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Category: Charts

Kate on Shortlist for “The Nation’s Favourite No.1”

Kate’s Wuthering Heights has been shortlisted in the 1970s section for ITVs “The Nation’s Favourite Number One Single”:

2012 sees the 60th anniversary of the first ever UK singles chart. That’s 60 years of songs that have defined our lives, reflecting the rich history of a nation. And we’re searching for The Nation’s Favourite Number One Single. In three primetime shows on ITV1, we’ll tell the stories of 60 unforgettable Number One singles. We’ll also talk to chart-topping artists to find out their favourite Number Ones across the generations – and find out from the hit makers what makes a great single. Plus we’ll reveal the results of an ITV viewers’ vote to determine which song can truly be called our greatest number one ever…”

Kate’s nomination for 1978 appears on the the 1970s shortlist page:

Kate Bush’s record company didn’t want to release this take on Emily Bronte’s gothic novel as her debut single – but Kate, who had written the song when she was just eighteen, dug her heels in. In so doing, ‘Wuthering Heights’ made her the first female to get to number one with her own composition.”

You can add your vote here.

Kate enters UK album chart at no.5

We can confirm that 50 Words For Snow has charted in the UK official album charts at no 5, as announced on BBC Radio 1, this is Kate’s 10th top 5 album, out of 11 releases.

As long time HomeGround reader Paul Thomas has pointed out, “this makes her the only female artist to have top 5 albums across 5 decades..70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and this new decade (whatever this decade is called..) – I am very proud to be a fan and so pleased she is still makimg exceptional music – and she hasn’t done any tv to promote the album; the record sales are down to her loyal fanbase and her reputation as the best and most original female artist of all time..shall I stop banging on about her now??

Big congratulations to Kate, Del and everyone else involved.

Dave, Krys, Peter and Seán. xxxx

Congratulations to Kate!

UPDATE: We hear that 50 Words has entered the German charts at #7, Netherlands Album chart at no. 10, and the Norweigen album chart at no. 18, Ireland at no.12, Belgium at no.27, Australia at no. 22 and Finland at no. 11. The album has entered the Billboard charts in the US at number 83 (and a number 7 entry in the US Independent album chart). More as we get them.

50 Words no.5 in UK mid-week chart

The BBC official chart update page and the NME report that Kate is currently at no.5 in the “midweek” UK Album Chart.

Immediately above Kate in the chart are the Michael Buble Christmas album, and three new entries all from acts that have been performing on major TV shows in the UK in the last week. According to music industry data 50 Words is selling stronger than Director’s Cut in its first week of release, but that album was released at a less competitive time of year when there were fewer new releases. The final UK album chart will be published on Sunday afternoon.

50 Words For Snow

50 Words for Snow top of ‘Any Decent Music’ Review Chart

The Any Decent MusicRecent Releases‘ chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 publications.

Today on its day of release Kate’s new album 50Words for Snow was straight in at no.1 in chart with a weighted average critical reaction of 8.5/10.

And currently the biggest selling album in Tower Records Dublin is…

Tower Records, Dublin, June 1st 2011

Kate enters the GLOBAL album chart at number 7!!

Several chart sites are featuring this remarkable placing – Director’s Cut has entered the global album chart at number 7!! Congratulations yet again to everyone at Fish People!

The album has gone Top 40  in the following countries: UK (number 2), Czech Republic (number 4), Ireland (number 4), the Netherlands (6), Germany (11), Sweden (12), Norway (17), Switzerland (23), Poland (28), France (34), Austria (35) and New Zealand (38).

Global album chart

Director’s Cut enters UK Album Chart at no.2!

We are happy to confirm that Director’s Cut has debuted at no.2 in the UK album sales chart. This is a huge achievement and we all offer massive congratulations to Kate and everybody else involved in the recording and promotion of the album.

This is Kate’s tenth chart album, which with the exception 1978’s Lionheart have all been top 3.

Well done Kate!

Sean Dave Krys Peter

| BBC News | NME | Britscene |

Kate set to storm the UK album charts!

We are very happy to report that Director’s Cut is No 1 in the UK midweek album sales chart, which means it is the best selling record in the UK after the first day of sales. Fantastic news! We must bear in mind, however, that the figures include all the online pre-orders, plus we know a lot of fans were out yesterday to get copies in the record shops, so the sales will level out over the week. We are predicting that it will probably end up at 2 or 3 in the final chart published on Sunday. By any measure this is a fantastic success and we send our hugest congratulations to Kate and everyone involved in this release! What a tremendous first early indication that the UK public have embraced Kate’s new album.

Music Week are also already discussing the prospects of Director’s Cut toppling Adele’s astounding chart run. Read more here. The NME reckon Kate can take on Lady Gaga next week also! See their spin on the chart race here.

|Get to the Front | Oh No They Didn’t! | Perez Hilton | Gay Times | MusicRooms | GigWise | MTV.uk | AndPop | ClashMusic | Monsters & Critics | Metro | AOL Music | Rocky Mountain |

Get Kate into the charts on Sunday!

