Would have had this up earlier, but as you may have noticed, the hosting company has been down for the better part of two days.  Anyhow, the reign of Daft Punk continues, as does the comparative dearth of new entries.

40.  The Black Eyed Peas – “Where Is The Love”

Er… yes.  A number 1 hit from 2003, I’m not entirely sure why this is back in the chart.  It’s supposedly because a bunch of Black Eyed Peas fans had a brief spurt of buying the track after the British news media started reporting Fergie’s retirement (referring to the football manager Alex Ferguson), but, uh, that can’t be true, can it?

For whatever reason, it gives will.i.am three singles on this week’s chart, plus a fourth that he wrote.  We’ll come to that one.

39.  Mariah Carey featuring Miguel – “Beautiful”

Whoops.  This is Mariah Carey’s first single in four years, and it was a surprise release, evidently anticipating an audience that would be thrilled and excited by the prospect of new Mariah Carey product.  So that number 39 position will be, to put it mildly, a disappointment.  It’s climbing the iTunes chart, but at time of writing it’s still only at 26.

Ironically, it’s actually one of her better songs.  I’ve never been a fan of Carey’s showy vocal gymnastics, but this is a rather sweet midpaced R&B track, and the obnoxious hashtag in the title gives completely the wrong impression.

Miguel Pimentel is reasonably well known in the USA – he had a couple of number 1s on the Billboard R&B chart in 2011 – but he’s unknown in Britain, so having him sing the first minute and a half probably didn’t help with airplay.

36.  John Legend – “Ordinary People”

Co-written by will.i.am, this is the second year running that it’s re-entered the chart on downloads.  Last year it was because of a cover on The Voice (nothing like sucking up to the judges), and I’d hazard a guess it’s probably the same reason this year too.  It’s climbing on iTunes, so this was probably the result of a surge of sales on Saturday night before the chart week closed.

19.  Gabrielle Aplin – “Panic Cord”

This is Aplin’s third hit, following the cover of “The Power Of Love” that made number 1 last November, and her own “Please Don’t Say You Love Me”, which reached number 6 in February.  It’s a bit of an Ed Sheeran-ish wistful post-break-up number, though jaunty enough to suggest she’s not all that bothered about it, really.  That’s two straight singles from her about annoyingly clingy men, incidentally.

6.  Armin van Buuren (featuring Trevor Guthrie) – “This Is What It Feels Like”

Armin van Buuren is a Dutch trance producer who’s been around for years.  Strangely, he’s only had one previous UK hit – “Communication”, which made number 18 way back in 2000.  Persistence finally pays off, with this inoffensive pop crossover number.

It’s also the first UK hit for Trevor Guthrie, who used to be the lead singer of the Canadian group Soul Decision.  Their single “Faded” was a number one in Canada in 1999, but from the looks of it they were never promoted over here.

2.  Chris Malinchak – “So Good To Me”

Summer’s here, then.  I guess this counts as more dance music, though it’s really more a gently soulful Sunday morning affair.  Chris Malinchak is a New York house producer, and this is his first UK hit.  As is often the case with dance records, the video seems to be something that was put together by the UK licensees Ministry of Sound.  It features a little girl looking for her lost pet.  Don’t worry, she finds it.

The uncredited vocal is apparently constructed of samples of from “If This World Were Mine” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, an album track from 1967.  Record contracts of the era being what they were, it seems Gaye doesn’t merit a credit here.  That said, Malinchak really has chopped this stuff out of context and turned it into a completely new song; here’s the original, which is virtually unrecognisable.  The samples mainly come from the last minute or so.

You will be pleased to hear, by the way, that this is not Marvin Gaye’s biggest hit – he had a number one hit with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” in 1969.

1.  Daft Punk – “Get Lucky” 

Still number one on iTunes, and going nowhere, from the look of it.  That’s three weeks at the top, equalling Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors” as the longest reign of the year.  If it manages four, that’ll be the longest reign at number one since “Call Me Maybe” a year ago.

Oh, and it’s sold in excess of 100,000 copies every week that it’s been at the top.

On the album chart:

• “The Shocking Miss Emerald” by Caro Emerald at number 1.  She’s a Dutch jazz singer, and her previous album “Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor” made number 4.  Here’s the lead single, “Tangled Up”.  It’s a different world, the album chart.
  

• “Didn’t It Rain” by Hugh Laurie at 3.  His second album; the first one made number 2.
• “The Minutes” by Alison Moyet at  5.  That’s her highest chart placing since 1987.
• “Golden” by Lady Antebellum at 7.  Their only UK hit single remains “Need You Know”, which makes periodic visits to the singles chart, peaking at 15.
• “Heart of Nowhere” by Noah and the Whale at 13.  They didn’t release a single in advance of this album.
• “Silence Yourself” by Savages at 19.  Debut album from the post-punk band.
• “Inform Educate Entertain” by Public Service Broadcasting at 21.  Bit of an oddity.  Imagine Lemon Jelly only with more live instruments and an obsession with sampling old newsreels and film dialogue.  Stuff like this.

• “Intense” by Armin van Buuren at 37.  Unusual to see dance hit singles spilling over into the album chart like this
• “Regardless” by Thea Gilmore at 39.  Singer-songwriter.  It’s her first top 40 album in a career that goes back to 1998.