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Official Singles Chart on 12/10/2018

12 October 2018 - 18 October 2018

The Official UK Singles Chart reflects the UK’s biggest songs of the week, based on audio and video streams, downloads, CDs and vinyl, compiled by the Official Charts Company. The UK Top 40 is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and MTV, the Top 100 is published exclusively on OfficialCharts.com. View the biggest songs of 2023.

 

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I.B.

0

It's good to see a debut act entering straight in at number one. When did that last happen?

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Piran

7

My thoughts & observations on the UK charts as always…

- ‘Funky Friday’ becomes both Dave’s & Fredo’s first #1 on the singles chart, having had 6.7 million streams in its first week.

- It’s only the third song in 2018 to debut straight in at the top spot (the other two were by Drake, with ‘God’s Plan’ in January & ‘Nice For What’ in April). The last time it was done by a Brit was 'Too Good At Goodbyes' by Sam Smith in September 2017.

- It’s also the second “Friday” song to dominate the charts this year, following ‘Freaky Friday’ by Lil Dicky ft Chris Brown back in April.

- 'Funky Friday's dominance additionally marks big moment for grime music, as it’s the first #1 for the genre since ‘Heatwave’ by Wiley went to the chart summit in 2012.

- ‘Promises’ by Calvin Harris ft Sam Smith does, however, remain at #1 on the airplay chart for a sixth consecutive week!

- ‘Girls Like You’ by Maroon 5 ft Cardi B goes back to #1 on the YouTube chart, with a weekly viewing figure of 2.55 million, up 17 percent from last week. I’d expect ‘Funky Friday’ to be at the top of this chart when it next refreshes.

- DAVE FT FREDO - FUNKY FRIDAY (#1)
This song might've surprised everyone commercially, but it also amazed me how much it grew on me during the week! The darker, shadier production (which Dave himself is responsible for) is a perfect match for his signature grime delivery & while Dave has been getting better with every release for a while, Fredo stepped up his game here too & the two rappers bounce off each other really well, both complement each other charismatically. The only issue is that the lyrics are rather generic, but if this is the British rap hit that goes to the top of the charts, then I'm happy for it. It's getting a light 7/10 from me!

- EMINEM – VENOM (#16)
It looks like ‘A Star Is Born’ wasn’t the only movie to impact the charts today, as the title track from ‘Venom’ somehow became the second highest debut (most of my friends say the film isn’t that good though). In terms of the song itself, it’s not bad I guess. His humming-like delivery in the chorus was certainly a surprise, but one that I’m not really a massive fan of, but his signature wordplay & rap skills in the verses mostly make up for that. The production has this dark feel to it which gives it even more of a boost, but while most tracks from ‘Kamikaze’ ended up growing on me, I don’t see this doing the same, so I’m going with a solid 6/10.

- HALSEY – WITHOUT ME (#24)
Not only did this grow on me a lot throughout the week, I think it might even be Halsey’s best solo single! I might have my mixed opinions on Halsey as a singer, but I still feel bad for her that she got dragged into this G-Eazy & MGK beef. As for this song though, it’s got a really nice mid-tempo, bubbly beat with a few snares & cadences that I found worked really well here despite being nothing exactly revolutionary! Halsey is still far from the pop females on the chart that stand out to me, but if she continues to show her emotions in this way & not be overdramatic, then she might even up getting there. For me, this is a light 7/10.

- LIL BABY & GUNNA – DRIP TOO HARD (#28)
If you’ve been following American trap music, this collaboration shouldn’t surprise anybody. Unfortunately, while both artists step up their flows compared to what I’ve heard from them before, they’re still not very good due to their mumble rapping & the scattered beat doesn’t add anything of interest to this anyway. Also, when the content is bragging about cars & jewellery (where there are many flubbed rhymes), other than the mildly catchy hook, what’s there to care about here? No, I’m not feeling this, it’s mediocre at best, 4/10.

- 6IX9INE FT BOBBY SHMURDA – STOOPID (#34)
I think the only positive thing I can say about this is that they kept it as short as two & a half minutes… seriously, I thought ‘Fefe’ was a disappointment, but this sinks to a much deeper low. I don’t even think 6ix9ine’s flows are that bad, but his nasal & aggressive screaming continues to be absolutely dreadful & somehow gets worse with every song he attempts it in. Also, if the production is trying to be malicious, it actually ended up being incredibly annoying. Lyrically, 6ix9ine is going off topic so much that I can’t really follow what he’s trying to say, but then Bobby Shmurda shows up with some disgusting $ex references & to his own dance. As a whole, this song is very stupid indeed & it gets one of the lowest ratings I’ve ever given when doing these Official Charts reviews, 2/10!

