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#Watermelon Sugar UK Official Charts
hscharts · 2 years
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Chart Update 2022-04-08 17:04 UTC
As It Was:
Kworb Live iTunes US: #4 (-1)
Kworb Live Apple Music US: #2 (=)
Kworb Live iTunes UK: #3 (=)
Kworb Live Apple Music UK: #1 (=)
UK Official Charts: #1 (new)
View all the current chart positions for As It Was
Fine Line:
Kworb Live AppleMusic Album US: #96 (-3)
Kworb Live AppleMusic Album UK: #33 (+1)
UK Official Albums Chart: #6 (+22)
View all the current chart positions for Fine Line
Watermelon Sugar:
UK Official Charts: #93 (re-entry)
View all the current chart positions for Watermelon Sugar
Harry Styles:
UK Official Albums Chart: #37 (re-entry)
View all the current chart positions for Harry Styles
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Harry Styles’ As It Was has been revealed as the winner of IFPI’s Global Single Award 2022.
IFPI, which represents the global record industry, presents the award to the biggest-selling single across all digital formats, comprising paid and ad-funded streams and downloads.
This marks the first time Styles, who has also enjoyed recent success at The BRITs and The Grammys, has won the IFPI award as a solo artist. Ten years ago, One Direction topped the inaugural IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart and the IFPI Global Album Chart.
IFPI chief executive Frances Moore said: “Congratulations to Harry Styles, and all of his team, on winning IFPI’s Global Single of the Year Award. Harry first received an IFPI Award as part of One Direction when we first launched the IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart 10 years ago, so it’s an honour to present him with an award this year for his stellar single As It Was which has soundtracked the year for so many music fans around the world.”
As It Was has 1,729,679 sales in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company. It is now the singer’s second biggest UK hit, behind Watermelon Sugar which has 2,133,817 sales. As It Was’ parent album Harry’s House also hit No.1 and has 502,156 UK sales to date.
IFPI, which represents the global record industry, presents the award to the biggest-selling single across all digital formats, comprising paid and ad-funded streams and downloads.
This marks the first time Styles, who has also enjoyed recent success at The BRITs and The Grammys, has won the IFPI award as a solo artist. Ten years ago, One Direction topped the inaugural IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart and the IFPI Global Album Chart.
IFPI chief executive Frances Moore said: “Congratulations to Harry Styles, and all of his team, on winning IFPI’s Global Single of the Year Award. Harry first received an IFPI Award as part of One Direction when we first launched the IFPI Global Recording Artist Chart 10 years ago, so it’s an honour to present him with an award this year for his stellar single As It Was which has soundtracked the year for so many music fans around the world.”
As It Was has 1,729,679 sales in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company. It is now the singer’s second biggest UK hit, behind Watermelon Sugar which has 2,133,817 sales. As It Was’ parent album Harry’s House also hit No.1 and has 502,156 UK sales to date.
Last year, As It Was co-writer Tyler Johnson told the story of how the song was made in a Hitmakers interview with Music Week.
“It’s got such a mellowness to it and it doesn’t really go for any big moments,” Johnson said. “Harry had the vision for it to be the lead single [from Harry’s House]. I’m very impressed at how he saw that it was what his audience wanted, and also people in general – it’s not just his fans who have taken to the song. When it came out on Spotify and I pressed play I got a good feeling in my stomach like, ‘I like that people are hearing this song.’”
“Harry was sitting on the Moog One and I liked what he was playing, so I sat down and played as he started to write the melodies and the lyrics,” Johnson added. “I said to Harry, ‘We need a lead line’ and he just came up right away with the ‘Dah, dah, dah...’ part. He didn’t hesitate. Then he started writing the second verse and referring to himself in the third person. So much of this song just came from Harry’s heart.”
Sophie Jones, the BPI’s chief strategy officer & interim CEO has also offered congratulations to Styles. 
“It’s great to see UK artists do so well in the IFPI global charts, particularly dominating the songs of 2022, with Harry Styles and Glass Animals at No.1 and No.2 and nearly half the top 20 claimed by UK talent,” Jones said. “Our congratulations to Harry Styles for featuring so strongly in the global charts and to all UK artists and their labels for an excellent performance last year.”
Styles is joined by Glass Animals, Elton John & Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran and Adele in the Top 20. The list also features four songs performed in Spanish, with Bad Bunny appearing twice alongside Farruko and Karol G.
Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) also features following its revival after a sync in Stranger Things.
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Sorry to mention ***** but I think it's worth noting that The Show debuted in the UK with 14k less sales than Faith in the Future.
I think The Show did much better that FITF in the United States, which tells me a few things.
