally surfaced this year, although only half of the tracks originally expected to make the cut actually did, the other half was filled with RedOne produced 'club bangers'. Lucky then that the majority of those defined amazing, particularly lead single On The Floor but more on that later! A great album, well produced and a mix of styles but remaining cohesive, Love? was everything I wanted - three great singles, two representing 'party J.Lo' and the other representing 'urban pop J.Lo' which is the style which spawned her most UK hits over the years. Good Hit is probably the only song that I skip, not that it's bad per se but not as strong as the rest of the album, it's track 2 positioning slightly worried me that it was being lined up as a single at some point! American Idol and On The Floor put Jenny from the block back on the map and lets hope that the follow up from the woman that never ages is just as great as this!

8. Le Kid - Oh Alright!

1. We Are The Drums 9/10
2. Mercy Mercy 9.5/10
3. America 8.5/10
4. Oh My God 9.5/10
5. Bigger Than Jesus 9.5/10
6. Kiss Me 9.5/10
7. We Should Go Home Together 10/10
8. Seventeen 9/10
9. Telephone 8/10
10. Escape 10/10
11. Mr Brightside 9.5/10

A joy from start to finish, Swedish pop group Le Kid stole the Alphabeat formula and added less indie credibility and more colour. The result was one of my favourite debut albums of recent times, and it only finishes as low as 8th because I already knew eight of the eleven tracks on it by the time that the album had finally surfaced! All three of the new tracks were worthy of their place, Kiss Me in particular was a country tinged pop romp that brought back memories of Lily Allen's Not Fair and some of the music from the Spiral Mountain level in the Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Kazooie! Elsewhere, my personal Le Kid highlights We Should Go Home Together and Escape were even more amazing than ever in glorious HQ, Telephone was the worst song on here but still worthy of an 8, whilst America served as a decent lead single for the album. Melodifestivalen entry Oh My God and bonus Killers cover Mr Brightside were also perfectly executed whilst Mercy Mercy remained as great as ever. All in all, pop perfection for 2011 - Swedish pop with a Danish aesthetic and personality, but who cares when it's this good?

7. Steps - The Ultimate Collection

1. 5,6,7,8 8/10
2. Last Thing On My Mind 10/10
3. One For Sorrow 10/10
4. Heartbeat 9.5/10
5. Tragedy 9/10
6. Better Best Forgotten 9.5/10
7. Love's Got A Hold On My Heart 10/10
8. After The Love Has Gone 9/10
9. Say You'll Be Mine 9.5/10
10. Better The Devil You Know 7.5/10
11. Deeper Shade Of Blue 9/10
12. When I Said Goodbye 9/10
13. Summer Of Love 9.5/10
14. Stomp 9/10
15. It's The Way You Make Me Feel 10/10
16. Here and Now 7.5/10
17. You'll Be Sorry 7.5/10
18. Chain Reaction 9.5/10
19. I Know Him So Well 8/10
20. Dancing Queen 9/10

Of all the acts I'd have expected to reform in 2011, Steps were somewhere near the bottom of the list. The Boxing Day split was ugly (happy 10th anniversary to that by the way) but they reunited for a Sky Living documentary and Faye, Claire, Lisa, H and Lee put the past behind them and somehow scored the most unexpected UK #1 album since Scooter's Jumping All Over The World in 2008 when The Ultimate Collection, an almost complete retread of 2001's million selling Gold, smashed in at the top of the UK charts, including on iTunes, a platform which didn't even exist when they'd last been around! A nationwide nostalgia trip perhaps but the quintet managed to sell out an arena tour as well so who are we to judge?

A second rate ABBA for the 90s perhaps but they flew the flag for manufactured pop and were clearly a lot more missed than anybody could have anticipated, perhaps because no group has really come to fill their niche in the meantime. Last Thing On My Mind, One For Sorrow and Love's Got A Hold On My Heart remained my highlights whilst I can't understand why It's The Way You Make Me Feel wasn't a huge #1 in my chart back in 2001. Perhaps I just wasn't ready for such cheese in my dance loving days (this was before my Eurovision obsession kicked in a few months later with the 2001 contest), but now it sounds like a lost Scandipop classic to my ears. Or perhaps it was Lisa's shockingly awful delivery of it on This Morning that sent me hurtling back to the studio version. Who can tell? Add to the mix all of their other pop 'classics' and you have one of my most played albums of the latter end of the year...roll on the tour and a new single/album in 2012!

6. Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials

1. Only If For A Night 9/10
2. Shake It Out 10/10
3. What The Water Gave Me 9.5/10
4. Never Let Me Go 8.5/10
5. Breaking Down 10/10
6. Lover To Lover 9/10
7. No Light, No Light 9.5/10
8. Seven Devils 8/10
9. Heartlines 9.5/10
10. Spectrum 9.5/10
11. All This And Heaven Too 8/10
12. Leave My Body 8/10

Lungs was absolutely incredible, my favourite album of 2009 and Florence made an amazing opening splash with a debut body of atmospheric Kate Bush inspired work. I'm always cautiously optimistic about follow up albums though, very few singer/songwriter type artists can survive the 'sophomore slump' having spent potentially their whole life crafting and perfecting their debut before having to cobble together a second effort in as little as a year. Florence didn't fall victim to this, not quality wise in my eyes at least. The grand production of Lungs was ramped up a notch on Ceremonials but not to the detriment of some huge melodies. The likes of Spectrum, Heartlines and Shake It Out basically define 'epic' whilst the gorgeous plinky-plonk piano on Breaking Down made that my instant highlight. More mellow moments, such as What The Water Gave Me provided a good balance and whilst some complained that it was drowned in production, I have to say that the album benefitted from it. Songs this big demanded grand, pretentious production and I loved every minute of it!

I've decided not to include the bonus tracks in my review solely because they are just that in feel and are quite a step down in quality from the main album. I still prefer Lungs overall, but this definitely exceeded my expectations and had it been released in the first half of the year would have no doubt been part of my top five - I do feel that five other albums defined my year more though and they'll be revealed later!

5. Britney Spears - Femme Fatale

1. Till The World Ends 10/10
2. Hold It Against Me 10/10
3. Inside Out 8.5/10
4. I Wanna Go 9/10
5. How I Roll 8/10
6. (Drop Dead) Beautiful (feat Sabi) 8/10
7. Seal It With A Kiss 8.5/10
8. Big Fat Bass 9/10
9. Trouble For Me 8.5/10
10. Trip To Your Heart 9/10
11. Gasoline 8/10
12. Criminal 9.5/10
13. Up 'N' Down 9/10
14. He About To Lose Me 8.5/10
15. Selfish 8.5/10
16. Don't Keep Me Waiting 8.5/10
17. Scary 8.5/10

I've never really been a huge Britney fan, in fact the first album of hers I bought was Blackout. Prior to that I was really only interested in the odd single of hers here and there. However Hold It Against Me piqued my interest quite massively for the Femme Fatale era and I definitely wasn't disappointed. Where Circus had its fair share of stinkers and fillers, Femme Fatale kept the melodic club bangers coming from start to finish. The singles were all excellently chosen, definitely four of the highlights on the album and it's gutting that none of them caught on in the UK, she's gone from being the biggest superstar around to something of a pop flop in this country, the sign of things to come for Katy Perry, Gaga and Rihanna a decade from now?

Aside from the four singles that were chosen, Britney's loyal fans were taking part in World War 3 deciding what else would make a decent single. For my money, although everything on this album is at least an 8/10 for me and I never skip anything, I'd have gone with either Big Fat Bass, Trip To Your Heart or Up 'N' Down. Talking of the latter, just HOW good were the bonus tracks on this album! Ok, maybe it wasn't quite a Circus situation where the best songs all missed the cut for the main album but all five of the bonus tracks could have easily been on the main tracklist - extremely strong pop album from somebody who may now be a label puppet, but nevertheless knows her way around a great pop song almost a decade and a half into her chart career.

4. Noah & The Whale - Last Night On Earth

1. Life Is Life 9.5/10
2. Tonight's The Kind of Night 9.5/10
3. L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. 10/10
4. Wild Thing 9/10
5. Give It All Back 9/10
6. Just Me Before We Met 8.5/10
7. Paradise Stars 8/10
8. Waiting For My Chance To Come 10/10
9. The Line 8/10
10. Old Joy 8/10

I enjoyed UK indie/nu-folk act Noah & The Whale's debut and the follow up was absolutely stunning, if understandably depressing. Onto the highly anticipated third album and it got off to a good start with the joyous lead single L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N., one of the biggest selling indie songs of the year. The album didn't disappoint me either, it barely left my side all year and the singles were all chosen perfectly, it's just a slight shame that Waiting For My Chance To Come wasn't the second single, it would have been so perfect for the beginning of summer.

Aside from that song the second half is far weaker than the first half, but as a body of work, it's one that I still frequently listen to from start to finish and it never fails to cheer me up. Charlie Fink (surely the love child of Mika and Salem Al Fakir?) is happy again and it shows, more of the same for album number four please!

3. Ed Sheeran - +

1. The A Team 10/10
2. Drunk 9/10
3. UNI 9/10
4. Grade 8 9/10
5. Wake Me Up 6/10
6. Small Bump 9.5/10
7. This 8.5/10
8. The City 9.5/10
9. Lego House 10/10
10. You Need Me, I Don't Need You 10/10
11. Kiss Me 8/10
12. Give Me Love 9/10
13. Autumn Leaves 8/10
14. Little Bird 9/10
15. Gold Rush 7.5/10
16. Sunburn 8/10

I first came across Ed early in 2010 thanks to his close friendship with Leddra Chapman (who finished 2010 with my end of year #2 album, Telling Tales). I continued to download his EP's religiously and it seemed certain to me that despite his image, he was incredibly talented and about to blow up and I was bemused when he wasn't included on ANY of the 'hype for 2011' lists, surely he was going to be one of the biggest breakout stars?

Fast forward a year and I think it's safe to say that Jessie J aside, Ed HAS been the biggest breakthrough artist of 2011. His long awaited (by me) major label debut album + hasn't disappointed at all. I know some people were because it lacks the grit of some of his previous material and comes across as a diluted singer/songwriter-esque album with influences of James Blunt and David Gray. Whatever, whilst he's definitely capable of more diverse material, and I'm sure we'll see it on his second album, I can see why this album was put together as his debut - and looking at the success of The A Team and Lego House in comparison to You Need Me, I Don't Need You, it looks as if the public prefer mellow ballad Ed to 'rapping' Ed. With this in mind, although I'd LOVE The City to be the next single, being one of the more different songs on the album musically, I wonder if they'll avoid that altogether and just go for something like Small Bump or U.N.I. As long as it's not the overly sickly, even for me, Wake Me Up then I don't mind.

So a great debut imo, packed with excellent songs and three fantastic singles, it's a slight shame that Wake Me Up, Gold Rush and Sunburn hadn't been replaced with Sofa, One Night and Homeless from the Loose Change EP, and Kiss Me and Autumn Leaves exchanged with a couple of edgier tracks along the lines of the No 5 Collaborations EP, because then we might have been looking at one of my favourite albums for many many years...

2. Lady Gaga - Born This Way

1. Marry The Night 9.5/10
2. Born This Way 7/10
3. Government Hooker 8.5/10
4. Judas 9.5/10
5. Americano 9/10
6. Hair 9.5/10
7. Scheiße 10/10
8. Bloody Mary 9/10
9. Black Jesus + Amen Fashion 9/10
10. Bad Kids 7/10
11. Fashion Of His Love 8.5/10
12. Highway Unicorn (Road To Love) 9/10
13. Heavy Metal Lover 8.5/10
14. Electric Chapel 8/10
15. The Queen 8/10
16. Yoü And I 9.5/10
17. The Edge Of Glory 10/10

Gaga, what is there to say? Two years ago she had the world eating out of the palms of her hands and now she can't even make Marry The Night a sizeable hit anywhere, despite having her usual huge, pretentious, OTT and unnecessary high budget video. For all the criticism though, Born This Way is an incredible pop album. It pushes boundaries at every move and you have to wonder why nobody seems to care anymore - it's so incredibly accomplished, perhaps not quite the greatest album of the century as she suggested but it throws just about everything into a blender, incredible lyrics, world class production (even RedOne ups his now stale game dramatically on Scheiße) and so much personality. Yet it's still not close to a million in the UK and had to be sold at less than a dollar in the US to ensure a record breaking debut week. Following on from one of the most revolutionary mainstream pop albums of recent times in The Fame Monster, it should have been breaking records without any aid, particularly when the material is this strong. But it sort of feels like she's playing third fiddle to Rihanna and Katy Perry in the realms of female superstardom at the moment. Has worldwide Gaga fatigue set in or is it just a Rated R style sales (but not quality) blip? Only time will tell...

As for the music, I don't even know where to start. Aside from the anthemic - but not particularly to my taste - lead single, I pretty much love everything on here to varying degrees. The Edge Of Glory is an 80s power pop anthem resurrected for 2011 and defines amazing. Judas is a watered down Steps version of Bad Romance, but still a great pop song, Yoü And I is Gaga doing country, and it working, Marry The Night is a convincing opener, Scheiße is one of her greatest ever songs, certainly the best that's never been released as a single. And I love almost everything else too - is it possible to call a multi million selling album by a worldwide icon underrated? Because that's what I'm doing.

1. Adele - 21

1. Rolling In The Deep 10/10
2. Rumour Has It 9.5/10
3. Turning Tables 9.5/10
4. Don't You Remember 9/10
5. Set Fire To The Rain 9.5/10
6. He Won't Go 9/10
7. Take It All 9/10
8. I'll Be Waiting 8.5/10
9. One And Only 8.5/10
10. Lovesong 9/10
11. Someone Like You 10/10

And my favourite album of the year goes to bascially the biggest album I can ever remember. I'm not usually one to side massively with public opinion, and rarely do the best sellers of the year feature very high up my EOY lists (at least not until Take That arrived back on the scene!). 21 however is a different beast, one that's incredibly deserving of the worldwide critical recognition and high sales. Back in 2008 I bought 19 on the day of release, but although I liked it, I wasn't blown away by it, nor Duffy's Rockferry (seeing as the two always used to come in tandem and be compared to each other). I did however prefer Duffy's singles to Adele's in general. However, although Adele may not have been the Sound of 2008, as had been predicted, she was most definitely the Sound of 2011. Where Duffy returned with a crap album and the limp Well, Well, Well, Adele waited two months and unleashed one of the greatest mainstream albums of modern times in 21.

To say that this is a second album, I think it's fair to say that Adele avoided the 'sophomore slump'! So much more mature and well produced than 19 and the songwriting is sublime from start to finish, as are her gorgeous vocals from start to finish. Unlike many of the big female stars, Adele has a powerful voice when necessary but can also show restraint when necessary. The power of Set Fire To The Rain contrasts nicely with the more mellow Cure cover Lovesong for example. Rolling In The Deep was so different to everything else out there and an incredibly gutsy lead single and Someone Like You is one of the best new ballads of recent times, and a deserved biggest selling single of the year in the UK. It feels like an 11 track 'hits' album, and any studio album where every track could have been a huge hit single if released as the lead deserves all of the praise thrown at it. Rumour Has It and Turning Tables would have been worldwide #1's if released in place of Someone Like You for example. A stunning body of work then, back in 2008 I could have never predicted that Adele would live up to the hype in such a way, but consider me convinced. She's broken just about every chart record going worldwide and it's easy to see why.

Who will get the 2011 Christmas number one?

2011-12-13T16:29:00.006Z

It's almost time for the yearly tradition that is the battle for the UK xmas number one single. For five of the last six years the winner of X Factor has taken the title with only Joe McElderry's The Climb failing to do so in 2009 due to a successful anti X Factor campaign that saw Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name top the charts, selling half a million copies in a week in the process. This year it's all looking very different - nowhere near as much a foregone conclusion as usual. In my mind there are three genuine contenders but before I get to those, I'll list some of the other outsiders.

Amongst the bookies tips for the top are the Cast of The Only Way is Essex with their cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas and X Factor 2009 finalist and I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! winner Stacey Solomon's long awaited debut single, a cover of Chris Rea's Driving Home For Christmas. I very much doubt that either of these will go anywhere near the top, and will probably be lucky to be more than a one or two week wonder in the top 40. Highly tipped singles from Arianna Morgan, The Smiths, The Wombles and Chas 'N' Dave will also go nowhere. And you have to wonder why these acts have such short odds when acts and songs that are currently in the iTunes top five as I write - Coldplay's Paradise, Leona Lewis' cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt and Olly Murs' Dance With Me Tonight all have odds as long as 100/1. They're long shots up against the three main contenders but all three surely have more of a chance than The Wombles and Stacey Solomon...

But three contenders have come to the front of the pack in the race to claim the 2011 Xmas #1;

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Nirvana's iconic grunge anthem Smells Like Teen Spirit, which thus far shockingly only has a UK peak position of #7, has been chosen as the front running anti X Factor campaign this year. The Rage Against The Machine group worked in 2009 because it was the first time that the idea had been tried, there was a media frenzy which led to huge sales and almost a million members of the Facebook group, of which it was estimated less than 50% ended up ultimately downloading the song. Nevertheless it managed to top Joe McElderry by around 50,000 sales - many of these thought to be the same people buying multiple versions of the song. The idea was tried again last year with Surfin' Bird by The Trashmen. That went to #3 with around 60,000 sales with X Factor's 2010 winner Matt Cardle absolutely thrashing them with When We Collide.

The Nirvana group has so far got 130,000 or so 'fans', assuming a conversion rate of 50% at absolute best then this should translate to a sale of around 60,000-70,000 copies, which won't be anywhere near enough to get it the Christmas #1. An idea that's been tried, tested and achieved before, to attempt it for a third year on the trot rather dilutes the impact of the successful 2009 campaign. It will do well but I don't see it being a realistic contender for the top and I expect Smells Like Teen Spirit to be #3 at best in the Christmas chart. Kudos for whoever chose the charity that proceeds raised will go to though - Rhythmix, the children's charity that battled to get the X Factor girl group to successfully change their name to Little Mix...

Little Mix - Cannonball

...And so then to Little Mix, who were crowned winner's of X Factor at the weekend, the first ever group to win the competition. Put together by the judges in boot camp and mentored by N-Dubz singer Tulisa, the group - consisting of Perrie, Jesy, Leigh-Anne and Jade - has built up a fanbase that has grown througout the competition until they eventually became the most popular act, winning both the semi final and obviously the final. It was in fact Irish singer Janet Devlin that had led the voting for the majority of the series, until a dire performance of Hanson's Mmmbop put her into the bottom two for the first time with the judges wasting no time to send her home. You suspect that Cannonball, the winner's single and thus Little Mix's debut release, was in fact chosen for the winner when Janet was comprehensively leading and expected to win the competition. The Damien Rice song would have suited her vocals and persona a lot more than a girl group who were becoming known for their more contemporary edge.

Nevertheless, they won and were lumbered with this as their debut single (it's a pleasant version of a pleasant song but it's no Sound of the Underground is it!). It went on sale late on Sunday night and has so far managed to shift over 60,000 copies. This is way below the opening sale that Matt Cardle's When We Collide managed last year and even with CD sales in the mix (no pun intended!), it looks as if Cannonball will open with a sale of under 300,000 copies, a direct reflection of the fact that the girls were never absolute favourites from the start in the way that Matt was twinned with the fact that the show has had far lower ratings this year. For the first time, the winner's single has been released a week earlier than usual which means that Cannonball could be on course for a Christmas/second week sale of around 150,000 copies at best - which is easily beatable, perhaps not by Nirvana but certainly by another unknown quantity...

Military Wives with Gareth Malone - Wherever You Are

And to my tip for Christmas #1 - a choir brought together for a BBC2 TV show by choirmaster and presenter Gareth Malone. The choir consists of around 100 women whose husbands are out serving their country in Afghanistan and next week they will be releasing a song called Wherever You Are, an original composition by Welsh composer Paul Mealor with lyrics taken from some of the letters sent between the wives and their husbands. The collective have already performed the song live on Strictly Come Dancing and the CD single has become online retailer Amazon's biggest ever pre-ordered music item. Whether it will be downloaded in such quantities remains to be seen but huge demand very much seems to be present for this song and I expect that it will do big business both digitially and physically.

It should easily get past the 150,000 or so second week tally expected of Little Mix and will almost certainly be the first Christmas #1 since 2004's Band Aid 20 that isn't X Factor related in any way, be it the winner's of the show or a campaign against it. It's a wintery sounding, haunting and touching song which is delivered beautifully by the lead vocalist, shy Scottish 28 year old Samantha Stevenson. Perhaps not an obvious contender for Christmas chart topper considering some of the songs that have topped the festive listings in the past but this does look like the one to beat at the moment. Anybody keen to see X Factor miss out this year might as well move their attention from Nirvana over to this, as it's definitely the one to beat.

New Music : An icon, a newcomer and a charity ensemble

2011-11-26T09:31:00.006Z

Freak Asylum - You Better Leave

Kelly Llorenna is a legend, the dance diva provided the vocals on my all time favourite song, Set You Free by N-Trance and I also hold True Love Never Dies, Tell It To My Heart and Brighter Day in incredibly high regard. Since her brief flashes of solo stardom in 2001/2002 when she managed four UK top ten hits in the space of a year, Kelly seems to have spent a decade pushing out random dance covers to no fanfare whatsoever. Thankfully the icon is back on form with new band Freak Asylum which leaves the dance behind and focuses more on pop with rocky influences. Debut single You Better Leave has been a long time coming but it was well worth the wait. An 80s influenced synth pop stormer, written by legendary Grammy award winning songwriter Toby Gad, it ticks all of the boxes and is the best thing that Kelly's done for almost a decade. What a shame then that the video, complete with Kelly rocking a new bleach blonde look as alter ego 'Lola Leethal', has had barely any views then, this song deserves to be a huge hit!

Reece Mastin - Good Night

Fresh from winning X Factor Australia for his mentor Guy Sebastian, a talent show winner himself, 17 year old Reece Mastin has bagged himself a shockingly excellent debut single. Shocking because in the UK we're used to the debut singles by X Factor winners being ballads about striving for hope and achieving their dreams - yes this means you That's My Goal, A Moment Like This, When You Believe and The Climb. But Reece, who originally hails from English town Scunthorpe - he moved to Australia six years ago with his family - has been given something much more contemporary to launch his career. In fact it could easily pass as the first post competition single rather than feeling like a contracted post-show winner's single. Good Night can best be described as a mix of Pink's Raise Your Glass and something that you might find on the new One Direction album. It's a bold and strong instantly infectious pop/rock song that looks set to go straight to the top of the charts in Australia. Hopefully it will make it over to the UK at some point too, he could definitely be marketed in his home country!

X Factor Finalists 2011 feat JLS and One Direction - Wishing On A Star

Talking of the X Factor, the UK series is winding down with only five acts left now, the favourites to win being Liverpudlian soul-pop singer Marcus Collins, Irish balladeer Janet Devlin and the surprise package of the competition, girlband Little Mix. Misha B and Amelia Lily are the remaining contestants and all five acts feature prominently on this year's charity ensemble single, along with all of the other finalists, apart from Frankie naturally! Following 2008's Hero, 2009's You Are Not Alone and 2010's We Could Be Heroes, this year's offering is a cover of the Rose Royce classic Wishing On A Star. In an attempt to ensure that sales are higher than the last two, which have suffered from the law of diminishing returns in terms of total sales, the producers have enlisted the help of top UK boybands, and former X Factor finalists, JLS and One Direction to sing on the final chorus. They bring very little to the song and are clearly only there to ensure that the loyal fanbases of those groups rush out to buy it too to boost sales and raise as much money for the charity, which can't be complained about really. It's a nice enough cover that does its job and will be a UK #1 single but it won't be remembered for long and will have left the charts by early 2012. Nice for all of the finalists to have a chart topper to their name though.

Vanessa Amorosi channels 911 in new duet

2011-11-15T09:01:00.003Z

Australian once superstar Vanessa Amorosi, whose star seems to be slowly fading with the release of her last couple of non-charting singles, has teamed up with veteran New Zealand born singer Jon Stevens for a new collaboration, a rather vocally impressive version of Private Number. A soul song originally by William Bell and Judy Clay and a UK top ten hit in 1968, this cover adds a rocky touch to proceedings and suitably soaring vocals from the lady with arguably Australia's strongest voice. Jon's parts aren't so bad either!

The most successful version of this song in the UK of course, if anybody can recall it, was a cover by boyband 911 and uncredited female singer Natalie Jordan. Following their successful covers of More Than A Woman and A Little Bit More, it peaked at #3 in May 1999 although dropped away quickly becoming nothing more than another forgotten boyband single. Shame really as it was quite a pleasant version. The bigger shame is Natalie Jordan never having a solo career, in fact this was the first and last time I ever heard of her!

2011: The year of the ballad?

2011-11-13T08:59:00.008Z

2011 has arguably been the most ballad heavy year chartwise since the late 90s. I'm quite pleased about this, I've always been a big fan of a great ballad and there have been plenty to choose from this year. There seem to be three major reasons that ballads have come back into vogue in a big way in the past 12 months. Firstly, Adele, the woman who is responsible for keeping the music industry alive during 2011. Her beautiful live performance of Someone Like You at the BRIT Awards captured the attention of the public and the song has gone on to sell well over a million copies, despite being from an album that has sold well over three million, and topped charts around the world, including the US where it became her second #1 single recently. As a response, piano ballads are suddenly fashionable again.

The second factor is the age old marketing trick of an effective advertising campaign. John Lewis kicked it off last year with Fyfe Dangerfield's cover of She's Always A Woman and Ellie Goulding's take on Your Song both going on to huge chart success. Since then we've had Charlene Soraia's cover of The Calling's Wherever You Will Go become a top three hit after featuring on an advert for Twinings tea. Now John Lewis are back with a third strike - Slow Moving Millie's take on Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want and even Matalan are getting in on the act - Cinnamon Girl stripping down N-Trance's rave anthem (and my all time favourite song!) Set You Free for their Christmas campaign!

The cult of the 'candlelight mix', a ballad or stripped down piano take on a dance, rock or indie song isn't a new phenomenon of course, DJ Sammy's Heaven, which turned the Bryan Adams rock song into a dance classic is arguably just as popular these days in its ballad form aka 'Yanou's Candlelight Mix' where vocalist Do sings with only a piano accompaniment. It brought a completely different dynamic to the track and seemed to kick start a mass influx of similar remixes with seemingly every dance song coming out since having a complimentary ballad version as a remix. Sometimes they work (Cascada - Everytime We Touch, DHT - Listen To Your Heart) and sometimes they don't (most of the others!). X Factor have got in on the act too now, with acts such as Craig and Janet stripping back everything that they do into ballad form regardless of the theme of the week.

