Sam and the Womp top the singles chart and Emeli Sande holds on at the top of the albums chart

Sam and the Womp go straight to the top of the singles charts and Emeli Sande holds on to the number one spot in the albums chart.

For a time last week it looked like Sam and the Womp’s Bom Bom was going to add to the list of songs which saw a fake version make the chart before the original. However, that version fell away and missed out on the top 40. That left the original version - in all its awfulness - to enter at number one this week. The main man behind Sam and the Womp is Aaron Horn, son of Trevor. Trevor Horn initially made his name with The Buggles whose debut single, Video Killed The Radio Star, also topped the charts in 1979. If there have been any other father and son pairings who have topped the chart with their debut single, please feel free to add them as comments. Trevor Horn went on to be a very successful producer with Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s debut album Welcome To The Pleasure Dome among his hits. He also produced the original version of Do They Know It’s Christmas.

After just seven days at the summit Rita Ora drops to number two. Wiley and Emeli Sande also fall one place to numbers three and four respectively.

Taylor Swift’s singles have generally had a country flavour to them which is one reason why her chart record in the UK is fairly modest. She reached number two with Love Story in 2009 but since then she has reached the top 30 on only three other occasions with two of those songs failing to reach the top 29. Her new song We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is more of a pop song but that doesn’t make it any better than her previous output. Nevertheless it becomes her second major UK hit as a new entry at number five.

Many Pink Floyd fans were dismayed at the idea of Ed Sheeran’s involvement in a cover of Wish You Were Here which reached the top 40 last week after being performed at the Olympic closing ceremony. This week he enters at number seven - as the featured vocalist alongside Devlin - on another classic track. All Along The Watchtower was written and first recorded by Bob Dylan; however the song is most associated with Jimi Hendrix who took it to number five in 1968. The most recent Dylan song to be more associated with another singer is Make You Feel My Love after Adele did quite well with her version. While Sheeran’s version of Wish You Were Here was passable, this interpretation of Watchtower can surely only be liked by people who haven’t heard any other version.

French-Canadian band Simple Plan reached the top 40 in 2008 with When I’m Gone. Another single the same year fell some way short of the top 40 and it looked they might indeed be gone. However, they return this week at number 12 with Summer Paradise (not here it hasn’t been matey) which features Sean Paul. An earlier version of the song featured K’naan but this remake gives Sean Paul his 18th top 40 hit.

Good Times, a new entry at number 17, delivers a second hit for both Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen. Both artists topped the chart with their debut hit - Owl City with the brilliant Fireflies in 2010 and Carly Rae Jepsen earlier this year with Call Me Maybe which still remains in the top 40.

A few weeks after Carly Rae Jepsen’s four week run at the summit came to an end fun. and Janelle Monae reached number one with We Are Young. They too get their second hit this week although this time it is without Monae. Or, as Jessie J might say, it’s not about the Monae, Monae, Monae. Some Nights - the title track from their album - entered the top 75 two weeks ago and would probably have reached the top 40 last week if there had not been so many songs from the London 2012 event. It does make it this week though at number 29.

It’s a case of one out, one in for Muse. Their Olympic song Survival drops out after a second single week stay in the top 40 but their new song Madness enters at number 35 having been played on radio for the first time on Monday. The idea of them covering the Prince Buster song which gave the band Madness their name (and which they recorded for their debut album) is simply too bizarre to contemplate, That hasn’t happened. This is an original song. It is rather less bombastic than their usual style, perhaps in recognition of the return of The Darkness (see below).

With the London Paralympic Games opening ceremony on Wednesday (29 August) the publicity for Channel 4’s coverage of the Games has bee stepped up. As a result, the song used in the promotion, Public Enemy’s Harder Than You Think returns at number 11 having reached number 27 at the end of last month. It thus becomes their biggest hit single nearly 25 years after they first reached the top 40, beating the number 16 peak of He Got Game in 1998. They released an album this year entitled Most Of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear On No Stamp. If they decided to hero-worship this year’s British Olympic gold medalists then plenty of their heroes would appear on stamps.

