ALBUMS
Arcade Fire make an incendiary debut atop the album chart, blazing to first week sales of 45,252 with red hot fourth album Reflektor, despite the title track peaking seven weeks ago at number 44.
Largely Canadian and substantially familial (US-born lead singer Win Butler and his brother William form Arcade Fire with Win's Canadian wife Regine Chassagne and three unrelated Canadians), the Montreal-based band previously topped the chart in 2010, when their third album, The Suburbs, opened at number one on sales of 61,263 copies.
Arcade Fire's highest first week sale came in 2007, when second album Neon Bible debuted and peaked at number two on slightly higher first week sales of 65,700. Their 2005 debut Funeral opened at number 71 (4,782 sales), took 47 weeks to reach its peak (number 33) and has sold 341,743 copies - almost as many as The Suburbs (343,072) and Neon Bible (356,889).
The only other Canadian band to have a number one album is Nickelback, who topped in 2002 with Silver Side Up. 16 albums by Canadian solo artists have reached number one - four by Celine Dion, three each by Avril Lavigne, Bryan Adams and Michael Buble, and one apiece from Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette and Neil Young.
The latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine describes her as 'pop's edgiest teen', and hot on the heels of introductory single Royals ruling the singles chart, Lorde's first album Pure Heroine dashes to a number four debut (18,294 sales). The singer, who turns 17 on Thursday (7th) reached number one in her native New Zealand and neighbouring Australia with the set, which she co-wrote with producer Joel Little.
After back-to-back Top 10 hits with their first two singles, X Factor 2012 fourth-placed act Union J's self-titled debut album opens at number six (17,331 sales). The band's second hit single, Beautiful Life, is down sharply on its second week, diving 8-25 (13,941 sales).
While introductory single Roar falls 4-7 (36,288 sales), extending its stay in the Top 10 to nine weeks, Katy Perry's latest album Prism dips to number two (23,091 sales).
The rest of this week's Top 10: Moon Landing by James Blunt (2-3, 21,783 sales), AM by Arctic Monkeys (4-5, 17,480 sales), If You Want by London Grammar (9-7, 11,018 sales), Tribute by John Newman (3-8, 10,675 sales), Perhaps Love by Jonathan & Charlotte (8-9, 7,971 sales) and Closer To The Truth by Cher (10-10, 7,795 sales).
Falling out of the Top 10: Passenger's All The Little Lights (6-15, 6,254 sales), Andrea Bocelli's Love In Portofino (5-18, 5,998 sales) and Andrea Begley's The Message (7-31, 4,331 sales).
2010 X Factor winner Matt Cardle has since released a new album every October despite failing to find a permanent label home. Cardle's 2011 debut album Letters was issued on Syco - the first refusal home of all X Factor acts. Debuting and peaking at number two on first week sales of 70,896, it subsequently spent 21 weeks in the Top 75 and sold 275,698 copies - but that was apparently insufficient for him to remain on the label, and he moved to soundtrack specialist Silva Screen's So What imprint, issuing 2012 album The Fire, which debuted and peaked at number eight on first week sales of 16,752 but spent only four weeks in the Top 75, and has thus far sold 54,161 copies. Cardle's latest album, Porcelain, is on his self-named label, and debuts this week at number 11 (6,918 sales). The album's first single, Loving You, was a collaboration with special friend Mel C, and reached number 14, but solo follow-up When You Were My Girl fell short of the Top 200 when it was issued a couple of weeks ago.
11 years after their first remix album Reanimation reached number three, Linkin Park have issued a second set of radical reinterpretations under the title Recharged. Debuting at number 12 (6,728 sales), the album includes dancefloor-friendly variations of their most recent album Living Things, which debuted and peaked at number one in June of last year on sales of 41,526 copies. With Reanimation's release sparking interest, Living Things enjoys a 43.90% week-on-week increase in sales to 341, raising its overall sales thus far to 135,404.
Featuring James Corden as Paul Potts, the biopic One Chance is, as they say, doing good box office and the simultaneously released compilation The Greatest Hits returns Potts to the charts for the first time since 2009, debuting at number 21 (5,679 sales).
Back together as a recording act after an absence of 18 years to mark their 50th anniversary of making music, Chas & Dave debut at number 25 (5,081 sales) with That's What Happens, and can thus celebrate their first Top 40 album since 1995, when Street Party - their last new album - reached number three. That's What Happens is their 10th Top 75 album entry since they made their debut nearly 32 years ago, and includes an acoustic version of their 1982 number two single Ain't No Pleasing You as well as covers of familiar fare like Midnight Special (Lead Belly) and When Two Worlds Collide, a posthumous 1969 hit for Jim Reeves. The latter track also spearhead a campaign this week to get Chas & Dave back into the Top 40 for the first time since 1986 hit Snooker Loopy, and has been made available at 59p to improve its chances. Chas is 69 and Dave is 68, making them the oldest duo to have a hit album in chart history.
