5TH NOVEMBER
Culture Club continue to reign supreme in the album charts for a third week depriving Lionel Richie of a No 1 album with "Can't Slow Down" but it's all over on the singles front as "Karma Chameleon" slides 1-4 (75,000) but is now officially the biggest selling single of the 80s to date with sales of 1,205,000 so they will hardly be disappointed. Duran Duran's challenge however was in the end pretty non existent as "Union Of The Snake" rises 4-3 but sells an almost identical to last week 76,000.
The real challenge was between Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" and Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" with Joel leading for much of the week by a slim margin but Richie fought back thanks to TOTP and almost overhauled Joel at the death with just 2,000 copies separating the pair in the end 112,000 to 110,000. Joel's album "An Innocent Man" enters the top 20 for the first time in response to the single's success, the era is a major return to form for Joel whose US success had never really translated to these shores in the same way, but its arrival must be a disappointment for Richie who now plays second best on both charts here.
[video=youtube;TsKxrPP1WWo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsKxrPP1WWo[/video]
Adam Ant proves he's far from yesterday's pop star, his last single "Desperate But Not Serious" surprised many when it only made No 33 at the end of last year with some predicting his days in the limelight were over. He's roped in Phil Collins on the drums of his new single "Puss N Boots" and this week sees the response as the single progresses 21-9 (37,000), it's a typically theatrical affair from the dandy highwayman proving the adage that if it ain't broke.....parent album "Strip" is out in a fortnight.
UB40 are back and the hunt for a second chart topper, though it looks like it might be a tough call as "Please Don't Make Me Cry" only moves 12-10 (36,000) it is however the first time they have managed back to back top 10 hits since 1980 so that's something at least. Naturally as it comes from their album "Labour Of Love", it is a cover, this time of an old Winston Groovy track from 1970 which didn't do anything on the charts here but was obviously not overlooked by Reggae enthusiasts.
The other sole climber this week are Men Without Hats who rise 8-6 (47,000) but heading south are Tracey Ullman (3-5, 52,000), Howard Jones (5-7, 44,000) and Rocksteady Crew (6-8, 41,000)
