So then.  As promised when I stopped the weekly chart posts, I’m going to do a monthly round-up of what’s been in the singles chart – plus, in this case, the last two charts of August, since I didn’t cover them either.  That’ll cover the number 1 singles and a brief run-down of what else has made the top 40 during this period, picking out anything actually notable.  Annoyingly for my purposes, it’s been a period with a heavy turnover of number one singles…

21 August 2015: Jess Glynne, “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” 

Jess Glynne’s fifth number one single in a career of less than two years.  Technically, this equals the record for the most number one singles by a British female solo artist.  But there’s a hell of an asterisk next to that, because Glynne got three of her numbers ones as a guest vocalist (“Rather Be” by Clean Bandit, “My Love” by Route 94, and “Not Letting Go” by Tinie Tempah), while her co-record holder Cheryl Cole was the lead credited artist on all five of hers.  It’s still an impressive start to anyone’s career, though.

“Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” was the fourth single from Glynne’s album “I Cry When I Laugh”, which came out the following week and likewise went to number 1.  The single lasted one week at number one but it’s yet to drop below 6, so it’s hanging in there fine.

The other new entries from this week:

• Martin Solveig & GTA, “Intoxicated”  Entered at 5 and spent four weeks in the top 10.  Solveig first charted back in 2004 but this is the first time he’s made the top 10 (his previous best was “Hello”, which got to 13).  No idea who GTA are, to be honest, and they have one of those unhelpful un-searchable names that brings up loads of hits about Grand Theft Auto.
• Pia Mia featuring Chris Brown & Tyga, “Do it Again” Entered at 20, peaked at 9 this week.  Pia Mia Perez is from Guam, and Chris Brown’s manager supposedly found her on YouTube.  She’s released several singles before, but this is the official lead single from her upcoming album.  The chorus is lifted from the reggae track “Let’s Do it Again” by J Boog, which was rather better.
• Galantis, “Peanut Butter Jelly”.  Entered at 24, peaked at 8 a couple of weeks back.  The follow-up to “Runaway (U & I)”, which got to number 4 in May.  The backing track is mostly samples from Bettye Swan’s 1974 single “Kiss My Love Goodbye”, but they’ve done a pretty great job with it.  (“Is it far enough over the top yet?”  “Nah.  Stick an air horn on it.”)  Not sure the video does it any favours, but there you go.
• Maroon 5, “This Summer’s Gonna Hurt Like a Motherfucker”.  Apparently not what people are looking for from Maroon 5, given its one week at number 40.

28 August 2015: Rachel Platten, “Fight Song”  

Rather generic mid-tempo anthem, which managed a week at number one and is still in the top 10 after 5 weeks.  Platten has released two previous albums, one back in 2003 (which she now dismisses as a collection of demos), and one in 2011 (which had some modest success in the US).  This record, however, has been a worldwide hit.  In the US, she’s just released the follow-up “Stand By You”, which is along very similar lines and which will probably do enough to get her off the global one-hit wonder list.

The other new entries from this week:

• Felix Jaehn featuring Jasmine Thompson, “Ain’t Nobody (Loves Me Better)”.  Entered at 2, three weeks in the top 10.  Odd pedigree, this one.  Obviously, it’s a cover of the classic by Rufus & Chaka Khan, which got to number 8 in 1984.  Felix Jaehn is the German producer whose remix of OMI’s “Cheerleader” made it a hit across Europe.  Thanks to that profile, he’s credited as the lead artist here.  But it’s actually a tropical house remix of Jasmine Thompson’s 2013 acoustic cover version, which got to number 32 on the back of being used in a supermarket advert.  She was 12 at the time, but she was firmly in in the category of being a protege rather than a novelty – compare her homemade cover of “Explosions” from the same year.
• Ella Eyre, “Good Times”.  One week at 37.  So one single too many from that album, I think.

4, 18 and 25 September 2015: Justin Bieber, “What Do You Mean”

Well, this has been a long time coming.  Justin Bieber had his first UK hit single in January 2010 when “One Time” got to 11.  This is his 27th top 40 hit – thanks in large part to that time in 2013 when he released every track on his new album as a single, one a week – and now he finally gets a number 1.  A three-week one, at that.

Logically enough, he does it by reaching the stage in his career where a few guest appearances with the likes of Skrillex have helped reposition him as somebody who’s breaking out of his teen idol mode.  He’s never going to be the world’s greatest singer, but the record is entirely pleasant.

