We’re starting to get back to something approaching normalcy – which is to say, one big name has released a single.

1. Djo – “End of Beginning”

Two weeks, and streams are up significantly from last week. Which is a bit weird, because all the other Stranger Things tracks fall off a bit last week, and this already had a decently long run in the top 10 two years ago. It’s still number 1 with an asterisk: if it wasn’t subject to downweighting, then “Man I Need” by Olivia Dean would be number one. But not by much, in fairness.

6. Bruno Mars – “I Just Might”
28. Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – “Die With a Smile”
36. Bruno Mars – “Locked Out of Heaven”

Lead single from his fourth album. It’s the sort of extremely polished retro soul pastiche that you’d expect from, well, the lead single from a Bruno Mars album, but it’s hard to deny that he’s very good at this sort of thing. Maybe if you’re going to be optimistic in 2026, it helps to combine it with nostalgia.

A little surprisingly, the release of the track reactivates some interest in his back catalogue. “Die With a Smile”(with Lady Gaga) re-enters at number 28; it reached number 2 back in autumn 2024, and finally dropped out of the top 100 a couple of months back. And “Locked Out of Heaven” re-enters at number 36 – that was a number 2 hit way back in 2012. It’s the one that sounds a bit like the Police. To be fair, across the three tracks, it’s a fairly decent reflection of his range.

His album “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” also re-enters at number 31.

29. Zach Bryan – “Plastic Cigarette” 

This is officially the single from his sixth album “With Heaven On Top”, which enters the album chart at number 3 this week, though it doesn’t have a video (or even a placeholder graphic). The album is a bit of an epic, with 25 tracks and a running time of nearly 80 minutes. Country is normally a tough sell in the UK, though slightly less so than it used to be; this folk-ish track is a particularly unusual appearance in the singles top 40.

That said, Bryan has had two previous hit singles: “I Remember Everything” had a 19-week run in 2023-4, and “Pink Skies” reached number 25 in 2024. His first three albums didn’t chart in the UK, but his self-titled fourth album reached 22, and the 2024 album got to 16. This one gets to number 3, purely on streams – there is no UK physical release.

39. Zara Larsson – “Midnight Sun”

This was the lead single from her 2025 album, which came out last June and missed the UK top 100. (The album managed a week at number 36.) It was a top 5 hit in her home country of Sweden, though, and it seems to finally have picked up some spillover attention after the viral interest in her back catalogue track “Lush Life” – currently spending its third week in the top 10.

Although the chart company don’t credit her on it, she also has an effective third top 40 hit thanks to PinkPantheress’s “Stateside”, which climbs 35-23 this week – the original version of that track is still officially the lead version, but much of the interest has been in the remix that features her, which now has a full-scale video of its own.

This week’s climbers:

• “Raindance” by Dave featuring Tems climbs 4-2, which is a new peak; the track entered at number 5 back at the start of November. The belated release of a video probably helps, but aside from the Christmas deluge, it’s never really gone away.
• “4 Raws” by EsDeeKid climbs 24-20. All three EsDeeKid tracks are sitting in a row from 19 to 21.
• “Think About Us” by Sonny Fodera, D.o.D. & Poppy Baskcomb climbs 25-22.
• “Stateside” by PinkPantheress climbs 35-23.
• “You Stole the Show” by Sienna Spiro climbs 37-26.

The five tracks leaving the top 40:

• “WGFT” by Gunna & Burna Boy, which re-entered at 35 two weeks ago; before Christmas, it peaked at 22.
• “Internet Girl” by Katseye, with a single week at number 24. See, they are exporting the K-pop model.
• “Heroes” by David Bowie, with a single week at 34.
• “Should I Stay of Should I Go” by the Clash, with a single week at 40.
• “California Rain” by James Marriott, with a single week at number 22 and crashing straight out of the top 100; those first week sales really were propping it up. (The Katseye track, in fairness, is at number 42.)

On the album chart:

1. Olivia Dean – “The Art of Loving”

Five weeks, and the third in a row.

2. Blue – “Reflections” 

Blue were a boy band back in the early years of the century, beofre mostly moving on to careers in acting. They’ve had some success as a reunion act more recently. Their previous album in 2022 only got to number 22, but a big push to the fanbase with multiple variants nearly gets this to number 1 – it missed by the equivalent of about 1,000 sales. As it is, they’ll have to live with the three number 1 albums they notched up between 2001 and 2003.

3. Zach Bryan – “With Heaven on Top”

See above.

5. The Cribs – “Selling a Vibe”

Their ninth album and, surprisingly, their highest placing – the last one only got to 23. Four previous albums made the lower end of the top 10.

12. Dry Cleaning – “Secret Love” 

Their third album, and (by one position) the lowest placing.

20. Alter Bridge – “Alter Bridge” 

Their eighth album. Most people get “self-titled” out of the way long before this. Their previous two albums (in 2019 and 2022) both made the top 10, so this is a big drop off.

22. The Kid Laroi – “Before I Forget”

Officially his second album, since 2020’s “F*ck Love” is classed as a mixtape. That one got to number 6 in 2020. “The First Time” reached number 29 in 2023, so this places slightly higher. But it hasn’t produced any hit singles at all – in fact, none of the three singles from the album made the top 100, even the track above, which prompted an answer record from Tate McRae (“Tit for Tat”) that reached the top 10.