The third factor of the ballad becoming more popular can surely be down to what can only be called 'club banger fatigue'. During 2010 and the first few months of 2011 the charts were absolutely saturated with what felt like 100 different versions of exactly the same song. Usually an American act combining a club beat with a catchy chorus or sample and a shoehorned in rap from either Pitbull or Flo Rida. Songs such as LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem, Pitbull's Give Me Everything, J.Lo's On The Floor and the like. At one point it seemed like everything in the top ten was from this genre and it obviously got a bit too much! Look at the current UK charts and these sorts of songs are barely represented now, instead there's a sea of balladry and MOR, some boybands and some female pop superstars. So will the renewed popularity of the ballad last for long? And when will we get some more original ballads?

As good as these covers might be, and lest we forget the 2011 queen of the ballad cover, 15 year old Birdy, there haven't actually been all that many original ballads around. We've had Someone Like You and Christina Perri's Jar Of Hearts, Lana Del Rey's stunning Video Games and at a stretch The A Team and Lego House by Ed Sheeran. Of course we also have the usual slew of winter ballad releases from the pop bands of the moment - One Direction's Gotta Be You, JLS' Take A Chance On Me and The Saturdays' My Heart Takes Over, but it's still incomparable to the likes of 1998 where two or three original and classic ballads seemed to join the charts each week - Angels, How Do I Live, I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, Truly Madly Deeply, Viva Forever, To You I Belong, Heartbeat, No Matter What, Finally Found and Frozen to name but a few! So whilst I'm pleased to see the return of the ballad, lets hope that we get less covers and more original compositions in time for 2012! Nobody will remember the covers in ten years from now but there's a high chance that the likes of Someone Like You, Jar Of Hearts and The A Team will all go on to become modern day classics!

Moves like never...6 weeks at #2?

2011-10-05T11:07:00.006+01:00

Poor Maroon 5 and the curse of Rihanna, similar to The Saturdays' curse of Flo Rida, destined never to get a UK #1 because the same face keeps popping up in the way. The US group have scored a slightly unexpected huge worldwide hit with their Christina Aguilera collaboration Moves Like Jagger. Considering these two acts are the cream of pop circa 2002-2004, it's strange to see them collaborating approximately 7 or 8 years after this would have been a momentous occasion and getting such a big smash out of it. The collaboration came about of course after Christina and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine worked together on the US version of talent show The Voice. The single made an instant splash in the US although is now doing better than ever before and has had a few weeks at #1, bringing the band right back to the peak of commercial success after a few years where it felt like their star was fading.

Moves Like Jagger has also topped the charts in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Korea and Sweden to date but in a few major territories it's stalled at #2. The mighty Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye and Kimbra has kept it at bay for months in Australia whilst Marlon Roudette's ballad New Age has prevented it from topping the German chart so far. In the UK something quite extraordinary has happened - it's spent the last five weeks static at No.2, each week behind a completely different song. On two occasions it's come close to topping the chart, just a couple of hundred sales prevented it from seeing off Example's Stay Away whilst only a couple of thousand separated it in the most recent chart from Sak Noel's Loca People.

With no major releases seemingly slated for this week, and holding up better than everything else as usual it seemed as if it would finally go to #1 this week, on its eighth week inside the top three. But wait...fate plays its cruel hand and Rihanna and Calvin Harris' new single and impending blockbuster smash, We Found Love, was released at midnight and is already #3 on iTunes UK and almost certain to deny Maroon 5 of the top spot on what was to be their final chance, what with major releases due next week from Matt Cardle and Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine himself. This is exactly the same scenario as in 2007 when Makes Me Wonder was a midweek #1 before a late in the week release of Rihanna's soon to be record breaking #1 Umbrella which edged it out to debut at the top by Sunday. They obviously quickly forgave her as a collaboration between the two acts - If I Never See Your Face Again - was released as a single before the year was out.

One thing's for sure - Moves Like Jagger will wind up as one of the all time great #2 singles, coming so close on so many occasions yet destined to miss out on each one. And it will almost certainly outsell every song that prevented it from going to #1 in the long run, just as Eminem and Rihanna's Love The Way You Lie did last year before winding up as the UK's biggest selling single of the year. Rihanna gets her chart revenge then, it's just a shame that it always has to be at the expense of Maroon 5. As for Christina, it looks as if she'll have to wait a while longer for her fifth UK chart topper, almost 8 years and counting. Looking set to be beaten by six different songs, Moves Like Jagger can count itself one of the unluckiest #2 singles of all time!

1998, was there just TOO much great music?

2011-09-29T11:44:00.003+01:00

I don't hide the fact that 1998 is by far my favourite ever year for music, perhaps because it's the year that I finally opened my eyes (or ears) to it. Before this year I was only interested in classical music and a couple of random songs. But Cher's Believe changed everything for me - I was blown away by it and tuned into the chart every week to hear it, until I finally got the (cassette) single for xmas! This tuning into the chart weekly became an obsession and of course introduced me to 39 other songs weekly that were new to me. I look back on the charts of late 1998 with great affection, not only do I remember almost every song in there but I LOVE almost every one of them too. Naturally I was regularly starting to tune into the radio at other times too, which was of course playing the general hits from earlier in the year - all of which I also seemed to adore.

Is nostalgia really that strong an emotion or was it just a really great year for music? The charts were packed with everything you could possibly want - pure pop from Steps, B*Witched, Boyzone and Five, Scandipop from Ace of Base, Robyn, Emilia, Meja and Aqua, classic ballads from Aerosmith, Savage Garden, Celine Dion and LeAnn Rimes, alternative greats from Massive Attack, Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia and The Cardigans, acts like Robbie Williams and Madonna at the top of their game and just about anything else you could possibly want. The biggest selling album of the year remains one of my all time top three favourites ever - Talk On Corners by The Corrs. Eurovision was hosted in the UK and spearheaded by the legendary Dana International and the brilliant home entry by Imaani. It was just a perfect year in so many ways.

What then of the 'forgotten classics'? There was so much great music around that some songs were always going to slip under the radar a bit - Sarah McLachlan's Angel for example. And what of Goo Goo Dolls' Iris? Thankfully, despite missing the top 40 in 1998 only to fare a little better the following year, that excellent song is finally about to make the chart splash that it always should have done, heading for the UK top three this weekend thanks to X Factor. I'm a big fan of X Factor, even moreso when it propels deserved long forgotten 'classics' to the heights that they should have reached in the first place - Iris, Make You Feel My Love, Cannonball etc...I can't wait to see what's next, hopefully something else from 1998!

My top 40 from 1998;

1. The Corrs - So Young
2. Cher - Believe
3. Ace Of Base - Life Is A Flower
4. Spice Girls - Viva Forever
5. B*Witched - To You I Belong
6. Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar
7. Sash! feat Tina Cousins - Mysterious Times
8. Ace Of Base - Always Have, Always Will
9. The Corrs - Dreams
10. Sash! - La Primavera
11. Tin Tin Out feat Shelly Nelson - Here's Where The Story Ends
12. Boyzone - All That I Need
13. Savage Garden - To The Moon & Back
14. Madonna - The Power Of Goodbye
15. Honeyz - End Of The Line
16. Honeyz - Finally Found
17. Steps - Last Thing On My Mind
18. Steps - One For Sorrow
19. Meja - All 'Bout The Money
20. Aqua - Turn Back Time
21. B*Witched - C'est La Vie
22. Lutricia McNeal - Stranded
23. The Corrs - What Can I Do
24. The Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
25. Robyn - Show Me Love
26. LeAnn Rimes - How Do I Live
27. Madonna - Frozen
28. Jennifer Paige - Crush
29. Savage Garden - Truly, Madly, Deeply
30. E-17 - Each Time
31. Emilia - Big Big World
32. Boyzone - I Love The Way You Love Me
33. Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On
34. Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
35. Five - Until The Time Is Through
36. Robbie Williams - No Regrets
37. Boyzone - No Matter What
38. Steps - Heartbeat
39. Lutricia McNeal - Someone Loves You Honey
40. Karen Ramirez - Looking For Love

The tale of Sunday Girl and the perfect pop song...

2011-09-22T17:57:00.003+01:00

Love U More is one of those pop songs that I seem to love in any incarnation. The 1992 original by Sunscreem, which went top 30 in the UK, introduced this beautiful melody to the world and there have been subsequent covers by both Steps and Basshunter, both of which I absolutely loved! In fact it's fair to say that despite being utterly generic and formulaic, I was addicted to Basshunter's version in summer 2008! And here we go again, this time it's rising electro-pop singer/songwriter Jade Williams aka Sunday Girl having a crack at the song. This is to be her 'proper debut single' for Polydor and will hopefully get the push it needs to at least give it a fighting chance of charting.

The single, due out on 30 October in the UK received its first UK play two days ago on Radio 1Xtra. Naturally I absolutely adore it, I wonder if anybody will ever cover this song in a way that won't appeal massively to me? I very much doubt it, I just love the melody and the lyrics and Sunday Girl's gorgeous warm vocals and sparkling euphoric trance take on the song really make it a cover to cherish. It may not be an original song which is what a lot of her fans would have preferred, but if you're going to do a cover version, you might as well do it in style and Jade shows everybody how its done. You can hear the track in its full glory below;

It's a red hot love affair!

2011-09-18T17:19:00.002+01:00

My current favourite pop obsession then is Red Hot by a Norwegian singer called Lise Karlsnes. Having never heard of her before last week, upon further inspection it seems that Lise is a former member of an electro-pop band called Briskeby who had a top ten hit in Norway in 2000 called Propaganda, which I've embedded below - quite pleasant and clearly ahead of its time actually!

Red Hot though is her first solo outing and takes the best bits of Scandinavian electro pop - the glorious layered 80s influenced production, the BIG chorus, the sorrow bursting from every seam, the stunning outro - it's pop perfection. I've seen it compared elsewhere to Sweden's Vanbot and I'd say that that's a fair comparison - it has that same sort of 'D.I.Y. Robyn' sound to it. Having listened to Propaganda now though, more than anything else it seems to be a natural progression from Briskeby, which is nice for the fans. She does look like a cross between Jessie J and Dragons Den's Hilary Devey in the video though!

Enrique and Pitbull are liking it again!

2011-09-14T10:56:00.003+01:00

Following on from their huge smash collaboration last year I Like It, Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull have teamed up once again on the less 'club banger' and more POP song I Like How It Feels. It's got some whistling (the Moves Like Jagger influence?) and is actually a surprisingly pleasant and instantly catchy pop song with a subtle electro backing and anthemic Kings of Leon style 'oh-oh-uh-oh' style chanting. Another nice change of style from Enrique the musical chameleon after a year of club songs and it should go down very well on the radio - has anybody remembered to make a non-Pitbull version for Heart FM?

Tove Styrke = just a bit brilliant, no?

2011-09-12T11:29:00.003+01:00

18 year old Tove Styrke finished 3rd in Sweden's Idol 2009 and is already far far better than she should be considering her age. With a quirky electro sound that is closest to that of Robyn, it's interesting to put their early hits side by side. Robyn was releasing pre-Britney bubblegum pop and scoring worldwide hits with the likes of Show Me Love and Do You Know (What It Takes) at the age of 18, Tove meanwhile has bypassed that stage completely and gone straight down the contemporary Robyn route of magnificent top class melodic and often emotive electro pop.

Launching last year with the beat driven Million Pieces, it didn't take long until she unleashed her first pop monster - the glorious White Light Moment, probably my favourite Scandipop song since Agnes' Release Me, which is no mean feat considering that I'd place that inside my all time top ten. Her debut eponymous album was so accomplished that it sounded like something a respected artist might release four or five years into their career. The production was spot on and there was a lot of variety but only a few flashes of melodic brilliance, White Light Moment (why has this not been given a UK push yet? Radio 1 would surely lap it up?) being the standout.

Her profile though has remained high throughout the year with further singles. High & Low got a polish and a single release earlier in the year and more recently we've had two new singles, one which can be assumed to be the first from her second album, Call My Name, and then a collaboration with Caotico called (Fuck My) Brains Out. Both are thoroughly brilliant, slotting in behind White Light Moment as my 2nd and 3rd favourite things that she's done to date respectively, the former being a spunky electro singalong, the latter being a surprisingly charming and jolly collaboration, considering its lyrical content! Will she ever top her second single? It's hard to say as it's like asking if Lady Gaga will ever top Bad Romance. It's incredibly unlikely but the second album has the potential to be incredible looking at the evidence presented so far. Similar production to the debut but more big melodies and I'll be very happy indeed. Lets just hope that she didn't peak too soon because she has the makings of an international star.

Birdy helps the people

2011-09-07T11:02:00.003+01:00

15 year old Jasmine Van den Bogaerde aka Birdy has already won a legion of fans this year for her emotional piano ballad takes on recent indie songs. Her take on Bon Iver's Skinny Love had decent chart longevity and eventually peaked at #17 in the UK whilst The XX cover Shelter went top 50. Her Live Lounge version of Ed Sheeran's The A Team was also haunting. Cherry Ghost are the next to get the cover treatment - the 2007 indie rock hit, which reached the top 30 in the UK, has once again been Birdied and sounds even more glorious than ever before. Her delicate yet incredibly mature vocals and the stripped production bring the melody right out of the original and transform the track into a genuine tear jerker. The single is apparently due out on October 3rd and has really whet my appetite for the album which will follow shortly after.

Flashback: UK top five 24/05/1997

2011-09-04T11:39:00.005+01:00

Being the chart obsessive that I sadly still am, and have been for the best part of my life, here's a new feature where I'll select various past UK top fives and endeavour to give them some context and of course write my own thoughts about them. Lets start with one from May 1997, Labour had just gone into power, Cool Britannia and Girl Power were the terms of the time and I was 10 and at primary school, yet remember all five of these tracks perfectly.

1. Olive - You're Not Alone (1)

This was the second week at the top for British duo Olive and their famous dance anthem You're Not Alone. Not one of my personal favourite 90s dance anthems but I appreciate it a lot more now than I did back then. It's had various covers since, an ATB one that sounded exactly the same and then one by Tinchy Stryder which also kept the chorus more or less in tact. Sadly Olive never graced the top ten again after this moved down the listings, but no doubt they still make some money from continued airplay and its tracklisting on every respectable 'best of the 90s' compilation going!

2. Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli - Time To Say Goodbye (NEW)

Does anybody else miss the days when a song like this could become a hit? The late 90s were an incredibly varied landscape chartwise and after going on to huge success in Germany, becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time there, classical crossover track Time To Say Goodbye got a UK release and heavy Radio 2 play and smashed in at #2, staying inside the top five for five weeks! The closest we got in 2011 was Ludovico Einaudi going top 40 for a week with I Giorni thanks to a Greg James campaign...More recently, the song has been covered by Joe McElderry on his #2 album Classic.

3. Katrina and the Waves - Love Shine A Light (13)

Another song that it's impossible to imagine being a top three hit now, 80's one hit wonders Katrina and the Waves returned to the spotlight in early 1997 having been chosen to represent the UK at Eurovision. The uplifting song, with an almost contemporary prayer-like quality (I SWEAR I remember singing this at church when I used to go weekly as a child), swept aside the competition and became an easy win for the UK, and indeed our last of five. Everything seemed to be going right for the country in 1997, and even the Eurovision wasn't immune to this feeling. Bouncing up from #13 to capitalise on its success, has there ever been a more eclectic top three than this, seriously?

4. No Mercy - Please Don't Go (NEW)

The follow up to the huge, classic hit Where Do You Go, the latin American trio followed that up with another instant top five hit. It followed the usual 'inferior near carbon copy of past hit = diminishing returns'. This followed the exact formula of its predecessor and duly dropped out of the top 40 after four weeks...they may as well have been a one hit wonder.

5. The Cardigans - Lovefool (2)

Swedish band The Cardigans had released this pop anthem a year before, peaking at a criminal #21 in the UK. After being included on the soundtrack of hit film Romeo & Juliet it was re-released and managed a far more deserving #2 peak this time around. A smiley anthemic indie-tinged pop anthem, like much of their 90s output, it's not my absolute favourite song of theirs - that accolade would go to the Gran Turismo singles My Favourite Game and Erase/Rewind, but it provided the commercial breakthrough that they needed. Shockingly, in the land of underrating their own talent, Sweden (hi domestic #9 peak for Agnes' international smash Release Me) it only got as far as #15...in recent years it's been brought back into the spotlight by, of all people, Justin Bieber, who interpolated the chorus in his single Love Me.

Fancy another huge hit Wretch 32...?

2011-09-03T10:35:00.002+01:00

...how about making Hush Little Baby your next single then!?! Black and White is a really good debut album from the Tottenham born rapper although the singles are generally the highlights, Traktor in particular remains amazing. There are however a few decent collaborations tucked away - Don't Be Afraid with Delilah and Anniversary (Fall In Love) with Alex Mills but my easy highlight of the entire album, although I may be biased due to recent Ed Sheeran obsessions, is Hush Little Baby featuring the man himself. The excellent production sounds like a more accomplished take on some of the great songs on Ed's Loose Change EP, namely Sofa and One Night and his vocals on the chorus are as stunning and affecting as ever. Wretch's verses are suitably hard hitting and relevant and this just has smash hit written all over it!

Sun rising for LA based Australian singer...

2011-09-02T09:46:00.011+01:00

Australian singer/songwriter Katie Cole has been recording music and living in LA hoping for her big break but BBC Radio 2 in the UK have quickly got on board and playlisted her single Sunrise, providing massive exposure for the rising star. A guitar driven intro leads into a cheery and uplifting song with echoes of Sheryl Crow and Kelly Clarkson. Yet it's a brilliant way to launch her career, instantly catchy and infectious - perfect for daytime radio.

A number of her songs are already available to download in the UK for anybody that's interested - her Lost Inside A Moment EP is particularly strong, featuring this single as well as Always and the title track that should appeal to fans of Delta Goodrem, Natalie Imbruglia, Sara Bareilles, Vanessa Carlton and other 00s adult contemporary pop singers. Breakout meanwhile is a lot more dramatic with sweeping strings and a darker melody, but still incredibly immersive. All in all though Katie has shown a lot of potential and I can't wait to hear what's yet to come!

But now you're suddenly like a stranger...

2011-09-01T15:09:00.005+01:00

After 10 years away it's easy to forget how much of an impact Steps had on the British pop scene. Between 1997-2001 Claire, Faye, H, Lisa and Lee ruled the charts with their brand of Europop crossed with a sort of UK take on schlager. The likes of Last Thing On My Mind, One For Sorrow and After The Love Has Gone were particularly ABBA-esque. They scored 14 consecutive top five singles in the UK and their Gold: Greatest Hits collection (another nod to the great Swedes!) topped the charts for three weeks here. So news of their 'Ultimate Collection' to commemorate their reunion of sorts - getting back together for a Sky Living documentary, although there *may* be more to follow if the reaction is good - was a moment to cherish for Steps fans.

However although singles that were missing on Gold have been added, the only 'new' track is a cover of Dancing Queen, just to really hammer the point home. This did of course appear as part of their 'Thank ABBA For The Music' medley with Tina Cousins, B*Witched, Billie and Cleopatra so one would assume that it will sound a lot like the segment from that. Either way, we'll be buying it for the bonus DVD of music videos and cross our fingers that we get a proper new album and tour next year! It's been far too long...

We're back!

2011-09-01T14:52:00.003+01:00

Happy September, it's time to restart the blog and first apologies for such a long absence. A lot has happened in the music world since the last post, not least the returns to relevance for Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Scherzinger, Will Young, Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera - congratulations to all! And how could we not mention Ed Sheeran going from cruelly snubbed 'Sound Of 2011' casualty to the biggest new artist of the year (well, maybe after Jessie J!). Now it's time to look at what traditionally the most exciting quarter of the music year has to offer so join me once again, get involved with your comments or send me e-mails of suggestions what I should include and I'll see what I can do! For now though, enjoy the pretty new banner which encompasses the essence of what this blog is all about!

Blue to represent the UK at Eurovision!!!

2011-01-30T08:02:00.002Z

Reformed 00's boyband Blue have been announced to represent the United Kingdom at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. After years of shameful songs and bottom place finishes, the BBC have gone all out this year to secure an act with decent credentials rather than a talentless nobody, and I for one will be backing Blue in May, well, providing that they have a decent song of course!

Launched to mass fanfare in 2001 as a cooler boyband after Another Level and 5ive had all but disappeared, Blue scored a clutch of UK and European hits and sold millions of singles and albums. They topped the UK charts three times - with Too Close, If You Come Back and their Elton John duet Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word. Still radio staples today with these songs as well as their other classics All Rise, Fly By II and One Love (for the mother's pride - who could forget that tribute to sliced bread!). The song will be called I Can and the boys, Simon Webbe, Lee Ryan, Duncan James and Antony Costa, all of whom scored some solo success outside of the band, will embark on promotional duties across Europe in the coming months.

They're certainly not nobodies in Europe either, having scored huge hits across the continent, especially in the returning Italy, where classy ballad Breathe Easy was a mammoth #1 in 2004. Can they win Eurovision for the UK? Who knows, but they've certainly given us our best chance in a long long time - unless the song is truly dreadful, it seems unlikely that they'll be in sniffing distance of last place like most of our entries.

Echoes of Ed Sheeran and Sheelah

2011-01-20T08:41:00.013Z

Echoes

What's this? A new male electropop duo - after Hurts, The Sound of Arrows and of course Pet Shop Boys, consider me interested! And you can certainly hear influences of the latter in the music of Echoes. The pair have been remixing for rising stars Florrie, The Good Natured, Lights and The Joy Formidable but also have some songs of their own out there, and it's fair to say that they're very impressive.

Listen to some of their songs/remixes here: www.soundcloud.com/wehearechoes

And here is my favourite of their songs on Youtube, the melancholy It Goes On, sounding like a lost 80's gem but simultaneously making a lot of sense in 2011;

Ed Sheeran

I feel like I'm a bit late to the party to just start writing about Ed now, but this guy cannot be ignored. As a big fan of Leddra Chapman, a friend and collaborator of Ed Sheeran, I became aware of his music at some point early this year. But despite being tipped by approximately none of the 'Sound of 2011' type polls, Ed looks like he's about to become a major star. His latest of many EP's, No.5 Collaborations Project, climbed as high as #2 on iTunes UK without any sort of major label backing, with only the force that is Rihanna blocking a #1. He clearly has a quickly growing fanbase and deservedly so. The 19 year old singer/songwriter is unique in that he works with a lot of the current big grime artists, particularly on his current EP - this hybrid genre is incredibly fresh and his soulful voice really stands out and adds weight, and a sense of hope or sorrow to the rapper that each chorus accompanies in the verse. Even Elton John's declared himself as a fan! The most hard hitting track on the EP is Little Lady, a collaboration with Mikill Pane. It's gritty and shocking, almost like a UK version of Eminem's Stan lyrically - but definitely well worth a listen;

Sheelah

I covered Sheelah on the blog last year following their frankly astonishing Scandipop/electro/pop-rock hybrid Psycho. The duo, formerly part of the group Caracola, who participated in Melodifestivalen 2008 with the chirpy Smiling In Love, are set to be launched properly now - in Sweden at least - and the first proper single from them is The Last Time. Not a million miles away from Psycho, the lyrics are perhaps more commercial so it makes sense to lead with this song. The electro production gives way to a When Love Takes Over style broken piano chord before launching into a brilliantly euphoric Scandipop chorus and that's before even getting onto one of the greatest middle eight's I've heard in a while! Roll on Sheelah's album - I'll be first in line to buy it, or rather import it!

Max Martin's a bit busy at the moment isn't he...

2011-01-17T11:21:00.003Z

Not content with only working on worldwide smash hits for Britney, Taio Cruz and anyone of note, he hasn't forgotten his Swedish routes and has teamed up with Euro legend E-Type to help resurrect his long career. Written and produced alongside Shellback and Savan Kotecha it's no surprise to hear that Back To Life is an instantly catchy Eurotrance/pop anthem not dissimilar to recent singles from Taio Cruz, Rihanna et al. E-Type's vocals sound more like Eiffel 65 than ever before but it's good to see him back on the scene. Active since the early 1990s, he was huge across Europe, particularly in his native Sweden where he's had five No.1 singles and appeared in Melodifestivalen with Paradise in 2004 and Line Of Fire in 2008. A UK launch was attempted more recently courtesy of dance label AATW, with singles True Believer and Rain being given a push here (and featuring on the huge Clubland compilation series), but sadly they didn't really take off. One would imagine that AATW will definitely be attempting to push this one, it certainly sounds current to the charts of today - and naturally it will succeed in Sweden!

How long could I get away without mentioning Britney?

2011-01-15T09:15:00.004Z

...Not very long! Now I'll admit, I've always found Britney's single releases to be hit and miss, but you can't ignore the fact that each era has thrown up at least one pop classic - Baby One More Time, Oops...I Did It Again!, I'm A Slave 4 U, Toxic, Gimme More, Womanizer and this time around Hold it Against Me. An absolute triumph of a comeback single, Max Martin and Dr Luke working together never results in an end product that is anything less than spectacular. Surely the two most on form songwriter/producers in the world, they have an uncanny knack to move forward with every trend, never sounding tired or sticking too long to the same sound (Timbaland/RedOne). It became clear at some point during last year that dubstep would be the 'sound of 2011'. So the pair, who have dabbled in clunky piano pop in the late 90's, pop/rock in the mid 00's and electro-pop and urban-dance more recently have turned their hand to the genre. And who better to bring it into the mainstream than Britney Spears?

Hold It Against Me seems understated at first, a chorus perhaps not as instant as those on the hits that she is famed for. But the production hits you straight away. The crashing intro and first verse clearly borrows from Eurodance, my first thoughts were that it sounded like a more fierce version of In My Eyes by Milk Inc. Fast forward through various 'Britney-isms' such as her pronunciation of hazy ('hazaay') and a spoken/sung middle eight, leading to what is already destined to be 2011's best breakdown, only two weeks into the year! Dubstep pulses and electro synths simmer before exploding back into that chorus, which by the third listen is guaranteed to have you hooked and coming back for more. Her ever loyal (sometimes scarily so) fanbase unsurprisingly believe that this is the best thing since sliced bread, and for the first time since Toxic, they could well be justified.

I'll always remember our summer in Hawaii...

