KPop Demon Hunters get a fifth week at the top of the singles chart. Sabrina Carpenter gets a second number one album.

For the fifth week, Golden by HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast sits at the top of the singles chart. Saja Boys, Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee & KPop Demon Hunters Cast are down to number five with Soda Pop. Twenty years ago, another (much better) animated band were at number one in the form of Gorillaz with Dare. Talking of Gorillaz, they are actually in the top forty this week. The latest random song to re-enter the chart is their 2005 number two hit Feel Good Inc at number 30.

Olivia Dean remains at number two with Man I Need.

The five best-selling singles of the 1960s were all by Liverpool acts. Not surprisingly, four of them were by the Beatles. The exception was a bit of an oddity - or should that be Doddity? Ken Dodd was best known as a comic whose live shows were famed for their length. They regularly lasted for several hours. However, he also had a couple hit singles. One of them, Tears, sold a million copies and was the third best-selling single of the 1960s.

The above paragraph is a rather convoluted way of introducing this week’s highest new entry - a different song called Tears performed by Sabrina Carpenter. Following the release of her new album last week (see below), she has two new entries in the singles chart this week. There would, no doubt, have been more of her songs in the top forty without the three-song limit. Tears is at number three and My Man On Willpower is at seven. Manchild has rebounded 22 places to number four. Espresso will have dropped out of the top 100 as a result of the aforementioned three-song limit. Since it entered the chart in April last year, it has only dropped out because of Christmas or there being three more popular Carpenter songs that week. This time last year, Espresso was the third most popular Carpenter song and was at number three.

Since Tyler The Creator released his ninth studio album Don’t tap The Glass in July, the song Sugar On My Tongue has been in the top 100 without breaking into the top forty. Until this week - it is a new entry at number 35.

Fred Again, Skepta and Plaqueboymax are back at number 40 with Victory Lap. The song reached number four in early summer.

When Sabrina Carpenter released her debut album Eyes Wide Open in 2015, not many people noticed. The next four albums were greeted with a similar level of indifference. Most singers with that lack of success would have been lucky to have got as far as recording a third album. Carpenter managed  to release a sixth, Short ‘n’ Sweet, in 2024.

By the time Short ‘n’ Sweet was released, Sabrina Carpenter had two number one singles to her name. She got a third immediately, giving her a chart double as the album also went to number one. All that patience, by both Carpenter and two record companies, had finally paid off. In subsequent weeks, her fifth album and an EP belatedly entered the albums chart.

The difficult thing about a hugely successful album is that you need to follow it up. Now, barely a year after the release of Short ‘n’ Sweet and just a few weeks after that album finally left the top ten, that follow-up has arrived in the shape of album number seven Man’s Best Friend. To the surprise of nobody, it has gone straight to number one. By around this time next year, we will know for certain whether it can match Short ‘n’ Sweet’s record-breaking run in the top five. I suspect we will know a good deal sooner than that.

Sabrina Carpenter’s “sales” of 85,500 units are the highest of the year so far for a non-British artist. The overall 2025 high is the 107,000 units achieved by Sam Fender’s People Watching. Short ‘n’ Sweet is back up to number six. Emails I Can’t Send, released in 2023, hits a new peak of number 21.

Dublin-born Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, recording as CMAT also needed some patience, albeit not as much as Sabrina Carpenter.  After a lack of success in the UK with her debut album, her second release Crazymad, For me was nominated for the 2024 Mercury Music Prize and reached number 25.. The follow-up, Euro-Country,  has been released just in time for this year's nominations which will be announced on Wednesday (10 September). It has received very good reviews and is a new entry at number two. It is the first ever charting album to include a track called Jamie Oliver Petrol Station which is, by the way, a very good song.

It is a long time since Canadian Bryan Adams was boring the nation rigid with his long-running number one, but he is still recording. He gets a twelfth top ten album with Roll With The Punches at number three.

Oasis are at number four with their Time Flies collection.

The top five is completed by Swedish band The Hives at number five with The Hives Forever Forever The Hives. It follows three other bizarrely-titled top- ten albums.

Nova twins are at number 27 with Parasites & Butterflies, the same position as that achieved by their Mercury Prize-nominated Supernova in 2022.