CHART ANALYSIS: Going Solo Is a Great Idea in This Crazy Year

There were already seven members of indie acts in the Music Moves Europe Artist Charts who went solo: The S.L.P. (Serge Pizzorno, guitarist of Kasabian) at #15, Aluna (singer Aluna Francis of AlunaGeorge) at #31, EOB (guitarist Ed O’Brien of Radiohead) at #38, One True Pairing (singer Thomas Fleming, formally of Wild Beasts) at #45, Love Fame Tragedy (singer Matthew Murphy of The Wombats) at #50, Alex Kapranos (the singer of Franz Ferdinand) at #76 and Ex:Re (singer Elena Tonra of Daughter) at #77.

And this month’s highest new entry at #24 comes from Romy, singer of the British indie band The XX. Lifetime (Young Turks), the first single of her solo project, is picked up by radio all across Europe – except for Norway and France. For those familiar with the songs of The XX, this first Romy solo single sounds more optimistic and danceable.

At the top of the charts, there is a bit of a shake-up: Swedish pop singer Nea was so successful with her smash hit Some Say (Sony), that she managed to get one billion impressions, so she became too famous for this talent chart, according to the chart rules. British-American production duo Silk City overtook the pole position again in a top 10 with six solo acts. The exception to the rule that it is currently a hard time for indie bands without live performances, is Irish indie band Inhaler. Due to airplay for their new single When It Breaks (Universal) in eleven territories, Inhaler moved two notches up to #4.

The biggest movers this month are a big Spanish streaming hit and a mysterious British studio project. At #39 HVME, a dance producer from Spain, scores plenty of streams in France, The UK, Germany and Scandinavia with Goosebumps (B1 Recordings). And at #46, British soul project Sault is rising fast. In June they released the album Untitled (Black Is) with the track Wildfires. In September they released already another album, Untitled (Rise), with the tracks Free and I Just Want To Dance (all self-released). All three songs are currently crossing over to the rest of Europe.

Besides Romy, we welcome four other new entries this month. First, there is the soulful and playful pop of British singer Bow Anderson at #67. Her song Island (Universal) gets airplay in Germany, Italy, Spain, Romania and Croatia. And at #79 Irish alt-rock band NewDad comes in via massive airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music for the dreamy Blue (self-released).

If you spell Ytram backwards, you read ‘Marty’. Ytram at #93 is the nickname of Dutch superstar dance producer Martin Garrix. His single Fire (Sony) together with British producer and singer Elderbrook crosses over to fifteen countries. And finally, meet British pop singer Delilah Montagu at #99. You might be familiar with her name already because she was the vocalist on Drive (Ultra), a 2018 single for French dance maestro David Guetta and South African producer Black Coffee. Delilah Montagu is now popular with her own material, namely Version Of Me (Sony), on Polish radio.