Blasphemous Rumours
From being the narrow leader in a tight chart battle Unholy from Sam Smith and Kim Petras has now firmly established itself as the undisputed market leader of the moment. The still astonishing record clocks up a comfortable third week at No.1 with an increased lead over the competition - even though its sales actually slip very slightly to 57,290.
It is only the third Sam Smith single to spend as many as three weeks at the top of the charts. For all his accumulated trophies, tracks such as Stay With Me and Writing's On The Wall were one week wonders (although we must acknowledge that the solitary week that debut hit La La La spent at the top in 2013 was dwarfed by its extended chart run and million plus eventual sales). But let the record show that in terms of time spent at the top Unholy is matched only by the three-week run of Too Good At Goodbyes in 2017 and beaten only by the six weeks that Promises topped the charts for the following year.
Just below the parade of former No.1 hits remains largely intact - Guetta and Rexha locked at No.2 and Lewis Capaldi still clinging on at No.3. The only change results from the ACR reversal of B.O.T.A as Eliza Rose and crew crash to No.11, leaving the way clear for OneRepublic to slide back to No.4 with I Ain't Worried - although that is still below the No.3 position the track first topped out at five weeks ago.
Stop SHOUTING
It is now readily apparent that Beyonce's summertime comeback was no marketing fluke. BREAK MY SOUL (yes, I'm going to indulge the capitalisation, deal with it) overcame a slow start to eventually peak at No.2 and you could have been forgiven for expecting that to be the most significant hit from the RENAISSANCE album. But no, CUFF IT has been slowly and inexorably climbing the table after going viral and now advances to yet another brand new peak of No.5, this now the first time a Beyonce album has contained two Top 5 singles since I Am… Sasha Fierce spawned multiple hits in 2008 and 2009. And you'll note that at the time of writing it still does not have an official video, YouTube streamers (and TV channels for that matter) having to make do with the lyrical scroll.
Four weeks old, Anne-Marie and Aitch's Psycho breaks into the Top 10 as the only new arrival of the week, rising to a new peak of No.9. It is Anne-Marie's 7th Top 10 single, her first in over a year, and the ninth for her rapping companion.
New Stuff Eventually, Be Patient
Quiet weeks like this always give existing (or even older) hits chances to breathe. Just look at how Tom Odell's revived Another Love rises five places to No.13, the song now just three places below its original No.10 peak from 2013. But where there are climbs there must also be reversals. Remember last week how Ed Sheeran's Celestial only made it into the Top 10 after what was clearly an urgent marketing push? Now the hoses have been turned off the track settles back a little, slumping to No.15 and what you suspect was its true level of appeal all along.
Three tracks poke their way into the Top 20 for the first time this week. Calm Down by Rema (and a still uncredited Selena Gomez) leads the way as it nudges up to No.17 in its seventh week on the chart. The jump-on by Gomez notwithstanding, you underestimate the slow but steady appeal of Afrobeats tracks at your peril.
Then again you can also underestimate the appeal of piano ballads your mum likes. All For You by Cian Ducrot spent a rather alarming number of weeks in a mid-table ghetto, seven weeks hurtling between positions 28 and 31) but in the past fortnight has had a fire lit under it. The result means he now has a No.19 hit record.
Use Of Expression "Blow Up" Imminent
But by far the biggest blow up of the week has to be Messy In Heaven from venbee x Goddard. No.38 last week, the track rockets to No.20. venbee (as she styles herself) is from Kent and went briefly viral earlier this year with the dark single Low Down which crept to No.59 during a six week chart run. This slightly brighter material also marks the first chart credit as a performer for DnB producer Goddard.
At Last A New Entry
The highest new entry of the week goes to a returning Mimi Webb, new single Ghost Of You the official follow up to Top 10 hit House On Fire (although in between she crept to No.74 with teaser single Goodbye). It is for now a No.23 hit, her fifth Top 40 hit to date. There's a long game in play with the British singer, her first full debut album (apparently to be called Amelia in honour of her full name) isn't scheduled to hit the streets until next March.
American singer Oliver Tree made his chart debut just over a year ago with No.33 hit Life Goes On and on the face of it returns for the first time since with Miss You which slides in neatly at No.28. However there is a strange twist to this particular tale. The track is actually the work of German produceer Robin Schulz, he of the hit remix of Mr Probz' Waves as well as Lily Wood's Prayer In C (both No.1 hits in 2014). He hasn't been seen on the British charts since teaming up with David Guetta on Shed A Light, a No.24 hit in early 2017. Miss You is actually a reworking of an album track from Oliver Tree - Jerk, which appeared on his 2020 album Ugly Is Beautiful. But it bears a striking resemblance to a track of the same name by teenage producer Southstar (also from Germany). There is much chatter about how much Schulz' track copied the Southstar idea, particular as the latter made the Top 20 in his home country earlier this year. Not entirely coincidentally the Southstar version of Miss You also charts this week, arriving at No.62.
Miss You is indeed merely the biggest of a glut of new arrivals at the bottom end of the Top 40. This is like an old-school chart countdown from the good old days. Leading the charge of the remainder are Tion Wayne and Aitch (this the latter's third concurrent hit of the moment) with Let's Go at No.30. One place below at No.31 is Apple Music Up Next star Omar Apollo whose tender soul ballad Evergreen makes the Top 40 for the very first time.
Last Leg
Grime rapper K-Trap makes his own Top 40 debut at No.34 with Warm, but the final act of this week's Top 40 belongs to a pair of male singer-songwriters. After literally months of swimming around the lower reaches Tom Grennan's All Of These Nights finally flickers into life and makes its bow at No.37 while just below him at No.39 is Dermot Kennedy, his single Kiss Me hasn't had quite the same epic journey but this is still its first appearance on the Top 40 at the sixth time of asking.
The albums chart? Well since you ask, Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott are No.1 with their fifth album as a duo N.K-Pop. They previously topped the table together with Manchester Calling back in March 2020 and this maintains their proud record of reaching the Top 5 with every album release. Absorbingly they have done this without the remotest sniff of a hit single. As a duo Heaton and Abbott's only chart entry of any kind was their debut offering DIY which staggered to No.75 in May 2014. The disconnect between singles and albums success remains a continual source of fascination.
