It’s another largely uneventful week. The top three is static, so…

1. Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”

…gets a seventh week. That overtakes Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero”, but it still needs another week to match LF System’s “Afraid To Feel” from last summer. Number 2 is PinkPantheress’s “Boy’s a Liar”, which has been in the top 3 for three weeks now, and number 3 is SZA’s “Kill Bill”, which has been at number 3 for seven of the last eight weeks.

4. The Weeknd – “Die For You”

Technically, this is not a new entry – it’s a climber from number 37. However, the reason why a track that’s been out for years has climbed 33 places is the release of new mix with Ariana Grande. So, you know, it’ll have to do.

If it’s actual new entries that you want, we have to go all the way down to…

31. Freya Ridings – “Weekends”

Yup, our highest new entry is outside the top 30. This is the lead single from Freya Ridings’ second album; it’s a sort of disco Florence + The Machine. She had two hits from her first album, but that was a while back now – “Lost Without You” reached number 9 in 2018, and “Castles” got to 16 the following year. It’s taken the lead track from the follow-up album a month to get to number 31, and the midweeks suggest it’s dropping straight out again.

33. SuperStar Pride – “Painting Pictures”

Debut hit. Indie rap, but the appeal of this one completely escapes me. I just find it rather dull.  The sample is from “Soon as I Get Home”, a single from Faith Evans’ debut album in 1996, which wasn’t a hit in the UK. Again, the midweeks have this vanishing next week.

35. Caity Baser – “Pretty Boys”

Another debut hit. The midweeks do have this climbing… slightly. This is on EMI, who evidently think there’s a gap in the market for a bubblegum Lily Allen. We’ll see. It’s mostly just annoying.

40. SZA – “Snooze”

The best of this week’s new entries, but it’s not a competitive field. This is an album track from “SOS” that’s been slowing climbing for a few weeks now. Obviously, “Kill Bill” overshadows it (and is the stronger track anyway).

This week’s climbers:

• “Die For You” by the Weeknd climbs 37-4. We’ve covered that.
• “Ceilings” by Lizzy McAlpine climbs 9-7.
• “People” by Libianca climbs 13-11.
• “Heaven” by Niall Horan climbs 18-16.
• “If We Ever Broke Up” by Mae Stephens climbs 23-20.
• “Rush” by Ayra Starr climbs 36-29.
• “Just Wanna Rock” by Lil Uzi Vert climbs 32-30, seven weeks after it first got to 32.
• “Here With Me” by D4VD climbs 39-34.

The four tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “Miss You” by Oliver Tree & Robin Schulz peaked at number 3 back in November.
• “I’m Not Here To Make Friends” by Sam Smith, Calvin Harris & Jessie Reyez got four weeks in the chart, starting at 23.
• “Glue Song” by Beabadoobee got a week at number 38.
• “Lionheart (Fearless)” by Joel Corry & Tom Grennan only got to 18, but it’s been around since early November.

On the album chart:

1. Gorillaz – “Cracker Island”

The eighth Gorillaz studio album is only their second number one – the other being 2005’s “Demon Days”. To be fair, they’ve been terribly unlucky there, since 2002’s “Plastic Beach”, 2017’s “Humanz” and 2020’s “Song Machine Season One – Strange Timez” all got to number 2. The albums that held them off number one, if you’re wondering, were “Brother” by Boyzone, “Divide” by Ed Sheeran (in its ninth week), and Bruce Springsteen’s “Letter To You”. The last couple of albums haven’t hung around long, by the way, so they’re definitely a fanbase release these days.

3. Gracie Abrams – “Good Riddance”

Debut album. She’s the daughter of director JJ Abrams, but this is actually pretty decent on its merits.

5. Adam Lambert – “High Drama”

This is his highest placing solo album; his previous peak was number 8 in 2015. Oddly, the 2020 follow-up crashed out and missed the top 40. He has had a number one album via his role as the live singer for Queen; they don’t record, but there was a live album in 2020.

14. Obey Robots – “One in a Thousand”

Together at last – Laura Kidd of Penfriend (who had a number 24 album in 2021) and Rat from Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (who had two top 20 albums in 1991-2). Actually quite good.

20. Yeat – “Aftërlyfe”

Debut album. Quite odd indie rap, full of heavy metal umlauts.

21. shame – “Food For Worms”

Er… crikey. That’s certainly odd. This is shame’s third album; the previous one got to number 8, so this is a big drop off.

22. Callum Beattie – “Vandals”

Back in more mainstream territory. He’s a Scottish songwriter, and it’s his second album; the first missed the UK top 40 but it was a number one in Scotland.

29. The Slow Readers Club – “Knowledge Freedom Power”

Their sixth album; commercially, they peaked in 2020 when “The Joy of the Return” reached number 9. I liked this.

36. Don Toliver – “Love Sick”

This guy is very nearly on the one-hit-wonders list, thanks to a credited guest appearance on Internet Money’s “Lemonade”, which reached number 1 in 2020. But he can also point to his 2019 single “No Idea”, which got a week at number 39. He’s had more luck on the album charts, although it’s diminishing returns there – his 2020 album got to 16, 2021 was 26, and now we’re at 36.