I’m late enough that the midweeks for next Sunday’s chart are out – it’s been a while since that’s happened, so let’s get this one done.

And don’t forget to buy tickets for our live show on 31 May – all details are at this post, including the online ordering details.

We kick off with something unexpected…

40.  Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Monn & Idina Menzel – “Do You Want To Build A Snowman”

This is not officially on YouTube, though Disney must be turning a blind eye, giving that there are versions with millions of views up there.  It’s presumably in the chart because of the Frozen DVD release.  “Let It Go”, which is still hanging around the top 40 after all these weeks, climbs up to a new high of 17 this week.  “Do You Want To Build A Snowman”, while a lovely scene, isn’t exactly the obvious track for people to be cherry picking – but here it is, and it’s actually climbing in the midweeks, which show a third Frozen song – “For The First Time in Forever” – set to join them.  It’s only at 38, though, so it might not be there on Sunday.  Obviously this wasn’t possible until the download era, but the download era has been going long enough that Frozen stands out as doing something truly odd.

39.  Kylie Minogue – “Into the Blue”

Re-entry, but it’s just a minor rebound from a track which dipped outside the top 40 last week.

35.  Paloma Faith – “Can’t Rely on You”

Another re-entry – this track peaked at 10 in March.  It’s back because she performed it on the final of The Voice UK, just in time to catch the tail end of the sales week.  Most of the sales will be reflected on next week’s chart, so it’s going to climb.

33.  Tove Lo featuring Hippie Sabotage – “Stay High (Habits Remix)”

This one is going to climb next week.  Tove Lo is a Swedish singer who’s also written for the likes of Icona Pop and Girls Aloud.  The credit here is a bit unusual – “Stay High” is actually Hippie Sabotage’s remix of Tove Lo’s “Habits”, a hit in its own right in Scandinavia last year, and a rather more indie-ish track.  I prefer the original, actually, but the remix is pretty good too.

29.  Frankie Knuckles – “Your Love” 

The legendary house pioneer died during the week, and obviously this is being bought as a response to that.  This track, which dates from 1987, is in a roundabout way his most familiar song to UK audiences, as one half of “You Got The Love”, in the version that reached number 4 in 1991, rather bizarrely credited to “The Source featuring Candi Staton”.  The record has subsequently turned up in other mixes putting Staton’s vocals over completely different backing tracks, still credited to “The Source featuring Candi Staton”.  “The Source” subsequently became an alias for John Truelove, who was responsible for one of the later mixes, but on first release it seems to have been nothing more than a random alias slapped on the track by Source Records.  At least Staton got credited – though she says she had to get in the lawyers before she got paid.

On its original UK release in 1989, “Your Love” stalled at number 59.  But Knuckles did have three other UK hits during his career, the biggest being “The Whistle Song”, which made number 17 in 1991.

25.  Shakira – “Empire”

Her previous single missed the top 10 even with Rihanna attached; the parent album stuttered to 14; this one misses the top 20; and it’s nowhere to be seen in the midweeks.  So it doesn’t look at though Shakira’s current material is making much impact in the UK.  This is quite good, though – I love her vocal on this, though the middle eight is a bit clumsy.

12.  Paolo Nutini – “Scream (Funk My Life Up)”

No, that’s not a typo, Paolo Nutini has made a song called “Scream (Funk My Life Up)”. This is the lead single from his upcoming album “Caustic Love”, which on the strength of this track would appear to be a shift towards southern rock, or at least a politer version of Primal Scream’s take on said genre.  It’s his biggest hit since his 2006 debut “Last Request”, which remains his only top ten hit.

7.  John Martin – “Anywhere for You”

This is John Martin’s first credit as a lead artist, but he was the singer on Swedish House Mafia’s number 1 “Don’t You Worry Child”, Sebastian Ingrosso’s “Reload”, and Tinie Tempah’s “Empire of the Sun”.  The Swedish House Mafia are unsurprisingly the point of departure here.  By the way, if you’re thinking that “John Martin” isn’t a very Swedish name, it’s actually his first and middle names.  His original surname is Lindstrom.

1.  Aloe Blacc – “The Man”

Technically this is only the second UK hit for Aloe Blacc, following his 2011 number 2 hit “I Need a Dollar”.  He was also the singer on Avicii’s number 1 “Wake Me Up”, but he didn’t get credited on that, because in a world where everything has a “featuring” credit, Avicii somehow gets away without them.

That injustice is now rectified as Blacc gets a very well deserved number 1 in his own right.  Yes, okay, that’s partly because it interpolates Elton John’s “Your Song” (with credit), but he’s really taken one line from it and made it into something else.  It’s a really excellent record and one of the best number ones in a while.  The lyrics are nothing special in their own right, but boy he knows how to sell them.  Blacc really is one of those people who could sing the TV listings and get away with it.

Good video, too, which really gets the pointthough it loses marks for the really clumsy product placement just after the 3:00 mark…

On the album chart:

• “Education, Education, Education & War” by the Kaiser Chiefs at number 1.  Who says The Voice UK can’t sell records?  The Kaiser Chiefs have never actually missed the top 10 with a studio album, but they haven’t been at number 1 since “Yours Truly Angry Mob” in 2005.  Frontman Ricky Wilson’s appearances on The Voice have obviously helped.  Single (which will be joining us next week, thanks to a performance on the final): “Coming Home”.
• “Out Among the Stars” by Johnny Cash at number 4.  A posthumous album compiled from sessions recorded in the 1980s and shelved by Cash’s label when his career was in trouble.  Single: “She Used to Love Me a Lot”.
• “Head or Heart” by Christina Perri at 8.  A one place improvement on her previous album “Lovestrong” from 2011.  The single “Human” peaked at 14 in March.
• “All You Can Eat” by Steel Panther at 12.  Comedy metal act.  Their previous album “Balls Out” scraped the bottom end of the top 40 in 2011, but the changing demographics of the album market seem to favour some previously niche acts.  Single: “Party Like Tomorrow is the End of the World”.
• “Himalayan” by Band of Skulls at 21.  English alt-rock.  Their third album, the second to chart.  Single: “Asleep at the Wheel”.