So, this was to be expected.

1. Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”

That’s nine weeks. More to the point, the parent album “Endless Summer Vacation” is out this week, and enters the album chart at number 1. It’s her second number one album, but the other one was 2013’s “Bangerz”; that was followed by a 2017 album that missed the top 5, and a 2019 album that only just made the top 20. 2020’s “Plastic Hearts” was a big improvement, getting to number 4, and Miley seems to have hit on what works for her at this point in her career. The sales on the album itself are nothing out of the ordinary, but that’s hardly a concern.

Nine weeks at number 1 on the singles chart beats LF System’s “Afraid To Feel”, but she still needs one more week in order to match Harry Styles’ “As It Was” from last year. Tracks can become subject to the downweighting rule in their tenth week, but only if they’re several weeks past their peak – since streams went up this week, that won’t happen to “Flowers” for a few weeks yet, and so she has a good chance of lasting to week ten. (Week eleven will be more of a challenge, because Ed Sheeran will have a new track out.)

3. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

Very much a 90s trance throwback, this. Ellie Goulding has released two previous top ten singles with Calvin Harris, but that was in 2013 and 2014. Number 3 makes this Calvin Harris’ biggest hit since “Giant” in 2019.

As for Ellie Goulding, her  last top 40 hit was “River”, which was a number 1 – but that was also back in 2019, and since then she’s released no fewer than eight singles that missed the top 40. The last six all missed the top 100. The charitable reading was that she was off to the album chart, the retirement home for ageing pop singers. So she’ll be breathing a sigh of relief here.

16. Miley Cyrus – “River”

There’s also a release week single from “Endless Summer Vacation”, but it struggles to make an impact against the juggernaut of “Flowers”. There are worse problems to have. “River” is a bit busy, to be honest; I’m not sure it really works. It feels like the arrangement is trying a bit too hard to jazz up a somewhat bland song.

19. Digga D – “Energy”

Digga D had a good 2021 in chart terms, and kind of tailed off after early 2022, since when his singles have tended to place either just inside or just outside the top 40. This is his biggest hit since his last top ten hit early last year.

27. Miley Cyrus – “Jaded”

The obligatory third track from the album. Probably a better choice of single than “River”.

30. Mae Muller – “I Wrote a Song”

This is not quite a chart debut – Mae Muller previously appeared on Neiked’s “Better Days”, which reached number 32 in 2021.

More notable, though, is that this is the UK’s Eurovision entry for 2023. And Eurovision isn’t until May. The BBC might actually have chosen well here. Sam Ryder’s “Spaceman” was a legitimate hit last year, but only after the contest. And “Spaceman” was still… a bit off to the side of your typical top 40 single. This track is certainly Eurovision-friendly, but it’s something that feels like a more natural presence on the singles chart.

35. Arrdee & Cat Burns – “Home For My Heart”

Hey, that’s quite a nice video. Simple idea, nicely done. For Cat Burns, it’s her second hit following “Go”, which was in the top 40 for most of last year and peaked at number 2.

40. Switch Disco & Ella Henderson – “React”

Reusing the hook from Robert Miles’ “Children” – a number 2 hit in 1996. Switch Disco get their first hit; one of them has a LinkedIn page describing himself as “a resident DJ at mainstream clubs for almost 15 years” who is “looking to build our brand SWITCH DISCO and increase awareness of the product we have to offer”, so that’s inspirational.

This week’s climbers are all fairly modest (but hey, hasn’t the “featuring” credit gone out of fashion this year?).

• “Ceilings” by Lizzy McAlpine climbs 7-6.
• “People” by Libianca climbs 8-7.
• “Us Against The World” by Strandz climbs 12-10.
• “Red Flags” by Mimi Webb climbs 13-12.
• “Rush” by Ayra Starr climbs 28-24.
• “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” by Nicki Minaj climbs 30-28.
• “Whistle” by Jax Jones & Calum Scott climbs 34-31.

The seven tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “Snooze” by SZA, an album track which peaked at 36.
• “Love Again” by Kid Laroi, six weeks peaking at 16.
• “Another Love” by Tom Odell, which has been around since September if you overlook the Christmas interruption, and got to number 10.
• “Oh Baby” by Nathan Dawe & Bru-C featuring bhsp & Issey Cross, which got one week at 35.
• “Just Wanna Rock” by Lil Uzi Vert, which has been hovering around for ages but never got above 30.
• “22” by JayO had two weeks, peaking at 32.
• “Ready to Fly” by Sub Focus & Dimension peaked at 29.

On the album chart:

1. Miley Cyrus – “Endless Summer Vacation”

Well, we’ve covered that.

3. Sleaford Mods – “UK GRIM”

Their thirteenth album, and the highest placing. (Just – the last one got to 4.) It’s their third top ten album.

16. Van Morrison – “Moving on Skiffle”

Pretty much what the title suggests – an album of covers of songs he associates with the mid-50s skiffle boom, which is where his career started. It’s his 43rd top 40 album. Its predecessor, last year’s “What’s It Gonna Take?”, missed the top 40 entirely, possibly because it was all about Covid-19 conspiracy theories. Mind you, Van Morrison’s album chart positions are erratic at the best of times – sometimes it’s the top 5, sometimes it’s number 38.

31. Ward Thomas – “Music in the Madness”

They had a number one album back in 2016, but their previous album (2020’s “Invitation”) also landed around this level – still pretty good for a UK country act.