A couple of interesting tracks at the lower end of the top 40, and a busy album chart.

1. Taylor Swift – “The Fate of Ophelia”

Three weeks. It’s the same on the album chart, with “The Life of a Showgirl” celebrating its third week at number one there. The same two album tracks round out her three-song limit on the singles chart, with “Opalite” at 5 and “Elizabeth Taylor”. But the margins are getting closer, particularly on the singles chart, where she leads Olivia Dean by a relatively managable 7%.

13. HUNTR/X – “What It Sounds Like”

This is another artefact of the three-song rule – as the top-selling tracks from KPop Demon Hunters start to go onto ACR (the downweighting rule), they notionally drop below other tracks which were previously disqualified. Last week, “Soda Pop” got replaced by “How It’s Done” (which climbs to 9 this week). And this week, “Your Idol” gets replaced with “What It Sounds Like” – a track which doesn’t really work as well outside the confines of the movie, because it’s the climax of the plot. As for “Golden”, that’s still at number 3 and yet to hit ACR.

20. Sam Fender featuring Elton John – “Talk To You”
28. Sam Fender – “People Watching”

Sam Fender won the Mercury Music Prize last week for his album “People Watching”, which has caused a surge of interest. “Rein Me In” rebounds from 13-10, the title track re-enters at 28 (it peaked at 4 last November) and the album re-enters at 17. This is a new single, though, promoting the deluxe edition of the album due out at the start of December.

Fender likes doing duets with big name guest stars, and so we also have another late career chart credit for Elton John, who made his singles chart debut in 1971. We last saw him in 2023 when “I’m Still Standing” reached number 34 as a back catalogue track; his last new recording to make the singles chart with “Hold Me Closer” in 2022, which got to number 3.

37. Joji – “Pixelated Kisses”

That video doesn’t have an epilepsy warning, but I’m pretty sure it should. Anyway, this distorted lofi track is a third hit for Joji, who reached number 12 in 2022 with “Glimpse Of Us” (and number 39 with “Die For You” later that year). He hasn’t released anything else in the interim. I’m always happy to see something like this show up in the top 40.

39. Tame Impala – “My Old Ways” 

This is the release week single from Tame Impala’s fifth album “Deadbeat”, which enters the album chart at number 4. That’s not especially surprising – the last two Tame Impala albums both made number 3 – but it’s of more note that Tame Impala have suddenly started showing up in the singles chart for the first time. “Dracula” entered at 40 two weeks ago, climbed to 39 last week… and now vaults up to 21. Not many album acts manage to make the jump to have hit singles this far into their career, but even as a number 39 hit, “My Old Ways” suggests it might not be a fluke.

This week’s climbers:

• “So Easy (To Fall In Love)” by Oliva Dean climbs 8-6.
• “How It’s Done” by HUNTR/X climbs 12-9 to become the fourth KPop Demon Hunters top 10 hit.
• “Die On This Hill” by Sienna Spiro climbs 26-16 in its second week.
• “Dracula” by Tame Impala climbs 39-21.
• “Phantom” by EsDeeKid & Rico Ace climbs 29-25.

There are also re-entries for Myles Smith at 38 and Ed Sheeran at 40, which are just tracks hovering around the 40 mark. That means we have seven tracks leaving the top 40:

• “Your Idol” by Saja Boys made it to number 5 and had 16 weeks in the top 40.
• “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims was a re-entry at 40 last week.
• “Eternity” by Alex Warren peaked at 3 and lasted 14. “Ordinary” is still at number 12.
• “The Subway” by Chappell Roan got a week at number 1 and five weeks total in the top 10. It lasted 12 weeks before succumbing to ACR. “Pink Pony Club” is still in the top 40 at number 32.
• “Eyes Closed” by Jisoo & Zayn had a single week at number 37.
• “Breakin’ Dishes” by Rihanna got to number 19 in an 8-week run as a back catalogue track.
• “Gabriela” by Katseye lasted five weeks in the top 40, all of them between 38 and 40, before succumbing to premature downweighting as a result of its extraordinarily long climb to get there in the first place.

On the album chart:

1. Taylor Swift – “The Life of a Showgirl”

See above.

2. The Last Dinner Party – “From the Pyre”

Their second album – last year’s “Prelude to Ecstasy” had a week at number 1 and hung around on the chart for a month or so. But they’re not beating Taylor Swift, even with the benefit of their first week physical sales. “Prelude” produced a hit single, “Nothing Matters”, but the none of the singles this time made any headway.

4. Tame Impala – “Deadbeat”

See above.

11. Sam Ryder – “Heartland”

This is the guy who represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022. He had a number 2 hit single with that track, and a Christmas number 2 the following year. His first album was a number 1, and number 11 isn’t bad for a follow-up without the Eurovision promotion. The track above is actually pretty good.

12. David Gilmour – “The Luck and Strange Concerts” 

Live album from his 2024 concert tour, promoting his album “Luck and Strange” (which was a number 1 in its own right). Although you can’t really book an arena tour and then insist on doing just the new album, hence the video above.

13. Miles Kane – “Sunlight in the Shadows”

His sixth solo album and marginally the lowest placing – the others all placed in the range 5-12 so there’s not much in it.

16. Of Monsters & Men – “All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade” 

Icelandic indie. It’s their fourth album and again marginally the lowest-placing – as in, one place below its predecessor from 2019.

17. Sam Fender – “People Watching” 

Re-entry, and we’ve covered this already.

18. Rianne Downey – “The Consequence of Love”

Debut album. She’s a country/folk singer from Lanarkshire, and she’s toured with Paul Heaton in the past.

32. Ashnikko – “Smoochies”

Officially her second studio album, although her 2021 EP “Demidevil” also qualified for the album chart. The first album got to number 7, so this isn’t great – particularly as she was touring as Billie Eilish’s support act in the interim.