In which three tracks from the same rather dull album all make the top 40, and I am relieved that the rules don’t allow any more.

1.  Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug – “Havana”

So low-budget vertical videos primarily intended for Spotify playlists are going to be a thing, then?  Okay, though YouTube isn’t best suited to handle them.  Can’t really complain, since I thought the main video was pretty bloated.  As a visual, I prefer this one.  Anyhow, Cabello gets her second week at number one.

“Too Good at Goodbyes” by Sam Smith (a former number one) rebounds from 7 to 3 on release of the parent album, and “Anywhere” by Rita Ora climbs 11-5.  “Man’s Not Hot” by Big Shaw jumps 20-11 in its seventh week on chart, as the official video seems to have reinvigorated it.  “Wolves” by Selena Gomez & Marshmello edges up a spot to number 15, and Khalid’s “Young Dumb & Broke” moves 19-17.

18.  Dave featuring MoStack – “No Words”

Yes, “Dave”.  Yes, that is his real name.  Sometimes he goes by Santan Dave, but often he’s just Dave.  He’s a rapper – though he’s actually mostly singing on this track – and this is a single from his EP “No Words” (which is actually seven tracks and 35 minutes, making it an album for chart purposes – it’s number 13 on the album charts).  It’s a self-released track and it’s a pleasantly relaxed affair.  Another track from the same EP, “How I Met My Ex”, registers in its own right down at 32.

“Bedroom Floor” by Liam Payne edges up 22-21, and “Blinded By Your Grace – Part 2” by Stormzy featuring MNEK jumps 40-22, which is a bit closer to what you’d have expected based on the promotion.  “I Miss You” by Clean Bandit featuring Julia Michaels climbs 28-23 on its second week out, which is fine by modern standards generally, but an unusually slow start by Clean Bandit’s own standards.

26.  Sam Smith – “Pray”

As I already mentioned, his album is out this week.  This track spent a couple of weeks at 39 as a promotional single last month, but it’s now coming back to life as an album track.  And…

27.  Sam Smith – “One Last Song”

…there’s another Sam Smith album track just below it.  Three songs is the maximum under current chart rules, so it’s entirely possible that other album tracks would otherwise have been somewhere further down the chart.  This one feels like retro pastiche, but it’s still the most listenable of the three.

29.  Taylor Swift – “Call It What You Want”

One last promotional single before the album release.  I am of the very narrow age range which looks at that title and momentarily wonders if it’s a Credit To The Nation cover.  (It isn’t.)  Good mainstream pop, and I imagine it’ll be back in a while with a proper singles push.

31.  N.E.R.D. & Rihanna – “Lemon”

N.E.R.D. – or N*E*R*D, as it used to be punctuated – were last on the top 40 in 2004, though obviously Pharrell Williams has been around as a solo act since then.  This is their first single in seven years, and it’s the lead from a new album.  Unusually, Rihanna is rapping on this instead of singing.  Turns out she’s quite good at that too.

38.  Lil Pump – “Gucci Gang”

Another rapper who started out on Soundcloud now showing up on the singles chart.  “Gucci Gang” is him and his mates.  As the Genius annotations explain, “On ‘Gucci Gang’, Lil Pump raps about money, drugs, jewelery and high end clothing – all recurring topics in Pump’s music.”  He’s a very repetitive fellow, it seems.  This made the top 10 in America.

On the album chart:

• “The Thrill of it All” by Sam Smith – not a title I would have associated with Sam Smith, but okay – enters at number 1.  That’s hardly surprising given that his debut album “In the Lonely Hour” was a juggernaut, spending eight weeks at number 1 and seventy-six in the top 10.  The sales skew heavily to CDs, which is interesting.  The first album climbs back to 15.
• “A Love So Beautiful” by Roy Orbison & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is number 2 – another of these “stick an orchestral backing on a dead bloke’s vocals” albums that seem to be helping to fund some of Britain’s major orchestras.  Here’s “Pretty Woman”.
• “Sheridan” by Sheridan Smith is 9.  That’s the actress who’s been doing increasing musical work since her well-received starring role in a Cilla Black biopic a few years back.  Sample: “Anyone Who Had A Heart”.
• “Ultimate” by Bryan Adams at 11, which is naturally a greatest hits album.  We all know what his biggest UK hit single was, but let’s go with “Summer of ’69” instead.
• “Red Pill Blues” by Maroon 5 at 12.  That’s actually low for a Maroon 5 studio album; they’ve never missed the top 10 before.  The single “What Lovers Do” reached number 12 a few weeks back.
• “Game Over” by Dave is number 13, and we’ve covered that.
• “One Voice – Believe” by Aled Jones at 17.  Bizarre-sounding project in which Aled Jones duets with recordings of himself as a choirboy and – on this track – his son.  “The Lord Is My Shepherd” has a video, which is quite something.
• “Trouble No More – The Bootleg Series 13” by Bob Dylan at 21.  Live recordings, demos and so forth from 1979-1981, when Dylan was in his Christian phase.  Sample track: “When You Gonna Wake Up”, from a live show in Oslo.
• “Kids in Love” by Kygo at 35.  Considering how many hit singles he’s had in the past, this album seems to have gone unnoticed.  Mind you, they don’t seem to have fully promoted a single yet, which is an unusual way of doing it.  Single: “Kids In Love”.