Wiley holds on for a second week at number one in the singles chart. Rihanna returns to the top of an albums chart with no new entries in the top 40.


Wiley stays at number one in the singles chart and Rihanna makes a surprise return to the top of the albums chart.

The top two singles remain the same this week. Wiley’s Heatwave holds on for a second week at number one while Calvin Harris holds on at number two.

The highest new entry is from boyband Lawson at number three. Taking Over Me is their second hit following When She Was Mine which reached number four in June. Florence + The Machine’s Spectrum falls one place to number four.

Bristol based producer Redlight made his chart debut in January this year with Get Out My Head. His grammar has improved since then although the same cannot be said for his output. This week he makes his first appearance in the top ten as Lost In Your Love (I told you his grammar had improved) enters at number five.

After spending three weeks at number six, Rudimental’s Feel The Love is now into its fifth week at number seven. Nicki Minaj’s Pound The Alarm climbs back into the top ten to reach a new peak of number eight.

Two Dizzee Rascal songs enter the chart this week, one new and one re-entry and they are both connected to the Olympic Games. The new song, Scream, enters at number 22. The song features Pepper (whoever he/she/they may be) and is one of the official songs for the London 2012 Olympics. Another of the official songs, Muse’s Survival charted shortly before the Games started and may return next week if it is performed at the closing ceremony tonight (Sunday). Before this year only two songs called Scream had reached the top 40. That figure is now four after Usher’s song of the same name having added to the total in June.

The week’s best new entry is at number 28. Little Talks is the first UK chart hit for Icelandic folk / pop band Of Monsters And Men. Icelandic music has gained a reputation for oddness with the best known names being Bjork and Sigur Ros. Of Monsters And Men are rather more mainstream. They are the first band whose name begins with Of to have a hit and also the first band with Monsters in their name. Coincidentally this very Mumford And Sons sounding track enters the chart in the very week that the real Mumford And Sons unveiled their new single.

There is a superfluity of Cheryl in the lower reaches of the chart. Her former number one Call My Name falls to number 35 and Under The Sun is a new entry at 36. The Wanted’s Chasing The Sun has dropped out of the top 40 this week so it would appear that they have caught up with the sun and placed Cheryl under it.

Two weeks after the magnificent spectacle of the London 2012 opening ceremony music from the show continues to have an impact on the chart. Underworld’s sublime Caliban’s Dream (accompanied by a cast of thousands) drops to number 21, the position occupied last week by Arctic Monkeys’ version of Come Together. That song is joined this week by Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers, also benefitting from a price cut on a well known download site, at number 31. The song spent two weeks at number one in May 2009.

A price cut has also helped Avicii’s Silhouettes (which climbed to number 22 in June before dropping straight out of the top 40 the following week) to return at number 39. As Long As You Love Me was one of the songs made available ahead of the release of Justin Bieber’s Believe album when it reached number 30. The song (which features rapper Big Sean) has now been released as an official single and re-enters at a new peak of number 25.

Somebody That I Used To Know remains in the top 40 for a 31st week. Nicki Minaj’s Starships has been around for 26 weeks. One more song reaches the 20 week mark - Azealia Banks’ atrocious 212. The song got no higher than number 12 and has now spent the last nine weeks between numbers 37 and 41.

In a very quiet week for the albums chart Rihanna’s Talk That Talk climbs six places to go back to number one. The album spent its first chart week at the top of the chart last November and has been in the top 40 ever since. It now returns to the summit in its 38th week in the chart.

The record for the lowest sales by a number one album in the 21st century has already been broken more than once this year. It may well be that it will have been broken again this week. Last week just five albums sold 10,000 copies and it is unlikely that this week will be any better.

Plan B stays at number two and Maroon 5 climb back up one place to number three. Emeli Sande (who was at number one in Friday’s update) falls one place to number four and Paloma Faith climbs 11 places back up to number five.

Conor Maynard drops top number six after a week at number one. Train climb back into the top ten and reach a new peak at number seven.

Keane’s Strangeland album continues its revival. It spent two weeks at number one in May but had fallen to number 40 by the beginning of July. It then started climbing back up the chart and this week returns to the top ten at number ten.

Regular readers will know that, at this point, the commentary usually turns to the remainder of the new entries. However, this week the total number of new entries in the albums chart is a big fat zero. There has always been a tendency to release major albums in the fourth quarter of the year when sales are at their highest. However, the concentration of major releases at the end of the year seems to be greater than ever this year.

WIth no new entries it might have been expected that there would be several re-entries. However, there are just three. The highest of the three is the Vangelis collection which entered the chart two weeks ago before falling straight out. It returns this week at number 29, eight places ahead of its original entry position. Its sales will have been given a boost by the playing of Chariots Of Fire at every medal ceremony. The fact that so many of those ceremonies involved British athletes will also have helped increase the number of people watching.

Newton Faulkner’s former number one Write It On Your Skin is back at number 39 and Drake’s Take Care (the title track of which features this week’s chart-topper Rihanna) slips back in at number 40. It means that Drake achieves a rare double - number 40 in both the singles (Crew Love) and albums chart.