This is a week where the impact of the downweighting rule is awkwardly obvious, as Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” reaches its tenth week on the chart, and (since it’s several weeks past its peak) the downweighting rule kicks in. And that results in it dropping from number 1 straight to number 11. Without that rule, it would still be number 1. I have some sympathy with the need to find a way of clearing out the dead wood, given how long major hits continue to pick up zombie play before people finally clear them off their playlists. But there has to be a subtler way of doing it.

Anyway, with that asterisk duly applied…

1. Gigi Perez – “Sailor Song”

Gigi Perez joins the one-hit wonders list, climbing to number 1 in her eleventh week on the top 40 (and her fourth in the top 10). It’s a perfectly nice record, but I’m honestly surprised that it’s had enough broad and sustained appeal to get here. That said, it is the lowest-scoring number one of the last year, with the equivalent of just over 39,000 sales.

By the way, maybe the chart company should stop expressing everything in terms of sales equivalents. Sales aren’t quite dead – some fans do still buy collectible physical singles – but they’re certainly not a meaningful yardstick of consumption. “Sailor Song”‘s notional 39,000 sales this week are almost entirely composed of streams; it sold 152 copies. It would make more sense at this point to express everything as stream equivalents.

7. Lady Gaga – “Disease”

This is the lead single from her eighth album – which apparently doesn’t include “Die With A Smile”, currently at number 17. Still, that’s two top ten hits in quick succession, which matches the first two singles from her previous album in 2020 (“Stupid Love” and “Rain on Me”). So she’s still a singles draw.

15. Tyler, The Creator featuring Daniel Caesar – “St. Chroma”
16. Tyler, The Creator – “Noid”
24. Tyler, The Creator – “Darling, I”

The only other new entries this week are the maximum three singles from Tyler, The Creator’s album “Chromokopia”, which enters at number 1. It’s his eighth album, but his first UK number 1 – they’ve been getting steadily higher places each time. (Well, that’s not quite true – the previous two albums both got to number 4 – but you get my point.) It also gives him his biggest hit single, though not by a huge margin; his previous best was number 17 for “Earfquake” in 2019. They’re unusual tracks to make the top 40, which is something I’m all for in theory. In practice, they do nothing for me at all, but hey, the critics liked the album.

This week’s climbers:

• “Apt.” by Rosé & Bruno Mars climbs 3-2, which is a good performance for a K-pop track (however loosely). It’s a great record.
• “That’s So True” by Gracie Abrams climbs 19-3.
• “Somedays” by Sonny Fodera, Jazzy & DOD climbs 7-5.
• “Diet Pepsi” climbs 12-10 to give Addison Rae her first top 10 hit.

The four tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “360” by Charli XCX re-entered two weeks ago thanks to the remix album, peaking at 20.
• “Love Somebody” by Morgan Wallen got a single week at 40.
• “We Pray” by Coldplay lasted 8 weeks and peaked at 20.
• “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction had a single week at 23. (“Night Changes” and “Story of My Life” are both still in the top 30.)

“Lose Control” by Teddy Swims remains the longest-running track in the top 40, with 44 uninterrupted weeks. It’s currently at 33.

The album chart is much busier. As already noted, “Chromokopia” by Tyler, The Creator is number 1.

2. Courteeners – “Pink Cactus Café”

Their seventh album, and it matches the position of the last one. Their 2008 debut remains their only number 1 (back when they were the Courteeners – the name officially changed in 2012).

4. Bastille – “&”

Every Bastille studio album has reached either number 1 or number 4. This one has a slightly odd release schedule, where large chunks of it were released to streaming services on two EPs a while back. That might have had the effect of spreading out the first-week streams.

6. Tears for Fears – “Songs for a Nervous Planet”

Their eighth studio album. The previous one reached number 2 in 2022, but before that they hadn’t reached the top 10 since 1993. I can’t help feeling that the causes of planetary nervousness right now are some way beyond the ability of a Tears for Fears album to remedy.

9. Amyl & The Sniffers – “Cartoon Darkness”

Their third album, and the chart places are going up – their 2019 debut reached number 91, the 2021 follow-up got to 21.

10. Queen – “Queen I”

Deluxe reissue of their 1973 debut album, which was actually just called “Queen”, but has grown a “I” to distinguish it from follow-up “Queen II”. The album didn’t chart in the UK on its initial release, but reached number 24 in 1974 (as a spillover from its sequel making the top ten). That’s their debut single up above, which never charted.

13. Laura Marling – “Patterns in Repeat”

Her eighth album. This is the first time that she’s missed the top 10 since her 2008 debut (which didn’t chart at all), but it is a busy week.

14. Andrea Bocelli – “Duets”

Basically a Christmas release, this oddity consists of a compilation of veteran tenor Bocelli’s past duets (including the likes of Ed Sheeran) and a whole bunch of new ones. Here he is above with Colombian reggaeton artist Karol G, who honestly sounds better on it than he does.

17. Abba – “The Singles”

This is an updated collection of all Abba’s singles, now including some tracks that aren’t on their other compilations (i.e., the singles from “Voyage”).

19. Halsey – “The Great Impersonator”

Her fifth album, and the lowest placing – the previous two both made the top 10.

22. Pixies – “The Night the Zombies Came”

Their tenth album total, and their fifth since they started releasing albums again in 2014. This is their lowest placing studio album (and it’s not close – their early albums “Doolittle”, “Bossa Nova” and “Trompe le Monde” all made the top 10 on release).

32. Green Day – “American Idiot”

Anniversary reissue. It reached number 1 on release in 2004 (and had a second week at number 1 in 2005). And they thought things were bad then.