With the Christmas period over and X Factor out of the way at last, the charts finally return to business as usual, with 2010’s first wave of new releases.  Apparently it was a fairly close-run thing this week, with new entries at numbers 1 and 2 running neck and neck over the week.  But the first new number one of 2010 is “Replay” by Iyaz.

Iyaz is Keidran Jones, a singer from the Virgin Islands, and this is his debut single in the UK.  His record company are trying to spin him as somebody that Sean Kingston discovered on MySpace; the reality seems to be that he got picked up internationally on the strength of his Caribbean radio hit “Island Girls.” 

“Replay” already reached number two in America, and now it heads to Europe.  It’s produced by JR Rotem, the man who brought you JLS’s “Everybody In Love” and a horde of equally banal R&B pop singles.  This one is at least fairly catchy, and the autotune has been kept in sane boundaries, but that aside, it’s really just more of the same.  It’s fine, it’s inoffensive, but I’m slightly surprised that it’s sold quite this well, when it really doesn’t have all that much to mark it out from the crowd.

The number 2 single is “Riverside (Let’s Go)” by Dutch producer Sidney Samson, also making his UK chart debut.  It’s a dance single which has been around for months, based heavily upon a sample of Tupac Shakur swearing in Juice.  Here’s the Dutch version of the single (with swearing intact, if you care).

The British label,  however, has decided that this isn’t radio friendly enough, and so they’ve bang on a rap from Wizard Sleeve (no, me neither) to recycle a vocal from another single entirely.  The result is certainly more airplay friendly, but it’s not exactly the same record. 

Purists aren’t exactly happy about this, apparently.  Which is pretty trivial in itself, but oddly, the original version doesn’t seem to have been made available in Britain on iTunes – instead, your options are a bewildering array of vocal mixes.  I can’t imagine what they were thinking there.

Also entering the top 40 this week:

• “One Time” by Justin Beiber, at number 14.  First UK release for the 15-year-old Canadian, who had four hits in North America last year and is being pushed as a teen idol.
• “Dog Days are Over” by Florence and the Machine, at number 23.  Spontaneous chart appearance for their excellent second single, which missed the top 75 on its original release in late 2008.  Since then, the parent album has been a big hit, and the track has picked up a bit of airplay on TV trailers, as well as cropping up in a lot of year-in-review shows.  It’s their third top 40 hit.  Their official current single is “You’ve Got The Love”, currently at number 5 and climbing.
• “In For The Kill” by LaRoux at number 28.  This reached number 2 last spring, and again, it seems to have returned to the chart because of year-in-review airplay over Christmas.
• “Where We Belong” by the Lostprophets at number 32.  Eleventh top 40 hit for the Welsh rock band, who’ve been around since 2001.  Radio-friendly anthem.
• “Empire State of Mind, Part II” by Alicia Keys at number 35.  For those who prefer the single without Jay-Z.  The original is still at number 18.
• “Pencil Full of Lead” by Paolo Nutini at number 36.  Re-entry for a record that peaked at number 17 in November, on the tailcoats of a surge of sales for his album after Christmas.
• “Kings and Queens” by 30 Seconds To Mars at number 40.  Another re-entry, this time for a record that peaked at 28 in December and looked to be comfortably on its way out of the chart.  No idea why it’s back.