'Cause I Believe In Miracles
Another seven days, another chart, and Alex Warren enjoys a record-extending thirt…wait, what?
You're kidding, right?
Seriously?
Oh, OK then. Let's start over.
Words In Heavy Doses.
For the first time since the start of spring we have a brand new No.1 single on the Official UK Singles chart. Not inappropriately the artist who ends Alex Warren's extended reign is the lady who herself occupied the No.1 position for a grand total of 21 weeks during 2024. Sabrina Carpenter (for it is she) is now at a level of superstardom such that any new music from her was all but guaranteed a charge back to the top of the charts.
Well, I say "all but guaranteed" because although her new single Manchild took an early lead in the first sales flashes, such was the still potent force of Alex Warren that the gap was never large enough to be completely comfortable, and indeed by Wednesday's sales update appeared to be narrowing. In the event thing were tighter than we had any right to expect, the Sabrina Carpenter track posting a chart sale of just over 62,000 - Alex Warren himself was only just over 2,000 sales behind. A few more days and we might have indeed been telling the fake-out story at the top for real.
Manchild is duly Sabrina Carpenter's fourth No.1 single, joining her 2024 triumverate of Espresso, Please Please Please and Taste in the pantheon of her greatest hits. Like all her music at present it is an extraordinary pop record - although perhaps this time for all the wrong reasons. Every borrows ideas, vibes and falls into line with fashion for sure. But Manchild is, let's not beat around the bush here, at times a near note for note facsimile of Good Luck Babe. Musical jackdawing of a kind that would make Lily Allen blush. Is it there for a long run? It certainly has the legs to dominate a still sluggish "everyone else" market. But you really shouldn't write off Ordinary just yet, even if this week means its ACR clock has now once again ticked twice.The whole of Sabrina's lead over him is accounted for by the 4,500 vinyl copies of the single she sold. None of which will be part of her total next time around.
We can also note for fun that Sabrina's single is only the second in chart history to bear the title Manchild. The first was a No.5 hit exactly 36 years ago this week, performed by Neneh Cherry (mother of Mabel, whose older sister Tyson starred in the video as a baby).
Pecking Order
The appearance of Manchild at No.1 disrupts the present order of the singles chart, if only by causing all of last week's Top 5 to shuffle down a place. It means the game of "runner up to Alex Warren" remains as it was before, Ravyn Lenae keeping her place in the pecking order now at No.3, a couple of thousand sales of Chappell Roan whose Pink Pony Club just refuses to go away. But she can at least claim a No.1 single in spirit.
We do get to retain a little of the usual format with the token Top 10 new entry of the week, even if this time around it is the second of two. Anticipation is growing (he hopes) for the new Ed Sheeran album, aided by the release of its third teaser single. Joining the now ten-week old Top 10 single Azizam (bless you) (No.10 this week) and the more underwhelming Old Phone (fading away at No.33) is new single Sapphire which duly opens its account at No.9 to hand Sheeran the 43rd Top 10 single of his long and storied career. Described by Sheeran himself as "the first song I finished for Play that made me know where the album was heading" the track duly slots into the same Indian aesthetic as Azizam (bless you), complete with a mostly uncredited cameo from Indian playback singer Arijit Singh - and there is reportedly a full Punjabi version on its way to accompany the English one.
There is a real temptation to poke fun at Ed Sheeran, simply because this deep into his career he is never likely to quite reach for the very high bar he has set himself in the past. But Sapphire feels like the kind of single that has a fair amount of staying power. Sounding for all the world like something fresh and new but at the same time like every other Ed Sheeran hit in history. Which is quite the trick to pull off.
Eau De Toilet
Brand new at No.17 is Dior, which sees MK and Chrystal team up on a Korg-driven club track that appears to be reaching a large number of ears. Both are familiar names - Mark 'MK' Kinchen with a tally of mixes stretching back to the 90s but also the man who has helmed hits such as Sonny Fordera's 2023 hit Asking and his own 2017 classic 17 (both as it happens No.7 hits) while Chrystal is the lady behind The Days which has been charting continuously since October last year, peaking at No.4 back in January.
Quiet At The Back
The rest of the Top 40 is.. quiet, I won't lie. It is however pleasing to report on a 28-18 jump for Olivia Dean's Nice To Each Other which means we can genuinely say the press darling has a proper hit single at last. Meanwhile Levi Heron's novelty club hit The Glen also makes progress with a 37-26 climb.
An intriguing week for new albums saw an entirely new Top 3 appear. In reverse order: critical darling but mostly hitless Little Simz at No.3 with Lotus, Addison Rae with her album Addison at No.2, but some distance out in front are 90s legends Pulp. More is surprisingly only their eighth studio album in a career that spans almost four decades - their first release since 2007 and their first studio album to chart since 2001's We Love Life. In topping the charts though it is their third No.1 record, their first since This Is Hardcore way back in 1998. It seems entirely appropriate somehow. 30 years ago this month their celebrated classic Common People was a No.2 hit.
