I know, I know – I’ve still got to do All-New Doop.  We’ll get to it.  I’m turning it over in my mind.

In the meantime!

38.  5 Seconds of Summer – “Amnesia”

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Another quiet week for new releases, while the turnover of number 1 singles continues with another hitherto obscure act.  But first…

38.  Katy Perry – “This Is How We Do”

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This was looking like a busy chart in the midweeks, but it calmed down drastically by Sunday – once again, front loaded sales mean that three singles that looked on track to make the top 40 are gone by the time of the chart proper, including one that was showing as high as 20.  We’re left with…

34.  Saint Motel – “My Type”

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This would have been a pretty dead chart, were it not for a couple of future hits poking their heads into the bottom of the top 40.  But hey!  Something manages to spend a second week at number one!

40.  Sam Smith – “I’m Not The Only One”

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This chart ends up rather quieter than the midweeks seemed to promise.  Outside the top 40, it’s worth noting “Home” by Leah McFall featuring will.i.am, in which the overpunctuated producer nobly attempts to help launch the career of one of the acts he mentored during the last season of The Voice (and who he plainly thought should have won).  Remarkably, Radio 1 hasn’t supported the record even though the BBC1 show could use all the help it can get.  But to be fair, whatever airplay it got on independent radio hasn’t done it much good either.  Result: number 56.  That’s astonishing for a record which really isn’t bad, which was on a major label, and which was promoted by will.i.am.  It tends to suggest that The Voice UK is now an outright toxic brand in terms of mainstream pop music.

37.  Vic Mensa – “Down on my Luck”

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A very top-heavy chart this week, with all the new entries landing in the top 20.  Of mild note, Cher Lloyd’s comeback single “Sirens” – you know, her from X Factor – lands at 41, which I guess is actually marginally better than landing at 39, in as much as fewer people will notice it happened.

19.  Jamie N Commons & X Ambassadors – “Jungle”

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We’ve got a pretty dead week here.  Not much in the way of new releases, and what there is, hasn’t exactly sustained its sales.

30.  Kove featuring Melissa Steel – “Way We Are”

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It’s the second week to factor streaming into the chart, and the muted start for the new format continues, with one of the dullest charts of the year.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

38.  Matrix & Futurebound featuring Tanya Lacey – “Don’t Look Back”

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Will this finally be the week that something stays at number 1 for a second week?  The midweeks say no!  iTunes says yes!  Let’s find out!

But the bigger news by far is the announcement that streaming data will finally be added to the chart from the start of July.  That makes this the penultimate chart to be based entirely on sales, after over fifty years.  But I’m all for including streaming; it reflects what listeners are choosing to hear, and the rise of streaming services spawns an audience who have no logical reason to buy singles any more.

The question is how you weight it, which in turn begs the question of what exactly we’re supposed to be measuring here.  Leave aside the fact that the chart exists primarily because the record industry considers it a useful promotional tool; that usefulness still stems from the perception that it actually measures something.

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