Also entering on 4 September:

• Demi Lovato, “Cool for the Summer”.  Entered at 7 and dropped from there.  The lead single from her next album, and (obviously) a Max Martin track.
• Labrinth, “Jealous” at 15 – an X Factor re-entry.
• Little Mix, “Hair” at 35, which is the instant gratification track if you pre-order their album, but can technically be bought separately, and charts on the strength of those sales.
• Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee & Grandmaster Caz, “Downtown” at 37.  The first new material from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in two years got off to a slow start – but it’s been climbing since, and it’s now up to 15.  Nally is the lead singer of a rock group called Foxy Shazam.  The other three guests are, of course, legendary rappers.  Melle Mel was one of the Furious Five and had several UK hits back in the day; the others are making their first appearances in the UK top 40.

11 September 2015: Sigala, “Easy Love”  

Well, that’s a nice tail-end-of-summer tropical house record, isn’t it?  Just one week at the top, but it’s been at 2 since then.  Sigala is a producer from Norfolk, and the price of Jacksons samples must be coming down, because that is indeed “ABC” contributing the vocals.  Really well-known samples can often drag you into novelty territory, but this works.

Also entering this week… not much.

• Kygo featuring Ella Henderson, “Here for You” at 18.  A one-week wonder, but the video only just came out, so it might rebound.  Kygo’s third hit of the year (“Firestone” was the biggest, making the top).  Henderson makes her second straight appearances as a guest singer on a dance record, and is still looking for a major hit to follow up on her debut single “Ghost”, which was a number one last year.
• R City featuring Adam Levine, “Locked Away” at 39.  This rocketed up the charts and is now at 3.  R City (or Rock City, as they’re sometimes called) are a duo from the Virgin Islands making their first chart appearance as artists, but they’ve had success as songwriters and producers for the likes of Miley Cyrus and Rihanna.  It’s the sort of vaguely reggae themed pop where Adam Levine seems entirely at home.

18 September 2015: Bieber was back at number 1, and the highest new entry was Stormzy, “Wickedskengman 4” at 18.

Well, this is a surprise.  Stormzy is a London MC, getting his first chart appearance with the fourth in a series of YouTube tracks.  It crashed straight out of the top 60 the next week, but it’s always good to see things like this in the chart.  The chart version is a studio recording which clocks in at just over three minutes, but the official video above is nine minutes of one camera filming him rapping on a street, complete with false starts and re-takes.  It gets going properly at about three minutes in.

Also that week:

• Nero, “Two Minds” at 27.  These guys had a number 1 in 2011 with “Promises”, but the current album isn’t doing so well.  This is the third single to be taken from it, coinciding with the album release, and the first to even make the top 40.  It dropped out after one week, and the album stalled at 24.
• Drake, “Hotline Bling” at 36.  Climbed to 17 the next week.  This seems to be spillover from its success in the USA, where it made the top 5.  The sample is from the minimalist “Why Can’t We Live Together” by Timmy Thomas, which got to 12 in 1973.
• Fetty Wap featuring Remy Boyz, “679” at 37.  The follow-up to “Trap Queen”, which made the top 10.  This is hanging in there, currently sitting at 35.  The title is apparently short for 6/7/91, which is Fetty Wap’s birthday.  Useful information if you’re trying to guess his password.

25 September 2015: Still Bieber at the top, and the highest new entry was Ellie Goulding, “On My Mind” at 7.

That’s a pretty good video, actually.  Okay, the first thirty seconds are the best bit – and they’re before the song starts – but it does pick up again.  Anyway, this is the second single from her upcoming album “Delirium”, but in promotional terms it’s effectively the first, since “Love Me Like You Do”, which was number 1 in February, was promoted entirely around 50 Shades of Grey.  It’s a bit Police-y in the verses, which is not such a bad thing.

The other two new entries this week:

• Naughty Boy featuring Beyoncé and Arrow Benjamin, “Runnin’ (Lose It All)” at 11.  That’s surprisingly low.  It’s the lead single from Naughty Boy’s second album, and the previous one had a number 1 on it.  It’s got Beyonce on it.  It’s a power ballad along the lines that worked for him on the previous album.  It’s got a rather nice video with two free divers. Don’t know much about Arrow Benjamin, beyond the fact that he’s a singer songwriter.  But it enters outside the top 10, and in a quiet week too.  The midweeks show it climbing to 9, but that’s hardly resounding.
• One Direction, “Infinity” at 36.  This is a “promotional single” (i.e., a single which isn’t being promoted) which is being used as the instant grat track if you want to pre-order their next album.  And most likely their last album.  The midweeks show it climbing to 28.