According to Mike from The Young Ones it’s been going on since the 60s.
MIKE Guys, guys, there’s no time for that now Now look, if we want this record to make Number one we’re gonna have to rig the charts
NEIL Oh no, Mike, surely you don’t mean, like, cheat
MIKE Oh yes I do
RICK But that’s simply outrageous, Michael It’s disgusting It’s immoral It’s… how do we do it?
MIKE Simple - we find out where all the chart shops are and buy up all our records Everybody else does it. There hasn’t been a genuine number one since the Beatles split up
NEIL Oh wow - have the Beatles split up?
Now, to mark its latest anniversary, the song is coming back around for a fourth time, in the form of an all-star splicing of the three previous official versions.
Subtitled “2024 Ultimate Mix” and released on 25 November, the new version of the song certainly has an impressively A-list cast of singers. Contributors from the 1984 original include George Michael, Boy George, Sting and Simon Le Bon; Robbie Williams, Dido and Sugababes are among those from Band Aid 20 in 2004; while alumni from 2014’s Band Aid 30 include Ed Sheeran, Sinéad O’Connor, Sam Smith, Seal, Guy Garvey and One Direction. There will also be two appearances by Chris Martin, and three from Bono.
“That’s So True” by Gracie Abrams is this week’s number one single. This is Abrams’ first number one single in Australia (I think).
Coldplay have four singles in the top 50: “Yellow” at 14, “Viva la Vida” at 20, “Something Just Like This” (with the Chainsmokers) at 29 and “A Sky Full of Stars” at 34.
Albums
Coldplay’s latest album “Moon Music” is this week’s number one album.
That’s the second music video the band has filmed in Australia, the other being “A Sky Full of Stars” which was filmed in Newtown, in Sydney’s inner-west, in 2014.
At around that time, they performed a one-off intimate show at the Enmore Theatre.