1. Playlisting on Spotify is incredibly important to artists’ charting— and breaking through to the general public— in the United States. The USA sets the international standard for “what is popular,” so it’s very important to have a hit here. Harry could not have become the popular artist he is today without Watermelon Sugar becoming the pandemic pop hit that it was, and it was achieved with relentless playlisting and many iterations of physical copies being sold. The 2020 competition (Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa) were very good, but Harry’s team simply wore them down with payola. This formula is what Niall’s team is following, although obviously the amount of money invested and recouped is much less.
2. Playlisting only goes so far with the UK, as Official Charts limits individual Spotify streams of a song to 10/ discrete account/ day. It can be circumvented with multiple discrete accounts and overwhelming blanketing of radio plays, as well as multiple iterations of a physical album (Louis’ team did this at the last minute with the digital FITF exclusive on release week, which Larrie UAs subverted by posting all songs online as soon as they were available). You can see why being blacklisted on UK radio is death to charting. No radio = no physical or digital album purchases, and the reverse is also true. People won’t buy what they’ve never heard before. A lack of live exposure to the general public— festivals— compounds the problem further. Niall has all of these bases covered: streaming, radio (he just did a BBC radio festival and live lounge), several physical versions of the new album, festivals.
3. After a while, reputation becomes fact. Popularity evokes the feeling that an artist deserves to be popular; popularity begets more popularity. Obscurity evokes the opposite. Most of the listening public (hell, most of their fans) do not care how the sausage is made, but they don’t want to follow an unpopular artist, especially one who might have a stigma.
4. Louis’ fans went all out for him in the UK, but the cold slap in the face to fans from his BMG team (in this interview) was sobering. His numbers came from loyal fans buying dozens of albums in order to beat Bruce Springsteen— a gargantuan task. Niall did not have anywhere near the same competition in the UK. Would fans have done the same for Niall? I guess we’ll never know.
5. It’s safe to say that Niall’s career is much more “normal” than Louis’. Niall benefits from being “not the competition” to Harry Styles, but a middle-of-the-road surviving member of 1D. Industry allows him a career because it wants to.
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kingstylesdaily · 3 years
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In its 68th week on the UK Singles Chart, Watermelon Sugar has moved up to #25! - 18.06.2021
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hldailyupdate · 3 years
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Watermelon Sugar is #44 on the UK Official Singles Chart. (12 February 2021)
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1ddiscourseoftheday · 3 years
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Mon 10 May ‘21
LOUIS NEWS-- label and tour!! First, Louis has announced (or, well, Simon Jones PR has anyway, no word from Louis direct and yes, SJPR is still in the picture) that Louis is “partnering with BMG to release his second album globally”, an interestingly specific/ limited reveal. Fans are eyeing the wording and questioning whether he actually signed with them as a label (which they are) or just for publishing rights or distribution (which they also do, unlike most other labels)- the mention only of a ‘partnership’ supports the possibility that it’s something other than his new label, but it isn’t definitive and the simplest explanation of the press release is that BMG will be his label for LT2, as well as distributor and publishing company. The fact that they are small (relatively speaking; not one of the “Big Four” record labels but they’re hardly tiny) and somewhat new as a label does not to me seem like a reason why Louis wouldn’t have chosen them, as some are suggesting; there’s something to be said for being the big focus of a label rather than just another act, and Louis already chose that route once before when he signed with Arista (who are umbrella-ed by Sony but themselves not one of the big four) just after their relaunch, making him their biggest act by far. Also vague: “global” in this context doesn’t necessarily mean BMG has replaced Arista (his U.S. only label), it just for sure means UK plus the ‘international’ market, ie most of the rest of the world. It could mean U.S. too! Or not. We have reason to believe Louis was still with Arista as recently as a few months ago, and no evidence to suggest otherwise. The official press release says “recording is already underway” on LT2, and quotes Louis as saying: “I’m very excited to start the next part of my journey with BMG”. BMG- a new company founded after splitting from older label SonyBMG in 2008- claim to be “a new kind of music company” who are “not just a music publisher or a label” (they instead combine both of those things) in which “service to artists and writers is key,” and as part of that combine label services with holding publishing rights for their clients, often handled by separate companies and an area where songwriters tend to get screwed. BMG’s press also mentions their involvement with new technology a lot, and they represent Kings of Leon who have been at the forefront of the music industry use of NFTs (including releasing their next album as an NFT on a special NFT label despite being BMG artists). BMG’s twitter following more than doubled [edit: tripled now] in the hours after the announcement, and they followed Louis and tweeted to welcome him aboard from three different twitter accounts, including the U.S. one.
