After seven weeks at number 1 – and it would have been more without the Christmas flood – “Stick Season” is finally far enough past its peak to get hit by the downweighting rule, and drops to number 5. Our new number one is…

1. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

Climbing from last week’s number 9, but that was based on a midweek release. Nonetheless, this was absolutely not a foregone conclusion. “Texas Hold ‘Em” is Beyoncé’s eighth UK number one, if you count Destiny’s Child records. The other seven are “Independent Women” (2000), “Survivor” (2001), “Crazy in Love” (2003), “Deja Vu” (with Jay-Z, 2006), “Beautiful Liar” (with Shakira, 2007), “If I Were a Boy” (2008) and “Telephone” (with Lady Gaga, 2009). You may note that the last of those was 15 years ago.

She has come close since. “Break My Soul” got to number 2 in 2022 – it got stuck for two weeks behind LF System’s “Afraid to Feel”. But Beyoncé is absolutely not an artist who is guaranteed number one singles. That’s perhaps reinforced by the fact that sister track “16 Carriages”, released on the same day, is languishing at number 47.

Admittedly, it’s less instant. But while the UK chart is relatively country-friendly at the moment, it’s generally been the folk/ballad end of the genre that’s made the charts. Upbeat country songs are much rarer in the UK singles chart, unless you count genre hybrids like some of Avicii’s singles. If you don’t count them, you might well be going back to 2009 when Disney-era Miley Cyrus made the top 20 with “Hoedown Throwdown” (which claims to be a genre hybrid, but that’s really stretching it).

4. Dua Lipa – “Training Season”

This was ahead at the start of the week, but it tailed off. I thought it was quite good, but it doesn’t have the attention-grabbing factor of “Texas Hold ‘Em”. Still, number 4 isn’t bad, and it’s her third straight single to make the top 5.

11. Djo – “End of Beginning”

Chart debut. Djo is Joe Keery, better known as a member of the cast of Stranger Things. He’s been releasing music for a while – he was a member of a group called Post Animal, and released two solo albums under the name Djo. This is a track from the second of those albums, released in 2022. It wasn’t a single, and its appearance in the top 40 two years after release is another oddity brought to us by TikTok. As with a lot of these tracks, it’s actually pretty good, it’s just a very random inclusion in the chart.

19. Calvin Harris & Rag’n’Bone Man – “Lovers in a Past Life”

These two have collaborated before; “Giant” reached number 2 in 2019. This one seems decidedly average, though. Still, it outperforms Calvin Harris’ last single, which only got to 34. Rag’n’Bone Man seems to have been largely inactive since his last hit in 2021 (a duet with Pink that reached the top 10).

33. Yung Filly – “Grey”

Yung Filly might be better known as a YouTuber than as a musician, but this is pleasant enough. He had a previous minor hit in 2020, which managed a single week at 29. It’s been out for a month, but a version with Aitch came out last week.

This week’s climbers:

• “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone climbs 3-2.
• “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims climbs 4-3.
• “Alibi” by Ella Henderson featuring Rudimental climbs 15-12.
• “Whatever” by Kygo & Ava Max climbs 24-20. What the hell is wrong with you people?
• “Home” by Good Neighbours climbs 34-30.
• “Scared to Start” by Michael Marcagi climbs 32-31

So, four new entries plus a re-entry at 39 for Chris Brown. The five records making way for them are:

• “Selfish” by Justin Timberlake, after 3 weeks, peaking at 29. Uh-oh.
• “Perfect (Exceeder)” by Mason & Princess Superstar, which re-entered two weeks ago.
• “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman after a single week at 38.
• “Abracadabra” by Wes Nelson featuring Craig David, after a single week at 37.
• “Rich Baby Daddy” by Drake featuring Sexyy Red & SZA, with a total of 14 weeks on chart (interrupted by Christmas), and peaking at 10.

On the album chart:

1. Idles – “Tangk”

Their second number one, following 2020’s “Ultra Mono”. 2021’s “Crawler” only got to 6, so commercially this is a return to form.

2. Paloma Faith – “The Glorification of Sadness”

I’ve seen more enticing titles. Still, her sixth album maintains a clean sweep of top ten places – only the first, back in 2009, missed the top 5. She did have a number 1 in 2017 with “The Architect”, but she has the misfortune to keep stalling at number 2 – 2012’s “Fall to Grace” and 2014’s “A Perfect Contradiction” both reached number 2 twice, yet couldn’t quite get to the top.

7. Crawlers – “The Mess We Seem to Make”

Officially their debut album, although their EP “Loud Without Noise” qualified for the album chart and reached number 22 in 2022.

17. Pet Needs – “Intermittent Fast Living”

Their third album, their first to chart. That’s one of the cheapest videos we’ve seen around here in a while, but I’m not against just pointing a camera at the band sometimes.

22. Cast – “Love is the Call”

Celebrating their 30th anniversary. Cast haven’t released an album since 2017, and they haven’t released a top 40 album since last century. The single’s a lot better than I was expecting.

24. Yeat – “2093”

His fourth album, the second to chart in the UK. Last year’s album got to 20, so not much change.

30. Steve Hackett – “The Circus and the Nightwhale”

Ah, prog. One place above his last studio album, 2021’s “Surrender of Silence”.

31. Blackberry Smoke – “Be Right Here”

That’s very low for a Blackberry Smoke album – their last four albums all made the top 20.

34. Booter Bee – “True Stories”

Grime rapper from Huddersfield. It’s his debut mixtape.

36. Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Exodus”

For once, not a reissue, but a back catalogue record that’s benefitting from the release of biopic Bob Marley: One Love. The greatest hits compilation, “Legend”, re-entered a few weeks back and has climbed to number 6 this weeks. It spent 12 weeks at number 1 on release, and has now been in the top 40 for a total of 315 weeks.