- LADY GAGA & BRADLEY COOPER – I’LL NEVER LOVE AGAIN (#35)
It seems like ‘A Star Is Born’ is getting off a bigger start both commercially & critically than I would’ve expected, but honestly, if the soundtrack has more songs like this on it, then it’s probably very much deserved! While the lyrics are devastatingly beautiful, Lady Gaga shows those feelings off in the best way possible, being consistently solid through a range of dynamics & pitch, she sounds almost angelic. The entire song is built on piano, which might have a scattered arrangement to this that can be hard to follow, but it just fits perfectly in the context of the film. I might not like it as much as I did ‘Shallow’, although it’s not that far off. For me, it’s a very light 8/10!

- LADY GAGA – ALWAYS REMEMBER US THIS WAY (#39)
So I’m interested to see ‘A Star Is Born’ not only for Lady Gaga’s acting, but the fact that she sounds consistently amazing across the soundtrack! The biggest reason for that is the power & passion she puts into her vocals here, especially at the end of the song, even though I’ll admit her upper range is a bit weaker & more strained than usual here. That said, I also loved a lot of the instrumentation, especially the gentle drum beat & the piano chords which are shortly followed by acoustic guitar strums despite those latter two features being rather predictable. I also appreciate how the lyrics remember a couple for their good times despite having to part ways. Overall, I’m not sure if this’ll have too much longevity, but you know, for me it’s a solid 7/10!

- On the albums chart, ‘A Star Is Born’ becomes Lady Gaga’s fourth & Bradley Cooper’s first #1! It’s also the third soundtrack to top the albums chart this year, following ‘The Greatest Showman’ & ‘Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again’.

- The rest of the Top 5 is: ‘Trench’ by Twenty One Pilots (debuts at #2; 2,000 combined sales from #1), ‘Blood Red Roses’ by Rod Steward (1-3), ‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack (3-4) & ‘Kamikaze’ by Eminem (4-5).

- Looking ahead to next week, these songs could enter the Top 40 for the first time: ‘Woman Like Me’ by Little Mix ft Nicki Minaj, ‘MIA’ by Bad Bunny ft Drake, ‘Out Of Our Heads’ by Take That, ‘Moves’ by Olly Murs ft Snoop Dogg, 'Advice' by Cadet & Deno Driz, ‘Thursday’ by Jess Glynne & maybe even more.

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

- My latest Crown Note chart: http://crownnote.com/charts/piran-delves/pirans-top-40-97
(I’ll post my next one later today)

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Foxes

1

Hey Piran! I really love that 'Funky Friday' debuted straight in at #1 this week, making it the first grime #1 since 2012! I'd probably say that it's a solid 8/10 for me! Dave has really been silently growing a pretty huge following, which obviously shows this week. I think that he definitely deserves the success; he's clearly been working hard on his music for a few years now, and seems to genuinely appreciate his fans. I'm also curious when the last independently released single reached #1 in the UK, since 'Funky Friday' was released on Dave's own label.

'Funky Friday' had a bigger lead at #1 than I was expecting, being 2,780 combined sales ahead of 'Promises'. Interestingly, only 4,018 of its total 54.5k sales came from actual sales, making it the lowest selling #1 single ever, beating the previous record of 6,247 set by 'God's Plan' on its 8th week at #1. This week, with 836k actual single sales, is also the 21st week in 2018 where the total single sales have been under 1m, and it's the 18th consecutive week. It's the 7th consecutive week where total single sales have been under 900k, and sales are below same-week, last-year sales for the 271st consecutive week. Streams now make up over 95% of total single sales each week in the UK.

I really like the debuts for 'Venom' and 'Without Me', but haven't heard 3 of the other 4, and didn't like the one I have heard. For me, 'Venom' would be a light 8/10, and is probably my 5th or 6th favourite song from 'Kamikaze', behind 'Lucky You', 'Fall', 'Not Alike', 'The Ringer' and maybe 'Greatest'. 'Without Me' would be a strong 9/10 to light 10/10, and is probably my favourite song that Halsey has ever put out! 'Eyes Closed' does give it pretty strong competition, though. The only other of the debuts that I've heard is 'Drip Too Hard', which I would probably give a light 5/10.

