Chart Review 28th Feb 2005 with DJ Chris Plant (1/3)	(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).
www.djchrisplant.co.uk

Now let's not beat about the bush, the first couple of months of any year are characterised by pop music being a bit shit. Sales are always down as people recover financially from holiday excesses, the grim weather doesn't help either and most people in the industry will cheerfully admit that immediately after Christmas few record companies are in a hurry to race out their best product. The start of March however represents the end of this period and the time when at long last things start getting good again.

This may go some way towards explaining why this week we see another big clearout with no less than seven new entries charging into the Top 10 (the second time this has happened this year and no less than the sixth time there have been at least six new entries this high).

At the very top is Nelly who duly becomes the ninth new Number One single in as many weeks, a rate of turnover not seen since the final months of 2000 when ten different singles each managed a solitary seven days at Number One. The rapper chalks up a third Number One hit single and his second in recent months, My Place having hit the top back in September prior to the release of Tilt Ya Head Back which hit Number 5 at Christmas.

The route to Nelly's biggest commercial successes is obvious when you consider the similar musical style of all his Number One hits to date with Dilemma, My Place and now Over and Over all playing to a laid back groove and augmented by a celebrity duettist.

Kelly Rowland was on Dilemma, a largely un credited Jaheim was on My Place and now top billing on this new single is shared with unlikely collaborator C&W star Tim McGraw who appears on the UK singles chart for the first time in his long career. As to whether the single can last - well that is anyone's guess. For this week at least Nelly reigns supreme as he continues to push rap in the most unlikely of directions.

A measure of just how things are gradually starting to improve is the sight of this weeks' Elvis single making a mere Number 3 as the King is outsold for the second week running by Jennifer Lopez' Get Right.

His Latest Flame dates from November 1961 and after the MOR stodge he had been churning out since leaving the army represented a much welcome return to form for Elvis Presley. A more contemporary song, it had originally been given to Del Shannon to sing but when he passed on releasing it as a single, Elvis steamed in and proved that there was life in the old dog yet, the single becoming his ninth Number One hit.

It gets even better next week with the re-release of one of his all time classics and a song which was last seen on top of the charts 12 years ago.

Back to the present day and Girls Aloud hit Number 4 with Wake Me Up, their follow-up to the charity single I'll Stand By You which gave them a chart-topper at the back end of last year. Effectively the fifth single from the What Will The Neighbours Say album (if you count the soundtrack single Jump among them) it is a return to their more raucous upbeat format, the single spoiled only by the horrible synthesised bass line that accompanies the chorus.

Believe it or not it is actually their lowest charting single to date and marks the first time in eight releases that they have missed the Top 3.

Continued ...next page

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