11TH JANUARY
It may have lost 17% of its sales week on week but “West End Girls” holds up better than anything else in the post festive doldrums in one of the tightest races for the No 1 spot this decade. The song has been a slow grower moving 59-40-23-9-5-4-3-1 so far making tough work in the pre Christmas market but benefits from the collapse in sales of both Whitney Houston who holds at No 2 (48,000) and Shakin’ Stevens (48,000) who drops 1-3, but The Pet Shop Boys sold a miserly 49,000 last week the lowest tally in three years, its overall tally now stands at 287,000 copies, nevertheless I’m sure they’ll be celebrating anyway.
Jimmy Somerville may have left the group last summer but Bronski Beat prove they don’t need him to have a hit single, they recruited a new frontman, John Foster, and got a nice spot of promotion when their first single in their new line up was featured in the British movie “Letter To Brezhnev” and in the Christmas episode of “Only Fools & Horses”. “Hit That Perfect Beat” has been knocking around since November but finally gets to rise as the festive hits subside, it grows 11-4 (41,000) to become the band’s third top 5 single, a second album is out in the Spring.
A-ha have a second hit single on their hands, and one that didn’t take three releases unlike “Take On Me”. The promo for “The Sun Always Shines On TV” is clearly meant to be a sequel to the former track and takes just three weeks to make the top 10 as it shoots 27-5 (38,000) though it will have to go some to match the total sales of their first hit which rebounds slightly this week 33-32 as it bounces over the 600,000 mark. The album failed to make the top 20 when it was released back in November but also responds well to a second top 10 single and blusters 50-14 this week to reach a new peak.
Hailing from Jamaica Sophia George is here to warm up the winter months with a spot of reggae in the form of “Girlie Girlie” which this week lifts 14-7 (32,000). The song was written by Sangie Davis who has helped to pen some hits for Jamaica’s other great export Bob Marley, the title of this track references his mother who spotted him hanging around a pack of girls and remarked “How you so girlie girlie”- a bit harsh maybe but he’s reaping the rewards now.
Cherrelle’s debut album and associated singles passed the UK by but she seems to be in luck with her second album as “Saturday Love” glides 21-10 (25,000). It is produced (as with her first album) by US DJ’s Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis who are fast making a name for themselves as the hottest producers around, not bad for a pair that were fired by Prince back in 1983, and talking about artists fired by Prince, see Alexander O’Neal who teams up here with Cherrelle. He was in a band “The Time” which were signed by Prince but he was subsequently “let go” and found himself a solo deal but is introduced to our charts in this duo, perhaps the purple one is cursing his misfortune now?
Madonna continues to climb 7-6 (34,000) with “Dress You Up” though it has lost sales every week as it moved 9-7-6, whilst Aled Jones finds himself dumped 5-8 (28,000) and Wham! are almost finished 8-9 (27,000) with former chart topper “I’m Your Man”.
Top 10 in pics
