Rita Ora has her third number one single and Emeli Sande returns to the top of the albums chart. Both charts get a bit of a clear out due to songs performed at the London 2012 closing ceremony.

Rita Ora goes straight to the top of the singles chart. Emeli Sande returns to the top of the albums chart as both charts are heavily affected by the London 2012 closing ceremony.

Anyone who missed last Sunday’s Olympic closing ceremony and the midweek updates may be rather bemused by this week’s charts. After a few quiet weeks there are 14 songs entering the singles chart and 11 albums entering the top 40. In both cases there is a mix of new and re-entries. With Underworld and Of Monsters And Men staying in the top 40 and some excellent songs coming in we have one of the best charts for a long time.

The very top of the singles chart is rather conventional as Rita Ora goes straight to number one with How We Do (Party). She thus completes a hat-trick of number ones with her first three singles following Hot Right Now (where she was the featured vocalist for DJ Fresh) and R.I.P (featuring Tinie Tempah). In the early years of the charts this was an exceptionally rare feat. The first act to do it were Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1963. It then took just over 20 years before another Liverpool based act, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, to repeat the feat. As an added coincidence, Gerry and the Pacemakers went on to have a hit with Ferry Cross The Mersey in 1964 and that song featured on Frankie’s debut album Welcome To The Pleasuredome. The feat became rather easier once record companies chose to withhold releases until they had been played on the radio for weeks, a ploy which allowed Westlife to top the charts with their first seven singles (and ten of the first eleven). Rita Ora’s debut album is released on Monday week (27 August).

On the hottest weekend of the year so far (although Bournemouth seemed to be an exception yesterday) Wiley’s Heatwave slips to number two after two weeks at the top.

This is where the Olympics effect kicks in. Last Sunday’s closing ceremony for the hugely successful London 2012 Olympic Games was billed as a celebration of British music and that is what it proved to be. Every viewer will have had quibbles over some of the acts included or excluded but it did include a reasonable cross section of British music of the last 50 years or so. One of the most prolific performers on the night was Emeli Sande whose frequent appearances at both the opening and closing ceremonies led many people to wonder whether she had any information on Seb Coe which he might want to avoid getting into the public domain. She was the first live performer on Sunday night, singing Read All About It, a song she completed later when she popped up again. She topped the charts with the song last year as the featured artist alongside Professor Green. This week she returns at number three with a solo version (officially named Read All About It Part III) which narrowly missed the top 40 earlier this year.

Curiously enough, last Sunday afternoon, before the closing ceremony I wondered whether a performance of One Day Like This could get the song back into the charts again. At the time I had no idea that Elbow would indeed be playing. It was therefore something of a surprise to hear the opening bars of Open Arms and even more of a surprise to hear commentator Hazel Irvine faithfully inform us that they were playing One Day Like This. Still, they played One Day Like This as their second (and final) song and, sure enough, my favourite song of the 21st century is back in the charts.

As well as its original entry (when it only reached number 39) the song returned courtesy of the parent album Seldom Seen Kid (which might just get another mention later) winning the 2008 Mercury Prize and when Elbow won the Brit Award for Best British Band in 2009. However, those events - unlike Sunday’s - were not witnessed by over 20 million viewers. For four years it has been commonplace to say that future music fans will be amazed to find that the song only ever reached number 35 despite entering the top 40 five times. Not any more. It enters the chart this week at number four to give them their first top ten hit after over 20 years as a band.

Their previous singes chart peak was number 19, a position achieved by three singles - Asleep At The Back, Fallen Angel and Grounds For Divorce.

Calvin Harris falls three places to number five with We’ll Be Coming Back, thus almost certainly confirming it as his fourth number two hit.