Boy George's last regular album and certainly his last chart album was Cheapness And Beauty, which reached number 44 in 1995. Now 52, he improves on that to score his highest charting album since 1994's number 26 album The Devil In Sister George with This Is What I Do, which enters at number 33 (3,883 sales) this week.
Two weeks after debut hit Afterglow reached number eight, rising drum & bass star Wilkinson's first album Lazers Not Included enters the chart at number 46 (2,951 sales). The album also includes earlier Wilkinson singles Need To Know (feat. Iman) and Heartbeat (feat. P. Money & Arlissa), which peaked at number 132 and number 169, respectively. Aftergow dips 9-14 (24,999 sales) this week.
The 10th and last new entry to the Top 75 this week is Corsicana Lemonade by White Denim (number 65, 1,867 sales).
Lou Reed's death eight days ago at the age of 71 provided the expected boost to his catalogue, which manifested itself in the return to the Top 200 of solo albums Transformer (number 35, 3,717 sales), The Very Best Of (number 153, 711 sales), New York (number 159, 677 sales) and Perfect Day: The Best Of Lou Reed (number 172, 636 sales) plus The Velvet Underground And Nico (number 76, 1,568 sales). With physical stocks of the album at low levels, the main impetus came from download sales, which accounted for 69.81% of sales of Transformer, for example. Dating from 1972, Transformer first charted the following year, and peaked at number 13. Upgraded and expanded along the way, it has been a prolific seller ever since - it has amassed 424,666 sales since Millward Brown took on compilation of the chart for OCC in 1994, and has likely sold upwards of a million copies in the UK overall. It is, of course, also home to two Reed classics which enter the Top 75 this week, Perfect Day (number 45, 5,888 sales) and Walk On The Wild Side (number 53, 5,075 sales). Perfect Day has never made the Top 75 for Reed before (though a multi-artist cover reached number one in 1997), but Walk On The Wild Side reached number 10 in 1973. They are Reed's biggest-selling songs in the digital era, with Perfect Day selling 101,725 downloads and Walk On The Wild Side 74,071.
Nominated for, but not winning with his eponymous 2011 debut, James Blake took home the Mercury Prize on Wednesday with second album Overgrown proving something of a surprise victor. Sales of the album exploded, improving 1062.23% week-on-week to 5,416. The album re-enters the chart at number 23, the highest position it has held since it debuted 29 weeks ago at number eight. Overall sales of Overgrown: 33,148.
Of eight previous releases, dating back to 2006 - one of them a 'best of' - two reached number two and the rest reached number one, so it is no surprise to find that BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2013 debuts atop the compilation chart on sales of 33,648 copies. Like the rest, it features exclusive recordings of stars performing on the Radio One programme strand of the same name, which was originally part of the Jo Whiley show and is now on Fearne Cotton's show. AMong those doing their own tracks on the latest album are Bastille (Pompeii) and Rudimental (Waiting All Night, feat Ella Eyre), while London Grammar offer a pleasing version of La Roux's In For The Kill and Vampire Weekend take on Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines. Previous sales of the series of 3,267,254 include a top tally of 933,544 for the first - Radio 1's Live Lounge - which included Arctic Monkeys' version of Girls Aloud hit Love Machine, The Kooks on Gnarls Barkley's Crazy and Lily Allen and Oasis reprising their own hits Songbird and Smile.
Overall album sales are up 12.48% week-on-week at 1,542,588 - 14.77% below same week 2012 sales of 1,810,009.
SINGLES
Eminem and Rihanna each score their eighth number one single as their latest collaboration, The Monster - a highly appropriate title for Halloween week - scares up enough sales to debut at the chart summit, despite giving its rivals a head start by not reaching download sites until last Tuesday (29th). The track is the fourth single in as many weeks from Eminem's new album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which was released today (4th). All three previous hits from the album were deemed to be instant gratification tracks as of last week, so they have all departed the chart, despite continuing to sell well.
