We don’t get many one-week number ones these days, but “Guess” by Charli XCX featuring Billie Eilish turns out to be one of them. It’s only the second of the year – the other was “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift. “Guess” drops straight to number 4 in its second week, and gets overtaken by Billie Eilish’s album track “Birds of a Feather”. But that only climbs to 2.

1. Chase & Status and Stormzy – “Backbone”

Chase & Status released their first single in 2005, and had their first hit single in 2009. They had a long fallow period in chart terms between 2014 and 2022, but had a real resurgence last year when they had top ten hits with “Disconnect” and “Baddadan”. In total, they’ve had a respectable six top 10 hits prior to this record, but none of them got above number 5. So for their comeback phase to give them their first number one is a pleasant surprise.

Stormzy, of course, has had three previous number ones – “Vossi Bop”, “Own It” and a guest appearance on Ed Sheeran’s “Take Me Back to London”. But those were back in 2019 and he hasn’t had a top ten hit in a couple of years, so he’s hardly a surefire star to push Chase & Status over the top. Maybe it’s a case of unifying two audiences.

27. Madonna – “Like a Prayer”

There’s not much going on further down the chart. This is another back catalogue track reactivated by Deadpool & Wolverine. Normally older tracks are on automatic downweighting but they can be reset when there’s some justification for doing it, and the excuse in this case is the release of the alternate mix used in the film.

“Like a Prayer” was number 1 for three weeks in 1989.

38. Gracie Abrams – “I Love You, I’m Sorry”

The third hit single of the year for Gracie Abrams, none of which have got above number 35. Mind you, the other two entered in the low 30s and dropped from there. This one has been climbing from the lower reaches for several weeks, so it’s possible things will go differently.

This week’s climbers:

• “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish climbs 4-2, returning to its peak from three weeks ago. It’s been in the top 10 for 13 weeks now, despite not being an official single. “Wildflower” also climbs one place, from 37-36.
• “Kisses” by Bl3ss, CamrinWatsin and Bbyclose climbs to 6 after two weeks at number 7. It’s got a video now, but I’m not sure why they bothered, given how obviously thrown together it is.
• “Angel of my Dreams” by Jade rebounds from 18 to 7 with the release of an alternate ballad version (which has its own video). If you haven’t seen the video for the original version, it really is worth a look – while her Little Mix bandmates have stuck to familiar territory, she feels like she’s been let off the leash.
• “Move” by Adam Port, Stryv, Keinemusik, Orcho & Malachiii climbs 16-11.
• “Hot to Go” by Chappell Roan climbs 15-12, while “Red Wine Supernova” climbs 32-31. (“Good Luck Babe” is a non-mover at 3.)
• “Somedays” by Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & D.O.D. climbs 31-19 to become Sonny Fodera’s second top 20 hit.
• “Big Dawgs” by Hanumankind featuring Kalmi climbs 35-21.
• “Free” by Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding climbs 38-35 in its third week on chart.

The three records leaving the the top 40 are:

• “Houdini” by Eminem, a 2-week number 1 with 10 weeks in the top 40.
• “Did it First” by Ice Spice & Central Cee, which peaked at 15 and lasted a month.
• “Band4Band” by Central Cee featuring LIl Baby, with 11 weeks and a peak of 3.

“Stick Season” by Noah Kahan is still the longest running track on the top 40 at 45 weeks and counting. It’s back up to number 30 this week and I wouldn’t bet against it hanging around to complete a full year.

Over on the album chart:

1. Beabadoobee – “This is How Tomorrow Moves”

Her third album. All three have made the top 10, but this is the first number one. None of the singles made the top 40 – the highest placing was “Take a Bite”, above, which got to 68.

5. Will Young – “Light It Up”

His ninth studio album. He’s never missed the top 5 with a studio album and he maintains that streak here, just.

11. Calvin Harris – “96 Months”

A compilation of otherwise uncollected hit singles. The first time he’s missed the top 10 with an album of any sort, but it’s not a core release and it still got to 11, so I’m sure he won’t be too bothered.

12. Elles Bailey – “Beneath the Neon Glow”

She’s an English Americana-ish singer. This is her seventh album but her first to chart. It’s also her first on a new label, Cooking Vinyl.

15. Asake – “Lungu Boy”

He’s Nigerian and this is his third album; the previous two made 22 and 20, so steady progress.