When a new version of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (with the subtitle A Deal With God) appeared on the Amazon website with a release day of August 12 speculation mounted that she would be performing at the Olympic closing ceremony. Sadly, while the song was played, there was to be no appearance from La Bush herself. That minor detail didn’t stop people downloading the song and it is a new entry at number six. It marks a very welcome return to the top ten for a singer who first reached the chart in 1978 when Wuthering Heights went to number one. Running Up That Hill was originally a number three hit in 1985. Many fans consider the idea of covering a Kate Bush song to be almost sacrilegious but there have been two perfectly competent versions of Running Up That Hill by Placebo and, on this year’s The Voice, by Bo Bruce. Futureheads also did a brilliant a capella version of Hounds Of Love so it can be done. It is her eighth top ten hit (including Don’t Give Up with Peter Gabriel but not including his Games Without Frontiers on which she appeared uncredited) and her first since King Of The Mountain in 2005. Incredibly, thanks to Elbow, Running Up That Hill is only the second best song in the top ten.

There were two performances which raised eyebrows. First, as already discussed, why did Emeli Sande keep turning up? Second, why did George Michael get to perform his new single White Light while all the other performers stuck to their best known songs or covered a well-known song by someone else? He has since defended himself by saying he wanted to give something back to his fans who supported him through his illness last winter. Hmm. At one point it looked as if he might have landed himself his first top ten hit since Flawless (Go To The City) almost exactly eight years ago. No, you’re not alone in having no idea how it went. Instead he has to put up with a new entry at number 15 which still marks his highest position with a new song for nearly three years.

While Kate Bush declined an invitation to appear, other featured artists were unable to appear on account of being dead. Part of the show was dedicated to Freddie Mercury and John Lennon, both of whom appeared as holograms. Bohemian Rhapsody hasn’t made the top 40 this time but Lennon’s most famous song, Imagine, has.

The song was originally a number six hit in 1975 before re-entering the chart shortly after his assassination in December 1980. It climbed to number one the following month where it formed part of one of the more bizarre runs of chart toppers in history. The run started with Lennon’s (Just Like) Starting Over which climbed to the top in the immediate aftermath of his murder. That song marked a comeback for him and was his first hit since Imagine five years earlier. As the concept of downloads did not exist at the time it was the only song of his in most record shops (remember them?) and so that was the song people bought. After a week it was replaced by one of the worst number ones ever which must have left many grandmothers what they’d done to deserve such an awful Christmas present. Imagine then took over for four weeks before Lennon replaced himself with Woman, the second single from Double Fantasy. That spent two weeks at the top. The runner-up in the second week was Ultravox’s Vienna which provides a clue to the unmentionable song that toppled it. That abomination was, in turn, replaced by Roxy Music’s version of Lennon’s Jealous Guy completing a run of four Lennon songs and two monstrosities at the summit.

Imagine returned to the top ten again in 1999 making it one of very few non-Christmas songs to be a top ten hit on three separate occasions. It returns this week at number 18.

When Muse released Survival before the Games started there were suggestions that it would be heard a lot at various Olympic events. However, that didn’t happen as Chariots Of Fire and David Bowie’s Heroes seemed to be played at every opportunity. However, Matt Bellamy and his bandmates did get to play on Sunday and that has helped them to return at number 22, three places above the position they achieved a few weeks ago.

British boybands were represented by One Direction who performed (or mimed to) their chart-topping debut What Makes You Beautiful. That re-enters at number 32.

Ed Sheeran appeared with NIck Mason of Pink Floyd, Mike Rutherford (Genesis and, later, Mike and the Mechanics), Richard Jones (The Feeling) and David Arnold (the musical director of the ceremony who had a few hits with rearrangements of Bond themes) to play Pink Floyd’s classic Wish You Were Here. Unfortunately some of Sheeran’s younger fans thought that it was a new song of his and got terribly excited. Of course mistakes like this have always been made by young music fans. The difference is that nowadays their comments are made available on the internet for everyone to see. Thankfully their effort is better than the last Pink Floyd cover to reach the chart (Scissor Sister’s awful version of Comfortably Numb, not including the sample of Another Brick In The Wall). It is a new entry at number 34.

