Hozier's Too Sweet tops the singles chart for a second week. James top the albums chart with a studio album for the first time.

Hozier gets a second week at the top of the singles chart. Manchester veterans James have their first number one studio album.

After climbing to the top of the pile last week, Hozier gets a second week at number one with Too Sweet.

Benson Boone remains at number two with Beautiful Things. Artemas climbs two places to number three with I Like The Way You Kiss Me, swapping places with Beyonce’s Texas Hold ‘Em. In between the two, Teddy Swims Lose Control is a non-mover.

Sabrina Carpenter gets her first top ten single in the UK with Espresso at number six. Other coffee-related hits include All Saints’ Black Coffee and Blur’s Coffee & TV.I don’t think Hozier’s current number one is a song about a cup of coffee. Dua Lipa gets her second new top ten single of 2024 with Illusion at number nine.

A former band member setting out on a solo career can either do something completely different (as, for example, Harry Styles did) or come up with something similar to their former band. Perrie Edwards has chosen the latter course. Her debut solo single, Forget About Us, is of similar quality to the worst of Little Mix. It is at number ten.

Lay Bankz makes her first appearance in the UK charts at the age of nineteen with her single Tell Ur Girlfriend. I, er, hope she, er, doesn’t, er, include every hesi-,er-tation in any, er, transcript of her, er, remarks. What does Tell Girlfriend mean anyway?

American singer Kayleigh Rose Amstutz chose her stage name Chappell Roan as a tribute to her grandfather Dennis Chappell, who died when she was just eighteen, and his favourite song The Strawberry Roan. She makes her UK top forty debut at number 33 with Good Luck, Babe. How many people will be saying just that to students taking GCSEs and A Levels next month.

With Unwritten continuing to enjoy an extended second chart run, two decades after its original appearance, now seems to be as good a time as any to get another one of her songs into the chart. Producer Badger certainly seemed to think so, leading him to record a new version of heer number one hit These Words. We therefore have the rare phenomenon of one living artist having two twenty-year-old songs in the chart simultaneously as These words lands at number 35,

The week when Arsenal were eliminated from the Champions League and did their best to hand the Premier League title to Manchester City may not be the most obvious time for a song featuring Gunna to enter the chart, but that is where we are, He, along with chart debutant Skillibeng, features on South African singer Tyla’s Jump which enters at number 38.

A few weeks ago, the number one album was by Elbow, a Manchester-based band whose early albums performed poorly. In today’s climate, they would have been lucky to be retained by their record label after the second album, or even the first. In this week’s first albums chart update, the album at number one was by a Manchester-based band whose early albums performed poorly, a band who would probably hsve been dropped by their record label before they finally had the chance to achieve success.

In the case of James, because it is they of whom I speak, the rise in the band’s fortunes was sparked by a single. Two singles from their third album Gold Mother, Come Home and How Was It For You had reached number 32 in 1990; the album peaked at number sixteen before falling away. Then something strange happened. The band had released Sit Down as a single in 1989 and, like its predecessors, it flopped. It didn’t make it onto the album. Then it started to gain attention on the Madchester scene and, eventually, a revised version was released in 1991. It was a big hit, spending six weeks in the top ten, and became their signature song (although the band themselves grew to hate it). The song was added to Gold Mother and thst also went to number two.

That set James up to be one of the most successful bands of the 1990s, scoring a further thirteen top forty albums and four top ten albums in that decade.

One thing has eluded James throughout their career, a number one single or studio album. A Greatest Hits collection topped the chart in 1998. Until now, that is. Their eighteenth studio album Yummy has finally given them a well-deserved chart-topping studio album. The fact that it is their best album for a long time makes it even more fitting.

While James (and Elbow are examples of one regularly-occurring phenomenon, Dire Straits exemplified another. Since at least the 1970s there have been American bands whose initial success came in the UK. Sparks and The Killers are two examples. On the other hand, there have been UK bands whose initial success came in the USA. Dire Straits and Radiohead both gained a significant American following before they made any real impact over here.

Dire Straits ceased to be a band almost two decades ago, but Mark Knopfler has continued to pursue a solo career. He, along with his Guitar Heroes, had a brief hit with a new version of his Going Home song, written for the film Local Hero. Now he has released a full album, One Deep River, which does not include Going Home. It is a new entry at number three.

Beyonce remains at number two with Cowboy Carter. Linkin Park are at number four with a compilation Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023), their first album of any kind since singer Chester Bennington died in 2017.

Think of Torquay and it is difficult to think of any major musical act to come from that Devon town. Its most famous citizen is arguably a fictional one, Basil Fawlty. The attempts of the Kris Barrass Band to change that have, so far, not been a huge success. Their third album reached number 49 and the next one made the top thirty. They now have their biggest success to date as Halo Effect enters at number five. This eventual success doesn’t contradict the assertion made above. Their albums have been released by a number of different labels.

This Could Be Texas is a new entry at number eight. Thankfully, it isn’t by Texas; it is far better than anything that Scottish band has ever released. It is the debut album from Leeds band English Teacher.

Gun shoot into the chart at number ten with Hombres, their first top ten album for thirty years. They have had two other top forty albums in that three-decade gap.

Future and Metro Boomin reached number two with We Don’t Trust You at the end of March. They are back already with the hilariously-titled We Still Don’t Trust You at number eleven. Oh, my aching sides.

Maggie Rogers is at number twelve with Don’t Forget Me. I already have. Sorry. Nia Archives enters at number sixteen with Silence Is Loud. The Tremeloes thought it was Golden while Depeche Mode just wanted you to enjoy it.

Manic Street Preachers are at number 27 with a twentieth anniversary reissue of Lifeblood. The album, which contains singles The Love Of Richard Nixon and Empty Souls, originally peaked at number thirteen. Following her appearance at the Coachella Festival, Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd returns at number 38.