Continuing my series from If Destroyed, there’s yet another new number 1 this week… but not the expected one.  Most of us took it as read that Leona Lewis, the 2006 X-Factor winner, would go in at number 1 with “Happy”, the lead single from her new album.  Especially after she showed up on the X-Factor to promote it.

But instead, the Black Eyed Peas unexpectedly pick up their third (and least irritating) number one of the year, with “Meet Me Halfway.”

 (YouTube link here.)

It’s all the more unexpected because “Meet Me Halfway” has been climbing up the charts for a while now.  This is its fifth week in the top 40.   And while the download era has led to this happening more often, the fact remains that the last act to climb to number one, as opposed to entering at the top, was David Guetta back in August.

Three number ones in a calendar year is also unusual.  It last happened in 2005, when the Elvis Presley estate decided to re-issue all his former number 1 singles, and three of them went straight to the top in the quiet weeks of January.  (Mercifully, the interest tailed off after that.)  Those are exceptional circumstances, though.  It sort of happened in 2002, when both Will Young and Gareth Gates managed to have two solo number ones, plus a third as a duo.  

But for a genuine example of the same act having three number ones in a single calendar year with regular single releases, you’ve got to go all the way back to 2000, when the saccharine Irish boy band balladeers Westlife managed it.  (And even then, you’ve got to count their 1999 Christmas number 1, which stayed at the top until mid-January.)

Normally I’d post a Westlife video here, to illustrate their oeuvre, but they really are shockingly dull.  So instead, here’s Westlife member Brian McFadden’s solo single “Real To Me”, a dire example of the “famous people whining” genre.  Look out for the middle eight, blissfully untouched by self-awareness. 

As for the Leona Lewis single, “Happy” is very much in the mould of the last album, and a pretty clear of example of her (or her management) deciding to stick with the formula. It’s another song co-written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, a man equally noted for sticking with what works.  It’s not bad; it’s just very familiar.  Here’s the YouTube link, if you want to see it.

Does this spoil The X-Factor‘s run of number 1s?  Not quite, because the Black Eyed Peas promoted their single on the same results show as Leona Lewis – which perhaps accounts for their late surge of support.  There’s been some talk in the press lately about the show having too much dominance of the charts – which is, up to a point, true, but only if you’re willing to credit them with the success of all the singles they’ve promoted on the show.  And most of those would have been big hits anyway.

Still, for the record, here are the top 40 hits currently associated with the X-Factor, however loosely.  I’m counting here any act directly linked to the show, plus any single which has been promoted on the current run, and any old records which have re-entered the chart on the strength of X-Factor contestants covering them.

1.  The Black Eyed Peas, “Meet Me Halfway” (performed on the show)
2.  Leona Lewis, “Happy” (former winner, and performed on the show)
3.  JLS, “Everybody In Love” (former contestants, and performed on the show)
4. Cheryl Cole, “Fight for this Love” (judge, and performed on the show)
10. Alexandra Burke, “Bad Boys” (former winner, and performed on the show)
11. Westlife, “What About Now” (performed on the show)
19. Whitney Houston, “Million Dollar Bill” (performed on the show)
22. Robbie Williams, “Bodies” (performed on the show)
28. Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin'” (charted because it was covered)
33. JLS, “Beat Again” (former contestants)
37. Cheryl Cole, “3 Words” (judge)

See, just eleven of them.  (Go down to number 75, and you get another six.)  But I’d say most of them would have charted anyway.

However, next week’s number one is an absolute foregone conclusion – it’s the second annual X-Factor charity single, where all the acts who made the live finals (yes, even the girls who got knocked out in week one) cover something syrupy for a good cause.  This year, it’s a tedious slog through “You Are Not Alone” in aid of the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, and it’s really abysmal.  But more on that next week.

Also of vague interest on this week’s chart: the fourth incarnation of the Sugababes make their debut at an underwhelming number 8 with “About A Girl”.  Their new album is being hastily altered to strip out the departing Keisha Buchanan and replace her with new member Jade Ewen.  It has been pointed out that, with all the original members having left the band, the Sugababes are now in the unique position where they could do a reunion gig before they’ve actually split up.

And down at number 36, there’s “I’ve Got Nothing” by the Chartjackers, who aren’t a band at all.  They’re a YouTube collaboration.  Supposedly the idea is to see if you can make the top 40 with no budget at all; the answer is “yes, but only barely.”  The record is being sold through iTunes as a charity single for the BBC’s annual Children In Need telethon, which has always been a bit indiscriminate about endorsing charity records.  It’s actually not bad, though, in a “clearly written by somebody who owns all the Barenaked Ladies albums” sort of way.  Besides, I like it when these oddities make the top 40.  It’s good for the chart ecosystem.  And frankly, as charity records go, it’s better than the X-Factor Karaoke Allstars.