If nothing else, here’s an eclectic set of new entries. But first!

1. Harry Styles – “As It Was”

Nine weeks. It’s still another two weeks away from matching “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran from last year. The parent album drops to 2 this week, which is perfectly good, since the record that knocked it off is likely to be a one-week wonder.

8. Kate Bush – “Running Up That Hill”

Well, this wasn’t in the script. “Running Up That Hill” has been used in Stranger Things; I don’t watch the show, but it evidently made an impact in order to go viral on this scale. “Running Up That Hill” was a number 3 hit on release in 1985; it was also re-issued in 2012 after being used in the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, and it got to number 6. That’s the last time Kate Bush was in the singles chart. Re-releases aside, her final hit single was “King of the Mountain” from 2005, which got to number 4.

“Running Up That Hill” was her second-biggest UK hit; the biggest was her 1978 debut “Wuthering Heights”, which spent four weeks at number 1.

16. Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa & Young Thug – “Potion”

This is the lead single from Calvin Harris’s next album “Funk Wav Bounces vol 2”, though the guests have been given equal billing on the single. As you’d expect, it’s Harris in funk-disco mode. He’s now had top 40 hits in every year since 2007.

20. The Kunts – “Prince Andrew is a Sweaty Nonce”

From the people who brought you the Christmas hits “Boris Johnson is a Fucking Cunt” and “Boris Johnson is Still a Fucking Cunt”, a release for the Jubilee. I’m not going to embed it because I frankly haven’t paid enough attention to the story to be entirely comfortable about that, but it’s available on YouTube. Not on the band’s own channel, mind you, which was apparently taken down, but it’s been posted on various other channels with their permission.

If you’re wondering, the UK top 40 show on Radio 1 simply threw their hands up in despair and announced the track as “a band I can’t say on the radio with a record I can’t say on the radio”.

24. Lady Gaga – “Hold My Hand”

From the soundtrack to Top Gun: Maverick. And sure, if it’s an 80s power ballad you want, Lady Gaga’s a smart choice. It’s the first time Lady Gaga’s been in the chart since 2020 when she was promoting her last album.

31. Kanye West & XXXTentacion – “True Love”

This track has previously been released on Kanye West’s album “Donda 2”, which is only available on West’s ridiculous Stern Player, a device with no screen that allows you to “remix” the music (or the four channels that you get of it, anyway). It’s getting a normal release as a promotional single for an XXXTentacion posthumous album due out later in the year. It’s been over four years since XXXTentacion last had a single in the charts, so to be fair, it’s not like they’ve been racing to strip mine his offcuts.

This week’s climbers:

• “Go” by Cat Burns climbs 4-2.
• “About Damn Time” by Lizzo climbs 5-3.
• “IFTK” by Tion Wayne & La Roux climbs 8-7.
• “2Step” by Ed Sheeran climbs 11-9 to become his 38th top 10 hit.
• “Crazy What Love Can Do” by David Guetta, Becky Hill & Ella Henderson climbs 14-13.
• “21 Reasons” by Nathan Dawe featuring Ella Henderson climbs 20-18.
• “Je M’Appelle” by Benzz climbs 24-22.
• “Remind Me” by Tom Grennan climbs 33-30.

And the five records dropping out of the top 40:

• “10 Things I Hate About You” by Leah Kate. Five weeks on chart, peaking at number 30 (twice).
• “Make Me Feel Good” by Belters Only featuring Jazzy. That got as high as number 4, and spent 20 weeks in the chart.
• “House on Fire” by Mimi Webb must have hit the downweighting rule; it spent fourteen weeks in the top 40, all between 6 and 20.
• “Charmer” by N-Dubz managed a week at number 32.
• “Reggae & Calypso” by Russ Million x Buni x YV, which peaked at 12 but has been hanging around since February.

On the album chart…

1. Liam Gallagher – “C’Mon You Know”
4. Liam Gallagher – “Down By The River Thames”

For reasons best known to himself, Liam Gallagher releases both a studio album and a live album in the same week. The studio album is his fourth solo number 1, and his eleventh in total if you count Oasis. The single “Everything’s Electric” charted earlier back in February.

5. Def Leppard – “Diamond Star Halos”

That’s their highest album chart position since the mid-90s, though their late-period albums have done perfectly okay – their previous album, 2015’s Def Leppard, got to number 11.

6. Will Young – “20 Years – The Greatest Hits”

Well, good for him. Will Young was the winner of the first Pop Idol, and thus the ground zero of the talent-show era. His immediate diversion into making slightly off kilter MOR with downright weird videos is to be applauded; there is, at the very least, no one quite like him.

7. Tate McRae – “I Used to Think I Could Fly”

Officially her debut album, though she’s released a couple of EPs before. The single “She’s All I Wanna Be” got to 14.

9. ABBA – “Gold – Greatest Hits”

Making one of its periodic returns to the chart after the group did some publicity to promote their “ABBA Voyage” show in London. “Gold” came out in 1992 and has been a fairly continuous presence in the lower levels of the chart ever since, making occasional returns to the top – it even had two weeks at number 1 in 2008 when Mamma Mia! came out. In total, it has spent 413 weeks in the top 40, and 1,048 in the top 100. That’s not a typo.

19. The Sex Pistols – “The Original Recordings”

Quaint nostalgia act. (And to be fair, they were leaning into the irony of that back when they were doing reunion shows in the 90s.) The release is partly timed for the jubilee, but also for the Steve Jones biopic Pistol appearing on (checks notes) Disney Plus. Like I said, quaint nostalgia act.

31. Alfie Templeman – “Mellow Moon”

Debut album, though he’s released a few EPs before. In 2020, his single “Obvious Guy” reached number 39 in Belgium.