Miley Cyrus's Flowers are still not wilting. Gorillaz finally get a second number one album.

Miley Cyrus continues her reign at the top of the singles chart. Gorillaz finish well clear of all rivals in the albums chart.

Miley Cyrus’s Flowers continues to decorate the top of the singles chart with its run now extended to a seventh week. As happens all too often, an act’s most successful single is by no means their best. There is nothing particularly wrong with Flowers by the Guardian’s assessment today (Friday) that it is Cyrus’s 17th best song seems reasonable. That said, I disagree with their view that Wrecking Ball is her best song.

PinkPantheress is still at number two with Boy’s A Liar. Sza’s Kill Bill remains in its familiar surroundings of number three, a position it has occupied for seven of the last eight weeks. The American singer-songwriter also lays herself open to endless unkind comments by entering at number 40 with a song called Snooze.

After entering at number 37 last week The Weeknd’s Die For You climbs a hefty 33 places to number four. The renewed interest in the seven-year-old song has been enhanced by the release of a new version featuring Ariana Grande.

Miguel’s Sure Thing falls one place to number five. Rema and Selena Gomez spent eight weeks in the top five with Calm Down (plus another two before the Christmas rush) before finally breaking into the top five last week. This week they have fallen straight back out again to number six.

After hanging around in the lower reaches of the chart for the last month Freya Ridings jumps 49 places this week to enter the top forty at number 31 with Weekends. Her first hit remains her biggest; Lost Without You reached the top ten in 2018. That song climbed to number nine on four separate occasions but never got any higher.

It is not particularly unusual at the moment for Radio 1 not to play one of the new entries on the Friday Chart Show. It has to be assumed that the most common reason is that they don’t have a version that is suitable to play on the radio. The latest such alleged song is Painting Pictures by Superstar Pride. Looking at the lyrics I don’t think I want to hear the song which enters at number 33.

Caity Baser enters at number 35 with her first hit single Pretty Boys. It is apparently inspired by comments from girls about the worst thing a boy had said to them. No doubt Baser, born in Southampton but now along the coast in Brighton, had to listen to a lot of comments that were a lot worse than the resultant song.

Over twenty years after the release of their eponymous debut album, an album considered likely to be a one-off, Gorillaz are now on their eighth studio album. Furthermore, Cracker Island is, in my opinion at least, one of their best. As we have come to expect, Damon Albarn (aka 2-D) has recruited a long list of guests to appear on the album including Beck and Stevie Nicks.

While they are no longer able to achieve major success in the singles chart (the last of their five top ten singles came in 2005) they continue to perform well in the albums chart. The only studio album to miss the top five had a split release with fanclub members able to download it a few months before mere mortals could obtain a copy. However, only Demon Days (2005) went all the way to the top. This week they finally get their second number one album as Cracker Island trounces all opposition.

Pink falls just one place to number two with Trustfall. The Weeknd’s Highlights is at number four.

Gracie Abrams’ family background is in the world of television. Her parents are films and television and film producers as were both of her father’s parents. Young Gracie, however, has chosen the world of music. She enters at number three with her debut album Good Riddance. She appears to have resisted the temptation to record a version of the Green Day song of that name.

Adam Lambert is probably now best-known as the vocalist in the current incarnation of Queen having gained a reputation as a decent substitute for Freddie Mercury. Being a decent substitute for one of the greatest frontmen of all time is about as much as anyone could aspire to. Away from Queen Lambert is still pursuing a solo career and this week he gets his best position as a solo artist as his new album High Drama enters at number five.

The name of the act entering at number fourteen may be a prediction of what the future holds for us. Obey Robots, a duo including Gareth Pring from the wonderfully daft 1990s band Ned’s Atomic Dustbin )named after an episode of The Goon Show), enter at number fourteen with their debut album One In A Thousand.

Also making a UK chart debut this week is American rapper Yeat whose debut album Afterlyfe lands at number twenty. One place lower down the chart London rock band Shame get their third top forty album with Food For Worms, an album that many people will feel is a truer description of what happens after death than Yeat’s album title (if you ignore the spelling). It is, perhaps, worth mentioning here that Niall Horan’s single Heaven has climbed two places to number sixteen.

Scottish singer Callum Beattie gets his highest albums chart opposition to date with Vandals at number 22. Don Toliver enters at number 36 with Love Sick.

Good though the Gorillaz album is, it isn’t my favourite of last week’s releases. That honour goes to Slow Readers Club’s Knowledge Freedom Power. The band formed in 2011 but didn’t make their chart debut until their third album Build A Tower in 2018. Their next album reached the top ten but the next only got to number 33. Given their status as an indie pop / indie rock band it is, sadly, not surprising that they have had the same number of hit singles as Liz Truss. Sadly, the album has only just managed to outperform their last release by entering at number 29.