Selling Mint Royale ... Britain's Got Talent winner George Sampson. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Mint Royale's mix of Singin' In The Rain - originally a minor hit years ago - is set to crash into the charts at number one this Sunday. And the reason? A teenage boy span around on his bottom to it on national television.
Following its appearance on last weekend's Britain's Got Talent final (winner George Sampson used it as a backing track for his break-dancing skills), the song is topping the mid-week charts despite the fact it hasn't been made available to buy on a physical format, or even promoted online. The modern chart download has come of age.
It's not the only odd-looking entry in this week's charts. iTunes shoppers stampeding towards Singin' In The Rain have actually been so over-excited that they've somehow started buying Mint Royale's Harpy as well, which is looking to make an unexpected entry in the top 30, just one place above Snap!'s Rhythm Is A Dancer - another surprise reappearance when it arrived in the UK top 40 a few weeks ago (following its appearance on an ad for a bottled water company). The charts could be about to get very exciting again.
Download stores provide instant gratification for TV viewers, which means appearances on adverts or prime-time shows can be a great way of charting high, even if your record label doesn't want to officially re-release the tracks. Huge reality shows such as Britain's Got Talent may lead the way, but events in the real world will soon prove just as significant in terms of triggering record sales. The popping of clogs was always a good reason to re-release a track in the past - Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody was a number one after a full-on, fully sanctioned re-release in the wake of Freddie Mercury's death, whereas the updated release of Candle In the Wind broke records after Princess Diana's death. But as download sales now outstrip CD single sales, and as the music industry prepares to relegate the CD to the format graveyard, the instant availability of any track means that in 2008 there really isn't any such thing as re-releasing a single.
Slade's efforts, every three or four years, to get Merry Xmas Everybody back into the charts in December, were traditionally accompanied by a CD single release. This Christmas, Slade will chart only if people actually want to buy their song. If there's no interest, Slade's label won't lose out on production and distribution costs (meaning the environment will be another winner).
So what other ways could singles top the charts in the future? Here are three visions of an interesting (ie terrifying) musical future:
1) A big-busted nurse on Big Brother hums the chorus of U2's Lemon while having a lie down, 150 people buy it on iTunes, it appears in the top 200.
2) In Paris, a nightclub burns to the ground, with news coverage sending Disco Inferno, Danger! High Voltage and Disco Down towards the top 75.
3) Finally, R Kelly is found guilty and Bump & Grind storms back into the charts, providing Fearne & Reggie with the most uncomfortable chart rundown of the year.
