My god, a busy week on the singles chart. It’s been so long.

1. Lola Young – “Messy”

Two weeks. Her other credited single – as a guest on Tyler, The Creator’s “Like Him” – is at 36.

And one thing hasn’t changed – the top five is entirely non-movers.

6. Central Cee & Dave – “Sailor Song”
13. Central Cee & Lil Durk – “Truth in the Lies”

Central Cee’s album “Can’t Rush Greatness” is officially his first studio album, but it’s his second number one, because the album chart doesn’t care if you call it a mixtape. It gets the maximum three singles, with last week’s “GBP” hanging in there at number 7.

Dave gets his biggest hit since “Sprinter”, also with Central Cee, was a number 1 in 2023 – mind you, he hasn’t actually had any hits as a lead artist since that collaboration. The Lil Durk track is the official release week single; he’s had a handful of hits over the years, the biggest being a guest shot on a Drake track that reached number 4. He’s only had one hit as the credited lead artist – “All My Life”, which reached number 14 in 2023 (but that had J Cole on it).

The sample in “Truth in the Lie” is, of course, “So Sick” by Ne-Yo, a number 1 in 2006.

8. Tate McRae – “Sports Car”

Huh, that’s not bad, actually. Tate McRae’s videos are still trying a bit too hard, but this one’s rather nicely shot, too, in a fashion shoot kind of way. It matches the peak of her previous single “2 Hands”.

14. Sam Fender – “Arm’s Length”

This is the third single from his upcoming album, due at the end of the February. The previous two singles made the top 10, but hey, getting three pre-release singles into the top 20 is a pretty consistent performance for a singer-songwriter these days. He’s not exactly breaking new ground with this one, mind. His previous single “People Watching” is still at number 18.

23. Travis Scott – “4×4”

This is, um, the new theme tune for WWE Raw following its move to Netflix. Okay then. It matches the position of his last hit, a collab with 21 Savage and Metro Boomin from last year.

25. Aitch – “A Guy Called”

It’s a diss track directed at Central Cee, responding to a track where Central Cee whines about Aitch beating him to a Brit Award, of all things. Aitch hasn’t had a top 40 hit since 2022, and it’s not for want of trying. But it’s hard to argue his point that (at least when he can be bothered) Aitch is a vastly better rapper than Central Cee. Maybe he should commit more to this sort of thing.

32. Sexxy Red & Bruno Mars – “Fat Juicy & Wet”

Only the second time Sexyy Red has made the top 40 – the other was a guest shot on Drake’s “Rich Baby Daddy”, which reached number 10 in 2023. Bruno Mars still has Rosé’s “APT” up at number 2. This is some way removed from his normal territory, though. The radio edit of this track is interesting – they’ve re-recorded some of the lyrics where it’s absolutely essential to avoid stretches of silence, but otherwise they’ve deliberately opted for echo effects to keep the rhythm while sending a clear This Is Censored signal.

This week’s climbers… oh, there aren’t any. Not unless you count a couple of records with small rebounds on their way down the chart. There’s a re-entry at 37 for Tate McRae’s “It’s OK I’m OK” – which is actually a significant climb, since it was at 51 last week – so there are 8 records leaving the chart:

• “Taste” by Sabrina Carpenter was a 9-week number 1 back before Christmas, though it had a month long gap in its run due to the festive back catalogue.
• “Popular” by Ariana Grande peaked at 13 before Christmas and, again, had a two week interruption.
• “DTMF” by Bad Bunny had a single week at number 26.
• “BFM” by SZA had three weeks, peaking at 21.
• “Too Sweet” by Hozier had a five week re-entry run after Christmas.
• “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone had two weeks at number 1 last March and, aside from a 4-week interruption over Christmas, it’s been around ever since.
• “What is this Feeling” by Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo peaked at 16 before Christmas, with a one-week interruption in its run. The third Wicked soundtrack song, “Defying Gravity”, is still up at number 17.
• “I Love You I’m Sorry” by Gracie Abrams was a re-entry at 38 last week.

On the album chart, Central Cee’s “Can’t Rush Greatness” is number 1.

2. Teddy Swims – “I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2)”

His second album, following 2023’s “I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 1)”, which didn’t chart until 2024 and only got to number 2. The single “Bad Dreams” reached number 6 and is still in the top 10.

3. FKA Twigs – “Eusexua”

Her third album and far and away the highest placing – her previous peak was number 16 with her debut back in 2014.

5. Mogwai – “The Bad Fire”

Their eleventh album. Its predecessor, “As the Love Continues”, reached number 1 in 2021 (admittedly, it dropped out of the top 100 after a fortnight). But that was an outlier – somewhere in the top 10 seems to be their standard for a studio album.

22. Matt Berry – “Heard Noises”

His eleventh album, the third (and highest) to make the top 40. His previous two albums didn’t make the top 40, so that’s a slightly surprise.