KPop Demon Hunters and the cast of thousands remain at the top of the singles chart. Biffy Clyro get their fourth number one album.

HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast extend their run at the top of the singles chart with Golden to an eighth week. Three-quarters of the way through 2025, we have had eleven number one singles of varying quality. Saja Boys, Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee & KPop Demon Hunters Cast are at number five with Soda Pop.

Once again the Demon Hunters have thwarted Olivia Dean’s Man I Need which is at number two for a fifth week.

This week’s highest new entry is the second single from Lewis Capaldi’s forthcoming third album. Probably - there is, as yet, no release date and no title. The first single, Survive, spent a week at number one. Something In The Heavens is at number three. His second album Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent re-enters at number 40.

Raye also has a new entry in the top five in the form of Where Is My Husband at number four. It is only the second top forty hit with the word husband in the title after Meghan Trainor’s Dear Future husband in 2015. There has never been a single anywhere in the chart with the word wife in the title although Next came close with Wifery, a number nineteen hit in 2000. Raye’s 2023 number one hit Escapism returns to the top forty at number 37.

There are no further new entries in the top forty, so let’s have a little diversion.

I don’t often mention a song at number 73. I also don’t generally mention something from last week’s chart. However, I am prepared to make an exception once in a while. Since Damon Albarn launched Gorillaz as, supposedly, a one-off project, his reputation as a musician has meant that many of the biggest names in music have accepted the opportunity to work with the world’s greatest virtual band. KPop Demon Hunters will never come even close.

Gorillaz will be releasing their ninth album next March, but the track listing is already available. The collaborators this time include Johnny Marr, the late Mark E Smith and Idles. Oh, and the ever-wonderful Sparks. The Sparks collaboration, The Happy Dictator, has been released as a single and was at number 73 last week. It is, obviously, a great track and has given Sparks a first top 75 single since a new version of their debut hit This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us (featuring Faith No More) in 1997. Their last top 75 hit with a new song was Now That I Own The BBC in 1995. Sparks did have a hit with Number One Song In Heaven, Gorillaz’s Feel Good Inc is back in the charts and a Coldplay song called Sparks is also in the chart, so there are plenty of links to this week’s top forty.

Scottish band Biffy Clyro’s first three albums all failed to reach the top forty. Their fortunes changed with the release of Puzzle in 2016 which went to number two. The next five studio albums all reached the top five with three of them topping the chart. They continue that run with their fourth number one Futique.

Sabrina Carpenter is still at number two with Man’s Best Friend. Ed Sheeran’s Play falls to number five after a week at number one.

The title of Lola Young’s second album has a couple asterisks added in the chart listing so I will have to guess what its full title is. I think it is I’m Only Flaking Myself. It enters at number three to give her a first top ten album D£aler, the second single from the album, returns to the top forty at number 35.

Among the UK’s greatest lyricists is Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon whose talent for wit and story-telling has sustained the band for 35 years and thirteen albums. The fact that he is a pretty good tunesmith as well helps. The latest, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, is at number four, their highest position for a studio album. The album includes a song called The Man Who Turned Into A Chair and another called Mar-a-Lago By The Sea. I wonder what that might be about.

Before they joined Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks released an album together. The duo and the album were both called Buckingham Nicks. Not many people noticed; the album failed to chart in the UK. Fifty-two years on, it has been released and it enters the chart at number six.

The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack album is ineligible for the main chart as the tracks are credited to a number of different lead artists. However, the soundtrack for the latest Tron film, Ares (*checks for an unfortunate typo*) are all credited to Nine Inch Nails, so the album is eligible. It is at number twelve.

There are four more new entries in the top forty. Joy Crookes is at number thirteen with Juniper. British DJ Sammy Virji’s Same Day Cleaning is at number 21 while Cardi B’s Am I The Drama is at 26. Octopus, Newton Faulkner’s first album for four years, is at number 27.

The appearance of an album called Octopus provides me with an opportunity to include another chapter in Suedehead’s Guide to the English Language. Octopus derives from Greek, not Latin, which means that the plural is definitely not octopi. If octopi is a word at all, it should mean eight times pi. Technically, and etymologically, the plural is octopodes, but octopuses is a perfectly acceptable anglicised version.