Nearly the end of the week, best get this done while it’s still vaguely up to date…

If you’ve enjoyed reading the words “Adele is still number one” over the last couple of weeks, then good news – Adele is still number one.  “Someone Like You” spends its fourth week at the top, though to judge from the midweeks, commercial gravity is finally going to catch up with it on Sunday.

The turnover of number 1 singles has been pretty high for the last couple of years; the last single to stay at the top for this long was “The Fear” by Lily Allen in February 2009.  (Admittedly, six different singles managed it in 2008.)

Further down, it’s a relatively busy week.  The highest new entry is at number 5 for “Black & Yellow” by Wiz Khalifa.  He’s been releasing albums since 2006, but this is the first time he’s made the UK charts.  It’s an odd song to be a crossover hit, since it’s basically a mixture of standard rap lyrics and tributes to his home town of Pittsburgh.  But it does stand out from the crowd musically. To some extent it’s been the victim of a record label who still insist on hyping records for ages before releasing them – which resulted in a dodgy cover version by Hype Squad scraping the lower end of the chart last week.

As is becoming usual, it’s a long way down to the next new entry.  This is pretty much what you’d expect under the “on air, on sale” system – records ought to be entering lower and climbing, and high new entries ought to be the exception rather than the rule.  That said, it’s also been a very quiet period for new releases, and the chart will be looking more familiar on Sunday.

Number 20 is “Heart on my Sleeve” by Olly Murs, the one who came second in 2009’s X Factor, though I doubt he’s losing much sleep over that considering how Joe McElderry’s records have been selling.  It’s not an especially memorable single – but what do you expect from an MOR act promoted by Simon Cowell?  It’s not horrific, it’s just something for your aunty to nod along to while she’s doing the ironing.  It’s his third hit but by some distance the smallest.

Number 21 is “Till The World Ends” by Britney Spears, which is an on-air-on-sale affair, so could go further as it gathers steam.  Or maybe not, because it’s completely absent from the midweek charts.  It verges on generic Eurodance at times, but to be honest, it’s first single she’s released in years where she doesn’t sound like she was simply propped up next to microphone, and in that sense it’s one of the better things she’s released lately.

At number 25, “Skinny Love” by Birdy. This is the debut single by Jasmine van den Bogaerde, a 14-year-old singer songwriter who actually got a publishing deal after winning a talent contest at the age of 12. Curiously, this is a cover; the original is by indie-folk act Bon Iver (who managed a minor UK hit with “Blood Bank” in 2009). Equally strangely, Wikipedia tells me that the Birdy version has been championed on Radio 1 by Fearne Cotton.  Doesn’t seem nearly inane enough for her, but there you go.

Number 27 is “Just Can’t Get Enough” by the Black Eyed Peas, which finds the group in reflective mood.  Actually, much as my instinct is to put the boot in, they’ve made a hell of a lot worse singles than this.  Well, for the first couple of minutes, anyway.  It gets pretty dire by the end.  Their 16th hit as a group, and it’s going to climb on Sunday.

“That’s The Truth” by McFly is number 35.  As usual with McFly, it’s selling to their fans and pretty much nobody else, though it’s a solid enough piece of songwriting.  I did briefly wonder whether the chorus was hinting at some sort of undertow of darkness (“If you listen to what your friends say you’re going to be lonely…”), but no, I think it’s just a straight break-up song.  It probably deserved better than 35, actually.

This week’s obligatory Glee single is a cover of “Hey, Soul Sister” at number 37.  The original, by Train, reached number 18 last year.  I kind of prefer the Glee version, actually.  There’s something about the original that feels like it’s trying too hard to be sincere, and that’s certainly not an issue with the cover.

Finally, at 40, “Down On Me” by Jeremih featuring 50 Cent.  I wonder what that could possibly be about?  Why yes, Jeremih has indeed met a young lady whose charms he wishes to describe for our benefit.  This is only the second hit for Jeremih, following 2009’s equally subtle “Birthday Sex” (which got to 15).  It’s the 18th hit for 50 Cent, who also hasn’t had anything out since 2009.  It’s been floating around just outside the top 40 for over a month, so it should probably count itself lucky to have got this far.

As the “on air, on sale” system beds in, this week’s climbers are all records that have been out for weeks.  Interestingly, the common theme is that they all had an initial surge of sales, fell back a bit, and then developed a second wind.  “Yeah 3x” by Chris Brown, which has been out for seven weeks, returns to its previous peak of number 6.  “I Need a Doctor” by Dr Dre entered at 21, dropped to 27, and is now up to 11. “Wonder Man” by Tinie Tempah has moved 40-14-18-18-17-16-12.  “What The Hell” by Avril Lavigne entered at 29, dropped out of the top 40 entirely, and has now rebounded to 16 in its eighth week on release.  And perhaps most remarkably, “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” by Noah and the Whale, which looked to have peaked at 30 and seemed to be on its way out of the charts, suddenly leaps from 31 to 19.

This is presumably something to do with the “on air on sale” system bedding in (though I recall “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” getting some scattered airplay as far back as Christmas). At least the singles chart is once again tracking the way singles grow in popularity.  More interesting that way.