After the hectic turnover of number one singles during the summer, Rihanna’s three-week run brought a degree of sanity back to the proceedings.  But now, with that momentary breather behind us, we can get back to the rapid turnover.

The new number one is “Read All About It” by Professor Green featuring Emeli Sande.  This is the lead single from Green’s second album, and it’s his first number one.  It’s also something of a change of tack for him.

He had four hits from the previous album, two of them pretty minor.  The successful ones were both cases of gimmicky sampling with a bit of comedy thrown in – “I Need You Tonight” (no 3, based on the INXS song) and “Just Be Good To Green” (no 5, based on the Beats International version of “Just Be Good To Me”).  The unifying theme with those two was novelty sampling and a bit of comedy, and they’re very much done in character.

“Read All About It”, in comparison, is clearly intended to be a much more personal song.  I’m not altogether sure it works.  There’s something rather obviously rousing about the arrangement that feels a bit too polished to me, and undercuts the sincerity in a way that I don’t think was intended.  If you were feeling uncharitable, you could say that it sounds like a Lidl Eminem.  But it’s got something, and hey, at least he’s developing.

This is also technically the first number one for Emeli Sande, who’s also appeared as a guest singer for Chipmunk and Wiley, as well as reaching number 2 with her own “Heaven”.

Caution: The opening 20 seconds of this next video feature blatant product placement.  But it picks up.

The number 2 single is “Earthquake” by Labrinth featuring Tinie Tempah.  Labrinth started out as the producer responsible for some of Tinie Tempah’s breakthrough hits, only to somehow end up as the most inexplicable signing to Simon Cowell’s label.  (As acknowledged, in purist-baiting fashion, at 1:40.)  In fact, Labrinth is Cowell’s only signing in the last six years who wasn’t connected with a reality show.  Not really surprising, since before he became famous as a TV judge, what he actually specialised in was MOR records for middle aged people and novelty singles.  But he was also, apparently, willing to sign Labrinth as an act rather than a producer, presumably figuring that he might end up with another Timbaland.  This may have turned out to be an uncharacteristic moment of lucidity.

This is Labrinth’s second solo single; the previous one, “Let The Sun Shine”, came out last October and reached number 3.  He’s also had feature credits on a couple of Tinie’s singles.  As for Tinie Tempah, this is his 12th chart credit since his debut last March.

At number 8, “When I Was a Youngster” by Rizzle Kicks – the follow-up to July’s “Down With The Trumpets”.  I’m not sure this one’s quite up there.  Or maybe something just rings a bit false about these two trying to pass themselves off as slackers.

With the release of the Coldplay album, a couple of tracks make the singles chart.  Number 14 is “Paradise”, which has actually been out for several weeks, but was previously disqualified from the chart because it was also being offered to people who pre-ordered the album.  Now that the album is out, it can chart as normal.  The video features a unicycling elephant, which is sweet.

The other Coldplay track to make the top 40 is “Princess of China” at number 33, presumably because it features Rihanna.  It means that once again, Rihanna has four singles on this week’s chart.

Remember Cobra Starship, who reached number 17 two years ago with their one hit “Good Girls Gone Bad”?  Well, they’re back, and with “You Make Me Feel”, they’ve now climbed to the dizzy heights of number 16.  That was worth two years.  In the intervening time, they seem to have been studying Calvin Harris, just like a hundred other people.  This is the chart debut for featured vocalist Sabi, who used to be in the Bangz, and is apparently being groomed for a solo career.

Number 19 is “Runaway Baby” by Bruno Mars, an album track which he performed on the X Factor results show.  It’s his eighth hit and the smallest by some way (particularly as the midweeks show it going no further), but in fairness, it’s not being promoted as a full scale single.

And number 39 is “Countdown” by Beyonce, which has climbing from the lower reaches for a couple of weeks now, but doesn’t seem to be going any further.  Maybe a bit too odd to get support from UK radio.