The quality of the performance on the night doesn’t seem to have affected sales. Beady Eye’s performance of Wonderwall was woeful. The kindest thing to be said about it is that it was better the One Direction’s insipid version. Still, the he excellent Oasis original returns at number 38 so some good has come of it. There seemed to be sound problems which affected Paul McCartney’s vocals in the opening ceremony but Liam Gallagher had no such excuse last Sunday. The contrast between his version with Beady Eye and his vocals on the Oasis version is immense. Noel Gallagher played Wonderwall with his new band and dedicated it to “Stratford’s finest Oasis tribute band” so any kind of rapprochement between the feuding brothers is probably still some way off. While many Oasis songs had relatively short chart runs Wonderwall, a number two hit in 1995, spent 11 weeks in the top ten.

There are some new (and re-) entries unconnected with London 2012 although the title of Trey Songz’s new single, Simply Amazing, might be thought to refer to the achievements of some of the athletes. After waiting seven years to get his first hit in the UK, this is his second this year.

North Carolina based producer and DJ Porter Robinson makes his UK chart debut at number nine with Language. It is the first hit to be called simply Language although there have been three top 40 hits (and one other top 75 hit) called Body Language. It is not known whether Porter Robinson has any siblings who are also named after types of beer. Stout perhaps or Bitter or maybe even Ale.

The 2012 series of Britain’s Got Talent actually featured the odd singer performing their own song rather than yet another Adele cover. One of them was Dublin teenager (stretching the definition of Britain slightly) Ryan O’Shaughnessy performing his song about unrequited love, No Name accompanying himself on guitar. As he had also appeared on Ireland’s version of The Voice he was nearly disqualified but was eventually given permission to continue and he went on to reach the final. The song has now had some added production (although, thankfully, not the usual overblown Cowell nonsense) and is a new entry at number 31. He clearly shows promise as a songwriter although I hope some of his songs are a little more cheerful.

There is one further re-entry not linked to last Sunday’s shindig. Paloma Faith’s Picking Up The Pieces returns at number 33 after she appeared on Alan Carr’s show.

The large number of new and re-entries has, of course, led to a bit of a clear out. Among the songs to leave (although it may well be back next week) is Gotye’s former number one Somebody That I Used To Know which ends a run of 31 weeks. The new front-runner is John Lennon’s Imagine which notches up a 28th week in the top 40. Nicki Minaj’s Starships reaches 27 weeks and the returning What Makes You Beautiful has now graced the top 40 for 20 weeks as has Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe.

There are also some pretty sharp falls within the chart. Lawson crash 14 places to number 17, Karmin slumps 15 places to number 25 and Far East Movement tumble 16 places to number 29. They are all outdone by Conor Maynard who drops out of the top 40 from number 19. His number four hit Vegas Girl spent just three weeks in the top 40.

Last week’s commentary suggested that the sales of Rihanna’s number one album would have been very low. Sadly they were even worse than feared, just 9,578. It is the first time since reliable records began (1994) that no artist album has sold 10,000 copies in a week. It shatters the previous record of just under 12,000 copies set by The Cranberries’ Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? in June 1994. In the chart leading up to Christmas 2005 (just 6 1/2 years ago) 99 albums sold more than 9,578 copies. In that year there was not a single week when total albums sales fell below two million. So far this year there has not been a week when they have risen above two million. Clearly sales will rise above two million in the weeks before Christmas but this is still a worrying development.

Thankfully things are a little better this week, due in part to the lift in sales from the Olympic ceremony. By the end of Thursday the best-selling album of the week had sold nearly 22,000 copies. Not a brilliant figure but it is at least an improvement on several recent weeks. The pity is that it has taken a television event watched by one of the largest audiences of the century to achieve even this modest figure. That album is Our Version Of Events by Emeli Sande (yes, her again), up three places from last week’s number four. It has now hit the top of the chart on four separate occasions, staying for just one week each time.

Paloma Faith’s Fall To Grace climbs back up to number two to match its previous peak and Ed Sheeran moves back up to number three.

As well as the Olympic closing ceremony, other albums have benefited from television exposure. Amy McDonald appeared on Rob Brydon’s chat show this week and her album Life In A Beautiful Light (number one in her native Scotland last week) soars 13 palces back up to number four. Maroon 5 slip to number five.

