Synopsis
UK chart commentator James Masterton brings you a detailed roundup of the happenings in the Official UK Singles Chart. Drilling down to the stories behind the hits, with some facts and stats that may surprise you. His books, The Top 40 Annual 2012, 2013 and 1988 are now available for Kindle and other Ebook formats.
Episodes
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w/e December 10th 2015
07/12/2015 Duration: 19minChart history is made - again! - as Justin #Bieber becomes the first living act since 1963 to replace himself at Number One.
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w/e December 3rd 2015
29/11/2015 Duration: 21minSo #adele25 week turns out to be all that was expected of it and more, with records tumbling around her. Yet on the singles chart Justin #Bieber continues to impress, doing something nobody has done since the 1980s and it seems about to manage something hitherto only achievable by dead men.
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w/e November 26th 2015
23/11/2015 Duration: 16minForget #Adele25, this week it was all about Justin #Bieber as he released new album Purpose and shattered a whole raft of chart records - including one which had stood since 1981.
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w/e November 19th 2015
16/11/2015 Duration: 19minBored of Adele and Justin. Marry me Fleur. Plus why AURORA is going to end up with the same problem as Gabrielle Aplin.
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w/e November 12th 2015
08/11/2015 Duration: 16minCounting down the years to that inevitable Elvis Drum N' Bass set.
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w/e November 5th 2015
01/11/2015 Duration: 21minMore than half a podcast on the Number One single? Well it is a particularly special Number One after all. #adelehello
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w/e October 29th 2015
26/10/2015 Duration: 18minKDA tops the UK Charts and nobody is paying any attention. Because Adele.
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w/e October 22nd 2015
18/10/2015 Duration: 19minJustin #Bieber continues his run at the top as sales sag but streams hold up. Jamie Lawson generates tear and #Faithless remain the 90s dance act it is OK to like.
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w/e October 15th 2015
13/10/2015 Duration: 19minAudio streams start to disrupt the sales chart in ways we could not have imagined a year ago. For the first time ever the Number One single is only the seventh biggest selling and the midweek sales leader doesn't even make the Top 10.
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w/e October 8th 2015
05/10/2015 Duration: 13minThere is no definitive article in the title of this week's Number One single. Plus some chart trivia stuff free from linguistic pedantry.
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w/e October 1st 2015
28/09/2015 Duration: 24minThe Septuagenarians dominate the album chart, Bieber remains singles king and Naughty Boy gets off to a slower start than normal. Plus the year's biggest sellers to date, and special guest Ben Fletcher helps dissect the art of the James Bond theme tune.
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w/e September 24th 2015
21/09/2015 Duration: 13minJustin Bieber returns to Number One in the kind of manner we are all getting used to, but he does so by setting a brand new benchmark, the first ever chart-topper to see over 50% of his "sales" come thanks to streaming plays.
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w/e September 17th 2015
14/09/2015 Duration: 12minSigala's procession to the top was very nearly spoiled by Justin Bieber as the Canadian singer set a brand new streaming record. Plus next week's Number One battle could be the tightest we've seen for some time.
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w/e September 10th 2015
06/09/2015 Duration: 15minJustin Bieber is top of the Official UK Singles chart, but that's cool. Right?
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w/e September 3rd 2015
31/08/2015 Duration: 14minIn this week's podcast: Rachel Platten's Number One single and how it isn't written by the person you expect, what links Little Mix and Jason Derulo plus just how long it has taken to reach 1300 chart-topping singles.
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w/e August 27th 2015
24/08/2015 Duration: 14minGive it 51 years and you can finally have a Number One album - albeit posthumously. Cilla did.
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w/e August 20th 2015
16/08/2015 Duration: 17minLet's Marvin Gaye this podcast and talk about Charlie and Meghan at Number One, the surprise comeback of Ginuwine and the third of last year's X Factor finalists making the charts in their own right.
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w/e August 13th 2015
09/08/2015 Duration: 14minOne Direction land their fourth Number One single and first as a quartet, setting a new benchmark for first week streams - but at a terrible cost as it turns out.
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w/e August 6th 2015
03/08/2015 Duration: 13minLittle Mix cling on to the top of the singles chart and week by week set themselves new benchmarks. Plus the extraordinary career of the Chemical Brothers and their journey to being the most successful dance act of all time.
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w/e July 23rd 2015
20/07/2015 Duration: 15minBlack Magic of all different kinds on the charts this week as Little Mix make Number One and we see the effect of last week's Spotify hole finally being plugged.