Squash 40 - Feb W2 22

SINGLE CHART

As we head deep into the 2nd month of the year, certain artists start lifting their banners high, sound the trumpets and begin the yodelling high upon the Squash Chart hills. Among the 11 new entries gracing the hallowed halls this week, only 1 is actually a brand new artist debut on either the main or regional charts - floppy haired 80's pop meddling kid Alfie Templeman with Broken (#31) which has that classic knack of sounding really uplifting whilst actually being lyrically existential dread in a nutshell.

The remaining 10 span the chasm from album tracks / finally emerging lead singles (Raveena - Secret #25, FKA Twigs - Meta Angel #39, SF9 - Trauma #40) to artists already rumbling in the deep of Regional chart-dom now sparking anew, such as the avant-garde nihilism of Mitski (charting thrice this week with The Only Heartbreaker up 8 to a new peak of #8, plus 2 new entries in Stay Soft, #16, and Love Me More, #23) or the dulcet pop rock of Japanese band Ryokuoushoku Shakai (Character キャラクター, #3). 

Perhaps the most outlier of the newbies lie in the top 5 with Caroline Polachek following up the success of last year's labyrinthian pop-scapade #1 Bunny is a Rider with the equally bizarre but emblematic Billions (#5) and the new-but-actually-veteran debut of k-girl group VIVIZ at #1 with the disco contagion Bop Bop. This is Caroline's 8th charting song and 3rd top 10 entry in the last 6 months with a second album imminent for more chart domination later on in 2022. VIVIZ getting a debut #1 is less surprising when you realise their 3 members are all ex-GFriend - a group that, in their 5 year span on the Squash Charts, amassed four #1s (Rough, Navillera, Apple and MAGO respectively), and five other top 10 singles. Needless to say, the future looks bright for this trio despite the fact that each year since 2018 has only had a quota of a single trio #1 (Years & Years - All For You in 2018, PVRIS - Death of Me in 2019, Perfume - Time Warp in 2020 and MUNA - Silk Chiffon last year respectively).

ALBUM CHART

The Album chart is nearly the mirror image of the singles chart this time around with 6 of the top 15 single artists also being represented with their fuller collections. The sultry and sweet Raveena sees her fusion-concept album Asha's Awakening (#11) chart pre-emptively of its release next Friday and it could well replicate the success of Mitski's own release week blast-off (Laurel Hell rising a massive 11 spaces to #1). The #1 Single of the week couldn't get a fully fledged double this time but VIVIZ's mini album Beam of Prism does respectably with a #7 debut.