I had completely forgotten that Noah Kahan was even in the album top ten but…

1. Noah Kahan – “Stick Season”
31. Noah Kahan – “Forever”

That’s seven weeks. You’d think it’d be tailing off by now – it’s been on the top 40 for a total of 19 weeks by now. But Noah Kahan is touring the UK right now, and he’s also released the deluxe edition of his third album, also titled “Stick Season”. That album was released in October 2022, and first showed up in the album chart in June 2023 when his got his first minor hit single (“Dial Drunk”). It re-entered the album top 40 back in October and it’s been climbing ever since. It’s been in the top five all year and it now climbs to number 1. Very, very few albums climb to number 1, let alone on this sort of timescale.

As for “Forever”, that’s the token original track from the new edition of the album – the rest of the new tracks are the duet versions of existing album tracks that he’s previously released as singles. “Forever” is not officially a single, which is unsurprising given that it has a very slow two and a half minute introduction. Kahan also has a third track in the top 40, “Homesick”, at number 11.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is still stuck at number 2, where “Murder on the Dancefloor” has spent five of the last six weeks.

9. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

Beyoncé goes country. There was a time when I’d have said this might be a tough sell for the international audience, but country’s having a relatively good year in the singles chart. That said, it’s the more folky side of country that’s been doing okay in the UK, so I’ll be interested to see how this plays. It’s certainly a bold move.

An intriguing footnote is that Beyoncé actually released two tracks on the same day – the other is “16 Carriages”. Granted that it’s a less instant and radio-friendly track, you’d still have expected it to make the top 40. But it’s been completely eclipsed, and lands at number 44. That said, both tracks were only available on most streaming services for half of the week, so we can expect them to climb.

12. Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign – “Carnival”
17. Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign – “Burn”
18. Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign – “Back To Me”

Three tracks from their collaboration album “VULTURES 1”, which enters at number 2. Ty Dolla $ign has never got a solo album into the top 40, so it’s probably safe to assume that Kanye West is the big attraction here – his last three solo albums all reached 1 or 2. Apparently we can look forward to VULTURES 2 and 3 over the next two months. “Carnival” is ostensibly the single, although it doesn’t have a video. In terms of production, this is actually quite commercial and coherent – musically, “Carnival” is genuinely quite good, and seems like an attempt to have a hit.

On the other hand, West is lyrically hopeless these days, and there are a whole load of reasons why you wouldn’t want to spend time in his company aside from his actual music. The release of this record has been shambolic, with a midweek argument about who was actually responsible for distributing it, one track already pulled following a copyright claim from Donna Summer’s estate, and reported problems in clearing other tracks too, because many other artists just don’t want to be associated with him.

37. Wes Nelson featuring Craig David – “Abracadabra”

We haven’t heard from either of these guys since 2021, when Wes Nelson appeared on Clean Bandit’s “Drive”, and Craig David had a number 39 hit with “Who You Are”. It’s always quite heartwarming to see that Craig David is still going and still having actual, if minor, hits. His first hit single was back in December 1999.

38. Tracy Chapman – “Fast Car”

This is here after she performed it alongside Luke Combs at the Grammys. The original reached number 5 in 1998, and number 4 as a download in 2011. Luke Combs’ version reached number 30 last year. Rather aggravatingly, the highest placing version of the song was the Jonas Blue version which reached number 2 in 2016. Tracy Chapman had  two number one albums in the 80s (and a compilation which got to number 3), but she never had another hit single in the UK; in North America, 1995’s “Give Me Another Reason” was also a top 5 hit.

This week’s climbers:

• “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone climbs 5-3.
• “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” by YG Marley climbs 9-5.
• “Alibi” by Ella Henderson featuring Rudimental climbs 16-15.
• “Whatever” by Kygo & Ava Max climbs 28-24, which continues to baffle me.
• “Home” by Good Neighbours climbs 40-34.

Seven tracks leave the top 40:

• “Strangers” by Kenya Grace was number 1 for three weeks last year, and re-entered after Christmas for a further six weeks.
• “Angel Numbers / Ten Toes” by Chris Brown had six weeks on this run, peaking at 31 (it also had a single week at 32 before Christmas).
• “My Love Mine All Mine” by Mitski peaked at 8 before Christmas and had a further six weeks in the new year.
• “Hiss” by Megan Thee Stallion had two weeks, peaking at 31.
• “Feather” by Sabrina Carpenter had six weeks, peaking at 19 (it would probably have entered earlier if it wasn’t for the Christmas period).
• “Runaway” by Kanye West featuring Pusha T had re-entered last week at 35; since there are three new Kanye West tracks in the top 40, it’ll be disqualified under the three-song rule, but I doubt it would have been in the top 40 anyway.
• “Northern Attitude” by Noah Kahan, which peaked at 16 before Christmas and had another six weeks in the new year. Again, it would probably have dropped out of the top 40 anyway, but it gets disqualified under the three-song rule thanks to the entry of “Forever”.

On the album chart, “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan is number 1, and “VULTURES 1” by Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign is number 2, but we’ve covered those.

3. Declan McKenna – “What Happened to the Beach”

His third album, coming in one place below its predecessor from 2020.

15. Zara Larsson – “Venus”

Her fourth album and the third to chart in the UK. (The first was before she was being promoted here.) The chart positions are going down – 7 in 2017, 12 in 2021, 15 now – but they’re still very respectable for someone who’s mainly a singles artist. The single “On My Love” made number 15.

24. Usher – “Coming Home”

Huh, that’s actually quite good. This is his ninth album, coming eight years after the last one. It’s the first time he’s missed the top 20 since his 1994 debut.

27. Dizzee Rascal – “Don’t Take It Personal”

That’s the lowest position yet for a Dizzee Rascal album. Surprisingly, the previous low was his acclaimed 2003 debut “Boy in da Corner”, which went platinum, but never did well enough in a single week to get above number 23.