Six new entries, two re-entries (well, it’s X Factor season), and a bit of a surprise at the top.

33.  Two Door Cinema Club – “Changing of the Seasons”

Two Door Cinema Club are an Irish band who’ve had a lot of success on the albums chart; their second album “Beacon” got to number 2.  But despite making eminently radio-friendly records, for some reason they’ve never had a hit single before now.  They’ve written stronger hooks than this – “Something Good Can Work”, for example – but that didn’t even make the top 50, so what do I know?

32.  Jasmine Thompson – “Ain’t Nobody”

The latest entry in that strange sub-genre, minimalist covers of anthems for use in adverts.  The 1984 original is by Rufus & Chaka Khan and reached number 6 on re-issue in 1989; it was also the basis for LL Cool J’s 1997 number 1 of the same name.  It’s from a Sainsbury’s advert, rather than the usual John Lewis, and it seems to have come as a surprise that people are buying it, since there’s no video.

Jasmine Thompson, who gets her first hit here, not so coincidentally has a proper EP out shortly.  You wouldn’t know it from the track – or, frankly, from that photo above – but she’s twelve.  There are tons of cover versions on her YouTube channel, and she does have a pretty astonishing voice for her age.

30.  Fuse ODG featuring Itz Tiffany – “Azonto”

Follow-up to “Antenna”, which made number 7 in June.  Fuse ODG is London, but his family are Ghanaian, and he did actually have a hit with this track in Ghana.  Azonto is apparently the name of a popular dance music sub-genre and accompanying dance in Ghana, though I’m not sure how seriously to take the Wikipedia article, which informs me that the dance largely involves mimed depictions of ironically tedious everyday activities such as doing the ironing.  The word apparently used to be “a rude reference to wayward girls” but has drifted somewhat.

There are multiple videos for this online – the one above was apparently used for the Ghanaian release, though there’s a rather more polished (but no more interesting) video for the current release.

19.  Nelly featuring Nikki Minaj & Pharrell – “Get Like Me”

Huh.  Nelly’s last single “Hey Porsche” was pretty much Flo Rida, so in that context this is a pleasant surprise.  It’s a pretty transparent bid to remind people that he is in fact a rapper, and it’s not even one of Nikki Minaj’s more commercial singles.  Certainly one of the least irritating Nelly records I’ve heard in a while, though admittedly the competition’s not intense.  Pharrell Williams gets yet another hit, though frankly, his verse is not adding much.

18.  Lucy Spraggan – “Last Night (Beer Fear)”

Lucy Spraggan is the X Factor contestant who had a hit with this song in 2012 after performing it as an audition piece, on the strength of half a week’s sales when the public realised that she’d self-released it some time earlier and it was still lurking in the darker reaches of iTunes.  It was yanked from sale when it started gaining traction, but still made number 11.  She then went on to drop out of the contest proper due to illness, and got signed by Simon Cowell’s label anyway.

After “Lighthouse” made 26 in July, we now get a reprise of “Last Night” with a proper studio production, which is not an improvement.  Compare the original version here.   Yes, it’s essentially a demo, but this is a song that won’t take polish.  It needs the underdog thing.

14.  Jason Mraz – “I Won’t Give Up”

Back again thanks to X Factor.

10.  Dizzee Rascal featuring will.i.am – “Something Really Bad”

Either the second, third or fifth single from his album “The Fifth”, which came out this week.  It depends whether you count “Bassline Junkie” (which is on the album but was originally intended to promote a mixtape and was only added to the album running order after the fact) and two singles which were released to radio, did absolutely nothing, and were quietly re-branded as “promotional singles”, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

It’s… better than I was expecting, actually.  There’s very little will.i.am, for a start, which is always a boon.

7.  Demi Lovato – “Skyscraper”

Climbing six places from last week, which is pretty impressive considering it was propelled back into the chart from being used as an X Factor audition piece.  Normally those are one week wonders.

5.  Chase & Status featuring Moko – “Count on Me”

The march of dance music nostalgia has reached early nineties rave music, it seems.  By reaching number 5, this matches “Blind Faith” as Chase & Status’ biggest hit.

Moko is a soul singer from London who’s had a couple of singles out but hasn’t previously charted; this is obviously going to help her a great deal.

2.  The Vamps – “Can We Dance”

When I first checked the Vamps’ Wikipedia article earlier in the week, it was solemnly billing them as an indie band, before going on to narrate a career that has seen them support McFly, the Wanted, JLS, Little Mix and Selena Gomez.  Sadly the attention of a debut number 2 hit has brought with it the iron bludgeon of reality, and they’re now listed as a pop group.  They are apparently a proper band, and the record’s perfectly decent, but McFly seem like a rather better touchstone here than anything you could call indie.

Their sales are also astronomically frontloaded.  This was number 1 in the midweeks despite already being out of the iTunes top 5 by that point (though to be fair, their songs chart may have been a bit unreliable here, since iTunes were also registering a lot of sales for the entire EP).

1.  OneRepublic – “Counting Stars”

The Vamps’ midweek flareout leaves the way clear for OneRepublic to sneak a week at number one, in their eighth week out – the track has moved 30-20-17-13-2-4-3-1 to get here.  This is their first UK number one, though they’ve had two previous top five hits – “Apologise” and “Stop and Stare” from 2007-8.

On the album chart:

• “Days are Gone” by Haim at number 1.  The single “The Wire” is at 24 this week.  Now, there might be a bit of an asterisk next to that number 1, because they were only 2,700 copies ahead of…
• “The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2” by Justin Timberlake at 2.  Except you can buy this disc either as a standalone album, or as a double album containing both discs.  That version charts in its own right at number 27 – so it’s possible that the combined sales of both formats would have given Justin the number one spot.  Mind you, it doesn’t take much to make number 27 on the album chart these days.  A decently sized extended family might do it.
• “Fortress” by Alter Bridge at 6.  Fourth album by the American rock group who are probably best known to readers of this blog for having done that song Edge used as his theme music for years.  It’s their highest chart placing, though the previous album went top 10 too.
• “The Fifth” by Dizzee Rascal at 10.  We’ve mentioned the single already.
• “Torus” by Sub Focus at 11.  The single “Turn It Around” made the top 20 but has somewhat surprisingly left the top 40 already.
• “Innocents” by Moby at 35.  Yes, 35.  Yes, that ship really has sailed, hasn’t it?  Single: “A Case For Shame”.
• “Through the Never” by Metallica at 36.  The soundtrack to the IMAX concert film.
• “The Frantic Four Reunion 2013” by Status Quo at 37.  Live album.  (Reunion?  When did they split?)
• “Peace” by Kids in Glass Houses at 39.  Fourth, and lowest-charting, album from a Welsh rock band.  Video for the title track.