Well, it’s that time of year again.

1. Jamie Miller – “Babydoll”

Four weeks at number one. It’s peaked in absolute terms, but that doesn’t really matter, because it’s miles ahead of the competition and they’re falling faster. It remains monumentally boring.

8. Olivia Rodrigo – “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)”

Do we really have to encourage the people who think that Christmas begins as soon as Hallowe’en is out of the way? This chart covers sales and streams in the second week of November, for god’s sake. Christmas Day is six weeks away. Anyone listening to Christmas music now is either sending a cry for help or soundtracking a Starbucks.

Oh well. It’s at least somewhat interesting to note that we’ve got major artists making a serious push for a Christmas hit again, something which was unfashionable for some time. Number 8 actually places this single below her current regular single “Expectations”, which is spending its fourth week in the top 10.

Rather bizarrely to my mind, some people have accused this track of plagiarising Robbie Williams’ 2012 number 1 “Candy”, which does have some points in common, but that’s about it. Williams’ position is that he can see the similarity but doesn’t care, and that there’s a difference between “protecting your work and treating every vaguely familiar sequence of notes as a winning lottery ticket”.

A rather more obvious point of similarity is “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses, but that one’s not contentious – it was cleared in advance with Chris Butler, who wrote that song. Curiously, “Christmas Wrapping” has never made the top 40 despite the annual deluge of Christmas back catalogue tracks, and despite it being one of the best Christmas songs. (In fact, the other Waitresses song you’ve heard of – “I Know What Boys Like” – has never charted in the UK either.)

22. Wham! – “Last Christmas”

For god’s sake. This track is now sitting at twelve weeks at number one and counting. Alarmingly, it’s actually making the top 40 a week earlier than it did last year. For the sake of completeness: it was number 2 at Christmas 1984 behind Band Aid, in a double A-side with “Everything She Wants”.

29. Kingfishr – “The Sun Will Never Settle”

This is the first hit single for Irish trio Kingfishr, though they did have a top 10 album last year with “Halcyon”. Kingfishr are sometimes bracketed as indie folk, but this is outright trad folk. It’s been out for months and it’s been very slowly climbing from the lower reaches for ten weeks now. It’s already been a number 1 in Ireland and, rather randomly, made the top 10 in Sweden. It’s really good, and given the slow pace of the chart these days, I could see this as a dark horse candidate for number 1 in 2027.

36. Mariah Carey – “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

(Deep sigh.)

This spent three weeks at number 2 at Christmas 1994 (behind East 17’s “Stay Another Day”), and it’s now notched up three weeks at number 1 – two at Christmas 2020 and a third in Christmas 2023. That seems like plenty to me.

37. Grace – “Not Over Yet”

This is a nineties dance classic, apparently charting because it’s in an advert which in turn has sparked some viral interest. Grace were DJs Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, better known as remixers under the name “Perfecto”. This track was first released in 1993 credited to State of Grace, and then reissued in 1995 when it made number 6 The version above is the original, featuring singer Patti Low; the version on Grace’s album uses a different vocal by Dominique Atkins, since she was the singer on every other track.

It was reissued as a not-hugely-dissimilar remix in 1999, confusingly credited to “Planet Perfecto featuring Grace”, and made number 16. Indie band the Klaxons also took a version to number 13 in 2007.

It’s a good song that was probably overdue for a revival. Fair enough, really.

39. Sam Fender – “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”

This year’s John Lewis advert soundtrack, and as always, it’s a sentimental cover of a song everyone knows. The Rolling Stones’ original was the B-side of “Honky Tonk Women”, which was number 1 for five weeks in 1969. Since it wasn’t officially a double A-side, the Stones’ version has technically never been a hit in the UK.

I don’t really think Fender is bringing much new to this song, though I suppose at least he hasn’t slowed it down and done it with piano and acoustic guitar. He still has “Rein Me In” in the top 10, astonishingly – it’s now been in the top 40 for 73 uninterrupted weeks.

Curiously, this track was announced as number 39 on the Radio 1 chart show, only for the published chart on the official website to be delayed and, when it finally appeared, list it at number 53. Then it was changed back again later in the day. Nobody seems to know why, but the most plausible theory is some last minute argument about whether his physical sales had shipped on time.

