UK Chart Roundup: Icona Pop Kick Robin Thicke To The Curb, The Wanted Debut In Top 5

And so it's Chart Rigger's top pick for Best Single Of 2012, Icona Pop's "I Love It," that puts the guillotine to Robin Thicke's four-week reign at the top of the UK chart with "Blurred Lines." ("I Love It" previously peaked at #7 here in the States.) I dig that this happened, but, to tell the truth, both songs can take a hike at this point, and I never really need to hear either for at least 17 more years.



This brings us to The Wanted, whose gimmicky Dr. Luke production "Walks Like Rihanna" has just become the boy band's third consecutive Top 5 single, and eighth overall. The song goes in at #4 this week — not bad, by any means, but maybe an underscore on the fact that the lads' days of having #1 hits seem to indeed be in the past at this point. By contrast, chart rivals One Direction have scored two chart-topping singles in the past seven months alone.

Oh, well — keep gettin' that p***y while it's hot & free, kiddos.

The UK Top 10:

1. "I Love It" - Icona Pop feat. Charli XCX *new* *1 week*
2. "Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell
3. "Bang Bang" - Will.i.am *new*
4. "Walks Like Rihanna" - The Wanted *new*
5. "La La La" - Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith
6. "Let Her Go" - Passenger
7. "The Other Side" - Jason Derulo
8. "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk
9. "Goin' Crazy'" - Dizzee Rascal feat. Robbie Williams
10. "Dear Darlin'" - Olly Murs

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US Chart Roundup: Miley Cyrus & Her Ass Have A 7th Top 10 Hit With "We Can't Stop"

With Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" clogging up the top of every chart in the world yet again (it's not that sexy, everyone), it's best that we instead turn our eyes to Miley Cyrus' twerking, gyrating ass. It's hard to believe that five-and-a-half years have gone by since the onetime squeaky clean Disney chirpstress initially charmed her way into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 with "See You Again." Her last foray into the upper tier of the chart was three years ago, when "Can't Be Tamed" was a minor blip on the radar at #8. But here we are, seeing Miley again, as "We Can't Stop" grinds its way to #5 this week.

I can't say that I'm not still a little burned to see Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors" continuing its descent, after peaking #2 a few weeks back. (Sigh. The song is now down to #7.) But sometimes life comes along an sticks your tits in a deep frier. What can you do?

This brings us to the other two songs on the Hot 100 worth championing this week: Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding's "I Need Your Love," now up to #24, and Capital Cities' "Safe And Sound," which, at #43, is close to finally cracking the Top 40.

All in all, as we reach the halfway point in 2013, it's been a pretty solid year for pop so far, no?

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell *3 weeks*
2. "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams 
3. "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons
4. "Cruise" - Florida Georgia Line feat. Nelly
5. "We Can't Stop" - Miley Cyrus
6. "Can't Hold Us" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton
7. "Mirrors" - Justin Timberlake
8. "Treasure" - Bruno Mars
9. "Come & Get It" - Selena Gomez
10. "Just Give Me A Reason" - Pink feat. Nate Ruess

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It's Club 2Gethr's "Livin' The Dream" Video ... Starring Nicki French!

If you're a casual pop music observer and have been wondering what producer Mike Stock and British songstress Nicki French have been up to since they paired up nearly 20 years ago for their globally successful cover of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart," then wonder no more!

Stock's new project, Club 2Gethr — a themed teen trio akin to Fast Food Rockers, 10 years later (this time it's all about camping, kiddies) — just premiered their music video for "Livin' The Dream." And Nicki plays their mom.

Enjoy. And if you're like me, you'll be wondering which of those two young ladies ended up with the hot dog.


"Livin' The Dream" is on iTunes for pre-order.

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UK Chart Roundup: Robbie Williams And Dizzee Rascal Are Riding High

I can totally co-sign with Dizzee Rascal and Robbie Williams' new pair-up "Goin' Crazy," which debuts this week at #5 on the UK singles chart. It's actually a fun jam that's way better than it has any right to be.



Aside from his participation in charity singles and, of course, his work with Take That, this marks Robbie's sixth collaborative effort to make the Top 20, following "Kids" with Kylie Minogue (#2), "Somethin' Stupid" with Nicole Kidman (#1), "My Culture" with 1 Giant Leap (#9), "She's Madonna" with Pet Shop Boys (#16) and "Shame" with Gary Barlow (#2).

The UK Top 10:

1. "Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell *4 weeks*
2. "The Other Side" - Jason Derulo *new*
3. "La La La" - Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith
4. "Let Her Go" - Passenger
5. "Goin' Crazy'" - Dizzee Rascal feat. Robbie Williams *new*
6. "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk
7. "Dear Darlin'" - Olly Murs
8. "Wild" - Jessie J feat. Big Sean & Dizzee Rascal
9. "Everything Has Changed" - Taylor Swift feat. Ed Sheeran
10. "Another Love" - Tom Odell *new*

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My Frankmusik Interview

No rest for the wicked. In addition to posting my Idolator interview with Pet Shop Boys on Friday, I also published a recent chat I had with a very emotional, candid Frankmusik, whose album Between was released two weeks ago. You can watch it here.

My video producer Alex and I really put some time in to make this interview have a documentary feel, and I feel like it turned out pretty great.

This marks his first album since parting ways with Interscope, and he's still a bit bruised from the whole experience of living in Los Angeles for three years. (He's since moved back to the UK temporarily, and is in the midst of touring the States before relocating again, this time to New York).

Anyway, the interview is on camera, and it's nice to see a pop singer being honest, and setting aside all the polite PR bullshit. It's the first of two parts with him.

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Pet Shop Poster

Just caught this Canon-sponsored feature in the latest (June/July) issue of Details, which spotlights Fab.com founder Bradford Shellhammer's upstate New York country home — and, more importantly, his Pet Shop Boys poster in his country home.

It's provided inspiration for me to frame my own PSB Very poster, which I recently picked up off eBay in an effort to jazz up the Idolator office. I feel like I outgrew hanging posters on my walls at home about 15 years ago, but...

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My Pet Shop Boys Interview

As promised, my interview with both Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys is finally seeing the light of day! The rather lengthy chat I had with them for Idolator is now online. (We spoke for roughly 55 minutes.)

I'll post a link to the Instinct piece — which offers up different highlights from the conversation — once it's online, as well.

Pet Shop Boys speak to @idolator about the inspirations that drove them when recording new album #Electric - http://t.co/nPHHrhpJAA
— Pet Shop Boys (@petshopboys) June 22, 2013

Needless to say, this was definitely a career highlight. And I'm very thankful to Wayne Studer, curator of the highly informative Pet Shop Boys Commentary site, for linking to the piece and citing it in several of his Electric album track write-ups.

PSBs' new album Electric will be released on July 15.

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