Featured Chart Act Of The Day #1 - Sting

STING'S E.G. CHART CAREER STATS:

1ST SINGLES CHART ENTRY:

"IF YOU LOVE SOMEBODY (SET THEM FREE)" - #6, MAY 1985

LAST CHART ENTRY:

"SOUL CAKE" - #8, NOVEMBER 2009

BIGGEST CHART HIT:

"WE'LL BE TOGETHER" - #1, OCTOBER 1987

"IF I EVER LOSE MY FAITH IN YOU" - #1, FEBRUARY 1993

"YOU STILL TOUCH ME" - #1, MAY 1996

"DESERT ROSE" - #1, FEBRUARY 2000

1ST ALBUM CHART ENTRY:

"THE DREAM OF THE BLUE TURTLES" - #4, JUNE 1985

LAST ALBUM CHART ENTRY:

"IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT" - #7, NOVEMBER 2009

BIGGEST ALBUM:

"..NOTHING LIKE THE SUN" - #1, OCTOBER 1987

"THE SOUL CAGES" - #1, JANUARY 1991

"TEN SUMMONER'S TALES" - #1, MARCH 1993

"FIELDS OF GOLD : GREATEST HITS" - #1, NOVEMBER 1994

Here we go...Full Steam ahead

After a prelude of the 2009 EGGIES to help settle into this blogging lark, now comes the real business...weekly charts, retro charts, chart stats and, well...chart stuff in general.

My very first Top 40 was compiled in January 1984, when I ought to have been doing homework. Instead, with a copy of the latest No.1 Magazine (the short-lived rival to Smash Hits) opened to the full-colour chart page as inspiration, I started something that - after 26 years and almost 600 different records at the top - has now found a home on here.

To kick off, it's the first Weekly Top 40 of 2010. A new decade....

TOP 40 SINGLES CHART (WEEK ENDING 2/1/2010)

 1  3  2  1   TO KINGDOM COME, Passion Pit
 2  --  1  2   FULL STEAM, David Gray & Annie Lennox
 3  1 10  1   EMPIRE STATE OF MIND, Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys
 4  --  1  4   DOUBT, Delphic
 5  2  6  2   EARTHQUAKE, Little Boots
 6  4  6  4   YOU'VE GOT THE LOVE, Florence + The Machine
 7  7  4  7   BODIES, Robbie Williams
 8  6  14  1  FUGITIVE, David Gray
 9  9  2  9   DECEMBER SONG, George Michael
10 5  5  3   JUST SAY YES, Snow Patrol
11  8  7  3   THIS MUST BE IT, Royksopp
12 12 16  1  DRUMMING SONG, Florence + The Machine
13 10  5  8   SOUL CAKE, Sting
14 14  5  7   CHASING PIRATES, Norah Jones
15 11  4 11  SUGAR AND SPICE, Madness
16 15  6 10  RAINDROPS, Basement Jaxx
17 22 26  1  RABBIT HEART (RAISE IT UP), Florence + The Machine
18 13  4 13  I'M ALL OVER IT NOW, Jamie Cullum
19 16  5 16  SINK OR SWIM, Bad Lieutenant
20 23  2 20  BEYOND HERE LIES NOTHIN', Bob Dylan
21 19 10  4  STELLIFY, Ian Brown
22 17  5 11  WHEELS, Foo Fighters
23 20  7  7  HAVEN'T MET YOU YET, Michael Buble
24 25  2 24  FRENCH NAVY, Camera Obscura
25 29  2 25  PENCIL FULL OF LEAD, Paolo Nutini
26 21 12  8  CRYSTALLISED, The XX
27 18 18  3  POPPIHOLLA, Chicane
28 24 12  4  SWEET DISPOSITION, The Temper Trap
29 27 23  1  REMEDY, Little Boots
30 26 14  6  NEW YORK, Paloma Faith
31 28  7  9  SOON YOU'LL GO, Howard Jones
32 30 10 14 TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL, The Prodigy
33 32 11  5  REAL LATE STARTER, Nerina Pallot
34 31 11  9  CANDY, Paolo Nutini
35 33 11 10 ONCE MORE, Spandau Ballet
36 36 18 18 I GOTTA FEELING, Black Eyed Peas
37 34 22  5  BEGGIN', Madcon
38 RE 26  1  WE ARE THE PEOPLE, Empire Of The Sun
39 RE 61  3  PARIS IS BURNING, Ladyhawke
40 35 14  5  DUST DEVIL, Madness


In-brief: Passion Pit ends the 7-week reign of Empire State Of Mind. A third consecutive No.1 appears to have eluded Florence + The Machine. The traditional end-of-year retrospection sees a few of 2009's favourites rebound or re-enter.

