I did think about doing a post for WWE Fast Lane but, well, the undercard is hardly a source of inspiration to anyone, is it?  So let’s do the charts instead.  This would have been an almost completely dead week were it not for a couple of late new entries.

37.  Florence + The Machine – “What Kind Of Man”

The lead single from new album “How Big How Bad How Beautiful”.  A surprisingly low placing, particularly as it was 26 in the midweeks – Florence Welch hasn’t had a record out since 2012, when the remix of “Spectrum” got to number 1.  Granted that that was a special case (as was the Dizzee Rascal collaboration from the Brits that got to number 2), her bigger singles have generally made the upper teens.

Nobody could accuse the video of being over-hasty to get to the point.  As for the song, Florence has discovered electric guitars and stompiness.

35.  Taylor Swift – “Style”

The next single from the “1989” album, climbing the charts after the video came out.  Supposedly it’s about Harry Styles, but if so, it’s not obvious that it’s “about” him in any sense other than inspiring the use of the word “style” in the hook.  Obviously, this is going to climb.  It’s a grower, and it sounds pretty decent on a first listen.  Very 80s, and a retrenchment after a couple of singles that were all about playing off Swift’s public image.

20.  David Guetta featuring Emeli Sande – “What I Did For Love”

The third single from “Listen”, charting as an album track ahead of its “official” single release this week (as if it means anything to release a single from an already-available album these days).  Apparently EastEnders used it on one of their live episodes last week, which must have helped.  Technically this is a re-entry, as the song previously reached number 24 at the end of November, after it was somewhat randomly performed on an X Factor results show.

Though she’s cropped up as a featured artist a few times since, Sande was last in the top 40 as a lead artist with “Clown” back in March 2013, so presumably the new album can’t be far off now.  In the meantime,

17.  LuvBug – “Revive (Say Something)”

Highest new entry by default.  This is the production trio that includes Marvin from JLS.  Their first single “Resonance” got to 13 last year, so they’re moving in the wrong direction.  It was at 7 in the midweeks, but clearly sales didn’t hold up.  The uncredited singer is a guy called Mark Asari- here’s one of his own songs, presumably sponsored by Rolex.

1.  Ellie Goulding – “Love Me Like You Do”

That’s three weeks, which equals the run of her previous biggest hit “Burn” in 2013.

Combined with Mark Ronson’s six-week run immediately before, this is a remarkable slowdown in the charts, even though it seems to be driven largely by a desolate release schedule.  Since the next chart will come out on 1 March, this means we’ve made it through the first two months of the year with only a single new number one – that last happened in 2007, when Leona Lewis’ winners single stayed at the top throughout January, and Mika’s “Grace Kelly” took February.

On the very last entirely sales-based album chart:

• “Smoke & Mirrors” by Imagine Dragons at 1.  Their first UK number 1 – debut “Night Visions” only got to 2.  The single “I Bet My Life” falls to 32 this week.
• “Texas 25” by Texas at 5.  Texas cover their own greatest hits to celebrate 25 years, with the obligatory cluster of new songs thrown in.  Their last album in 2013 got to number 4, so the audience is still there.  Single: “Start A Family” (featuring Alan Rickman).
• “Wonder Days” by Thunder at 9.  Aging B-list rockers whose heyday was the early 90s.  They haven’t been in the top 10 since 1995, so I’m not sure what’s gone so well for them here.  Album preview video.
• “Led Zeppelin” by Led Zeppelin at 14, presumably in this week’s discount affair.
• “Sucker” by Charli XCX at 15.  Well, it beats her debut album “True Romance”, which stalled at 85, but by any conventional standards missing the top 10 ought to be disappointing for someone as heavily promoted as Charli XCX.  The single “Doing It” drops to 9 this week.
• “Non-Fiction” by Ne-Yo at 16.  That’s actually one place higher than his last album – Ne-Yo has occasional big hit singles but isn’t great at shifting albums.  The single “Coming With You” drops to 24 this week.
• “Everything Ever Written” by Idlewild at 20.  From the “are they still going?” file.  Idlewild’s commercial peak was with “The Remote Part”, a number 3 album in 2002. This is their first album since 2009’s “Post Electric Blues” (which failed to chart), and their highest album chart position since 2005.  The album is available for streaming on their YouTube channel.
• “Room 94” by Room 94 at 27.  Self-titled second album from a London group who self-release.  The previous album, “No Strings Attached”, got to 28 last year.  Single: “Dirty Dancing”.  (It’s not very good.)
• “Terraplane” by Steve Earle & The Dukes at 30.  A Terraplane is a 1930s car, if you were wondering.  It matches the chart place of Earle’s last album.  Vaguely associated track: “You’re The Best Lover That I Ever Had”.
• “Hope is Just a State of Mind” by Little Comets at 31.  Indie band on their third album, charting for the first time.  Single: “Salt”.
• “Ibeyi” by Ibeyi at 36.  French twins, debut album.  Single: “Ghosts”.