'Shape of You' came dangerously close to dropping out of the Top 100 this week, right at #100, but with a 92nd consecutive week in the Top 100 it's now in tied 2nd place for the longest consecutive run in the charts, behind only his own 'Thinking Out Loud' (95 weeks) and tied with 'Pompeii' and 'Happy'. It's by far the longest run of the ACR era, and I doubt that any of the other 3 singles mentioned would've managed to stay on the chart for so long if they'd been under the same rules, so massive congrats to Ed!

Next week it looks like 'Funky Friday' should manage to stay in the Top 3, if it can't manage another week at #1, while 'Woman Like Me' looks set for a Top 5 debut and 'MIA' will probably debut in the Top 20, if not Top 10. If 'Funky Friday' can't get another week at #1, 'Happier' looks like the biggest competition, or 'Woman Like Me' if it can increase slightly on streams. 'Promises' is definitely still a possibility as well.

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Piran

1

Hey Gameskiller! :D

Yeah, the only issues I have with 'Funky Friday' are probably similar those that I have with grime music as a whole, but it's a good song overall. Yeah, the success of 'Funky Friday' is extremely localised though. Despite it being #1 in the UK, it just missed the Top 20 in Ireland & also didn't make the Top 40 in Scotland (it probably won't chart in any other countries either). It did debut at #12 on the sales chart though; do you know if that's the lowest a song has ever been on the sales chart whilst topping the main chart? Given that the stats you just posted, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case.

Once again, it seems like we mostly agree on the debuts, although you seem to be slightly more lenient than I am again.

Regarding next week, I'd say 'Woman Like Me' will be #1 in the update, but 'Promises' will go back to #1 on the main chart. 'Woman Like Me' seems to have got off to a slower chart than their previous lead singles & it's going down hard on Spotify (barely in the Top 10 there) & 'Promises' is about to catch up with in on iTunes too.

'Shallow' is too weak to be a contender for #1 due to its lower streaming numbers across all platforms & I might be looking at the wrong chart, but I think 'Promises' is back in front of 'Happier' on Apple Music too. 'Funky Friday' seems to be holding up well on Spotify & YouTube, but I personally don't think the latter will hold up well that will throughout the week, which is making me think this is how the Top 5 will be in the next chart...

#1: Calvin Harris & Sam Smith - Promises (+1)
#2: Marshmello & Bastille - Happier (+1)
#3: Dave ft Fredo - Funky Friday (-2)
#4: Little Mix ft Nicki Minaj - Woman Like Me (debut)
#5: Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper - Shallow (+1)

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Foxes

2

It's not that much of a surprise to hear that 'Funky Friday's success is very localised, but I did expect it to be doing better in Ireland at least. As far as I'm aware, though, the Scottish chart doesn't incorporate streams since streaming services don't differentiate between the countries in the UK, so it's no surprise that it debuted so low there. I don't think that Dave will ever break out of the UK, to be honest, though I would love if he did. I am pretty sure that #12 is the lowest a #1 has ever been on the sales chart, as well.
Yeah, that definitely seems like a realistic Top 5, though I still hold hope that 'Funky Friday' will be #1 for a 2nd week. The midweek update was extremely close, with less than 1,000 copies between 'Funky Friday' and 'Promises' and around 2,000 copies between 'Funky Friday' and 'Happier', and 'Funky Friday' has maintained a decent lead on Spotify and Apple Music throughout the entire week so far (it's around 50,000 streams ahead of 'Happier' on the most recent Spotify chart, and 80,000 ahead of 'Promises'). It's also been at #2 on YouTube over the weekend, though the most recent chart is for the 13th so we can't really tell how it's doing there at the moment.
'Funky Friday' is definitely not doing well on sales, but I'm hoping that its lead on streams will offset that again. If it does manage a 2nd week at #1, it'll definitely become the lowest-selling #1 ever, beating its own record, and it'll be tied as the 3rd longest running grime #1 ever, being tied with Wiley's 'Heatwave' and Dizzee Rascal's 'Bonkers' and 'Shout'. The only grime #1s to spend longer at the top are Tinchy Stryder's 'Number 1', which spent 3 weeks at #1 in 2009, and Dizzee's 'Dance Wiv Me', which spent 4 weeks at #1 in 2008.

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Piran

1

Yeah... I guess. Skepta did chart as a featured artist on a couple of international hits though (mainly 'Skepta Interlude' by Drake & 'Praise The Lord [Da Shine]' by A$AP Rocky). Even though he's not technically grime, Tinie Tempah also did reasonably well overseas for British rap.
I'll talk to you more on the Official Chart articles that post tonight. I hope you've had a good week! :)