It’s a quiet week for new entries, but we do at least have some songs making a march towards the top of the chart.

1. Sam Fender & Oliva Dean – “Rein Me In” 

Second week and somehow, after all this time, it’s actually continuing to grow. Once again, if it wasn’t for the downweighting rule, the rightful number 1 would be Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need’ (by a wide margin). And once again, the official number 2 is another Olivia Dean single, “So Easy (To Fall In Love)”.

The top end of the chart actually has quite a bit of activity this week, but not in terms of new entries.

23. Twenty One Pilots – “Drag Path”

This is a new mix of a track that was previously released as an exclusive for purchasers of a digital album. It seems to be a different mix in an attempt to square the demand for wider release with a desire to honour the original promotion of the track as exclusive. Reportedly the original version is better.

Number 23 makes it their highest charting single since “Heathens” reached the top 10 a decade ago. Their singles tend not to stick around for long these days, but they’re in the unusual position (especially for a non-Kpop act) of having a fanbase sporadically able to get them into the chart anyway.

40. Kate Bush – “Wuthering Heights”

Spillover interest from the movie, which it has nothing to do with. It was her debut single, and spent four weeks at number 1 in 1978.

This week’s climbers:

• “Stateside” by PinkPantheress climbs 9-3. Still not quite her biggest hit – “Boy’s a Liar” got to number 2 in 2022 – but easily her biggest hit since then.
• “iloveitiloveitiloveit” by Bella Kay climbs 26-4, which is a very big jump by today’s standards. It now has a video (well, a filmed live performance, but it’ll serve). Her previous single “The Sick” – which peaked at number 72 last August – has predictably come back to life and is now sitting at number 53.
• “Homewrecker” by Sombr climbs 7-5. His highest position so far is number 4 with “Undressed”.
• “Just the Way You Are” by Milky climbs 14-11. Its peak first time round was number 8.
• “Chains of Love” by Charli XCX climbs 17-12.
• “Babydoll” by Dominic Fike climbs 23-18.
• “Dying For You” by Charli XCX climbs 27-24.
• “(When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me” by Sean Paul featuring Keyshia Cole climbs 38-33.

The two tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “Back to Friends” by Sombr, which re-entered at 40 last week.
• “Iceman Freestyle” by Central Cee, after a single week at number 37.

On the album chart:

1. Mumford & Sons – “Prizefighter”

This is their fourth number 1 album; their other albums both made number 2. The track above is the official single, but it’s actually being out-streamed by a track with guest vocals from Gracie Abrams.

3. Leigh-Anne – “My Ego Told Me To”

That’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock from Little Mix. This is her debut solo album; she had two hit singles in 2023 but nothing came of that in terms of an album. None of the four singles from this album have made the top 40. I’m not sure why, since the single above is perfectly fine. There just doesn’t seem to be much interest in Little Mix as solo artists. This is the third solo album from a band member in six months, and all of them have landed at number 3.

4. George Michael – “Faith”

Physical reissue. This was his debut solo album, and had a single week at number 1 in 1987.

5. Hilary Duff – “Luck… or Something”

Comeback album, I guess. Hilary Duff had five hit singles between 2003 and 2007, including two top ten hits, and got a couple of albums into the low end of the top 40 – her peak was number 25. She hasn’t released an album since 2015.

17. Elvis Presley – “EPiC – Elvis Presley in Concert – OST”

This is the soundtrack to the Baz Luhrmann documentary, which is basically a collection of live versions and remixes.

29. Baby Keem – “Casino”

Second album, first to chart. His first album made number 5 in the USA but missed the top 40 here; his only appearance on the UK singles chart was on a Fred again.. track.