2011-01-15T08:45:00.007Z

RedOne's Swedish protege Mohombi seems to be getting a lot of big names appearing on his records recently, one would begin to think that the proudcer is trying to engineer him into a superstar! Debut single Dirty Ride was cheeky but fun and catchy, and less enjoyable collaborations with the likes of Nelly and Akon have followed in quick succession. But Coconut Tree just screams 'summer smash' and features none other than Pussycat Dolls' and now solo star (although that's debatable I guess) Nicole Scherzinger.

The song won me over on first listen from Nicole's spoken intro and outro 'I'll always remember our summer in Hawaii, aloha nui loa' but Mohombi's input is no less enjoyable as he provides an infectious chorus and 'ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh's. With typical RedOne beats and synths meeting a sort of dancehall bassline, this could have either come out in 2003, alongside Lumidee, Sean Paul and Wayne Wonder or let's be honest here - 1997. It sounds like the spiritual successor to Mr President's Coco Jamboo and that's before we even consider how similar the spoken intro sounds to the 'I had a dream last night' intro to Stay by Sash! Nonetheless though, it doesn't take itself too seriously, but it would be nice if this wound up as his biggest hit to date.

A note to new acts and music promoters

2011-01-14T18:38:00.006Z

Doing this blog last year, I was blessed with the amount of tracks that came my way to review and cast a critical eye over. It reached a fairly large audience, mostly pop fans like myself, so if you've got anything you'd like to feature on this blog that you think I (and the typical reader) might like, please get in touch and I'll have a listen. I won't always necessarily feature it as I don't know that I'll be able to give a particularly objective review if you send me screamo or heavy metal (!) but I'll always consider it. And until then, why not enjoy my favourite song of 2011 so far, a dubstep classic in the making, Me & You by Nero!!! If all dubstep is this enjoyable then it may be one of my favourite 'sounds' since the nu-soul boom of 2008!

It's been a while...but it was worth the wait!

2011-01-14T18:05:00.009Z

So, after taking a 4 month hiatus, Pop Love Dance is back in business and raring to go for 2011, and with a lot to look forward to judging by rumblings of the first couple of weeks. And what better way to start than with my slightly late, but promised top 100 songsand top 20 albums of 2010!!! Et voila;

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite
2. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers
3. Take That - The Flood
4. Stromae - Alors On Danse
5. Roll Deep - Green Light
6. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking
7. Rihanna feat Drake - What's My Name
8. Tove Styrke - White Light Moment
9. Kylie Minogue - Get Outta My Way
10. Leddra Chapman - Story
11. Boyzone - Gave It All Away
12. Le Kid - We Should Go Home Together
13. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat
14. Timoteij - Kom
15. Sheelah - Psycho
16. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart
17. Cheryl Cole - Promise This
18. Roll Deep - Good Times
19. The Saturdays - Higher
20. Shakira feat Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)
21. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This
22. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again
23. Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood
24. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls
25. Shackles - Breaking the Silence
26. Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are
27. Zowie - Broken Machine
28. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You
29. Robbie Williams & Gary Barlow - Shame
30. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love
31. Robyn - Dancing On My Own
32. The Saturdays - Missing You
33. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life
34. Yolanda Be Cool & D Cup - We No Speak Americano
35. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar
36. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi
37. Nadine Coyle - Insatiable
38. The Band Perry - If I Die Young
39. The Naked & Famous - Young Blood
40. Nicole Scherzinger – Poison
41. Erik Hassle – Hurtful
42. Take That – Eight Letters
43. Robyn – In My Eyes
44. Cee Lo Green – Fuck You
45. Safura – Drip Drop
46. Leddra Chapman – Summer Song
47. Elsiane – Vaporous
48. Lady GaGa – Bad Romance
49. Elin Lanto – Funeral
50. Ellie Goulding – Your Song
51. Cheryl Cole – 3 Words
52. Lady GaGa – Alejandro
53. Alexis Jordan – Happiness
54. Sugarland – Stuck Like Glue
55. Lena Meyer-Landrut feat Ellie Goulding – Not Following
56. Jenny Berggren – Here I Am
57. Sky Ferreira – One
58. Alphabeat – DJ
59. Kylie Minogue – Better Than Today
60. Diana Vickers – Notice
61. Rihanna – Only Girl (In The World)
62. Pepper & Piano – You Took My Heart
63. Katie Melua – The Flood
64. Timbaland feat Katy Perry – If We Ever Meet Again
65. Cheryl Cole – Parachute
66. K'Naan – Wavin' Flag
67. Katy Perry – Firework
68. Glee Cast – Don't Stop Believin'
69. Richard Vission and Static Revenger feat Luciana – I Like That
70. Jason DeRulo – What If
71. Jenny Berggren – Gotta Go
72. Alcazar – Headlines
73. Boyzone – Love Is A Hurricane
74. Jessy Matador – Allez! Ola! Ole!
75. Agnes & Bjorn – When You Tell The World You're Mine
76. The Pipettes – So I'll Say Goodbye
77. Didrik Solli–Tangen – My Heart Is Yours
78. Leddra Chapman – Fooling Myself
79. The Saturdays – Ego
80. Petter feat Veronica Maggio – Langesen
81. Rumer – Slow
82. Girls Can't Catch – Echo
83. CC & Lee – Better Best Forgotten
84. Tone Damli feat Vinni – Stuck In My Head
85. Diana Vickers – Once
86. Agnes – Secret Love
87. Nina Lassander – Cider Hill
88. Robyn – Time Machine
89. JLS – Eyes Wide Shut
90. Fallen Millie – Want To Be (Under Your Christmas Tree)
91. B.o.B. Feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes
92. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull – All Night Long
93. Venke Knutson – Jealous 'Cause I Love You
94. Take That – SOS
95. Eliza Doolittle – Pack Up
96. Rihanna – California King Bed
97. David Guetta feat Rihanna – Who's That Chick
98. Ellie Goulding – Little Dreams
99. Rihanna feat Eminem – Love The Way You Lie
100. Monrose – Breathe You In

Albums

1. Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite
2. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales
3. Lady GaGa - The Fame Monster
4. Robyn - Body Talk
5. Take That – Progress
6. Rihanna - Loud
7. Boyzone - Brother
8. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player
9. The Saturdays - Headlines
10. Ellie Goulding - Bright Lights
11. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree
12. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It
13. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
14. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom
15. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely
16. Tone Damli - Cocool
17. Hurts - Happiness
18. Shakira - Sale El Sol
19. Marina & The Diamonds – The Family Jewels
20. Cheryl Cole – Messy Little Raindrops

What did we learn in 2010;

> Eurovision wasn't as good as usual except for Queen Lena, cheers all round for Germany and we will welcome her back with open arms in May when she represents her country once again. Will she become the Roger Federer of Eurovision?

> Reformed Take That 1.0 are just as good as Take That 2.0 as the big mature pop anthems, but even better at doing things that are a bit different (see Progress).

> Kylie Minogue is most definitely back on form after a couple of questionable album campaigns. Now the very different campaign begins to persuade Radio 1 to stop snubbing her!

> Roll Deep punched way above their weight in terms of making joyous club anthems. The Avenue showed potential in 2005, but two UK #1's!?!

> Rihanna truly does get better and better with each release. Imagine how good she'll be when she's 30!

> In a year of mild disappointments for the genre, Leddra Chapman proved that the singer/songwriter genre is still thriving with an excellently produced confident yet gorgeous debut album. Why she's not massive yet is a mystery to all.

> Ellie Goulding was the latest in a growing list of acts to prove that album re-releases aren't always entirely pointless, by saving some of her best material for Bright Lights!

And onto 2011 we go...

GA solo battle: Cheryl vs. Nadine

2010-09-25T13:46:00.003+01:00

So, having lived with the two songs for a couple of weeks, I feel that I can comment on this. Cheryl Cole's new single Promise This, leading her second album Messy Little Raindrops premiered a few days after the long awaited debut solo single from Girls Aloud bandmate Nadine Coyle, aka 'the voice of Girls Aloud'. Being something of a GA loon (I own all 21 singles, albums, DVD's etc... and bought the box set too) I was very excited to hear both of these. Promise This by Cheryl is pretty far removed from the three singles from her debut album. An electro pop stormer in a Saturdays vein, it has a catchy hook, a brilliant piano backing and some brilliant lyrics and chants in French. Definitely a winner and the video is very good too. That's four out of four Cheryl singles that I loved then. I can't decide which is the best out of this, 3 Words and Fight For This Love.

Over to Nadine then and her debut solo single Insatiable. Sadly not a Darren Hayes cover, this is a song that I loved from the very first play. A brassy strong intro, some have called it 'dated' but I really wouldn't say that personally. It sounds fresh purely because Nadine hasn't gone down the now tired RedOne soundalike route. An individual song, which suits her distinctive voice down to a tee, with a great chorus. At this moment in time I very slightly prefer Nadine's song but both are fantastic - I do miss Girls Aloud though, rather hugely. This time two years ago I was obsessed with The Promise and I have to admit to not liking either of these two solo singles quite that much. With Nicola, Sarah and Kimberley, they were part of something very special indeed, and I do hope that they fulfill their promise to get back together at some point. Tangled Up and Out Of Control were effortlessly good - critically acclaimed, solid and excellent pop music. Chart predictions for the two songs? Cheryl's is obviously a #1 - she could basically release anything as a lead and take it to the top at the moment. Nadine's not as famous these days and might have to settle for top three at best - assuming that radio get on board, which hopefully they will!!!

The curse of the Euro hit in the UK...

2010-09-12T17:45:00.002+01:00

What is it with nearly every huge European hit this year stalling between 21-40 in the UK charts this year? Sure they usually hang around for a while but I can't fathom why the UK is the only country where a lot of songs completely fail to properly catch on, when the rest of the continent are absolutely loving them. Aside from Yolanda Be Cool, who are Australian anyway, just with a typical Eurohit sound and legacy, only really Inna and Edward Maya have done brilliantly well in the UK charts this year, though the latter's Stereo Love only spent a month in the top twenty before spending an eternity in the bottom half of the chart where it remains even now. But what of Stromae's Alors On Danse (#27), Lena's Satellite (#30), Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) (#21), Keri Hilson's I Like (#34) and Hurts' Wonderful Life (#21). The latter are even from the UK! Granted they've scored themselves a top five debut album here but the song has absolutely blown up in the rest of Europe, yet their home country can't even put it top twenty!!!

It's been a strange year chartwise in the UK. Most of the biggest sellers have failed to top the charts - in fact it looks as if Eminem and Rihanna's #2 hit Love The Way You Lie will be topping the year to date chart soon!!! A lot of No.1 singles have been flash in the pan year 2000 type in one week and out of the top five the next (or at least down to the bottom of the top five). But the real confusion, for me, lies in this strange quirk of having all of the biggest European hits of the year doing so badly here. All I can chalk it up to is that they are not getting enough support here for whatever reason. Maybe the radio and TV bosses deem these songs to be less relevant to the UK than the rest of Europe. Maybe the UK follows and copies the US music scene more closely than anyone else.

Alors On Danse and Wonderful Life managed to get onto the Radio 1 playlist, somewhat surprisingly for the former, but it's received little support from elsewhere and hence isn't likely to go much higher than it already has. Waka Waka, I Like and Satellite meanwhile, all huge No.1 hits in Europe's other biggest market, Germany, haven't received any Radio 1 support whatsoever, let alone commercial radio support. It's sad to see that we seem completely out of touch with the rest of Europe with our charts, but hopefully these songs will go down as classic singles regardless of their peak - they all certainly deserve to. Whilst the UK enjoy disposable cod-reggae/carnival songs from X Factor alumni at the top of our charts, at least the rest of Europe are enjoying quality, decent music which is the real sound of 2010!!!

Grange Hill Can't Handle Me

2010-08-31T21:02:00.004+01:00

Anyone remember the 1990s theme tune to UK high school based drama Grange Hill? The simple but memorable piano melody, composed by Peter Moss, was one of my favourite theme tunes of the era. Anyway, listening to Flo Rida's Club Can't Handle Me recently, I suddenly realised that the Grange Hill music would fit perfectly beneath Flo Rida's song. Kudos to remixer Doberman for coming up with a great remix of the original theme that laid a perfect soundbed for the mashup, seeing as the original was far too short. I had a bit of a play about with the two songs on Audacity and the concept seemed to work, but my mashup skills weren't quite up to scratch. So I sent the idea and a demo of my basic mix to friend and mashup king Hitstastic to work his magic and voila, see what you think of his final version 'Grange Hill Can't Handle Me' by LB9 vs. Hitstastic;

Club Can't Handle Me is a great song but really incredibly generic and way too similar to I Gotta Feeling in places, production wise. If this was the radio mix, I know I would have bought it on single! But maybe I'm biased as it was my idea! Here's to rap stars in the future sampling British TV theme tunes for real, next stop Eminem vs. Birds of a Feather!

A personal journey through music

2010-08-25T20:36:00.007+01:00

I've been thinking recently about the ways in which I love and have loved music. It's ironic that I love it so much now as an adult, as I really didn't start appreciating music until 1998, when I was 11! Before that I liked a few odd songs, but never bought any music or went out of my way to listen to it. But now a lot of my favourites are 90s songs that I enjoyed at the time but have rediscovered in the noughties, having bought various compilations and learnt more about the history of the industry. The Corrs' sophomore album Talk On Corners changed my views on music albums wise, when I received it along with my first stereo in 1998, and Cher's seminal anthem Believe was the first single/song that I truly loved and became obsessed with, so all hail the vocoder!!! From circa October 1998 onwards I'd listen to the chart every week to hear the latest songs. I suppose my music phases can be briefly grouped as the following;

1987-1998 - I didn't really listen to/enjoy an awful lot of music aside for a few songs and never listened to any album until 1998. I was always extremely cultural aware though, for somebody who didn't actually listen to much music. I could tell you the full names of every Spice Girl, and probably even every member of Solid Harmoine! I read the magazines and stored all of the information but didn't listen to the music - it was a very strange relationship to the industry.

1999-2002 - From here on in I primarily listened to and loved chart dance, thanks to ATB's 9PM (Till I Come) and Alice Deejay's Better Off Alone at first, although I did like pop - very little from any other genres though. I first watched the Eurovision Song Contest in 1999 and recall liking Charlotte Nilsson, Selma, Evelin Samuel and Precious (which I bought on single on its release week, not realising that it was anything to do with ESC - obsessive in waiting!). The 2000 contest I only liked Alsou and Ines so basically wrote off my Eurovision love as a passing fad. But then 2001 had about 10 songs I loved and this was when the real obsession kicked in. My favourite song of all time also surfaced during this period - the Rob Searle trance remix of N-Trance's Set You Free. Defines perfection. If I could only listen to one song for the rest of my life, it would have to be this.

2003 - This was a big transition year for me, and my least favourite year of the 00's for many reasons (personal as well as musical - finishing school and doing exams, starting college, getting a job - I found it all very stressful). There was NO good dance about all year which devestated me, so I had to turn my attentions elsewhere. Delta Goodrem turned me fully on to pop music at this point. I loved Born To Try instantly but wasn't a real convert until I bought the Innocent Eyes album in the summer. From that point onwards I stopped being so all over the place with my tastes and pop was at the forefront now.

2004-2005 - I went through a piano singer/songwriter phase - Sarah McLachlan/Missy Higgins/Lucie Silvas etc... - all spawned from my love of Delta. I Still loved pure pop and dance started to seep back into my tastes too. I finally started to like male artists after six years of only caring for females, with very very few exceptions (Tanel Padar & Dave Benton, Eiffel 65, Wheatus, ATB - that's about it!). It was the summer domination of James Blunt and Daniel Powter (who I LOVED) which got me into males finally, bizarrely. I also finally loved a rap song for the first time - The Avenue by Roll Deep! And Kelly Clarkson and The Veronicas kick started a love affair with pop-rock too.

2006-2007 - This was when I really started to branch out with my musical tastes. I finally opened up to stuff from any and every genre, besides still loving pop and dance. Notably, after always hating it, Carrie Underwood turned me on to the occasional delights of country music! Males started to rule my tastes at various times, females at others. Two thoroughly good years for music across the spectrum - 2006 had Voodoo Child, Hips Don't Lie and Rock Steady, 2007 had With Every Hearbeat, Rule The World, Love Song and Believe Again all surface within mere weeks of each other (ok Robyn was slightly earlier!). I started going to gigs a lot during these years too, although I had been to a few in 2004-2005, but I was at uni in these two years and it was very much routine for me (and surely most students!?!) by now.

2008-present - nowadays I'm open to just about anything, and will give anything a chance. Inide, rock, dance (I enjoy all sub genres of it basically too), any type of pop, country, really coming around to love rap and R&B nowadays too. I just listen to a lot more variety, more foreign music, far less UK chart music than ever before. My tastes have certainly developed over the years - I love things now that I never would have loved when I was much more narrow minded and dance obsessed ten years ago. But my heart does remain with pop and dance primarily. And it will take somebody truly special indeed to ever penetrate my three favourite artists ever - Delta Goodrem, The Corrs and Shakira - nobody holds a light to these three for me. Other artists I've gone on and off but whenever I think I might be getting bored of one of these, they pull something truly sensational out of the bag (Believe Again, the entire Borrowed Heaven album, and She Wolf/Waka Waka respectively). I mustn't underestimate the contribution of the following so far unmentioned acts on my life in terms of my musical 'journey' though: Girls Aloud, Kylie Minogue, Take That, Lady GaGa, Colbie Caillat, KT Tunstall, Kelly Llorenna, Atomic Kitten, Christina Aguilera, Natasha Bedingfield, Mariah Carey and Vanessa Amorosi - all incredibly instrumental in shaping my tastes and indeed soundtracking my life so far.

Manics are back, and inspired by Steps!?!

2010-08-16T16:36:00.006+01:00

Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers are back, and after an album that didn't perform particularly well sales and chart-wise, they seem to be after a hit this time. The lead single from Postcards From A Young Man, is called (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love, and after loving their last commercial lead single in 2007 - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough, which featured Cardigans' singer Nina Persson, I was intrigued to see how they're intending to bag a hit in an era where rock music is performing terribly in the charts. In fact it has a practically non-existent presence these days save for the odd Facebook campaign boosted entry, like Rage Against The Machine. A far cry from five years ago when the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand were powerful chart forces.

It would seem that the Manics answer to this, with their new single, is to jump back ten years in time and use an incredibly similar main hook to Steps' 2000 #1 hit Stomp!!! It may have been a UK #1 but everyone knows it was far from their best and got to the top by default on a low sales week. Why not borrow from classics such as One For Sorrow or It's The Way You Make Me Feel!?! It's a catchy song, and I actually do like it, but it's a very strange experience listening to it indeed. Can the Manics buck the trend to score a rare rock hit or is the genre too irrelevant chart-wise for this to make a mark at the moment? Time will tell...but for now, 'everybody clap your hands *clap clap* get on up and dance, we're gonna stomp all night now!';

Manic Street Preachers - (It's Not War) Just The End Of Love

Steps - Stomp

Radio 1 in not ignoring French language song shocker!!!

2010-08-11T20:54:00.003+01:00

The inescapable Alors On Danse has been an absolutely huge smash hit across Europe this year, topping the charts in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia and Switzerland and going top 3 in Sweden, Russia, Poland and Finland. Of course, with any other hit on this scale it would seem rather obvious that eventually, and always last, it would cross over to the UK market. However, I was always dubious about this prospect in the respect that foreign language hits in the UK are few and far between to say the least, the last French language top ten hit here being Moi Lolita by Alizee in 2002. Others have been promoted on TV to no avail - La Tortura by Shakira and Ella Elle L'a by Kate Ryan for example, but they've never properly caught on, mainly because radio refuse to play them.

So was Australian act Yolanda Be Cool's Italian language recent UK No.1 hit We No Speak Americano breaking through the dawn of a new era for non English language songs to cross over into the UK charts? Certainly the country's biggest radio station, BBC Radio 1, seem like they're finally going to start supporting them. No sooner than Yolanda Be Cool is taken off the playlist, Belgian singer Stromae's Euro smash is added!!! So if you're from the UK but have been living under a rock and managed to avoid Alors On Danse's huge internet presence this year, get ready for the onslaught because it's about to go big!!! If you're a European reader, you may laugh at how ridiculously long it takes 99% of Euro hits to reach these shores, if they ever do at all that is, knowing full well that you were dancing to Alors On Danse in March!!!

Hopefully this is going to be the start of something for UK radio's near blanket refusal to play anything in a language other than English. We've missed out on some great tracks here that are regarded as classics across the rest of Europe, so please, can the snobbery finally end now? Imagine if radio and TV in Germany enforced a policy of playing only German language music - the country would be up in arms about not being able to listen to new material from the likes of Lady GaGa, Robbie Williams, Katy Perry and Amy Winehouse!!! Similarly many of us in the UK are getting a little bit tired of missing out on all of the big foreign language hits that we all enjoy on our holidays on the continent, or hear through the internet. So here's to change, ALORS ON DANSE! da, da, da, da, da, da...

A pop standard...but only in Norway!

2010-08-08T08:12:00.005+01:00

British/Norwegian boyband A1 have always had a bit of a knack with a tune. Mark and Christian are great songwriters and Ben is a very strong vocalist. Since reforming, they've had a lot of success in Norway with Comic Relief single Take Me Home, Melodi Grand Prix runner up Don't Wanna Lose You Again (which so deserved to go to Eurovision over Didrik!) and new single In Love And I Hate It, which is the most 'classic' sounding A1 of all three of their singles. They've been performing at some of the summer shows over in Norway recently, and recently sang their aformentioned new single as well as Everytime at Allsang på Grensen.

For anyone who may have forgotten, Everytime was a boyband ballad of epic proportions which has been sadly forgotten in the UK despite peaking at #3 upon its release in November 1999, their biggest hit to date at that point. Unfortunately it was probably rather overshadowed by the fact that it was released the same week as Robbie Williams' classic ballad She's The One, which of course went straight to #1. In Norway however, it was a slightly different story. Everytime peaked at #3 there as well, but spent 13 weeks inside the top ten and went down as something as a pop standard, as you can see by the huge reception for it in that video. Had they been performing it to a big UK crowd, I expect barely anybody would even recall the song's existence, let alone know every word.

This all tells a very interesting story about how different countries take to different songs, which also of course can dramatically change a setlist when acts go to perform in different territories. The centrepiece of a Kylie Minogue set in the UK might well be the likes of Better The Devil You Know and Spinning Around but in the US, she'll pay more attention to The Locomotion, her first big breakthrough hit there. Similarly, Sex On Fire has just joined the elite million sellers club for Kings Of Leon in the UK, but it barely dented the charts in their native America, where Use Somebody was by far their biggest hit.

It's always interesting to see how cultural differences and promotional decisions affect what do and don't go down as 'classic singles' from one country to the next. But one thing's for sure - Everytime is far too strong to be forgotten everywhere but Norway, so can somebody resurrect it by singing it in X Factor this year please? It would surely make a nice change from hearing O-Town's All Or Nothing for the 874th time!!!

Kelly Llorenna returns with a drastic musical overhaul!

2010-08-06T17:51:00.004+01:00

It's fair to say this is one of the most unexpected direction changes I've ever seen. Kelly Llorenna, 'queen of clubs' and one of my favourite British singers of all time is now fronting a new pop/rock band called Freak Asylum. For those that don't know, Kelly's the singer behind THE GREATEST SONG OF ALL TIME ™ (Set You Free by N-Trance) and had solo hits with Tell It To My Heart, Heart Of Gold and This Time I Know It's For Real, and not forgetting the brilliant Flip & Fill collaboration True Love Never Dies! The new band are apparently influenced by 'Gwen Stefani, No Doubt, Pink, The Veronicas, Kelly Clarkson, The Prodigy, Marilyn Manson, H.I.M., John 5, Madonna, Adam Lambert, Muse, Pendulum, Pretty Reckless'. Freak Asylum are working on an album currently...and juding by the sound of That's What I Hate About You, I can't wait to hear it!!!

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/freakasylum
Website: http://freakasylum.co.uk/

Welcome to the wonderful world of Medina

2010-07-30T08:17:00.002+01:00

27 year old Danish singer Medina (real name Andrea Fuentealba Valbak) has emerged as the biggest star from her country since Alphabeat. In fact she's so successful in her homeland that the singer, that merges dance and R&B, has already featured on five #1 and two #2 singles there!!! Although You & I, the English translation to her mega hit Kun For Mig, stalled at #39 in the UK charts when given a release last year, it's gone on to become a top ten hit in Germany which has prompted the release of a full English language album, Welcome To Medina.

Rather than being a direct translation of her Danish LP it features English translations of the four singles; Kun For Mig (You & I), Ensom (Lonely), Vi To (The One) and Velkommen Til Medina (Welcome To Medina). All of these work really well and lay the foundations for a fantastic album, definitely my favourite right now and if you haven't yet heard it I fully recommend that you do. Addiction, 6AM, Execute Me and Selfish are other highlights with only a couple of filler tracks, and even those are better than most. I personally think that she should be given another chance in the UK - the fact that You & I went top 40 at all actually surprised me and there's clearly some interest in her here.

Roll Deep: Bringing grime to the masses?

2010-07-25T11:02:00.003+01:00

Ever since they broke out into the mainstream in 2005 with the brilliant The Avenue, I've been a major fan of Roll Deep. The 'crew', that has featured a number of rappers over the years, most notably Wiley, who has also had solo hits with Wearing My Rolex, Never Be Your Woman, Take That and Cash In My Pocket, have been together since 2002. The Avenue, which sampled, Heartache Avenue by The Maisonettes, was their first chart hit, sadly just missing out on the top ten back in summer 2005, debuting and peaking at #11. It was the first mainly rap song that I probably ever loved, I was never much a fan of the genre before it. I thought that the sample was genius and the verses were perfect. Had it been released in 2010 for the first time it would have been an easy #1 single, but the genre hadn't quite reached the masses by this point.

Other acts bubbling underground in the mid-noughties before really breaking out in the last couple of years have included N-Dubz, Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder, Skepta, Devlin and many others. The sound is very much the 'in thing' and Roll Deep are partly to thank for this, as of course, is Dizzee Rascal who was a member of the collective before they hit the mainstream. The first British grime rapper to really break into the charts, Dizzee sold consistently and had memorable top 20 hits with the likes of Fix Up Look Sharp, Dream and Stand Up Tall, all well ahead of their time and incredibly influential songs. His breakthrough from star to superstar came with the 2008 #1 collaboration with Calvin Harris, Dance Wiv Me. Since then he's hit the UK #1 spot with Bonkers, Holiday, Dirtee Disco and Shout and also smashed with Dirtee Cash and You Got The Dirtee Love with Florence + The Machine. In fact with 5 #1's in less than two years, and almost everything he releases being assured of a place at the top of the charts, you wonder if he's the new Westlife?

