Chart watchers will be pleased to know it’s safe to come out now – Alexandra Burke and Leona Lewis have left the top 10.

Nothing against those two wonderful vocalists, of course, just that the whole Christmas period is drenched in X Factor generated schmaltz. I lose all faith in popular music when shows like X Factor dominate the charts. Oh look, you got a number one after being promoted for 13 weeks on primetime television! Hallelujah indeed.

1. Lady Gaga – Just Dance: My cynicism for the industry machine made me want to hate Lady Gaga before even hearing this song. But it’s just not possible. I did think it was a Christina Aguilera video for a moment, but Just Dance is just great pop.
2. Kid Cudi v Crookers – Day N Night: My initial response to this is ‘interesting’. Understated electronic groove and very repetitive lyrics, but still good. I hear this is the guy who’s been influencing Kanye West to (over)use vocoders…
3. Tinchy Snider ft Taio Cruz – Take Me Back: Funky, synth-heavy (isn’t all the best music these days?), but grammatically incorrect – “I’m sorry I misleaded you pretty lady” Still, we’ll overlook it this once.
4. James Morrison/Nelly Furtado – Broken Strings: Just when I was losing all hope in James Morrison, he comes along with a damn fine duet with Nelly – who for the first time in recent memory isn’t warbling about being promiscuous.
5. The Saturdays – Issues: I’m hoping Issues is winning The Saturdays new ground. While we were declaring the rise of the girlband a while back, it looks like this year is swaying back to strong solo females instead.
6. Kevin Rudolf ft Lil Wayne – Let It Rock: Been hearing a lot of this tune on music TV: big chorus, lacking in content elsewhere and an eye-catching video
7. Beyonce – Single Ladies: Good tune, naff Beyonce man-hating lyrics. She’s like a stuck record. Stop banging on about Independent Women already.
8. Kings Of Leon – Use Somebody: I’ve been getting into Kings Of Leon quite a bit lately, and while this isn’t the best thing they ever released, I can now appreciate it in the context of their back catalog. Hooray!
9. Pink – Sober: Another introspective Pink track. I’m told this is one of the best tracks on her new album, but it’s a bit moody for my liking.
10. Kanye West – Heartless: You know in cartoons when somebody swallows a whistle, and every time they talk, they make a whistling sound? Any day now, Kanye will announce that he swallowed an autotune device, which will explain his last couple of singles.

What are your favorite chart tunes this week?