Djo gets a second week at number one in the singles chart. Olivia Dean remains at the top of the albums chart.

After climbing to the summit last week, Djo gets a second week at number one with End Of Beginning. It is the first song to get a second consecutive week at number one since Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia which topped the chart for four successive weeks last November and December. That song is at number three this week, continuing its annoying habit of finishing the week one place below where it was in the midweek updates.

Dave and Tems move up to number two with Raindance, a song that would sound a lot better if Tems was the sole vocalist. Raye slips to number four with Where Is My Husband. Olivia Dean’s So Easy (To Fall In Love) stays at number five.

While Bruno Mars had two number two hits in 2024 and ‘25 in collaborations with Lady Gaga and Rose, he hasn’t had a solo hit since That’s What I Like in 2017. That isn’t to say he has been idle; he has had several other hits alongside a variety of artists. That ends this week with the arrival of I Just Might at number six. It is the 24th top forty hit for the man born Peter Hernandez in Hawaii forty years ago. 

One of Bruno Mars’ aforementioned number two hits, Lady Gaga collaboration Die With A Smile returns to the chart at number 28. His 2012 number two hit Locked Out Of Heaven is back at number 36. His 2010 album Doo-Wop and Hooligans re-enters the chart at number 31.

American singer-songwriter Zach Bryan had two top forty hits in 2024, including one that had originally charted the previous year. Now he is back, at number 29, with Plastic Cigarette.There have been a few top forty singles with the word cigarettes in the title, most famously Oasis’s Cigarettes and alcohol but this is the first with just a single gasper in the title.

The Land Of The Midnight Sun is a term usually used for the area within the Arctic Circle which has constant daylight for part of the summer. That means that the release of Zara Larsson’s single Midnight Sun last June made some sense. However, it has taken until now (when people in that part of the world haven’t seen daylight for a while) for it to be a hit. It is a new entry at number 39.

On Saturday 13 December 2003, I was part of the audience for Suede’s final gig before they split up. The 27-song set proved to be an emotional occasion for many of those attending. Elsewhere in London on the same night, Blue played to an audience of adoring fans. The following year, they announced that they were going on hiatus.

Waelier in 2003, Blue had their third number one album in three releases with Guilty. The hiatus for both Suede and Blue lasted for a similar time. Suede re-formed in 2010, initially to play a benefit concert for the Teenage Cancer Trust, but they have stayed together ever since. Blue re-formed the following year in order to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Blue’s first three albums after re-forming performed fairly modestly in the charts. However, their latest set, Reflections, has done rather better. It was at number one in the midweek updates, albeit with a fairly narrow lead. A string of promotional events and the availability of umpteen versions of each physical format made them definite contenders for the top spot at the end of the week. 

In the end, though, they didn’t quite make it. Reflections enters at number two, still their best showing since re-forming. There is still no sign of Blue collaborating with Pink to form Notso Deep Purple.

Blue’s narrow miss means that Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving gets a third consecutive week at number one. The last album to spend three consecutive weeks at the top was Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl in October last year.

As well as getting his third top forty single this week, Zach Bryan also gets a third top forty album. The two earlier releases peaked at numbers sixteen and 22. With Heaven On Top easily outperforms them both by entering at number three.

Indie band The Cribs also get a new albums chart peak, although in their case they have had to wait 25 years to reach the top five for the first time. Selling A Vibe is at number five. It is at number one in the vinyl albums chart.

South London band Dry Cleaning are particularly notable for the fact that vocalist Florence Shaw speaks most of the lyrics rather than singing. Their debut album New Long Leg (not about cricket) deservedly reached the top five in 2021 but, sadly, the next release Stumpwork, also not about cricket, fell just short of the top ten. This week they have fallen just short of the top ten again as Secret Love enters at number twelve.

The Kid Laroi (born with the posher-sounding name Charlton Howard) included the word Love in the title of a mixtape that reached the top forty albums chart. Thankfully, I can quote the title of his latest album, Before I Forget, in full. It enters at number 22.

American rock band Alter Bridge reached the top ten with each of their last five studio albums. That run comes to an abrupt end this week as their latest set, unimaginatively titled Alter Bridge, can only get to number twenty.