Roll Deep scored their first UK #1 single a few months ago with the anthemic Good Times, an uplifting dance/rap hybrid that featured a pulsating trance backing not dissimilar to DJ Sammy's cover of Heaven and a brilliant chorus from emerging talent Jodie Connor. It spent three weeks at #1, the joint longest spell in the past 18 months. New single Green Light will hopefully repeat that feat as if it's at all possible, I love it even more than its predecessor!!! A fantastic bassline hook paves the way for more Wiley led rapping and another excellent female sung chrous, this time from Tania Foster, responsible for the great pop song Supawoman. Hopefully a summer anthem for them, the last thing that this great inspirational group need is to be a one hit wonder. Thank you Roll Deep, even if you didn't open up the eyes of the masses to British rap and grime, you've certainly opened me up to it.

New Music; Katy's dream comes true - Ace of Base are back!!!

2010-07-25T10:37:00.003+01:00

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

Following the enormous worldwide success of California Gurls, pop superstar Katy Perry's latest offering is the slightly slower tempo Teenage Dream. Not too dissimilar melody wise to its predecessor, it's another surefire hit with an instantly memorable chorus, plenty of attitude and oomph and far better than what the pretenders trying to steal her crown are coming out with. For somebody once tipped to be a one hit wonder after I Kissed A Girl, she's made that tricky transition to bona-fide megastar and should have a very long career ahead of her. Her debut album, One Of The Boys, was easily one of my favourite albums of 2008, the singles as well as Self Inflicted in particular, so I can't wait to see how the album of the same name shapes up when it's released at the end of August. The early signs are very promising indeed!

Ace Of Base - All For You

Out are Jenny and Linn, and in are Clara and Julia with a change of (noticeably younger) vocalists from the Swedish pop band. Ulf and Jonas remain behind the scenes, therefore the actual music and production doesn't stray too far away from what you'd expect. It sounds modern and contemporary yet delightfully 90's influenced at the same time. Melodically I'm reminded of Cutting Crew's (I Just) Died In Your Arms funnily enough but there is more than enough here to convince you that this is the same band that released such classics as The Sign, All That She Wants, Life Is A Flower and Don't Turn Around. Instantly catchy, typically Swedish, I was quite worried about the new line-up seeing as I loved Jenny and less so Linn, but luckily we have the former's solo career to look forward to as well (which was kick started with the excellent Here I Am), so two Ace of Base-related albums coming very soon, I can't wait!!!

Lena Meyer-Landrut - Touch A New Day

Following the monster European smash, and of course Eurovision Song Contest winner, Satellite, was never going to be easy for German teenager Lena. She opened her chart career there with three simultaneous top five hits of course, Satellite, Bee and Love Me. With the arguable highlights of the album already out, yet only one of these a 'traditional' single, a new single was needed and the pleasant and breezy, but clearly album filler fodder, Touch A New Day was chosen. It's leagues behind Satellite in terms of quality, but is clearly aiming for a different audience, which should help shift more copies of the album if nothing else. At the time of writing it's fallen from #28 to #38 in the space of a few days on Germany's iTunes which probably suggests that they are suffering from 'Lena fatigue' or maybe that a better single should have been picked, Not Following or her gorgeous cover of Jason Mraz's Mr Curiosity for example. The last thing Germany will want is for their new superstar and national treasure Lena to become a one hit wonder (well three I guess, how confusing!). But she's been confirmed to represent her country again next year to attempt to 'defend' her title, so she should have another #1 single on the way next March. The chances of having another Eurovision winner on her hands are probably slim to none.

He's an Eric Saade hypekiller

2010-07-16T20:36:00.002+01:00

Swedish superstar Darin is back with another gem! Clearly fed up with his #1 male artist in Sweden status being lost first to Måns Zelmerlöw and then Eric Saade, he's here to take his crown back hoping for his 4th #1 single there. The moody pace in the verses and sweeping dramatic strings in the intro almost make it sound like a Scandi-pop take on a Bond theme. It's pretty fantastic anyway and surely the best thing he's done in years, at least since Breathing Your Love. It does bizarrely remind me of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors in parts of the melody though!

Streamlining the blog...

2010-07-09T08:59:00.006+01:00

From now on, I will no longer post my weekly top songs and albums list, I think I cover my favourite new songs/artists well enough in the other posts. I will of course put up my highlights of the year at the end of December, just in case you missed out on anything during the course of the year.

Top Songs/Albums; WB 5/7/10

2010-07-02T10:44:00.006+01:00

Songs

1. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers (2)
2. Shakira feat Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (1)
3. Kylie Minogue - Get Outta My Way (NEW)
4. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (3)
5. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (8)
6. Voe - Don’t Talk To Me (NEW)
7. The Naked & Famous - Young Blood (NEW)
8. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (4)
9. Agnes & Björn - When You Tell The World You’re Mine (6)
10. Roll Deep - Green Light (18)
11. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (7)
12. K’Naan - Wavin’ Flag (5)
13. Rasmus Seebach - Natteravn (21)
14. Yolanda Be Cool & D Cup - We No Speak Americano (9)
15. Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite (NEW)
16. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Extra Mile (20)
17. Vengaboys - Rocket To Uranus (30)
18. Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up (14)
19. Kylie Minogue - Better Than Today (NEW)
20. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (25)
21. Example - Last Ones Standing (23)
22. Mark Ronson and The Business Intl - Bang Bang Bang (17)
23. Stromae - Alors On Danse (12)
24. Lena Meyer-Landrut & Ellie Goulding - Not Following (11)
25. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (13)
26. Fallulah - Bridges (10)
27. Kylie Minogue - Too Much (NEW)
28. Sarah McLachlan - Loving You Is Easy (19)
29. I Blame Coco - Self Machine (16)
30. The Wanted - All Time Low (32)
31. Sarah McLachlan - Forgiveness (NEW)
32. The Saturdays - Missing You (NEW)
33. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (15)
34. Jason DeRülo - What If (42)
35. Kylie Minogue - Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love) (NEW)
36. The Pipettes - Call Me (43)
37. Marina & The Diamonds - Oh No! (38)
38. Daruso - Since You Been Gone (NEW)
39. Diana Vickers - The Boy Who Murdered Love (26)
40. Tinchy Stryder - In My System (39)
41. Kylie Minogue - Can’t Beat The Feeling (NEW)
42. Alexander Rybak - First Kiss (NEW)
43. Locnville - Sun In My Pocket (49)
44. Kelly Rowland - Commander (Re-entry)
45. Eminem feat Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie (37)
46. Flo Rida - Club Can’t Handle Me (33)
47. Miley Cyrus - Two More Lonely People (NEW)
48. Kylie Minogue - Closer (NEW)
49. Kylie Minogue - Illusion (NEW)
50. Swedish House Mafia feat Pharrell - One (Your Name) (44)

Albums

1. Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite (NEW)
2. Sarah McLachlan - Laws Of Illusion (1)
3. Alexander Rybak - No Boundaries (2)
4. Clubland 17 (NEW)
5. Example - Won’t Go Quietly (3)
6. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make My Day (4)
7. Absolute Summer Hits 2010 (5)
8. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (6)
9. Miley Cyrus - Can’t Be Tamed (NEW)
10. The Pipettes - Earth vs. The Pipettes (7)
11. Christina Aguilera - Bionic (8)
12. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (11)
13. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It (12)
14. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (13)
15. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (9)
16. Safura - It’s My War (10)
17. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (19)
18. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (16)
19. Tom Dice - Teardrops (14)
20. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (20)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 28/6/10

2010-06-25T08:24:00.003+01:00

Songs

1. Shakira feat Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (3)
2. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers (1)
3. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (2)
4. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (4)
5. K’Naan - Wavin’ Flag (5)
6. Agnes & Björn - When You Tell The World You’re Mine (NEW)
7. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (8)
8. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (10)
9. Yolanda Be Cool & D Cup - We No Speak Americano (31)
10. Fallulah - Bridges (12)
11. Lena Meyer-Landrut & Ellie Goulding - Not Following (6)
12. Stromae - Alors On Danse (19)
13. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (7)
14. Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up (20)
15. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (11)
16. I Blame Coco - Self Machine (9)
17. Mark Ronson and The Business Intl - Bang Bang Bang (17)
18. Roll Deep - Green Light (NEW)
19. Sarah McLachlan - Loving You Is Easy (Re-entry)
20. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Extra Mile (Re-entry)
21. Rasmus Seebach - Natteravn (NEW)
22. FC Kahuna feat Hafdis Huld - Hayling (NEW)
23. Example - Last Ones Standing (NEW)
24. Spark - Shut Out The Moon (28)
25. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (30)
26. Diana Vickers - The Boy Who Murdered Love (18)
27. Stromae - Te Quiero (34)
28. Christina Aguilera - Little Dreamer (13)
29. Love Generation - Love Generation (16)
30. Vengaboys - Rocket To Uranus (24)
31. Marla - Lipstick For The Vampires (NEW)
32. The Wanted - All Time Low (NEW)
33. Flo Rida - Club Can’t Handle Me (22)
34. Salem Al Fakir - All Day Love (NEW)
35. Lissie - When I’m Alone (43)
36. Alexander Rybak - Oah (NEW)
37. Eminem feat Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie (Re-entry)
38. Marina & The Diamonds - Oh No! (33)
39. Tinchy Stryder - In My System (41)
40. The Pipettes - Ain’t No Talkin’ (NEW)
41. Sarah McLachlan - Love Come (NEW)
42. Jason DeRülo - What If (Re-entry)
43. The Pipettes - Call Me (36)
44. Swedish House Mafia feat Pharrell - One (Your Name) (45)
45. Joshua Radin - Brand New Day (38)
46. Alexander Rybak - Why Not Me (NEW)
47. Cocknbullkid - Cocknbullkid (NEW)
48. Baby Alice - Pina Colada Boy (NEW)
49. Locnville - Sun In My Pocket (NEW)
50. Leddra Chapman - Wine Glass (NEW)

Albums

1. Sarah McLachlan - Laws Of Illusion (NEW)
2. Alexander Rybak - No Boundaries (NEW)
3. Example - Won’t Go Quietly (NEW)
4. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make My Day (NEW)
5. Absolute Summer Hits 2010 (NEW)
6. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (1)
7. The Pipettes - Earth vs. The Pipettes (4)
8. Christina Aguilera - Bionic (2)
9. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (3)
10. Safura - It’s My War (NEW)
11. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (9)
12. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It (7)
13. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (6)
14. Tom Dice - Teardrops (5)
15. Lissie - Catching A Tiger (NEW)
16. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (11)
17. Fallulah - The Black Cat Neighbourhood (10)
18. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (8)
19. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (15)
20. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (14)

New Music; Cascada 2.0, a Xtina bonus and a royal wedding!!!

2010-06-21T18:54:00.007+01:00

DARUSO - Since You Been Gone

Set to be released on the August 1st on AATW offshoot 3 Beat, who were behind recent hits from Agnes, Inna and Edward Maya, this is proper old school pop dance. I've heard of this band before, the producers are in fact none other than Jewels and Stone who have been responsible many dance remixes of pop songs, particularly in the last decade for acts such as S Club 7 and Girls Aloud. DARUSO's song Closest Thing To Heaven and indeed the whole set up of the act (two background producers, female lead singer) reminded me of Cascada, but this is slightly less like them. An instantly catchy song, it's nothing groundbreaking but songs like this always sound better in the summer, a time when I tend to listen to far more dance music than any other period of the year for some reason.

Christina Aguilera - Little Dreamer

Christina has set an undesirable new record in the UK yesterday when her long awaited fourth stuido album, Bionic, crashed from #1 to #29 in its second week, by far the biggest fall from the top of the charts of all time. Being one of the biggest fans of her eponymous 1999 debut album and 2002 opus Stripped possible, I was slightly underwhelmed by 2006's Back To Basics to say the least. Still, I'd been looking forward to a return to form with Bionic considering the star names she'd worked with, but the main album didn't really excite me as much as I'd hoped, and some tracks are just pure awful. However, being the loyal fan that I am, I bought the deluxe edition complete with bonus tracks, and downloaded iTunes only bonus track Little Dreamer, to ensure I had all 24 songs from the project. Safe to say that everything on the bonus disc deserved a place on the main album, not to mention this glorious Ladytron produced song. I have no idea why Stronger Than Ever and Birds of Prey weren't considered for the album when Prima Donna and My Girls were. But the biggest joke is that Little Dreamer, possibly the best song of hers I've heard since Candyman, not only didn't qualify for the album, but didn't even qualify for the bonus disc, and will forever be an iTunes only oddity. Maybe if the rest of Bionic had been more like this sound, it wouldn't have been such a relative flop worldwide. Recommended.

Agnes & Bjorn Skifs - When You Tell The World You're Mine

Billed as the biggest royal wedding in Europe since Charles and Diana, Princess Victoria of Sweden married her gym instructor Daniel, now prince, at the weekend. The event spawned a load of pop singles from the country's biggest stars. Carola and Darin both have singles for the event as does one of my stars of the year, Salem Al Fakir, whose All Day Love's main hook sounds strangly like Timewarp!!! But my favourite, and the official wedding single, is this duet between Swedish veteran, former Eurovision entrant and legend Björn Skifs and now international star Agnes Carlsson. It shouldn't work but it really does, and this ballad is a classic, almost like it could have been taken from a timeless Disney animation. It's already shot to #1 on iTunes in Sweden, which is no shock really considering that the pair performed it live at the wedding to the princess and prince, and I really wouldn't rule out the song being covered by an X Factor act or SyCo star in the near future. The songwriter is, after all, behind many of Westlife, Leona Lewis and many others biggest hits.

Top Songs/Albums; WB 21/6/10

2010-06-18T09:05:00.002+01:00

Songs

1. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers (2)
2. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1)
3. Shakira feat Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (4)
4. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (7)
5. K’Naan - Wavin’ Flag (8)
6. Lena Meyer-Landrut & Ellie Goulding - Not Following (3)
7. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (14)
8. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (5)
9. I Blame Coco - Self Machine (13)
10. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (10)
11. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (9)
12. Fallulah - Bridges (NEW)
13. Christina Aguilera - Little Dreamer (18)
14. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (6)
15. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (11)
16. Love Generation - Love Generation (12)
17. Mark Ronson and The Business Intl - Bang Bang Bang (15)
18. Diana Vickers - The Boy Who Murdered Love (31)
19. Stromae - Alors On Danse (Re-entry)
20. Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up (30)
21. Jadyn Maria feat Katy Perry - A Man’s World (NEW)
22. Flo Rida - Club Can’t Handle Me (43)
23. Colbie Caillat - Maria (35)
24. Vengaboys - Rocket To Uranus (22)
25. Jérémy Amelin feat Angelika - Oh, Oh! (NEW)
26. Little Boots - If Wishes Were Horses (NEW)
27. Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me (17)
28. Spark - Shut Out The Moon (NEW)
29. Fallulah - Only Human (NEW)
30. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (36)
31. Yolanda Be Cool & D Cup - We No Speak Americano (41)
32. Riva Starr - I Was Drunk (40)
33. Marina & The Diamonds - Oh No! (42)
34. Stromae - Te Quiero (NEW)
35. Ola - All Over The World (NEW)
36. The Pipettes - Call Me (50)
37. The Like - He’s Not A Boy (NEW)
38. Joshua Radin - Brand New Day (Re-entry)
39. Susanna And The Magical Orchestra - Someday (NEW)
40. Daisy Dares You - Rosie (25)
41. Tinchy Stryder - In My System (NEW)
42. MIA - XXXO (45)
43. Lissie - When I’m Alone (48)
44. Aloha From Hell - Don’t Gimme That (NEW)
45. Swedish House Mafia feat Pharrell - One (Your Name) (NEW)
46. Eric Saade - It’s Gonna Rain (Re-entry)
47. Inna - Amazing (47)
48. Sibel feat Lazee - The Fall (NEW)
49. Basshunter - Saturday (NEW)
50. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Touch A New Day (NEW)

Albums

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (2)
2. Christina Aguilera - Bionic (1)
3. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (10)
4. The Pipettes - Earth vs. The Pipettes (NEW)
5. Tom Dice - Teardrops (3)
6. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (7)
7. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It (6)
8. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (5)
9. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (4)
10. Fallulah - The Black Cat Neighbourhood (NEW)
11. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (8)
12. Eric Saade - Masquerade (9)
13. Uffie - Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans (NEW)
14. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (11)
15. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (12)
16. Boyzone - Brother (14)
17. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (18)
18. Hafdis Huld - Synchronised Swimmers (13)
19. Timoteij - Längtan (16)
20. B.o.B. - The Adventures Of Bobby Ray (15)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 14/7/10

2010-06-11T07:35:00.002+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1)
2. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers (3)
3. Lena Meyer-Landrut & Ellie Goulding - Not Following (5)
4. Shakira feat Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (13)
5. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (9)
6. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (2)
7. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (4)
8. K’Naan - Wavin’ Flag (32)
9. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (12)
10. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (16)
11. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (7)
12. Love Generation - Love Generation (19)
13. I Blame Coco - Self Machine (NEW)
14. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (6)
15. Mark Ronson feat Q-Tip & MNDR - Bang Bang Bang (11)
16. Katie Melua - The Flood (8)
17. Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me (34)
18. Christina Aguilera - Little Dreamer (NEW)
19. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (10)
20. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (43)
21. Christian TV - When She Turns 18 (NEW)
22. Vengaboys - Rocket To Uranus (NEW)
23. Christina Aguilera - Lift Me Up (28)
24. Shy’m - Je Sais (NEW)
25. Daisy Dares You - Rosie (20)
26. Tiffany Page - On Your Head (NEW)
27. Velile & Safri Duo - Helele (NEW)
28. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (17)
29. Tom Dice - Always And Forever (21)
30. Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up (NEW)
31. Diana Vickers - The Boy Who Murdered Love (36)
32. Eminem feat Rihanna - Love The Way You Lie (NEW)
33. Christina Aguilera - Stronger Than Ever (NEW)
34. T.I. feat Keri Hilson - Got Your Back (NEW)
35. Colbie Caillat - Maria (NEW)
36. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (41)
37. Ne-Yo - Beautiful Monster (27)
38. Florence + The Machine - Heavy In Your Arms (48)
39. Christina Aguilera - Birds Of Prey (NEW)
40. Riva Starr - I Was Drunk (NEW)
41. D Cup & Yolanda Be Cool - We No Speak Americano (NEW)
42. Marina & The Diamonds - Oh No! (Re-entry)
43. Flo Rida - Club Can’t Handle Me (NEW)
44. Michelle Branch & Timbaland - Getaway (NEW)
45. MIA - XXXO (38)
46. Skepta - Rescue Me (50)
47. Inna - Amazing (46)
48. Lissie - When I’m Alone (NEW)
49. Alexandra Burke - Start Without You (NEW)
50. The Pipettes - Call Me (NEW)

Albums

1. Christina Aguilera - Bionic (6)
2. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (1)
3. Tom Dice - Teardrops (2)
4. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (14)
5. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (3)
6. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It (4)
7. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (5)
8. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (8)
9. Eric Saade - Masquerade (7)
10. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (10)
11. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (18)
12. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (15)
13. Hafdis Huld - Synchronised Swimmers (9)
14. Boyzone - Brother (13)
15. B.o.B. - The Adventures Of Bobby Ray (11)
16. Timoteij - Längtan (12)
17. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (Re-entry)
18. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (Re-entry)
19. Inna - Hot (16)
20. Katie Melua - The House (17)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 7/6/10

2010-06-04T07:59:00.002+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1)
2. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (2)
3. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers (3)
4. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (4)
5. Lena Meyer-Landrut & Ellie Goulding - Not Following (NEW)
6. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (9)
7. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (Re-entry)
8. Katie Melua - The Flood (7)
9. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (38)
10. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (5)
11. Mark Ronson feat Q-Tip & MNDR - Bang Bang Bang (19)
12. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (34)
13. Shakira feat Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (21)
14. Safura - Drip Drop (8)
15. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (6)
16. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (27)
17. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (12)
18. Sheelah - Psycho (13)
19. Love Generation - Love Generation (NEW)
20. Daisy Dares You - Rosie (22)
21. Tom Dice - Always And Forever (29)
22. Paula Seling feat Ovi - Playing With Fire (31)
23. Roll Deep - Good Times (16)
24. Eva Rivas - Apricot Stone (11)
25. Matisse - Better Than Her (10)
26. N-Dubz feat Bodyrox - We Dance On (26)
27. Ne-Yo - Beautiful Monster (28)
28. Christina Aguilera - Lift Me Up (39)
29. Elin Lanto - Funeral (15)
30. Diana Vickers - Notice (17)
31. Debi Nova - Drummer Boy (NEW)
32. K’Naan - Wavin’ Flag (23)
33. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (14)
34. Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me (NEW)
35. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Love Me (NEW)
36. Diana Vickers - The Boy Who Murdered Love (Re-entry)
37. E.M.D. - Save Tonight (40)
38. MIA - XXXO (33)
39. Scissor Sisters - Fire With Fire (42)
40. Eric Saade - It’s Gonna Rain (NEW)
41. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (Re-entry)
42. David Guetta & Chris Willis feat Fergie & LMFAO - Gettin’ Over You (NEW)
43. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (Re-entry)
44. The Chemical Brothers - Swoon (50)
45. Ke$ha - Your Love Is My Drug (48)
46. Inna - Amazing (NEW)
47. Taio Cruz - Dynamite (NEW)
48. Florence + The Machine - Heavy In Your Arms (NEW)
49. Safura - Soulless (NEW)
50. Skepta - Rescue Me (NEW)

Albums

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (8)
2. Tom Dice - Teardrops (2)
3. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (1)
4. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It (3)
5. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (5)
6. Christina Aguilera - Bionic (10)
7. Eric Saade - Masquerade (6)
8. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (7)
9. Hafdis Huld - Synchronised Swimmers (4)
10. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (14)
11. B.o.B. - The Adventures Of Bobby Ray (NEW)
12. Timoteij - Längtan (9)
13. Boyzone - Brother (11)
14. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (17)
15. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (16)
16. Inna - Hot (12)
17. Katie Melua - The House (15)
18. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (20)
19. Agnes - Dance Love Pop (13)
20. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (18)

Almost 30 years of hurt gone for Deutschland!!!

2010-05-30T11:04:00.004+01:00

Lena Meyer-Landrut, who I've probably mentioned more on this blog than anybody else (!!!), has got herself another incredible achievement by winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the fantastic Satellite, one of Europe's biggest hits of 2010 so far, particularly in Germany where it smashed all existing download records and has resided in the top five there for 10 weeks so far, 5 at #1, and sure to return to the top end now, following the triumph of the teenager from Hanover. It brings to an abrupt end the awful run of luck for Germany at the contest - they last won in 1982 with A Little Peace by Nicole and were last in the top ten back in 2004 with Max's Can't Wait Until Tonight. They had been amongst the favourites a couple of times in the noughties - with Corinna May's I Can't Live Without Music in 2002, which managed to finish in the bottom five and country pop song No No Never by Texas Lightning in 2006 - a similarly huge chart success as Lena in Germany, it finished 15th. Aside from these they've become more accustomed to the bottom five in the last few years, thanks to the likes of Gracia and No Angels.

So the standout song of the contest, the most contemporary and catchy song wins again, just like Fairytale last year, and for a nation who really upped their game and reaped their rewards accordingly. I'm ecstatic because it's easily my favourite song of 2010 so far. So what of the other results? They all trailed a long way behind Lena, but Turkey's rock band Manga finished 2nd with We Could Be The Same, following an energetic and memorable performance and Romania's fantastic Playing With Fire by Paula Selling and Ovi, came 3rd, equalling their best result in the contest, helped no doubt by their brilliant transparent double ended piano. Denmark's 1980s throwback anthem, sounding like Starship meets Tina Turner's The Best, did incredibly well in 4th place and the pre-contest favourites Azerbaijan didn't quite live up to the hype and finished 5th.

