Chartramble - Sunday 25th April

Here's the top ten:

1. (-) Diana Vickers: 'Once'
2. (1) Usher ft. will.i.am: 'OMG'
3. (-) Chipmunk ft. Esmée Denters: 'Until You Were Gone'
4. (4) Plan B: 'She Said'
5. (2) Scouting For Girls: 'This Ain't A Love Song'
6. (3) Professor Green ft. Ed Drewett: 'I Need You Tonight'
7. (5) Kelis: 'Acapella'
8. (8) Timbaland ft. Justin Timberlake: 'Carry Out'
9. (-) Tina Turner: 'The Best'
10. (7) Selena Gomez & The Scene: 'Naturally'

Some reactions and a look ahead to this week's new releases are to be found after the jump...




1. Cathy Dennis has done it again, hasn't she? As we've documented, we weren't Diana Vickers' biggest fans during the X Factor but credit to her and her team for going away, finding a cracking song which suits her (divisive) voice and running away with a debut number 1 single. Excellent song. Still needs less claw when live, however :-(

2. The fact that Tina Turner is in the top ten thanks to a bit of a tenuous tie in with Glasgow Rangers would normally irk us a little bit, especially since Gaga and Beyonce are hanging around at number 11 after a fairly brief top 10 tenure. However, it does give us a chance to unleash the following joke:

Q. Can you Tina Turner?

A. I can Tina Turner

Thank you, we're here all week.

3. Christ, it was a bit of a dull week in the top ten, really wasn't it? Elsewhere, however, you'll all be pleased to know that Glee's "Gives You Hell" got to number 14. Now we know the Glee invasion is a bit of a contentious issue, but we'd also like to affirm that of all the tracks to have beeen released from the show, this is definitely in the top 5 and, ultimately, there's nothing better than hearing Lea Michele belt something out with the kind of energy which makes you concerned she's about to turn into an axe-wielding psychopath. Now if Messrs. Clegg, Cameron and Brown would put that on their manifesto, there'd probably be a whole lot less of an argument now, wouldn't there?

Looking ahead to next week...

We note that N-Dubz "Say It's Over" has in fact been moved back to this week. We further note that the Backstreet Boys, Michael and Janet Jackson respectively want their "Larger Than Life" and "Scream" video concepts back. Furthermore, Tulisa's knuckle dusters have convinced us that if we ever get done for ABH, we'd hope that at the very least, we'd have been able to create a natty bit of marketing in the process. This would console us somewhat while we weep away in the cells wondering where it all went wrong.

Adam Lambert (he of the AMA "gay kiss" controversy) tries his hand at the UK market by releasing "For Your Entertainment". For a start, it's worth saying that whilst For Your Entertainment is an entertaining effort, this hasn't reinvented the musical wheel and there's something a little bit "edgy pop-by-the-numbers" about the thumping bassline and the video. That said, this is definitely one of those "sign of better things to come" debuts (think Kelly Clarkson's "Miss Independent" and the point when she eventually realised that she should ALWAYS sing songs which sound like "Since U Been Gone"). We hope it does well enough for RCA/Jive not to get cold feet about launching an American Idol alumnus over here. After all, unless Little Joe shocks us, it's unlikely this is going to be a "Leona year"...

Are we the only ones who are reminded of Feist every time we hear something by Marina and the Diamonds? Cracking video, and actually, we find this to be a much more entertaining effort than "Hollywood". It's very sweet but performed with a real emotional resonance. Is it a little similar to Once for it to impact the top ten next week? Hopefully not, as there's more than enough room for the two of them, we suppose. 

US country trio (HANG ON A MINUTE!) Lady Antebellum release "Need You Now" this week. This is the problem with country music for the most part, in our book. Unless you're Dolly Parton, it's very hard to make something stand out. For instance, this sounds very much like Taylor Swift has roped in someone with a slightly deeper voice to crack out a duet. It's pleasant enough we suppose, but it hardly has the emotional punch of a "How Do I Live" or even "Amazed" which is a bit of a drawback really.

And that's your lot. Our money is on Diana racking up a second week, if we're honest, but we'd like good showings for Lambert and Marina, thank you very much.