Brit Sweep: August 19, 2012...

Hey folks, it's time to take a look at the newest music selling over in the UK this week, which was heavily influenced by the closing ceremonies of the London Olympics, as a full quarter of the top-40 in Britain was music performance on the BBC (as opposed to the shitty American NBC broadcast).

The top debut, though, has nothing to do with the Games, but rather is the third #1 credit for singer Rita Ora. Ora, born in the former Yugoslav nation of Kosovo but moved to England in her infancy, first came on the scene as the vocalist in DJ Fresh's charttopping "Hot Right Now" at the beginning of this year. She then scored her first lead-artist #1 with "RIP" featuring Tinie Tempah in May. The followup to that single, "How We Do (Party)", bows at the top as well...

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Coming in at #8 is American singer/songwriter Trey Songz, whose latest album Chapter V has produced two top-10 R&B singles, but charts a top-10 British hit with a different track off the set, "Simply Amazing". One of the US hits, "Heart Attack", was Songz only other top-40 hit so far.

American DJ Porter Robinson jumps in at #9 with his first hit, "Language", and this video is out of this world...

George Michael performed two times on the Olympic Closing Ceremonies, but NBC (again, assholes) only televised one, his classic "Freedom '90". The second is his latest single, which comes in at #15, and is his 34th top-40 single in the UK apart from his time with Wham!, and it's "White Light", and this is another fantastic video clip...

Irish singer Ryan O'Shaughnessy was born in its capital of Dublin, and he appeared on The Voice Of Ireland earlier this year, before coming in fifth on Britain's Got Talent this past May. His self-titled debut album topped the Irish LP chart, and his top-10 Irish single "No Name" debuts in the UK at #31...

British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran fronted a supergroup of guitarist Mike Rutherford of Genesis, Richard Jones of the Feeling, and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd on the Olympic performance of the classic Floyd track "Wish You Were Here" which comes in at #34...

Singer Aiden Grimshaw was on the UK version of the X Factor two years ago, and earlier this year, his "Is This Love" was a top-40 hit here. His followup, "Curtain Call" enters at #49...

Two classic album tracks make their first appearance on the UK top-100 singles due to their performance at the closing ceremonies. The Who's "Baba O'Riley", from their album Who's Next. Of course, most Americans didn't catch this, as it preempted for a preview of a shitty NBC show I refuse to name, then shown way past bedtime.

Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", done by Ed Sheeran over at #35, spurred people to buy the original track, which was a highlight of the show, especially when a tightrope walker at the top of the stadium recreated the classic album cover with a burning mannequin. It jumps in at #68...

In The Little Wood (actually YouTube comic Martyn Littlewood) debuts at #78 with "Screw The Nether", a videogame parody of Maroon5's "Moves Like Jagger" that I think I'd like even more if I knew what they were talking about...is this Minecraft?

English folk-rock legend Sandy Denny was the singer in the awesome band Fairport Convention, and her song "London", sung by her and Thea Gilmore, was used for the British Olympic recap montages...

That's it for the totally new tracks on the chart, though I want to give props to a few records that are back in a big way because of the closing ceremonies. My personal highlight Emeli Sande's "Read All About It Part 3" shoots back all the way up to #3 this week as it bookended the production. (Its original peak was #49)...

British band Elbow had a #35 hit in 2008 with their track "One Day Like This", and their (again, NBC-fucked) Olympic performance propels the single back to a new high at #4...

British jewel Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" originally peaked at #3 with "Running Up That Hill" in 1985, and again, the NBC-omitted part of the production helps the song come back at #6..

and finally, John Lennon's face appeared in the arena as his classic "Imagine" played, and the previous #6 hit from 1975 (and #1 after his death in 1980) reappears at #18...

That's it for now, stay tuned tomorrow for more "Album Sweep", the Song of the Day, Candletime, and the "Robbed Hit of the Week". Cheers!