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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This is one of those weeks when everyone gets out of the way of a major album release, so we get a quiet chart. But first!

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

I still don’t think much of this, but Britain evidently disagrees. That’s six weeks at number 1.

7. Billie Eilish – “Happier Than Ever”
28. Billie Eilish – “Getting Older”
32. Billie Eilish – “Oxytocin”

The album “Happier Than Ever” enters at number 1, giving her a second number 1 album. Predictably, it maxes out its three-song allocation. The earlier singles from this album have performed patchily – “Therefore I Am” and “Your Power” both made the top 5, but “Lost Cause” and “NDA” missed the top 10 and vanished quickly.

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This week’s designated album-releaser is Dave.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

Five weeks. It’s past its peak, though.

2. Dave featuring Stormzy – “Clash”
4. Dave – “Verdansk”
6. Dave – “In The Fire”

That’s the maximum three tracks from the new Dave album “We’re All Alone in This Together”, which becomes his second number 1 album. “Clash” was the single, entering at 3 two weeks ago and rebounding now. “In the Fire” has a barrage of uncredited guest verses (which is why it runs to seven minutes), and is built around a fantastic sample from “Have You Been Tried in the Fire” by the Florida Mass Choir. “Verdansk”… leaves me entirely cold.

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It’s one of those singles charts that would be dead if it wasn’t for the spillover from album releases.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

Four weeks. It’s still not growing on me.

14. Pop Smoke featuring Dua Lipa – “Demeanor”

This is the lead single from “Faith”, which enters the album chart at number 3. It’s his third album, two of which were posthumous. Posthumous albums are a dubious exercise at the best of times, at least when they go beyond completing a final product to pillaging the archives for material that the artist consciously chose not to release during life. This single is perfectly fine on its merits, but it’s hard to look past the fact that it’s essentially an unreleased Pop Smoke fragment plastered over a Dua Lipa track.

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Sometimes the lag in a weekly chart is more noticeable than normal…

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

Three weeks at number one. It’s still growing, too.

3. Dave featuring Stormzy – “Clash”

First-time collaboration by two of the big names of UK rap, so it was bound to do well. It’s musically compelling even if you have no idea what they’re going on about (I don’t pretend to pick up references to trainers without resorting to the annotations, and I have no idea where Jeremy Corbyn fits into anything). I’m sure he’s a big fan of Aston Martins too.

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This is what you call a dead week.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

Two weeks. And for our highest new entry we find ourselves going all the way down to…

32. Brent Faiyaz featuring Drake – “Wasting Time”

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Ah, he’s back.

1. Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”

The lead single from Ed Sheeran’s fifth album, and… well, it’s one of his electropop efforts, and it’s fine, but nothing outstanding. It feels like it’s jumped straight to a slightly uninspired European remix from three years ago. Still, it’s his tenth number one, which is elite company – there are only six acts who have had more than ten number ones. Admittedly, one of them is Westlife.

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It’s still Olivia Rodrigo’s chart.

1. Olivia Rodrigo – “Good 4 U”
9. Olivia Rodrigo – “Traitor”
17. Olivia Rodrigo – “Favorite Crime”

That’s 5 weeks at number 1 for “Good 4 U”. The chart compilers are claiming that as the longest run at the top for a – and I quote – “rock-influenced” track since “Spaceman” by Babylon Zoo in 1996. Which… okay? There does seem to be something of a resurgence in guitars right now. We’ll see if that lasts.

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It’s static at the top.

1. Olivia Rodrigo – “Good 4 U”

Four weeks at number 1, and she still has three songs in the top 10 (with “Deja Vu” at 5, and “Traitor” at 8). The top 3 is static, with the Weeknd at 2 and Doja Cat at 3.

12. Mimi Webb – “Dumb Love”

This is the follow-up to her debut single “Good Without”, which has been on the chart for 12 weeks now and is currently a non-mover at its peak of number 9. I thought “Good Without” was a bit obvious; I like this more, though it’s very much a record for Heart FM. That said, we don’t get too much of this in the top 40 at the moment, which makes it a welcome part of the mix.

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