ALBUMS
Lady Gaga follows in the footsteps of Avril Lavigne and Susan Boyle to become only the third female solo artist in chart history to top the chart with each of her first three studio albums, completing her triptych with Artpop, which debuts at number one on sales of 65,608 copies.
Although that tally exceeds the 25,228 copies that her first album The Fame sold when debuting at number three in 2009 - it reached number one 11 weeks later - it is less than a third of the 215,639 copies that follow-up Born This Way sold when reaching number one on its 2011 debut. Racking up only the ninth highest sale for a number one album so far this year, Artpop would likely have opened with a lower tally had it not been for the mp3 version of the album being priced at just £4.99 at Amazon and Sainsbury (£8.99 as iTunes), a fact which helped it to sell 30,211 copies on download.
Artpop's first single, Applause became Gaga's 10th Top 10 single on release in August but - moving 42-51 (8,049 sales) this week - it remains the smallest seller of the ten, with a 14 week tally of 234,979. Do What U Want (feat. R. Kelly), Venus and Dope were also released in the run-up to Artpop but were all instant gratification singles and were thus barred from the chart until now.
Do What U Want now debuts at number nine (29,657 sales), with Venus at number 76 (3,174 sales) and Dope at number 124 (1,666 sales). No other Gaga tracks are in the singles Top 200, although Artpop's release sparks a revival in album sales of Born This Way (151-121, 1,234 sales) and The Fame, which re-enters the chart at number 170 (784 sales). Overall sales of The Fame including the expanded Fame Monster edition are 2,881,664, while Born This Way has sold 960,151 copies. Both albums also charted separately in remixed editions. The Remix - which revisited tracks from The Fame - reached number three and has sold 164,293 copies, while Born This Way: The Remix got to number 77 and has sold 16,094 copies.
High profile TV appearances, including an interview on The Jonathan Ross Show and singing on The X Factor Results Show helped raise awareness of Celine Dion's new album Loved Me Back To Life but failed to secure the 45 year old Canadian her sixth number one. Debuting at number three (52,856 sales), Loved Me Back To Life is Dion's highest charting album since 2002 chart-topper A New Day Has Come, and the follow-up to the French language set Sans Attendre, which reached only number 158 last year, and has thus far sold just 3,157 copies. Her last new English language album was Taking Chances, which debuted and peaked six years ago this week at number five on sales of 55,592 copies, and has subsequently sold 392,998 copies. The title track of Loved Me Back To Life jumps 75-14 (22,223 sales) to become Celine Dion's highest charting single since the title track of A New Day Has Come got to number seven in 2002.
With first single Move falling 3-5 (52,702 sales) on its second week in the chart, Little Mix's second album, Salute, opens at number four (35,281 sales). Their debut album, DNA, sold 53,314 copies on its first week, opening at number four a year ago next week. These Four Walls, a second song from Salute, makes its chart debut this week, entering at number 57 (5,247 sales)
After scoring four number one albums from as many studio releases since their 2004 debut, Las Vegas band The Killers' first 'best of' set is Direct Hits, which features songs from each of those albums and new songs Shot At The Night and Just Another Girl. The album debuts at number six (25,970 sales) while Shot At The Night debuts at number 23 (15,036 sales), bringing the band's haul of hit singles to 16.
Although none of their other hits has sold more than 350,000, two songs by The Killers have sold well in excess of half a million copies - 2008 number three hit Human has racked up 721,953 sales to date, while 2004's Mr Brightside, which never charted higher than number 10, has sold 698,792 copies. Keane also made their debut in 2004, and have a 100% record of number one albums from five releases. They too have released their first hits compilation, The Best Of Keane, and it too features a brace of new songs - Higher Than The Sun and Won't Be Broken. With their superior track record and Lily Allen scoring big with her cover of their classic Somewhere Only We Know, it's surprising that The Best Of Keane is lagging behind Direct Hits, but it opens at number 10 (22,350 sales).
The Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll Songbook is officially Cliff Richard' 100th album - that count includes 47 studio albums, seven soundtracks, 35 compilations and 11 live sets although it excludes the torrent of public domain releases, of which there have been at least 13 on at least 11 different labels in the past 12 months. Comprising the 73 year old's newly recorded versions of heritage rock tracks like Rip It Up (originally by Little Richard), Rave On (Buddy Holly), Wake Up Little Susie (The Everly Brothers) and the new song One More Sunny Day, its release was attended by a great deal of publicity and its number seven debut (24,617sales) mark an improvement since his last studio album Soulicious, which debuted and peaked at number 10 in 2011 with 13,031 sales. The Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll Songbook is Richard's 65th Top 75 chart album in the UK, of which 40 have made the Top 10.
Richard's album includes a medley of Teddy Bear and Too Much, songs which were originally hits for his idol, Elvis Presley, and which appear on the 2 CD edition of the latter's new The Nation's Favourite Elvis Songs, which jumps 7-5 on sales of 34,489. The most successful solo artists in the history of the chart, as judged by number of entries, the pair last appeared in the Top 10 of the album chart together in October 1977, a couple of months after Presley's death, and first shared Top 10 space way back in on 18 April 1959, when Richard's Cliff album debuted at number seven, while Presley's Elvis was static at number four, and his Golden Records set eased 9-10.