Rihanna's 43rd Top 75 entry, and Eminem's 42nd (including five as a member of D12), The Monster sold 74,674 copies last week, and surpasses the chart peak of their previous collaboration Love The Way You Life, which reached number two in 2010 and never sold more than 68,354 copies in a week but spent 14 weeks in the Top 10, 48 weeks in the Top 75 and has thus far sold 1,150,927 copies, becoming Rihanna's second biggest seller (behind We Found Love's 1,320,708) and Eminem's biggest, ahead of Lose Yourself (891,984 sales). It spends its 99th week in the Top 200 this week, re-entering at number 185 (1,075 sales). The Monster replaces Lorde's debut hit, Royals, which dips to number two (59,903 sales).
Without a Top 10 hit to his credit since Star 69/Weapon Of Choice in 2001, Fatboy Slim comes roaring back with Eat Sleep Rave Repeat - a collaboration with Riva Starr and Beardyman - debuting at number three (55,743 sales). It is the 12th Top 10 hit for Norman Cook overall, and the seventh using his Fatboy Slim alter ego.
One Direction's Story Of My Life stormed to the top of the midweek sales flashes and looked set to become their fifth number one but faded badly throughout the week and ends up debuting at number four, two places below immediate predecessor Best Song Ever. The latter sold 75,474 copies on its debut. Story Of My Life sold a less stellar 55,316 copies last week. Both singles are on One Direction's upcoming third album, Midnight Memories, which drops 25 November.
Tinie Tempah gets his 10th Top 10 hit and Swedish singer John Martin his third, as their collaboration Children Of The Sun debuts at number six (37,898 sales). The track is taken from Tempah's second album, Demonstration, which was released today (4th) and also includes the 2 Chainz collaboration Trampoline, which reached number three in August.
The Wanted score their 12th hit in all, and their third Top 10 entry of 2013, debuting at number eight (36,052 sales) with Show Me Love (America). Its title suggesting a desire for America to be appreciative, the song's lyrics actually read that if you show me love 'I could've shown you America' - ie: something completely different. Show Me Love (America) is the fifth single from The Wanted's third album, Word Of Mouth which was released today (4th).
Top 10 singles not mentioned elsewhere: OneRepublic's Counting Stars (3-5, 46,640 sales), James Arthur's You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You (2-9, 31,068 sales) and Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball (6-10, 29,959 sales).
Not to be confused with 1970s hitmakers Fox, 1970s psychedelic band The Fox, rapper Foxx, indie band Foxes! or indeed Sly Fox and Fleet Foxes, 24 year old Louise Allen is better known as Foxes, and makes her maiden chart appearance as a solo artist with her first full release, Youth, which debuts at number 12 (27,817 sales). She is not a complete chart newcomer - but Youth exceeds the peak positions of her two guest vocal chart outings fronting Zedd's Clarity (number 29 in February) and Rudimental's Right Here (number 14 in May).
Matching Eminem's run of four new chart hits in as many weeks but not of nearly the same magnitude, Justin Bieber's newest hit Recovery opens at number 28 (12,312 sales). It is his 25th Top 75 entry but only five of them have gone Top 10, including just two on which Bieber is principal performer - Baby (2010) and Boyfriend (2012).
Also new to the Top 40, Toyboy by M.A.D. - a new 'boy band' trio, all aged 16 - debuts at number 37, 7,710 sales). It is number one on the CD singles chart, with 2,759 sales across three different editions. That's not a lot - but it is more than 24 times the 113 copies the number two CD - One Direction's Best Song Ever - sold last week.
Climbing to new peaks with the Top 75: Skip To The Good Bit by Rizzle Kicks (34-21, 15,264 sales), Sail by Awolnation (54-49, 5,275 sales), Boy Oh Boy by Diplo & GTA (72-52, 5,092 sales),
From outside the Top 75 to inside for the first time: Help Me Lose My Mind by Disclosure feat. London Grammar (79-56, 4,512 sales) and Girls by 1975 (95-62, 4,098 sales).
Avril Lavigne makes a quiet debut at number 68 with Rock N Roll (3,664 sales).
Halloween perennial Thriller (a number 10 hit in 1983) charts for the sixth time in seven years, jumping 122-48. That is a place higher than it reached last Halloween but on lower sales of 5,293 compared to 5,866. And 1984 number two hit Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. also makes it six fright-fests out of seven, jumping 172-69 on sales of 3,563 copies. It reached number 63 last Halloween, on sales of 4,486 copies.
Overall singles sales are up 4.28% week-on-week at 3,141,256 - 10.74% below same week 2012 sales of 3,519,133. It is, sadly, the 12th week in a row that singles sales have been below same week 2012 sales, and year-to-date sales are now 0.65% below same stage 2012 levels. In 44 chart weeks so far in 2013, sales have exceeded 2012 levels 22 times and fallen short of 2012 levels 22 times.
