So, after a bit of experimenting, I’m thinking a better way of doing these things is to go back to doing them weekly and accepting that they’re going to be fairly short.  Let’s try that for a bit and see how it goes.  On this week’s singles chart…

1.  Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla – “One Dance” 

Eight weeks at number one, the longest reign since “Umbrella”, but I’ve said before that these things aren’t entirely comparable, because adding streaming to the charts makes sustained replay appeal much more of a factor than it ever was in the past.  On pure sales, this would be number 5 (and Justin Timberlake would be number 1).  The top three has now been static for three weeks, with Timberlake and Calvin Harris in the other two slots.  The era of stasis.

6.  Clean Bandit featuring Louisa Johnson – “Tears”

Here’s an interesting move.  Louisa Johnson was the winner of last year’s X Factor, the one who suffered the indignity of seeing her winner’s single “Forever Young” enter at number 9.  This was partly because the show was flagging, but also partly because the shift to a Friday chart made it a midweek release for the first time – and also because the shift to streaming works against X Factor winning singles, since their appeal is more as a symbolic purchase to provide closure to the story than as listening material.

This seems to have prompted a departure from the usual strategy of sitting on the X Factor winner for a most of a year before releasing an album.  The 2014 winner, Ben Haenow, waited till October 2015 to release his follow-up single.  It  stalled at number 21.  This won’t do.  At this point, X Factor can’t afford another flop winner.  So instead, Johnson is launching her career in a more conventional 2010s fashion – with a guest appearance on somebody else’s record.  And what better candidate than Clean Bandit, who started off as an interestingly quirky outfit before settling into the role of coffee table euphoria purveyors?  Ever since “Rather Be”, their singles have consistently placed in the top 10, which means they’ve got a pretty good shot of carrying Johnson to a proper hit and giving her some momentum.   Since they always use guest singers, it makes the collaboration relatively natural – and in 2014 they served as a pretty good launchpad for Jess Glynne’s career.

8.  Gnash featuring Olivia Johnson – “I Hate U I Love U” 

Entering the top 10 in its third week.

10.  Kungs vs Cookin’ on Burners – “This Girl” 

Jumping 19 places to enter the top 10 in its second week out.  See, stuff does still move on the singles chart.

14.  Cheat Codes & Kriss Kross Amsterdam – “Sex”

Climbing for the third straight week.  I guess the source record is far enough back in history to be new to a lot of listeners.

22.  Pink – “Just Like Fire” 

Reaching a new peak now that it has a video behind it.  They seem to still help further down the chart, though they’re entirely unnecessary at the top end (and arguably a disadvantage because they divert plays from Spotify, which counts to the chart, to YouTube, which doesn’t).

33.  Chainsmokers featuring Daya – “Don’t Let Me Down”

This has been climbing from the lower reaches for two months.  It’s pretty good, in fact, and the video it better than it first looks, since an opening minute that looks desperately uninspired turns out to be deadpan.  This is the Chainsmokers’ third hit, the biggest being the 2014 novelty hit “Selfie”, which sounds nothing like this.  Daya is an American singer who had some success internationally last year with a track called “Hide Away” – but not in this country.

34.  Adele – “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”

The third single from “25”.  It’s unusually upbeat for Adele… and it has a co-writer credit for Max Martin.  The video, which simply superimposes multiple images of Adele performing the song, is very good.  The simplest ideas are the best.

36.  OneRepublic – “Wherever I Go”

Yes, well, it’s OneRepublic.  You know the drill by now.

The new entries on the album chart:

• “The Ride” by Catfish & The Bottlemen enters at 1.  Indie band; their debut album got to number 10.  Single: “Soundcheck”.
• “The Lexicon of Love II” by ABC is at 5.  Reasonably well-received follow-up to the 1982 album.  Single: “Viva Love”.
• “7/27” by Fifth Harmony at 6.  The single “Work From Home” is still at 12.
• “All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us” by Architects at 15.  Metalcore, as if you couldn’t guess from the title.  Their fourth album; the previous one got to 16.  Single: “A Match Made In Heaven”.
• “Skin” by Flume at 25.  US producer, on his second album but making his first UK chart appearance.  Single: “Never Be Like You”.
• “Kidsticks” by Beth Orton at 40.  That’s her lowest chart position for a studio album (and by some margin) since the mid-90s.  Single: “Moon”.