Slightly more commentary from Louis about the updated tour dates though mostly still press release style-- “Let's try this one last time!” he said, “All shows on my world tour will be moving back to 2022 and I’m excited to announce the first wave of new dates. I can't wait to see you all soon, it's going to be special!” and what should be the final dates for tour dropped, all in Spring ‘22- including a London show at Wembley, holy shit! Not every rescheduled date has been announced but those that are mostly have one thing in common-- much bigger venues than they were originally booked into. At at least one show so far fans will have to buy tickets again which sucks, but they are offering a pre-sale for previous ticket holders so at least those buyers only have to fight each other and not all the fans that joined the scrum in the time since the tour sold out. “After all this time and years of waiting this tour is going to be incredible, I can't wait!” said Louis and he’s not wrong!
And that’s all for serious news, over in Harry land things are...a lot sillier. A “bardcore” version of Watermelon Sugar was added to Harry’s official Spotify, LOL, and it is even more ridiculous to listen to than it is to imagine! I don’t picture it topping the charts anytime soon but it’s certainly an entertaining twist I was NOT expecting over the quiet weekend. The idea of Harry and friends deciding that needed to be legitimized on the official 36 million follower page is PRICELESS, and I would love to see Harry in a Gucci doublet and hose (or a nice laced bodice), but sadly it seems that the addition of the 2020 cover song to Harry’s account is a fuck up on Spotify’s end, as acknowledged by the Bard himself (no not Harry or Shakespeare, the person who did the weird cover- they do lots of covers in this style, it’s like a whole Thing. Medieval style covers of hits.) Meantime OUR bard was seen on the My Policeman set in a t-shirt reading “don’t ruin my fantasy”. New merch? I’ve never seen something more perfect for harries, they should consider it! This shirt though is from a designer with a focus on gender neutrality who donates to queer youth charities. And Kid Harpoon said, about WS (modern version) “at first, and I get this quite a lot with his lyrics, I thought, that’s kind of weird. Then you’re like, man, it’s brilliant. I remember thinking that with this. Harry’s so good at lyrics, he’s really growing into his own thing.”
Meanwhile Niall reposted (to insta AND facebook) the same outfit of the day video post he posted and deleted yesterday but left it up this time. It is clearly NOT today’s outift- damn Niall is my whole life a lie?! What can we trust in this treacherous world?? NOT YOU I GUESS. He also popped up on twitter to claim “no idea what you’re talking about” wrt him and Anne Marie teasing their collab without offering any actual clues about WHEN-- mhmm, like I said...
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mr-styles · 3 years
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‘Fine Line’ by Harry Styles was the 2nd best selling album of the year in the UK
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Official figures released by record labels’ association the BPI, based on Official Charts Company data, show that recorded music consumption in the UK rose by 8.2% in 2020, with 155 million albums or their equivalent either streamed or purchased by fans. 
Eight of the best-selling artists on album format were British, led by Lewis Capaldi, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa – all three of whom also achieved nearly half a billion streams or more in 2020 in the UK alone and billions more streams globally. 
Harry Styles can celebrate a successful 2020 as a fully established global star, with his album Fine Line finishing up as the second biggest-selling album of the year. Released at the end of 2019, it was also the fifth biggest selling title on vinyl, fuelled by popular singles Watermelon Sugar and Adore You, which finished at tenth and sixteenth respectively in the end of year Official Singles charts. As well as being nominated for two BRIT Awards at the start of the year, Harry was nominated for three Grammy Awards in November.  
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stylesnews · 3 years
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Not only is Watermelon Sugar Harry Styles’ biggest single to date, the million-selling smash has a Grammy to its name, too. Now, the question is, could it be the first of many?
In a leather suit and feather boa, Styles performed the Fine Line favourite at the Grammys last weekend, going on to thank Sony Music Group CEO Rob Stringer, Full Stop Management’s Jeffrey Azoff, co-writer Kid Harpoon and the rest of his team in his acceptance speech. Blood Orange's Dev Hynes (above, left) and Styles' friend and collaborator Mitch Rowland (right) were part of his band on the night.
The award for Best Pop Solo Performance is Styles’ first Grammy, and there’s a sense that this moment had been coming for the singer, not to mention the ubiquitous Watermelon Sugar.
The track has 1,231,583 sales to date according to the Official Charts Company. A total of 1,104,219,723 Spotify streams and 198 million YouTube views show just how huge it has become. It has streaked ahead of his debut single Sign Of The Times (1,111,176) as his biggest in the UK. Adore You, his third million-seller, isn’t far behind on 1,024,195. Fine Line has moved 410,832 copies.
