Well, if you’re going to be number one for this long, you might as well go for the record.

1. Sabrina Carpenter – “Taste”

That’s eight weeks, which means that Sabrina Carpenter has now spent twenty weeks at number 1 this year. Only Frankie Laine’s 28-week total in 1953 stands in the way of that being an all-time record. You could make a case that Sabrina has benefitted from a low turnover of hits this year, and so a lower number of challengers – but then again, she held “Good Luck Babe” off the top for months on end, and that’s a huge hit in its own right.

7. Charli XCX featuring Ariana Grande – “Sympathy is a Knife”

The remix version of “Brat” – “Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat” – is out this week, but since it also includes the entire original album, the OCC is classing it as a deluxe edition of “Brat” rather than a free standing album. The remixes are extensive. The original version of “Sympathy is a Knife” doesn’t sound much like this version at all, but for chart versions both versions count towards this streaming position – it’s just that the Ariana Grande version has now been nominated as the lead, so that she gets co-credit.

The result is that “Brat” is shown as climbing from 13 to number 1 on the album chart. It only made number 2 on its release in June, although it’s never dropped below 14 in the months since. (In its release week, it was held off by “Tortured Poets Department”. It had another week at number 2 later on, but that was the week that “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” reached the top.)

The new mixes presumably also account for “Apple” climbing from 26-11, and “360” re-entering at 20 – though the remix of “360” has actually been available for months.

9. Sabrina Carpenter – “Bed Chem”

“Please Please Please” and “Espresso” both get hit by the downweighting rule this week. “Espresso” drops from 4 to 17, but “Please Please Please” drops below this album track – which has been hanging around as a kind of shadow hit for a while now. The result is that “Please Please Please” gets disqualified under the 3-song rule, and “Bed Chem” finally gets to register on the chart.

37. Jennie – “Mantra”

A third solo hit for the Blackpink member. She got to number 39 with “You & Me” last year, and also guested on a Weeknd track that reached 21.

There are three new entries this week, plus the re-entry for “360” and another re-entry for “Austin” by Dasha at number 40. The five records leaving the top 40 are:

• “Please Please Please” by Sabrina Carpenter, disqualified under the 3-song rule, and thus dropping straight out of the top 5. (It would have been downweighted this week anyway.) It had five weeks at number 1 and lasted 18 weeks in the top 40.
• “Guess” by Charli XCX featuring Billie Eilish had a week at number 1 and lasted 10 weeks in the top 40 – I’m fairly sure it was disqualified under the 3-song rule, since it was at 12 last week.
• “I’m Gonna Miss You” by Milli Vanilli after an unlikely single week at number 40.
• “Heavy is the Crown” by Linkin Park, which peaked at 18 and actually lasted three weeks – very unusual for their genre.
• “Angel of my Dreams” by Jade, which peaked at number 7 and survived 12 weeks in the top 40 – in that sense, the most successful solo release yet by a Little Mix member, although that’s slightly undermined by the fact that follow-up “Midnight Cowboy” tanked at number 93. It was technically a promotional single, I think, but the video was, um, clearly intended to get attention, and didn’t, really.

We do have a lot of climbers, because the downweighting rule hits a lot of last week’s top 10, finally clearing out some dead wood:

• “Die with a Smile” by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars climbs 3-2.
• “Sailor Song” by Gigi Perez climbs 6-3.
• “I Love You I’m Sorry” by Gracie Abrams climbs 11-4.
• “Somedays” by Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & DOD climbs 8-5.
• “Hot to Go” by Chappell Roan climbs 10-7, which is a new peak – it previously got to 7 three weeks ago.
• “Thick of It” by KSI featuring Trippie Redd climbs 14-8. KSI was last in the top 10 in 2022.
• “Move” by Adam Port, Stryv & Keinemusik climbs 22-10 – it had previously peaked at 11 in August.
• “The Door” by Teddy Swims climbs 16-12 in its 21st week on the top 40; it previously reached 13 three weeks ago. The current single is meant to be “Bad Dreams”, but that falls to 33 this week.
• “Diet Pepsi” by Addison Rae climbs 15-14.
• “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish climbs 21-18.
• “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House climbs 37-32.

The longest running track on the singles chart is still “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims, with 42 weeks. It’s currently at 31.

On the album chart, “Brat” by Charli XCX is number 1.

2. Paul Heaton – “The Mighty Several”

Technically this is his highest placing solo album, but only if you ignore the albums that are credited to both him and Jacqui Abbott – their last two albums both reached number 1. Up against Charli XCX, number 2 is pretty good.

7. James Blunt – “Back to Bedlam”

20th anniversary reissue. It was number 1 for a total of 10 weeks in 2005-6.

11. Lady Gaga – “Harlequin”

This is an album of (mostly) jazz standards described as a companion album to Joker: Folie a Deux. It missed the top 40 on release last month, but the physical release gets it in here.

14. The Last Dinner Party – “Prelude to Ecstasy”

Deluxe re-release. It was a one-week number 1 in February.

24. Skinny Living – “Day By Day”

Their first studio album, although they’ve released several EPs and two live albums before.