Quite a lot of climbers this week, partly because of records getting hit by the downweighting rule and making room for them. However…

1. Beyoncé – “Texas Hold ‘Em”

…they’re not shifting this. Two weeks – and yes, it would be number one even without the downweighting rule. (By the way, I know the official term is “accelerated chart ratio”, but that would take even more explanation…) Oddly, sister track “16 Carriages” continues to struggle and has yet to make the top 40. I can understand why it’s not as big, but I’d have thought it would at least chart.

15. SZA – “Saturn”

This is the lead single from…well, it’s weird. It’s the lead single from something called “Lana”, which isn’t actually being released as a standalone album, but as a new second disc on a reissue of her previous album “SOS”. It makes no difference if you’re streaming, of course, but… why? Anyway, it’s a characteristically meandering but charming track, at least until the Mastercard advert at the end. Don’t look at me, this is the only official video I could find. It’s her highest position as a lead artist since “Kill Bill” reached number 3 in 2022.

18. Central Cee – “I Will”

By Central Cee’s standards, a romantic number – though the words “by Central Cee’s standards” are doing quite a bit of work there. Central Cee is one of those acts whose chart positions are wildly inconsistent. His last single only got to 36, and this is his highest position since for a completely solo single since 2022. But… that involves ignoring two collaborations which made the top 10 since then, and while we can probably turn a blind eye to his appearance on a Kid Laroi/Jung Kook track, we can’t really ignore his number 1 with Dave, “Sprinter”.

29. Pozer – “Kitchen Stove”

Debut hit. He’s from Croydon, and apparently this has done well on TikTok. Points off for the reference to “Rey Mysterious”.

31. Bryson Tiller – “Whatever She Wants”

Technically this guy has had a number 1 hit! He’s got a feature credit on “Wild Thoughts” by DJ Khaled and Rihanna. That was in 2017. He’s already off the one-hit wonder list, though – his track “Outta Time” reached number 24 in 2020. Mind you, Drake was on that. He also got to number 21 with “What Would You Do?” in 2022, but that was a guest vocalist for Joel Corry & David Guetta. This is the first time he’s charted entirely on his own.

It’s a track originally released on Soundcloud and given a proper release after it got some traction – understandably, since it’s a strong beat. Wikipedia summarises the video: “Crafted by Bryson Tiller and Chris Mcoy, it sees Tiller luxury shopping and spending a lively night at a strip club.” Gosh, nobody’s done that before. The ski mask seems a bit redundant when he’s been unmasked for years.

37. Muni Long – “Made For Me”

Debut hit – her 2022 single “Hrs and Hrs” (sic) made the top 20 in America but only reached number 41 in the UK. Apparently this is big on TikTok as a meme soundtrack, but the actual song is more than respectable.

40. NewEra – “Birds in the Sky”

Another debut. They’re a dance duo from Ireland, although the official description of one of them as a producer and the other as big on TikTok does rather make you wonder quite how the division of labour is working there. The track is a very by-the-numbers dance track. The original – probably re-created for commercial release rather than directly sampled – is “Wonderful” by Peter Cruseder, an Austrian producer. His version is much better. The credited songwriter for “Wonderful” is Cruseder himself, but he doesn’t have a writing credit on NewEra’s track (which is credited to the two members of NewEra and one Daniel Kearney Mowlds), so interesting correspondence no doubt beckons.

This week’s climbers:

• “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims climbs 3-2, four weeks after it first reached 3.
• “End of Beginning” by Djo climbs to 5 after entering at 11 last week.
• “Carnival” by Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign climbs 13-9. What do you know, Kanye West can still write a hit single. It’s his 23rd top 10 hit, and the first since “Hurricane” in 2021. Ty Dolla $ign gets his fourth top 10 hit, and he hasn’t been this high since 2018. He’s never been this high with equal billing before.
• “Alibi” by Ella Henderson featuring Rudimental climbs 12-11, in the sixth week of a steady climb.
• “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield climbs to 12 after spending five weeks at 13 and 14.
• “Lovers in a Past Life” by Calvin Harris & Rag’n’Bone Man climbs 19-13 in its second week.
• “Nothing Matters” by the Last Dinner Party rebounds from 27 to a new peak of 16, which is apparently due to the release of a batch of physical singles, so it’s a bit artificial. Still, this track has been in the top 40 for five weeks now, which is very unusual for any sort of indie band.
• “Whatever” by Kygo & Ava Max climbs 20-17.
• “Scared to Start” by Michael Marcagi climbs 31-22, a surprisingly big jump after four weeks in the 30s.
• “Home” by Good Neighbours climbs 30-26.

There are six new entries this week, plus two re-entries – Justin Timberlake at 39, and Becky Hill at 35. The eight tracks making way for them:

• “Angel Numbers / Ten Toes” by Chris Brown, which re-entered at 39 last week.
• “Forever” by Noah Kahan, which entered at 31 and dropped out of the top 40 in its third week.
• “Popular” by the Weeknd, Playboi Carti & Madonna, which had seven weeks in its second lease of life, with a peak at 10.
• “DNA (Loving You)” by Billy Gillies featuring Hannah Boleyn, which peaked at 9 and (aside from Christmas) has been around since September.
• “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves, which has been similarly enduring, except that it only got to 14.
• “Asking” by Sonny Fodera & MK featuring Clementine Douglas, which has been on the chart since August except for the Christmas period, and peaked at number 7 back in October.
• “Toxic” by Songer, which managed seven weeks and peaked at 29
• “Back to Me” by Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign, an album track with two weeks and a peak of 18.

On the album chart:

1. Rod Stewart & Jools Holland – “Swing Fever”

Ah, the album market of 2024. Finger on the pulse. Jools Holland’s first number one album, and Rod Stewart’s 11th.

2. The Snuts – “Millennials”

Their third top ten album, all of which have made the top 3; their debut was a number one. (That’s assuming you take them at face value and treat 2020’s “Mixtape” as a mixtape rather than an album. It got to 14.)

5. Potter Payper – “Thanks for Hating”

Officially billed as a mixtape, but all four of his appearances on the album chart have made the top 10. He does much better on the album chart than the singles chart, though “Gangteritis” was a reasonably big hit in 2022.

8. Red Rum Club – “Western Approaches”

Their third album. The first missed the top 40, the second got to number 34, so this is a huge step up.

25. Nadine Shah – “Filthy Underneath”

Shah was shortlisted for the Mercury in 2018, for an album that never actually made the top 40. The follow-up made 29, though, and this now becomes her highest placing album. Good single.

29. Ghetts – “On Purpose With Purpose”

His previous album, 2021’s “Conflict of Interest”, reached number 2. That seems to have been an outlier, because this goes straight back to the chart positions he was getting before. Still, it’s a fourth top 40 album