There’s no doubt that the No.2 album represents a watershed moment for Styles, and Kid Harpoon – Music Week’s Songwriter Of The Year 2020 – said just that in his recent Music Week interview, which told the story of Watermelon Sugar in our Hitmakers feature.
“As much as he’s been part of One Direction, it really feels like he’s shed the, ‘Of One Direction’ thing,” said Tom Hull. “I saw an article someone wrote saying you don’t have to say, ‘Of One Direction’ anymore and that’s a really nice moment, knowing him and what he’s been working towards.”
Hull told us that “big songs” are putting Styles on another level.
“When you come from something so commercially insane, you kind of have to deliver when you go solo, and he wanted to do that on his terms,” said Hull. “There were so many easier routes to get there than the ones he took, working with weird British dudes like me. I’m so buzzing for him. His vision was, ‘Let’s make an album,’ and it really feels like an album. I go back and listen to it and I absolutely love it, but I’m also excited by what’s to come form him. He’s still growing and learning and honing his songwriting skills and being a part of that is really exciting for me.”
Universal Music Publishing Group boss Mike McCormack also stressed the weight of what Styles has achieved with Fine Line.
“Remember, the album was released in 2019, so the fact that Watermelon Sugar was No.1 in the US eight months later is pretty crazy,” he said. “Sony have done an amazing job. And it completely validates Harry’s decision to do it his way. He would have had the pick of any of the biggest songwriters in the world, they would have wanted to be involved in Harry’s album. But he was adamant that they stick to this very small team and Tom is fortunate to be right at the epicentre of that steering the ship with Harry. It’s an incredible success story really. And it’s great that it’s British as well.”
There are no confirmed details of new music from Styles yet, but Hull suggested that ideas are in the pipeline.
“I just know he’s got more to give, which is kind of scary to be honest,” he said. “We’ve been doing bits and bobs, we’ve been sending voice notes and working on bits here and there, just lyrics and bits and bobs. Hopefully there’ll be something [new] at some point, I don’t really know where we are, but we’ve definitely been getting into it, we’ll see.”
Hull also revealed details of some unreleased songs the pair wrote together in Japan during a trip before the Fine Line sessions began.
“Harry was in Japan and he said, ‘Do you want to come out and write?’ and I said, ‘Why don’t I come and I’ll stay in a hotel room near you and we’ll hire a mic and some guitars and I’ll just bring my laptop,’” Hull explained. “It was a vaguely disguised lads’ trip, but we also wrote some really good songs. There’s a couple we’re still in love with. There was one that nearly made it to the record. We have a couple from there that are really special that hopefully will see the light of day at some point.”
Hull said he and Styles are “still obsessed” with the song, though he did not reveal the title.
“It’s the same as the Watermelon thing with this song,” he said. “It’s got… There’s a certain feeling in it, we’re just going to have to chip away at it and hopefully get it.”
Hull emphasised the importance of the closeness between Styles and his small group of collaborators, which includes Tyler Johnson and Mitch Rowland, adding that it led to a unique hitmaking experience.
“It was full of so many emotions of friendship, Harry feels like a brother to me, it feels deeper,” he said. “It feels like family, and the music was almost secondary to just being friends, which created a culture, an ease in the songwriting that you don’t get in a lot of other situations.”
With the BRITs approaching, all eyes are on what Harry Styles does next.
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dailytomlinson · 4 years
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Celebrations around the tenth anniversary of One Direction last month has led to a huge surge in streams and downloads of the band's back catalogue.
Promoted with the hashtag #10YearsOf1D, a decade since the band's formation was celebrated with an anniversary website that featured an archive of music videos, artwork, TV performances, behind-the-scenes and rarely-seen content, all in one place. The band's streaming profiles were also refreshed with reformatted EPs featuring b-sides and rare songs, remixes, live recordings and acoustic tracks.
Official Charts Company data captured across the last fortnight reveals that 24.8 million UK streams of the band's songs have been recorded in the days leading to and following the anniversary date of July 23. Three of the band's albums - Take Me Home, Made in the A.M. and Four - returned to the Official Albums Chart Top 40 last Friday.
Over the last two weeks, Harry, Liam, Louis and Niall's debut album Up All Night saw the biggest uplift in chart sales, rocketing 135%. Second album Take Me Home was their most streamed through the last fortnight and saw a 99% increase in total consumption.
The group's third album Midnight Memories has been their most downloaded over the past two weeks with a 106% rise altogether, while Four has seen the biggest increase in CD sales, and is up by 92% across all formats. There was also a 98% uplift for Made in the A.M..
