Chipmunk enters the singles chart at number one and Barbra Streisand heads an albums chart ahead of many other veterans.

Chipmunk has his first number one single and Barbra Streisand tops the albums chart.

After three weeks at number one, Taio Cruz makes way for Chipmunk, dropping three places to number four. Oopsy Daisy is Chipmunk’s third solo hit single and his first chart-topper. The album, I Am Chipmunk, is released tomorrow (12 October). His debut hit, Chip Diddy Chip, is still easily his worst. Oopsy Daisy falls a long way short of being brilliant but I’ve heard a lot worse. At least he can claim not to be a walking disaster now that he has a number one single to his name while still in his teens.

On the subject of hearing a lot worse, The Saturdays (who are referred to in Oopsy Daisy) have a new entry at number two with Forever Is Over. The song seems to go on forever and it comes as a great relief when it’s over. Indeed, on this evidence, they are far more of a walking disaster than Chipmunk. The Saturdays have produced some reasonable pop records but this isn’t one of them. Still, it’s better than Saturday Night by Whigfield which, by a quirk of fate was number two (in more than one sense) exactly fifteen years ago.

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys fall one place to number three with the physical release still several weeks away while David Guetta’s former number one, Sexy Bitch, drops to number five. There is only one climber within the top ten as Temper Trap climb another place to number six. It’s taken a long time to get there but I’m delighted to see one of the best songs of the year do so well. In the week in which Hilary Mantel won the Booker Prize for Wolf Hall, Shakira’s She Wolf drops to number seven.

We’ve been spared the sound of Whitney Houston in the singles chart for seven years. But all good things must come to an end and she returns this week at number 12 with Million Dollar Bill. At least it’s relatively understated by her usual standards. I find it difficult to see the name Mumford and Sons without imagining on the side of a removal van. However, they are actually a band from London who have worked with the likes of Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale. Little Lion Man is their first top 40 hit, entering this week at number 24. As a result, only four of the fifteen acts in the BBC’s Sound of 2009 list are still awaiting their first top 40 single or album.

Sadly, The Big Pink are one of the four with Dominos just missing out on a top 40 place. According to Wikipedia they comprise multi-instrumentalist Robbie Furze and violent psychopath Milo Cordell. Their entry goes on to state that the band signed a record deal just a month after Cordell beat his own unborn child out of its mother’s womb, locking her alone in his house for two days. I think they might have got some of that wrong.

There are three re-entries in the top 40. The highest is Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours, back again for the inevitable reason at number 30. The song has now spent 27 weeks in the chart, a feat it shares with eight other songs including recent hits such as Valerie (the Mark Ronson / Amy Winehouse version) and Black and Gold as well as older hits such as Nights In White Satin and Imagine. Only two songs have spent longer in the chart without ever making the top ten. It is, of course, still some way behind Sex On Fire which is in the top 40 for a 42nd week, level with Judy Collins’ version of Amazing Grace and Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax in fifth place on the all-time list.

Daniel Merriweather’s Red returns at number 35 and Lady GaGa is back at number 37 with Paparazzi, thus making this week’s chart compliant with the 2009 law which states that there must be at least two Lady GaGa songs in the top 40 at any one time. The BBC and the Official Charts Company face a heavy fine after she only featured once in last week’s chart.

There are two significant climbs in the singles chart. Tinchy Stryder climbs 18 places to 14 with his version of You’re Not Alone while Daughtry soar 28 places to 11 with What About Now.

The top of the albums chart is dominated by veterans. The youngest act in the top five by a long way are last week’s number one band Paramore whose members are in their twenties. After just one week on top they fall to number three. The new number one is from 67-year-old Barbra Streisand who moves up from last week’s number four. Her sixth number one album (the first was in 1977) gives her a 19th week on top of the albums chart, moving her ahead of the Spice Girls and Celine Dion. At number two for a second week is 50-year-old Madonna’s Celebration. Back up to a new peak of number four are Cliff Richard and The Shadows, all of whom are in their late sixties while the top five is completed by 92-year-old Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again .

The other new entries in the top ten are from more veteran artists. Chris Rea, who is 58, enters at number eight with his Best Of collection. The title, Still So Far To Go, suggests that he is not planning an imminent retirement. His surname is pronounced Reeyah unlike actor Stephen Rea who pronounces it Ray. Perhaps that is just due to a misunderstanding caused by Chris Rea’s Middlesbrough accent.

Continuing with this week’s theme, the latest Andy Williams collection (entitled Very Best Of) is a new entry at number ten. Andy Williams will be 82 in December. It’s not the first Very Best Of he’s released and it may well not be the last. And the list of veteran artists isn’t over yet as Kiss (whose two original members are in their late fifties / early sixties) enter at number 24 with Sonic Boom, their first album for 11 years. Tiesto, a relative youngster at 40, is at number 20 with Kaleidoscope, his second top 40 album.

Unusually, Mumford and Sons make their debut in the singles and albums charts in the same week as Sigh No More is a new entry at number 11. The official Deadmau5 website describes For Want of a Better Title as “not an Artist album , more a collection of tunes”. However, the record books will make it look like the follow-up to the equally abstractly-titled Random Album Title as it enters this week at number 19.

Air have their seventh top 40 album at number 36 with Love 2 (what happened to Love 1?) and the Backstreet Boys’ new album, This Is Us, enters at number 39. The response of the record-buying public seems to have been “Yes, we know who you are. That’s why we’re not buying it”.

Following the sad news this morning of the death of Stephen Gately, there may be some Boyzone in next week’s chart. The song most likely to chart is probably No Matter What.