OUR CAMPAIGN STARTS HERE! Okay, so here are the links UK fans need to use to purchase the MP3 of Deeper Understanding so that Kate has a fifth decade of releasing hit singles! The single is out NOW – the UK singles chart comes out on SUNDAY!  Remember that if you decide to pre-order the Director’s Cut album on iTunes you will receive the single download with that straight away. Of course if you are outside the UK, both Amazon and iTunes will be selling it in your territory too, so happy shopping and listening! As far as we know there will be no physical version of the single, so download away, it’s an average price of £0.89. Keep the amazing comments coming – thanks for helping make Monday April 4th our site’s most extraordinary day ever! (We are currently experiencing twice the number of visitors we did on the day that we announced Aerial!)

Amazon UK | iTunes | Play.com | Tesco

Kate in the Music Charts

A very good round up of the performance of Kate’s singles and albums in music charts around the world can be found on Music Chart Heaven

This is where you find that Aerial and King of the Mountain did better in Sweden (no.2) than in the UK (no.3), The Kick Inside did better in the Netherlands than in the UK (same chart positions), that The Man With the Child in His Eyes was no.1 in France, and many other strange and interesting things.

Futureheads Assault UK Charts with Hounds Of Love

Update 27th February: The Futureheads scored a new entry in the official UK Singles Chart today at number 8!

The Futureheads have released their critically acclaimed version of Kate’s Hounds Of Love in the UK on Monday and according to Homeground Magazine’s Dave Cross “the single is showing in the top ten of the midweek sales flashes…the position may drop a bit by the time the final chart is revealed on Sunday, but it’s looking good to stay in the ten.” (Trivia note: this would be the first Kate-penned top ten hit in the UK singles chart since Running Up That Hill in 1985, if you discount the sampling of Kate’s voice singing a line from Cloudbusting on the 1992 Utah Saints number 4 dance hit Something Good. It’s also the first time that music downloads will be a factor in the singles chart success of a Kate composition.)

The track has received excellent reviews. From the Top of The Pops website: “If Hayley Westenra is reading this, THIS is how you do a cover of a Kate Bush song, opera girl! The ‘Heads take a ’70s new wave power pop approach to songwriting, and then play as if they have too many good ideas and really, really short attention spans. Which can make listening to them feel like someone yelling interesting words from a dictionary, using a variety of comedy voices. Taking this ‘swots on caffeine’ approach to a genius pop song from another wayward talent ranks up there with jumbo Kit Kats as one of the great ideas of our time. Where Kate’s voice swooped and cajoled, the ‘Heads jibber and burp. Where her backing track was all drummy clatter, theirs is jagged guitars and urgent harmonies. Making this a rare example of a cover version that actually adds to your enjoyment of the original.”

The Gigwise website also reviews the single: “…both artists versions of Hounds Of Love excel in flair and panache, but the Futureheads bring something else to it – they stamp, with authority, their own stop-start guitar jabs and vocal ebullient flavour to the song. Voices and melodies materialise from every crevice and coagulate to form what has now become the spell-binding Futureheads trademark.” Drowned In Sound said “Sunderland’s finest haven’t just left their own indelible footprints on here, but merely stamped the remnants of Ms. Bush’s quirky ballad into the carpet with last night’s dinner’s morsels, and if it weren’t for some long time dead bloke from Tupelo, would surely be gracing the top of the charts by this time next week.” BBC Teletext: “Cover versions aren’t always a good idea, especially when the song was a classic to start with – but the Futureheads have done a grand job with their version of this Kate Bush hit, chucking in guitars and harmonies, upping the tempo and giving it their own sense of identity. A winner.” Metro newspaper has named it single of the year and given it 5 stars. You can read even more articles and reviews of The Futureheads in this site’s forum’s Medialog section.

Kate back in the charts!

UK Chart Update: She’s back! Kate has 2 albums in this week’s official chart. The Whole Story is at number 62 (with sales of 3,500), whilst Hounds Of Love returns at number 46 (4,500 sales). It is worth noting that Hounds Of Love has now spent a full year (52 weeks) on the UK album chart! We can expect both CDs to fall from the chart pretty quickly as the stores end their sales. (thanks again to Matt Hutchinson)

Charts update

Thousands of copies of Kate CDs are currently winging their way out of UK record shops due to the special offer prices being offered by UK record sellers. The Whole Story has re-entered the official UK album chart at number 45. Hounds Of Love (now on sale at HMV for an unbelievable £2.99 – yes, it’s the remastered version with extra tracks) is hovering outside the top 75 at number 78, and is expected to join The Whole Story in next week’s chart – it’s certainly been a while since two of Kate’s CDs were in the UK charts. (thanks again to Matt Hutchinson for the chart lowdown – follow the UK charts at www.dotmusic.com.

The Whole Story still selling

Some people who contact the site wonder when they’ll ever see a Kate album in the charts again. How about next week? Here’s some interesting chart news from Matt Hutchinson: “Keep an eye on this Sunday’s album chart, Kate could be about to feature! The Whole Story is subject to some heavy discounting at the moment (mainly at HMV). As a result the album has spent the last 6 weeks hanging around the lower end of the top 200 albums chart. But for some reason this week she is selling even more, and looking at today’s mid week chart she has moved from number 113 up to number 72. Nearly 1200 copies of the album have been sold so far this week, easily ahead of recent releases by such acts as Geri Halliwell, Hearsay and Tori Amos! Not bad for an album that is about to celebrate its 15th birthday.” (thanks Matt)

In a related newsbit: Caroline Corr (of The Corrs) was asked on the Mojo magazine website: “What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?”, she replied: “The one I listen to most is Kate Bush’s The Whole Story”.

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