Special mention to Belgium who's gorgeous acoustic strummer Me & My Guitar, by Tom Dice, finished 6th, having won its semi final comfortably, their best result since 2003!!! So what of all of the many, many ballads? They almost all flopped! Ireland and Norway's You Raise Me Up meets Titanic clones both ended up in the bottom six having once been highly tipped, and Portugal and Belarus didn't do much better either. Last place, naturally, went to the United Kingdom, as we returned to form. After managing a rare top five last year with It's My Time by now Sugababe Jade Ewen, we're back to where we were in 2008 - dead last. Why? Because it's not 1989, its 2010 - simple as that. Please BBC, for 2011, can we have a contemporary song with at least a chance to do well, pretty please? We have one of the biggest music industries in the world, certainly the biggest out of any nation competing in Eurovision, but how on earth do the likes of Jemini, Daz Sampson, Scooch and Josh Dubovie represent what we as a nation listen to and buy? I'll admit to liking (and buying on single) three of the above four songs, but when we have the likes of Leona Lewis, Amy MacDonald, Cheryl Cole, Taio Cruz and others excelling around Europe, you have to wonder how they in any way relate to the things we send to Eurovision? Put it this way, had Cheryl Cole's Fight For This Love been our Eurovision entry, I don't think Satellite would have been such the clear cut winner it managed to be last night. But anyway, well done to Lena, Stefan Raabe and Germany - boo to Norway and Sweden for not picking A1/Bjorn Johan Muri or Salem Al Fakir/Timoteij, and lets hope the UK can follow Germany's zero to hero turnaround and win ESC 2011 in Berlin...or Munich...or Hanover...??? Enjoy Satellite once again, at Eurovision this time of course;

Top Songs/Albums; WB 31/5/10

2010-05-28T09:07:00.004+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (2)
2. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (40)
3. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers (1)
4. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (3)
5. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (12)
6. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (11)
7. Katie Melua - The Flood (10)
8. Safura - Drip Drop (14)
9. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (13)
10. Matisse - Better Than Her (NEW)
11. Eva Rivas - Apricot Stone (NEW)
12. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (5)
13. Sheelah - Psycho (4)
14. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (33)
15. Elin Lanto - Funeral (6)
16. Roll Deep - Good Times (9)
17. Diana Vickers - Notice (7)
18. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (8)
19. Mark Ronson feat Q-Tip & MNDR - Bang Bang Bang (NEW)
20. 3 +2 - Butterflies (46)
21. Shakira feat Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)
22. Daisy Dares You - Rosie (31)
23. K’Naan - Wavin’ Flag (NEW)
24. Dulce María - Inevitable (19)
25. Josh Dubovie - That Sounds Good To Me (32)
26. N-Dubz feat Bodyrox - We Dance On (Re-entry)
27. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (Re-entry)
28. Ne-Yo - Beautiful Monster (NEW)
29. Tom Dice - Always And Forever (NEW)
30. Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders - Life Looks Better In Spring (Re-entry)
31. Paula Seling feat Ovi - Playing With Fire (Re-entry)
32. Sara Bareilles - King Of Anything (16)
33. MIA - XXXO (39)
34. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (26)
35. Tone Damli Aaberge - I Love You (27)
36. Natasha Bedingfield - Touch (36)
37. Hafdis Huld - Action Man (45)
38. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (34)
39. Christina Aguilera - Lift Me Up (Re-entry)
40. E.M.D. - Save Tonight (NEW)
41. 3OH!3 feat Ke$ha - My First Kiss (23)
42. Scissor Sisters - Fire With Fire (42)
43. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (Re-entry)
44. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (47)
45. Sean Kingston & Justin Bieber - Eenie Meenie (48)
46. Filipa Azevedo - Há Dias Assim (NEW)
47. Infernal - Love Is All (38)
48. Ke$ha - Your Love Is My Drug (50)
49. Tom Dice - Carrying Our Burden (NEW)
50. The Chemical Brothers - Swoon (NEW)

Albums

1. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (2)
2. Tom Dice - Teardrops (NEW)
3. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It (1)
4. Hafdis Huld - Synchronised Swimmers (9)
5. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (3)
6. Eric Saade - Masquerade (NEW)
7. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (6)
8. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (4)
9. Timoteij - Längtan (5)
10. Christina Aguilera - Bionic (NEW)
11. Boyzone - Brother (8)
12. Inna - Hot (11)
13. Agnes - Dance Love Pop (18)
14. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (10)
15. Katie Melua - The House (NEW)
16. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (12)
17. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (Re-entry)
18. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (Re-entry)
19. Lady GaGa - The Remix (7)
20. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (15)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 24/5/10

2010-05-21T08:08:00.002+01:00

Songs

1. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers (9)
2. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1)
3. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (6)
4. Sheelah - Psycho (7)
5. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (2)
6. Elin Lanto - Funeral (3)
7. Diana Vickers - Notice (4)
8. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (15)
9. Roll Deep - Good Times (5)
10. Katie Melua - The Flood (16)
11. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (10)
12. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (17)
13. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (11)
14. Safura - Drip Drop (14)
15. Jenny Berggren - Here I Am (8)
16. Sara Bareilles - King Of Anything (19)
17. Stromae - Alors On Danse (13)
18. Elin Lanto - Give It All Up (20)
19. Dulce María - Inevitable (NEW)
20. Alphabeat - DJ (12)
21. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (22)
22. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (25)
23. 3OH!3 feat Ke$ha - My First Kiss (28)
24. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - This Is My Life (31)
25. Elin Lanto - Singing Goodbye (47)
26. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (34)
27. Tone Damli Aaberge - I Love You (50)
28. Jason DeRülo - Ridin’ Solo (23)
29. Le Kid - Escape (24)
30. B.o.B. feat Bruno Mars - Nothin’ On You (21)
31. Daisy Dares You - Rosie (NEW)
32. Josh Dubovie - That Sounds Good To Me (37)
33. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (33)
34. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (30)
35. Bob Taylor feat Inna - Déjà Vu (40)
36. Natasha Bedingfield - Touch (NEW)
37. Elin Lanto - Tickles (39)
38. Infernal - Love Is All (NEW)
39. MIA - XXXO (42)
40. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (Re-entry)
41. Annemie - Animal Instinct (NEW)
42. Scissor Sisters - Fire With Fire (45)
43. Kyrah - Uh Oh (NEW)
44. Rihanna - Te Amo (Re-entry)
45. Hafdis Huld - Action Man (NEW)
46. Three Plus Two - Butterflies (Re-entry)
47. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (48)
48. Sean Kingston & Justin Bieber - Eenie Meenie (NEW)
49. Ólafur Arnalds - Hægt, Kemur Ljósið (NEW)
50. Ke$ha - Love Is My Drug (Re-entry)

Albums

1. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It (1)
2. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (5)
3. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (2)
4. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (3)
5. Timoteij - Längtan (4)
6. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (6)
7. Lady GaGa - The Remix (7)
8. Boyzone - Brother (8)
9. Hafdis Huld - Synchronised Swimmers (NEW)
10. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (9)
11. Inna - Hot (NEW)
12. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (13)
13. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (10)
14. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment (11)
15. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (20)
16. Rihanna - Rated R (19)
17. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (12)
18. Agnes - Dance Love Pop (15)
19. Jason DeRülo - Jason DeRülo (16)
20. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (Re-entry)

2010 - Suddenly not as bad as it seems?

2010-05-14T16:38:00.003+01:00

2010 seems to have got off to a rather dire start all round, particularly in terms of the UK charts which have been filling up with terrible charity records, more tuneless forgettable rap than I could possibly imagine existing and little else to cheer about. Thank goodness then that in the last seven days or so there have been some rather brilliant new songs appearing, or at least that I've heard for the first time. So taking the fifteen new entries to my 'chart' this week, here's a little overlook of what has surfaced, and what I think you need to be listening to, summed up in a sentence or two for each!

#3 > Elin Lanto - Funeral - Incredible pop song from a Swedish singer who I've never been wildly enthusiastic about before. Her new album, Love Made Me Do It, is something of a pop opus and this is the easy highlight. How can she make such a dark subject into such a joyous pop song?

#6 > Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls - I wasn't sure about this at first despite Katy being one of my favourite singers. But after a few listens the more summery take on Ke$ha's Tik Tok/Kylie's Love At First Sight comes into its own. Snoop even starts to sound like a decent addition after a while. Very enjoyable and one to listen to in the sun.

#9 > Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers - Talking of Kylie, the queen is back with All The Lovers, the first single from new album Aphrodite. I can't claim to be the biggest fan of either Slow or 2 Hearts as lead singles, so this gorgeous subtle yet at times stomping electro track is very welcome. Here's hoping for another long overdue UK #1, 2003 is a long time ago now.

#19 > Sara Bareilles - King Of Anything - The woman behind my favourite song of 2008, Love Song, is back with a song guaranteed not to prevent her from being a one hit wonder. A shame really as this jaunty piano led song could be Love Song's younger sister. As much attitude as that song had, this is a great comeback.

#20 > Elin Lanto - Give It All Up - My second favourite single from Elin's new album, this is the second best 80's power ballad influenced song of the last few months (after Alicia Keys' Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart of course). Brilliant chorus, really sticks in your head.

#31 > Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - This Is My Life - The second single from the team behind the fantastic European smash hit Stereo Love, about to debut inside the UK top 5 this weekend. More great Romanian influenced dance, lets hope this is another sizeable hit for the pair later in the year.

#38 > Lena Meyer-Landrut - Mr Curiosity - The teenager behind my favourite song at the moment, Satellite, Germany's Eurovision 2010 entry has released her debut album this week. On it features this lovely cover of a Jason Mraz song and my favourite from her in places average album.

#39 > Elin Lanto - Tickles - And so onto Elin's current single that she's used to launch the album with. I like it far more than Love Made Me Stupid and Doctor Doctor but surely Funeral is next in line for a release?

#40 > Bob Taylor feat Inna - Déjà Vu - Almost exactly the same as Inna's top ten UK hit Hot, but since when was that a bad thing? This is incredibly infectious.

#42 > MIA - XXXO - I was rather unimpressed with Born Free and its disturbing video but this is apparently the proper lead single. A big pop anthem with a great chorus, my favourite from MIA since the epic Paper Planes.

#44 > Fyfe Dangerfield - She's Always A Woman - Guillemots lead singer Fyfe's first breakthrough hit is an almost note for note cover of the old Billy Joel song. It's already soaring up the UK charts thanks to its use in the current John Lewis advertising campaign. Simple but very effective.

#45 > Scissor Sisters - Fire With Fire - I can't claim to be a huge fan of Scissor Sisters usually. I don't like Jake in full falsetto mode but am rather fond when he sings in his lower register, as on this single and Mary, in fact he sounds exactly like Elton John. Comeback single Fire With Fire is similar to Human by The Killers in a way, but also very infectious after a few listens. Sounds like a pop standard already.

#47 > Elin Lanto - Singing Goodbye - The tables are turned and we're now at Elin's hypothetical funeral. This is another lyrically dark yet musically gorgeous song from one of the best pop albums of the decade so far.

#49 > Leona Lewis & Jennifer Hudson - Love Is Your Color - A duet between two superstars, taken from the Sex & The City 2 soundtrack. UK & US talent show stars Leona and Jennifer sound classy on this lovely ballad, rather than the diva-off I had been fearing. Melodically reminds me of a slowed down version of Show Me Your Colours by S Club 7!!!

#50 > Tone Damli Aaberge - I Love You - Norwegian singer Tone topped the charts last year there with the endearing Melodi Grand Prix runner up, Butterflies, a pure pop song made even sweeter with the use of strings and a harmonica. This song is much in the same vein but loses the harmonica. A string section, similar to the piano hook in Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles forms the base of the song's melody though. Very nice indeed.

Top Songs/Albums; WB 17/5/10

2010-05-14T10:20:00.003+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1) *6 weeks at #1*
2. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (4)
3. Elin Lanto - Funeral (NEW)
4. Diana Vickers - Notice (18)
5. Roll Deep - Good Times (2)
6. Katy Perry feat Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (NEW)
7. Sheelah - Psycho (5)
8. Jenny Berggren - Here I Am (3)
9. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers (NEW)
10. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (10)
11. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (8)
12. Alphabeat - DJ (6)
13. Stromae - Alors On Danse (9)
14. Safura - Drip Drop (13)
15. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (32)
16. Katie Melua - The Flood (11)
17. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (16)
18. Richard Vission & Static Revenger starring Luciana - I Like That (7)
19. Sara Bareilles - King Of Anything (NEW)
20. Elin Lanto - Give It All Up (NEW)
21. B.o.B. feat Bruno Mars - Nothin’ On You (14)
22. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (22)
23. Jason DeRülo - Ridin’ Solo (23)
24. Le Kid - Escape (31)
25. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (Re-entry)
26. Timoteij - Vild (17)
27. Christina Aguilera - Not Myself Tonight (Re-entry)
28. 3OH!3 feat Ke$ha - My First Kiss (35)
29. N-Dubz feat Bodyrox - We Dance On (12)
30. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (34)
31. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - This Is My Life (NEW)
32. Diana Vickers - The Boy Who Murdered Love (41)
33. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (21)
34. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (37)
35. Vanessa Amorosi - Mr Mysterious (27)
36. Kelly Rowland - Commander (30)
37. Josh Dubovie - That Sounds Good To Me (33)
38. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Mr Curiosity (NEW)
39. Elin Lanto - Tickles (NEW)
40. Bob Taylor feat Inna - Déjà Vu (NEW)
41. Adam Lambert - If I Had You (48)
42. MIA - XXXO (NEW)
43. Kele Okereke - Tenderoni (42)
44. Fyfe Dangerfield - She’s Always A Woman (NEW)
45. Scissor Sisters - Fire With Fire (NEW)
46. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (25)
47. Elin Lanto - Singing Goodbye (NEW)
48. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (49)
49. Leona Lewis & Jennifer Hudson - Love Is Your Color (NEW)
50. Tone Damli Aaberge - I Love You (NEW)

Albums

1. Elin Lanto - Love Made Me Do It (NEW)
2. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (1)
3. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (5)
4. Timoteij - Längtan (2)
5. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (4)
6. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (3)
7. Lady GaGa - The Remix (NEW)
8. Boyzone - Brother (7)
9. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (9)
10. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (8)
11. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment (6)
12. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (14)
13. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (11)
14. Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You (10)
15. Agnes - Dance Love Pop (Re-entry)
16. Jason DeRülo - Jason DeRülo (Re-entry)
17. Gabriella Cilmi - Ten (13)
18. Melodifestivalen 2010 (16)
19. Rihanna - Rated R (18)
20. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (17)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 10/5/10

2010-05-07T08:52:00.002+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1)
2. Roll Deep - Good Times (3)
3. Jenny Berggren - Here I Am (6)
4. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (7)
5. Sheelah - Psycho (2)
6. Alphabeat - DJ (5)
7. Richard Vission & Static Revenger starring Luciana - I Like That (13)
8. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (4)
9. Stromae - Alors On Danse (8)
10. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (32)
11. Katie Melua - The Flood (17)
12. N-Dubz feat Bodyrox - We Dance On (15)
13. Safura - Drip Drop (14)
14. B.o.B. feat Bruno Mars - Nothin’ On You (29)
15. Diana Vickers - Once (10)
16. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (20)
17. Timoteij - Vild (NEW)
18. Diana Vickers - Notice (NEW)
19. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (9)
20. Feminnem - Lako Je Sve (11)
21. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (19)
22. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (26)
23. Jason DeRülo - Ridin’ Solo (43)
24. Timoteij - Högt Över Ängarna (NEW)
25. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (33)
26. Sarah McLachlan - Loving You Is Easy (31)
27. Vanessa Amorosi - Mr Mysterious (34)
28. The Pipettes - So I’ll Say Goodbye (12)
29. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (16)
30. Kelly Rowland - Commander (47)
31. Le Kid - Escape (NEW)
32. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (49)
33. Josh Dubovie - That Sounds Good To Me (38)
34. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (40)
35. 3OH!3 feat Ke$ha - My First Kiss (NEW)
36. Jasper Forks - River Flows In You (NEW)
37. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (Re-entry)
38. Dizzee Rascal - Dirtee Disco (42)
39. Alexandra Burke - The Map (NEW)
40. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (22)
41. Diana Vickers - The Boy Who Murdered Love (NEW)
42. Kele Okereke - Tenderoni (48)
43. Enrique Iglesias feat Pitbull - I Like It (NEW)
44. Krause - Soaring Through The Starlight (NEW)
45. Three Plus Two - Butterflies (39)
46. Owl City - Umbrella Beach (30)
47. Timoteij - Dansar I Månens Sken (NEW)
48. Adam Lambert - If I Had You (NEW)
49. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (Re-entry)
50. Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders - Life Looks Better In The Spring (Re-entry)

Albums

1. Diana Vickers - Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree (NEW)
2. Timoteij - Längtan (NEW)
3. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (1)
4. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (6)
5. Lena Meyer-Landrut - My Cassette Player (NEW)
6. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment (NEW)
7. Boyzone - Brother (4)
8. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (2)
9. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (3)
10. Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You (5)
11. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (7)
12. Vanessa Amorosi - Hazardous (17)
13. Gabriella Cilmi - Ten (8)
14. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (NEW)
15. Absolute Music 63 (9)
16. Melodifestivalen 2010 (12)
17. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (15)
18. Rihanna - Rated R (13)
19. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (14)
20. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (16)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 3/5/10

2010-04-30T09:12:00.003+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (2)
2. Sheelah - Psycho (1)
3. Roll Deep - Good Times (5)
4. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (7)
5. Alphabeat - DJ (28)
6. Jenny Berggren - Here I Am (NEW)
7. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (10)
8. Stromae - Alors On Danse (9)
9. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (8)
10. Diana Vickers - Once (4)
11. Feminnem - Lako Je Sve (6)
12. The Pipettes - So I’ll Say Goodbye (3)
13. Richard Vission & Static Revenger starring Luciana - I Like That (20)
14. Safura - Drip Drop (11)
15. N-Dubz feat Bodyrox - We Dance On (NEW)
16. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (12)
17. Katie Melua - The Flood (21)
18. Anna Bergendahl - Rolling Dice (14)
19. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (22)
20. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (17)
21. Lethal Bizzle feat Luciana - Go Go Go (42)
22. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (24)
23. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (16)
24. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (15)
25. Anna Bergendahl - Got My Heart In Your Pocket (36)
26. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (31)
27. Pearl & The Puppets - Because I Do (30)
28. TV Rock feat Rudy - In The Air (Axwell Remx) (13)
29. B.o.B. feat Bruno Mars - Nothin’ On You (33)
30. Owl City - Umbrella Beach (48)
31. Sarah McLachlan - Loving You Is Easy (NEW)
32. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (25)
33. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (39)
34. Vanessa Amorosi - Mr Mysterious (Re-entry)
35. Uniting Nations - Blaze Of Glory (NEW)
36. She & Him - In The Sun (18)
37. Rihanna - Te Amo (37)
38. Josh Dubovie - That Sounds Good To Me (NEW)
39. Three Plus Two - Butterflies (32)
40. Lady GaGa - Alejandro (Re-entry)
41. Ellie Goulding - Guns & Horses (46)
42. Dizzee Rascal - Dirtee Disco (NEW)
43. Jason DeRülo - Ridin’ Solo (Re-entry)
44. Example - Kickstarts (50)
45. Kids Of 88 - Just A Little Bit (Re-entry)
46. Iyaz - Solo (NEW)
47. Kelly Rowland - Commander (NEW)
48. Kele Okereke - Tenderoni (NEW)
49. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (Re-entry)
50. Gravitonas - Kites (NEW)

Albums

1. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (1)
2. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (10)
3. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (4)
4. Boyzone - Brother (3)
5. Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You (2)
6. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (NEW)
7. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (9)
8. Gabriella Cilmi - Ten (6)
9. Absolute Music 63 (5)
10. Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor (7)
11. Madonna - Celebration (Re-entry)
12. Melodifestivalen 2010 (11)
13. Rihanna - Rated R (12)
14. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (14)
15. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (17)
16. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (18)
17. Vanessa Amorosi - Hazardous (Re-entry)
18. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (13)
19. Ellie Goulding - Lights (15)
20. Joshua Radin - Simple Times (8)

Na Na Niiiii way...N-Dubz in great song shocker!

2010-04-27T14:06:00.003+01:00

British rap trio N-Dubz, who transformed from low budget Channel U stalwarts circa 2005 to fully fledged pop stars with smash hits under their belt in the last couple of years or so, have shocked me by releasing the best song of their career!!! I can't say I've ever been a huge fan but they began to show promise with Strong Again, and then excelled finally with the brilliant Tinchy Stryder collaboration, Number 1, and the top 15 hit Playing With Fire. Their new single We Dance On, which is produced by Bodyrox of Yeah Yeah fame, is the latest in a long line of songs to sample classical masterpiece Pachelbel's Canon, also used in The Farm's Altogether Now, Vitamin C's Graduation (Friends Forever) and Coolio's C U When U Get There, amongst many many others. In my opinion, a song using that track as its melody has to be quite dreadful in order for me not to love it, and this most certainly isn't. Taken from the soundtrack of new film Street Dance 3D, the song has a singalong chorus and the song feels not a million miles away from Daz Sampson's Teenage Life, which in my opinion was the UK's best Eurovision entry of the noughties, and had it been held back to 2010, could well have been a UK #1 hit!!! Here it is, see what you think;

Top Songs/Albums; WB 26/4/10

2010-04-23T14:21:00.002+01:00

Songs

1. Sheelah - Psycho (3)
2. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1)
3. The Pipettes - So I’ll Say Goodbye (2)
4. Diana Vickers - Once (13)
5. Roll Deep - Good Times (4)
6. Feminnem - Lako Je Sve (11)
7. Robyn - Dancing On My Own (NEW)
8. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (14)
9. Stromae - Alors On Danse (12)
10. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (29)
11. Safura - Drip Drop (7)
12. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (10)
13. TV Rock feat Rudy - In The Air (Axwell Remix) (15)
14. Anna Bergendahl - Rolling Dice (NEW)
15. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (5)
16. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (9)
17. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (8)
18. She & Him - In The Sun (16)
19. Joshua Radin - I’d Rather Be With You (6)
20. Richard Vission & Static Revenger starring Luciana - I Like That (36)
21. Katie Melua - The Flood (21)
22. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (20)
23. Kate Nash - Don’t You Want To Share This Guilt? (46)
24. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (42)
25. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (37)
26. Kelis - Acapella (22)
27. Brian McFadden feat Delta Goodrem - Mistakes (32)
28. Alphabeat - DJ (Re-entry)
29. Timoteij - Kom (17)
30. Pearl & The Puppets - Because I Do (45)
31. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (Re-entry)
32. Three Plus Two - Butterflies (25)
33. B.o.B. feat Bruno Mars - Nothin’ On You (35)
34. Train - Hey Soul Sister (18)
35. Keane feat K’Naan - Stop For A Minute (26)
36. Anna Bergendahl - Got My Heart In Your Pocket (NEW)
37. Rihanna - Te Amo (NEW)
38. Maria Haukaas Storeng feat Måns Zelmerlöw - Precious To Me (33)
39. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (Re-entry)
40. Anna Bergendahl - The Army (NEW)
41. Kate Nash - Paris (NEW)
42. Lethal Bizzle feat Luciana - Go Go Go (NEW)
43. Mini Viva - One Touch (30)
44. Aggro Santos feat Kimberly Wyatt - Candy (41)
45. Anna Bergendahl - Yeah Yeah Yeah (NEW)
46. Ellie Goulding - Guns & Horses (50)
47. Diana Vickers - Jumping Into Rivers (NEW)
48. Owl City - Umbrella Beach (Re-entry)
49. Paula Seling feat Ovi - Playing With Fire (47)
50. Example - Kickstarts (NEW)

Albums

1. Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely (NEW)
2. Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You (2)
3. Boyzone - Brother (1)
4. Robyn - Body Talk Part 1 (NEW)
5. Absolute Music 63 (5)
6. Gabriella Cilmi - Ten (4)
7. Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor (3)
8. Joshua Radin - Simple Times (6)
9. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (7)
10. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (Re-entry)
11. Melodifestivalen 2010 (8)
12. Rihanna - Rated R (14)
13. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (9)
14. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (12)
15. Ellie Goulding - Lights (18)
16. Now 75 (10)
17. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (20)
18. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (16)
19. Absolute Schlager (15)
20. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (19)

Album review; Anna Bergendahl - Yours Sincerely

2010-04-18T08:58:00.006+01:00

Just over a month ago, former Swedish Idols contestant Anna Bergendahl swept to victory in Melodifestivalen, winning the chance to represent her country at the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo in May with the ballad This Is My Life. A couple of days ago her debut album, Yours Sincerely popped through my door, and quite unsure what to expect from it, fearing another ballad/borefest like Yohanna's album last year, I am pleased to report that it's fantastic and highly recommended. My thoughts on it are as follows;

1. Rolling Dice - A brilliant album starter, an uplifting pop track with Motown/Schlager influences crossing over in abundance whilst somehow also reminding me of the 90's theme tune to the Dennis & Gnasher cartoon. Would make a brilliant second single because it really highlights Anna's diversity as an artist. 9.5/10

2. This Is My Life - The MF winner and former Swedish No.1 single. Ok, it's a gorgeous ballad but I still slightly preferred Kom and Keep On Walking. I'm not entirely sure how this will go down in ESC, it could do a Yohanna technically but results don't usually exactly follow those of the previous year, and I'm thinking 8th-12th for Anna which is still a vast improvement on the results of the last three years, even though I loved all three of those songs! Sweden haven't sent a ballad since Jill Johnson in 1998 though so fair enough. 9.5/10

3. Barcelona Blues - This is a really really nice song, but even though I know it's the correct pronunciation, the way Anna sings 'Barthalona' really irritates me for some reason!!! A lovely Spanish influenced ballad, sounds nice next to This Is My Life. 8.5/10

4. The Army - A marching drum sound aptly introduces this song. Starts as another ballad but builds into a mid-tempo with sweeping strings and a triumphant chorus. Fantastic, a big contender for a future single I'd say. 9.5/10

5. Yeah Yeah Yeah - Another obvious radio hit, this is the most uptempo song on the album so far. It's quite retro in sound, not really old, but the production somehow harps back to Eternal's poppier moments, like I Wanna Be The Only One or something - it's quite 90's in feel. The chorus is quite S Club 7/Steps sounding but not in a cheesy way, moreso their more respectable album tracks. Very good, the gospel choir really adds to it too, very uplifting. 9.5/10

6. My Love - A real step back in sound now, this is almost 1940's-ish in sound. Really pleasant, the backing vocals here have the same affect as those of Cee-Lo's in Kelis' Lil' Star - noticeable but pleasant and effective, giving a slightly different feel to the song. It skips from sounding like a sub-country song to a forgotten wartime classic. Really shockingly works well though. 8.5/10

7. Beautiful - Showcasing her gorgeous voice more than any other song so far, this is a lovely ballad with a string arrangement that is quite Disney-esque, particularly reminding me of Reflection by Christina Aguilera in fact. It is indeed a beautiful song and of course comes complete with a key change which adds to the effect brilliantly. 9.5/10

8. Bye Bye Darling - More of a radio sounding song now, this is mid-tempo. It's the sort of thing I would associate more with Sanna Nielsen than Anna perhaps. Still, it's another excellent song and keeps the quality of the album up. 8.5/10

9. Got My Heart In Your Pocket - Another change of style here, to a jazz influenced sound almost. One of a few occasions where this album reminds me of Paloma Faith, not that this is a bad thing at all. Anna's vocals shine on the other end of the spectrum here as she hits the big notes with triumph. Not my favourite song on the album but the production is faultless, as are Anna's vocals - not sure about the autotune at one point though... 8/10

10. Have A Heart - The album loses its way slightly here and this is the first track that slips into filler territory. It's pleasant in a 'not quite folk, pop or country but somewhere in the middle' sort of way but certainly not outstanding. 7/10

11. You Make Me Happy - The only duet on the album, Melodifestivalen 2008 contestant Brandur Enni sings with Anna on this track. It's pleasant to hear a duet on the album and shakes it up again but it's nothing brilliant. 7.5/10

12. Melodramatic Mess - An acoustic ballad to close the album, Melodyfree Mess is probably the least memorable song on the album. Joke - it's actually rather nice to have on in the background, but quite boring if I'm honest, particularly compared to the rest of the album. 6/10

Overall: It's a shame this album slips away a bit at the end because the final three tracks aside, this is a stellar debut album. I'm actually shocked at how good it is as I wasn't expecting much from it at all. Plenty of potential singles on here that should keep her profile up in Sweden. Dare I say I actually prefer it to King Salem Al Fakir's current album. Timoteij's debut is to follow along in two weeks, so let's see what that throws up. It will have to be pretty damn fantastic to beat Anna's effort here. A mixed bag taking influences from a lot of genres and era's of time, yet somehow never sounding messy. Fantastic. 9/10

New Music; Old bands in new guises

2010-04-17T19:00:00.003+01:00

Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane

Starting this short segment of new singles by bands who have had lineup changes (sadly in this case due to the passing of Stephen Gately last year), is the second single from Boyzone's latest album Brother. Now I'm not afraid to admit that ever since I bought it a good six weeks ago, Brother has been my favourite album - it's a really excellent comeback, far better than I ever imagined they could return with and almost on par with Take That's Beautiful World, not that the media would ever perceive it to be. Still, three weeks at No.1 in the UK shows that there is still a vast interest in this band. Ronan, Shane, Keith and Mikey's second single from the project, following top ten hit Gave It All Away is the more uptempop number, Love Is A Hurricane. Penned by Gregg Alexander of the New Radicals, who wrote Ronan's solo hits Life Is A Rollercoaster, Lovin' Each Day and I Love It When We Do, it's like nothing's changed in the past eight years, he could have released this in 2002 as the follow up to these singles and it would have fit completely with the music climate of the time. That's not to say that it's a bad thing, there's always a place for Boyzone's own style of pop in the current UK charts filled with rap, rap and more rap. Hopefully this will be another hit single for them, or at least keep the album high in the charts, because it really deserves the success it's been getting so far.

