Kendrick Lamar tops the UK singles chart for the first time, well into the second decade of his career. Sabrina carpenter returns to the top of the albums chart.
Kendrick Lamar gets his first UK number one single. Sabrina Carpenter returns to the top of the albums chart.
Kendrick Lamar had his first top forty hit in 2013 when he was the featured artist on Robin Thicke’s Give It 2 U. Since then he has amassed a total of 29 top forty hits with twelve of them reaching the top ten. It is, therefore, somewhat surprising that the rise of Not Like Us to number two last week saw him gain a new highest position in the UK singles chart. This week it climbs one more place to give him his first number one single this side of the Atlantic to add to his two chart-topping albums. The song has taken 25 weeks to reach the top. It dropped out of the chart altogether last October before returning two weeks ago. Before last week, its peak position was number six in May last year.
Kendrick Lamar is also at number five with All The Stars (with help from Sza) and at four with Luther (also with Sza).
The top of the chart is, therefore, no longer Messy as Lola Young slips back to number two after four weeks at the top. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club is at number three.
When the Official Charts Company (OCC) introduced the rule restricting to three the number of songs by a single artist that would be allowed in the singles chart, it was a response to every track from a new Ed Sheeran album landing in that week’s top twenty. I speculated at the time that a new Sheeran album might contain tracks credited to Elvis Presley featuring Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift featuring Ed Sheeran, etc. That didn’t happen, but this week we did get what looked like it might be an attempt at getting around the rule.
A new album by Partynextdoor and Drake contained a mix of tracks credited to Partynextdoor featuring Drake and others to Drake featuring Partynextdoor. Sure enough, Monday’s singles chart update included three songs for each combination. However, one reason for compiling the updates is to allow the OCC to spot any blatant attempt to bend the rules. They acted accordingly and this week’s new entries include three from the relevant album.
CN Tower is at number 22, one place behind Gimme A Hug. Nokia is at number nineteen. Drake is cited as the lead performer on the latter two songs, Partynextdoor on the first. They are all predictably bad.
Last Friday a new deluxe version of Sabrina Carpenter's Short ‘n’ Sweet album (a version that is less short than the original; its sweetness is a matter of taste) was released. Predictably enough, tracks from the album enter this week’s top forty. The continued popularity of Bed Chem (up to number eighteen this week), and the three-song rule referenced above, limits the number of new Carpenter songs to two. Busy Woman is at number ten. Please Please Please re-enters at number nine, helped by a new version of the song featuring the living legend who is Dolly Parton. It dropped out of the chart (from number five) last October as a result of the three-song rule.
That leaves just one new entry that is not the result of a new album release. AJ Tracey’s latest rubbish has made it into the chart without an album to help it. Crush, which features Jorja Smith, is at number 23.
As already mentioned, a new version of Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet was released last week. It has generated enough new sales to see it return to the top of the albums chart this week with almost half of its sales coming from actual physical sales and a small number of downloads. It is its third week at the top following a week last summer and another in December.
The unlucky losers behind Sabrina Carpenter who get a fifth number two album with Critical Thinking. The album is not much of a departure from their usual style which means there are several highly political tracks. There4 is also Dear Stephen, a song directly aimed at one Stephen Patrick Morrissey. Its lyrics hint at disappointment with Morrissey’s political statements rather than the rage we often see in Manic Street Preachers songs.
Manic Street Preachers might have thought that their toughest competition at the top of the chart would be from the Partynextdoor / Drake collaboration. However, to the nation’s relief, Drake’s popularity is waning and the horribly-titled $ome $exy $ongs 4 U is at number three. If its “sales” were halved for each crime against the English language in the title, it would have been much closer to its deserved position.
In singles terms, The Wombats reached their peak with songs from their debut UK release A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation which came out in 2007. However, the album itself stalled just outside the top ten. While subsequent singles made little impact on the chart, each album since then has reached the top ten with 2022’s Fix Yourself Not The World going to number one. The follow-up Oh! The Ocean is at number four.
Central Cee completes the top five with Can’t Rush Greatness at number five.
Singer-songwriter Louis Dunford is at number right with his debut album Be Lucky. He is the son of Linda Robson who has been acting since before she was a teenager.
Albums of cover versions by a seemingly random group of musicians don’t make the chart very often. Sadly, one of the exceptions this century has been a series of albums recorded by young children. That project seems to have gone away for now (fingers crossed). In its place we have Punk Rock Factory who have released a number of albums of covers of well-known songs. Mist of the songs they cover are not exactly ones you would expect to be given the punk treatment. Their latest album All Hands On Deck includes Boom Shake The Room, C’est La Vie and Bring It All Back. Their previous releases have failed to chart, but this one is at number 22. Their only previous chart success was a number 40 hit with their version of God gave Rock And Roll To You in 2021.
M Huncho is at number with his new mixtape U2opia, the follow-up to Utopia.
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