Apparently we’re paying attention to the Superbowl half time show now, are we?

1. Lola Young – “Messy”

Four weeks. The logjammed top five which we’ve had of late is finally broken as a result of most of the tracks involved being hit by the downweighting rule, which was to be expected. We’ll come to their replacements in a bit.

7. Alex Warren – “Ordinary”

This is his first top 10 hit; his previous best was number 23 for “Carry You Home”, which rebounds to 28 this week. It’s a heartfelt ballad built to a familiar template, but pretty well done if you like that sort of thing. His other previous hit, “Burning Down”, re-enters at number 34.

11. Kendrick Lamar & SZA – “All the Stars”
39. SZA featuring Kendrick Lamar – “30 for 30”

Kendrick Lamar already had some tracks in the top 40 last week thanks to the Grammys, but the Superbowl has put a rocket under them. “Not Like Us” climbs from 27 to 2, which is a new peak – it only got to number 6 on its first release. It’s now his biggest hit single; his previous peak was number 4, held jointly by his own “Squabble Up” and a guest appearance on Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood”. The midweeks have it climbing to number 1, which, in the week of a new Drake album, might well be seen as the final victory. (The Drake album will place multiple tracks in the top 40 singles, but it’s not even in contention for number 1 on the album chart. The midweeks have it placing below a Wombats album.)

“Luther” jumps from number 34 to number 10, and we also have two re-entries. “All the Stars” is a track from the Black Panther soundtrack, which peaked at number 5 in 2018. “30 for 30”, meanwhile, is a SZA album track which has been hanging around in the 60s and 70s since the new year. Since he’s only credited as a featured guest on that track, it allows him a rare fourth song on the top 40.

13. Lisa featuring Doja Cat & Raye – “Born Again”

That’s Lisa from Blackpink, of course. This is her first appearance in the top 40 outside the band. With “APT” having set up shop at number 2 for an extended run – it’s still inside the top 10 now – you might think that Blackpink are finally breaking through as solo acts in the UK. The picture’s more mixed than that, though. This track has big name guest stars, after all, and both Rosé and Lisa have released other solo singles that failed to chart. (Rosé’s follow-up, “Toxic Till the End”, was quite good but only got to number 72. Admittedly, releasing it in the week before Christmas can’t have helped.) The midweeks also have this swandiving to number 35.

32. Chappell Roan – “Red Wine Supernova”

This is a re-entry from outside the top 100. I think what’s happened here is that it had enough of a surge of sales last week following the Grammys to trigger an automatic reset on the downweighting rule, causing a delayed re-entry. Meanwhile, “Pink Pony Club” climbs from 14-4 to become her third top 5 hit, a mere five  years after it was originally released, and “Good Luck Babe” climbs 28-22.

This week’s climbers:

• “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar climbs 27-2.
• “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga climbs 6-3.
• “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan climbs 14-4.
• “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone climbs 33-6, which looks like another delayed reaction to the Grammys.
• “Denial is a River” by Doechii climbs 16-9 to enter the top ten.
• “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar & SZA climbs 34-10.
• “Guess” by Charli XCX featuring Billie Eilish, which re-entered last week at 31, climbs to 21.

There’s also a re-entry for “Like Him” by Tyler, The Creator at 39 (a rebound from 41), so we have nine tracks leaving the top 40:

• “The Door” by Teddy Swims peaked at 5 before Christmas and has been in the top 10 since the new year, but drops straight out of the top 40 on being downweighted. He still has “Bad Dreams” in the top 20.
• “Please to Meet You” by Myles Smith has been around since November with the obligatory Christmas interruption, and peaked at 6 a month ago.
• “Sao Paolo” by the Weeknd & Anitta was a re-entry at 21 last week with the release of the Weeknd’s album. “Timeless” is still in the top 20.
• “Defying Gravity” by Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande peaked with two weeks at number 7 in December.
• “Truth in the Lies” by Central Cee & Lil Durk had two weeks, peaking at 13. “CRG”, also from the Central Cee album, is at 24.
• “Push 2 Start” by Tyla had five weeks in the top 40, peaking at 23.
• “Raving in the Studio” by Aitch & Bou got a single week at number 40.

On the album chart:

1. Taylor Swift – “Lover (Live From Paris)”

This is an eight track live album first released in limited quantities in 2023 (when it didn’t chart because there weren’t enough copies available). It’s been reissued as a collectible for Valentine’s Day and becomes a rare number 1 album entirely on physical sales. It’s her 13th number 1 album, the others being… well, literally everything she’s released since 2012, except for “Folklore – The Long Pond Studio Sessions” (2023), which somehow only got to number 4.

2. Inhaler – “Open Wide”

This is the band fronted by Bono’s son. It’s their third album and their third to make the top 2 (their debut was a number 1).

17. Olly Alexander – “Polari”

Technically a debut album, although the final Years & Years album was basically an Olly Alexander solo project. That album got to number 1 in 2022. This doesn’t do as well – Years & Years never missed the top 3, in fact. It includes “Dizzy”, his Eurovision track, which just missed the top 40 on release.

23. Dream Theater – “Parasomnia”

Their 16th studio album, but only their eighth appearance on the albums top 40. It more or less matches the number 21 position of their previous album, “A View From the Top of the World” (2021)… but they were just missing the top 10 in the late 2010s, so things have dropped off a bit.

24. Block 33 – “The Promised Land”

Self-described mod revivalists. It’s their first album.