Mostly a quiet chart this week – but the new number 1 sets an actual, proper chart record…

38.  OneRepublic – “Love Runs Out”

A slightly surprising re-entry for a single that previously got to number 3 in August, particularly as the main focus of their current promotion is on the record we’ll come to shortly.

37.  Idina Menzel – “Let It Go”

Climbing 18 places to re-enter the chart, which I can only figure is the result of Robbie Williams’ rather odd decision to release a video of himself singing the song to his wife in labour.  (The general consensus is that he doesn’t come out of it very well, but hey, Idina Menzel sold a few more records.)

29.  OneRepublic – “I Lived”

This is the second of the bonus tracks from the special edition of their “Native” album to be pushed as a single.  The combination of the band name and title pretty much tells you what you’re getting.  They lived!  They’re happy about it, but also somewhat soulful!  You know.  OneRepublic.

23.  Calvin Harris featuring Big Sean – “Open Wide”

A second “promotional single” for his album “Motion”, which was released on Monday.  The first one, “Slow Acid”, missed the top 75 entirely (in the UK – it charted in Scotland).    “Promotional single”, at this point, seems to mean “we’ve made a video for it but we’re going to be a bit half-hearted about doing any other promotion for it”.

“Open Wide” is actually a vocal version of “C.U.B.A.”, the instrumental B-side of Harris’ recent number 1 “Blame”.  Rapper Big Sean is presumably there for the American market, since god knows he’s never sold many records in this country.  His biggest hit, technically, was as a guest star on Jessie J’s “Wild” (number 5 last year), but that had Dizzee Rascal on it too.  He’s never had a UK hit in his own right.

6.  Parra for Cuva featuring Anna Naklab – “Wicked Games”

This week’s belated European dance import has been out for a year on the continent.  Parra For Cuva is German producer Nicolas Demuth, and Anna Naklab is his regular singer collaborator.  And yes, this is a dance version of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” (with an added S, for extra dancing).  Isaak’s version got to number 10 in 1990.

It’s not as bad an idea as it might seem – it’s a rather laid back acoustic take on the song.  but not a patch on the original.

1.  Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”

Meghan Trainor is removed from the top after a four week run – the joint longest of the year.  But that doesn’t mean a return to the weekly turnover of new entries.  Instead, we have something quite extraordinary.

This is Ed Sheeran’s second number 1 hit, the first being “Sing” back in June.  What’s fascinating is that “Thinking Out Loud” charted as an album track download when the album was released at the end of that month – and it’s never gone away.  The recent promotion for the single, and release of a video, have certainly pushed it to the top, no doubt because it’s got an appeal to a different audience who weren’t paying attention to it before now.  But it’s been on the chart since the first week of July, without dropping out of the top 30.

If you ignore records which dropped off the chart entirely before getting to number 1 on a reissue – which really isn’t the same thing – then the previous record for the longest trek to number 1 was set in 1995 when Celine Dion’s “Think Twice” reached the top in its 13th week on the top 40.  “Thinking Out Loud” shatters that record, having moved 26-25-29-23-28-20-18-16-13-17-18-24-19-18-17-10-4-2-1 to finally top the chart in its nineteenth week.  Yes, he had an X Factor appearance to push him over the top, but there’s no denying that this has been a slow-burn climber like none other – in an era when that’s not even supposed to happen any more.

Meanwhile, “Don’t” rebounds 8 places to number 14, and “Sing” climbs back to 22.  That, you can probably attribute to X Factor – but the fact that he has three very long-running singles all still on the chart, plus the longest-running number 1 album of the year, goes beyond the Cowell empire.

On the album chart…

• “1989” by Taylor Swift at number 1.  “Shake it Off” is still at number 3 on the singles chart.
• “Led Zeppelin IV” at 6.  Remastered version of the 1971 album.  It’s the one with “Stairway to Heaven” on it.
• “Nostalgia” by Annie Lennox at 9.  A collection of Great American Songbook covers.  Arguably her first proper album since 2007, depending on how you feel about 2010’s “A Christmas Cornucopia”.  Single: “September in the Rain”.
• “Houses of the Holy” by Led Zeppelin at 14.  Another 1970s reissue.  All the tracks on this album have their own Wikipedia entries, which is how you know it’s a landmark.  Don’t know how they judged these things in the past.  Probably had to read Q or something.
• “Asymmetry” by Mallory Knox at 16.  Rock band named after the character from Natural Born Killers.  Their debut album got to 33 last year, so they’re heading in the right direction.  Single: “Shout at the Moon”.
• “Black Veil Brides” by the Black Veil Brides at 17.  Third (and highest-charting) album by the not-at-all overwrought rock band.  Single: “Goodbye Agony”.
• “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel at 19.  I have no idea why this is re-entering – is somebody discounting it?  Originally a number 1 album in 1970, anyway, when the title track also became their only UK number 1 single.  (Strangely, Paul Simon never had a solo number 1 single, but Art Garfunkel had two.)
• “Tell ‘Em I’m Gone” by Yusuf at 18.  Yusuf Islam is the former Cat Stevens, who quit recording in 1977 and resurfaced under his new name in 2006.  This is his third album since the comeback, all of which have placed respectably in the top 20.  Sample track: “Dying to Live”.
• “Dead” by Young Fathers at 35.  The winners of this year’s Mercury Prize, so that’s really flying off the shelves for them.  They’re rappers from Edinburgh.  Single: “Low”.