After last week’s coma, there’s a bit more going on this week. Almost all outside the top 20, admittedly, but hey.

1. Sabrina Carpenter – “Please Please Please”

Two weeks. It’s peaked already, but she still has both the number 1 and 2 slots.

21. Tommy Richman – “Devil is a Lie”

Climbing from the lower reaches, this is the follow-up to “Million Dollar Baby”, which is still at number 10. It’s a decent production in search of a better song, and I think the first hit is the stronger, but yeah, it’s not bad. The video is the sort of thing you used to see at number 7 on the Chart Show Indie Chart, which is an interesting call. The microbudget video is making something of a comeback, not least because labels are starting to wonder what the point of expensive videos even is in 2024. For example…

25. Coldplay – “feelslikeimfallinginlove”

This is the lead single from their tenth album “Moon Music”, and all it gets is this placeholder graphic. The lead single from their previous album got to number 12, but the album before that one placed its sole single at roughly this position. The song is… not very good? Even by the standards of the Coldplay formula, it’s stuck in second gear. Still, most bands this deep into their careers have long since stopped having hit singles of any sort.

28. Charli XCX – “Girl, So Confusing”

This is a track from the recent album “Brat”, but it’s charting mainly because of the release of a single version with Lorde. Apparently there’s a whole back story about these two if you’re into Charli XCX fandom. Charli XCX has had a pretty good year in terms of getting mid-table hits; this is her third hit of the year, all placing between 26 and 28. Her previous single “360” is still on the chart at 31.

29. Jordan Adetunji – “Kehlani”

Debut hit. He’s from Belfast and his website bills him as alternative hip hop. Mind you, I’m not convinced he’s had much input on the wording of that website. It gets excited about the fact that he was once played on the radio by Gary from Snow Patrol.

“Kehlani” is one of those tracks where you realise about halfway through that the drop isn’t coming and this is the whole thing. It’s quite effective, though, even if I wouldn’t have figured it for a natural hit.

34. Post Malone & Blake Shelton – “Pour me a Drink”

Post Malone really is committing to the country thing, then. His previous single, “I Had Some Help”, is still in the top 10 at number 8. He’s also on Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight”, currently at 12. This track is… lower.

It’s maybe a bit too mainstream-US-country-radio for a UK audience even in 2024. Shelton is a big name in US country but means precisely nothing in Britain, where his only scrape with the singles chart was a number 71 placing for a Christmas duet with Gwen Stefani.

37. Gracie Abrams featuring Taylor Swift – “Us.”

Gracie Abrams had her first hit single two weeks ago, when “Close to You” managed a week at number 35. She’s a bigger deal on the album chart, where last year’s “Good Riddance” reached number 3. This week, her second album “The Secret of Us” enters at number 1. “Us” is an album track, but with Taylor Swift guesting, it predictably makes the top 40. It’s very Taylor Swift, and could well climb.

Because the three-song cap doesn’t apply to guest appearances, Taylor Swift has four songs in this week’s chart, the others being “Fortnight” at 12, “Cruel Summer” at 13 and “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” at 20.

39. Ariana Grande – “The Boy Is Mine”

This is the third single from her album “Eternal Sunshiine”, which came out back in March. Even allowing for that fact, they’ve been promoting it as a single since the start of June, and it’s taken this long to get it to number 39. It’s done better internationally but in the UK, this is badly underperforming. It seems to have been pushed over the edge by the release of a remix incorporating elements of the Brandy & Monica track of the same name.

40. Chappell Roan – “Red Wine Supernova”

Well, Chappell Roan’s having a good summer. The current single “Good Luck Babe” climbs into the top 10 this week, in its 11th week on the top 40. That’s sparked interest in her previous album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”, which made no impact on its release last September, but has achieved the almost impossible feat of climbing the album chart from the lower reaches. It made the album top 40 for the first time at the end of May, and reaches number 6 this week. This sort of thing just doesn’t happen.

The singles from that album – which likewise made no impact on release – are also belatedly getting some attention. “Hot to Go” entered at 39 last week and now climbs to 33; “Red Wine Supernova” finally makes it to number 40 a year after release.

This week’s climbers:

• “Good Luck Babe” by Chappell Roan climbs 13-7.
• “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift climbs 14-13, its highest position of this current run.
• “Hot to Go” by Chappell Roan climbs 39-33

The eight tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “Pink Skies” by Zach Bryan lasted four weeks, peaking at 25.
• 3 Lions” by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and the Lightning Seeds vanishes again after a week at 32.
• “As It Was” by Harry Styles had a six-week comeback run, peaking at 30.
• “I Like The Way You Kiss Me” by Artemas peaked at 3 and had seven weeks in the top 10.
• “Love Me Jeje” by Tems spent five weeks in the top 40, all of them at either 36 or 40.
• “6 in the Morning” by Flex (UK) featuring Nate Dogg had two weeks peaking at 37, so apparently we’re not getting the battle of the alternative version of “Gangsta Walk” after all.
• “Genesis” by Raye had two weeks, peaking at 22.
• “The Sound of Silence” by the Disturbed re-entered last week at 40.

On the album chart, “The Secret of Us” by Gracie Abrams is number 1. And it’s the album chart’s turn to take a week off…

11. The Mysterines – “Afraid of Tomorrows”

Their second album; the first one reahced number 9 in 2022.

33. Avril Lavigne – “Greatest Hits”

Exactly what it sounds like. Avril Lavinge had 7 top ten hits in the UK, of which this was the highest. I know. I’ve always hated this video. It got to number 2; the others were “Complicated” (3), “When You’re Gone” (3), “Don’t Tell Me” (5), “My Happy Ending” (5), “I’m With You” (7) and “Sk8er Boi” (8).