Welcome to James Masterton's Chart Watch UK – your essential weekly deep dive into the Official UK Charts!
As the longest-running British music column online, we bring you the ultimate guide to this week's Top 40, unraveling the stories behind the biggest new singles and chart-topping hits. Plus, explore our extensive archives, a treasure trove of nearly 1800 articles documenting three and a half decades of popular music history and expert analysis.
Normalcy is restored as Sam Fender & Olivia Dean execute a swift return to the summit, fending off a videoless Bella Kay and the ever-present threat of the ACR axe. From Harry Styles’ album dominance to the "Generic American Bloke" influx, here is your definitive guide to the week in pop. Also featuring some entirely appropriate Sienna Spiro workship.
Harry Styles is in his hero era, so just sit back and enjoy the ride. His fourth album is his most difficult, but somehow is also now his biggest. Meanwhile the Top 20 is rammed with Golden Oldies. And Ella Langley hits a low-key but rather distinctive chart benchmark.
All credit to Official Charts for getting the normally reticent Gorillaz to pose with their No.1 award as they climb The Mountain to No.1 again. But they aren't necessarily the story this week, nor as it turns out are the BRITs whose sales influence, while still measurable, diminish by the year. All the stories on a still busy chart week inside.
Writing this before the BRITs have been broadcast, so if it turns out Olivia Dean cleans up you know I am a genius for predicting it. [I AM]. She continues to clean up on the UK charts, and you can find out just how she does this inside. Meanwhile there are 3 members of Little Mix, and all their solo albums have reached No.3.
