Djo gets his first number one single in a chart littered with songs from Stranger Things. Olivia Dean remains at the top of the albums chart.

After missing out on a return to the top spot last week by a mere 500 “sales”, Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia made another attempt to get an eighth week at number one. In the four weeks since the song fell from the top, there has been a new number one each week although that included two non-consecutive weeks for Wham’s Last Christmas. 

However, Taylor Swift faced opposition from Djo’s End Of Everything. There are a lot of Stranger Things=related songs in the chart this week (more on that later), but the highest doesn’t actually appear in the show. Joseph Kerry is an actor in the show but released End Of Beginning under the name Djo as a separate project. The song reached number four last March in a seven-week run in the top ten. It returned to the top ten last week and this week it climbs to a very top to give the 33-year-old his first number one single with a song first released in September 2022.

Taylor Swift, therefore, has another week in the runner-up spot with The Fate Of Ophelia.

Raye’s Where Is My Husband falls to number three after completing a thirteen-week climb to the summit last week. 

Dave and Tems are at number four with Raindance. Two more songs about rain will be along later. Olivia Dean’s So Easy (To Fall In Love) is down one place to number five. She is also at number six with Sam Fender collaboration Rein Me In and at seven with Man I Need.

Thanks to his presence on YouTube and elsewhere James Marriott has two top twenty albums to his name, including a number one with Don’t Tell The Dog last year. He now has his first hit single with California Rain at number 22. 

Apple Music describes Katseye as some sort of cross between K-Pop, the Spice Girls and Pussycat Dolls. That isn’t exactly a description that inspires me but, in the interests of fairness, I have listened to Internet Girl. While I wouldn’t exactly go out of my way to hear it again, I did at least get to the end of the song that is a new entry at number 24. It is the first top forty hit to include the word internet in the title.

Sienna Spiro enters at number 37 with You Stole The Show, following her top ten hit last year with Die On This Hill. It sounds like an attempt at an Amy Winehouse song, with an inferior voice and without the same songwriting talent. A chart showing the progress of Sienna Spiro’s singles is known as a Spirograph.

The highest entry into the chart was last in the top forty in 2016 following the death of Prince. Purple Rain jumped back in at number six, beating its original 1984 peak by two places. Thanks to Stranger Things, it is the second rain-related song to enter this week and it lands at number twelve. It was played in all its nine-minute glory on the Radio 1 Chart Show in 2016, but they omitted it this week.

Every Breath You Take became The Police’s fifth number one single in 1983. I was to be their final chart-topper; indeed, they only had one more top ten single. It entered the lower reaches of the chart after the first batch of the final series of Stranger Things was released in October. Now it crashes back into the top forty at number seventeen.

Fleetwood Mac’s singles chart history is a rather odd one for one of the biggest acts of the last 50-60 years. Albatross is one of their best-known tracks and remains their only number one. However, other well-known songs by them have done rather less well. Go Your Own Way and Don’t Stop both reached the top 40 without advancing into the top 30. Dreams did make the top 30 but Rhiannon din’t even get into the top 40. The Chain was never released as a single but has made the lower reaches of the charts since the addition of streaming. That chart history gets another twist this week with the arrival at number twenty of Landslide from their eponymous album released in 1975. Stranger  Things has helped one of the bands lesser-known songs get to number twenty.

Some good news regarding Stranger Things is still to come but first it’s time for some standard eighties disco dross. Diana Ross made her name in the 1960s as part of The Supremes who had classic hits with songs such as Where Did Our Love Go and Stop In The Name Of Love. The Supremes were then rebranded as Diana Ross and The Supremes before Ross left to pursue a solo career. Her willingness to embrace various musical styles of the day meant that her singles chart career extended into the 1980s. I wasn’t a fan of her collaborations with Chic but they were one of the biggest acts of the day and they gave her a number of hits including Upside Down. The song reached number two in 1980 and it is back in the top forty this week at number 26.

Ten years ago tomorrow (10 January) David Bowie died after being diagnosed with cancer. As he had chosen to keep his condition private, the news came as a huge shock to the music world. In a clear sign that his music lives on, he is back in the top forty this week. Peter Gabriel's excellent version of Bowie’s classic song Heroes was used in earlier series of Stranger Things, but the original version was used over the credits of the final episode which was released last week. Bowie’s version therefore makes a welcome return to the top forty at number 34. It reached number 24 in 1977 before reaching a new peak of number twelve immediately after Bowie’s death. It is back this week at number 34. His Legacy compilation returns to the albums chart at number 30.

The final Stranger Things-related song in the chart is the wonderful Should I Stay Or Should I Go by The Clash. The band emerged in 1977 as part of the punk wave of the period. While much of their later material veered towards reggae in style, Should I Stay Or Should I Go  still owed a lot to their punk roots. The song was first released as part of a double A-side with Straight To Hell in 1982 when it reached number seventeen. The song was reissued in its own right in 1991 after its use in a jeans commercial and it spent two weeks at number one. Now it is a hit for a third time, re-entering the chart at number 40.

The two Stranger Things tracks in last week’s chart both climb. Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now climbs two places to number 27. Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill also climbs two places, to number fourteen.

As mentioned last week, we are now in a very quiet period for new album releases which leaves the way open for older albums to grab a week or two at the top. Last week Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving took advantage and it remains at number one this week, giving it a total of four weeks at the summit.

Sabrina Carpenter is still at number two with Man’s Best Friend. In the week that Fleetwood Mac get their eleventh top twenty hit single, their 50 Years - Don’t Stop collection, released in 2018. reaches a new high of number three. Taylor Swift falls to number four with Life Of A Showgirl. The Weeknd’s Highlights compilation is at number five.

There are no new entries this week.