With most of last week’s Olympic-related new and re-entries dropping out it was always likely that there would be a number of re-entries this week. They are not all 2012 songs though as Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now is back at number 30. Skrillex return at number 40 with Bangarang. Three of the Olympic songs are still in the top 40. As stated earlier, Emeli Sande is at number four while Elbow fall to number 18 (only the second time One Day Like This has spent a second successive week in the top 40) and Kate Bush is at number 33.

Of Monsters And Men enjoy a very welcome climb of 14 places to a new peak of number 21. Nicki Minaj’s Starships have been flying in the top 40 for 28 weeks. Carly Rae Jepsen notches up a 21st week and will have passed a million sales this week while both Alex Clare and fun. reach the 20 week mark.

Last week’s albums sales were slightly better than the previous week with three albums selling at least 10,000 copies compared with none at all the previous week. The fact that Emeli Sande has held on at number one - her fifth week in total but the first time she has spent a second week at the summit - suggests that this week’s sales are again very poor. Paloma Faith holds on at number two.

After Bloc Party released their third album Intimacy the band had a pause while members - including singer Kele Okereke whose solo album reached number 20 in 2010 - pursued their own projects. They now return with their fourth album entitled, with stunnning originality, Four. Sadly the single Octopus has failed to dent the charts despite being Bloc Party close to their best. However, the album has kept up their 100% top ten record (excluding remix albums) by entering at number three.

The Darkness enjoyed a brief period of success with their overblown style of rock which made Muse seem relatively understated. Their Christmas hit Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) was fairly typical of their sound. It was never really a style destined for longevity and so it was no surprise that their second album was a very short-lived success leading to the demise of the band shortly afterwards. Even so the band did find a way of surprising people. First they announced a series of reunion shows and - perhaps even more surprising - they have recorded a new album which lands at number four this week. The album Hot Cakes contains mostly new compositions but also includes a predictably awful version of Radiohead’s Street Spirit (Fade Out), a cover which makes Devlin and Ed Sheeran’s attempt at All Along The Watchtower seem like a relatively good idea.

Singer Jessie Ware has worked with London producer Aaron Jerome in his guise as SBTRKT. His album Young Turks crept into the lower reaches of the top 100 albums chart just over a year ago. This week she has released her debut solo album Devotion and it is a new entry at number five.

The Black Keys’ seventh studio album El Camino entered the chart at number 29 before leaving the top 40 the following week. It returned in January before climbing to a new peak of number 16. This week it re-enters at another new peak of number seven to give them their first top ten album.

Trey Songz released his debut album I Gotta Make It in 2005. That album and its three successors all failed to reach the UK albums chart although they did significantly better on his side of the Atlantic. Now, after enjoying his first two UK hit singles, his fifth album, Chapter 5 sees him have a first hit album over here at number ten.

In a 30 year career Julio Iglesias’s albums have achieved mixed success. Four releases have made the top ten but several haven’t even reached the top 40. Indeed his new album, 1s, is the first to reach the top 40 (at number 18) since Noche De Cuatro Lunas in 2000. The Beatles album with a similar name was made up of songs which had reached the top of the chart either here or in the US or, in many cases, both. Iglesias can’t boast that sort of a record but has used the title anyway. Perhaps it’s supposed to mean that the album is only worth a shilling (5p for younger readers).

X-Factor also-ran Aiden Grimshaw’s chart career has got off to a fairly slow start. His first single Is This Love just about made the top 40 earlier this year but the follow-up Curtain Call fell just short. His debut album Misty Eye is a new entry at number 19.

The success of Owl City’s Fireflies single helped secure the parent album Ocean Eyes a place in the top ten. The second album All Things Bright And Beautiful didn’t get the same head start and it didn’t quite make the top 50. By recruiting Carly Rae Jepsen as a guest artist on the third album The Midsummer Station he (Adam Young) bags himself a new entry at number 34.

fun. also get themselves a double this week. In the same week that the title track enters the singles chart their Some Nights album is a re-entry at number 35. Shortly after Jamaica celebrated 50 years of independence from Britain, one of their most famous sons, Bon Marley, is back at number 39 with the classic album Legend. Marley’s status as Jamaica’s most famous son is now challenged by Usain Bolt who was born five years after the reggae legend died. Labrinth’s Electronic Earth is also a re-entry at number 40.