The 2009 EGGIES...Day 14

And so, we reach the end. Just one last award to take care of; Most Exquisite Female (Non-Music) for 2009. This was tough. Horribly tough. Agonisingly difficult, and...oh, enough.

Here she is: OLIVIA HALLINAN



I have only one thing to say to anyone who may disagree with this verdict: did you *see* her on Children In Need??!!! Case closed. Everyone gone home. End of.

ALSO NOMINATED:

LAUREN CRACE (Eastenders)
LUCY GRIFFITHS (Robin Hood, Collision)
EVANGELINE LILY (Lost)
LOUISA LYTTON (The Bill)
JACQUELINE McKENZIE (The 4400)
EVE MYLES (Torchwood)
LAILA ROUASS (Primeval, Footballer's Wives)
RITA SIMONS (Eastenders)
SARAH SMART (Wallander)
KELLY SOTHERTON (Athletics)
LACEY TURNER (Eastenders)


PS. Yes, I am aware of all the Eastenders actresses on the above list. Guilty as charged, m'lud.

The 2009 EGGIES...Day 13

Our penultimate award - Most Exquisite Female (Music) - is traditionally the second-most tedious and unpleasant to choose. Imagine, all the beautiful females out there who make records, and you have to sit and decide on which one is the loveliest. Ugh.

So, after great deliberation, the 2009 winner is: NORAH JONES



The biggest mystery is why it took until late last year to realise how gorgeous she is. What *was* I thinking?!


ALSO NOMINATED:

Colbie Caillat
Alesha Dixon
Lisa Hannigan
Little Boots
Katie Melua
Nerina Pallot
Taylor Swift
KT Tunstall
Kimberley Walsh

The 2009 EGGIES...Day 12

With all the music-related awards out of the way, it's time to concentrate on beauty. Tomorrow and the next day, we'll be focusing on people (namely, ladies) who look lovely. But first, the almost-as-important matter of album sleeve design and packaging.

BEST DESIGN/PACKAGING: KRAFTWERK - THE CATALOGUE



The original Kraftwerk album covers were already fairly iconic; from the motorway scene of Autobahn, the retrofuturism of both Trans Europe Express and The Man Machine, to the sparser, angular styles of Computer World and Electric Cafe. The band had long since reduced their visual identity to the four Robots, either behind banks of keyboards or simply headshots. The latterday covers for The Mix and Tour de France Soundtracks mirrored the stripped down, recycled approach of the music itself, which had ceased to move forward in the way it had done in the 1970s and early 1980s and instead seemed content to fiddle with itself at great length.

In some ways, The Catalogue represents one long bout of Kraftwerk fiddling with itself, reprocessing and tweaking every imaginable facet of the music and, naturally, the packaging as well, in an attempt to present a definitive and unified body of work. To this end, for the CD outer slipcases some of the sleeves have been replaced with either an existing, earlier alternative (Autobahn's roadsign) or a version which removes the band's image, though the heads remain on Computer World and Techno Pop (formerly known as Electric Cafe, but now reverting to its intended title).

Most of these adjustments are pleasing on the eye; the new Trans Europe Express outer cover is absolutely sublime, and Radioactivity is arguably another improvement. Less so the loss of The Man Machine's group photo design, although as pictured above the original sleeves are still part of the inside cover packaging.

Individually, some of these designs would have been notable contenders for the award, but taken as a whole, The Catalogue boxset trumps anything else released in 2009 for sheer gorgeousness; even EMI/Parlophone's fine job with the overhyped Beatles Remasters project.


ALSO NOMINATED:

BAT FOR LASHES (Two Suns album)
THE BEATLES (Stereo Remasters deluxe boxset)
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (Lungs album and boxset)
FOO FIGHTERS (Greatest Hits deluxe edition)
LITTLE BOOTS (Singles & Album)
PET SHOP BOYS (Yes deluxe edition)
PORTICO QUARTET (Isla album)
SAINT ETIENNE (Method Of Modern Love singles bundle)
WHITE LIES (To Lose My Life album & various singles)