Florence + The Machine goes to the top of the singles chart and Newton Faulkner has his second number one album

A first number one single for Florence + The Machine and Newton Faulkner tops the albums chart.

Florence Welch - better known as Florence + The Machine gets her first number one single this week as Spectrum goes straight to the top of the chart. Both studio albums have reached number one - debut set Lungs spent five weeks behind a freshly deceased Michael Jackson in the summer of 2009 before finally making it to the top the following January while the follow-up Ceremonials went straight to the top in November last year and remains in the chart today. Her previous highest charting single was the You Got The Dirtee Love mash-up with Dizzee Rascal which reached number two in February 2010. That beat the number five peak achieved by her version of You’Ve Got The Love which formed part of that mash-up. Spectrum is the third top 40 hit from Ceremonials but the first even to make the top ten.

Part of the key to the success of Spectrum is the use of Calvin Harris to remix the track. He has now appeared on four number one singles. The world waits to find out whether future Florence hits will be named after other Clive Sinclair innovations (C5 perhaps) or other computers such as Colossus, the first electronic computer, or maybe Deep Thought. Ms Welch remains the only artist called Florence to have a hit under her own name. Other Magic Roundabout characters - Brian for example - have fared rather better although there is still no sign of Ermintrude.

Maroon 5 drop back to number two after a second one week stay at the top. Another return to the summit next week cannot be ruled out which would put Payphone in a very exclusive club. More on that next week if it happens although last week’s commentary did touch on it briefly.

will.i.am and Eva Simons remain at number three with This Is Love, Chris Brown drops to number four with Don’t Wake Me Up and Stooshe remain at number five with Black Heart.

Nicki Minaj’s Pound The Alarm climbs six places to number ten to give her a sixth top ten single. It joins Don’t Wake Me Up and Wide Awake to give a very sleep / waking up themed top ten. fun.’s We Are Young drops out of the top ten after a run of 13 weeks.

Adam Lambert was the runner-up in American Idol in 2009. His previous UK top 40 appearance came in May 2010 when For Your Entertainment spent three weeks in the chart without getting any higher than number 37. He returns this week at number 17 with Never Close Our Eyes, yet another song with a sleep-themed title.

It’s been a whole three months since a new song involving David Guetta entered the charts - Jessie J’s Laserlight. So, anyone concerned for his welfare will be delighted to see him at number 21 this week with I Can Only Imagine. The song features the equally ubiquitous Chris Brown and Lil Wayne. The latter two have collaborated before but this is the first time either of them have had a hit with the French producer. It is Guetta’s 19th top 40 hit since 2003, Brown’s 20th since 2006 and Lil’s 16th since 2005.

No Hope, The Vaccines’ first single from their forthcoming album The Vaccines Come Of Age is a new entry at number 37. It is their third top 40 single after Post Break Up Sex and If You Wanna but they have yet to break into the top 30. The song sounds rather like their fellow “-ines” The Libertines. It has to be hoped that this is not the strongest track on the album. If it is, then many people may be very underwhelmed.

There are two re-entries in the chart this week, both of which have already had lengthy runs in the top 40. Anyone who thought that LMFAO’s Sexy And I Know It had cleared off for good will be disappointed to see that it has returned at number 31 to give it a 36th week in the top 40. Rizzle Kicks’ Mama Do The Hump is also back at number 33 following their appearance at a very wet T In The Park last weekend along with LMFAO. The song has now clocked up 22 weeks in the top 40, the same as Jessie J’s Domino and Nicki Minaj’s Starships. David Guetta and Sia’s Titanium is on 28 weeks, one ahead of Gotye and Kimbra’s Somebody That I Used To Know. The latter song actually climbs again this week, moving up one place to number 16.

One long running single departs this week. Flo Rida and Sia’s Wild Ones drops put after a run of 22 weeks.

The sedate Surrey town of Reigate is not exactly known for its major contribution to popular music. Norman Cook went to school there although he was known as Quentin at the time. He was also - according to my brother who attended the same school at the time - slightly plum, hence his later incarnation as Fatboy Slim. The town’s other notable contribution is as the birthplace of singer-songwriter (Sam) Newton (Battenberg) Faulkner. The Battenberg bit is his mother’s maiden name and has nothing to do with a multi-coloured cake which is spelt differently. His singles chart career is fairly modest with Dream Catch Me providing him with his only major hit. However, his debut album Hand Built By Robots spent two weeks at number one in 2007 while the follow-up, Rebuilt By Humans, reached number three two years later. Having been built and rebuilt there’s a change of subject for the title of his third album Write It On Your Skin. It continues his albums chart success by entering at number one.

Earlier this month it was reported that Frank Ocean (recently in the chart on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s No Church In The Wild) would be coming out as a gay man on his debut album Channel Orange. He soon confirmed the reports, a rare statement for an R&B artist. Some US record stores have refused to stock the album although they deny that their decision is connected with his sexuality. He has had no such problem in the UK and the album - currently only available as a download - is a new entry at number two, easily the highest chart position achieved by an album on downloads alone.

Maroon 5 fall one place to number three and Chris Brown falls to number five after a week at the summit. In between the two is the debut album from Lianne La Havas, Is Your Love Big Enough. La Havas is an English singer-songwriter with a Greek father and a Jamaican mother, enough to make the Daily Mail explode, and was on the BBC’s Sound Of 2012 list.

The View’s debut album Hats Off To The Buskers topped the chart and was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize. The next two albums Which Bitch? and Bread And Circuses peaked at numbers four and fourteen respectively and spent a total of just three weeks in the top 40 between them. Their fourth album Cheeky For A Reason sees them return to the top ten at number nine.

Frank Ocean is not the only gay American with a new album in the chart this week as Adam Lambert enters at number 16 with Trespassing, easily beating For Your Entertainment’s peak of number 36 in 2010. The album went to number one in the US, making him the first openly gay man to top the chart there. George Michael and Elton John have both had number one albums in the US but, in both cases, before they came out.

Canadian rockers Rush first entered the UK albums chart in October 1977 with A Farewell To Kings, their fourth studio album. Their most successful period came in the 1980s with a run of seven top ten albums starting with Permanent Waves which included their biggest hit single Spirit Of Radio. Their 19th studio album Clockwork Angels was released last month but most of the sales were via a special edition of Classic Rock magazine and were excluded from chart calculations. This week it makes a belated entry to the chart at number 21, their first appearance in the top 40 since Snakes And Arrows in 2007.

A few weeks after Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now re-entered the singles chart (it climbs to a new peak of number 18 this week) the parent album of the same name is back at number 32. The album reached number eight when it was released in May 2010. Curiously, the new entries from Rush and Adam Lambert are the only albums in the top 40 never to have reached the top ten.