Number 1s of 2009: 20 September 2009
The rapid turnover continues, with yet another new number one. Actually, a new number one was virtually inevitable this week, because Pixie Lott's "Boys and Girls" crashed to number 6 in its second week on sale. That's not a good sign for her; that's what happens to records that are selling on the strength of the hype, but aren't gathering any momentum through word of mouth.
Or here's the YouTube version. (DailyMotion code seems to be crashing Blogger today, for some reason.) Anyway, it's Taio Cruz, "Break Your Heart."
Cruz is from London, with Brazilian and Nigerian parents. Not that you'd know it from the video, which seems determined to convince us that he's from Miami. One of the chart themes of this year has been London R&B acts cheerfully throwing credibility to the winds and making an unabashed bid for mainstream success, and Cruz is the latest in line. It's a perfectly decent pop song, but very much aimed at daytime radio.
This is the lead single from his second album, but it's his seventh top 40 hit. Until now, his biggest hit was technically "Take Me Back", a not entirely dissimilar Tinchy Stryder single where he did guest vocals, and which reached number 3 earlier in the year. As a solo artist, though, his biggest hit was "Come On Girl", which got to number 5 last year. The guest vocalist on that track is Luciana, and since it's frankly much more interesting, here's another of her tracks - "Yeah Yeah" by Bodyrox, which got to number 2 in 2006.
Judging from iTunes, Cruz is actually likely to hold on for a second week - his main challenger being "Empire State of Mind", a Jay-Z album track which isn't even officially out as a single. He's been playing it on TV shows to promote the album, though, which might explain why downloaders are homing in on it. It's currently sitting at number 15.
Oh, and it's worth noting that "Celebration" by Madonna made it to number 3. This is the token new track from an upcoming greatest hits compilation, her third, and it's met with a rather lukewarm reception in Britain, to the point where Radio 1 haven't even bothered playlisting it - perhaps understandable, as her last official single, "Miles Away", only just scraped the top 40, bombing out at number 39. In America, it became her first single to miss the Billboard Hot 100 since 1983. Evidently that was an anomaly. "Celebration" is pretty mediocre - particularly in the original Paul Oakenfold mix; the video uses a slightly more interesting Benny Benassi remix - but the fanbase is still there for it.
Or here's the YouTube version. (DailyMotion code seems to be crashing Blogger today, for some reason.) Anyway, it's Taio Cruz, "Break Your Heart."
Cruz is from London, with Brazilian and Nigerian parents. Not that you'd know it from the video, which seems determined to convince us that he's from Miami. One of the chart themes of this year has been London R&B acts cheerfully throwing credibility to the winds and making an unabashed bid for mainstream success, and Cruz is the latest in line. It's a perfectly decent pop song, but very much aimed at daytime radio.
This is the lead single from his second album, but it's his seventh top 40 hit. Until now, his biggest hit was technically "Take Me Back", a not entirely dissimilar Tinchy Stryder single where he did guest vocals, and which reached number 3 earlier in the year. As a solo artist, though, his biggest hit was "Come On Girl", which got to number 5 last year. The guest vocalist on that track is Luciana, and since it's frankly much more interesting, here's another of her tracks - "Yeah Yeah" by Bodyrox, which got to number 2 in 2006.
Judging from iTunes, Cruz is actually likely to hold on for a second week - his main challenger being "Empire State of Mind", a Jay-Z album track which isn't even officially out as a single. He's been playing it on TV shows to promote the album, though, which might explain why downloaders are homing in on it. It's currently sitting at number 15.
Oh, and it's worth noting that "Celebration" by Madonna made it to number 3. This is the token new track from an upcoming greatest hits compilation, her third, and it's met with a rather lukewarm reception in Britain, to the point where Radio 1 haven't even bothered playlisting it - perhaps understandable, as her last official single, "Miles Away", only just scraped the top 40, bombing out at number 39. In America, it became her first single to miss the Billboard Hot 100 since 1983. Evidently that was an anomaly. "Celebration" is pretty mediocre - particularly in the original Paul Oakenfold mix; the video uses a slightly more interesting Benny Benassi remix - but the fanbase is still there for it.
Labels: music
posted by Paul O'Brien at 8:49 pm
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