We’re saved!

1. Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”

This is the lead single from her upcoming album “Man’s Best Friend”, and it finally liberates us from Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”, which had been number 1 since March. The margin is less than 5% but I’ll take it. “Manchild” is a perfectly good Sabrina Carpenter single in the vein established by the previous album (and it helps if you stick with it to the middle eight, which acknowledges that if she’s running into this many incompetents, the issue might actually be with her taste in men).

It’s her fourth number one, following last year’s triumvirate of “Espresso”, “Please Please Please” and “Taste”.

9. Ed Sheeran – “Sapphire”

Ah, he’s discovered India. The uncredited guest singer is Arjit Singh, a playback singer who’s a big name in India.

We’re three singles into the promotion for this album and we’ve yet to have a number one, but they are showing staying power. “Azizam” has been out for ten weeks and is still hanging in at number 10. “Old Phone” did less well, entering at 17 and falling from there, but it’s still in the top 40 after six weeks. Basically, post-peak Ed Sheeran chart performance is still way above average.

17. MK featuring Chrystal – “Dior”

We last had MK on the chart in 2023 when “Asking” reached number 7. This one features Chrystal, getting a follow-up to her debut hit “The Days”. That track reached number 4 and has yet to leave the top 40 after a 28 week run. This is… bad? Or weirdly static, depressing and unresolved? I don’t like it at all.

Anyway, that’s it for new entries this week. For climbers:

• “Back to Friends” by Sombr climbs 9-7 in its 11th week. “Undressed” is a non-mover at 4.
• “Nice to Each Other” by Olivia Dean climbs 28-18. That overtakes her 2021 version of “The Christmas Song” to become her biggest hit single.
• “Fame is a Gun” by Addison Rae climbs 27-23. Her previous hit “Headphones On” entered at roughly the same level and dropped from there, so this is looking more promising. Mind you, the album was out this week, which must have helped.
• “The Glen” by Levi Heron climbs 37-26, because who doesn’t love inexplicable folk remixes?

There are a handful of re-entries at the bottom end of the top 40 from tracks which are just hovering either side of 40: “That’s so True” by Gracie Abrams at 37, “Good Luck Babe” by Chappell Roan at 39, and “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims at number 40. That track, by the way, has now spent a total of 65 weeks in the top 40 despite the best efforts of the downweighting rule.

This means there are six tracks leaving the top 40:

• “Sports Car” by Tate McRae, which peaked at number 3, had 13 weeks in the top 10, and lasted 19 weeks in the top 40. Last week’s new entry “Just Keep Watching” falls from 6 to 11; “Revolving Door” is at 25 after 16 weeks on chart.
• “Bad Dreams” by Teddy Swims peaked at number 6 and had 36 weeks in the top 40, with a brief interruption over Christmas.
• “What Was That” by Lorde peaked at 11 and lasted 6 weeks.
• “Cliché” by MGK entered at 31 and lasted two weeks.
• “Nokia” by Drake peaked at 10 but lasted a surprising 16 weeks.
• “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” by Benson Boone peaked at 20 but still lasted 14 weeks. He still has “Beautiful Things” at number 12 – in its 68th week in the top 40 – and “Mystical Magical” at 16.

On the album chart:

1. Pulp – “More”

Their first new album since “We Love Life” in 2001. The video for “Spike Island” is a rare example of a good AI-generated video, because the whole concept is to play off the fear that a Pulp reunion will be a clumsy rehash of past glories. Good song, too.

It’s their third number 1 album, following “Different Class” in 1995 and “This is Hardcore” in 1998.

2. Addison Rae – “Addison”

Debut album. Includes the hit singles “Diet Pepsi”, “Headphones On” and “Fame is a Gun”. And the non-hit singles “Aquamarine” and “High Fashion”.

3. Little Simz – “Lotus”

Her sixth album, and her highest position. Her chart record is weird: she didn’t make the top 40 until album 4, “Something I Might be Introvert”, won the Mercury Prize and reached number 4. And the follow-up got to… number 40. Despite the reference in the lyrics to her being “twenty-something”, she’s actually 31.

7. Marina – “Princess of Power”

The artist formerly known as Marina and the Diamonds – she changed that two albums ago, but it’s still probably the name by which she’s best known. Her previous album, 2021’s “Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land”, was her first to miss the top 10, so this is a return to form.

9. My Chemical Romance – “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge”

21st anniversary reissue, though it didn’t actually chart in the UK until 2005, when it finally reached the dizzy heights of number 34. Their highest placing album in this country was “The Black Parade”, which entered at number 2.

11. Turnstile – “Never Enough”

They’re a hardcore band from Baltimore on their fourth album, but making the first appearance in the UK album chart. Apparently they’re extending their genre reach a bit on this album.

24. Volbeat – “God of Angels Trust”

Danish rock. It’s their ninth album and the fourth to make the UK top 40 – their 2019 album made the top 10. The single above starts off a bit rockabilly before going metal about one and a half minutes in. It is called “In the Barn of the Goat Giving Birth to Satan’s Spawn in a Dying World of Doom.”