Without a Top 10 album to his credit previously, Alfie Boe scores his fourth in less than three years, debuting at number eight (24,387 sales) with his latest selection of classical crossover material, Trust. Boe reached number nine with breakthrough album Bring Him Home in January 2011, and number six later that year with Alfie. His most recent album Storyteller opened its account exactly a year ago, also debuting at number six on sales of 29,663 copies. Boe's version of Bring Him Home from Les Miserables was the key track on the album of the same name - and his fellow Lancastrian classical crossover singer Russell Watson puts his stamp on the track on his new album, Only One Man. Watson previously scored 12 Top 20 entries from 12 releases, most recently with Anthems: Music To Inspire A Nation, which reached number five on sales of 18,174 copies last year. Only One Man continues the sequence, debuting at number 17 (10,002 sales).
After debuting at number one last week, Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP 2 slips to number two (53,080 sales), taking over the spot vacated by James Arthur's eponymous debut album, which slides to number nine (23,684 sales).
Dropping out of the Top 10 in another busy week: Andre Rieu's Music Of The Night (4-11, 20,649 sales), James Blunt's Moon Landing (8-13, 12,890 sales), The Overtones' Saturday Night At The Movies (5-14, 11,148 sales), Katy Perry's Prism (10-15, 10,510 sales), Tinie Tempah's Demonstration (3-19, 9,456 sales), Shane Filan's You & Me (6-29, 5,822 sales) and The Wanted's Word Of Mouth (9-34, 5,544 sales).
This very week in 1994 the BBC's treasure trove of Beatles archive recordings was opened for the first time, with the release of Live At The BBC. The double disc set was an immediate success, debuting at number one on sales of 98,914 copies. 19 years on, a second set of recordings, issued under the title On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 debuts at number 12 (20,140 sales). The original Live At The BBC has been remastered, expanded by two tracks and repackaged, and also joins the party, re-entering the chart at number 57 (3,131 sales) to raise its career tally to 482,479. Both volumes have also been boxed together as On Air: Live At The BBC Collection (number 86, 1,823 sales).
On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 also debuts atop the vinyl album chart, with 1,200 sales, nearly four times as many as runner-up AM by Arctic Monkeys (3-2, 332 sales). A second Beatles album is in the vinyl Top 20 - and it's not the original Live At The BBC, which will be out in that format on 25 November. Debuting at number 14 (83 sales), it is I Saw Her Standing There, a double vinyl album of public domain recordings by The Beatles and Tony Sheridan on the Rock Melon label.
51 year old Irish crooner Daniel O'Donnell maintains his record of having had at least one chart album every year since his chart debut, with A Picture Of You - a brand new album comprising 16 new recordings, including his versions of Penny Arcade (a hit for Roy Orbison), Darlin' (Frankie Miller) and Walk Tall (Val Doonican) - debuting at number 16 (10,363 sales). It is the 26th year in a row that O'Donnell has charted - he started in 1988 - a record no other act can match. It is his 30th Top 40 album, and his 34th Top 75 album, both records for an Irish act.
Erasure had four consecutive number one albums between 1988 and 1994 but peaked at number 29 with each of their last two albums, 2007's Light At The End Of The World and 2011's Tomorrow's World. Their new album, Snow Globe, falls well short of even that, debuting at number 49 (3,788 sales) - but as its title suggests, the album features their take on Christmas songs, so it may yet perk up. Previous years' Christmas albums on the rise in the Top 75: Rod Stewart's Merry Christmas Baby jumps 32-22 (8,269 sales), Michael Buble's Christmas advances 58-37 (5,364 sales) and Andre Reiu's December Lights (81-73, 2,230 sales).
After a fortnight at number two on the compilation chart, Pop Party 12 becomes the series' ninth number one (21,029 sales).
Overall album sales are up 11.47% week-on-week to 1,945,722 - their highest level for 32 weeks, but 11.79% below same week 2012 sales of 2,205,812, and less than half the 4,000,700 albums sold in the comparable (sales week ending 20 November) week in 2004, when Eminem's Encore was on its second week at number one on sales of 148,249 copies, and the entire top five sold more copies than Artpop did last week. To be fair, 2004 was the all-time peak year for album sales, and the Christmas boom started earlier back then.
SINGLES
The second dancefloor smash to debut atop the singles chart in as many weeks. Animal is a monster for Martin Garrix. The Dutch DJ held off stiff opposition to take the title, with Animal racking up first week sales of 105,767 - just 208 more than Storm Queen sold when leading the list with Look Right Through last week.
The precociously talented Garrix, who only turned 17 in May, plays keyboards and guitar and is both the writer and producer of Animals. He is the youngest artist ever to write and produce a number one hit for themselves. He is also the youngest male solo artist to top the chart for more than 40 years. The only younger male soloists to have number one hits are Little Jimmy Osmond (nine years and eight months), his brother Donny (14 years and eight months) and Paul Anka (15 years and 11 months).
