Sam Fender and Olivia Dean are at number one for an eleventh week. Michael Jackson still has the number one album.

Sam Fender and Olivia Dean continue their reign at the top of the shingles chart, in a week that has seen both heavy rain and hail, withRein Me In. It has now been at number one for a total of eleven weeks. The last song by a British act to spend as long at number one was Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits in 2021. That song had a single eleven-week run whereas Rein Me In is now in its third run at the top. Rein Me In moves past Rihanna and Jay-Z’s Umbrella to become the longest running number one single by as male/female duo.

There are three Michael Jackson songs in the top ten, thanks to the popularity of the recent biopic. Billie Jean leads the way at number two and Beat It is at number three. The third song is Human Nature. That was released as a single from the Thriller album in some countries, but not in the UK. It eventually reached number 62 immediately after Jackson’s death and when downloads meant that any song was eligible to chart. It would have been in the chart last week if the three-songs limit was not in place. It is now one of the three  most popular Jackson songs of the week, so it enters at number six, giving the late singer a 45th top ten single.

Tame Impala is at number three with Dracula. Olivia Rodrigo’s Drop Dead is at number four. It is the only song in the top seven that was released in 2026 . The Chemical Brothers jump fifteen  places to number seven with their 2015 track Go. It is their first top ten hit since the brilliant Galvanize in 2005.

Sienna Spiro enters at number 23 with Material Lover. The song comes from the soundtrack of the much-hyped film The Devil Wears Prada II. The Visitor, a number eleven hit for Spiro earlier this year, re-enters at number 33.

For five years from 2008, almost every single released by Katy Perry made the top ten. Four of them reached number one. Her later singles have been less successful although she did manage a fifth chart-topper, helped by the presence of Calvin Harris and Pharrell Williams. In her early five-year run of top ten singles, one of the rare singles to peak outside the top ten was the aptly-named The One That Got Away. Maybe that is about to be changed as the song re-enters at number 30.

In thirteen years of steady chart success Charli XCX has had two number one singles. Rather unusually, they were eleven years apart. Her debut single I Love It (where she played second fiddle to Icone Pop who has rarely been heard from since) topped the chart in 2013. She didn’t return to the summit until 2024 when Guess, with Billie Eilish, got there. She has a re-entry at number 36 with Rock Music, a song that would benefit from being longer than just two minutes. Strangely, some of her songs would have benefitted from being cut to two minutes.

The Essential Michael Jackson remains at the top of the albums chart, giving it a ninth week at number one when added to the time spent at the top after Jackson’s death in 2009. Jackson is also at number five with Thriller, one place ahead of Bad.

In the 27 years since they released their first album Dublin band Westlife have achieved a lot of chart success while also being widely criticised as being bland and predictable. One thing they were particularly good at (or, more accurately, their record label was good at) was releasing albums and singles at a time that would maximise their chances of getting to number one. That timing has given them eight number one albums and fourteen chart-topping singles. They are about to go on tour again which has given them an excuse to release another compilation album. This one has 25 songs which is the best explanation I can come up with for the title 25: The Ultimate Collection. That said, their tour is called The 25th Anniversary World Tour which suggests that someone isn’t very good at arithmetic. The album led the way in the midweek updates, but finishes the week at number two. Insert your own joke here.

Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide is at number three. Olivia Dean is at number four with The Art Of Loving.

Reverend And The Makers are one of many acts not to java matched the success of their earliest releases. Their fantastic debut single Heavyweight Champion Of The World remains their biggest hit. Its parent album The State Of Things is also their most successful, although they did get a second top ten album with Heatwave In The Cold North in 2023. This week their eighth studio album, Is This How Happiness Feels?, is at number seven.

Rock band Basement were formed in Ipswich in 2009. From then until 2018, they released four albums, none of which sold very well. They gained a decent following in the USA, but that was not enough to sustain them. Despite being considered suitable to support Weezer and The Pixies in 2019, they disbanded the following year. The members pursued various careers outside music. Singer Andrew Fisher became a popular teaching assistant in Brighton - Hove, actually.

In 2022, they decided to give things another go. This came after the release of an EP which included a great version of Suede’s Animal Nitrate. They ultimately quit their jobs to concentrate full-time on music again, not letting the fact that two members now lived in the USA get in the way.

Last Friday (8 May) Basement released their fifth album Wired. Pre-release tracks had suggested that this would be slightly less rocky than previous releases, and so it has proved. There is a distinct feel of their near namesakes Pavement about the album. 

In Monday’s update Basement were at number eight. By Wednesday, they had fallen just one place. A probable top forty finish had turned into a possible top twenty placing. That deserved top twenty hit has duly happened. Wired is a new entry at number sixteen.

As mentioned in the singles section, Katy Perry’s The One That Got Away has re-entered the singles chart this week. It is included on a new compilation The Ones That Got The Plays (see what they did there?). The album is currently only available as a playlist on streaming sites with no physical release or even a download release. That lack of anything that could be called a release in conventional terms has not excluded it from the chart. It is a new entry at number thirteen despite only landing on streaming sites on Wednesday.

The Covasettes join a very long list of Manchester bands with a top forty album to their name as Honeymoon Forever lands at number 34.

Chris Brown is at number seventeen.