Brace yourself for the least interesting singles chart of the year.

1. Kate Bush – “Running Up That Hill”

A third week. It’s not on course for a fourth (not least because its manual reset to be treated as a new release lapses after three consecutive weeks of declining sales, and that’s going to happen next week).

For our highest new entry we have to go all the way down to…

30. Drake – “Sticky”

Drake maxed out his three songs last week with the release of his album “Honestly, Nevermind”, placing “Jimmy Cooks” at 7, “Massie” at 8 and “Falling Back” at 10. The first two of those tracks are at 8 and 14 this week, but “Falling Back” – the official single, mind you – plummets and “Sticky” takes its place in the top 30. Apparently, it is a legit new entry to the top 40 rather than an artefact of the chart rules – it would have missed the top 40 last week even if it hadn’t been barred by the three-song rule.

35. Doja Cat – “Vegas”

From the soundtrack of Elvis. The sample is a re-creation of Big Mama Thornton’s version of “Hound Dog” (the original). . I think it might actually be a re-enactment, but either way, it’s the Thornton version being referenced.

40. Bru-C – “No Excuses”

Debut hit. Apparently this guy is in the orbit of the Bad Boy Chiller Crew. So, yes, he’s British, and still went with Bru-C as a name. It’s a perfectly okay dance record, though.

And, er, that’s it. There are a couple of re-entries prompted by coverage of Glastonbury, but we’ll cover them in the climbers:

• “Afraid to Feel” by LF System climbs 3-2, and looks to be on course to be the next number one. It now has a (fairly underwhelming) video.
• “Break My Soul” by Beyoncé climbs 21-4 in its second week on release.
• “Crazy What Love Can Do” by David Guetta, Becky Hill & Ella Henderson finally makes it to number 11, in its twelfth week in the top 20. It reached 12 two weeks ago.
• “Glimpse of Us” by Joji climbs 14-12.
• “21 Reason” by Nathan Dawe featuring Ella Henderson climbs 15-13.
• “Seventeen Going Under” by Sam Fender re-enters at 20 thanks to Glastonbury. It peaked at 3 in January and it’s never dropped out of the top 60. The album of the same name re-enters at 19, and “Hypersonic Missiles” re-enters at 33.
• “I Ain’t Worried” by OneRepublic climbs 31-24.
• “Stay the Night” by Sigala & Talia Mar climbs 28-25.
• “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish re-enters at 31, again thanks to Glastonbury. It reached number 4 on release last year and dropped out of the top 40 in November. The album of (again) the same name rebounds to number 10, though it had already re-entered the top 40 a few weeks ago, “When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go” re-enters at 25, and “Don’t Smile at Me” at 81.

So that’s three new entries and two re-entries. The tracks making way for them are:

• “Don’t Forget My Love” by Diplo & Miguel, which spend six weeks in the top 40 without ever getting above number 35.
• “In the Stars” by Benson Boone, which entered at 21 in May and took eight weeks to slide down the chart.
• “Where Are You Now” by Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott, a huge hit which spent 12 weeks in the top 10 and peaked at 3.
• “Cooped Up” by Post Malone featuring Roddy Ricch, which peaked at 18.
• “Falling Back” by Drake, dropping straight out from 10 after one week.

On the album chart, “Harry’s House” by Harry Styles spends its fourth week at number one.

2. Porcupine Tree – “Closure / Continuation”

Well, I’ve seen subtler videos. Anyway, this is the first album released by Porcupine Tree as a band since 2009. Their previous peak was number 23, but since then, singer Steven Wilson has had two top 5 albums, so it’s no surprise that the band is now matching that performance.

6. Chris Brown – “Breezy”

That’s one place above 2019’s “Indigo”, and his highest album chart position since 2014. He released a mixtape with Young Thug in 2020, but that didn’t make the top 40. Make of that what you will. This is the first Chris Brown studio album to produce no hit singles, which I certainly won’t be losing any sleep over.

8. Conan Gray – “Superache”

Follow-up to 2020’s “Kid Krow”, which only got to 30. That album produced a hit single – “Heather”, which scraped the top 20 – but no such luck this time round.

9. Luke Combs – “Growin’ Up”

Country music doesn’t often get this far up the UK album chart. It’s his third album, the second to chart. Its predecessor only got to number 27, so this is a big step up.

37. Giveon – “Give or Take”

Debut album. I’d have thought he had the profile to get higher up the chart than this, but apparently not.