Maroon 5 are back at number one in the singles chart and Chris Brown tops the albums chart for the first time.

Maroon 5 return to the top of the singles chart and Chris Brown has his first number one album.

There’s yet another change at the top of the singles chart this week although this time it is not a new entry. Indeed it isn’t even a new number one as Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa return to the top with Payphone a week after losing their crown. It is the second single to return to the summit this year (after Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know) and only the 39th in nearly 60 years of chart history (two songs - Frankie Laine’s I Believe and Singing The Blues by Guy Mitchell did it twice). Climbing back to the top is one of the few feats that has remained rare through all the changes to the chart over the decades. Between January 1969 when The Scaffold’s Lily The Pink and Marmalade’s version of Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da each had two runs at the top and December 1993 when Mr Blobby returned to number one, it didn’t happen at all.

Chris Brown moves up a place to number two with Don’t Wake Me Up and last week’s number one from will.i.am falls to number three. Flo Rida is still whistling at number four and Stooshe’s Black Heart shows more staying power than their previous effort as it climbs back up to number five.

It is a very quiet chart week with the top 15 being exactly the same songs as last week, just in a different order. The song to break that stasis is Nicki Minaj’s Pound The Alarm which climbs 18 places to number 16. There are just two new entries and neither of them have got as high as the top 30.

It had been known for some time that Blur were going to perform some new songs when they appear at the concert to mark the end of the London Olympics. Therefore, when their Twitter followers were informed that something would be happening on Monday evening, the obvious conclusion was that it would be to do with this new material. It soon became evident that they would be performing two new songs on a rooftop “somewhere in London”. So at 18.15 UK time on Monday Blur fans around the world waited with bated breath to find out whether the first of the two songs - Under The Westway - would be any good. Right on cue the screen changed and we were given a quick reminder of some of Blur’s finest works before cutting to the band on a rooftop. Judging by the comments on Twitter and elsewhere, most fans were first relieved that the song wasn’t terrible before becoming excited by the fact that it was actually very good indeed.

An hour later the same brief clips of old songs were shown again before the band performed The Puritan. While Under The Westway is Blur in melancholic mood, The Puritan is a rather more jolly song complete with some la la las at the end. It remains unclear whether Blur will record enough for a whole new album but, judging by these two songs, they are still capable of producing another great album. However, if they are to be the last songs the band ever record, they will have gone out on a very high note.

Blur’s first top 40 single was There’s No Other Way in 1991 (She’s So High missed the top 40 the year before). By the time they split up in 2003 they had had 25 top 40 singles with 13 of them making the top ten including two number ones (Country House and Beetlebum). They re-formed to play at Glastonbury and Hyde Park in 2009 but the first hint of new material only came when they they agreed to play the Olympic gig (again in Hyde Park). They won the outstanding contribution award at the Brits this year. Unfortunately a rather chaotic introduction to their set meant that their first few songs were disappointing. The end of the set - shown on ITV2 - was far better. Under The Westway gives them their first hit single since 2003 and is a new entry at number 34.

All of Blur’s albums will be reissued in special editions at the end of the month with an additional CD of bonus material. There will also be a massive boxed set comprising each of those seven albums plus the bonus material CDs and another four CDs of unreleased material (including material dating back to their pre-Blur days under the name of Seymour). The package also includes three DVDs of live material and videos including one of their shows from 1999 when they played all of their singles up to that date in order.

That brings us to the end of the Blur-worshipping part of this commentary.

The only other new entry comes from Dappy from N-Dubz. I’m Coming (Tarzn Pt 2) enters at number 35. Like Chris Brown Dappy has often courted controversy. In 2010 he sent abusive text messages to someone who had dared to criticise him and N-Dubz. This week he has been forced to re-edit the video for I’m Coming because he called for the release of Leo Chindamo, He killed head-teacher Philip Lawrence in 1995 and was recalled to prison last year after breaching the terms of his licence. Bizarrely Dappy tried to claim that he wasn’t aware he had called for his release. If he has any sense (which is doubtful) he will also deny any knowledge of this single.

The two new entries are joined by two re-entries. Jessie J’s Domino has bounced back in at number 38 and Calvin Harris and Ne-Yo return at number 40 with Let’s Go. The two longest running songs in the chart both move back up this week. David Guetta and Sia’s Titanium climbs one place to number 30 in its 27th week in total while Somebody That I Used To Know moves up three to number 17 in its 26th successive week in the top 40. Wild Ones (Flo Rida and Sia) has been in the chart for 22 weeks while Jessie J’s Domino and Nicki Minaj’s Starships are both on 21 weeks.

So, the singles chart is a bit dull but there’s an exciting albums chart to make up for it isn’t there? Er, no. There are just two new entries in the albums chart as well. It is true that one of them has gone all the way to the top but the bad news is that it is by Chris Brown. It might be easier to accept that his assault on Rihanna was just a one-off if he hadn’t been known to get angry at interviewers who raise the subject with him. Nevertheless some people seem to be more forgiving and Fortune gives him his first number one album in the UK three months after his first number one single (Turn Up The Music).

Maroon 5 remain at number two and Linkin Park fall two places to number three after a week at the top. Ed Sheeran falls one place to number four and Emeli Sande stays at number five.

While there are only two new entries there is a high re-entry. Paul Simon’s classic Graceland album returned to the chart last month following the release of a 25th anniversary edition. As part of the run-up to a live performance of the album in Hyde Park next Sunday (15 July) the BBC showed a programme on the making of the album on Tuesday night. That saw the album sneak back into the top 40 in Wednesday’s update before soaring back into the top ten by Friday. It re-enters the official chart at number six, four places higher than it reached last month but five places below its overall peak.

Some semblance of normality is restored as Adele climbs back in to the top ten after a four week absence which saw 21 fall as low as number 15.

Mary Chapin Carpenter’s name brings to mind two successful American acts - Harry Chapin (WOLD, Cats In The Cradle, Dance Band on the Titanic) and The Carpenters (Top Of The World, Yesterday Once More, Only Yesterday and a string of other hits). However, she isn’t actually related to either of them. She is named after a combination of her mother Mary (comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, sorry got a bit carried away there) and her father Chapin Carpenter. As a indication of how the UK public just doesn’t get country music, Ashes And Roses is her 11th studio album since her 1987 debut (the year after Graceland was released) but only the third to make the top 40 and just the fourth to make the chart at all. It is a new entry at number 26 matching her previous best position achieved by Stones In The Road in 1994. It has taken 18 years to bring her total weeks in the top 40 albums up to the dizzy heights of three.

As well as Graceland there are two other re-entries and, like Graceland, they are both former number ones. Florence + The Machine’s Ceremonials returns at number 38 and Jack White is back at number 40 with his Blunderbuss.