When it comes to One Direction's singles, their most popular surrounding the anniversary has been their debut Number 1 hit What Makes You Beautiful, racking up 1.4 million streams. Close behind is 2013's Story Of My Life in second, while 2015's History is third overall but ranks as their most downloaded song of the period.
On this week's Official Singles Chart, Harry Styles' Watermelon Sugar could reach a new peak. The fourth single from his second album Fine Line sits at Number 3 on the Official Chart Update. 2020 has also been successful for Niall Horan who scored his first solo UK Number 1 album Heartbreak Weather and Louis Tomlinson whose debut solo album Walls is one of the Top 3 biggest debut albums of the year so far.
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On twitter! 
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harrysdimples · 4 years
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Watermelon Sugar is now in the Top 10 on the UK Official Charts at #7, matching Adore You’s peak! (the Official Charts’ website has updated early before the official announcement on the radio today!!!!)
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hscharts · 2 years
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Chart Update 2022-05-13 17:04 UTC
As It Was:
Kworb Live iTunes US: #8 (-1)
Kworb Live Apple Music US: #37 (-2)
UK Official Charts: #1 (=)
View all the current chart positions for As It Was
Fine Line:
Kworb Live iTunes Album UK: no longer on chart
UK Official Albums Chart: #16 (-6)
View all the current chart positions for Fine Line
Watermelon Sugar:
UK Official Charts: #91 (-5)
View all the current chart positions for Watermelon Sugar
Harry Styles:
UK Official Albums Chart: #59 (-19)
View all the current chart positions for Harry Styles
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Harry Styles is developing into “one of the most accomplished artists of his era”, according to Wembley Stadium’s James Taylor.
Taylor is senior commercial manager at Wembley Stadium, and has spoken to Music Week about the singer’s upcoming shows at the London venue on June 18 and 19.
Yesterday (March 23) Styles announced the release of his third solo album, Harry’s House, which is due on May 20 via Columbia Records. Now, fans have a sure sign that Styles could air new material at his upcoming Coachella headline shows in April.
Styles was originally due to tour his second album, Fine Line, in the UK & Ireland in April 2020, only for the dates to be pushed back a year before being postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. The rescheduled dates in Glasgow, Manchester, London and Dublin were upgraded from arenas to stadiums. He won Tour Of The Year at the recent Pollstar Awards.
Fine Line peaked at No.2 in the UK albums chart and has sold 569,921 copies since its release in December 2019, according to the Official Charts Company. In that time, it has become a mainstay in the UK charts. Its biggest-selling track is Watermelon Sugar (1,745,260 sales), while Adore You has 1,262,931 sales and Falling has 1,036,258. Sign Of The Times, from the star’s debut album, is his other million-seller in the UK, with 1,288,868 sales.
As anticipation builds ahead of Styles’ return to the UK & Ireland, Taylor told Music Week that booking the two dates made for a record-breaking year at Wembley
“We have had Harry headline before as part of One Direction, but what an amazing achievement to come back off the back of such astronomic solo success,” said Taylor. “Ticket sales were very strong and the second show being added actually made 2022 a record year for Wembley Stadium. We will host 15 nights this year, which is a new Wembley record for concerts. It’s a great way to welcome fans back to Wembley after a two season absence due to Covid.”
As the venue prepares to welcome Styles to its stage once more, Taylor talks us through what to expect…
How was the booking process to get these dates in? And why is Wembley Stadium the right place for Harry's show?
“When you get to the scale that Harry has now reached, his management felt that Wembley Stadium was the logical next step for his career and we had no hesitation that the shows would do well. We were in a position to lock in the dates he announced and we pulled together a plan in partnership with his team. Harry was the biggest ticket seller worldwide in 2021 and that provided the basis to launch a stadium tour.”
What can we expect? Have you had any inklings of how it'll look and feel inside the stadium?
“Given there are now two sell-out shows I think we can expect an amazing atmosphere as we bounce back from two dry years of stadium concerts. You know a concert is popular and going to sell well by the amount of house list requests we get, and that was certainly the case both before the on-sale and soon after when the shows sold out quickly.”
How do you think the songs will go down? Fine Line has grown and grown since it came out…
“I’m sure the songs will go down well. Harry has a very devoted fanbase, and as we see with the likes of BTS, a devoted fanbase can create an unbelievable atmosphere in the bowl.”
Lastly, what do you think we will learn about Harry, his artistry and his abilities as a live performer from these gigs?
“Harry is fast developing into one of the most accomplished artists of his era and I think these solo shows at Wembley will cement that position. I believe he will likely go on to do several stadium tours in his career and we would very much welcome him back...”
