Campaign update:

It's back - the annoying shrinking gif! That's because Chig has seen the tiniest chink of light this afternoon at the end of a very long Presley-shaped tunnel. It may well be hopeless, but, having visited four of Birmingham's biggest city centre record shops today, it seems there are no more copies of ANY of the three re-released Elvis singles to be found (or the box in which to collect them). HMV even have a sign on the shelves in their Pavilions store, saying that there are no copies of 'Jailhouse Rock' anywhere in the country. Whether or not this turns out to be true is largely irrelevant, except that it suggests a hefty fall from the number 1 spot. (It was #5 midweek, but if there are no more copies, it could possibly end up lower and perhaps challenge another chart record; the biggest ever fall from #1, which was to #12 by Harry Belafonte's 'Mary's Boy Child' in January 1958.) The Elvis releases are limited to 27,000 each, and 21,262 copies of 'Jailhouse Rock' were sold last week, which only leaves 5,738 to go round this week.

Anyway, what really matters is the presence or otherwise of Presley's 'One Night'/'I Got Stung' in the shops, and neither of the two HMVs I visited, nor Virgin, nor Woolworth's had a single copy. This single had a 9:1 margin over the Manics at the beginning of the week, but from a very low all round total. Bearing in mind that schoolkids will be doing most of their buying tomorrow (Saturday), and they're more likely to be buying the Manics (midweek #2) or The Killers (midweek #3), perhaps someone alive has a slender chance after all. One thing's for certain, we WILL be seeing the 1,000th number one this Sunday. It just remains to be seen who it is. I've done my bit to help the cause, by buying all THREE versions of the Manics' single today (for a combined total of a fiver). Although The Killers' single is better, I'm backing Britain! Let the 1,000th number one be Welsh! It's not too late to make a difference!

Diamond Geezer is counting down the first and the centennial number ones. He will be hosting his first ever guest blogger tomorrow when he reaches the 500th number one. Regular World Of Chig readers may find the guest strangely familiar (and the subject matter tediously predictable).
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