I’ll get to this week’s annotations in a couple of days. In the meantime, I still haven’t done last week’s chart post, so…

1. Lewis Capaldi – “Wish You The Best”

This is Lewis Capaldi’s fifth number one – the others are “Someone You Loved”, “Before You Go”, “Forget Me” and “Pointless”. He’s in heart-rending mode, and it’s getting a bit formulaic to my mind. The main reason why it’s number one is first-week sales of the CD single, which would have been pre-ordered by the fanbase. That CD single accounts for roughly a third of the song’s sales points; without them, it would have been on course for a respectable position lower down the top 10.

This isn’t as egregious as the CD single stunt that was used to get “Pointless” to number one earlier in the year – that track absurdly jumped into the top 10 for a single week and straight back out again – but it’s the sort of thing that the charts seemed to have left behind. Then again, shipping the pre-orders in the first week is nowhere near as artificial. It just doesn’t seem likely to be sustained – and indeed, the midweeks have it dropping to 4.

In fairness, “Forget Me” is still at number 7 this week, and “Pointless” is at 16.

3. David Kushner – “Daylight”

This is more interesting. David Kushner’s only previous hit single was “Miserable Man”, which got a week at number 39 last year on the back of TikTok support. The follow-up didn’t make the top 40. This, on the other hand, looks like a potential breakthrough hit. It’s a lot better than the number one, and the midweeks have it climbing to 2.

11. Post Malone – “Chemical”

God, he’s still doing that annoying vocal effect. Can’t somebody buy him a calendar? It’s just him and the Kid Laroi who insist on doing this stuff on guitar pop, and it doesn’t do either of them any favours. Anyway, this is the lead single from his next album, and it does wind up as his highest chart position since “Hollywood’s Bleeding” also reached number 11 three years ago.

22. Ice Spice – “Princess Diana”

Technically this is a debut hit for Ice Spice, because even though PinkPantheress’s “Boy’s A Liar” got to number 2 on the strength of the version that she was on, it wasn’t officially the lead version of the track. Ice Spice returns the favour here, by officially claiming sole credit for this track even though the version that’s actually being promoted and has a video has a guest appearance by Nicki Minaj.

24. Glass Animals – “Heat Waves”

I have no idea what this is doing back in the top 40, and in fact, everyone seems generally a bit mystified about it. The chart compilers have reset its chart run for the purposes of the downweighting rule – for no terribly convincing reason – but that still wouldn’t explain what the hell it’s doing back in the top 30 over two years after it first made the top 40. It’s now spent 62 weeks in the top 40 and while it’s not quite another “Mr Brightside”, it’s close – it’s only been out of the top 100 for a few weeks in the last two years.

28. Jack Black – “Peaches”

Sure. Why not.

This is Jack Black’s first solo hit, but he did have two hit singles with Tenacious D. Surprisingly, neither of them was “Tribute”, which only got to number 87 in the UK – but “POD” reached number 24 in 2006, and “Wonderboy” got to number 36 in 2002. That’s over 20 years ago now.

33. Labrinth – “Never Felt So Alone”

Labrinth hasn’t had a solo hit single since 2014. He did have a hit with LSD (himself, Sia and Diplo) in 2018, but since then his singles have missed the top 40. This one is pretty good, which might make the difference – but it also probably helps that it has an uncredited guest appearance by Billie Eilish.

This week’s climbers are few in number:

• “React” by Switch Disco & Ella Henderson climbs 15-12.
• “Baby Don’t Hurt Me” by David Guetta, Anne-Marie & Coi Leray climbs 26-23.
• “Cupid” by Fifty Fifty climbs 34-26, which is very unusual for a K-pop band.
• “Last Night” by Morgan Wallen climbs 35-31

There are six new entries plus two re-entries this week (the other one is SZA’s “Snooze” at 39, which previous had a single week at 36 six weeks ago and it’s been hovering in the high 40s ever since). Making way for them:

• “Messy in Heaven” by venbee & goddard which got to number 3 and lasted 26 weeks in the top 40.
• “Pretty Boys” by Caity Baser, which got to 26
• “Energy” by Digga D, which got to 15 and lasted five weeks.
• “All of the Girls You Loved Before” by Taylor Swift, which entered at 11 four weeks ago.
• “Players” by Coi Leray, which peaked at 7.
•  “Us Against The World” by Strandz, which made number 9.
• “Like Crazy” by Jimin, which entered at number 8 and dropped out of the top 40 in week four – a more traditional K-pop fanbase performance
• “How I’m Feeling Now” by Lewis Capaldi, which was number 24 last week, is disqualified under the three-song rule thanks to his new entry.

On the album chart:

1. Metallica – “72 Seasons”

Metallica’s 11th studio album. Despite being an A-list legacy act, this wasn’t as much of a foregone conclusion as you might think. It’s only Metallica’s fourth number one, the others being “Metallica” (1991), “Load” (1996) and “Death Magnetic” (2008). Their last two studio albums both entered at 2.

10. Waterparks – “Intellectual Property”

Their fifth album. The first three did nothing much in the UK, and the fourth managed a week at number 37. So this is a huge step up.

12. Avelino – “God Save the Streets”

And the only other new entry this week. He’s a London rapper. This is his first appearance on the album chart, but it’s officially his sixth mixtape in a back catalogue stretching back all the way to 2013. The video above doesn’t start promisingly, but the track itself is great.