Still No Hammer
The new hits we have all been yearning for are finally starting to spread, and from some intriguing sources too. But for now they have to continue to receive second billing to the ongoing Sabrina Carpenter story. Her iron grip over the upper reaches of the chart may gradually be slackening, as this week she "only" occupies positions 1, 3 and 4 of the Official UK Singles chart but that does mean that Taste spends its fourth straight week at No.1.
So updating the stats we go. This is now her 16th week at No.1 this year, putting her ahead of Olivia Rodrigo as the female artist who has spent longest at the top of the charts in the 2020s. But it also draws her level with the calendar year record for a woman, first set in 1978 by Olivia Newton-John. We do of course have to make the caveat that both of Olivia's No.1 hits (from the Grease soundtrack) were in tandem with John Travolta, but she was at the very least co-billed by name. Sabrina Carpenter, should she manage another week at the top before the end of December, will have done it all completely solo.
Clawing her way back to No.2 though is the other lady of the moment Chappell Roan as the still extraordinary Good Luck Babe returns to its second place peak after three weeks away, this now the third week in total the single has occupied the second rung. It is still probably never destined to make it to the top, but the song is now in its 13th straight week as a Top 10 single, 11 of which (and the last 9 in a row) have all been in the Top 5.
After three weeks away Roan's other big hit Hot To Go is also back in the Top 10, ascending to a new peak of No.9. But the identity of her third hit has now changed hands. As we noted last week the older Pink Pony Club has been enjoying viral success of its own and after having now (it appears) been granted a reset it takes over as her third chart eligible single, the 2020 track appearing on the chart for the first time at No.21.
Rather cutely Chappell Roan isn't the only lady with an otherwise invisible fourth hit single to her name. There's a fourth Sabrina Carpenter track Bed Chem in circulation whose streaming numbers have on occasion been enough to qualify it for a Top 10 place - but for the fact Taste, Espresso and Please Please Please are the bigger hits all eating up her permitted quota. When one of the above finally starts to fade away, Bed Chem should in turn wink into existence. For now the only proof of its presence is its placing of No.19 on this week's streaming chart.
Before we leave the Top 10 alone, last week's highest new entry The Emptiness Machine by Linkin Park falls back but not by a huge amount, dipping to No.8. The biggest hardcore metal hit single for many a long year has proven to be no one week wonder.
More Tears Deposited
The Weeknd's transformation into the King of synthpop revival is so complete it is hard to reconcile his early slick R&B tracks such as Earned It and I Can't Feel My Face with the music he has spent the past five years making and clogging up singles charts worldwide with. With a new album in the offering, the first since his 2023 soundtrack to The Idol the Canadian soul man has clearly no need to ease out of his groove. Eagerly awaited new single Dancing In The Flames becomes the highest new entry of the week as it crashes in at a quite respectable No.12. Mid-eighties revivalism is the theme here, although that does mean the track ends up bearing a vague resemblance to Jason Derulo's Want To Want Me - it is that kind of vibe. But that of course also means it is quite fabulous pop record. And if this doesn’t end up hanging around until the Christmas singles wipe everything out I'll be quite considerably shocked.
First Broken
Canada also gives us the second biggest new hit of the week, this time in the shape of a returning Tate McRae with what is also her first hit of 2024. I'm still torn of what to make of her, long-running chart hits such as You Broke Me First, Greedy and Exes make her an artist of note, but you'd be hard-pressed to find many casual music fans who could actually hum one of her hits. They are records that are just… there without ever truly lodging in your brain. But still, you can't knock her for consistency. It's OK I'm OK is another of those tracks that is probably going to get end up more notable for its video imagery than its melody or hook but it still opens at No.14 as her sixth Top 20 hit single. Is this a fourth Top 10 hit in the making?
POP
Bubble hits watch - or rather not in this case. Jade's Angel Of My Dreams is well on its way to becoming the longest-running Little Mix solo hit to date, now nine weeks old and refusing to fade away gracefully, barging its way back into the Top 20 with a rise to No.19. Credit where it is due, it is going to hang around until ACR does for it.
These days it is hard to simply mine a successful album for singles given most fans have been able to stream them all over and over again. So what you do is create new versions - just as Charli XCX has done with Talk Talk. Originally a solo track from her BRAT album it has been reworked to add vocals from her frequent collaborator Troye Sivan. Grabbing people's attention is tricky given that former No.1 single GUESS is still floating around the Top 10 but the new offering has gained enough ears to debut at No.24. What is interesting is that the album version of Talk Talk previously charted at No.47 when BRAT was released and was credited to Charli solo. Its return is considered a re-entry and it inherits the chart history of the original, but at label request Troye Sivan has now been added to the credits.
Breast Stroke
Another man joining the three hits at once club is discovery of the year Teddy Swims. As we noted last week, he's in the awkward position of having a much older track edging its way up the charts at the exact moment he has brand new product to push. So it is that The Door holds steady at No.16 while his new single Bad Dreams has to content itself with a No.28 debut. And it really is brand new, a previously unheard track that unlike its predecessors doesn't appear on his I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1) album. In truth it shows, the new single dare I say it not quite as good as the two others. But perhaps this is one occasion where I'm happy to be proved wrong.
The Rest
Playboi Carti has featured on a large number of hit singles over the past few years, but virtually every single one has been as a collaborator on someone else's work. It means he's appeared on Top 40 hits by the likes of Drake, The Weeknd, Trippie Red, Travis Scott and Future with very little to show for his own work. That changes this week as All Red lands as a new entry at No.32 to become only his second chart single as a solo artist - the first being his 2020 debut @MEH which crept to No.51 in May that year. And the timing of that means I must have written about it in Music Week but have no memory of doing so.
Making a flying 75-36 leap into the Top 40 is the rapidly virally spreading Embrace It by rapper Ndotz, the soundtrack to a billion Tik Tok and YouTube shorts as of this moment. Another of those hits that you can enjoy how vanishingly brief it is - the track barely reaching 1:44. Which is Pinkpantheress levels of brevity.
I forget if I ever articulated this directly, but every time I listened to Austin by Dasha during its extended Top 10 run I not only loved it even more each time, but marvelled just how on earth she was ever going to follow it. This week we kind of got an answer - her newly released single Bye Bye Bye is nowhere to be seen. Although not being a patch on its predecessor can't have helped.
What story to finish on? Snow Patrol landing their first No.1 album in 18 years? Nah, boring. Let's note that the year's first No.1 single Stick Season by Noah Kahan finally dips out of the Top 40 this week, sitting at No.42 to bring to an end an unbroken 48 week run.
