I Eat Music

Good news, charity fans, Peter Kay is still at number one with his Children In Need-supporting single, ‘The Official Children In Need Medley’. Meanwhile, the uncharitable Rihanna moves up from four to two to sit behind him with ‘Russian Roulette’, and Lady Gaga shifts up from five to three with ‘Bad Romance’.

New in the top ten are Alicia Keys at eight and Timbaland at nine, who sit a long way from the chart’s other new entries this week, the first being 30 Seconds To Mars at 28 with ‘Kings And Queens’. After that, Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ makes its obligatory December re-appearance on the chart at 29, while The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale Of New York’ does the same at 31. N-Dubz are in at 32 with their Mr Hudson collaboration, ‘Playing With Fire’, and Lily Allen comes up last in the new entry stakes with ‘Who’d Have Known’ at 39.

Okay, that’s the singles done, I guess we’d better talk about albums. Well, one album, mainly. Because, yes, Susan Boyle is still at number one, and still selling copies of her album in such quantities that we’re able to quote impressive stats at you. She’s not, as far as I know, broken any more records this week, but she does now have the third best selling album of 2009, behind Kings Of Leon and Lady Gaga. Just to put that in perspective, Kings Of Leon’s ‘Only By The Night’ has been on the chart for 63 weeks, and Lady Gaga’s ‘Fame’ has been hanging around for 47 weeks, while Susan Boyle’s ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ has now shifted 700,000 copies in just two weeks.

This week when we shook Official Charts Company boss Martin Talbot awake for a quote, he was a little shorter with us than last week. I think the element of surprise has gone. Next time we’re going to jump out of a bush when he’s not expecting it. Anyway, he said: “Susan Boyle’s debut was historic and we expect ‘The Susan Boyle Effect’ to be felt in the charts for a long time to come yet”.

There are other albums in the Top 40, though. Surprising as it may seem. 39 of them, in fact. Some of them are new entries, and it is they that I will tell of you now. Come hither…

At two, Westlife have scored their twelfth top ten album, ‘Where We Are’. After them, Take That are at three with ‘The Greatest Day: The Circus Live’. At thirteen, the Coldstream Guards Band are new with ‘Heroes’, Andrea Bocelli, with his Christmas album, ‘My Christmas’, is in at eighteen, and Rhydian claws his way in at 25 with ‘O Fortuna’.

The charts are laid out on the floor, then blown away by someone opening the door several times, before being glued down by The Official Charts Company.