Milestone UK number one singles

100th Do You Mind? - Anthony Newley (April 1960)
200th Help! - The Beatles (April 1965)
300th Knock Three Times - Dawn (May 1971)
400th Don't Cry For Me, Argentina (February 1977)
500th A Little Peace - Nicole (May 1982)
600th China In Your Hand - T'Pau (November 1987)
700th Twist And Shout - Chaka Demus & Pliers featuring Jack Radics and Taxi Gang (January 1994)
800th Bootie Call - All Saints (September 1998)
900th Lady Marmalade - Christina Aguilera / Lil' Kim / Mya / P!nk (June 2001)
1,000th One Night / I Got Stung - Elvis Presley (January 2005)
1,100th Evacuate The Dancefloor - Cascada (July 2009) TODAY!



Michael Jackson's 'Man In The Mirror' was leading the midweek charts every day this week, but Cascada's new single was closing in on it every day, at a rate which made it look as if they would claim today's number one spot and the 1,100th UK number one, and indeed they have. At least they're alive and available for any PR that the Official Charts Company may want to do with them. The OCC had to put up with Elvis Presley posthumously claiming the 1,000th number one in 2005, so they may have been dreading another dead artist claiming the 1,100th today. (And it's not as if Michael Jackson needs any more publicity at the moment.) The OCC could start by mentioning this milestone to Radio 1. Reggie Yates has presented the Top 40 for three hours this afternoon without mentioning this chart milestone at all, even when he announced Cascada as the number one at the end. The team behind the Radio 1 chart show really is useless.

Cascada are German and Elvis Presley was American, as were the four acts on 'Lady Marmalade', the 900th number one, so the last UK act to claim a 'century number one' remains All Saints, who secured the 800th with Bootie Call in 1998.

'Man In The Mirror' therefore fails to make number one (although there's always next week, with the continued Jacko publicity that his memorial service and funeral will bring in the coming days). This will no doubt surprise the many people who are convinced that it's number one already. Two of my colleagues last Monday informed me that Michael Jackson was number one. I pointed out that Man In The Mirror was number 11, the highest of his six tracks in the top 40, but "it was on Sky News" that Jacko had topped the chart, therefore it must be true, in their eyes. Sky News (and also independent radio) was quoting the 'Big Top 40', which was solely based on iTunes last week. It was not the official chart, which included the (admittedly minimal) physical sales and a much wider range of download outlets. Some people seem to think iTunes IS the UK's music retail industry, but it's not there yet, and history so far will not record a posthumous Michael Jackson number one.

Jackson has however, shattered Presley's record of seven concurrent top 40 hits, with an incredible thirteen of today's Top 40 being by him, up from last week's six entries. All of them climb today and four of them are in consecutive positions #32 to #35. 'Thriller' almost outpeaked its original 1983 peak of #10, but fell away towards the end of the week to land at #12 today. 'Man In The Mirror' at #2 has easily surpassed its original peak of #21.

Michael Jackson hits in today's Top 40:

02 (11) Man In The Mirror

10 (25) Billie Jean

12 (23) Thriller
13 (28) Smooth Criminal

19 (30) Beat It

25 (45) Black Or White
26 (50) Dirty Diana

32 (67) They Don't Care About Us
33 (38) Earth Song
34 (47) The Way You Make Me Feel
35 (44) You Are Not Alone

38 (48) Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

40 (57) Bad

Michael Jackson has also replaced himself at the top of today's album chart, as 'The Essential' pushes 'Number Ones' down to #3, with La Roux's eponymous début album entering at #2. 'King Of Pop' at #5 completes three top five albums for Jacko.

While I was listening to the Top 40 via the earpiece on my mobile, I was multi-tasking, watching the amazingly long Wimbledon final between Federer and Roddick. Pete Sampras was there to see Federer rub Sampras's name from the record books as he moved up to fifteen Grand Slam titles, beating the record of fourteen titles which they held jointly since last month, when Federer won the French Open for the first time. Federer has now won six of the last seven Wimbledon titles, only one behind Sampras himself, while Andy Roddick has lost three Wimbledon finals, all to Federer. I felt so sorry for him. He's never won it, and this looked like it may have been his best chance ever. Federer didn't break Roddick's service at all until right at the end, as he only won two earlier sets on tie breaks, whereas Roddick had won his two sets by breaking Federer's serve twice. It's all part of the glorious unfairness of tennis, where you can win a match by wining fewer games overall, or by breaking your opponent fewer times. Roddick was in tears after losing the final set 16-14. It's not surprising, the poor thing. This picture says it all.

Labels: charts, Number One, Wimbledon

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Just in case you should ever be asked who the men's semi-finalists were at Wimbledon 2008 - in a future pub quiz, perhaps - it occurred to me today that the following might come in handy to remember today's matches:

Rafa and Rainer, Roger and Russian.

Don't say you never learn anything here.

