At last, deliverance is upon us.

1. Elton John & Dua Lipa – “Cold Heart”

In its 9th week on the top 40, and following three weeks at number 2, “Cold Heart” climbs to the top and spares us all a sixteenth week of Ed Sheeran. Bryan Adams remains unmatched.

I explained all this back when “Cold Heart” first charted, but it’s the latest in a series of tracks by the Australian trio Pnau, constructing new dance tracks from chunks of the Elton John back catalogue. In this case, that’s supplemented by original vocals from Dua Lipa, but still sticking to Elton John elements. The main sources for “Cold Heart”, and the most immediately recognisable, are “Rocket Man” and “Sacrifice”, but it also draws on two more obscure tracks, “Kiss the Bride” and (in the fade out) the album track “Where’s the Shoorah?”

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After a few fairly quiet weeks on the singles chart, here’s an absolutely dead one!

1. Ed Sheeran – “Shivers”

Four weeks at number one, and it was preceded by eleven weeks for Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” (currently at number 6). So Ed Sheeran has now been at number one for 15 weeks, which matches Drake’s run in 2016. Of course, Drake did it with just one song – “One Dance” – but it’s still an uncommon level of dominance. For the next target, you’re going back to 1991, when Bryan Adams spent 16 weeks at number 1 with “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”.

Number 2 is still “Cold Heart” by Elton John and Dua Lipa, which has been stuck there for three weeks now.

32. Billie Eilish – “No Time To Die”

So here’s an artefact of the pandemic. This is the theme tune to the new Bond film… and it was originally released last February, when the promotion was just starting to ramp up. It spent a week at number 1 on release, and managed ten weeks in the top 40. It now re-enters a year-and-a-half later. Her current single, “Happier Than Ever”, also climbs back into the top 10, sitting at 9.

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It’s another extremely quiet week for the singles.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Shivers”

Three weeks, but if you combine it with the preceding run of “Bad Habits”, it’s a total of 14 weeks. If he manages another, he matches Drake’s 15-week monopoly from 2015 (though Drake did it with just one single).

3. Coldplay & BTS – “My Universe”

Well, that’s certainly two acts I wouldn’t have expected to find on the same record. I’m not sure anyone ever listened to a BTS record and thought “If only they were doing a Coldplay song”, but here it is. It’s the second single from the next Coldplay album and very much Coldplay’s record; the all-purpose upliftingness is a reasonable fit for BTS, to be fair, but it’s still just kind of what you expect from the big single for a Coldplay album, just with bits of it in Korean.

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It will never end…

1. Ed Sheeran – “Shivers”

That’s a second week for “Shivers”, but combined with the 11-week run of “Bad Habits” immediately before it, it means that he’s now been at number one for 13 weeks. That matches his own record from 2017, when he spent 13 weeks at number 1 with “Shape of You”. The next target for him is 15 weeks, which would match the run of Drake’s “One Dance” from 2015.

10. Lil Nas X – “Thats What I Want”

That’s not a typo. There’s no apostrophe in the title. It’s the release week single from his album “Montero”, which enters at number 2. Officially “Montero” is meant to be his debut studio album, but his EP “7” reached number 23 in 2019, and that had “Old Town Road” and “Panini” on it, so it’s kind of hard to say it doesn’t count.

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A lot of good stuff this week!

1. Ed Sheeran – “Shivers”

Well, the 11-week reign of Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” is over, and it’s replaced by another Ed Sheeran song. (A better one, if you ask me, though the video is trying way too hard.) “Bad Habits” is still hanging on at a very respectable number 3, and while we’ve all probably forgotten about it, he has a third track on the chart too – “Visiting Hours”, which entered at number 5 at the start of the month and is currently at 19.

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Okay, so you know how I said I was hoping this wouldn’t hang on any longer?

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

That’s 11 weeks – an especially difficult feat under the current chart rules, which downweight the streams of tracks that have been out for more than ten weeks, if they’re also a few weeks past their peak. It matches the 11-week run of “Dance Monkey” by Tones and I from the tail end of 2019. The next target in sight is Sheeran’s own “Shape of You”, which had a 14-week run at number one in early 2017 (though only thirteen of those weeks were consecutive). I don’t fancy his chances of making it that far under the current rules, but you never know.

Anyway, Ed Sheeran proves unbudgeable in the face of…

2. Drake featuring Lil Baby – “Girls Want Girls”
3. Drake featuring Travis Scott – “Fair Trade”
5. Drake – “Champagne Poetry”

I’ll be honest – if it’s a choice between an eleventh week of Ed Sheeran, and a song called “Girls Want Girls” from an album called “Certified Lover Boy”, I’m kind of rooting for Ed Sheeran. Besides which, “Girls” and “Fair Trade” feel like water-treading to me. “Champagne Poetry” is more interesting, though I can’t shake the feeling that it might be in the top three tracks simply by virtue of being the opening track.

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Please go away. Please.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

Well, that’s ten weeks. If he’s past his peak, the chart rules will downweight him next week and he’ll be on his way. If not, and he manages an eleventh week, that’ll be the longest run at the top since “Dance Monkey” in late 2019. It heads up a static top four, for the second week running – “Stay” by Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber has been stuck at number 2 for five weeks now and would clearly have been a number one single against any normal competition.

7. Kanye West – “Hurricane”
11. Kanye West – “Jail”
15. Kanye West – “Off the Grid”

The maximum three permitted tracks from his new album “Donda”, which enters at number 1. It’s only his third number 1 album in the UK, the others being 2007’s “Graduation” and 2013’s “Yeezus”, but his last two albums both made number 2, so this hardly ranks as a surprise. There are no official singles from this album, and the only track with a video is “Come to Life” (which is just footage from one of his album playback events).

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Ed Sheeran continues to sit atop a becalmed singles chart.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”
5. Ed Sheeran – “Visiting Hours”

“Bad Habits” has now been number 1 for nine weeks, and it’s still not growing on me. Still, that matches “Drivers Licence” as the longest running number 1 of the year. Ten weeks and he overtakes her; eleven weeks would match Tones & I’s “Dance Monkey” from the tail end of 2019.

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Gosh, this is late. Let’s hope it’s a quiet week.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

Eight weeks. To give the sales a boost, this week adds a remix with Tion Wayne and Central Cee. The midweeks have it sticking around for week nine.

6. Digga D featuring ArrDee – “Wasted”

Not quite Digga D’s highest placing single – “Bringing it Back” got to number 5 earlier this year, but that was a collaboration with equal billing for AJ Tracey. ArrDee gets his second hit after “Oliver Twist” reached number 6 earlier this year; Radio 1 was still playing it to death the last I heard. The midweeks have this sticking around at 9.

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It’s a good week for new entries.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

Seven weeks at number 1. I can’t say it’s growing on me, but there it is. It still needs another two weeks to match “Drivers License”. The top three is static, with Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber at 2 and Jonasu at 3.

13. The Weeknd – “Take My Breath”

This is the lead single from the Weeknd’s fifth album, and it’s firmly in his 80s epic disco mode. Weeknd hits tend to be slow burners that take a couple of months to reach their peak position, so number 13 is fine as a debut. Bear in mind that “Save Your Tears”, from the last album, is still at number 10 – it’s been in the top 40 for 31 weeks, and took nearly six months to reach its peak position of number 2.

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