Chartbitz:
Wednesday, March 2 2011
by Andrew Miller

Another #1
It’s busy on top of the Singles pile in 2011 - eight weeks into the year and we've had seven #1s. Hyped straight to the top, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way stemmed the tide of solitary sojourns by reigning two frames but a week later new English talent Jessie J bows straight into to the premier position.

Straight out of the box, Price Tag outsells all comers and is the new #1 in the land. It’s Jessie’s second appearance in the Top40, the first being Do It Like A Dude which climbs to #8.

Born Jessica Ellen Cornish, the Redbridge London-born singer-songwriter recorded an album in 2008 that’s never been issued as her original record company went bust. Previously she’s co-composed the Miley Cyrus hit Party In The USA among other tunes.
Price Tag has also made #1 in her native UK and Ireland while Jessie’s just won a Brit Award as the Critics' Choice. Her first album to be made available publicly, Who Are You?, drops in two weeks.
We mustn’t neglect B.O.B. who features on Price Tag, upping his chart tally to four and making it to the top spot for a second time. Airplanes with Paramore’s Hayley Williams was #1 for five weeks last year.

Hot Ones
Neil Diamond and Hot August Night return to #1 in New Zealand this week, three decades after he last did so. This time he’s switched formats and gone from the West Coast to the East Coast.
The original Hot August Night was recorded live at the Greek Theatre in LA in 1972 and it made the top of the Albums Chart here in February 1976. This time it’s the DVD recorded at Madison Square Garden which ascends to the summit.

The New Singles
#1 Jessie J featuring B.O.B. - Price Tag
See story above.

#26 Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song
The third hit out of Doo-Wops And Hooligans (#5 this week) is The Lazy Song giving Hawaiian native Bruno Mars his fifth time in the Top40 in under a year. All four prior hits have peaked Top5 and the Doo Wop threesome all feature this week. Bruno’s live at Vector Arena April 18.

#30 Wiz Khalifa - Black And Yellow
Former US #1 Black And Yellow by rapper Wiz Khalifa becomes his debut hit here at #30. Twenty-three-year-old Khalifa (real name Cameron Jibril Thomaz) has recorded three albums since 2006, the third being Rolling Papers which contains Black And Yellow. It is due to be released here soon.

#31 Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull - Out On The Floor
Replacing Kara DioGuardi and Ellen Degeneres as the sole female judge on the tenth season of American Idol has helped Jennifer Lopez over a near five-year hit drought. Fresh at #31 Out On The Floor returns 41-year-old J-Lo for a 15th New Zealand hit. She’s scored a trio of #1s, If You Had My Love (1999), Love Don’t Cost A Thing (2001) and All I Have (2003). Collaborator is the rather busy Pitbull who ups his tally to nine, two of which feature this week.

#38 Black Eyed Peas - Just Can’t Get Enough
Making a more modest start with the second sojourn from The Beginning, the Black Eyed Peas arrive at #38 with Just Can’t Get Enough. It’s Top10 across the ditch and follows chart-topping The Time (Dirty Bit). They’ve amassed 15 hits here now, six of those topping the charts.

#39 Mumford And Sons - The Cave Song
Mumford And Sons’ platinum #1 debut Sigh No More won British Album of the Year at last week’s Brits in London. The album holds at #2 and yields a second hit at #39 this week in the form of The Cave. First ink Little Lion Man is at #25 in a 21st appearance.

The New Albums
#6 Elizabeth Marvelly - Home
Rotorua-born Elizabeth Marvelly was discovered by the late Sir Howard Morrison. At 17, her self-titled debut collection peaked at #8. The past three years Marvelly has been touring the world and now her sophomore set Home arrives at #6 for the 21-year-old whom Prime Minister John Key describes as 'a national treasure'.

#12 PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Let England Shake is the 10th studio album by Englishwoman PJ Harvey (PJ stands for Polly Jean) and it becomes her fourth to chart here. In a stroke its #12 start point gives PJ her highest chart showing here to date. Her chart span is now 15 years 11 months.

#26 The Cranberries - Icon Series: The Cranberries
Irish rock band The Cranberries led by vocalist Dolores O’Riordan reformed in 2009. A chart mainstay in the '90s, amassing nine hit singles and four chart albums, the notched up two #1 albums (No Need To Argue and To The Faithful Departed). Their first hits compile Stars: The Best Of 1992-2002 reached #18, nine years back. They return this week with another hit set, Icon Series: The Cranberries at #26.

ENDS

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