Via Music Week
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zot3-flopped · 3 years
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Noooo. You are telling me that the year old Watermelon Sugar is charting on the UK official charts, but Liam's week old song is not??? Ouch. That must have hurt his ego.
Devastating for him.
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kingstylesdaily · 3 years
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09.07.2021
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hldailyupdate · 3 years
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“Harry Styles' Watermelon Sugar' has become the second longest-running song in the charts of all-time.”
“As of this Sunday afternoon, the 2019 track has now spent 64 weeks in The Official Big Top 40.”
-The Official Big Top 40 on how 'Watermelon Sugar' by has now spent 64 weeks inside the UK's biggest chart show. That's almost more than any other song EVER! (22 August 2021)
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deadcactuswalking · 3 years
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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 08/05/2021 (Billie Eilish, DJ Khaled)
Whilst this is slightly busier than last week, I am genuinely surprised with how little is actually going on here on this week’s chart, a lot less than I expected or predicted. With that said, the top of the chart is where our biggest story comes from and that is “Body” by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne taking advantage of a weak chart with its star-studded remix and peaking at #1 for its first week, replacing Lil Nas X’s “MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)”. Not only is it the biggest hit for both of these guys and their first #1s, but it’s the first #1 for the entire UK drill genre, which kind of came out of nowhere for me since I think the song’s pretty worthless but with a TikTok challenge and streaming numbers that have even placed it in the American Spotify chart, it’s gearing up to be one of the biggest British rap songs ever. Let’s hope maybe this one doesn’t stall out as badly as “Don’t Rush” outside of the UK. With all that out of the way, let’s start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.
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Rundown
Our only new arrival from last week’s UK Top 75 (which is what I cover), “Come Through” by H.E.R. featuring Chris Brown, is gone on the next off of the debut. Well, at least we have more than one new song this week, as well as some interesting chart nonsense lower down, but also some notable drop-outs for “Mr. Perfectly Fine” by Taylor Swift, “Mercury” by Dave and Kamal., “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” by Drake featuring Rick Ross, “All You Ever Wanted” by Rag’n’Bone Man (which will rebound next week as that album makes its impact) as well as “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles finally making what seems to be its last exit. Our only return is in the form of “Confetti” by Little Mix getting a massive surge back at #15 after its Saweetie remix and the attached music video, though Saweetie doesn’t happen to be credited here.
We do have an interesting selection of gains and losses, as with the notable fallers – dropping five spots or more down the chart – we have “Titanium” by Dave at #23, “Wellerman” by Nathan Evans and remixed by 220 KID and Billen Ted getting ACR’d down to #29 (it had a surprisingly great run), “The Business” by Tiesto having the same happen to it at #32, “We’re Good” by Dua Lipa at #40, “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo at #43, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd at #45, “Don’t Play” by Anne-Marie, KSI and Digital Farm Animals at #51, “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK hit hard to #54, the same with “Up” by Cardi B at #59, “You” by Regard, Troye Sivan and Tate McRae shaking off the gains #63, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #60, “Heat” by Paul Woolford and Amber Mark at #66, “Solid” by Young Stoner Life, Young Thug and Gunna featuring Drake at #69, “Paradise” by MERDUZA and Dermot Kennedy at #71 and, sadly, “How Does it Feel” by London Grammar at #75.
Where it gets a bit more telling about how the charts are going to adapt into the Summer is in our climbers as we have solid gains for “Another Love” by Tom Odell making another run at #60, “Sunshine (The Light)” by Fat Joe, DJ Khaled and Amorphous inexplicably at #57 and now we get into the top 40 where we have more potential future hits. “Way Too Long” by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack is at #38, “Don’t You Worry About Me” brings the Bad Boy Chiller Crew their first hit at #37 (although the song is only ever worth hearing for that chorus) and “WITHOUT YOU” by the Kid LAROI returns to the top 40 at #30 thanks to a remix with Miley Cyrus who is again not credited by the Official Charts Company. Boney M. are granted their first new top 20 hit since the 1990s, even if it is just a remix of a song that went #2 in 1978, as Majestic’s remix of “Rasputin” is at #18. Our final gain is for a song first entering the top 10 thanks to the remix with Ariana Grande finally making an impact – yet once again not given the official credit by the OCC – as “Save Your Tears” by the Weeknd makes its way up to #8, becoming his tenth top 10 hit here in Britain. That’s not the only song to first enter the top 10 this week but we’ll get to that in due time with our... odd selection of new arrivals this week.