Labels: Wimbledon

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Yes, it's true! After exactly twenty years, we have a British Wimbledon champion! Well done to Jamie Murray and his Serbian partner Jelana Jankovic (left), who have just won the mixed doubles final 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

The last Brits to win anything at Wimbledon were Jo Durie and Jeremy Bates (below), who won the same competition in 1987. They were also the last Brits to win any Grand Slam title before today, with the Australian Open back in 1991.

Who would have thought that Jamie would win a Wimbledon title before brother Andy? I believe Jelena promised to kiss Jamie "all over" if they won. Yuk. (But I bet he can't wait.)

Hurrah! The Brits* are coming! (Eventually.)



Congratulations as well to Roger Federer for winning his fifth successive Wimbledon earlier and equalling Björn Borg's run, in front of the iceman himself, visiting the men's finals day for the first time since 1981. Nadal made it a brilliant match; it was a shame someone had to lose. One day, Rafa, one day. What a treat it was earlier to see the Holy Trinity of Borg, Connors and McEnroe together on centre court. Those three were Wimbledon when I was growing up and playing a bit of tennis (badly). For eleven consecutive years (1974-84), at least one of those three was in the Wimbledon final, such was their dominance of the game.

I thought the Wimbledon organisers were mad not to play last Sunday to catch up on the days lost to rain, but the Championships have miraculously ended on time today.

*Note to Scottish readers:
The Murray brothers will be 'British' for as long as they're successful. The moment they show any signs of failure, they will revert to being 'Scottish'. That's just the way it works. You should be used to it by now.

Labels: Bates, Durie, Federer, Jankovic, Murray, Nadal, Wimbledon

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It’s 07/07/07 and exactly two years since the London bombings. Al Gore is celebrating the anniversary with a series of concerts around the world. He is clearly a sick, dangerous terrorist.

It’s also French day in London. My sister is en Londres, watching the Tour de France invade, Richard Gasquet is in a Wimbledon semi-final and some French woman I hadn’t heard of until this week is in the women’s final. (Personally, I always find men’s semis more of an attraction.) Before the French get too carried away though, let’s just remind ourselves that it was two years yesterday that London beat Paris to the Olympics. Ha.

None of these events can compete with the main attraction of the day here though; my local carnival, going ahead despite the best efforts of the idiot bureaucrats in Birmingham City Council who decided only two weeks ago to price the carnival procession off the streets. My neighbourhood is very angry about this and so am I. (Full, ridiculous story here.)

So, with support and cynicism in equal measure, here is Chig’s Climate Change Chart of Topical Songs for today’s Live Earth concerts (and the artists who have selflessly given no thought at all to how many more albums they might sell next week):

01 Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth – Sparks
02 You Can Call Me Al (Gore) – Paul Simon
03 Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money) – Pet Shop Boys
04 The Earth Dies Screaming – UB40
05 Turn Off The Light – Nelly Furtado
06 The Great Song Of Indifference – Bob Geldof
07 Earth Song – Michael Jackson
08 This World Of Water – New Musik
09 Nothing Ever Happens – Del Amitri
10 Melt With The Sun – Amber ft Sweet Rain
11 Drowned World (Substitute For Love) - Madonna
12 Change The World – Eric Clapton
13 What Difference Does It Make? – The Smiths
14 Mad World – Tears For Fears
15 Change – Tears For Fears
16 Planet Earth – Duran Duran
17 The Power – Snap!
18 We All Stand Together – Paul McCartney & The Frog Chorus
19 Windpower – Thomas Dolby
20 Any Other World – Mika
21 Melt – Melanie C
22 Ice In The Sun – Status Quo
23 Sunburn – Muse
24 We Are The World – USA For Africa
25 Save Me – Queen
26 Burn Baby Burn – Ash
27 Mother Earth - Crass
28 Burning Up – Tony de Vit
29 This Is The World Calling – Bob Geldof
30 Hot Hot Hot - Arrow
31 I Melt With You – Modern English
32 Think Locally, Fuck Globally – Gogol Bordello
33 Power Out – The Arcade Fire
34 Cars – Gary Numan
35 Are ‘Friends’ Electric? – Tubeway Army
36 Electricity – suede
37 Electricity – Elton John
38 Electricity – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
39 Electricity – Spiritualized
40 Electric – Lisa Scott-Lee
41 The Tide Is High - Blondie
42 Four Seasons In One Day - Crowded House
43 Cold As Christmas (In The Middle Of The Year) - Elton John
44 Everyone's Gone To The Moon - Jonathan King
45 The New Pollution - Beck
46 Weather With You - Crowded House
47 We've Got The Whole World In Our Hands - Nottingham Forest FC with Paper Lace
48 Sun Hits The Sky - Supergrass
49 Window In The Skies - U2
50 Electrical Storm - U2

Please feel free to suggest some more.

Labels: chart, Live Earth, Tour de France, Wimbledon

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