Taylor Swift has the number one single. Niall Horan gets his third number one solo album.

One of the most successful current film franchises has now reached its fifth instalment with the release of Toy Story 5. Disney have managed to persuade Taylor Swift to contribute to the soundtrack which has led to her bagging a seventh number one single in the form of I Knew It, I Knew You. Thankfully, it is a lot better than most of the Disney songs that have reached the charts in recent years. This week Swift became the youngest woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s Rein Me In remains in second place. Ariana Grande falls to number three after a week at the top with Hate That I Made You Love Me. Olivia Rodrigo’s The Cure is at number four. Michael Jackson completes the top five with Billie Jean at number five.

Alex Warren gets his ninth top forty hit with Passenger at number 22. The song has rather more energy than some of his previous hit singles as well as a cheerier title than Fine Place To Die.

One of those earlier Alex Warren hits was Bloodline which leads neatly into Bloodstream,  Alyssa Grace’s new entry at number 25. It is a debut top forty hit for the Californian teenager. The song is OK, but I prefer the Ed Sheeran song of the same name.

American rapper Malcolm McCormick, performing as Mac Miller, died of an accidental drug overdose in September 2018, a few months after his relationship with Ariana Grande ended. His previous biggest hit in the UK was as a featured artist on Grande’s The Way which fell just short of a top forty place in 2016. In the same year he released the album The Divine Feminine. Ten years on, a song from that album, Cinderella is a new entry at number 27. It features Ty Dolla $ign who gets a twelfth top forty hit.

There is a clear winner in the race to have this week’s most irritating artist name and song title. A Manchester-based artist who styles himself Silva Bumpa has insisted on calling his debut hit single On 2nite. Ugh. The song isn’t much good either, but it is a new entry at number 32.

Niall Horan gets his third successive number one album with his fourth solo release Dinner Party. Impressively, its first week sales are the highest of his solo career. He regains his status of having had as many chart-topping albums as his erstwhile bandmate Harry Styles.

The Essential Michael Jackson is at number two. Drake’s Iceman is back up one place at number three. Olivia dean’s The Art Of Loving is at number four.

Birmingham band Overpass formed in 2020. They were initially expecting to be a covers band, but 2020 turned out to be a rather bad year for live music. Therefore, they used the time to start composing their own songs. They are at number five this week with their debut album Elsewhere, Always. It is the biggest selling album of the week in independent record shops.

Regular readers will not be surprised to know what word the Official Charts Company has used to describe actor and musician Jeff Goldblum. Yes, the word multi-hyphenate has been wheeled out again. He, along with the Mildred Seltzer Orchestra, is at number nine with Night Blooms. It is at number one in the Jazz and Blues albums chart, a chart which I believe hasn’t been mentioned here before.

Evansescence get a fifth top ten album with Sanctuary at number ten. It is their first release since The Bitter Truth in 2021. 

It has been nearly seven years since the last Pink Floyd compilation, so it is apparently time for another one. This one is a bit of a curiosity. For a start, it has only eight tracks, leading to the title 8-Tracks. It features tracks from their 1970s albums (a time when 8-track tapes were available)  Meddle (1971) to The Wall (1979). It enters at number seventeen to give the band a 30th top forty album.

The strangest choice of tracks on 8-Track is that of Pigs On The Wing, easily the weakest track(s) on their 1977 album Animals. I have always felt that this album is under-appreciated. Its reputation may have been damaged by the fact that the first and last tracks are Pigs On The Wing, Parts I and II. It is by no means a bad song; it’s just that all the other tracks are a lot better. The two parts on the Animals album run to under three minutes combined. For some reason, the track on this collection is over three-and-a-half minutes long. I can’t see it encouraging many people unfamiliar with Animals to make the effort to listen to the whole album.

Two months after Earrings gave him a first top forty single Malcolm Todd makes his albums chart debut with Do That Again at number nineteen, the same position held by Earrings in the singles chart this week. Perhaps we should call it a Paul Hardcastler double.. Soul singer Jalen N’Gonda has his first top forty album with his second release Doctrine Of Love at number 29. Barry Manilow has been around for rather longer. He gets a 25th top forty album with What A Time at number 34.

Prospa are at number seventeen in the singles chart with Free Your Mind. The album of the same name is a new entry at number 24.