Well, welcome back.  Let’s see if we can get this blog back on some sort of a schedule, and start by knocking off this week’s chart post before it becomes last week’s.

39.  Brian Wilson & Various Artists – “God Only Knows” 

The BBC’s much-hyped collaboration debuted at 20 last month and then plummeted out of the top 75 within three weeks.  It rebounds here, because it’s a charity release for the Corporation’s annual Children In Need fundraising drive, and this is the sales week following the telethon.  But only to 39.  It’s basically flopped, considering its obvious ambitions to recapture “Perfect Day”.

28.  Idina Menzel – “Let It Go”

Yes, back again.  I have no idea this time.  I don’t think anyone did it on X Factor.  (Actually, they did, but three weeks ago…)

20.  Kendrick Lamar – “i”

Lamar makes his singles chart debut as a lead artist, though he’s previously guested on mid-table hits by Robin Thicke and Alicia Keys.  His last album “Good Kid, MAAD City”, did make number 16 over on the album chart, and it was a commercial breakthrough for him in the US, where it went platinum.  “i” is the lead single from his third album, so it looks like the UK might be catching up.

The actual record starts 50 seconds in – I mention this because I imagine a lot of people won’t stick with the instrumental intro long enough to find that out.  The song is based on “That Lady” by the Isley Brothers, a number 14 hit from 1973, though apparently it’s largely a re-recording rather than a sample.

11.  Taylor Swift – “Blank Space”

Officially, this is the second single from the “1989” album, starting to climb the charts as promotion begins.  “Welcome to New York” doesn’t count, apparently, because it was just a promotional single – a promotional single being a single that doesn’t get promoted.  Don’t ask.

It’s a Max Martin collaboration, naturally enough.  The guy playing the love interest in the video is model Sean O’Pry, who was apparently ranked as the world’s most successful male model several years running.  It was at 30 in the midweeks, so it’s obviously been gathering momentum quite drastically;

9.  Sam Smith – “Like I Can”

A track from his album “In the Lonely Hour” which is due to be released as a single in December.  But he performed it on X Factor last weekend, so here it is now.  It’s dropping fast in the midweeks, presumably because it was only promoted in one place, so expect a resurgence later.

I question the first verse.  “He could be a sinner or a gentleman / He could be a preacher when your soul is damned / He could be a lawyer on a witness stand.”  What, standing in the wrong place?

6.  The Veronicas – “You Ruin Me”

Remember these two?  Their only previous UK chart appearances were in 2009 when their big international synth pop hit “Untouched” got to number 8 (two years after its original release), and the record company bizarrely followed it up with their four-year-old power pop debut “4Ever” (which got to 17 and swiftly vanished).  And that was that – not because subsequent releases failed, but because they had a massive falling out with their label and the third album was delayed for years.  Aside from one Australia-only holding single, this is the first thing they’ve released in five years.

The sentimental ballad is not an obvious choice to relaunch their international careers with, particularly given the change of style from their previous two hits – but hey, it’s in the top 10.

The Veronicas have the bizarre distinction of having been sued by Archie Comics for trade mark infringement for calling themselves Veronica (their actual names are Lisa and Jessica), a litigation which resulted in an odd settlement that included Archie promoting them in Veronica #167 and Archie & Friends #100-101.  According to the band, they’re actually named after Winona Ryder’s character from Heathers.

7.  Tom Odell – “Real Love”

Climbing 14 places because Britain loves penguins.

1.  Gareth Malone’s All Star Choir – “Wake Me Up”

This year’s main Children in Need fundraiser is an oddity – yet another of Gareth Malone’s amateur choirs, this time comprised of BBC types and assorted children, taking a spirited crack at Avicii’s “Wake Me Up”.  Yes, the one that got to number 1 last July.

This is Malone’s second number one, after 2011’s Christmas number 1 “Wherever You Are”, credited to “Military Wives with Gareth Malone”, in which a choir of army wives sang to their absent partners.  This makes him surely the only choirmaster to have two number 1 hits to his name.

Bluntly, this is a record that will sell (and indeed be listened to) on charitable grounds only – it’s a choral version of “Wake Me Up”, for god’s sake.  That’s disappointing, since I genuinely like “Wherever You Are”; it’s a perfectly acceptable piece of music with a sort of supercharged sincerity to it.

Album chart:

• “The Endless River” by Pink Floyd at 1.  The band’s fifteenth and apparently final album.  Only their sixth number 1 album, so it was by no means guaranteed.  The others are “Atom Heart Mother” (1970), “Wish You Were Here” (1975), “The Final Cut” (1983), “The Division Bell” (1994) and “Pulse” (1995).  No, not “Dark Side of the Moon”.  No, not “The Wall”.  I know.  Single: “Louder Than Words”.
• “Sonic Highways” by the Foo Fighters at 2.  The Foo Fighters pretty consistently place in the top 10, and usually at the top end.  This is their eighth studio album, tying in with an HBO show (yes, it’s that stage in their careers) where they record each song in a different city.  Hence “Sonic Highways”.  It’s a theme, I guess.  Single: “Something From Nothing”.
• “Forever” by Queen at 5.  A compilation of obscurities rounded off with three tracks built around unfinished recordings with actual Freddie Mercury vocals.  One for the completists, obviously.  Sample: “Love Kills”.
• “Only Human” by Cheryl at 7 – she’s never gone below 2 before.  Drops to 26 in the midweeks, so.  The singles “Crazy Stupid Love” and “I Don’t Care” made number 1, but it hasn’t done her much good on the album chart.
• “Into Colour” by Rumer at 12.  Her third album – the first two made the top 3.  It’s a very mahogany coffee table kind of thing, to an extent that probably limits its appeal quite drastically.  Single: “Dangerous”.
• “The Soundtrack of my Life” by Donny Osmond at 17.  Donny covers songs that are meaningful to him, for his sixtieth album.  His last studio album, 7 years ago, made the top 10.
• “Bloodstone & Diamonds” by Machine Head at 18.  Mid-teens is fairly typical for these guys.  Single: “Now We Die”.
• “Man Against Machine” by Garth Brooks” at 23.  His first studio album in 13 years.  Single: “Mom”.  (One for the evangelical mother’s day crowd.)
• “Live: Her Greatest Performances” by Whitney Houston at 33.  A collection of live tracks from 1983 to 2009.  Apparently the only live album she’s released, which suggests there must be a lot more material of this sort to come, if the market is interested.
• “The Inevitable End” by Royksopp at 38.  These guys were making the top 10 in 2002, but times have changed.  At home, too – this is their first album not to reach number 1 in Norway.  Single: “Monument”.  And hey, it’s still pretty good.