Singles bounce back to form.(The Market)

After seven consecutive weeks in which sales totalled less than 500,000, the singles market enjoyed a 13% bounce last week. Some 551,427 singles were sold, the best tally for the format in 13 weeks. On the sixth anniversary of the death of his close friend the Princess Of Wales, Elton John debuted atop the list after selling 56,900 copies of Are Yon Ready For Love--the best tally for a number one since Beyonce's Crazy in Love sold more than 72,000 on its debut eight weeks ago.

Princess Diana's death, of course, precipitated the release of John's Candle In The Wind '97, which sold 655,685 copies in one day--more than the entire singles market for last week. Comparisons with that exceptional time are unfair--but compared to this week in previous years in the 21st century, singles sales last week were down 31.6% on 2002, 39.1% on 2001 and 40.6% on 2000.

Aside from Elton John, the singles market was helped last week by a number releases: Blu Cantrell & Sean Paul's Breathe, which shed just 8% of its sales strength despite losing top spot; Like Glue becoming Sean Paul's fourth Top five hit of the year--three solo plus the Cantrell collaboration; and a pair of ...