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Ding Dong! The Witch is No. 1

Industry News

Obviously the news this week has been dominated by the death of Margaret Thatcher, an Iron Lady who should be either resting or rusting in peace/piss depending on your political persuasion. So far the extremes on both sides have come in for criticism, with Brixton party-starters being derided as disrespectful, and wealthy football chairmen eliciting incredulity in those who lived through the Hillsborough tragedy (covered up by Thatcher’s government) by asking for a pre-game minute’s silence before this weekend’s fixtures.

However, as happens more and more frequently in these downloadable times, events have engendered an instant reaction in the charts. Just last week PJ and flippin’ Duncan were No. 1 following a performance on Saturday Night Takeaway, and this week anti-Thatcherites have celebrated by getting Judy Garland’s “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead” to the top of the Amazon download charts, with two Ella Fitzgerald versions also in the Top 20, while Garland is also currently No. 2 in the iTunes chart behind Duke Dumont’s equally politically-charged “Need U (100%)”.

It’ll be interesting to see how Jameela Jamil handles this one on Sunday’s Radio 1 countdown, but the real question is whether we’ll soon be seeing this Crass number storming up the charts:

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