Sheelah - Psycho

Formerly Caracola, before going through a line up change, Swedish duo Sheelah participated in Melodifestivalen 2008 in their former incarnation with the insanely catchy Smiling In Love which made it as far as 'Andra Chansen'. Psycho is rather fantastic and suggests that great things are around the corner from these girls. A pulsing electropop track with typically brilliant Scandi sparkle. The lyrics are a bit tongue in cheek and trashy but the song just hits you on the first listen and never lets go, with possibly the catchiest chorus of the year and the fantastic 'you're a dancing psychoooo-o-o-o-o-o- echoing refrain. I wouldn't be surprised if Sheelah find their way back into Melodifestivalen in the very near future, in fact maybe they should have been in this year's contest with this very song, although they would have had to shave about 9 seconds off the running time to make it eligible!!!

The Pipettes - So I'll Say Goodbye

Possibly my favourite group of 2006, We Are The Pipettes is one of the finest debut albums ever, and hailing from the same home town as me (Brighton) I feel a close link to The Pipettes, who perfectly reflect the energy and fun of the local music scene. Having lost a couple of members, acquired some more, lost them and acquired another, the current line up is Gwenno (who featured in the most popular line up) and her sister Ani. I can't claim to be blown away by what I'd heard so far of their new material. Stop The Music, the new single is good but not the stomping comeback I'd hoped for, and the other free download track, Our Love Was Saved By Spacemen left me feeling wanting more. Finally though I have found something fully worthy of my time, the band's greatest moment in my opinion since the heights of Dirty Mind and Pull Shapes. So I'll Say Goodbye is a brilliant 80's throwback fun electro pop song which has a great chorus which it explodes into about halfway through the song for the first time before returning with fantastic added backing harmonies all the way to the end. Sadly, it's been relegated to b-side status on the Stop The Music E.P. and won't feature on the album but at least it gives me a lot more promise for the new direction and new material to come.

Top Songs/Albums; WB 19/4/10

2010-04-16T11:03:00.003+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1)
2. The Pipettes - So I’ll Say Goodbye (NEW)
3. Sheelah - Psycho (3)
4. Roll Deep - Good Times (7)
5. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (2)
6. Joshua Radin - I’d Rather Be With You (9)
7. Safura - Drip Drop (4)
8. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (6)
9. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (5)
10. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (8)
11. Feminnem - Lako Je Sve (24)
12. Stromae - Alors On Danse (18)
13. Diana Vickers - Once (17)
14. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (10)
15. TV Rock feat Rudy - In The Air (Axwell Remix) (32)
16. She & Him - In The Sun (21)
17. Timoteij - Kom (11)
18. Train - Hey Soul Sister (14)
19. Kate Nash - Do Wah Doo (13)
20. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (20)
21. Katie Melua - The Flood (43)
22. Kelis - Acapella (34)
23. Mika vs. RedOne - Kick Ass (12)
24. Boyzone - Let Your Wall Fall Down (16)
25. Three Plus Two - Butterflies (31)
26. Keane feat K’Naan - Stop For A Minute (NEW)
27. Selena Gomez & The Scene - Naturally (Re-entry)
28. Taio Cruz feat Ke$ha - Dirty Picture (38)
29. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (36)
30. Mini Viva - One Touch (30)
31. Timbaland feat Justin Timberlake - Carry Out (15)
32. Brian McFadden feat Delta Goodrem - Mistakes (NEW)
33. Maria Haukaas Storeng feat Måns Zelmerlöw - Precious To Me (NEW)
34. Christina Aguilera - Not Myself Tonight (37)
35. B.o.B. feat Bruno Mars - Nothin’ On You (41)
36. Richard Vission & Static Revenger starring Luciana - I Like That (NEW)
37. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (28)
38. Uffie - MC’s Can Kiss (19)
39. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Bittersweet (22)
40. Marina And The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot (33)
41. Aggro Santos feat Kimberly Wyatt - Candy (NEW)
42. B.o.B feat Hayley Williams - Airplanes (NEW)
43. The Pipettes - Stop The Music (Re-entry)
44. Shakira - Gypsy (Re-entry)
45. Pearl & The Puppets - Because I Do (NEW)
46. Kate Nash - Don’t You Want To Share This Guilt? (NEW)
47. Paula Seling feat Ovi - Playing With Fire (Re-entry)
48. Joshua Radin - Brand New Day (NEW)
49. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (40)
50. Ellie Goulding - Guns & Horses (Re-entry)

Albums

1. Boyzone - Brother (1)
2. Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You (NEW)
3. Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor (3)
4. Gabriella Cilmi - Ten (2)
5. Absolute Music 63 (NEW)
6. Joshua Radin - Simple Times (NEW)
7. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (7)
8. Melodifestivalen 2010 (6)
9. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (5)
10. Now 75 (4)
11. She & Him - Volume Two (8)
12. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (9)
13. Boyzone - Back Again…No Matter What: The Greatest Hits (14)
14. Rihanna - Rated R (12)
15. Absolute Schlager (10)
16. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (13)
17. Sugababes - Sweet 7 (11)
18. Ellie Goulding - Lights (19)
19. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (16)
20. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (18)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 12/4/10

2010-04-09T08:26:00.004+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (1)
2. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (2)
3. Sheelah - Psycho (9)
4. Safura - Drip Drop (4)
5. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (3)
6. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (8)
7. Roll Deep - Good Times (11)
8. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (5)
9. Joshua Radin - I’d Rather Be With You (33)
10. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (12)
11. Timoteij - Kom (7)
12. Mika vs. RedOne - Kick Ass (15)
13. Kate Nash - Do Wah Doo (6)
14. Train - Hey Soul Sister (16)
15. Timbaland feat Justin Timberlake - Carry Out (18)
16. Boyzone - Let Your Wall Fall Down (14)
17. Diana Vickers - Once (30)
18. Stromae - Alors On Danse (25)
19. Uffie - MC’s Can Kiss (NEW)
20. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (10)
21. She & Him - In The Sun (NEW)
22. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Bittersweet (28)
23. Lo-Fi-Fnk - Marchin’ In (20)
24. Feminnem - Lako Je Sve (41)
25. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (13)
26. Chipmunk feat Esmée Denters - Until You Were Gone (24)
27. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (17)
28. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (31)
29. Ghost vs. Sanne - Oh My (19)
30. Mini Viva - One Touch (46)
31. Three Plus Two - Butterflies (34)
32. TV Rock feat Rudy - In The Air (Axwell Remix) (NEW)
33. Marina And The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot (48)
34. Kelis - Acapella (45)
35. Kevin Rudolf feat Birdman, Jay Sean & Lil’ Wayne - I Made It (Cash Money Heroes) (44)
36. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (42)
37. Christina Aguilera - Not Myself Tonight (40)
38. Taio Cruz feat Ke$ha - Dirty Picture (Re-entry)
39. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment (43)
40. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (37)
41. B.o.B. feat Bruno Mars - Nothin’ On You (NEW)
42. Ghost vs. Sanne - Hold This Girl (NEW)
43. Katie Melua - The Flood (NEW)
44. HURTS - Better Than Love (NEW)
45. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (39)
46. Natalia Kills - Activate My Heart (NEW)
47. Gabriella Cilmi - Hearts Don’t Lie (50)
48. Starshell - SuperLuva (NEW)
49. Kaci Battaglia - Crazy Possessive (Re-entry)
50. Agnes - On & On (Re-entry)

Albums

1. Boyzone - Brother (1)
2. Gabriella Cilmi - Ten (2)
3. Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor (5)
4. Now 75 (3)
5. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (4)
6. Melodifestivalen 2010 (6)
7. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (7)
8. She & Him - Volume Two (NEW)
9. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (10)
10. Absolute Schlager (9)
11. Sugababes - Sweet 7 (8)
12. Rihanna - Rated R (13)
13. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (15)
14. Boyzone - Back Again…No Matter What: The Greatest Hits (12)
15. 100 Essential Tracks: Millennium Hits (11)
16. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (17)
17. Amy MacDonald - A Curious Thing (14)
18. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (19)
19. Ellie Goulding - Lights (20)
20. NEO - Human Frontier (16)

Odd song tops the ESC odds...

2010-04-02T18:01:00.007+01:00

With Eurovision 2010 quickly approaching - the end of next month to be precise - and with all songs confirmed, the bookies have been trying to predict what will be the most likely winners. With no obvious 'Fairytale' and last year showing that yes, Western countries can do just as well as Eastern countries with strong enough songs (and the return of jury voting - for 50% of the votes at least), it has become more wide open than ever. Indeed after Norway, Iceland and the UK filled three of the top five spots last year in the incredible 2009 contest in Russia, music and presentation/staging wise, there are three Western countries in the top five bookies odds of this year. William Hill offer the following top ten currently;

Germany 11/4

Azerbaijan 7/2

Israel 8/1

Denmark 12/1

Norway 14/1

Armenia 14/1

Croatia 14/1

Greece 25/1

Sweden 28/1

Belgium/Ireland/Turkey 33/1

So my current personal favourite song, Satellite by quirky 18 year old German Lena Meyer-Landrut is currently topping the odds. Unusual to say the least seeing as they haven't graced the top five for ten years, but hopefully this is the song to change that - it's certainly quirky and individual enough to stand out - particularly with her 22nd out of 25th in the running draw. But I can't help but think that bookies have been influenced by the fact that the song's a record breaking huge selling #1 hit in Germany - will everyone else love it as much as they do (considering she was the winner of a hugely successful TV show with ready made hype available) and will Europe vote enough for one of the 'Big 4' to win the contest or are people bitter about Spain, France, Germany and the UK's free pass to the final every year? Certainly these four countries have all done terribly in the noughties but the song quality of all four was arguably hardly as great as in the past so maybe it was deserved?

Azerbaijan's epic Timbaland style ballad Drip Drop is second favourite and my tip for the win - I just really can't fathom how Germany's quirky songstress will be of taste to everyone - she's surely too oddball to appeal to all? Way back next is Israel's classy ballad, Denmark's Starship style 80's American power anthem throwback and Norway's home entry, the You Raise Me Up clone, My Heart Is Yours by Didrik Solli-Tangen. Armenia's ok, but average in comparison to the last few years, Apricot Stone is next along with Croatia who are definitely worth an each way bet with their strong contemporary ballad. Could still win. Perennial top tenners Greece, recently underperforming Sweden and Belgium/Ireland/Turkey close off the top ten in the odds. Personally, I don't see how Greece, Israel, Denmark, Sweden, Armenia, Belgium or Norway with their terrible draw and good but over dramatic song can win this so it's a seven horse race for me between (in this order) Azerbaijan, Germany, Croatia, Turkey, Ireland, Romania and Belarus. I'm sure my views will change in the coming few weeks though.

Top Songs/Albums; WB 5/4/10

2010-04-02T09:43:00.003+01:00

Songs

1. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (5)
2. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (2)
3. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (3)
4. Safura - Drip Drop (10)
5. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (1)
6. Kate Nash - Do Wah Doo (8)
7. Timoteij - Kom (4)
8. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (9)
9. Sheila - Dancing Psycho (NEW)
10. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (6)
11. Roll Deep - Good Times (25)
12. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (11)
13. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (7)
14. Boyzone - Let Your Wall Fall Down (19)
15. Mika - Kick Ass (13)
16. Train - Hey Soul Sister (21)
17. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (14)
18. Timbaland feat Justin Timberlake - Carry Out (23)
19. Ghost vs. Sanne - Oh My (NEW)
20. Lo-Fi-Fnk - Marchin’ In (NEW)
21. Boyzone - Ruby (16)
22. One More Time - Den Vilda (15)
23. Inna - Hot (12)
24. Chipmunk feat Esmée Denters - Until You Were Gone (30)
25. Stromae - Alors On Danse (39)
26. Trina feat Diddy and Keri Hilson - Million Dollar Girl (17)
27. Robyn - Fembot (22)
28. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Bittersweet (33)
29. Caro Emerald - Back It Up (NEW)
30. Diana Vickers - Once (Re-entry)
31. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (28)
32. Scouting For Girls - This Ain’t A Love Song (45)
33. Joshua Radin - I’d Rather Be With You (NEW)
34. Three Plus Two - Butterflies (NEW)
35. Sia - Clap Your Hands (42)
36. Gabriella Cilmi - Glue (26)
37. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (32)
38. Tinie Tempah - Pass Out (43)
39. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (35)
40. Christina Aguilera - Not Myself Tonight (NEW)
41. Feminnem - Lako Je Sve (Re-entry)
42. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (Re-entry)
43. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment (46)
44. Kevin Rudolf feat Birdman, Jay Sean & Lil’ Wayne - I Made It (Cash Money Heroes) (NEW)
45. Kelis - Acapella (NEW)
46. Mini Viva - One Touch (NEW)
47. The Pipettes - Stop The Music (47)
48. Marina And The Diamonds - I Am Not A Robot (NEW)
49. Caro Emerald - Riviera Life (NEW)
50. Gabriella Cilmi - Hearts Don’t Lie (50)

Albums

1. Boyzone - Brother (1)
2. Gabriella Cilmi - Ten (2)
3. Now 75 (NEW)
4. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (3)
5. Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor (8)
6. Melodifestivalen 2010 (4)
7. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (6)
8. Sugababes - Sweet 7 (5)
9. Absolute Schlager (7)
10. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (10)
11. 100 Essential Tracks: Millennium Hits (12)
12. Boyzone - Back Again…No Matter What: The Greatest Hits (11)
13. Rihanna - Rated R (16)
14. Amy MacDonald - A Curious Thing (9)
15. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (15)
16. NEO - Human Frontier (13)
17. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (20)
18. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (14)
19. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (19)
20. Ellie Goulding - Lights (18)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 29/3/10

2010-03-26T08:08:00.002Z

Songs

1. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (1)
2. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (4)
3. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (7)
4. Timoteij - Kom (2)
5. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (5)
6. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (3)
7. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (8)
8. Kate Nash - Do Wah Doo (12)
9. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (6)
10. Safura - Drip Drop (50)
11. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (14)
12. Inna - Hot (16)
13. Mika - Kick Ass (17)
14. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (10)
15. One More Time - Den Vilda (13)
16. Boyzone - Ruby (9)
17. Trina feat Diddy and Keri Hilson - Million Dollar Girl (NEW)
18. Alcazar - Headlines (11)
19. Boyzone - Let Your Wall Fall Down (32)
20. Natalie Bassingthwaighte - Turn The Lights On (NEW)
21. Train - Hey Soul Sister (26)
22. Robyn - Fembot (NEW)
23. Timbaland feat Justin Timberlake - Carry Out (Re-entry)
24. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Extra Mile (39)
25. Roll Deep - Good Times (49)
26. Gabriella Cilmi - Glue (NEW)
27. Cascada - Pyromania (15)
28. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (Re-entry)
29. Sugababes - She’s A Mess (24)
30. Chipmunk feat Esmée Denters - Until You Were Gone (38)
31. Jessica Andersson - I Did It For Love (18)
32. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (40)
33. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Bittersweet (48)
34. Salem Al Fakir - Virgin Mary (21)
35. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (27)
36. Gabriella Cilmi - Invisible Girl (NEW)
37. Xavier Naidoo - Alles Kann Besser Werden (NEW)
38. Shakira - Gypsy (44)
39. Stromae - Alors On Danse (41)
40. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (23)
41. Vita Chambers - Young Money (NEW)
42. Sia - Clap Your Hands (NEW)
43. Tinie Tempah - Pass Out (NEW)
44. Gabriella Cilmi - What If You Knew (NEW)
45. Scouting For Girls - This Ain’t A Love Song (45)
46. Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment (NEW)
47. The Pipettes - Stop The Music (NEW)
48. Caro Emerald - That Man (NEW)
49. Jessy Matador - Allez! Ola! Olé! (NEW)
50. Gabriella Cilmi - Hearts Don’t Lie (NEW)

Albums

1. Boyzone - Brother (1)
2. Gabriella Cilmi - Ten (NEW)
3. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (2)
4. Melodifestivalen 2010 (4)
5. Sugababes - Sweet 7 (3)
6. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (5)
7. Absolute Schlager (6)
8. Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor (NEW)
9. Amy MacDonald - A Curious Thing (7)
10. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (9)
11. Boyzone - Back Again…No Matter What: The Greatest Hits (Re-entry)
12. 100 Essential Tracks: Millennium Hits (NEW)
13. NEO - Human Frontier (8)
14. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (NEW)
15. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (12)
16. Rihanna - Rated R (13)
17. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (11)
18. Ellie Goulding - Lights (10)
19. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (15)
20. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (18)

New Music; Mika back on form and some Dutch jazz!

2010-03-21T08:34:00.005Z

Trina feat Diddy and Keri Hilson - Million Dollar Girl

'Ms Keri Baby' returns with her 94th featuring credit of the past month, this time on the new single by female rapper Trina and legend Diddy, who doesn't really add an awful lot to this song to be honest apart from a phoned in rap segment. Trina, best known here for her top 20 hit with Kelly Rowland, the surprisingly mellow (for her) Here We Go Again, returns to what she does best here - an uptempo club banger. Trina and Diddy alternate the verses but it's the chorus that really makes this song - provided by the ever underrated and fantastic Keri Hilson. Ridiculously and brilliantly catchy after just one listen, this has all of the ingredients of a hit - apart from the fact that the three artists featuring on the song are hardly the most fashionable hitmakers of 2010...maybe if it had been released in 2000...

Caro Emerald - A Night Like This

Dutch jazz singer Caro Emerald has been causing quite a stir in her homeland in recent months, after A Night Like This was featured in a Martini commercial. Not being a fan of jazz myself in particular, Caro's music retains a pop edge that makes it just accessible enough for just about anyone. A typically classy production, Caro's smooth and clear voice is perfect for this type of music and A Night Like This has a triumphant chorus that demands attention. Add this to the list of songs that are recent massive European hits that I want released here, along with Jungle Drum, If A Song Could Get Me You, I Will Love You Monday and countless others...

Mika - Kick Ass

After the flop of largely underwhelming second album The Boy Who Knew Too Much, in comparison to the mega success of the debut at least, Mika seems to have quickly pushed it aside to launch into a new side project. One of my favourite artists in 2007, Mika pushed pop boundaries at the time, bringing a flamboyancy back to an increasingly serious genre. Since then, with the likes of Alphabeat and the comeback of pure pop acts in the charts spearheaded by the likes of The Saturdays, Pixie Lott and Katy Perry, Mika doesn't seem quite so ground breaking anymore and his second album almost felt pedestrian in comparison to the first. Thankfully, despite Melodifestivalen act NEO's best attempt to steal his style, look and voice, Mika is back on top form with the Red One produced Kick Ass, the title track to the film of the same name. Essentially the same backing track as Remedy and Fire Burning, it doesn't matter here because Mika puts his own stamp on the song with a confident 'we are young, we are strong' chant as the chorus. More like this for album number three please!

Top Songs/Albums; WB 22/3/10

2010-03-19T09:30:00.002Z

Songs

1. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (2)
2. Timoteij - Kom (1)
3. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (7)
4. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (8)
5. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Satellite (NEW)
6. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (3)
7. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (4)
8. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (16)
9. Boyzone - Ruby (9)
10. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (5)
11. Alcazar - Headlines (6)
12. Kate Nash - Do Wah Doo (25)
13. One More Time - Den Vilda (27)
14. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (19)
15. Cascada - Pyromania (10)
16. Inna - Hot (15)
17. Mika - Kick Ass (NEW)
18. Jessica Andersson - I Did It For Love (31)
19. Darin - Out Of My Life (17)
20. Amy MacDonald - What Happiness Means To Me (47)
21. Salem Al Fakir - Virgin Mary (NEW)
22. Cheryl Cole - Parachute (11)
23. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (18)
24. Sugababes - She’s A Mess (NEW)
25. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (14)
26. Train - Hey Soul Sister (NEW)
27. Tom Dice - Me & My Guitar (NEW)
28. Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood (13)
29. Neo - Higher (NEW)
30. Lena Meyer-Landrut - Bee (NEW)
31. Kids Of 88 - Just A Little Bit (12)
32. Boyzone - Let Your Wall Fall Down (50)
33. Malcolm Lincoln - Siren (NEW)
34. Eric Saade - Manboy (36)
35. Amy MacDonald - Spark (40)
36. Salem Al Fakir - Red Rock (NEW)
37. NEO - Human Frontier (28)
38. Chipmunk feat Esmée Denters - Until You Were Gone (NEW)
39. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Extra Mile (NEW)
40. Alexandra Burke feat Pitbull - All Night Long (NEW)
41. Stromae - Alors On Danse (NEW)
42. Paula Seling feat Ovi - Playing With Fire (44)
43. Sugababes - Crash & Burn (NEW)
44. Shakira - Gypsy (Re-entry)
45. Scouting For Girls - This Ain’t A Love Song (NEW)
46. Cache Cache - Only Do For Love (NEW)
47. Feminnem - Lako Je Sve (45)
48. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Bittersweet (49)
49. Roll Deep - Good Times (NEW)
50. Safura - Drip Drop (NEW)

Albums

1. Boyzone - Brother (1)
2. Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This (NEW)
3. Sugababes - Sweet 7 (NEW)
4. Melodifestivalen 2010 (2)
5. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (3)
7. Amy MacDonald - A Curious Thing (4)
8. NEO - Human Frontier (NEW)
9. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (5)
10. Ellie Goulding - Lights (6)
11. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (8)
12. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (10)
13. Rihanna - Rated R (11)
14. Jason DeRülo - Jason DeRülo (9)
15. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (14)
16. Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (13)
17. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (17)
18. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (15)
19. Erik Hassle - Pieces (12)
20. Leona Lewis - Echo (18)

Inget Konstigt Alls!

2010-03-11T14:48:00.002Z

Two Days to go to the Melodifestivalen final in Globen, Stockholm. I was supposed to be going there today but am not well enough to travel so will sadly miss it this year having seen the 2009 final live and Malena triumph over dark horse Caroline Af Ugglas. Disappoinment aside I like all ten songs in the final, some more than others, although arguably the quality overall isn't as high as last year - there's no Stay The Night in the final shake up that's for sure!!! 18 year old former Idol contestant Anna Bergendahl appears to be the favourite with the country's current No.1 single, the radio friendly ballad This Is My Life. Her husky unique voice set her aside from the pack and would differentiate it slightly from the numerous other ballads selected for the Eurovision Song Contest so far, and they're obviously trying to repeat Yohanna's success last year for Iceland. Producer Christer Bjorkman has enlisted the help of six international juries (from Russia, France, Greece, Norway, Serbia and Ireland) to help pick the best song for Eurovision, an interesting new way of doing things but the public will be more interested in voting for the best song, not necessarily the one that will perform best in Oslo, so expect the jury votes to differ wildly from the public voting again this year.

Andreas Johnson's We Can Work It Out, Ola's Unstoppable, Peter Jöback's Hollow, Pernilla Wahlgren's Jag Vil Om Du Vågar and Jessica Andersson's I Did It For Love are generally thought to be no hopers in the final, surprising considering that all five of those acts are big names in Sweden, but this is a song contest after all, and those are certainly not the best songs here this year. Darin's atmospheric ballad Out Of My Life is tipped for a top five finish, despite him and Peter originally being favourites to win, but a win looks unlikely for him now. So onto Anna's real competition then. Three more Melodifestivalen debutants are still in with a shout. Eric Saade's Frederik Kempe penned pop anthem Manboy could get the Hope & Glory vote, and has an outside chance to win, but I think the other two to watch are girlband Timoteij's infectious Swedish language ethno-pop song Kom, and quirky singer songwriter Salem Al Fakir's Keep On Walking. I expect one Timoteij, Salem and Anna to win and wouldn't be surprised to see any going to Oslo, although I genuinely think that Timoteij would perform far better at Eurovision than the other two as it's instantly likeable and distinctive. It should be an interesting final on Saturday, shame I won't be there to see it.

