In which Justin Bieber has a new album out, and so everyone just stands back and lets shim get on with it.

1. Nathan Evans, 220 Kid & Billen Ted – “Wellerman”

Two weeks at number one, with a comfortable lead. It’s been out for nine weeks already, though, so if it’s already peaked then it might find itself being hit with the downweighting rule next week. We’ll see.

3. Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar & Giveon – “Peaches”
24. Justin Bieber featuring Khalid – “As I Am”

Bieber’s album “Justice” enters at number 2, which is his sixth top five album (admittedly, two of them are the regular and acoustic versions of “Believe”). Two of them reached number 1 – the main version of “Believe” in 2012, and last year’s “Changes”. It gets the maximum permitted three tracks into the chart – the two tracks above, and “Hold On”, which rebounds from 31 to a new peak of 10.

“Peaches” is the official single, and it’s one of those Justin Bieber tracks that goes for a level of soulfulness that he just can’t pull off because he doesn’t really do, well, soul. He’s just not the sort of person who can carry off the line “bad ass bitch” without a nagging sense that he’s reading it off a card. It’s the first UK hit for Canadian singer Daniel Caesar; Giveon has charted before, as a guest on Drake’s “Chicago Freestyle” (number 10 last year).

“As I Am” is not an official single, and is just getting cherrypicked from the album. It’s unlikely to be due to the drawing power of Khalid, a perennial guest star who’s had some big hits, but mostly on other people’s records. It’s just one of the better tracks on the album, and one that plays better to Bieber’s strengths.

Number 4 is “Friday” by Riton & The Nightcrawlers featuring Mufasa & Hypeman. Note that the record on which it’s based – “Push the Feeling On” by the Nightcrawlers – only got to number 3 in 1994, so it’s got a serious chance now of becoming the biggest hit version of the song.

“Bed” by Joel Corry featuring Raye & David Guetta climbs 8-6, becoming Guetta’s biggest hit since “2U” (number 5 in 2017). “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max climbs 19-18 (three weeks after it first reached 19). “Let’s Go Home Together” by Ella Henderson & Tom Grennan climbs 21-19, and “Astronaut in the Ocean” by Masked Wolf climbs 24-23. “Ferrari Horses” by D-Block Europe featuring Raye climbs 36-30, which I think is the first time a D-Block Europe single has actually climbed after entering the top 40. And for any other new entries we have to go all the way down to…

39. Griff – “Black Hole”

Debut hit for Sarah Griffiths, who’s been around for a couple of years now, and won “Rising Star” awards from the Brits and the Ivor Novellos. She just missed the top 40 with her last single, and now scrapes over the line, admittedly in a very quiet week. It’s quality electropop.

40. Lil Tjay, Polo G & Fivio Foreign – “Headshot”

As so often, Wikipedia’s summary of the video is hard to beat: “The three artists repeatedly shoot apples off a man’s head, somehow killing him at the end, and also race remote-control boats.”

Polo G has charted before – he was a guest on KSI’s “Patience”, which got to number 3 earlier in the year. Fivio Foreign gets his first hit; he had a middling hit America a couple of years ago with “Big Drip”, but it didn’t do much internationally.

On the album chart…

1. Lana Del Rey – “Chemtrails over the Country Club”

Lana Del Rey’s fifth number 1 album – she’s only missed twice, with 2015’s “Honeymoon” (number 2) and last year’s “Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass” (25, but it was a spoken word album). It’s in the familiar vein, though perhaps a little less self-consciously retro than usual. The reviews have been good.

Number 2, as already noted, is Justin Bieber.

7. Black Honey – “Written & Directed”

Indie. Their self-titled debut reached number 33 in 2018, so this is a big step up for them. The single’s perfectly catchy.

13. Bob Dylan – “1970”

This year’s entry in the Bob Dylan Copyright Extension Series. That’s not snark. It’s the official name of the series. The logic is that unreleased tracks become public domain in Europe after 50 years. In fairness to the Dylan estate, if they didn’t preserve the copyright then somebody else would just release the bootleg versions of these recordings commercially – so if it’s coming out anyway, it might as well be from them.

17. Sting – “Duets”

And rounding out a quiet week, this self-explanatory themed compilation album.