Alex Warren spends an eleventh week at number one. Sparks take on Sabrina Carpenter at the top of the albums chart.

Alex Warren’s Ordinary continues its run at the top of the singles chart into an eleventh week. Just three other songs have had a run of exactly eleven weeks at the top. Slim Whitman’s Rose marie did it in the early years of the chart in 1955. While four songs have subsequently had longer runs, the next song to spend exactly eleven weeks at number one was Dance Monkey by Tones & I in 2019. Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits (2021) has since matched that run.

Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club moves back up to number three, swapping places with Ravyn Lenae’s Love Me Not which slips back to number three. Roan’s Good Luck Babe re-enters at number 39 just in time for the resumption of GCSE exams next week. It first entered the chart shortly before last year’s exams.

That is the only change in the top five. Sombr’s Undressed is still at number four. Show Me Love by WizTheMC and Bees & Honey remains at number five.

As well as extending his run at the top of the singles chart, Alex Warren also has this week’s highest new entry with Bloodline at number nine. The song features rapper Jason DeFord who performs under the moniker Jelly Roll. Yummy. Roll has spent time in jail although he did at least use the time to improve his educational qualifications. Like Warren’s other two non-number one hits, Bloodline is better than ordinary, a song whose huge success continues to baffle many people.

Jelly Roll also featured on Machine Gun Kelly's first charting single after changing his name to MGK. Lonely Road reached number 67 last year. Now he gets his first top forty hit since that name change with Cliche at number 31. While many musical cliches have entered the charts over the decades, this is the first time the word has featured in the title of a top forty hit. That said, another Kelly, Kelly Jones, was the featured artist on Manchild’s The Cliches Are True which reached number 60 in 2000.

Cousins Max and Luke Dean enter at number nineteen with their debut hit Can’t Decide. They are joined on this housey track by someone called Locky who is another chart debutant.

Myles Smith has a new entry at number 32 with Gold. The song is cheerful enough without offering anything terribly different from his previous hits.

As well as Good Luck Babe, Gracie Abrams’ That’s So True is also a re-entry, at number 38. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ Die With A Smile is back at number 37.

Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things falls to number ten. In its 33 weeks in the top ten it has now spent at least one week in each position. It has also spent a week at number eleven. Thanks to Jimwatts at Buzzjack for the information that it is the third song to occupy every top ten position after Harry Styles’ As It Was and (over several chart runs) Wham’s Last Christmas. As there is a BBC compilation of their material tonight (Friday), it is worth a reminder that Eurythmics have had one, and only one, song peaking at nine of the top ten positions.

Two bands with an album entering the chart this week feature brothers. Many brothers in bands fall into one of two categories. There are those such as the Gallaghers or the Everly Brothers who are constantly at loggerheads. Others maintain a harmonious relationship, even when the band lasts for decades.

Sparks definitely fall into the latter category. Ron and Russ Mael formed Halfnelson in 1968. In 1971 they became Sparks and have kept the name ever since. While the line-up of backing musicians has changed many times, the core of the band is still Russ on vocals and Ron as the main songwriter and keyboardist. 

Two things about Sparks’ new album immediately strike people familiar with their output as typical of the band. First, there’s the title of the album - MAD! The only surprise is that they hadn’t thought of using the title for one of their previous 27 albums. Track one on the album is called Do Things My Own Way, something they have definitely been doing for over half a century. The whole album is remarkably fresh for a band who started their recording career long before anyone in the current singles chart was even born.

After enjoying initial success with singles such as the brilliant This This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us, Sparks rather dropped off the radar from the late 1970s. They had a minor hit with When Do I Get To Sing My Way in 1994 and again the following year. Their Lil’ Beethoven album in 2002 received deserved critical acclaim, but further commercial success still eluded them.

When Sparks released Hello Young Lovers in 2006, another fantastic album, they played a few shows in the UK where they played the album in full, followed by a second set of songs from their back catalogue. Two years later, they played a series of gigs where they played each of their then 21 albums in full, including songs that they had never played live before. Hello Young Lovers was their first album to chart in the UK for over twenty years, although it sadly missed out on a top forty place.

In a belated upturn in fortune, Sparks’ last three studio albums all reached number seven. The fact that this was  a fairly quiet week for new releases would have led to optimism in the Sparks camp that MAD! could go even further. That optimism was enhanced when Sparks were at number one in the first midweek update, ahead of other new releases and, more significantly, Sabrina Carpenter’s perennial number two Short ‘n’ Sweet. Wednesday’s update showed them still ahead with their lead over Carpenter almost unchanged. However, with further real sales on Wednesday and Thursday likely to be low for both albums, the question was whether Sparks would pick enough additional streams to hold off against Carpenter.

Including streaming in the albums chart was never an easy task. In downplaying streams of the two most popular tracks, the Official Charts Company attempted to avoid albums getting a boost from streams of just a couple very popular tracks. However, they haven’t attempted to distinguish between streams of all - or most - of an album and streams of songs that have been hit singles. That gave Sabrina Carpenter an advantage, even if more people streamed MAD! in full than streamed the whole of Short ‘n’ Sweet.

Sadly, Sparks didn’t quite get their first number one album. However, MAD!’s number two makes it their highest charting album, beating the number four peak of Kimono My House way back in 1974. It is at least at number one in the Physical chart as well as the CD and vinyl charts.

That means that Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet hits the top for a fifth time. Each previous spell at number one has lasted just a single week. Ed Sheeran’s Tour Collection is at number three while Tate McRae is at number five with So Close To What.

The other band of brothers to enter the chart this week are Orbital, the name used by brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll since 1987. The band has split and reformed several times, including one split before they had achieved any success. Following the example set by Peter Gabriel, but calling a halt a little earlier, they called both of their first two albums eponymously. They became known as the Green and Brown albums. 

For no obvious reason, they have released a deluxe edition of their second (Brown) album 32 years after its initial release. Still, it provided a good excuse to listen to it again. The album originally reached number 28. This version is at number thirteen. Just as an aside, it should be mentioned that  Sparks played on a song called Acid Pants (a very Sparks-like title) on Orbital’s final album.

My O Level Geography lessons from many years ago taught me that the palace where rivers meet is called a confluence, as long as the rivers are of similar size. A look at Google Maps tells me that that (sort of) happens at Brightlingsea in Essex. That, then, may have led to a band from that town calling themselves When Rivers Meet. Or perhaps not. Regardless, they are at number four with their fifth album Addicted To You.

One of the consequences of going to a large number of gigs, particularly before the internet, is that you get to see a lot of awful support acts. Even if you know you don’t like the act, they might be playing between two acts you do want to see. That is how I have seen Skunk Anansie more times than I would have liked. They, along with Texas, went on to enjoy significant success without my ever feeling tempted to buy any of their material. They are at number seven with The Painful Truth, their first album for nine years and a new high for the band in the albums chart.

Among the bands I willingly saw many times in the 1990s were Stereolab, fronted by French singer Laetitia Sadier. Sadly, songs such as French Disco and Superelectric failed to become the big hits that they should have been. They have just released their first new album after a fifteen-year gap. Instant Holograms On Metal Foil, their eleventh studio album, is their fourth to reach the top forty as a new entry at number 29.

Sports Team, formed at Cambridge University, have their third top forty album (from three releases) with Boys These Days. While the first track sounds a little like The Blow Monkeys, it improves significantly from there. The album is at number eleven, a disappointment after the two previous albums reached the top three.

Louise Redknapp is at number eight with Confessions, her first top ten album since a Best Of compilation in 2001. Her last studio  album to reach the top ten was Woman In Me in 1997.