Top Songs/Albums; WB 15/3/10

2010-03-10T13:58:00.002Z

Songs

1. Timoteij - Kom (2)
2. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (1)
3. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (38)
4. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (5)
5. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (3)
6. Alcazar - Headlines (4)
7. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (28)
8. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (13)
9. Boyzone - Ruby (NEW)
10. Cascada - Pyromania (12)
11. Cheryl Cole - Parachute (6)
12. Kids Of 88 - Just A Little Bit (8)
13. Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood (7)
14. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (9)
15. Inna - Hot (15)
16. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (19)
17. Darin - Out Of My Life (17)
18. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (11)
19. Boyzone - Love Is A Hurricane (NEW)
20. Lady GaGa - Dance In The Dark (10)
21. Ola - Unstoppable (The Return Of Natalie) (21)
22. Pernilla Wahlgren - Jag Vill Om Du Vågar (33)
23. Pixie Lott - Gravity (22)
24. Cults - Go Outside (NEW)
25. Kate Nash - Doo Wah Doo (45)
26. Leddra Chapman - Story (14)
27. One More Time - Den Vilda (27)
28. NEO - Human Frontier (24)
29. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (16)
30. Delphic - Halcyon (20)
31. Jessica Andersson - I Did It For Love (Re-entry)
32. Andreas Johnson - We Can Work It Out (26)
33. Sunstroke Project feat Olia Tira - Run Away (NEW)
34. Groove Armada feat Will Young - History (39)
35. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You (18)
36. Eric Saade - Manboy (37)
37. Alex Gardner - I’m Not Mad (40)
38. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (42)
39. Ellie Goulding - The Writer (30)
40. Amy MacDonald - Spark (NEW)
41. Zola Jesus - Night (NEW)
42. Sibel - Stop (46)
43. Ellie Goulding - Guns & Horses (NEW)
44. Paula Seling feat Ovi - Playing With Fire (NEW)
45. Feminnem - Lako Je Sve (NEW)
46. Mariah Carey feat Ne-Yo - Angels Cry (41)
47. Amy MacDonald - What Happiness Means To Me (NEW)
48. Peter Jöback - Hollow (48)
49. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Bittersweet (NEW)
50. Boyzone - Let Your Wall Fall Down (NEW)

Albums

1. Boyzone - Brother (NEW)
2. Melodifestivalen 2010 (1)
3. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (2)
4. Amy MacDonald - A Curious Thing (NEW)
5. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (3)
6. Ellie Goulding - Lights (4)
7. Absolute Schlager (7)
8. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (6)
9. Jason DeRülo - Jason DeRülo (5)
10. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (8)
11. Rihanna - Rated R (12)
12. Erik Hassle - Pieces (9)
13. Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (10)
14. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (11)
15. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (14)
16. Sharleen Spiteri - The Movie Songbook (13)
17. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (20)
18. Leona Lewis - Echo (15)
19. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (16)
20. Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (17)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 8/3/10

2010-03-05T09:14:00.002Z

Songs

1. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (3)
2. Timoteij - Kom (2)
3. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (1)
4. Alcazar - Headlines (9)
5. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (12)
6. Cheryl Cole - Parachute (4)
7. Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood (10)
8. Kids Of 88 - Just A Little Bit (NEW)
9. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (5)
10. Lady GaGa - Dance In The Dark (Re-entry)
11. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (6)
12. Cascada - Pyromania (18)
13. Caro Emerald - A Night Like This (NEW)
14. Leddra Chapman - Story (8)
15. Inna - Hot (11)
16. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (33)
17. Darin - Out Of My Life (38)
18. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You (13)
19. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (37)
20. Delphic - Halcyon (30)
21. Ola - Unstoppable (32)
22. Pixie Lott - Gravity (23)
23. Tania Foster - Supawoman (7)
24. NEO - Human Frontier (NEW)
25. Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again (14)
26. Andreas Johnson - We Can Work It Out (26)
27. One More Time - Den Vilda (27)
28. Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life (NEW)
29. Marina & The Diamonds - Are You Satisfied? (16)
30. Ellie Goulding - The Writer (NEW)
31. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (17)
32. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (20)
33. Pernilla Wahlgren - Jag Vill Om Du Vågar (NEW)
34. Rihanna - Rude Boy (24)
35. Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders - Life Looks Better In The Spring (21)
36. Erik Hassle & Malin Dahlstrom - Who’s Gonna Walk You Home (36)
37. Eric Saade - Manboy (39)
38. Niamh Kavanagh - It’s For You (NEW)
39. Groove Armada feat Will Young - History (NEW)
40. Alex Gardner - I’m Not Mad (46)
41. Mariah Carey feat Ne-Yo - Angels Cry (44)
42. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (28)
43. Jason DeRülo - What If (NEW)
44. Kate Nash - Doo Wah Doo (NEW)
45. Alphabeat - DJ (Re-entry)
46. Sibel - Stop (NEW)
47. Jason DeRülo - Ridin’ Solo (NEW)
48. Peter Jöback - Hollow (NEW)
49. Gramophonedzie - Why Don’t You (49)
50. Kristina - Horehronie (NEW)

Albums

1. Melodifestivalen 2010 (NEW)
2. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (5)
3. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (1)
4. Ellie Goulding - Lights (7)
5. Jason DeRülo - Jason DeRülo (NEW)
6. Alphabeat - The Beat Is… (18)
7. Absolute Schlager (2)
8. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (4)
9. Erik Hassle - Pieces (3)
10. Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (6)
11. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (8)
12. Rihanna - Rated R (12)
13. Sharleen Spiteri - The Movie Songbook (NEW)
15. Leona Lewis - Echo (14)
16. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (16)
17. Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (15)
18. Ke$ha - Animal (13)
19. Salem Al Fakir - Astronaut (9)
20. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (20)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 1/3/10

2010-02-26T09:40:00.002Z

Songs

1. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (1)
2. Timoteij - Kom (NEW)
3. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (2)
4. Cheryl Cole - Parachute (6)
5. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (3)
6. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (5)
7. Tania Foster - Supawoman (14)
8. Leddra Chapman - Story (4)
9. Alcazar - Headlines (NEW)
10. Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood (12)
11. Inna - Hot (8)
12. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (13)
13. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You (9)
14. Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again (7)
15. Florence + The Machine & Dizzee Rascal - You’ve Got The Dirtee Love (10)
16. Marina & The Diamonds - Are You Satisfied? (20)
17. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (16)
18. Cascada - Pyromania (29)
19. Dandy Andy feat Carmen Castro - My Lonely Valentine (25)
20. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (11)
21. Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders - Life Looks Better In The Spring (24)
22. Tinashé and Kissy Sell Out - Come On Over (28)
23. Pixie Lott - Gravity (32)
24. Rihanna - Rude Boy (15)
25. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (18)
26. Andreas Johnson - We Can Work It Out (27)
27. One More Time - Den Vilda (NEW)
28. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (19)
29. Linda Bengtzing & Velvet - Victorious (NEW)
30. Delphic - Halcyon (38)
31. Erik Hassle - Hurtful (17)
32. Ola - Unstoppable (22)
33. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (45)
34. Chris Brown - Crawl (41)
35. Chiddy Bang - The Opposite Of Adults (NEW)
36. Erik Hassle & Malin Dahlstrom - Who’s Gonna Walk You Home (NEW)
37. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (39)
38. Darin - Out Of My Life (NEW)
39. Eric Saade - Manboy (33)
40. Marina & The Diamonds - Oh No! (50)
41. Marina Łuczenko - Glam Pop (34)
42. Jessica Andersson - I Did It For Love (46)
43. Thea Garrett - My Dream (NEW)
44. Mariah Carey feat Ne-Yo - Angels Cry (NEW)
45. Erik Hassle - Amelia (NEW)
46. Alex Gardner - I’m Not Mad (NEW)
47. McLean - My Name (48)
48. Elin Lanto - Doctor Doctor (NEW)
49. Gramophonedzie - Why Don’t You (NEW)
50. Erik Hassle - Isn’t It Obvious (NEW)

Albums

1. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (2)
2. Absolute Schlager (1)
3. Erik Hassle - Pieces (18)
4. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (3)
5. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (6)
6. Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (5)
7. Ellie Goulding - Lights (NEW)
8. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (7)
9. Salem Al Fakir - Astronaut (4)
10. Now That’s What I Call The 00’s (8)
11. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (11)
12. Rihanna - Rated R (10)
13. Ke$ha - Animal (9)
14. Leona Lewis - Echo (13)
15. Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (12)
16. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (14)
17. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (20)
18. Alphabeat - The Spell (Re-entry)
19. Timbaland - Shock Value II (16)
20. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (17)

new artist watch_feb2010//

2010-02-22T19:03:00.003Z

Here are a few new artists about to unleash their talents on us all in the next few months.

Tania Foster

Upcoming British singer/songwriter Tania has already lent some vocals to Tinchy Stryder's debut album and she's about to branch out on her own now. The Keri Hilson lookalike has already been tipped for big things by Music Week and if she gets the right promo push then she could do very well indeed, there is certainly a gap in the market for a British R&B female seeing as Jamelia appears to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Alexandra Burke is helping to fill the void but Tania writes and produces her own material and feels like an all round talent. Supawoman is my favourite track of hers so far - sounding like Little Boots singing the catchy electro pop that Sugababes 4.0 should be releasing rather than the generic Wear My Kiss, Tania's soulful yet powerfully subtle voice suits the track perfectly and far from sounding like a demo for one of the aformentioned acts, Tania could get a top ten hit with this right now if Radio 1 added it to their playlist. Definitely one to watch - her website is here; www.myspace.com/taniafostermusic and you can hear Supawoman below;

Tinashé

A rather unique talent, Tinashé, who hails from Zimbabwe but grew up in Hackney is that one in a million type of act that crosses boundaries seamlessly. Blending his African roots with pop, electro and indie, he already has some fantastic songs on his MySpace that suggest that he is definitely a tip for the future. They can be heard here; www.myspace.com/tinashemusic.
Forthcoming single Mayday is catchy indie pop but my favourite track is the Kissy Sell Out collaboration Come On Over. His soulful but incredibly distinctive voice stands right out of a glorious xylophone based dance track which is so infectious and charming that it hasn't left my head since the first time I heard it. He performs a fantastic acoustic version of Mayday below;

Alex Gardner

Hot on the heels of Mini Viva and Jesse Malakouti, the latest Xenomania protégé is 18 year old Scottish singer Alex Gardner. After the huge commercial success in the last 6 months of fellow young Scot Paolo Nutini, who Alex has already toured with, it seems to be a combination that can't fail. Hardly a typical run of the mill pop singer, Alex's distinctive deep vocals make his electro pop songs stand out. His debut single I'm Not Mad is released on March 22nd and his unique vocals layer effortlessly over a typically mesmerising Xenomania production sounding like the younger cousin of Girls Aloud's The Loving Kind. You can find out more about Alex at his website here; http://www.alexgardnermusic.com. I've also been given permission to host a free download of his track There Goes My Heart which you can download if you click here. You can watch the video to new single I'm Not Mad below;

Kom Kom Kom!

2010-02-21T08:34:00.006Z

Girlband Timoteij sailed through to the final of Melodifestivalen last night with the fantastic Kom! The ethnic pop song works so much better than Sofia's fluke finalist Alla from last year did for so many reasons. It's instantly catchy, the girls are all stunning, the instruments add great effect to the presentation, particularly the accordion and it just feels like it's got winner written all over it, not just for Melodifestivalen but potentially for Eurovision as a whole as well. They will be joined in Globen by superstar Darin with the ballad Out Of My Life. It was surprising to see Darin qualify second in the voting after the unknowns Timoteij stormed straight to Globen by winning their semi, but I suppose this is credit to how accessible the song is. My favourite band of 2009, Alcazar, returned with Headlines. Maybe not as great as Stay The Night, the Release Me/Burning-esque hybrid was still easily the second best song in the semi and will thankfully get another chance in Andra Chansen in two weeks - here's hoping they can do what they did in 2003 and 2005 and qualify to the final from there (where they finished third both years!). It will be a massive radio hit either way and it's not like they're short of success in the competition. Rocky girl group Crucified Barbara also went to Andra Chansen, with Heaven Or Hell.

Timoteij are the first female act to reach the final and will be joined by the aformentioned Darin, the no hopers Ola and Andreas Johnson, who have great songs but will struggle to make a huge mark on the scoreboard, newcomer Eric Saade, who will probably finish around 4th or 5th, and then Salem Al Fakir, who arguably has the most enchanting, different and strongest song in the final with Keep On Walking, although maybe not as suited to Eurovision as Kom might be. At this moment in time, I'd say and hope that it's between Timoteij and Salem for Sweden 2010, but we still haven't heard from Peter Jöback, one of Sweden's biggest stars, who will take place in the final semi next week. He will almost certainly go straight to Globen with whatever he sends, but will the song be strong enough to overcome the excellent finalists that we already have?

New Music; Victory for Velvtzing but not for MF

2010-02-20T17:59:00.003Z

Velvet & Linda Bengtzing - Victorious

Swedish pop/dance artist Velvet and fellow Melodifestivalen veteran Linda Bengtzing teamed up this year to record Victorious for the purpose of sending to the yearly Swedish Eurovision song selection show. An incredibly typical Schalger dance/pop song complete with a key change, it would have easily been a huge radio hit and a big chart hit in Sweden. A massive chorus with both women's vocals complement each other brilliantly, it's the second great pop duet Linda's done in the last few months, the other being Not That Kinda Girl with Kim Lian. It's a real shame that Christer Bjorkman didn't put this into the semis because although I'm loving a lot of the songs this year, it's really lacking in both girl power and Schlager-pop, both of which this song oozes. It hasn't got a full single release but has instead been featured on the new Rix FM compilation album, giving fans of the artists the chance to hear the rejected track. But seriously, was Hippare Hoppare REALLY chosen over this? Madness.

Cascada - Pyromania

German dance trio Cascada have had shocking longevity in the industry, now entering what is their sixth year of worldwide success. Fresh from their UK chart topping single and top ten album of the same name, Evacuate The Dancefloor (which was followed by the super-flops Dangerous and Fever, but we'll forget those ever happened), Natalie, Yanou and Manian are back with another GaGa influenced dancefloor stormer, Pyromania. Where Evacuate The Dancefloor owes a huge debt to Just Dance, this is essentially Cascada's sequel to Poker Face. Not that this is a bad thing of course, if you're going to borrow sounds you might as well borrow them from the best in the business - which at the moment is easily Lady GaGa. The vocals are spot on as usual, Natalie in my opinion being one of the most underrated vocalists around - she has an incredibly strong and distinctive voice which lends itself to the usual dance sound, this new RedOne sound that they've adopted so successfully and even ballads, where she sounds gorgeous. An incredibly repetitive song, Pyromania sticks in your head instantly and once again Cascada should have a huge worldwide hit on their hands with this.

Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat

It really is about time I covered this song, seeing as it's been at the top of my 'chart' for the past couple of weeks. Swedish duo Staygold have teamed up with fellow Swede Salem Al Fakir (under the alias Damien Adore) along with US rappers Spank Rock and Lady Tigra, and the result is arguably the most infectious song of 2010 so far. 'Damien' puts on his best Mika falsetto over an irresistible 80's inspired Prince-like electro groove which sounds incredibly fresh yet classic at the same time. The cameo rap from Spank Rock and vocal segment from Lady Tigra only add to the magic of the song, coming in at the perfect time to prevent the song from becoming repetitive. And just when you think it's all over, a stunning electro breakdown closes the track out in the best 80's throwback I can recall since Groove Armada's 2007 anthem Song 4 Mutya. Definitely one to listen to - highly recommended.

Top Songs/Albums; WB 22/2/10

2010-02-19T09:31:00.003Z

Songs

1. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (1)
2. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (5)
3. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (2)
4. Leddra Chapman - Story (4)
5. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (7)
6. Cheryl Cole - Parachute (22)
7. Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again (3)
8. Inna - Hot (13)
9. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You (10)
10. Florence + The Machine & Dizzee Rascal - You’ve Got The Dirtee Love (NEW)
11. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (8)
12. Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood (11)
13. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (9)
14. Tania Foster - Supawoman (NEW)
15. Rihanna - Rude Boy (21)
16. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (18)
17. Erik Hassle - Hurtful (6)
18. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (16)
19. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (12)
20. Marina & The Diamonds - Are You Satisfied? (33)
21. Salem Al Fakir - Cold Shower (28)
22. Ola - Unstoppable (27)
23. Jenny Silver - A Place To Stay (31)
24. Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders - Life Looks Better In The Spring (45)
25. Dandy Andy feat Carmen Castro - My Lonely Valentine (NEW)
26. Ke$ha feat 3OH!3 - Blah Blah Blah (14)
27. Andreas Johnson - We Can Work It Out (NEW)
28. Tinashé and Kissy Sell Out - Come On Over (NEW)
29. Cascada - Pyromania (NEW)
30. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (20)
31. Leddra Chapman - Fooling Myself (15)
32. Pixie Lott - Gravity (39)
33. Eric Saade - Manboy (NEW)
34. Marina Łuczenko - Glam Pop (NEW)
35. Leddra Chapman - Edie (17)
36. Shackles - Breaking The Silence (19)
37. Leona Lewis - I Got You (25)
38. Delphic - Halcyon (NEW)
39. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (43)
40. Sugababes - Wear My Kiss (40)
41. Chris Brown - Crawl (49)
42. Diana Vickers - Once (30)
43. Leighton Meester - Your Love’s A Drug (NEW)
44. Cherri V feat Wiley - Skool Daze (NEW)
45. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (44)
46. Jessica Andersson - I Did It For Love (NEW)
47. Pain Of Salvation - Road Salt (41)
48. McLean - My Name (50)
49. Che’Nelle - Feel Good (NEW)
50. Marina & The Diamonds - Oh No! (NEW)

Albums

1. Absolute Schlager (1)
2. Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels (4)
3. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (3)
4. Salem Al Fakir - Astronaut (5)
5. Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (2)
6. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (8)
7. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (7)
8. Now That’s What I Call The 00’s (NEW)
9. Ke$ha - Animal (6)
10. Rihanna - Rated R (10)
11. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (12)
12. Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (9)
13. Leona Lewis - Echo (13)
14. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (19)
15. Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (11)
16. Timbaland - Shock Value II (16)
17. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (14)
18. Erik Hassle - Pieces (17)
19. Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea (15)
20. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (20)

Top Songs/Albums; WB 15/2/10

2010-02-12T09:37:00.003Z

Songs

1. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (4)
2. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (1)
3. Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again (5)
4. Leddra Chapman - Story (2)
5. Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking (NEW)
6. Erik Hassle - Hurtful (3)
7. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (14)
8. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (9)
9. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (6)
10. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You (18)
11. Marina & the Diamonds - Hollywood (15)
12. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (7)
13. Inna - Hot (17)
14. Ke$ha feat 3OH!3 - Blah Blah Blah (19)
15. Leddra Chapman - Fooling Myself (10)
16. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (16)
17. Leddra Chapman - Edie (12)
18. Chanee and N'Evergreen - In A Moment Like This (NEW)
19. Shackles - Breaking The Silence (13)
20. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (32)
21. Rihanna - Rude Boy (35)
22. Cheryl Cole - Parachute (Re-entry)
23. Stella - Underground (8)
24. Nina Lassander - Cider Hill (11)
25. Leona Lewis - I Got You (25)
26. Sabrina Washington - OMG (49)
27. Ola - Unstoppable (NEW)
28. Salem Al Fakir - Cold Shower (NEW)
29. Sukkerchok - Kæmper For Kærlighed (NEW)
30. Diana Vickers - Once (30)
31. Jenny Silver - A Place To Stay (NEW)
32. Bjørn Johan Muri - Yes Man (34)
33. Marina & the Diamonds - Are You Satisfied? (NEW)
34. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (28)
35. Maria Matilde Band - Panik (NEW)
36. Bob Sinclar feat Vybrate Queen Ifrica & Makedah - New New New (Avicii Remix) (29)
37. Sad Brad Smith - Help Yourself (36)
38. Mira Craig - I’ll Take You High (23)
39. Pixie Lott - Gravity (NEW)
40. Sugababes - Wear My Kiss (Re-entry)
41. Pain Of Salvation - Road Salt (NEW)
42. Daisy Dares You feat Chipmunk - No.1 Enemy (33)
43. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (45)
44. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (46)
45. Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders – Life Looks Better In The Spring (NEW)
46. Sharleen Spiteri - Xanadu (50)
47. Amy MacDonald - Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over (38)
48. Black Eyed Peas - Rock That Body (48)
49. Chris Brown – Crawl (NEW)
50. McLean - My Name (NEW)

Albums

1. Absolute Schlager (9)
2. Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (2)
3. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (1)
4. Marina & the Diamonds - The Family Jewels (NEW)
5. Salem Al Fakir - Astronaut (NEW)
6. Ke$ha - Animal (3)
7. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (4)
8. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (6)
9. Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (5)
10. Rihanna - Rated R (8)
11. Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (NEW)
12. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (7)
13. Leona Lewis - Echo (10)
14. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (14)
15. Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea (16)
16. Timbaland - Shock Value II (15)
17. Erik Hassle - Pieces (12)
18. OneRepublic - Waking Up (13)
19. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (19)
20. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (20)

Scandinavia has chosen!

2010-02-07T14:44:00.002Z

Last night three Scandinavian nations picked their Eurovision 2010 entries whilst Sweden kicked off the greatest show on earth, aka Melodifestivalen. In a very male dominated final, Norway's Melodi Grand Prix was won convincingly by relative unknown Didrik Solli-Tangen with My Heart Is Yours - a cross between Josh Groban's You Raise Me Up and Cyndi's I'll Leave My Heart. A very good song, it could well give Norway a third consecutive top five result! Spare a thought for Anglo-Norwegian reformed boyband though who came a distant 2nd with their fantastic 'Don't Wanna Lose You Again'. Metal band Keep of Kalessin finished 3rd with The Dragontower and new Norwegian hearthrob Bjørn Johan Muri finished fourth in an all male top four with Yes Man. A predictable ballad perhaps, but Norway once again send a quality pop song and they certainly won't have a shameful home result in Oslo.

Iceland had a very uninteresting song selection with the final six consisting of three tragedies, a weird but interesting indie rock/traditional folk number, a pleasant mid-tempo ballad (which finished 2nd) and then Je Ne Sais Quoi by Hera Björk which won the low key contest, and by a landslide I should imagine. Hera has been the backing vocalist for Iceland in 2008 and 2009 and also competed to represent Denmark last year but finished 2nd there behind mini Ronan. Nice to see her finally get to Eurovision as the lead artist then but this song, in the mould of Hero, Je T'Adore, If I Had Your Love and other uptempo Europop/Schlager disco songs, will probably struggle to do very well as the sound stopped doing well in the contest circa 2002.

Denmark left it until the last minute to unveil their songs and the final ten were in fact mostly very good - although as usual, nothing screamed 'winner'. After a number of rounds which instantly knocked out the best song; Kæmper For Kærlighed by Sukkerchock (like a turbo Danish version of Release Me by Agnes), male singer Bryan Rice's Bleeding Love esque ballad Breathing took on In A Moment Like This, a male/female duet between Chanee and N'Evergreen written by Eurovision veteran songwriter Thomas G:Son. In A Moment Like This ultimately won and will represent Denmark in Oslo. It reminds me of Tina Turner's The Best somehow and whilst a pretty decent song and indeed performance, I can't see Denmark scraping past their usual mid-table placing this year.

And so to Sweden, they warranted most of my attention even though it was only the first semi-final of the infamous Melodifestivalen and it didn't disappoint! The new structure was a bit odd with the overall winner going through first and then the four songs left in contention going on to another voting round. Still, at least there is no pointless international jury 11th placed song in the final this year - and those silly duels have gone too. So you can rest assured that the 1st and 2nd most popular songs went through, and not the 1st and 3rd most popular like last year's first semi where Caroline Af Ugglas had to wait until second chance at the expense of Emilia going Direkt Till Globen. Although I think all of that extra exposure worked massively in Caroline's favour anyway. So, the staging was good, the presenters were decent and the extras were fantastic (the schlager divas version of Holding Out For A Hero in particular!).

But the songs were the main draw - there were the bad; Anders Ekborg's hideous musical number, and Frispårkarn's annoying rap song. Then the other two that didn't go through; Linda Pritchard's song was very much a cross of Ricki-Lee's Can't Touch It and Kat DeLuna's Run The Show. It was decent but not amazing. And Jenny Silver's disco song was a bit understated for Melodifestivalen I think and her deep voice didn't really suit it. Kylie or Rachel Stevens would have done it better. Jessica Andersson's predictable ballad went to Andra Chansen along with rock act Pain of Salvation's gorgeous ballad Road Salt. The instant finalists were firstly the brilliant Salem Al Fakir with Keep On Walking, a quirky mature pop song which reminded me of Finley Quaye's Sunday Shining and then popstar Ola with the sequel to his mega hit Natalie - Unstoppable. Both very good finalists, I wouldn't have minded Pain of Salvation getting the final spot over Ola but I suspect they might succeed in Andra Chansen anyway. So an excellent first show - can't wait for the next three semis!

Top Songs/Albums; WB 8/2/10

2010-02-05T13:07:00.002Z

Songs

1. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (1)
2. Leddra Chapman - Story (3)
3. Erik Hassle - Hurtful (4)
4. Staygold feat Spank Rock, Lady Tigra and Damien Adore - Backseat (NEW)
5. Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again (25)
6. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (2)
7. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (10)
8. Stella - Underground (19)
9. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (17)
10. Leddra Chapman - Fooling Myself (6)
11. Nina Lassander - Cider Hill (5)
12. Leddra Chapman - Edie (11)
13. Shackles - Breaking The Silence (7)
14. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (15)
15. Marina And The Diamonds - Hollywood (8)
16. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (12)
17. Inna - Hot (21)
18. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You (18)
19. Ke$ha feat 3OH!3 - Blah Blah Blah (48)
20. La Vuvuvzela feat Tarryn - Be Mine Tonight (13)
21. Sanna Nielsen - Devotion (20)
22. Owl City - Fireflies (14)
23. Mira Craig - I’ll Take You High (22)
24. Glee Cast - Don’t Stop Believin’ (16)
25. Leona Lewis - I Got You (32)
26. Burning Hearts - Night Animal (9)
27. Glee Cast - Alone (NEW)
28. Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (35)
29. Bob Sinclar feat Vybrate Queen Ifrica & Makedah - New New New (Avicii Remix) (NEW)
30. Diana Vickers - Once (NEW)
31. Lady GaGa - Bad Romance (24)
32. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (47)
33. Daisy Dares You feat Chipmunk - No.1 Enemy (36)
34. Bjørn Johan Muri - Yes Man (NEW)
35. Rihanna - Rude Boy (49)
36. Sad Brad Smith - Help Yourself (NEW)
37. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make My Day (26)
38. Amy MacDonald - Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over (31)
39. Stunt - Fade Like The Sun (NEW)
40. Glee Cast - Somebody To Love (NEW)
41. Monarchy - Black The Colour Of My Heart (NEW)
42. Taio Cruz feat Ke$ha - Dirty Picture (Re-entry)
43. Alexander Stenerud - Give It To Me (46)
44. OneRepublic - Secrets (30)
45. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (34)
46. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (27)
47. Goldfrapp - Rocket (44)
48. Black Eyed Peas - Rock That Body (NEW)
49. Sabrina Washington - OMG (NEW)
50. Sharleen Spiteri - Xanadu (NEW)

Albums

1. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (1)
2. Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (2)
3. Ke$ha - Animal (3)
4. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (4)
5. Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (7)
6. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (6)
7. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (5)
8. Rihanna - Rated R (8)
9. Absolute Schlager (NEW)
10. Leona Lewis - Echo (10)
11. Love 2 Club (NEW)
12. Erik Hassle - Pieces (12)
13. OneRepublic - Waking Up (9)
14. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (11)
15. Timbaland - Shock Value II (16)
16. Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea (NEW)
17. Euroviisut 2010 (13)
18. Anna Abreu - Just A Pretty Face (15)
19. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (20)
20. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (17)

America's favourite Idol...can we share her please!?!

