Mel's Weekly Top 20 - November 27, 2011

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of November 27, 2011

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Paradise (5th Week @ #1!)	Coldplay	1
2	The Book Of Morris Johnson	Zee Avi	3
3	We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)	Rihanna	4
4	Blackout	Breathe Carolina	2
5	Mr. Saxobeat	Alexandra Stan	6
6	What The Water Gave Me	Florence + The Machine	5
7	In The Dark	Dev	10
8	Pumped Up Kicks	Foster the People	9
9	Run For Your Life	Matt Cardle	13
10	Someone Like You	Adele	14
11	Domino	Jessie J	11
12	Don't Gotta Work It Out	Fitz & The Tantrums	12
13	You Make Me Feel	Cobra Starship feat. Sabi	7
14	You And I	Lady Gaga	8
15	Major	The Asteroids Galaxy Tour	17
16	Show Me The Way	The Cranberries	19
17	Don't Stop (Color On The Walls)	Foster The People	20
18	Not Over You	Gavin DeGraw	15
19	It Will Rain	Bruno Mars	--
20	Big In Japan (Single Edit)	Martin Solveig ft Dragonette & Idoling	--

CHART NOTES

Coldplay holds on to #1 for a 5th week in a row with their smash hit "Paradise". The song joins a growing list of #1 tracks that held on to the top spot for more than 4 weeks this year. They include the Foo Fighters' "Rope",Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" and Dengue Fever's "Cement Slippers". One of these songs will become the 2011 song of the year based on chart performance and longevity at the #1 position. That chart will be compiled by the end of the year.

Alexandra Stan breaks into the top 5 with her dance oriented hit "Mr. Saxobeat". The song moves up from #6 last week to #5 this week.

New in the top 10 are Matt Cardle and his hit "Run For Your Life" up from #13 to #9 and Adele's "Someone Like You" up from #14 to #10. Both a great pop singles, Adele's being a late arrival to the top 20.

The 2 debut tracks this week are by Bruno Mars and Martin Solveig. Mars is at #19 with "It Will Rain" while Solveig debuts at #20 with "Big in Japan". We'll see how these songs do over the next few weeks.

Former Number One Songs from 2011:

Rope - Foo Fighters
Brighter Than The Sun - Colbie Caillat
Last Friday Night (TGIF) - Katy Perry
Tonight's the Kind of Night - Noah & the Whale
The Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga
Sad Song - The Cars
Hello (Radio Edit) - Martin Solveig & Dragonette
Cement Slippers - Dengue Fever
Price Tag - Jessie J
Down By The Water - The Decemberists
Back to December - Taylor Swift
Grenade - Bruno Mars
We No Speak Americano - Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup

VIDEO EXTRAS - Zee Avi

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - November 20, 2011.

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of November 20, 2011

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Paradise (4th week @ #1!)	Coldplay	1
2	Blackout	Breathe Carolina	3
3	The Book Of Morris Johnson	Zee Avi	4
4	We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)	Rihanna	5
5	What The Water Gave Me	Florence + The Machine	6
6	Mr. Saxobeat	Alexandra Stan	7
7	You Make Me Feel	Cobra Starship feat. Sabi	8
8	You And I	Lady GaGa	2
9	Pumped Up Kicks	Foster the People	10
10	In The Dark	Dev	11
11	Domino	Jessie J	12
12	Don't Gotta Work It Out	Fitz & The Tantrums	13
13	Run For Your Life	Matt Cardle	18
14	Someone Like You	Adele	19
15	Not Over You	Gavin DeGraw	15
16	Rope	Foo Fighters	9
17	Major	The Asteroids Galaxy Tour	20
18	Good Life	OneRepublic	14
19	Show Me The Way	The Cranberries	--
20	Don't Stop (Color On The Walls)	Foster The People	--

CHART NOTES

Coldplay holds at the #1 spot with "Paradise" for the 4th week in a row.