NEW ARRIVALS
#73 – “EVERY CHANCE I GET” – DJ Khaled featuring Lil Baby and Lil Durk
Produced by DJ Khaled and Tay Keith
Two of our new entries are from DJ Khaled’s most recent album Khaled Khaled, an album much like any Khaled album I found cheap and just dull. This record especially is just mixed horribly, with a budget spent exceedingly on getting big-name features instead of any worthwhile engineers to actually mix and master this 50-minute trainwreck. The album doesn’t have many highlights at all but if I had to choose some they would be the two debuting this week, the first of which is basically a Lil Baby cut, “EVERY CHANCE I GET”, with a verse from Lil Durk. Okay, so, yes, first of all, much like the rest of the record, this mix is compressed and just weak, with bizarre bass mastering and drums that sound like garbage, before we get to Lil Baby himself sounding even froggier than ever. I do think that gives the song part of its charm, though, as with a Tay Keith beat, it’s definitely going for a hardcore, old-school Memphis rap atmosphere, and with Lil Baby’s flow switches disguising paranoid lyrics about the typical gunplay and flexing, it does effectively make a pretty intimidating listen... okay, well, it would, if DJ Khaled didn’t have to pop in to convince Lil Baby to “keep going”. We also get a single verse from Lil Durk here, mixed like he recorded his vocals in his bath to the point where it’s clipping against the bass, but delivering a King Von-esque flow that sounds pretty great, and admittedly more detail than you’d expect. I also love that silly “mmm-mmm” flow he uses at the end. I do wish a song like this, clearly supposed to be menacing, did not have the ludicrous personality void that is DJ Khaled on it, and it’s not like they need Khaled to collaborate together – or with Tay Keith for that matter – so I don’t really see why the dude doesn’t just shut up and promote his albums as compilations instead. I understand it comes from his mixtape days, but if this is going to be a studio album, treat it like one and just be quiet for once.
#72 – “Oblivion” – Royal Blood
Produced by Royal Blood
Royal Blood got the #1 album this week for Typhoons and admittedly, whilst I am interested in this band, I haven’t gotten around to listening to it, so I’ll take this album cut as a preview of what to come. If I am doing that, I hope to be surprised by whatever else that album has in store as I’m not really a fan of this. That eerie choppy guitar loop being immediately crushed by this heavily distorted riff and stiff percussion just does not sound unique or interesting, especially if Mike Kerr is going to sound this soulless. The build towards the chorus feels pretty pathetic and unwarranted, and said chorus is just not catchy, before we get to content about how he knows his fate through how arrogant he’s been and he deserves what’s coming to him. I mean, sure, but there’s nothing that makes it obvious that these guys don’t care about what’s coming to them given the pained vocal delivery and monotonous instrumental. It doesn’t feel exciting, rebellious or whatever emotion this tries and fails to capture, just stiff and staggered in its execution. This does make sense for Royal Blood but seems to me like they’re resting way too heavily on ideas ran through the soil at this point. With all that said, this isn’t bad at all, just not as great as those other singles have been from the record. I think I’d be more forgiving if it didn’t come off as a Queens of the Stone Age tribute act writing “originals” that bomb at their shows.
#56 – “love race” – Machine Gun Kelly featuring Kellin Quinn
Produced by Jeff Peters, Jared Gudstadt and Travis Barker
I guess this might actually be a rock-heavy week – not that I’m complaining about more of a rock presence on the chart but God, I wish it wasn’t coming from MGK. I’ll have some choice words to say about this guy’s last attempt at a pop-rock hit by the end of the year, probably, but at least for this song he brought on someone with some kind of legitimacy. Kellin Quinn is the frontman of post-hardcore band Sleeping with Sirens, one of the most successful bands in their genre but not one unlike others that grew out of the metalcore-infused pop rock to anything more unique or experimental. With that said, Quinn is barely here and other than Travis Barker’s typical explosive drums, MGK is the biggest presence here in his raspy but borderline unlistenable vocal tone that I just can’t stand, especially if it’s going to stretch out “run” as long and as far as he did in that longing, desperate chorus. MGK barely even lets Kellin Quinn have his own verse, registering him as backing vocals throughout the entire song, dampening his vocals that sound a lot more unique and enthused, especially when he starts screaming. That bridge did give me trancecore flashbacks – not that I’m complaining if I’m fully honest – so I’ll admit the part of me that eats up emo-pop garbage did let this grow on me a bit, but, man, without a guitar solo to distract from pretty awful lyrics (not that I’d expect much more from this artist or genre) and without really letting Quinn loose on the vocals, it’s lacking a certain grit and punch I expect from post-hardcore. The song did, however, indirectly remind me of New Found Glory, for which I am thankful for.
