Gracie Abrams bags a second week at the top of the singles chart. Michael Nall and Alfie Boe have another number one album as a duo.

Gracie Abrams remains at number one in the singles chart. Michael Ball and Alfie Boe get a fourth number one album together.

It’s another rather uneventful week in the top forty with no change at the top and just two new entries. Gracie Abrams gets a second week at number one with That’s So True after climbing to the top last week. She also has a re-entry with Close To You at number 31, beating the peak of number 36 which it reached at the beginning of the summer. Her third single in the chart. I Love You I’m Sorry. Has been moved on to the Accelerated Chart Ratio (ACR). The consequent reduction in the value of the song’s streams means that it plummets sixteen places to number twenty.

Gigi Perez spends a second successive week (and third in total) with Sailor Song at number two. Rose and Bruno Mars are non-movers at number three with Apt. Chappell Roan climbs to number four with Hot To Go in its 22nd week in the top forty. It is the thirteenth time the song has reached a new peak within the top forty. Can she make it to fourteen or more? Teddy Swims has found the entry to the top five with The Door at number five. Swims’ Bad Dreams enters the top ten at number eight.

What, then, of the two new entries? The higher of the two gives Myles Smith his second top forty hit. Nice To Meet You, a new entry at number twelve, follows Stargazing which reached number four earlier this year. Like its predecessor, it is a decent enough song, albeit not one I would necessarily seek out to listen to outside of the chart show.

The other new entry comes from another one of those mystery artists who are a regular feature of the chart in current times. Chrystal has no Wikipedia entry and the “About” section of the Spotify page provides no information whatsoever. I, therefore, cannot even be sure whether Chrystal is the name of the singer or a band. Let’s just say that The Days is a new entry at number 39. It drifts along aimlessly for nearly three minutes before coming to an abrupt halt.

As well as two new entries, there are re-entries as well as the Gracie Abrams song referenced above. The first of them is one of those seemingly random re-entries ionspired by events outside the musical world. Paris Paloma spent a couple weeks in the top forty last year with Labour, reaching a peak of number 29. The song has, apparently, been adopted as a feminist anthem following the election of a giant orange last week. It is back at a new peak of number 22.

Dasha’s Austin drives back into the top forty at number 37. Morgan Wallen’s Love Somebody is back at number forty, matching the peak position it reached last month. Noah Kahan’s Stick Season climbs to number 32, its highest position since August.

Here in Brighton, two things have been missing in the first half of November. We have had no measurable rain (and not much sunshine), and there have been no Christmas songs in the top forty. We’re still waiting for some rain, but Mariah Carey has put the other wait to an end. Yes, All I Want For Christmas Is You is back again, at number 38. II will almost certainly be joined by Last Christmas next week, with others following in the weeks to come.

As well as the arrival of the first festive songs in the top forty, another sign that Christmas is on the way is the release of a new album from Michael Ball and Alfie Boe with the word Together in the title. And they have duly delivered it in the form of Together At Home. This time they have combined their vocal talents to treat their fans to versions of songs such as Dirty Old Town (a hit for the Pogues), Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel, a suitably festive name) and Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty without Bob Holness). Ball and Boe get their fourth number one album as a duo following Together (2016), Together Again (2017) and Together At Christmas (2020).

Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet stays at number two. It has spent twelve weeks in the top three, eight of them in the runner-up slot. Full marks for consistency.

It has become a feature of number one albums that they frequently plummet down the chart after a week at the top. Some of them don’t even manage a second week in the top forty. The exceptions tend to be the more pop-oriented albums by younger artists. It is, therefore, a very pleasant surprise to see The Cure slip just two places to number three with Songs Of A Lost World. That lost world could easily be the days when number one albums typically hung around for a while.

An act with the name Massive Wagons couldn’t really be anything other than a rock band. This outfit hail from Lancaster and have previously charted in 2018 with Full Nelson (which could perhaps have had the alternative title Double Sparks as the American band were originally called Half Nelson), in 2020 with House Of Noise and in 2022 with Triggered. Each of those albums has reached a new peak for the band. That trend continues as their seventh studio album Earth To Grace lands at number four.

After rising and falling since it entered the top ten in June, Chappell Raon’s The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess climbs to number five.

Most Primal Scream albums have been heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones. The major exception was their best-known album, the brilliant Screamadelica released in 1991. To the surprise of many people today given its reputation, it got no higher than number eight. Their twelfth studio album (and the first for eight years), Come Ahead, doesn’t really sound like either the Stones or Screamadelica. That change of direction hasn’t been given the reward it deserves. Come Ahead enters at number 24, their lowest position for a new studio album for decades.

One of the surprise hits of recent years was Nathan Evans’ Wellerman which spent two weeks at number one in 2021. He released an album of the same name the following year, but it made no impact on the chart. Given the lack of exposure since Wellerman and the album’s poor sales, it is rather surprising to find him at number 26 with self-penned album (in collaboration with other writers) 1994, named after the year of his birth.

Fimiguerro make their UK to forty debut with Conglomerate at number 23.