In the top 5 we see incremental moves up one point each for the following songs: "Blackout" by Breathe Carolinafrom #3 to #2; "The Book of Morris Johnson" by Zee Avi up from #4 to #3; "We Found Love" by Rihanna up from #5 to #4; and "What the Water Gave Me" by Florence + the Machine up from #6 to #5.

The trend continues: Up one from #7 to #6 we find Alexandra Stan with "Mr. Saxobeat". Right behind her isCobra Starship feat. Sabi with "You Make Me Feel" up a point from #8 to #7.

Someone had to drop to accommodate these one point gains. That fell upon Lady GaGa whose "You and I" has apparently peaked at #2 for a few weeks before taking a 6 point fall this week down to #8.

Elsewhere: Big movers up this week include "Run For Your Life" by Matt Cardle up 5 from #18 to #13 and "Someone Like You" by Adele up from #19 to #14.

The two songs making a debut includes the apparent comeback hit by The Cranberries called "Show Me the Way" at #19 and Foster the People's "Don't Stop (Color On The Walls)" at #20. The latter was recently used in a Nissan Versa commercial. Foster the People also has "Pumped Up Kicks" moving up again from #10 to #9 this week.

BONUS VIDEOS

"Paradise" is still a great song that holds at #1 this week.



Caro Emerald is still enjoying great success in Europe.

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - November 13, 2011

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of November 13, 2011.

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Paradise (3rd Week @ #1!)	Coldplay	1
2	You And I	Lady GaGa	2
3	Blackout	Breathe Carolina	3
4	The Book Of Morris Johnson	Zee Avi	4
5	We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)	Rihanna	6
6	What The Water Gave Me	Florence + The Machine	7
7	Mr. Saxobeat	Alexandra Stan	8
8	You Make Me Feel	Cobra Starship feat. Sabi	10
9	Rope	Foo Fighters	5
10	Pumped Up Kicks	Foster the People	13
11	In The Dark	Dev	18
12	Domino	Jessie J	15
13	Don't Gotta Work It Out	Fitz & The Tantrums	14
14	Good Life	OneRepublic	9
15	Not Over You	Gavin DeGraw	17
16	Only Love	Anggun	12
17	The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie	Red Hot Chili Peppers	11
18	Run For Your Life	Matt Cardle	--
19	Someone Like You	Adele	--
20	Major	The Asteroids Galaxy Tour	--

CHART NOTES

nteresting notes about this week's chart: Positions 1 through 4 stay exactly the same as last week. No movement up or down. This means Coldplay's "Paradise" holds on to the #1 position for a 3rd consecutive week.

Old is In: First we got Foster the Peoples' "Pumped Up Kicks" gaining 3 positions moving up from #13 to #10 this week. The song spent several weeks on the Weekly Top 20 earlier this year, peaking at #2. Will a top 5 finish be in the works the 2nd time around?

Adele's "Someone Like You" which has been a chart staple for most of this past summer only now makes its debut on the Weekly Top 20 at #19 this week. Adele's last hit "Rolling In The Deep" charted earlier this year and peaked at #2 for a few weeks.

Lastly we still have The Foo Fighters' "Rope" hanging in the top 10. The former #1 single which was a hit earlier this year for most other charts, slides from #5 to #9 this week. Definitely on its way out, but still an older song which has already made its chart run elsewhere.

New: Two other singles debut on the Top 20. They include Matt Cardle's "Run For Your Life" coming in at #18 and the latest from The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, "Major" coming in at #20. AGT had a #1 hit in 2009 with "The Golden Age".

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - November 6, 2011

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of November 6, 2011.

