The singles chart is getting back into the swing of things.  The album chart… very much isn’t.

1.  Ava Max – “Sweet But Psycho” 

That’s four weeks at number one, but at least some other records are marching on her.  “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Mark Ronson featuring Miley Cyrus climbs 3-2, which is Miley’s highest position since 2014 (when she was one of a ton of guests on will.i.am’s “Feelin’ Myself”).  “Wow.” by Post Malone climbs 4-3, equalling the peak of his previous single “Sunflowers”, which in turn is still hanging around at 5.

4.  Sam Smith & Normani – “Dancing with a Stranger”

(more…)

Christmas is over, and the singles chart is back to something approaching normal.  Just four new entries, but they are normal new entries.

1.  Ava Max – “Sweet But Psycho”

Not that anything is yet breaking through to challenge Ava Max, who gets a third week at number 1.  She has a comfortable lead over the number 2 single (“Thank U Next”), equivalent to 27,000 sales, so she could be here a while yet.  Number 3 is “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Mark Ronson featuring Miley Cyrus, which is now Ronson’s biggest hit since “Uptown Funk”.  “Wow.” by Post Malone climbs to 5, pushing his own “Sunflower” down to 5.

6.  Headie One featuring Dave – “18Hunna”

(more…)

This is the annual dead chart, the one between Christmas and New Year that makes no sense.  Last week the chart was dominated by Christmas records, which made up more than half the top 40.  This week they’re all gone.  All of them.  . But there’s nothing new out yet to replace them, which means a surge of stuff that’s been hanging around a while, plus a few things that didn’t quite make the top 40 until now.  To keep this somewhat manageable, I’ll mainly stick to pointing out the records that are actually at a new peak.

1.  Ava Max – “Sweet But Psycho”

That’s two weeks, and it managed nearly eight million streams last week.  So even though it’s been out for a couple of month, it could be a while before something musters the energy to shift it.  Ariana Grande’s “Thank U Next” rebounds to number 2, while “Sunflower” by Post Malone featuring Swae Lee climbs to number 3 after eleven weeks out (its previous peak was number 7).

5.  Post Malone – “Wow.”

(more…)

It’s the post-Christmas chart, covering the week that straddles Christmas itself.  Nothing new is released in Christmas week, and the streaming services are dominated – up until Christmas Day itself – with people hammering the Christmas playlists.  So it’s time for the annual weird chart, where the Christmas songs march to the top, all of them set to vanish this time next week.  There are a bunch of chart entries, though they’re all caused by the festive flood.

But we kick off with the new number one…

1.  Ava Max – “Sweet But Psycho”

(more…)

It’s the Christmas number one!  And… this was not expected.

1.  LadBaby – “We Built This City”

So, after two years of regular singles as the Christmas number one – Ed Sheeran last year, Clean Bandit in 2016 – it’s a novelty record.  We’ve had a lot of charity records and X Factor winners as Christmas number one, but the last time an out-and-out novelty record did it was in 2000 when the theme to Bob the Builder managed it.

(more…)

So much for the theory that if we give less weight to the streams of older tracks, the chart won’t be clogged up with old records this Christmas, then!

1.  Ariana Grande – “Thank U, Next”

Five weeks, and the chart compilers are crediting it with a new record for weekly streams – 14.9 million.  This is misleading: the previous record was 14.2 million, held by Ed Sheeran, but that was before video plays counted towards the chart.  And since Ariana Grande’s video streams stand at over 7 million in a week, it’s pretty clear that if we were comparing like with like, Ed Sheeran would still be ahead.  But more of Ariana Grande later.  Meanwhile…

4.  Dalton Harris featuring James Arthur – “The Power of Love”

(more…)

No X-books to review this week, and… yeah, not the most active chart either.  Just three new entries on the singles chart.

1.  Ariana Grande – “Thank U, Next”

Four weeks!  And look, it has a video now.  As in, literally within the last couple of hours.  It’s… well, it’s a homage to teen films, which doesn’t really feel like it fits with the song, but whatever.

20.  DigDat – “Air Force”

(more…)

People still really like The Greatest Showman.

1.  Ariana Grande – “Thank U, Next”

But first, Ariana Grande gets a third week at number one.  It has a comfortable 24,000 sales-equivalent lead over the number two single.  Not much more to say about that, really, so…

16.  James Arthur & Anne-Marie – “Rewrite The Stars”

(more…)

Busy, busy week.  Let’s get to it.

1.  Ariana Grande – “Thank U Next” 

Two weeks, and it’s the first time Ariana Grande has managed that.  This is doing huge business on streaming – 9.76 million in a week, a record for the year – for a chart score more than double the number two single, “Shallow”.  So it’s probably going to be here for a while.  It’s a little unexpected, since even after cementing her celebrity status, Ariana Grande has been more of a top ten level artist (her last number one was four years ago).

We have to go some way down to hit the first new entry…

17.  Charli XCX featuring Troye Sivan – “1999”

(more…)

We’ve got a tenth anniversary podcast coming up this weekend, but first, here’s the chart post…

1.  Ariana Grande – “thank u next”

This was released two days into the chart week, but still beats the incumbent number one (“Shallow”) by 50%  or so.  It was a relatively low-selling number one, admittedly.  But even so, it’s an achievement for a midweek release to enter at the top.  Records do still enter at number one, but it’s no longer the norm, and it’s not particularly something we expect of Ariana Grande – her only previous UK number ones were “Problem” and “Bang Bang”, both in 2014.  This song probably benefits from name checking her actual ex-boyfriends, and thus making itself part of her personal narrative, but it’s a decent enough single on its own terms.

(more…)