It has been reported that the performers at both the opening and closing ceremonies were paid a fee of just a pound. However, many of them will have received considerably more than that from increased sales. As well as individual tracks selling in large numbers, some artists have also seen their album sales soar (insofar as album sales can be said to have soared in the current climate).

One of the biggest beneficiaries of increased sales are Elbow. Their fourth album Seldom Seen Kid debuted at number five in March 2008 making it their biggest hit at the time. It soon fell away but returned on several occasions, often for the same reason as One Day Like This in the singles chart. It even matched its peak position nearly a year after release. A performance of the album with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the winners of the BBC Choir of the Year competition as well as Richard Hawley to replicate his appearance on The Fix became the most viewed performance on the BBC red button at the time it was shown in January 2009. Seldom Seen Kid returns at number six this week. The follow-up Build A Rocket Boys! reached number two last year, becoming one of the many victims of Adele’s 21. That also puts in a reappearance at number 35.

Readers of long standing may recall that I rarely miss an opportunity to sing the praises of Ray Davies. He was among the performers at the Olympic ceremony where he sang the Kinks classic Waterloo Sunset, one of the band’s many paeans to London. Conveniently this week saw the release of two new compilations. Davies himself admits that the collection of material from BBC sessions over the years is patchy, partly because many of the sessions were recorded using very basic equipment and also because of the BBC’s permission to release all the material available, regardless of the quality. The second, Waterloo Sunset: Best Of The Kinks and Ray Davies is a more traditional collection. The first CD starts with the original version of the title track and contains some of their best known songs such as Days (later covered by Kirsty MacColl), David Watts (later covered by The Jam), You Really Got Me, Lola and Sunny Afternoon. The second disc is dedicated to what might be described as London songs. It includes Dedicated Follower of Fashion (from a time when Carnaby Street was becoming a leading fashion centre of the world), Victoria and Come Dancing (a surprise hit in 1983 after an 11 year absence from the top 40) and ends with another version of Waterloo Sunset, this time with the Crouch End from the 2009 Choral Collection. The BBC Sessions album misses out on the top 40 but Waterloo Sunset is a new entry at number 14.

Three Greatest Hits sets re-enter the top 40 following the closing ceremony. Total Madness (number 11 in 2009) is at number 13, the Spice Girls’s Greatest Hits (number two in 2007) is back at number 18 after they re-formed (again) for the night and Kate Bush - The Whole Story (number one in 1987) is at number 21.

Away from the Olympics thingy there are a further five new entries although the first does owe its success to television.

Ryan O’Shaughnessy’s No Name (see above) is a track from his debut EP released this week. Although it is only around twenty minutes long it qualifies for the albums chart as it has six tracks. In addition to No Name and First Kiss (the song he performed in the Britain’s Got Talent semi-final), it contains material written before his talent show debut. A full album will be released in due course but, in the meantime, his eponymous EP enters the albums chart at number nine.

There was a time when naming your band after one of the most successful record producers of the 1960s, Phil Spector, might have seemed a good idea, even if some people might have thought it rather conceited. However, after his conviction for murder, it might not have looked like the greatest idea ever. Still, that’s what a five-piece from London have chosen to do and this week their debut album Enjoy It While It Lasts (an appropriate title maybe) lands at number 12.

Midnight Beast’s eponymous debut album is a new entry at number 24. Ah, this week’s rock album you might think. Well, no. They are actually a comedy band (oh dear) who have had their own show on E4.

This week’s band with a name to make them sound like a solo artist are Don Broco, a four-pice from Bedford. They released their debut album Big Fat Smile last year but it didn’t chart. The follow-up Priorities has fread a lot better and it is a new entry at number 25.

If reading this has felt like running the 10,000 metres, panic not, we’re into the home straight. Midnight Beast may have failed to provide this week’s rock album but While She Sleeps have done so in the form of their debut This Is The Six, a new entry at number 27.

Other news in brief - Adele’s 21 falls to number 17, a new low in its 81st week and Conor Maynard crashes 31 places to number 37.

Thanks to Music Week for the albums sales information, BBC 6Music for the Ray Davies interview and to chartstats and polyhex for the historic chart information.