The KPop Demon Hunters and Taylor Swift battle it out for supremacy in the singles chart. Swift flies back to the top of the albums chart.

There was a close battle for the number one single this week between the two songs that have topped the chart for thirteen of the last fifteen weeks - Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia and Golden by HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast. In Monday’s update Swift was ahead by just over 100 copies. By Wednesday she had extended her lead to around 1,000 chart sales.

By the end of the week Taylor Swift was still in front, so The Fate Of Ophelia returns to the top after two weeks behind Golden. That song slips back to number two.

Haven is an example of how acts can become successful while there is still very little known about him. The British producer, born Harrison Walker, has nearly four million listeners on Spotify, but the site has no biographical information for him. However, his single I Run has become popular enough for it to have been riding high in the chart in Wednesday's update. However, it is nowhere to be seen in the final top 100 chart published on Friday. It has to be assumed that it has been disqualified for some reason.

Spanish singer Rosalia has a strong following in her home country, but has yet to have a major hit in the UK. That may be about to change with the arrival of the rather wonderful Berghain in the top forty at number 36. It features the very distinctive vocals of Bjorl, who makes her first top forty appearance for twenty years, as well as a brief vocal contribution from Yves Tumor who makes his UK chart debut. The string section hasn’t been granted a credit.

Fred Again gets his second top forty hit of the year with Talk Of The Town at number 22. While it is not as good as the Pretenders song of the same name, it is still decent enough. It features Sammy Virji who had a chart hit earlier this year with Cops And Robbers.

Sonny Fodera had one top forty hit in 2023 and then two in 2024. Unless he has a surprise Christmas song ready for release, he is unlikely to make it three in 2025. At least the arrival of Think About Us at number 33 means he hasn’t slipped back to one top forty hit in a calendar year. The song features D.O.D and the splendidly-named Poppy Baskcomb.

The quality of this week’s new entries is relatively high, but there is an exception. Digga D’s DPMO, a new entry at number 31 is that exception.

When Goo Goo Dolls released Iris as a single in 1998 it was only a minor hit, missing the top forty. A year later, it did reach the top forty, but only for one week. It returned to the lower reaches of the chart several times, but only became a major hit in 2011 when it was featured on a talent show and it went to number three. It continues to notch up further weeks in the top 100 and has now become one of those songs which is almost always in the chart until the Christmas songs arrive. This week it returns to the top forty at number 39.

There are three other re-entries. Panic not, there aren’t any Christmas songs among them. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club is at number 35. Sabrina Carpenter=s Manchild is back at number 38 and Ravyn Lenae’s Love Me Not returns at number 40.

On 31 October 1975 Queen released Bohemian Rhapsody as  a single. The general consensus was that they were mad. It was too long and, with its frequent changes of style, confusing. One prominent radio DJ believed in it. Kenny Everett, who had more say on what was played on his Capital Radio weekend show than weekday daytime DJs, loved it and played it, in full, regularly.

Most people at the time would have thought that Bohemian Rhapsody would do well to spend one week at number nine. In fact, it spent nine weeks at number one and sold a million copies. After Freddie Mercury died in 1991, a reissue spent another five weeks at the top of the chart, again selling a million copies. It is the only single to sell one million copies with two separate releases. 

In the half-a-century since it was released Bohemian Rhapsody has continued to sound unlike almost anything else. To mark its 50th anniversary, a new physical edition of the song has been released - yes, singles can get anniversary editions as well. It was number one last week in the singles sales chart, the physical singles chart and the vinyl singles chart.

As well as returning to the top of the singles chart, Taylor Swift does the same in the albums chart with Life Of A Showgirl. It may be the first time that an artist has had two separate runs with a chart double with the same pairing of song and album.

Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving climbs back up to number two. Lily Allen’s West End Girl falls one place to number three while Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend is at number five.

As well as getting her second top forty single, Rosalia also has a big hit album on her hands. Lux is a new entry at number five which means that all of the top five albums are by female solo artists. Lux is the highest-charting album by a female Spanish singer.

To accompany a book about Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings, the man himself has overseen the compilation of a new Best Of album, simply titled Wings. Inevitably it includes Mull Of Kintyre, but it also includes far better songs such as Band On The Run, Bond theme Live And Let Die and Jet. It enters at number twelve.

Last weekend I was thinking about what to say about the new White Lies album. I was preparing for a disappointing chart position which I thought I might need to attribute to it sounding “just like any other White Lies album”. Then I listened to it, and was relieved to hear that it had far more variety than I was expecting.

Unfortunately, the other part of my prediction was all too accurate. In Monday’s update Night Light was just outside the top ten. That made it certain that it would be the band’s lowest charting album by the time Friday’s chart was published. Thankfully, it did at least hold on to a top forty place and it ends the week at number 29.

Paramore singer Hayley Williams is at number ten with her third solo album Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party.

I have in the past been critical of artists who have released a deluxe version of an album shortly after the original release. For consistency, I can’t exclude acts I like, so Jaker Bugg needs to spend some time on the naughty step. The new edition of his 2024 album A Modern Day Distraction is at number 37.