Animal is the 400th number one of the 21st century - and the nearest thing to an instrumental (it includes occasional spoken lyrics but no rapping or singing), with less speaking than the former holder of the title, compatriot Fedde Le Grand's 2006 chart-topper Put Your Hands Up For Detroit.
Consistently making up ground on Garrix throughout the week but unable to overtake him, Lily Allen debuts at number two with her version of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know, on sales of 94,004 copies. If all goes well for Allen next week, it could be her third number one, and the second year in a row that the soundtrack to John Lewis' Christmas advertisement is a number one hit.
Last year, Gabrielle Aplin's version of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 1984 chart-topper The Power Of Love got off to a slow start, debuting at number 36, but reached number one four weeks later. As well as Allen and Aplin, five other artists have had hits with songs used in John Lewis TV commercials. Paloma Faith reached number 16 with last year with her cover of INXS' 1988 number 24 hit Never Year Us Apart; under the guise of Slow Moving Millie, singer/actress Amelia Warner's cover of The Smiths' Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want reached number 31 in 2011; Ellie Goulding reached number two in November 2010 with her cover of Elton John’s Your Song; Taken By Trees’ cover version of Guns N’ Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine - used for the Christmas 2009 campaign - reached number 23; and Guillemots singer Fyfe Dangerfield’s rendition of Billy Joel’s She’s Always A Woman To Me reached number seven in May 2010. Like the rest, Somewhere Only We Know is a cover, having provided its originators Keane, with their introductory hit when reaching number three in 2004. It is benefitting from the current campaign too, rocketing 100-26 (13,149 sales) to take its cumulative sales to 292,792.
Talking of Goulding, she too has a massive new hit, which outsold both Garrix and Allen's on Saturday. The track, How Long Will I Love You, rockets 117-3 (82,872 sales). A flop single for The Waterboys in 1990, it is the fifth single from Halcyon Days, the expanded version of Goulding's current album Halcyon. More crucially, it is the official song for this year's Children In Need, which was screened by BBC TV last Friday (15th). Six of 21 previous official Children In Need singles reached number one. Last year, Girls Aloud's reunion single Something New was the official song, debuting and peaking at number two with first week sales of 70,850 copies.
Another charity single that was in the frame to make the Top 10 at the start of the week but faded was The Call (No Need To Say Goodbye) by The Poppy Girls. Comprising Megan (10), Florence (10), Alice (13), Bethany (15) and Charlotte (17), they are all servicemen's daughters, and royalties from the song - which was released on Remembrance Sunday - benefit The Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal. Debuting at number 13 on sales of 22,500, it's a cover of a song originally recorded by US-based Russian singer Regina Spektor for the film The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian .
Robbie Williams scores his 33rd Top 10 hits outside of Take That with Go Gentle - the first single from his newly released 10th solo album Swings Both Ways - debuting at number 10 (29,189 sales), following his appearance on The X Factor results show to plug it.
Elsewhere in the Top 10: Eminem's The Monster (feat. Rihanna) falls 2-4 (66,483 sales), Storm Queen's Look Right Through subsides 1-6 (46,265 sales), Lorde's Royals ebbs 4-7 (34,654 sales) and One Direction's Stroy Of My Life descends 5-8 (30,568 sales).
Half of last week's Top 10 exit the top tier. They are: OneRepublic's Counting Stars (6-11, 28,464 sales), Fatboy Slim and Riva Starr's Eat Sleep Rave Repeat (feat. Beardyman, 9-17, 17,667 sales), Tinie Tempah's Children Of The Sun (feat. John Martin, 8-24, 14,931 sales), James Arthur's You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You (10-30, 12,390 sales) and Britney Spears' Work B**ch! (7-37, 9,054 sales).
Week six of Justin Bieber's Music Monday project - which sees him release a new single every week for 10 weeks - bring him a number 34 debut (9,963 sales) for All Bad. It is his 27th hit.
Rudimental score their fifth Top 40 hit, and Emeli Sande her 12th, as their collaboration Free rises 44-39 (8,228 sales).
Georgina Anderson's Two Thirds Of A Piece debuts at number 63 (4,431 sales). Sadly, Georgina lost her battle with leukemia last Thursday (14th), aged just 15.
A number 57 hit for Rod Stewart in 1988, Forever Young is being used in Tesco's Christmas TV advertising campaign and re-enters the chart at number 70 (3,571 sales). The vast majority of its sales are for the fully instrumented version from the album Some Guys Have All The Luck, although the version Tesco use is a piano version which didn't surface until the release of the 2009 compilation, The Rod Stewart Sessions (1971-1998).
Bruno Mars' 15th Top 75 entry, Gorilla gained a toehold last week, and swings higher in the chart undergrowth, climbing to number 62 (4,634 sales).
You Me At Six debut at number 75 with Hope For The Best (3,200 sales).
Overall singles sales are up 1.31% week-on-week at 3,120,500 - 7.98% below same week 2012 sales of 3,391,217.