After a couple of very slow weeks, things… pick up a little bit? I mean, at least there’s something going on in the bottom half of the singles chart. Fi

1. Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello – “Senorita”

Six weeks. Don’t worry, it won’t be here much longer – next week will be its tenth on chart, and since it peaked a few weeks back, it’s almost certain to get whacked by the downweighting rule. Filling out the top 20 we have a bunch of minor climbers, which I shall dutifully now list: “Higher Love” by Kygo & Whitney Houston climbs 5-4; “Random” by Lil Tecca climbs 13-7; “Sorry” by Joel Corry climbs 16-10; “Strike a Pose” by Young T & Bugsey featuring Aitch climbs 15-14; and “Castles” by Freya Ridings climbs 18-16.  Most notable of that bunch is “Higher Love”, which has overtaken the number 5 position of Whitney Houston’s last major hit (2009’s “Million Dollar Bill”).  It now stands as her biggest hit in 20 years, going back to “My Love Is Your Love”, which got to number 2 in 1999.

18. Jorja Smith featuring Burna Boy – “Be Honest”

Jorja Smith has been tipped for a couple of years, but until now she hasn’t managed to get one of her own singles above number 34; her previously top chart position was number 24, but that was as a guest on a Drake track. Awkwardly, some of the increased attention probably comes from tabloid stories about her and Stormzy, but hey, a hit’s a hit, and this is a pleasantly summery Afrobeat track. Burna Boy gets a second concurrent hit, though only barely, with his guest appearance on Dave’s “Location” just hanging in there at number 40.

22. Headie One – “Both”

A second hit single for Headie One, joining his top ten hit “18Hunna” from the start of the year; the follow-up “Back to Basics” missed the top 40 a couple of months back. This time he opts for the sure-fire sample riff, with an admittedly laidback take on Ultra Nate’s “Free” (number 4 in 1997).

23. Taylor Swift – “Lover”

Well, we saw this with Taylor Swift’s last album too – the first couple of tracks go straight to the top ten, the later promotional signals, meh, not so much.  A lot of the attention this week has actually been on her “London Boy” song, which the British have greeted with universal ridicule. Her singles are increasingly about promoting the narrative of Taylor Swift, Public Figure; “Lover” is the best actual song she’s released as a single in years, by quite some margin, and deserves to do better than this. It does, however, sound like it was conceived as a Christmas release, and so August might not be the best time for it.

“Ritual” by Tiesto, Jonas Blue & Rita Ora climbs 26-24; “Harder” by Jax Jones & Bebe Rexha climbs 30-25

30. Normani – “Motivation”

Normani Hamilton is a former member of Fifth Harmony, and this is her first true solo hit, though she’s previously been credited on “Love Lies” with Khalid (number 12 last year) and “Dancing With a Stranger” by Sam Smith (number 3 in January). This is a rather leaden arrangement of an okay, if throwaway, song. The video is, er, not subtle.

“Outnumbered” by Dermot Kennedy climbs 34-31.

42. Sam Feldt featuring RANI – “Post Malone”

No, that’s not a mistake; “Post Malone” is the name of the song. Sam Feldt is a Dutch DJ whose only previous hit was his cover of “Show Me Love” (number 4 in 2015).  Rani is Shannon Rani Hilversum, a Dutch singer, and a totally different person from Australian singer Rani Kamal, who was also credited simply as “Rani” when she guested on Delerium’s “Underwater” (number 33 in 2001). The song is 2019 on autopilot, the video is a bit amateur hour.

On the album chart, Ed Sheeran’s “No 6 Collaborations Project” returns to number 1 for a fifth week in total.

3. Frank Turner – “No Man’s Land”

His last four studio albums have all made the top 3. This is a concept album with songs about women from history, plus one about his mother.

7. Ride – “This Is Not A Safe Place”

Their second album since re-forming gives them a third top 10 album – the last was “Carnival of Light” in 1994. The Krautrock track above is not what I was expecting at all, and definitely worth a play. It also features an actually-good video consisting entirely of footage of a washing machine. I’ll have to give this one a listen.

9. Young Thug – “So Much Fun”

His first album to chart, and officially his debut album (everything before having been a “mixtape”, honest). The single “The London” reached number 18 in June.

12. Blade Brown – “Bags and Boxes 4”

The fourth in a series of mixtapes, and the first to chart.

13. Killswitch Engage – “Atonement”

Their third straight album to land between 10 and 15, which is clearly their level now.  They tend to be one week wonders.

15. Friendly Fires – “Inflorescent”

Their third album, coming eight years after the second. Retro disco seems to be the thing here.

18. The Murder Capital – “When I Have Fears”

They’re a post-punk band from Dublin, and this is their debut album.

27. Runrig – “The Last Dance – Farewell Concert – Live”

Farewell live album. Runrig are a Scottish folk-rock band who have been huge in Scotland for years without crossing over to a wider UK audience, despite getting a top ten hit single back in 1983 – this is (predictably) number 1 on the Scottish Albums Chart. It’s common enough for an act to be more popular in their own part of the country, but unusual to have quite this degree of localised popularity.