Squash 40 - Jan W4 22

SINGLE CHART

As the first full month of a new year ends (or the last month of the year of the Ox if you're observing Lunar calendars), the race is on for literally any position on the SQ40, let alone amassing high points, as a massive 18 songs depart in place of a whole smattering of newbies.

Conversely to last week, 6 new entries pop up in the top 20 of which its an even stevens split between veterans and newcomers. In the former's corner, Swedish renegade Tove Styrke strums into #6 with Show Me Love, the self-love (literally) promoting follow-up to 2021's monster Start Walking (a 4 week #1) suggesting Tove is in for another excellent year to perhaps match her near-domination of 2015. Also making comebacks from 2021, Argentine diva Lali starts off a new album campaign in dominating style with the forceful Disciplina (#12) and Emma Bale, a Belgium discovery of last year, switches channels into an 80's indie inspired lane with lead single Divide (#3) featuring electro duo Promis3.

The newbies making a first splash are equally exciting: Asian-American Gen-Z-er Conan Gray kisses us off with the excellent Telepath (#14), which really deserved an MV to match the evocative 80's VHS teen horror of the single artwork, and former Polish X-Factor contestant Klaudia Szafrańska shimmers her way into the SQ pantheon with debut single Niedoskonały (#15). A collaboration between Norwegian pop fighter Sigrid and British newcomer Griff (Head on Fire, #9) not only bridges the gap between old and new but also highlights the complicated job I have of regionally categorising the music on this chart where the artists represent both Earth Euro and Fire West at once. This melding of cultural artists also features lower down in an underrated pop girl monster duo of Charli XCX (UK, Fire West) and Rina Sawayama (Japan, so Air Asia, but also UK-based), both #1 SQ acts, coming together sampling another SQ #1 hit in 2008's Cry For You by September (a.k.a Petra Marklund) for Beg For You (#30) as the 3rd single from Charli's next album CRASH. Phew, was that enough in asingle sentence for you?

But who is at the very top of the ladder in the center of the ring? I hear you ask and I'm here to put a smiley face on your... well.. face. It's Yena and Bibi living out their 00's comic book fantasy with Smiley rising 1 spot to #1 battling back another advancing diva in the guise of Nathy Peluso's spy melodrama (Vivir Así Es Morir De Amor, up 2 to #2).

ALBUM CHART

After 3 weeks of Do Do Do-ing, Ms Karencici and 99% Angel finally buffers back off the #1 spot giving way to a new release in Norwegian demi-deity AURORA's new LP, The Gods We Can Touch (#1). This is AURORA's first album on the chart and a campaign that started all the way back in 2020 with the release of single Exist for Love (#5 peak). You can say i'm throwing prayers at her altar too as she also has 3 songs appear on the Earth Euro chart including two album tracks - the evocatively titled Blood in the Wine (SQ40 #23, Euro #8) and the polar oppositely named The Innocent (SQ40 #34, Euro #10). The only other new entry this week goes to Taiwanese idol and actor Greg Han with his self-titled debut album (#7) whilst Years & Years finally release Night Call (re-peaking at #6), even though it charted for 5 weeks last year pre-emptively based on the strength of lead singles Starstruck (SQ40 #4) and Crave (SQ40 #9) alone. Shame honestly that the rest of the album doesn't quite match those two songs but at least Ollie promoted the bangers right?