We’ll get to reviews in the coming days, but let’s cover the topical stuff first. The charts haven’t succumbed to weirdness just yet, but the number of cancelled releases is starting to mount up. It’s on the horizon…

1 The Weeknd – “Blinding Lights”

Swaps places with Saint JHN to return to number 1 for a sixth week. It’s now been displaced from number 1 twice, and it’s been out for a total of 18 weeks. It surely can’t keep this up much longer – can it?

6. Dua Lipa – “Break My Heart”

Dua Lipa just gets her album “Future Nostalgia” out before everything goes weird for an extended period, and it enters the album chart at 2. (Her self-titled debut reached 3 in 2017.) She’s rewarded with the maximum three singles, all in the top 5 – “Physical” is 3, and “Don’t Start Now’ is 2. “Break My Heart” is the other single, complete with a proper video. I can’t quite make up my mind whether the “Stay – At – Home” chorus is perfectly suited to the moment, or rather unfortunate. I can see some playlisters having qualms. The riff is a credited lift from “Need You Tonight” by INXS (number 2 in 1988).

“Intentions” by Justin Bieber featuring Quavo finally makes it to number 8, five weeks after it first reached number 9.

9. Little Mix – “Break Up Song”

This is meant to be the lead single from their sixth album, but surely the promotion for that is going to wind up being mothballed. It’s another eighties-retro track, which seems to be the default Optimism mode for pop in 2020. For some strange reason, the band has also just released a video for “Wasabi”, which is (checks notes) a track from the previous album that was never released as a single. It’s much better than “Break Up Song.”

“Boyfriend” by Mabel climbs 11-10, which makes it her fourth top 10 hit. “Blueberry Faygo” by Lil Mosey climbs 22-11.

12. Partynextdoor & Rihanna – “Believe It”

This is a track from Partynextdoor’s new album “Partymobile”, which enters at number 7 – his first top 10 album. The next-highest track to make the singles chart is down at number 99, so it’s pretty obvious that this one is here because of Rihanna. She hasn’t appeared on the singles chart since late 2017, when she guested on NERD’s “Lemon” – which only got to 31. It’s the one where she raps.

14. Powfu featuring Beabadoobee – “Death Bed”

Climbing from 19, but it’s got a video now and I rather like it.

18. Skepta, Chip & Young Adz – “Waze”
32. Skepta, Chip & Young Adz – “Mains”

Tracks from the three-way collaboration album “Insomnia”, which enters at 3. Skepta presumably doesn’t need an introduction. Young Adz is one of D-Block Europe, and charts regularly under that name. Chip is the guy who used to be Chipmunk, and returned to the charts after a six year absence when he appeared with Roddy Ricch and Yxng Bane on “How It Is” a year ago.

28. Megan Thee Stallion – “Savage”

Hmm. This is one of two promotional tracks from the upcoming album, and it’s not the one that has a proper video. Megan Thee Stallion previously had the ignominious chart record of a single week at number 40 (with “Hot Girl Summer” last year), so at least she strikes that off.

38. JP Saxe featuring Julia Michaels – “If the World was Ending”

“If the world was ending, you’d come over, right?” That’s, er, a song for the times. This has had some success internationally, though, so it’s not here solely for topical reasons. JP Saxe is a Canadian songwriter making his first chart appearance. Julia Michaels had a top ten hit with “Issues” in 2017, and followed it up by appearing on a Clean Bandit single later that year, but it’s the first we’ve seen of her since then.

On the album chart…

1. 5 Seconds of Summer – “Calm”

Their second number 1 album, after 2015’s “Sounds Good Feels Good.” The single “Easier” reached number 27 way back last June.

Number 2 is Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia”; 3 is “Insomnia” by Skepta and co. They were both on the singles chart, so we move on to…

6. Pearl Jam – “Gigaton”

Their eleventh studio album, their ninth top ten. The single… doesn’t sound that much like Pearl Jam, so they’re not going for the nostalgia angle, at least. It’s been seven years since they last released a studio album.

Number 7 is the Partynextdoor album, and again, we’ve had that on the singles.

16. Joyner Lucas – “ADHD”

Debut album. He’s been on the singles chart before – he featured on Eminem’s “Lucky You”, which reached number 6 in 2018. And finally…

32. Brian Fallon – “Local Honey”

The lead singer of Gaslight Anthem, with his third solo album. The previous two reached 13 and 15, so this is a big decline.