Twenty-three weeks at the top for Sam Fender and Olivia Dean. Paul Heaton gets his first solo number one album.

Sam Fender and Olivia Dean continue their record-breaking run as Rein Me In tops the chart for a tenth consecutive week, and the 23rd overall. The ascension of Last Christmas to the title of longest-running UK number one has now been delayed by two or three years. Of course, if Fender and Dean record a Christmas song of their own, that moment could be postponed for even longer. Dean was at number eight this time last year with Man I Need. This week the song is …. at number eight.

Sakira and Burna Boy’s Dai Dai has now moved on to the Accelerated Chart Ratio (ACR). With its streams now worth half their previous value, its five-week run at number two is over. It is replaced in the runner-up spot by Hugel, Imael Angel and Ultra Nate’s Movin’ To The Sun. 

Stella Lefty is at number four with Boston. There is more American geography at number three in the shape of Ella langley’s Choosin’ Texas. Sienna Spiro’s Great Expectation is at number five.

Dublin band Fontaines DC got a deserved first top forty single last year when It’s Amazing To Be Young from their excellent album Romance reached the dizzy height, for them, of number 59. While it was by no means their best single, it did at least gain them a little more recognition.

For reasons best known to themselves and/or their record company, Fontaines DC released Marianne, the first single from their next album, on a Tuesday. Even without the benefit of a full chart week, it still reached number 60 in last week’s chart. This week, the song - which is wonderful - climbs to number nineteen. The band are headlining at the Reading Festival tonight. Their set is on BBC1 at 22:40.

After a six-year wait Ashe gets her second top forty hit with the rather lovely Stop The Wedding at number 38. It is one place below Raye’s Where Is My Husband. Given how long she has been looking for him, perhaps she should have stopped the wedding.

Sienna Spiro enters at number 40 with Pure. It is nowhere near as good as the Lightning Seeds song of the same name. 

Even though it had already been reported that Dolly Parton was suffering from ill health, it was still a shock to hear on Tuesday that she had died at the age of 80. The coverage of her death demonstrated how much she was loved as a person, including by those who weren’t particularly fans of her music. Her incredible generosity and support for good causes added to her reputation as a truly wonderful woman. One of her biggest causes was to get children reading and enjoying books, partly inspired by the fact that her father was unable to read and write.

I’m going to divert briefly to mention an anecdote in a book I read over the summer by former children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce. He was visiting a primary school where a little girl wanted to show him her writing. She scrawled something totally unintelligible on a piece of paper, so Cottrell-Boyce asked her what it said. “I don’t know”, she replied. “I can write, but I can’t read yet”.

Anyway, back to Dolly Parton. Given her fame, it is a surprise to many people just how modest her singles chart history is. Before today she had had just two top forty singles, Jolene (number seven in 1976) and Islands In The Stream with Kenny Rogers (number seven in 1983. One of her best known hits, 9 to 5, peaked at number 47.

Islands in The Stream, a song I don’t really like at all, is back at number thirteen this week. Forty-five years after it failed to reach the top forty, 9 to 5 comes in at number twelve and Jolene is at number nine. 

Unsurprisingly, my two favourite Dolly Parton songs are missing. I rate her version of I Will Always Love you far better than Whitney Houston’s overblown version and I have been a fan of Love Is Like A Butterfly since it was used as the theme tune to 1970s sitcom Butterflies.

In the albums chart, Diamonds and Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection soars to number six, easily surpassing its previous peak of number 32.

Three of the most distinctive vocalists released new albums last week. Two of them have done very well, the third not so much. As the music world, and much of the music world in general, mourns the loss of Dolly Parton, the two successful albums have a very strong country influence.

Paul Heaton first made an impact on the UK charts as a member of the Hull-based Housemartins, alongside Norman Cook. After that group disbanded, he formed The Beautiful South. Both Housemartins albums reached the top ten, as did eight of The Beautiful; South’s ten studio albums. Two Beautiful South albums made it to number one. A compilation album, Carry On Up The Charts also reached the top of the pile.

Paul Heaton’s solo career didn’t go well until he teamed up with fellow former member of The Beautiful South Jacqui Abbott. He has recorded four albums with her, all of which reached the top five, two of them getting to number one. His next purely solo album also performed well. Now he has scored his first solo number one album with his sixth attempt Jenius.

Many of the tracks on Paul Heaton’s album have a distinctly country flavour to them, and the same can be said of Brandon Flowers’ latest work. Unlike Heaton, