Have we wandered into the album chart or something?

1. Eminem – “Houdini”

Two weeks. Which is surprising in itself from a man in his fifties who ought to be a legacy act by this point. But it’s even more surprising when you realise that none of his other ten number ones made it past a single week.

3. Sabrina Carpenter – “Please Please Please”

Well, there you go – “Espresso” wasn’t a one-off, and Sabrina Carpenter is a star now. Remember, she’d never made it past number 19 until “Espresso” became a number one. In fact, “Espresso” is still there at number 2, so she has a majority of the top 3.

“Please Please Please” is an interesting choice of follow-up single – technically I suppose it counts as a ballad, of a sort? I like it, but I doubt she could have got a hit out of it before “Espresso”. She has a persona that only really makes sense that you accept the premise that she’s a star – which is obviously a lot easier once the public agree with her.

17. Taylor Swift – “Cruel Summer”

Again?!?! I know she’s in the country with her tour but… again?

“Cruel Summer” reached number 27 on release in 2019, but seems now to be Taylor Swift’s equivalent of “Mr Brightside”, a record that just won’t go away. It re-entered in June 2023 and it stuck around until April 2024 – other than over Christmas, and for a single week when it was DQ’d because there were three higher-placing Taylor Swift records on the chart. It had just dropped out of the top 40 in the week before “Tortured Poets Department” came out, at which point it would have been starred out anyway. Evidently it’s now overtaken “Down Bad” and reclaims its place on the chart thanks to the tour hype.

“Fortnight” is still on the chart at number 11, and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” is at 19.

22. Raye – “Genesis”

Raye’s chart positions can be hit and miss, so it’s nice to see her getting a reasonably decent position for this well reviewed but doggedly uncommercial seven-minute, three-act, genre-shifting oddity.

27. Charli XCX – “360”

The follow-up to “Von Dutch” has been floating around the lower reaches for several weeks, with the misfortune to spend two weeks at number 41. The parent album “Brat” enters at number 2 this week, which pushes it into the top 40. The previous album got to number 1, and she’s up against Taylor Swift in UK tour week, so this isn’t a surprise.

35. Gracie Abrams – “Close To You”

Gracie Abrams had a number 3 album last year with “Good Riddance”, but this is her first appearance on the singles chart.

40. Flex (UK) featuring Nate Dogg – “6 in the Morning”

Nate Dogg died in 2011, so you won’t be surprised to learn that this is a sample. Flex (UK) is a teenage producer, apparently – I’m not sure if the “(UK)” is even part of his name, or just there to distinguish him from someone else. Curiously, there’s another track at number 54 remixing the same Nate Dogg track – “Pick Up the Phone” by PAWSA featuring Nate Dogg – and it’s not a rival version but a completely different mix. The original, “Gangsta Walk”, was never released during his lifetime, and only seems to exist as an acapella; it first surfaced as the basis for a track by SNBRN released several years ago.

This week’s climbers:

• “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish climbs 5-4. This is a bit odd, since it’s an album track. The lead single “Lunch” is still at number 8, but the current single is meant to be “Chihiro”, which falls to 13 this week.
• “Stargazing” by Myles Smith climbs 8-7.
• “Without Me” by Eminem climbs 38-37. Really.

The six tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “One of Wun” by Gunna, which peaked at 30 but managed three weeks.
• “The Sound of Silence” by the Disturbed, following three thrilling weeks at number 39.
• “Valerie” by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse, after six weeks hovering between 36 and 39.
• “Green & Gold” by Rudimental & Skepsis featuring Charlotte Plank & Riko Dan, which only got to 29 but lasted 11 weeks.
• “Hell N Back” by Bakar, after a nine-week run that peaked at 21.
• “Down Bad” by Taylor Swift, which is eliminated under the 3-song rule after being overtaken by “Cruel Summer”.

“Stick Season” by Noah Kahan is obviously still the longest running track on the top 40, currently at 28.

On the album chart, “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift is number 1 for a sixth non-consecutive week. It’s being kept on top by physical sales of variant collectible editions, it should be said, so there must be a limit to how long that can be kept up.

2. Charli XCX – “Brat”

We’ve covered that.

3. Bon Jovi – “Forever”

Standard for Bon Jovi. It’s their highest position since 2015, but they haven’t missed the top 5 with a studio album since 1986.

8. Aurora – “What Happened to the Heart”

Her fourth album; it matches the position of its predecessor. That’s a good position considering that this isn’t exactly easy listening.

12. Meghan Trainor – “Timeless”

The single “Been Like This” scraped the singles chart at number 40. Number 12 is unusually high for a Meghan Trainor album – she hasn’t been this high since 2016, despite having hit singles in that time.

Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” is still climbing, and reaches number 15 this week.

23. Seasick Steve – “A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down on Your Knees”

No, there aren’t any commas in the album title. It’s his 14th album and his highest position since 2016 (when he was making the top 10).

26. Tems – “Born in the Wild”

The singles “Me & U” and “Love Me Jeje” both charted in the 30s. It’s her first album.

39. Peggy Gou – “I Hear You”

Debut album. It includes the single “(It Goes Like) Nanana” which reached number 5 last year.