Sabrina Carpenter still tops the singles chart. Snow Patrol finally get a second number one album.

Sabrina Carpenter gets yet another week at number one in the singles chart. Snow Patrol beat London Grammar to the top of the albums chart.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Taste gets a fourth week at number one with Taste, bringing her tally for the year up to sixteen weeks with one week to go before we reach the end of the third quarter.

Last week Sabrina Carpenter ended a two week run occupying the whole of the top three when Please Please Please dropped to number five. This week, she can’t even manage to occupy the top two places as Espresso has slipped to number three with Chappell Roan’s Good Luck babe replacing it at number two. It isn’t all bad news for Carpenter though. Please Please Please is back up to number four.

As well as reclaiming the number two spot with Good Luck Babe, Chappell Roan has a new entry at number 21 with the catchy Pink Pony Club. It is only the sixth top forty hit with the word Pony in the title. I don’t remember any of the previous five. The three-song rule means that red Wine Supernova has left the top forty. Pedants will say that multiple Sabrina Carpenter songs might have pushed the song out of the chart before now.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars climb to number five with Die With A Smile. It is gaga’s first top five hit since Rain On Me (with Ariana Grande) topped the chart in 2020. Bruno Mars last graced the top five in 2018 when Finesse (with Cardi B) reached number five.

A regular part of early September for me in recent years has been a Year 7 music assembly at the start of a new school year. The students are introduced to the various parts of the orchestra in the hope that some of them will be encouraged to learn an instrument for themselves. One of the songs used in that assembly is The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights which sounds brilliant in its orchestral arrangement (without vocals). The Weeknd himself gets his first new entry for a little over a year with Dancing In The Flames at number twelve. Let’s hope for a top ten place next week.

Sadly, the new entry from Tate McRae isn’t as good as the newbie from The Weeknd. It’s OK, I’m OK isn’t particularly bad. It’s just OK. Anyway, it is at number fourteen.

Now for this week’s epizeuxis news. Back in 1982, Talk Talk had their first hit with a song called Talk Talk. Therefore, the artist name and song title effectively produced another epizeuxis, or even a quadruple epizeuxis. The same song title has now been used by Charli XCX for her latest not particularly good single. The remix by Troye Sivan is a new entry at number 24.

Teddy Swims gets his third top forty single with Bad Dreams at number 28. On first listen, it’s not as instantly likeable as the previous two, but maybe I need to hear it again.

An Angolan-born TikTok person using the moniker NDotz is at number 36 with Embrace It. The best thing about it is that it is all over in well under two minutes. Otherwise, it’s rather tedious and pointless. That said, it is at least better than the Playboi Carti thing.

A little under a year ago Noah Kahan’s Stick Season entered the top forty. It climbed close to the top of the chart before the Christmas songs got in the way. Once they had cleared off, Stick Season went to number one and stayed there for seven weeks. This week, after 49 weeks in the top forty, it has dropped out.

In most weeks, a new album from Snow Patrol or London Grammar might be expected to have a good chance of topping the chart. However, as they both released new material at the same time, that was never going to happen. In the event, London Grammar were pushed down to number three with their fourth studio album The Greatest Love. Their three previous releases have all reached the top three. If it is any consolation to them, The Greatest Love is the best-selling album of the week on vinyl.

It is eighteen years since Eyes Open became Snow Patrol’s first number one. Each subsequent release has reached the top three, but none of them quite made it all the way to the top. This week they finally get their second number one album with The Forest Is The Path.

The other album keeping London Grammar off the top spot is Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet which spends a second week at number two. Chappell Roan’s The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess climbs two places back up to number four.

Following the release of an extended (and, presumably, worse) edition of Eminem’s The Death Of Slim Shady the album rebounds to number five. There is still a physical release to come next month, so expect it to be back again.

The splendidly named Catfish And The Bottlemen reached number ten with their debut album The Balcony in September 2014. Ten years later, an anniversary edition is at number 25.

Last weekend would have seen Amy Winehouse turn 41. It is hard to believe that she has now been dead for half as long as she was alive. Her classic second album Back To Black re-enters at number 31.