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Paradise (2nd week @ #1!)	Coldplay	1
2	You And I	Lady GaGa	2
3	Blackout	Breathe Carolina	4
4	The Book Of Morris Johnson	Zee Avi	5
5	Rope	Foo Fighters	3
6	We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)	Rihanna	11
7	What The Water Gave Me	Florence + The Machine	7
8	Mr. Saxobeat	Alexandra Stan	12
9	Good Life	OneRepublic	6
10	You Make Me Feel	Cobra Starship feat. Sabi	13
11	The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie	Red Hot Chili Peppers	8
12	Only Love	Anggun	9
13	Pumped Up Kicks	Foster the People	19
14	Don't Gotta Work It Out	Fitz & The Tantrums	16
15	Domino	Jessie J	20
16	We Owned The Night	Lady Antebellum	10
17	Not Over You	Gavin DeGraw	17
18	In The Dark	Dev	--
19	Drown	Carolina Liar	14
20	Mr. Know It All	Kelly Clarkson	15

CHART NOTES

Coldplay holds on to the #1 spot for a 2nd straight week with "Paradise". This is the 2nd single off their latest album Mylo Xyloto. They charted earlier this year with "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall." That track peaked at #2.

Speaking of number 2's, we find Lady GaGa holding at #2 for a 2nd week with her single "You And I". It has been a steady rise for this track over the weeks. Can the lady crack the #1 spot next week?

Rising in the top 10 we find "Blackout" by Breathe Carolina going up from #4 to #3, Zee Avi's "The Book of Morris Johnson" up another notch from #5 to #4 and Rihana making a 5 point jump from #11 to #6 with her latest hit, "We Found Love". Also jumping into the top 10 Alexandra Stan and her hit "Mr. Saxobeat", up from #12 to #8; and "You Make Me Feel" by Cobra Starship feat. Sabi moving up 3 from #13 to #10.

Lots of droppers this week including "Rope" by Foo Fighters going down from #3 to #5; "Good Life" byOneRepublic losing 3 from #6 to #9; "Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie" by Red Hot Chili Peppers also losing 3, down from #8 to #11; Anggun's "Only Love" down from #9 to #12; and a big huge drop by Lady Antebellum as "We Owned the Night" drops from #10 to #16.

Biggest gainer? Last week's comeback record by Foster the People: "Pumped Up Kicks", a former #2 hit debut again last week at #19 -- moves up to #13 this week. Six point gain. 

Jessie J.'s "Domino" gains 5 moving from its debut at #20 to #15. Newest track to debut is by Dev. It's called "In the Dark" and comes in for the first time at #18.

Former Number One Songs from 2011:

Rope - Foo Fighters
Brighter Than The Sun - Colbie Caillat
Last Friday Night (TGIF) - Katy Perry
Tonight's the Kind of Night - Noah & the Whale
The Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga
Sad Song - The Cars
Hello (Radio Edit) - Martin Solveig & Dragonette
Cement Slippers - Dengue Fever
Price Tag - Jessie J
Down By The Water - The Decemberists
Back to December - Taylor Swift
Grenade - Bruno Mars
We No Speak Americano - Yolanda Be Cool & Dcup

45 RPM Heaven - Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band

Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band" was a loud, perfect rock n roll record. It was so great that it became their first #1 hit single. In 1973 this record certainly caught my attention as top 40 radio stations picked up on this song all over the place. They had a huge following for their live arena shows and had several albums that feature many rock anthems including "I'm Your Captain/Closer to Home," and "Inside Looking Out."

Many probably felt Grand Funk Railroad sold out with this highly commercial hit. Crass commercialism at its best signified the release of "We're An American Band." Capitol, Grand Funk's label probably felt so confident that this would be their breakthrough hit, issued the 45 on clear gold vinyl. It is one of the most beautiful looking records that I have in my collection.

Prior to the release of the "We're An American Band" single, Grand Funk did hit the charts with lower scoring records such as "Footstompin' Music," "Upsetter" and "Rock n Roll Soul".

Grand Funk Railroad followed "We're An American Band" with several more hit singles. These included "Walk Like A Man," "The Locomotion" which also went to #1, "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Shining On," and "Bad Time." They disbanded a few years after "Bad Time" charted.

The band has since regrouped with a new line-up in recent years.

Original post

AVAILABILITY: Widely available on various compilations as well as on Grand Funk Railroad's reissue of the "We're An American Band" album. CD and digital editions.

Grand Funk Railroad

"We're An American Band" b/w "Creepin'"
Produced by Todd Rundgren | Written by Don Brewer
Capitol | 3660 Stereo | Year of release: 1973