Sabrina Carpenter occupies her customary position at the top of the singles chart. Charli XCX climbs to the top of the albums chart with another edition of Brat.

Sabrina Carpenter still can’t be removed from the top of the singles chart. Charli XCX climbs to the top of the albums chart.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Taste gets an eighth week at number one in the singles chart, thereby beating the seven weeks of Espresso. She has now accumulated twenty weeks at number one this year, twenty more than she managed in any previous year.

The Accelerated Chart Ratio (ACR) rule, whereby long-running songs with declining streams get the value of streams downgraded, means that there is finally a bit of a shake-up in the top five. Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso and Chappell Roan’s Good Luck Babe have both moved on to ACR and, as a result have left the top five, making way for new (or new-ish) blood.

The departure of Chappell Roan means that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars move up one place to number two with Die With A Smile. Gigi Perez climbs three places to number three with Sailor Song. Gracie Abrams’ I Love You I’m Sorry jumps seven places to number four. Sonny Fodera, Jazzy and DOD climb to number four with Somedays.

Sbarina Carpenter’s Please Please Please has fallen victim to a separate chart rule, the one limiting the number of songs by one artist in the the chart to three. Please Please Please’s switch to ACR means that it has now fallen behind Bed Chem. The latter song, which would have been in the chart for a while without the three-song limit, is now a new entry at number nine.

At number seven there is a brand new entry to the top forty. Charli XCX released a new version of her Brat album last week, meaning that she now has three songs (or should that be “songs”?) in the chart. The highest of them is Sympathy Is A Knife. This new version features Ariana Grande. Whether that knife is called Mack, I know not. She is also at number twenty with 360 which re-enters after reaching number eleven earlier this year. That number eleven spot is now occupied by her song Apple which was in the top ten earlier in 2024.

Jennie, a member of Blackpink is at number 37 with her first solo single Mantra. While a long way from being a masterpiece, it is at least not quite as bad as I’d feared. That said, I won’t be going out of my way to hear it again. The song is now the highest-charting single by a solo female Korean artist.

Dasha’s Austin (Boots Stop Workin’) re-enters at number 40 after dropping out last week. Noah Kahan’s Stick Season stays at number 39. It has now spent a whole year (52 weeks) in the chart, albeit not quite consecutively. It spent a couple weeks outside the top forty last month. Only thirteen songs have spent longer in the top forty. Of those only one, Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud, spent 52 consecutive weeks in the chart. Thanks to chartjack2 and jimwatts at Buzzjack for that additional information.

Having already released a deluxe version of Brat (with the tongue-in-cheek title Brat And It’s The Same But There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not, charli XCX has now gone down the route of releasing a remix version of the album. The title chosen this time is Brat and it's completely different but also still Brat remix album. It has been enough to see the album climb to the top of the chart for the first time. The official titles of the number one single and album have just nine letters between them.

Paul Heaton first found fame as a member of The Housemartins. One of his bandmates was Quentin (later Norman) Cook. Cook was at school with someone called Keir Starmer. I wonder what happened to him. Rumour has it that he became a lawyer. Meanwhile, Heaton’s new solo album The Mighty Several is at number two. It is his twentieth top ten album, including releases with The Housemartins and Beautiful South as well as collaborations with Jacqui Abbott.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet is at number three. Coldplay’s Moon Music falls to number four after a week at number one. Chappell Roan is at number five with The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess.

Skinny Living, described by the Official Charts Company as an indie-soul trio from Wakefield, make their top forty debut at number 24 with Day By Day.

When Lady Gaga released Harlequin earlier this month, it limped into the chart at number 59. The album has now had a physical release which sees it reach a slightly more respectable peak of number eleven.

Two albums re-enter the charts this week as a result of the release of a new edition.

James Blunts’ Back To Bedlam was released twenty years ago. It was something of a slow burner (it took eight weeks to reach the top forty), but eventually spent ten weeks at number one. Blunt has since gained notoriety for his self-deprecating humour on social media. To coincide with the release of this new edition, he promised to change his name to one chosen by the British public if it went back to number one. While other, less polite, options were inevitably considered, the winner was Blunty McBluntface. However, tha man born James Blount can continue with his current stage name. The reissue is at number seven.

The Last Dinner Party topped the chart in February with their wonderful debut album Prelude To Ecstasy. Unlike many chart-topping albums by bands in the streaming era, it spent a further four weeks in the top forty. They have now released a new Acoustics And Covers version of the album.

As the title suggests, the new edition includes acoustic versions of some of the songs, including both Sinners and Nothing Matters which emphasise what gorgeous songs they are. There are also cover versions of songs such as This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us (a glorious cover of a fantastic Sparks song) and Wicked Game (a beautiful version of the Chris Isaak song). They even have the courage to cover a Kate Bush song, Army Dreamers. The album gets a sixth week in the top forty by re-entering at number fourteen.