So Long

I refer to it as the Golden chart run (or words to that effect). Entering at No.1, remaining there for a full nine weeks and then reversing to ACR in the first week of eligibility. It is actually quite hard to achieve and even harder to contrive. But by whatever means it took, Sabrina Carpenter's Taste has achieved perfection.

No.1 then for the ninth week this is, as you may have guessed, certain to be the last on top of the charts for Taste as the single declines in consumption for the third week in a row and as it turns ten weeks old on the next chart will be unceremoniously hoiked from the summit. Unless she takes a holiday in Argentina or releases a cover version of Last Christmas between now and the end of December this is almost certainly Sabrina Carpenter's final week at No.1 in 2024. It brings her streak to an end at a modern-day record of 21 weeks. Or if you want another perspective, in the last six months (26 weeks) there have only been five occasions when a track by Ms Carpenter was not perched at the top of the Official UK Singles chart.

I think frankly she's more than earned a rest.

Feeling Rose All Over

This does mean that for the first time in a long while we can speculate wildly about what will replace her. We could it seems be set to replace one Weird Chick™ with another with Gigi Perez moving up to No.2 with the still wildly forgettable Sailor Song. The track swaps places with Bruno and Gaga's Die With A Smile which alas won't be in contention next time around as it too is about to succumb to ACR status.

Despite this it might be Bruno time after all. Also surely in contention has to be the week's highest new entry on which the friendly Hawaiian also features. For the second week running we have a new entry from a solo Blackpink star. But unlike Jennie's Mantra which reverses to No.54 this week, this one not only fails to disappoint but does something quite spectacular. Hitherto with only one disappointing No.43 hit to her name (On The Ground from 2021) Blackpink bandmate Rose now finds herself the owner of the biggest ever hit single by a female K-Pop star as APT lands with a bang at No.4.

Named after the Korean party drinking game referred to in the song, the track's obvious appeal is twofold. For a start it is maddeningly catchy, owing so much to Toni Basil's famous cheerleader chant hit Mickey (a global hit in 1982) that its composers Chinn and Chapman are listed as co-authors (I'm sure the Ting Tings should have had a say too, but no matter). But there is also the lightning in a bottle presence of Bruno Mars on co-vocals, that extra touch of mainstream commercial magic that he becomes the latest in a long line of celebrities this year to have two side-by-side Top 5 hit singles.

Yes, inviting a western star to appear on a K-pop single to give it some unabashed crossover appeal is starting to become a cliché, but in the case of APT it just somehow feels right. Mars doesn't feel grafted on but instead is an entirely appropriate addition to what is already a damn impressive pop single. Maybe it won't contend for No.1 next week, maybe it is a just a bubble hit. But wow, what a hit it is from the off.

Whole Lotta History

It is far from unknown for pop stars to go before their time. At the dawn of the era it happened to Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochrane. Tragic accidents both. But then came the wild hedonistic years which gave us the '27' club - Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison. To be followed in later years by the likes of Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. The odds are that just about every generation will have to face up to losing one of their idols in their prime. In the last few years we've mourned the passing of 21st century stars such as Sarah Harding and Tom Parker, both of them to cancer.

But the passing of One Direction star Liam Payne last week was somehow one that hit harder than most. The career of the X Factor created boy band wasn't all that long, but they were arguably the first teen idols of the social media era. The Directioners, as they were called, hunting in packs on Twitter and Facebook and shutting down any criticism or shade thrown at their idols. They were at times quite incredibly scary. But now even that fractured fandom has now had to come to terms with the tragic and senseless death of one of their idols.

Needless to say that translated into a huge surge of interest in the back catalogue of not only Liam Payne as a soloist but also his work with his former group. Tracks from both surged on the DSPs during the week, threatened to make a low key appearance on the midweek updates but now after enjoying an automatic ACR reset they storm the chart this week to give Liam the perfect send-off.

Those of us who occasionally had cause to wonder just what everyone's go-to One Direction track might be need wonder no more. The charge of One Direction hits is led by Night Changes, originally a No.7 hit in December 2014 but which now beats that original peak with a re-entry at No.6. Three places below Story Of My Life returns to the Top 10 almost 11 years after it last departed with a No.9 entry to go with its original No.2 peak. Bringing up the rear at No.23 is the band's 2011 debut What Makes You Beautiful which pays its own tribute at No.23.

Liam Payne's solo career never truly took off but he still had enough hit tracks to this week enjoy a rules-bending six different chart entries. 'Solo' singles Strip That Down (with Quavo) is No.41, For You (with Rita Ora) is No.43 and Teardrops is No.85. All were worthwhile hits in their day. All now stand as a fallen pop star's final epitaph.

Mopping Up

Gracie Abrams joins the two hits at one club this week, I Love You I'm Sorry may have reversed a place to No.5 but it is joined at No.19 by follow up hit That's So True, a track which probably should come with a label to shout THIS IS NOT A TAYLOR SWIFT TRACK. The one weird chick I forgot to reference last week was Addison Rae, still unlucky not to be Top 10 with the slightly more interesting Diet Pepsi. But watch her too enjoy a second side by side hit this time next week.

Just one further new single arrives in the Top 40 this week (although goodness knows we need some). The country bug may have faded a little but Morgan Wallen still sneaks in at No.40 with Love Somebody. Destined to be bigger in the States than it is here, but you take that as a given.

Little Fail

This is another of those weeks where the most eyebrow-raising things are the hits that actually don't make the grade. Don't say it too loudly, but attempts to push the former Little Mix ladies into the mainstream and beyond the core fanbase who will listen to any albums they make anyway isn't quite going to play. Hard on the heels of Perri's expensively assembled single with its one-take video going the way of all flesh Jade was supposed to return this week with her "second single proper" (although actually her third release) Fantasy. It charts at No.52 about which the least said the better.

Leading the march to the top of the Official UK Albums chart this week was no less a figure that Kylie. Her album Tension II, as the name suggests a direct companion to last year's Tension, becomes her fourth straight No.1 album in a row and extends her career total to 10. She is only the third solo female in history to reach double figures, following hard on the heels of both Madonna and Taylor Swift - all of them foreign performers you will note. It is also quite notably the 11th No.1 album this year by a solo female performer. All hail the ladies I guess.

All eyes on the No.1 single next week then, clues to whose identity may well have been revealed if you are reading this midweek. I will note once more however that the year is marching to a close. We have five, possibly six weekly singles charts of relative normality before we hit December and the parade of festive classics barge contemporary hits out of the way and out of our sight until January. And based on the pattern of previous years part of the fun is spotting the hits of right now that will wind up dominating matters when normality returns in the first weeks of 2025. This time last year Stick Season had just edged its way into the Top 10 for the first time. But I was also noting that Britain "isn't quite as seduced by country as the American charts seem to be" (go look it up). Boy would that change.

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