An unusual chart double as Harry Styles tops the singles chart while his former bandmate Louis Tomlinson has the number one album.

As mentioned in last week’s commentary, Harry Styles is the nearest current equivalent to Robbie Williams, someone who started life in a boyband and who has then achieved huge success as a solo artist. Like Williams with Take That, Styles was just sixteen when he became part of One Direction.

Any member of a band who starts a solo career faces a difficult choice. They can continue with songs in a similar style to those released by their band, or they can do something different. As a boyband’s fanbase’s musical taste is likely to change as they get older, the latter route makes a great deal of sense. Even so, the contrast between One Direction’s output and Sign Of The Times, Harry Styles solo debut, was something of a surprise.

Harry Styles has continued to explore different musical styles (sorry), and that continues with his new single Aperture. It uses its near six-minute runtime well, gradually building into a really good song. Not surprisingly, it has gone straight to number one, becoming Styles’ third chart-topping single. Sign Of the Times spent just a week at the top while As It Was had a marathon ten-week run. Time will show whether Aperture comes close to one of those extremes, or sits somewhere in the middle. It is the first song with the word Aperture in its title to reach the UK singles chart.

The release of a new Harry Styles single saved us from a completely static top five. Instead, last week’s top four have all fallen one place. Dave and tens’ Raindance falls to number two after a week at the top. Djo’s End Of Beginning is at number three, one place ahead of Raye’s Where Is My Husband. Taylor Swift, once romantically involved with Harry Styles, is at number five with The Fate Of Ophelia.

It is twenty years since Arctic Monkeys released Whatever You Say I Am That’s What I’m Not. It received rave reviews and became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history, selling over 360,000 copies in its first week. Singer and lead songwriter Alex Turner celebrated his 40th birthday earlier this month, so he has been in the band for over half of his life.

There is currently no news of a new Arctic Monkeys album, but they have released a new single. Opening Night will appear on Help 2, an album to be released on ^ March to raise funds for the War Child charity which works to help children who are affected by war. The first Help album was released in 1995 and featured songs from acts such as Suede, Blur and a band calling themselves Smokin’ Mojo Filters whose members were Paul McCartney, Paul Weller and Noel Gasllagher. The original album was put together so quickly that the CD cover art didn’t have a track listing.

Smokin’ Mojo Filters’ version of the Beatles song Come Together reached the top twenty. Arctic Monkeys have chosen to release an original song and it enters at number sixteen.

Lil Uzi Vert came very close to entering the top forty last week with What You Saying. Instead, it fell just short, leaving us with a grand total of zero new entries. This week, it has climbed into the top forty at number 27.

Louis Tomlinson’s solo career away from One Direction started with two top ten singles, but only one more single has even reached the top forty. He has, however, continued to enjoy success in the albums chart. Faith In The Future (2022) reached number one and he has now done the same with his third solo album, How Did I Get Here. Whether this week’s chart double (the number one single and album being by former members of the same band) is unique, I don’t know. If I had a super-sophisticated database linking people to their former bands, I could find out. Sadly, I don’t have such a database.

Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving remains at number two. Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years Don’t Stop compilation stops at number five.

The delightfully-named Megadeth (guess what their genre is) released their first album in 1985. They had to wait until the release of their sixteenth studio album in 2022 to reach the top three for the first time. They have now matched it with album number seventeen which has also reached number three. They seem to have run out of inspiration for album titles. This one is called Megadeth.

Callum Beattie was born in Scotland in 1989, some four years after Megadeth released their first album. His first two albums topped the Scottish albums chart, but performed less well in the UK as a whole. A;bum number three has done a lot better. Indi is at number four.

Lebanese-born Mika (aka Michael Penniman) made a big impact with his first hit single, Grace Kelly. He had a few more top ten singles but has never matched the success of that song. Hyperlove, a new entry at number fourteen, is his first appearance in the top twenty for over a decade.

New Rose by The Damned is generally regarded as the first single released by a UK punk band. Even with a cover of Help by The Beatles (linking back to War Child) as the b-side it wasn’t a hit, but it does have its place in UK music history. They did go on to have a number of hit singles, including a fabulous version of Barry Ryan’s Eloise. The follow-up to that was a reissue of New Rose but it only reached number 81. The Damned’s last two albums both reached the top ten. Their thirteenth studio album, Not Like Everybody Else, is at number 23.