Singles File : w/c 15/5/05

Akon, who sold surprisingly huge amounts last week, stays at number one as expected, with the main challenge being Gorillaz' eighteen place climb. Ah, I remember when records did that sort of thing as a matter of course. De La Soul's biggest hit too, of course, and it didn't even need a bizarre junglist remix this time. The Game enters at 4, which is something of a surprise given it's from an album that's already been top ten and still nobody thinks of him without connecting him with 50 Cent. Having him on all his singles won't help that, of course.

The Coral enter at 6, Kelly Osbourne's sparkling wit and repartee on CD:UK last week means an entry at 9 - seriously, who's buying Kelly Osbourne singles? - and just outside comes KT Tunstall's label's attempt to prove she really is a New Dido at 13 and at 12, Cliff Richard. This has had some good write-ups, being from his Nashville album from last October and, as your dad might say, something of a rocker. Maybe he got the hint from that poll the other year that voted Move It, his first single, as his own fans' favourite ever. Or maybe people bought it on impulse after seeing sleeves on which Cliff pulls these poses:





...and thought they couldn't resist. I nearly couldn't.

Doves at 17, the return of piano house with Praise Cats at 24, the Futureheads' Decent Days And Nights peaks at exactly the same position, 26, as it did before - well done, 679, lots of point in re-releasing that one rather than the four non-charting previous singles on the album - the Stands are in at 28, Ludacris' sampling of a buffering RealAudio of Soul Bossa Nova gets him to 30 and Juliette & The Licks' normally makeweight glam-Stooges act is in at 35.

Meanwhile any good feeling personally engendered towards the album buying public sending Arcade Fire's mighty Funeral back in at 65 is wiped out as Steve Brookstein goes straight to the top. Seriously, who is his audience? Jane McDonald fans expanding their horizons?