Ed Sheeran has his fourteenth number one single and Lana Del Rey has a sixth chart-topping album.

Ed Sheeram bags himself another number one single. Lana Del Rey tops the albums chart.

Each new Ed Sheeran release helps to confirm his status as one of the biggest names in music today. That is not to say that every new release is a work of genius, just that it is treated as a major event in the music world. His new album, - (Subtract), is released soon but, in the meantime, we have a new single in the form of Closed Eyes. Almost inevitably it has gone straight to the top of the chart to give the Suffolk resident a fourteenth number one single. It has, however, not trounced all opposition in the way that some of his singles have so it may not remain at the top of the chart until some time in June or July.

After ten weeks at number one, Miley Cyrus’s Flowers falls to number two. Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding slip to number three with Miracle. Libianca’s People climbs to number four. The Weeknd’s Die For You falls to number five.

There is another new entry from BTS’s Jimin this week. Thankfully, Like Crazy, new at number eight, is a significant improvement on last week’s monstrosity.

Paris Paloma released her debut single Narcissus in 2020. Old-school Genesis fans will be among many who know that Narcissus turned into a flower. A flower? Three years on she gets her first UK chart hit with Labour at number 29. If it is still in the chart when the local election campaign officially begins, will the BBC be allowed to play it?

Bakar is a British-born singer with Tanzanian and Yemeni roots. With that background, you might hope that his debut hit single Hell N Back, a new entry at number 35 might be better than it is. Still, while it isn’t exactly ground-breaking, it isn’t tripe either.

While Hell N Back is not tripe, the same cannot be said of the final new entry of the week - Flo’s Fly Girl. Given that their Apple Music profile compares them with acts such as Eternal and Destiny’s Child, the lack of quality shouldn’t be a surprise. The “song” features Missy Elliott who enjoyed a decade of hits from 1997. Damon Albarn’s daughter owes her name to Ms Elliott. She was last seen in the top forty in 2013 as featured artist on Little Mix’s How Ya Doin; at least this effort has a title in proper English.

Lana Del Rey made her UK chart debut in 2011 with the sublime single Video Games. While her subsequent singles chart career has been a bit hit and miss, her albums have performed consistently well. She released her ninth studio album last week and, like five of its predecessors, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, it goes to number one. It is, not surprisingly, the first album called Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd to reach the chart. It will probably also be the last.

Many bands who have lasted forty years or more have had numerous personnel changes over the years, albeit generally with at least one ever-present member. Depeche Mode have had a relatively stable line-up since they were formed in 1980. Until the death of Andy Fletcher last year, they still had three founder members in their number with Vince Clarke the only member of the original line-up to have left. Fletcher died just weeks before the band were due to start recording their fifteenth studio album Memento Mori (the title had already been chosen because of the number of songs about death on it).

For a time the two remaining permanent members Dave Gahan and Martin Goree were uncertain whether to go ahead with the album. They eventually decided to do so and it was released last Friday (24 March), six years and one week after their previous set. The album enters at number two to maintain their record of reaching the top ten with all of their studio albums. Many chart watchers will be familiar with their record of having 43 top forty singles without ever reaching the top three.

Pink Floyd released their first album in 1967. They also released two singles - Arnold Layne and See Emily Play. Those singles were both hits although Arnold Layne in particular, about a man stealing women’s clothes from washing lines, was just a little odd. The host album, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, reached the top ten. Although they continued to release singles, they generally didn’t do anything to promote them, preferring to concentrate on albums. Those albums did well; Atom Heart Mother gave them their first number one in 1970. Even so, they continued to be seen as somewhat out of the mainstream.

Then, in 1973, they released Dark Side Of The Moon. That album was to become one of the best-known albums in history and is in the top ten best-selling artist albums of all time in the UK. Its initial run in the top forty lasted for six months but it has now accumulated a total of over four years in the top forty and over a decade in the top 100. However, it never got to number one. It entered at number two behind 20 Flash Back Greats Of The Sixties, a compilation album which probably hasn’t been played by anybody for a long time.

The year after Dark Side Of The Moon was released Pink Floyd played the album live at Wembley Stadium. A recording of that concert has now been released on vinyl and it enters at number four. A 50th anniversary reissue of the original album sees it return to the top forty at number seventeen.

For the first time this year all of the top five albums are new entries. Fall Out Boy get their seventh top forty (and fifth top ten) album with So Much (For) Stardust at number three, their first album for five years. US country singer Luke Coombs is at number five with Gettin’ Old. It is the follow-up to Growin’ Up. What will the next album be called? Peggin’ It?

Japanese purveyors of kawaii metal (whatever that is) Babymetal are at number 32 with The Other One. Katie Melua enters at number 35 with Love And Money, her eleventh top forty album.

I am reliably informed that Daisy Jones & The Six is an Amazon Prime Show about a fictional band. A collection of songs from the show entered at number forty last week; this week it is at number 26.

As well as Dark Side Of The Moon, a 50th anniversary edition of Elton John’s Honky Chateau puts in an appearance at number 33. The original release, which included Rocket Man, reached number two in 1972 so this 50th anniversary release is a bit late.