Well, so much for Drake having another mammoth run at number 1.

1.  Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – “One Kiss”

We’re ready for summer, then?  Calvin Harris has been around for over a decade now, and he’s been placing consistently in the top ten the whole time.  This is his ninth number one hit, following “Dance Wiv Me” (2008), “I’m Not Alone” (2009), “We Found Love” (2011), “Sweet Nothing” (2012), “Under Control” (2013), “Summer” (2014), “Blame” (2014), and “Feels” (2017).  Okay, a couple of those were guest appearances, but that’s still seven with top billing.  It’s an impressive haul, but you don’t think of Calvin Harris as that level of celebrity, perhaps because he’s more of a background figure in the way he promotes his own records.

This may also explain why Harris occasionally releases a flop, like his previous single “Nuh Ready Nuh Ready”, which got to number 41.  I’m not sure he’s a fanbase act; he just keeps releasing records that people like on their individual appeal.

Oh, and this is Dua Lipa’s second number one, following last year’s “New Rules”.

20.  Zayn – “Let Me”

This week’s highest new entry is the second single from the upcoming second Zayn Malik album.  It’s always a bit of a warning sign when the second single comes seven months after the first, particularly if they’re still trying to do the “all the videos for this album tell a story” gimmick.  But the track is alright.  It’s one of his stronger and less gimmicky solo singles.

25.  Nicki Minaj – “Chun-Li”

It’s been a while – this is one of two singles promoting her upcoming fourth studio album, the follow-up to “The Pinkprint” from 2014.  And although she shows up from time to time as a guest star, she hasn’t had a major hit in her own right since “Anaconda”.  These two singles – the other one is coming – both seem to be mainly intended to re-establish her with the serious hip-hop audience, and they do that very well.  This is the commercial one, it has a vertical video for phone streaming, and it’s a respectable start – though you’ll note that two Cardi B singles are higher up the chart…

30.  EO – “German”

Your UK rap single of the week.  It’s one of those tracks where somebody is very, very proud of having a Mercedes.  It’s catchy, although there’s something a bit odd about talking up your “foreign car” in Britain, where pretty much everyone drives a foreign car.  Even given that the whole song is about the car, I’m not sure I would have spent the whole video with him standing next to the car that he’s too young to legally drive, but heck, he seems happy.

31.  Nicki Minaj – “Barbie Tingz”

The other Nicki Minaj track.  It’s the less commercial one and it only has a lyric video (albeit a fairly elaborate one), so you’d expect it to come in second.

37.  David Guetta featuring Sia – “Flames”

Oh, this is good.  This ought to climb.  I mean, you know what you’re getting with these two – they did “Titanium”, for heaven’s sake – but Sia’s a pro and she does this sort of inspirational stuff very, very well. Guetta seems to be stepping up his release schedule, presumably with an album in the offing (which would be his first since 2014).  He has three singles on the chart this week, with “Mad Love” above at 25, and…

40.  David Guetta featuring Martin Garrix & Brooks – “Like I Do”

I’d stick with the Sia track, to be honest.  This has been out since February, and the Sia track has been out for a few weeks as well, so it’s a little odd that they’ve both taken so long to make any impact.  Brooks is a Dutch DJ, by the way.

This week’s climbers:

• “Lullaby” by Sigala & Paloma Faith climbs 9-7.
• “Love Lies” by Khalid & Normani climbs 18-16.
• “Answerphone” by Banx & Ranx, Ella Eyre & Yxng Bane climbs 25-18.  I said that would do well.
• “Bad Vibe” by M O, Lotto Boyzz & Mr Eazi climbs 23-22.
• “I Like It” by Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny & J Balvin moves 40-23.
• “Be Careful” by Cardi B climbs 27-24.
• “Mad Love” by Sean Paul featuring David Guetta & Becky G moves 39-25.
• “Vroom” by Yxng Bane climbs 36-32.

On the album chart, The Greatest Showman soundtrack returns to number 1 for its thirteenth week in total.  Further down, dodging an onslaught of back catalogue re-entries which must have been heavily discounted somewhere, we have some new entries…

2.  The Manic Street Preachers – “Resistance is Futile”

So close.  The Manic Street Preachers have had thirteen top ten albums, but only one number one (1998’s “This is My Truth Tell Me Yours”).  “International Blue” is a reassuringly strong single, even if the verses do sound a lot like “Dancing in the Dark”, and James Dean Bradfield in the video is starting to look like Jonathan Meades.

7.  The Damned – “Evil Spirits”

That… is not what I expected a Damned single to sound like, even in 2018.  Bizarrely, this is the highest place the Damned have ever reached on the album chart – their previous peak was 1985’s “Phantasmagoria”, which reached number 11.  This is the third album they’ve released since re-forming in 2001, yet it’s the first to chart at all.  They have switched record labels for this album, so I guess the promotion has improved significantly – as well as the general favouring of older acts whose remaining fans still buy whole albums.

25.  Gary Barlow – “Open Road”

A remastered 21st anniversary re-issue of Gary Barlow’s first solo album, which was supposed to herald a glorious post-Take That solo career, but ended up being more of a meandering ring road until he found his way back to the group again – the follow-up “Twelve Months, Eleven Days” only managed a week at number 35.  (And yes, it’s a 21st anniversary edition – “Open Road” was released in June 1997.  There are enough stray references out there to a 20th anniversary edition, such as the description text on the YouTube video above, to suggest that it wound up getting delayed somewhere.)

35.  Breaking Benjamin – “Ember”

Minor rock band who had no UK chart success in their first run but have now managed a couple of minor album hits in their post-2014 reformed version.  The track above is the sort of stuff that the WWE uses as pay per view theme music.

36.  Isaac Gracie – “Isaac Gracie”

Folky songwriter debut.  The single is a little bit Embracey for my taste.