At last, stability.

1. Doja Cat – “Paint the Town Red”

After three tracks that only lasted a week at number 1, Doja Cat makes it to two. Apparently the margin is fairly comfortable.

7. Olivia Rodrigo – “Get Him Back”

This is the release week single from “Guts”, which becomes her second number one album and outsells the first. Admittedly, part of that is because she now has the sort of fanbase who buy the physical formats in week one. The She has her maximum three singles all in the top 10 – “Vampire”, one of the one-week number ones, rebounds to 2, and “Bad Idea Right” leaps back from 12 to 3 (having previously peaked at 6 a month ago).

Without the three-song limit, this album doubtless would have swamped the top 40.

25. V – “Slow Dancing”

This is the first solo hit from BTS member V (Kim Tae-hyung). It’s actually his third solo single from the parent EP “Layover”  (which is less than 18 minutes long, and I think doesn’t qualify for the album chart), so presumably it’s picking up more support from non-fans than the others. It is probably the most commercial thing on the album, which is all very slow-paced. Jung Kook’s “Seven” is still on the chart at number 31.

28. Leigh-Anne featuring Ayra Starr – “My Love”

This is the second solo single from Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock. The first, “Don’t Say Love”, underperformed alarmingly – it entered at number 21 and crashed straight out of the top 50 in week two. This time, we have a collaboration with Nigeria’s Ayra Starr, and a video filmed in Lagos. This is Starr’s second hit, after “Rush” reached number 24 earlier in the year, and stuck around in the top 40 for 13 weeks. This is quite good, but Leigh-Anne herself feels a bit interchangeable.

34. The Rolling Stones – “Angry”

Wow. I mean, I expect a new Rolling Stones album to do well in the album chart, but the top 40? The Rolling Stones haven’t had a top 40 hit since 2005. But then they’ve only released one other studio album since then – 2016’s “Blue & Lonesome”. And that was a blues album. So… yes, apparently the Rolling Stones can still get a regular single into the top 40 in 2023. It’s not bad at all, either.

35. Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion – “Bongos”

From the people who brought you “WAP”, a number 1 hit in 2020… but you’re never going to recapture the impact of that. In fact, both women have had a surprisingly shaky time since that track. “Bongos” gets Cardi B back into the top 40 for the first time in two years – and yes, she has been releasing other singles. Megan’s only had one other top 40 hit since “WAP”, and that was a guest appearance on a Dua Lipa single.

This week’s climbers:

• “Bad Idea Right” by Olivia Rodrigo rebounds from 12 to a new peak of 3.
• “Adore U” by Fred again.. climbs 9-4.
• “Parada” by cässo x Raye x D-Block Europe climbs 7-5, which means that it’s now D-Block Europe’s biggest hit. Obviously there’s a slight asterisk to that, but the song uses so much of the original track “Ferrari Horses” that I’d say it counts.
• “Strangers” by Kenya Grace climbs 20-12.
• “Rush” by Troye Sivan finally makes it to number 21, eight weeks after it entered at 22 – since then, it’s fallen back as far as 37.
• “Bittersweet Goodbye” by Issey Cross climbs 23-22.
• “City Boys” by Burna Boy climbs 32-23.
• “Relax My Eyes” by ANOTR & Abel Balder finally reaches 33 after spending nine weeks floating between 35 and 40.

The records leaving the top 40 this week:

• “Giving Me” by Jazzy, which made it to number 3 and lasted 18 weeks in the top 40. The follow-up “Feel It” is still in the top 40, at number 37.
• “Tension” by Kylie Minogue only managed a week at number 19.
• “0800 Heaven” by Nathan Dawe, Joel Corry & Ella Henderson peaked at 9 and had 13 weeks on chart.
• “Barbie World (From Barbie The Album)” by Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice featuring Aqua got to number 4 and lasted 12 weeks.
• “I’m Just Ken (From Barbie The Album)” by Ryan Gosling also finally leaves us, having peaked at 13 and managed 7 weeks in the top 40

The longest running track in the top 40 is still “Miracle” by Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding, currently at number 36, and celebrating its 27th week.

On the album chart, “Guts” by Olivia Rodrigo is number 1.

3. The Coral – “Sea of Mirrors”
36. The Coral – “Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show”

The main album comes in one place below 2021’s “Coral Island”. “Holy Joe’s Coral Island Medicine Show” is a curious side project, a lo-fi thematic follow-up to the previous album that seems to have been buried by putting it out in the same week as the main release.

5. Roisin Murphy – “Hit Parade”

Hmm. The promotion of this album was generally taken to have been derailed by Roisin Murphy declaring on social media that she was not only opposed to puberty blockers, but considered them to be some sort of conspiracy on the part of “big pharma” to take advantage of “mixed-up kids”. Much vigorous back pedalling followed, and the reviews for the album itself have been very positive (albeit often laden with disclaimers). In the end, this seems to be a case of “no such thing as bad publicity” – her sixth studio album winds up in the top 5, comfortably beating her previous solo career peak of number 14. Only her 2000 album “Things to Make and Do” with Moloko did better, reaching number 3.

6. The Chemical Brothers – “For That Beautiful Feeling”

Their tenth studio album. Its predecessor reached number 4 in 2019, so this is about what you’d expect.

9. M Huncho – “My Neighbours Don’t Know”

Officially his second studio album, but it’s actually his fourth top 10 album, thanks to mixtapes and EPs and the like. The last three all got to 5 and 6, so this is slightly below par, but not much.

15. Romy – “Mid Air”

“Romy” is Romy Madley Croft from the xx. This is her debut solo album.

28. Public Service Broadcasting – “This New Noise”

This is a live album of the concert they did for the Proms last year, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the BBC (and thus, public service broadcasting). Oddly, the video posted for this on their YouTube channel is the entire BBC broadcast, complete with seven and a half minutes of Edith Bowman talking up the show you’re about to watch.

34. Fleetwood Mac – “Rumours Live”

Live album recorded in 1977. Despite the title, it actually features tracks from both “Rumours” and its self-titled predecessor. The band don’t seem to have posted any individual tracks to promote this particular album, but the version of “Gold Dust Woman” was used to promote a retrospective compilation a couple of years ago, so it’ll have to do.

37. Yussef Dayes – “Black Classical Music”

He’s a jazz drummer. This is his first solo appearance in the album chart, but his collaboration with Tom Misch, “What Kinda Music”, reached number 4 in spring 2020.