Danish band Lukas Graham remain at the top of the singles chart. Adele gets a ninth week at number one in the albums chart.

Lukas Graham get a third week at the top of the singles chart. Multi-Brit Award-winning Adele stays at the top of the albums chart.

There is a distinct lack of movement in the higher reaches of the singles chart this week, starting at the very top where Lukas Graham spend a third week with 7 Years. It matches the three weeks at number one for the almost identically-titled Seven Tears by the Goombay Dance Band in 1982. Thankfully, 7 Years is vastly superior to Seven Tears. That said, the list of songs better than Seven Tears is very long indeed.

Rihanna climbs one place to number two with the staggeringly awful Work, swapping places with Jonas Blue’s equally dreadful version of Fast Car. Zayn Malik falls two places to number four with Pillowtalk. Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself climbs back up to number five after a James Bay-assisted performance at Wednesday’s Brit Awards ceremony.

Before her appearance at the Brit Awards ceremony in 2011, Adele was already doing pretty well with 21. Her performance of Someone Like You took her career to new heights. After dropping out of the top forty the previous week, the song shot up to number one and spent a total of five weeks there. With the change in the chart week, this year’s Brit Awards performances only had just over 24 hours to contribute to the first post-ceremony chart. This means that the song Adele performed, When We Were Young gets less of a boost. It climbs ten places to number thirteen.

After just one new entry last week, there is a distinct lack of new songs this week as well, with just three newcomers. The highest new entry, at number eleven, comes from Mike Posner with the intriguingly-titled I Took A Pill In Ibiza. It sees Posner return to the chart after a little over four years. He had top five hits in 2010 with Cooler Than Me and in 2011 as featured artist on Cher Lloyd’s celebration of a biblical city, With Ur Love. Fortunately, it is not the terrible novelty song the title might lead people to expect.

Australian chanteuse Sia enters at number 36 with Cheap Thrills. The song features Sean Paul, which is never a good idea. It is only her second-highest entry this week. Chandelier re-enters for the second time this year, at number 29.

Despite being born in Northampton eighteen years ago and having a very English name, Walker is a Norwegian producer, having a Norwegian mother and moving to Bergen when he was two. He enters at number 40 with Faded, the second song of that name to reach the top forty in recent years (and, indeed, ever) following ZHU in 2014.

Chandelier gets a 49th week in the top forty, putting it eighth in the all-time list. Before Wednesday night, The Weeknd looked as if he might be down to one song in the top forty. His performance of The Hills at the Brit Awards changed that. The song climbs to number 31 in its 38th week. His Can’t Feel My Face is still around after 27 weeks.

The 1975 finally break away from their comfort zone of numbers 37 and 38 after four weeks. They’re taking it slowly though. The Sound is down to number 39

David Guetta remains in the top forty with Bang My Head. He has now accumulated a total of 569 weeks in the top 75, putting him level with Diana Ross in eighth place in the all-time list. Justin Bieber will join the top forty list next week.

As expected, Adele will have spent yesterday (Thursday) looking for a new mantelpiece after winning another four Brit Awards to add to her collection. Her awards for best British female solo artist and best British album were about as predictable as they come. She also won best British single (for Hello) and the Global Success award, depriving One Direction of the award invented for them. Her award-winning album, 25, stays at the top of the chart, taking its total up to nine weeks at number one.

As well as Adele’s flawless performance, a highlight of Wednesday’s ceremony was the tribute to David Bowie. While Lady GaGa’s tribute performance at the Grammy Awards seemed to be more about her than it was about Bowie, the Brits’ tribute was far better judged. The speeches by Adele and Gary Oldman were moving without drifting into mawkish territory, and the musical tribute was very good.

I cannot have been alone in being surprised at the choice of Lorde to perform the vocals. Many people had expected a rather bigger name than the 19-year-old New Zealander. However, the choice proved to be inspired. After a medley of some of his biggest hits, performed by some of his regular backing musicians, Lorde took to the stage to perform Life On Mars?

Helped, no doubt, by that performance, the Best Of Bowie collection is still at number two. The other compilation, Nothing Has Changed falls three places to number thirteen, one place ahead of his Blackstar album. Hunky Dory remains in the top forty, at number 37, but The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars is down to number 41.

I may not get this chance again, so I feel obliged to report that Gary Oldman is 13 days younger than Gary Numan.

Although he was named as the winner of both the BBC Sound of 2016 poll and the Brit’s critics’ choice award, Jack Garratt first sought public attention back in 2005. That year, at the age of 13, he attempted to represent the UK in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, something previous double winners Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding and Adele are unable to claim.

With a hotly-tipped artist on their books, a record company would be expected to pick a release date for the first album carefully to maximise its chances of chart success. That being the case, people can be forgive for wondering why Garratt’s album, Phase, was released in the week covering the Brit Awards. The decision was made to seem even more questionable by the time the release date arrived. The top ten albums last Friday comprised six albums by artists due to perform at the ceremony along with three albums by David Bowie.

The album was sitting at number one in Monday’s update, but there was never much chance that it would finish the week at the summit. It enters at number three.

Justin Bieber, predictably named Best International Male Solo Artist on Wednesday, falls one place to number four with Purpose. Coldplay, winners of Best British group, stay at number five with A Head Full Of Dreams.

Technically, the date of Mothering Sunday is defined as the fourth Sunday in Lent, making it three weeks before Easter Sunday. In turn, Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. Some of us can be calendar geeks as well as chart geeks and that is one of the facts we can throw into a conversation. An alternative, but slightly less precise, definition would centre around the release date of new albums by singers assumed to be popular with mothers. The first album clearly aimed at the Mothering Sunday to reach the chart this year is by Irish singer Daniel O’Donnell.

O’Donnell’s most recent albums have been timed to catch the Christmas market, including a collection of Hank Williams songs at the end of last year. His new set, The Best Of Music And Memories enters at number fifteen. It includes renditions of old standards such as Que Sera Sera, Halfway To Paradise and Moon River and even includes a DVD. Whoopy doo.

He has had at least one top forty album every year since 1991, with this latest collection taking his total to 33; sixteen of them reached the top ten. He has also enjoyed sixteen top forty singles. How many other people enjoyed them is a different matter.

It is unlikely that anyone will follow listening to Daniel O’Donnell’s latest collection by listening to the new album by Australian rock band Wolfmother, although stranger things have happened. They get their third top forty album with Victorious, a new entry at number 25.

Foo Fighters enter at number 35 with their EP Saint Cecilia, previously only available as a download. The EP is dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris last November.

After being named best British Breakthrough Act to the surprise of many Catfish And The Bottlemen re-enter at number 34 with The Balcony.