This week’s climbers (ignoring a whole bunch of rebounding tracks due to the Hallowe’en songs disappearing):

• “Stop The Wedding” by Ashe climbs 3-2.
• “My Body Isn’t Ready” by Sombr climbs 9-5, in its twentieth week.
• “Orbiter” by Noah Kahan climbs 26-13, while “Willing And Able” climbs 28-17.
• “Shotta’s” by Season 25 climbs 36-23.
• “Coming Up Roses” by Harry Styles climbs 34-24 (but it’s still below “Sign of the Times” at 21).

There are a slew of re-entries at the bottom of the charts due to the void left by last week’s Hallowe’en tracks: “Flower in a Hurricane” by Justice et al is back at 32, “Sure Thing” by Miguel” is 34, “Mr Brightside” by the Killers is 38, and and “Movin’ to the Sun” by Hugel, Imael Angel & Ultra Naté is 40. A curious exception to the Hallowe’en departures is Tame Impala’s “Dracula”, which only re-entered due to Hallowe’en, but is recent enough to have stuck around anyway.

The tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, dropping straight out from number 5.
• “The Cure” by Olivia Rodrigo, which peaked at number 2 and had a 24 week run without ever dropping below number 24. However, it now gets disqualified under the three song rule (with “Expectations” at 7, “Take Me Home (4 Christmas)” at 8, and “Stupid Song” at 26).
• “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr, after a single week at 12.
• “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell, after a single week at 14.
• “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett, after a single week at 19.
• “This Is Halloween” by Danny Elfman, after a single week at 22.
• “Spooky Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold, after a single week at 23.
• “Bloodstream” by Alyssa Grace, after a 16-week run that peaked at number 12.
• “Earrings” by Malcolm Todd, which had a 31-week run and was hovering in the teens forever, but never got above 13.
• “Disturbia” by Rihanna, after a single week at number 39.

The album chart is very busy.

1. James Blunt – “Airplane Mode”

His third number one album – the first two were his 2005 debut and the 2007 follow-up, so it’s been quite a wait. He’s never missed the top 10, though.

2. Royal Blood – “Dead Company”

Their fifth album and the first to miss number 1. They were ahead for most of the week.

4. Skepta – “The Fork and Knife”

It’s been six years since the last Skepta album, and while it gives him a fourth consecutive top 5 position, there are no hit singles from this.

5. Kings of Leon – “O My Beloved”

Their tenth studio album, and the first time they’ve missed the top three – but it is a busy week, and ten straight top five albums over a period of 23 years is impressive.

6. Steven Wilson – “Requiem for a Village”

His ninth solo album, and the fifth in a row to make the top 10. It’s a concept album inspired by the horror film of the same name.

7. George Michael – “The Faith Tour”

Live album (and linked concert film) recorded at two Paris shows in 1988.

18. Rex Orange County – “Dream Fatigue”

Roughly the same position as his previous album in 2024, although his star has clearly fallen since 2022 when he had a number 1 album.

20. Tinie Tempah – “The Night’s Not Dead”

Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in years. Tinie Tempah hasn’t released an album since 2017, for no terribly clear reason. His previous three albums all made the top 10.

21. Queen – “Budapest”

Live album recorded in Budapest in 1986. It’s been available as a concert film since the 80s, so this is very much a completist release.

24. Bryan Adams – “How’s It Goin'” 

That is… not what I was expecting from a Bryan Adams album. And it doesn’t seem to be what his audience is looking for, as his previous three albums all made the top 3.

25. Roxy Music – “For Your Pleasure”

Deluxe reissue of their second album, which reached number 4 on release in 1973.

27. Passenger – “Wild Love”

On the singles chart, Passenger remains a one-hit wonder on the basis of “Let Her Go” (number 2 in 2013), but he’s had more sustained success on the album chart where he was regularly making the top 10… until his previous studio album, which stalled at number 37. This is obviously a step back in the right direction, but some way below his peak.

31. Skerryvore – “Beautiful Mistakes”

Scottish rock band who are much bigger in their home market (where this is the Scottish number one). It’s their highest UK position to date.

39. Johnny Flynn & Lillie Flynn – “Beam Cottage”

Finally, this sibling collaboration. It’s the first top 40 appearance for either of them, though Johnny has had lower placing albums on his own and in collaboration with others.