#53 – “I DID IT” – DJ Khaled featuring Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby and DaBaby
Produced by Ben Billions, Joe Zarrillo, DJ 360, Tay Keith and DJ Khaled
You wouldn’t expect an artist line-up like this to continue this trend of rock in this week’s new arrivals, but you’d be surprised, and personally I’m pretty happy with how much rock seems to be creeping up back into the public consciousness as if there’s one thing I got back in touch with the most over lockdown, it was the rock music I was raised on and it led to me even further appreciating a genre I had kind of lost touch with over the years out of just a lack of interest. With that said, this isn’t a rock song per se, but it does heavily and lazily sample a classic like much of this Khaled album, going for “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos. I’m not going to lie, either, it sets up a pretty effective back-bone for a trap banger about being awesome, especially with those squealing riffs in the chorus. Oh, yeah, and the mixing is horrible as expected, but to be honest to me it does not dampen the boasting, anthemic nature of this track, especially with Post Malone being a perfect choice to croon that infectious chorus. Megan Thee Stallion has a pretty embarrassingly by-the-numbers verse over a switch in the beat that makes it sound oddly stunted, but she does have that swinging rock charisma that people like Lil Baby do not have. With that said, I think I’m at the point where I eat anything Lil Baby says or does, because the flow switches combined with his frog-throat delivery is just impeccable. Content-wise, I think everyone here realises they’re being squashed by the clipping beat as they just go off about complete nonsense that goes in one ear and out the other apart from Lil Baby’s misguided but still pretty funny line about how he contemplated going vegan but sees no point in it because he’s got ten karats in both of his ears. Sure. At least DJ Khaled as something to do as he... harmonises, I guess, with Posty on the chorus. DaBaby is as distant as possible from the microphone to the point where I can barely hear him, not that it matters when his verse is that basic and short. This is kind of a trainwreck in all honesty, but with four choruses and a beat this heavy, it’s hard to be annoyed by it. Overwhelming maybe but these performers are all characters by themselves and throwing them in this three-minute chaos of squealing guitars and trap skitters just fascinates me if anything. Does it count as a posse cut? I don’t know. Either way, this is hilarious.
#5 – “Your Power” – Billie Eilish
Produced by FINNEAS
Decidedly not hilarious is this new single from Billie Eilish looking to be a smash from that upcoming album which now has a track listing and release date, with this functioning as I suppose the true lead single and her seventh top 10 here in the UK. It’s a brave choice too considering the lyrical content which is a pretty scathing attack on her ex-boyfriend and their abusive relationship, making several references to the gap in age and power dynamic that played into something really distressing for the both of them but especially a young, vulnerable Billie Eilish who found herself helpless in this relationship because of that “hero” quickly revealing himself as little more than his projected insecurities. The song’s detailed enough not to detach itself from Billie’s personal struggles but also works as what I suppose is a warning, as it’s retelling a story all too familiar with many girls of her age at the time who end up in these really scary situations. It does help that the song itself is great, relying on these layered acoustic guitars to form some kind of dejected groove behind Eilish’s vocals, whispery and cooing as always but in this case way too loud in the mix for my taste to the point where it kind of takes me out of the song as a whole. With a better master that blends her vocal take a lot better into the guitars, maybe going for a fuzzier, dream-pop angle, could work a lot better but with that said, I do understand the purpose of making it feel this intimate and minimal because Billie’s honest songwriting calls for a delivery like this, even if she ends up sounding shakier or even mumbling at times as a result. This is a big debut for Billie for a song not prepared to do as well as it did given its content and sound that is not exactly radio-friendly and oftentimes requires more heavy of a listen than a pop song would otherwise. I do love that final outro as her humming careens off the gentle guitars with just enough scratch but I do question how abrupt the ending is. Hopefully when the album’s out, we’ll have a bigger picture to as where this single in particular fits in.
Conclusion
With only five new arrivals and not much in the way of anything bad, I guess Worst of the Week goes to “Oblivion” by Royal Blood but giving a Dishonourable Mention would just end up as dishonest. Therefore, Best of the Week goes to Billie Eilish for “Your Power” but – and I cannot believe I am saying this for a 3/10 album with only fluke hits – but DJ Khaled – and Lil Baby for that matter – get a tied Honourable Mention for both of their songs, “EVERY CHANCE THAT I GET” with Lil Durk and “I DID IT” with Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby. Now to distract from the fact I just did that, here’s this week’s top 10:
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I can’t really make any healthy predictions for next week. Maybe we’ll get some songs from Lil Tecca, Rag’n’Bone Man or Bebe Rexha? Maybe we’ll end up with some fluke Weezer smash hit, who knows? Regardless, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week.
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