'Two Fingers' Ra Ra Ra

Jake Bugg sold 35,785 copies of his eponymous debut album to make Number One this week. Well done Jake Bugg. Meanwhile, Leona Lewis' third album 'Glassheart' could only manage Number Three, with sales of 27,642.

But oh no! Bugg has said this, apparently (NME.com give no source in their 'report'):

"I guess it proves my point – people still want to hear guitar music. It’s my job to keep that X Factor shit off the top of the charts."

Maybe he should be cut some slack - he's just completed a fantastic moral victory for under-appreciated, under-exposed something blah blah, after all. Simon Cowell acts like Leona have had a monopoly on the charts and radio since he invented Pop Idol - it's about time he got what was coming to him!

So with that dominance in mind, let's see just how Radio 1, the nation's favourite radio station, have 'supported' the unadulterated, real music of Bugg this year compared to Lucifer-powered X Factor hellchild Leona's. (Not that it means much to look at just this one avenue of promotion, but make of it whatever you will alright.)

Jake Bugg
68 plays on BBC Radio 1 in the past 28 days as recorded by comparemyradio.com
Tracks from the album 'Jake Bugg' played 192 times on BBC Radio 1 this year as recorded by their last.fm page (eight of its fourteen songs at least once)

Leona Lewis
37 plays on BBC Radio 1 in the past 28 days as recorded by comparemyradio.com
Tracks from the album 'Glassheart' played 44 times on BBC Radio 1 this year as recorded by their last.fm page (all 'Trouble')

27,000 copies for Leona Lewis isn't really very good, but on that showing 36,000 for Jake Bugg probably isn't either. But anyway, yeah. Rock and indeed roll.

Some Songs That Were Released This Week

Because it's always good to be ahead of the curve, here is a list of some songs that Woolworths have been selling since Monday.

Alexandra Stan – 'Lemonade' Surely heading for the top spot this weekend. Even better, albeit lacking any cod cod-reggae, is its b-side, '1.000.000', which features the chorus "milli-million milli-million milli-milli-milli-milli-milli-million, milli-million milli-million milli-milli-milli-milli-milli-million". Consider that a challenge, Him From The Vaccines. (No but really, don't.)

AlunaGeorge - 'Your Drums, Your Love' Sort of pop music but sort of not, so you're definitely allowed to like it. Zane Lowe would merely respect what they're doing with it, while Nick Grimshaw would play it sans irony. But it's nonetheless really good.

Leona Lewis – 'Trouble' feat Childish Gambino It'll be interesting to see how much longer Leona can get by on the patent fact that she is a Global Songstress, given that she is a Global Songstress with only one real hit - a cover - since her first album. Also there's a bit in the non-rap version of this (the "run away now" part known 'in the biz' as the - technical term - 'middle 8') that has exactly the same melody as the chorus of Delerium's 'Silence', which is also a good song.

Loverush UK! vs Tiltin - 'I Wanna Get Out' feat Kitty Brucknell Actually not the worst thing in the world. Nor the best.

Madeon – 'The City' It has noises that sound like bagpipes! But it's struggling to keep inside the iTunes Top 100! What a world.

Shy & DRS - 'The Love Is Gone' feat Sandi Thom If you'd have told Sandi Thom back in 2006 - the year she invented the internet AND flower-toting punks LIVE from her Tooting dungeon - that just six years later her career would have soared to the heights of featuring on the Marillion-sampling debut single of Scottish rap duo Sly & DRS, she would surely have balked. Poor Sandi. Born too late into a world that doesn't care.

Swedish House Mafia - 'Don't You Worry Child' feat John Martin Bosh with an Enrique impersonator trying for SIGNIFICANCE to the point of COSMIC over the top. Totally sincere in its grandiose attempt at grandeur though, a key component of its brilliance.

Well that was worthwhile.

Just An Idea

It's surprising that no-one seems to have done this already really: a 'Power Of Love' EP featuring covers of the songs of the same name by Huey Lewis, Jennifer Rush and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Artists that could do it:

• The Sound Of Arrows - They've already covered the Rush version, so why not the other two?
• Little Boots - Unlike some artists, has the requisite versatility for all three versions.
• Leona Lewis - When 'Glassheart' is pushed back another twelve months Leona is going to need something else to tide her through X Factor season. This EP would repeat the trick she pulled last year with the 'Hurt' EP, and that went brilliantly, right?
• And probably some others.

So come on, 'The Record Industry', get on with it. Some people charge thousands for this kind of consultancy work.