2010-02-02T16:25:00.004Z

Watching Glee last night and seeing the brilliant Kristin Chenoweth performing Last Name reminded me just how much I love the music of Carrie Underwood. Country singer Carrie won the fourth season of American Idol in 2005 and quickly went on to become the most successful winner of the show in the US with debut album Some Hearts which has sold almost 7 million copies there since its release, a phenomenal achievement for any artist, but especially one with a first album from a reality TV show. The difference between Carrie and other Idol alumni is that Some Hearts was an absolutely stunning debut album, which could have easily come along three or four albums into her career such was its quality. It was far from the usual reality winners rushed out bland affair and mixed gorgeous ballads Jesus Take The Wheel, Whenever You Remember and The Night Before (Life Goes On) with excellent cheeky Shania Twain style pop-country on Before He Cheats, We're Young and Beautiful and my personal favourite, the autobiographical I Ain't In Checotah Anymore.

Carrie's second and third albums, Carnival Ride and Play On have followed this successful template and been almost as well received albeit with declining sales each time unsurprisngly. Carnival Ride's All American Girl, The More Boys I Meet and the aformentioned Last Name were all incredibly charming and although her latest album Play On is not quite as packed with potential hits as the first two, the Max Martin co-penned Quitter is surely crying out to be a single. It's a brilliant example of why Carrie does pop-country crossovers better than anyone else at the moment, with the exception of Taylor Swift who has tapped perfectly into the teen market, introducing the genre to a younger audience who are likely to remain country fans for life.

Carrie genuinely seems like one of the nicest, most down to earth people in music despite her success and it's a huge shame that she's never been launched properly anywhere else as Taylor Swift proved that there is a market for pop country worldwide, even if record companies believe this not to be the case. Country music promoted outside of the US seemed to disappear after the late 90's/early 00's success of acts like Shania Twain, The Mavericks, LeAnn Rimes and Lonestar, but I really do believe that if it had been promoted like any other new release, Carrie would have at the very least scored a UK top ten hit with Before He Cheats and probably could have even had semi-hits with the likes of Last Name, with its brilliant 'prequel to Before He Cheats' music video, both her version and the cover shooting up UK iTunes after it's Glee performance. I'm not usually a huge country music fan, in fact I used to hate it, but there are some great, very commercial, songs from the genre that audiences around the world are not getting the chance to hear and enjoy and it's a real shame that record companies have completely written off the fact that country could do well in territories other than the US. American Idol has produced global stars in Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson and Jordin Sparks amongst others and I fail to see why Carrie hasn't been given a chance elsewhere yet.

Top Songs/Albums; WB 1/2/10

2010-01-29T12:19:00.002Z

Songs

1. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (39)
2. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (4)
3. Leddra Chapman - Story (1)
4. Erik Hassle - Hurtful (2)
5. Nina Lassander - Cider Hill (7)
6. Leddra Chapman - Fooling Myself (10)
7. Shackles - Breaking The Silence (5)
8. Marina And The Diamonds - Hollywood (3)
9. Burning Hearts - Night Animal (9)
10. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (13)
11. Leddra Chapman - Edie (17)
12. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (11)
13. La Vuvuvzela feat Tarryn - Be Mine Tonight (NEW)
14. Owl City - Fireflies (6)
15. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours (NEW)
16. Glee Cast - Don’t Stop Believin’ (8)
17. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (50)
18. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You (14)
19. Stella - Underground (NEW)
20. Sanna Nielsen - Devotion (NEW)
21. Inna - Hot (NEW)
22. Mira Craig - I’ll Take You High (38)
23. Heli Kajo - Annankadun Kulmassa (47)
24. Lady GaGa - Bad Romance (15)
25. Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again (49)
26. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make My Day (20)
27. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (31)
28. JLS - One Shot (21)
29. Elsiane - Vaporous (12)
30. OneRepublic - Secrets (35)
31. Amy MacDonald - Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over (27)
32. Leona Lewis - I Got You (42)
33. Christina Aguilera - Lift Me Up (NEW)
34. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (26)
35. Edward Maya - Stereo Love (37)
36. Daisy Dares You feat Chipmunk - No.1 Enemy (29)
37. OneRepublic - All This Time (NEW)
38. The Saturdays - Ego (19)
39. Taylor Swift - Today Was A Fairytale (45)
40. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (34)
41. Leddra Chapman - A Little Easier (41)
42. Anika Moa - Standing In This Fire (NEW)
43. Maria Arredondo - The Touch (43)
44. Goldfrapp - Rocket (NEW)
45. Jógvan Hansen - One More Day (NEW)
46. Alexander Stenerud - Give It To Me (NEW)
47. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (48)
48. Ke$ha feat 3OH!3 - Blah Blah Blah (NEW)
49. Rihanna - Rude Boy (NEW)
50. Justin Bieber - Love Me (NEW)

Albums

1. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (1)
2. Melodi Grand Prix 2010 (NEW)
3. Ke$ha - Animal (2)
4. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (6)
5. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (3)
6. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (4)
7. Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (5)
8. Rihanna - Rated R (7)
9. OneRepublic - Waking Up (9)
10. Leona Lewis - Echo (8)
11. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (11)
12. Erik Hassle - Pieces (10)
13. Euroviisut 2010 (15)
14. The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die (NEW)
15. Anna Abreu - Just A Pretty Face (12)
16. Timbaland - Shock Value II (20)
17. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (16)
18. The Saturdays - Wordshaker (13)
19. Alphabeat - The Spell (Re-entry)
20. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (17)

Hopelessly devoted to Sanna

2010-01-27T14:28:00.002Z

Swedish singer Sanna Nielsen seems only to be able to score a hit whenever she competes in Melodifestivalen. It was therefore a shock to see that she has just launched a new single, which is presumably preceding an album, without any Melodifestivalen involvement this year - let's hope she's not aiming for a chart hit then! A veteran of the Swedish competition, Sanna has entered a few times, with her biggest hits from it being Vågar Du, Våger Jag in 2007, which peaked at No.10 in Sweden despite not doing that well in the final, and of course the gorgeous ballad Empty Room, which topped the MF 2008 public vote quite convincingly but didn't make it to Eurovision thanks to the jury vote's near universal love for Charlotte Perrelli's schalger anthem Hero which just pipped Sanna to the post in the end.

I did feel incredibly sorry for Sanna, it was probably the best chance she'd ever had and would ever have to make it to Eurovision and it probably would have performed a lot better in the 2008 final than Charlotte Perrelli's Hero did in the end. Since that happened she has done rather well in the Swedish album charts scoring a chart topper of her own with the excellent Stronger, which included the fantastic 'made for Eurovision' song Nobody Without You, and she had another No.1 album later in the year, a joint Christmas collection with fellow MF legends Shirley Clamp and Sonja Aldén!!! Devotion is the first solo single she's released in a while and whilst typically fluffy pop, it has a strong chorus that lingers in your head for a while and she comes off very Olivia Newton-John in the song and her image at the moment. Sanna has always come across as one of the most down to earth and nicest people in the Swedish pop industry, and even after her longevity in the busniess, she's still only in her mid twenties! Long live Sanna!

Just one on one, that's the way we do it baby

2010-01-25T14:59:00.002Z

So...British/Norwegian reformed boyband went straight to the final of Norway's Melodi Grand Prix competition at the weekend, with Ben, Mark and Christian hoping to represent Norway at the Eurovision in May. Yes they are a predominantly British band but I doubt many Brits even know they've reunited and would probably be shocked to see them walk out on stage to represent Norway instead of ourselves, particularly as Don't Want To Lose You Again, A1's entry, is an incredibly strong pop song in the 'Take That mature boyband' stakes yet retains the charm of some of A1's other material. Perhaps unfairly forgotten by many I thought I'd take a look at A1's career so far...

Launching as a four piece in 1999, A1 released their debut single Be The First To Believe to reasonable hype in the early summer - it stormed into the top ten on release and was quickly followed by another summer pop anthem, the now forgotten by most Summertime Of Our Lives which went one place better at No.5. The autum saw a double a-side release of the Motown-esque Ready Or Not, and probably one of their finest moments, the ballad Everytime, which for some reason hasn't gone down as 'a boyband classic' like Flying Without Wings, Back For Good etc...despite being an incredibly strong, and grandly produced pop ballad which should really be remembered more fondly. It was their first hit single in Norway, where they became even more successful than they are in the UK, largely thanks to their connection to the country - band member Christian is Norwegian. They performed it recently on Norwegian breakfast television show 'Good Morning Norge' and the song has surprisingly stood the test of time quite well, as have they in fact, barely looking a day older than they did ten years ago!

The similar but not quite as good Like A Rose followed this in early 2000 and went to No.6 before they scored their first UK No.1 single with a cover of A-Ha's Take On Me a few months later - impressive considering the original only peaked at No.2. The music video was incredibly impressive looking at the time too, I remember being blown away by the Matrix style effects. Same Old Brand New You became their first original No.1 just a few weeks later before No More was released in early 2001, going to No.6.

They then disappeared for a bit and reappeared in 2002 as a completely different band. Gone were the typical boyband clunky beats and in was a surprisingly mature acoustic sound, in fact you might say that they were ahead of their time, four years ahead of Take That doing the very same sort of comeback. Caught In The Middle narrowly missed the top spot, debuting at No.2 but lingering in the charts for longer than the average A1 single. A frankly brilliant pop song with a fantastic chorus, again, it's a wonder that this single didn't go down as a pop classic. The similarly mature but inferior Make It Good became their first single to miss the top ten, debuting at No.11 and Paul left the band causing the other three members to call it a day.

However, Mark, Christian and Ben reformed A1 late last year and despite only releasing music in Norway so far, it has been incredibly well received and rightfully so - it's potentially better than the material that they had been coming out with in 2002, testament to the strength of this trio as songwriters. Take You Home was a top ten comeback in Norway and classic mid-tempo ballad Don't Want To Lose You Again went straight to the top 3 on Norwegian iTunes after their performance on MGP. This material could be extremely well received in the UK and is very current sounding but unfortunately I don't think radio here would touch them, in fact I'm not certain that they got a lot of UK radio support when they were first around. So perhaps winning MGP and going to Eurovision would help to relaunch them worldwide? I could certainly imagine Don't Want To Lose You Again being downloaded enough from iTunes to give them a top 40 comeback, and it would certainly raise public awareness in the UK again. So vote for A1 Norway, and let's see this cruelly underrated boyband make a mark again!!!

I'd like to make myself believe...

2010-01-22T19:10:00.004Z

...that Fireflies by Owl City can somehow squeeze a week in at No.1 in the UK before the onslaught of the Jedward/Vanilla Ice cover of Under Pressure/Ice Ice Baby and the Simon Cowell organised Haiti aid single, a cover of REM's Everybody Hurts. US act Adam Young aka Owl City scored a surprise US #1 last year with this glorious emolectro song, think HelloGoodbye meets The Postal Service (the latter who he has controversially shrugged off comparisons to) and you are spot on. But the melody is gorgeous and the video charming, it is already smashing across the world and it would be a shame to see it fail to make the top spot here, even though it was released about 6 weeks ahead of schedule due to hype forcing it out as fake versions started racking up sales on iTunes. Is Replay by Iyaz really worthy of another week as our top selling song to deny the brilliance of this? It sounds completely different to any song that's ever topped the UK charts and that is reason enough for this song to triumph, whereas Replay, whilst incredibly infectious, sounds like a lot of other commercial urban songs from any point in the last decade.

One minor, becoming major gripe with the UK release though is that we have had to settle for a disasterous radio edit which has tacked the second verse onto the first and generally made the song sound incredibly messy - hopefully when the album is released, that version will be cherry picked up to the top of the iTunes chart and the radio edit will disappear. I've loved this song for around 6 months now, it was my summer anthem of 2009 long before it started unexpectedly galloping up the Billboard charts, so I'm hoping my patience in watching this song grow will be rewarded in a UK #1 single either this week or next!!! If you are somehow yet to hear the song, here it is in it's full uneditied glory;

Top Songs/Albums; WB 25/1/10

2010-01-22T09:27:00.003Z

Singles

1. Leddra Chapman - Story (2)
2. Erik Hassle - Hurtful (4)
3. Marina And The Diamonds - Hollywood (3)
4. Boyzone - Gave It All Away (NEW)
5. Shackles - Breaking The Silence (1)
6. Owl City - Fireflies (7)
7. Nina Lassander - Cider Hill (NEW)
8. Glee Cast - Don’t Stop Believin’ (8)
9. Burning Hearts - Night Animal (31)
10. Leddra Chapman - Fooling Myself (41)
11. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (6)
12. Elsiane - Vaporous (9)
13. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (13)
14. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You (NEW)
15. Lady GaGa - Bad Romance (10)
16. Ke$ha - Kiss ‘N’ Tell (16)
17. Leddra Chapman - Edie (28)
18. Girls Can’t Catch - Echo (5)
19. The Saturdays - Ego (11)
20. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make My Day (21)
21. JLS - One Shot (23)
22. Kolbrún Eva Viktorsdóttir - You Are The One (14)
23. Example - Won’t Go Quietly (29)
24. Justin Bieber - One Time (18)
25. Keri Hilson - I Like (25)
26. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (22)
27. Amy MacDonald - Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over (33)
28. Selena Gomez & The Scene - Naturally (36)
29. Daisy Dares You feat Chipmunk - No.1 Enemy (24)
30. I Blame Coco feat Robyn - Caesar (12)
31. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (35)
32. Agnes - Secret Love (20)
33. Rihanna feat Jeezy - Hard (17)
34. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (34)
35. OneRepublic - Secrets (NEW)
36. Cheryl Cole feat will.i.am - 3 Words (15)
37. Edward Maya - Stereo Love (38)
38. Mira Craig - I’ll Take You High (NEW)
39. A1 - Don’t Wanna Lose You Again (NEW)
40. Tomine Harket - Be Good To Me (NEW)
41. Leddra Chapman - A Little Easier (47)
42. Leona Lewis - I Got You (Re-entry)
43. Maria Arredondo - The Touch (NEW)
44. Íris Hólm - The One (37)
45. Taylor Swift - Today Was A Fairytale (NEW)
46. Sugababes - Wear My Kiss (50)
47. Heli Kajo - Annankadun Kulmassa (NEW)
48. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (49)
49. Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again (Re-entry)
50. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (NEW)

Albums

1. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (1)
2. Ke$ha - Animal (2)
3. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (4)
4. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (3)
5. Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (NEW)
6. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (6)
7. Rihanna - Rated R (5)
8. Leona Lewis - Echo (7)
9. OneRepublic - Waking Up (NEW)
10. Erik Hassle - Pieces (18)
11. Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (NEW)
12. Anna Abreu - Just A Pretty Face (10)
13. The Saturdays - Wordshaker (9)
14. 100 Hits: Trance Anthems (8)
15. Euroviisut 2010 (NEW)
16. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (16)
17. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (13)
18. Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of (15)
19. JLS - JLS (19)
20. Timbaland - Shock Value II (14)

New Music; Glee as Eurovision and Boyzone return!!!

2010-01-20T08:30:00.003Z

Boyzone - Gave It All Away

I always quite liked Boyzone and was quite happy when they reformed a couple of years ago, whatever the motives were. I bought their new hits compilation and thought that the three new songs; Love You Anyway, Better and Can't Stop Thinking About You, were all excellent paving the way for possible greatness on a new album. After the sad events of last year regarding Stephen Gately's death, Ronan, Mikey, Keith and Shane vowed to carry on and Gave It All Away, written by Mika, is the first single to be taken from Brother, their first new studio album in 12 years!!! A gorgeous ballad, you can definitely hear the Mika influence, it could almost be Happy Ending part 2 at times. The harmonies on the song are fantastic, putting Stephen as the lead vocalist on the track is a fitting tribute and it's probably their strongest single since No Matter What, so here's hoping it can return them to #1 in the UK. I'm not sure that the odd reggae beats fully compliment the song, perhaps an epic string section would have been better - but at least it differs it from the usual Boyzone ballad somewhat! I do really like the almost tribal middle-8 as well, very A Different Beat!

Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You

I'm not quite sure where to start with all of the potetntial Eurovision contenders, there are already so many and it's only January. Iceland and Finland have both had some decent songs so far (You Are The One and Cider Hill being my favourites of each selection respectively) but I'll focus on Norway seeing as they are of course guaranteed a place in the final that they are hosting after their thumping record win with Alexander Rybak's Fairytale last year! Although Melodi Grand Prix doesn't seem quite as strong as last year, there are some great songs - it's just that it's not always the right ones that are making it to the final. Faded Norwegian popstar Venke Knutson who had a few big hits in the mid-noughties there has had the greatest pure pop moment so far, but has only made it as far as the 'second chance' round. A little bit Pipettes, a little bit The Revelations (It's You was a classic that should have beaten Andy 'dancing disco dad' Abraham to represent the UK in 2008!) and obviously borrows from the 2008 soul-pop bandwagon, but is much more on the pop side than the soul side. Absolutely excellent song, one listen and it's in your head for days.

Glee Cast - My Life Would Suck Without You

How could I get this far without referencing Glee? Already a worldwide phenomenon, it has just caught on in the UK, with their take on Journey's Don't Stop Believin' featured in the pilot smashing into the UK top 5 at the weekend. I'm only up to episode three at the moment but I did invest in both soundtrack albums. There are a few boring moments, which I'm sure will be a lot better in the context of seeing how the songs are used in the episodes (Bust Your Windows for example suddenly makes a lot more sense now). However, even out of context for me, their cover of Kelly Clarkson's #1 hit from last year, My Life Would Suck Without You, is absolutely fantastic. Keeping the anthemic spirit of the original, this is a song that really suits a group chorus, not that Kelly wasn't fantastic on it, but you really can picture this being a band song and the male vocals compliment it well. Spot on!

The hits that never were...Part 1

2010-01-15T21:11:00.003Z

So, a new feature where I shall pick three songs that were clearly screaming to be huge hits - yet for some reason or another, never got the chance to be - some record companies just aren't quite sure what they're doing! Hopefully you will discover something great that you've never heard, or else re-discover something that you used to love!

Kylie Minogue - Made Of Glass

Australian pop princess Kylie wrote a few songs to be included on her 2004 hits compilation Ultimate Kylie - ultimately, the two that made it on there were the excellent I Believe In You - a UK #2 single, and the far less interesting Giving You Up which was nonetheless a top ten hit for Kylie in 2005. What was for more interesting was the b-side of Giving You Up, the stunning electro pop stunner Made Of Glass, one of the finest songs that Kylie had recorded since the Fever era. With a brilliant infectious 'love makes the world go round' chorus, it's quite unbelivable that this was left to forever rot as a b-side to an inferior parent a-side.

Maria Haukaas Storeng feat Mira Craig - Mine All Mine

Talented and quirky Norwegian/American singer Mira Craig wrote a number of songs for Norwegian singer Maria's second solo album Hold On Be Strong, which was released off the back of her 2008 Eurovision entry of the same name. One of the songs was a duet between the singer's, both popular in their own right in Norway. A glorious faux-Motown pop song with extremely subtle electro undertones, it perfectly fit into the 2008 music scene which was dominated by the sound. Had somebody made the wise decision to send this to UK radio, it would have been the sound of the summer and lapped up by commercial radio. Sadly they didn't, and it wasn't...

Amy MacDonald - Barrowland Ballroom

Scottish singer Amy MacDonald's album was absolutely huge all over Europe, and deservedly so, it was packed with stunning melodies and thoughtful lyrics. But my summer 2007 anthem had to be the jaunty album track Barrowland Ballroom. A feel good song, incredibly infectious and showed a completely different and more interesting side to Amy. She made some great single choices; This Is The Life, Mr Rock & Roll and Poison Prince - but as much as I loved L.A. and Run, whoever picked them as singles over this really needed a thorough talking to - this song would have seriously helped to sell the album to an audience not won over by the other singles.

Jason Mraz feat James Morrison - Details In The Fabric

There can't have been two bigger singers 12 months ago than Jason Mraz, and his British equivalent James Morrison. The idea of them duetting together sounded as bland as hell on paper but in fact they came up with this gorgeous ballad, with both voices complementing each other beautifully. Maybe a bit too long to be a single at near six minutes, but there are easily bits of this song that could have been chopped out without having too much of an effect. Radio love this pair, and would have loved this song had it been a joint follow up to I'm Yours and Broken Strings. Make It Mine and Please Don't Stop The Rain somehow didn't seem quite as effective...

Delta Goodrem - Predictable

Ok, so it was a #1 hit in Australia, but why did this never even get talked about for a UK release? After the opening ballad of Born To Try, the more poppy Lost Without You and the dramatic Innocent Eyes, Delta reverted back to ballad territory with Not Me, Not I for the fourth single. Throw It Away was rumoured as a fifth single in early 2004 but the album had already sold over 3 quarters of a million copies in the UK by this point so was unlikely to be a point and was panned. Predictable I feel would have helped to push the album that bit further, and easily given Delta a fifth straight top 20 hit from it. Easily one of the most relevant and more interesting pop songs on Innocent Eyes, it would have appealed to casual listeners, I'm absolutely sure of it because all of the friends that I played this track to who didn't like Delta, did love this song. A very silly choice not letting this see the light of day here...

Top Songs/Albums; WB 18/1/10

2010-01-15T09:57:00.004Z

Songs

1. Shackles - Breaking The Silence (1)
2. Leddra Chapman - Story (2)
3. Marina And The Diamonds - Hollywood (3)
4. Erik Hassle - Hurtful (14)
5. Girls Can’t Catch - Echo (7)
6. Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (4)
7. Owl City - Fireflies (18)
8. Glee Cast - Don’t Stop Believin’ (Re-entry)
9. Elsiane - Vaporous (6)
10. Lady GaGa - Bad Romance (8)
11. The Saturdays - Ego (5)
12. I Blame Coco feat Robyn - Caesar (10)
13. Gabriella Cilmi - On A Mission (33)
14. Kolbrún Eva Viktorsdóttir - You Are The One (NEW)
15. Cheryl Cole feat will.i.am - 3 Words (9)
16. Ke$ha - Kiss ‘N’ Tell (26)
17. Rihanna feat Jeezy - Hard (13)
18. Justin Bieber - One Time (21)
19. Ke$ha - Love Is My Drug (19)
20. Agnes - Secret Love (11)
21. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make My Day (37)
22. Lady GaGa feat Beyoncé - Telephone (16)
23. JLS - One Shot (30)
24. Daisy Dares You feat Chipmunk - No.1 Enemy (28)
25. Keri Hilson - I Like (NEW)
26. N-Dubz feat Mr Hudson - Playing With Fire (15)
27. Erik Grönwall - Higher (27)
28. Leddra Chapman - Edie (NEW)
29. Example - Won’t Go Quietly (NEW)
30. Chipmunk feat Talay Riley - Look For Me (12)
31. Burning Hearts - Night Animal (NEW)
32. Florence + The Machine - You’ve Got The Love (43)
33. Amy MacDonald - Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over (NEW)
34. Leddra Chapman - Summer Song (44)
35. Alphabeat - Hole In My Heart (29)
36. Selena Gomez & The Scene - Naturally (NEW)
37. Íris Hólm - The One (NEW)
38. Edward Maya - Stereo Love (NEW)
39. Miss Li - Dancing The Whole Way Home (25)
40. Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over (NEW)
41. Leddra Chapman - Fooling Myself (48)
42. Iyaz - Replay (24)
43. White Hinterland - Icarus (NEW)
44. Agnes - On & On (47)
45. Natalia Kills - Zombie (NEW)
46. Bjørn Johan Muri - Yes Man (NEW)
47. Leddra Chapman - A Little Easier (NEW)
48. Plan B - Stay Too Long (NEW)
49. Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed (49)
50. Sugababes - Wear My Kiss (NEW)

Albums

1. Leddra Chapman - Telling Tales (1)
2. Ke$ha - Animal (2)
3. Lady GaGa - The Fame/The Fame Monster (4)
4. Florence + The Machine - Lungs (9)
5. Rihanna - Rated R (3)
6. Alicia Keys - The Element Of Freedom (5)
7. Leona Lewis - Echo (6)
8. 100 Hits: Trance Anthems (7)
9. The Saturdays - Wordshaker (15)
10. Anna Abreu - Just A Pretty Face (8)
11. Beyoncé - I Am…Sasha Fierce (Re-entry)
12. Chipmunk - I Am Chipmunk (10)
13. Cheryl Cole - 3 Words (11)
14. Timbaland - Shock Value II (13)
15. Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of (NEW)
16. Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (12)
17. Robbie Williams - Reality Killed The Video Star (16)
18. Erik Hassle - Pieces (Re-entry)
19. JLS - JLS (19)
20. Will Young - The Hits (17)

So much Hassle just to reach the Radio 1 playlist!!!

2010-01-08T16:43:00.003Z

Erik Hassle's mega Swedish hit single Hurtful, and by mega I mean #11 with a long chart run a la success akin to Jason Mraz's I'm Yours in the UK, has finally been added to the Radio 1 playlist in advance of its official release next month. The redheaded Swede set the internet alight last year with this gorgeous song which is bound to be played to death on commercial radio and used as X Factor backing music for year to come a la Daniel Merriweather - Red if everything falls properly into place. The version that Radio 1 have added to their playlist is the 'Starsmith edit' which, if the clip on Popjustice today is anything to go by, is barely any different to the glorious original thank god, merely adding a bit of production sparkle in places. It was a surprise to see Erik not included in any of the 'sound of 2010' etc...lists, maybe the people in the know are only expecting him to be a one hit wonder, but rather one hit than no hits because Hurtful is really far too good to not get the exposure it deserves. Owl City's Fireflies and Marina and the Diamonds' Hollywood are the big hyped songs of the moment with the most potential to next top the UK charts, but if there was any justice this would go straight to #1 upon its release. I just wonder if in light of its impending international success, Sweden will see the mistake they made by letting Hurtful have a low peak - as soon as With Every Heartbeat and Release Me became big UK hits, they mysteriously started going back up the Swedish charts too after intial minor success!!!