A week with two high new entries and… yeah, pretty much nothing else.

1. HUNTR/X – “Golden”

Eight weeks total. Last week I said that this track had peaked and Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” was in track to overtake it. Well, it’s started growing again – just enough to avoid being overtaken, with a margin of victory of fractionally over 1%. The Olivia Dean track is still growing faster, so there’s still a strong chance that this week will be it, but… who knows.

3. Lewis Capaldi – “Something in the Heavens” 

Why yes, that is an AI-generated video – perhaps the highest-profile example I’ve seen to date. To be fair, it’s one of the better examples I’ve seen, but that’s because it leans into the dreamlike vibe that leverages the uncanny valley effect. I’ve yet to see a successful AI video that wasn’t in some way trying to turn the technology’s weaknesses into advantages by building around them. You’ll notice nobody wanted to take their chances with putting the actual Lewis Capaldi into the video.

This is the second single from his upcoming album. Capaldi is unusual in having a fanbase who behave like K-pop fans and pre-order the physical single – he has form for timing the release of those singles to try and push a single over the edge, and holding them back if he looks like he’s getting to number 1 without them. His previous single, “Survive”, did get to number 1, and lasted four weeks in the top 10, but departed the top 40 after nine weeks. This one did ship the CDs in the first week and it was number 1 in the midweeks thanks to those pre-ordered singles all registering in the opening days. In practice, nearly 60% of its chart points comes from sales (the overwhelming majority from CD singles), and so by the end of the week it tails off.

5. Raye – “Where Is My Husband!”

This is officially the lead single from her next album – good, isn’t it? It’s her highest placing single since… well, casso’s “Prada”, but that’s a sample of her vocal. So in practice it’s her highest placing single since her commercial breakthrough single “Escapism” became her sole number 1 at the start of 2023. A spillover effect leads to that track re-entering at number 37.

A bunch of non-album singles have placed significantly lower than this – “Suzanne” with Mark Ronson reached number 34 earlier in the year – so the strength of the track is a big part of the position.

And… um, yes, that’s it. There’s also a re-entry for “Dealer” by Lola Young at 35, but that’s just a rebound from 43. This week’s climbers, then:

• “Breakin’ Dishes” by Rihanna climbs 21-19, which makes it her 42nd top 20 hit.
• “Sugar on my Tongue” by Tyler, The Creator climbs to 29 after three weeks hovering in the 35-37 range.
• “Folded” by Kehlani  climbs 33-30.

Yes, that’s literally it. And the four tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “Dior” by MK featuring Chrystal, a former number 1 which lasted 15 weeks in the chart.
• “Jealous Type” by Doja Cat, which entered at 13 but only took four weeks to drop out of the chart – by modern standards, not a success.
• “Messy” by Lola Young, which was a re-entry at 40 last week.
• “A Little More” by Ed Sheeran, which was a re-entry at 32 last week due to his album release.

Oh well. Let’s see if the album chart has anything more interesting going.

1. Biffy Clyro – “Futique” 

Their tenth album (not counting a soundtrack album they did as a side project a few years back) and their fourth number one. The others were “Opposites” in 2013, “Ellipsis” in 2016, and “A Celebration of Endings” in 2020. Their previous album only got to number 4, but it was released in a busy week – it got stuck behind three other new entries, by Elton John, Lana Del Rey and Duran Duran. Biffy Clyro albums tend not to stick around long – one or two weeks is usually their limit these days. They have a comfortable lead over Sabrina Carpenter at number 2, but she’s going to be around for the long haul.

3. Lola Young – “I’m Only F**king Myself”

This is her third album, and the singles “One Thing” and “Dealer” both made the top 40. Her previous album only to to number 16 (and vanished after a week), so this is a step up. Oh, and just so we’re clear, the asterisks are in the official title.

4. The Divine Comedy – “Rainy Sunday Afternoon” 

This is Neil Hannon’s thirteenth studio album as The Divine Comedy (which has sometimes had other members too). The last one was “Office Politics” back before the pandemic; he seems to be in a rather less gimmicky mood this time round.

6. Buckingham Nicks – “Buckingham Nicks” 

This is a re-issue of an album released by Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1973, before they joined Fleetwood Mac. As such, it failed to chart at the time. It’s remained unavailable outside bootlegs ever since, and hasn’t even been released to streaming services until this week. That would normally make you wonder if there was some sort of legal issue, but supposedly it just hasn’t been a high enough priority for anyone.

12. Nine Inch Nails – “Tron: Ares – OST”

Exactly the same position as their last commercially released studio album, 2018’s “Bad Witch”. So evidently fans aren’t seeing this as a side project. The clip above is Nine Inch Nails’ version of the video – there’s also a Disney edit which is more obviously dsigned to advertise the film.

13. Joy Crookes – “Juniper” 

Her second album – the first one reached number 5 in 2021, so this is a step down. Mind you, you’d struggle to say that the lead single above was aiming to be especially commercial.

21. Sammy Virji – “Same Day Cleaning”

Debut album. It includes the single “Cops & Robbers”, which reached number 36.

26. Cardi B – “Am I The Drama” 

Her second album after a seven year gap. In a rather desperate attempt to get some actual hits on it, it includes “WAP” (number 1 in 2020) and “Up” (number 16 in 2021) – several other tracks were released as singles this year, but didn’t make the top 40.

27. Newton Faulkner – “Octopus”

When the hell did Newton Faulkner start sounding like this? Anyway, this is the first time we’ve seen him in the album top 40 since 2017, when “Hit the Ground Running” reached number 13. He has released analbum since then – 2021’s “Interference (Of Light)” – but it only got to number 91. So relatively speaking this is a big turn around. Mind you, his 2015 album “Human Love” also missed the top 40, so his chart performance in the last decade just seems to be wildly variable.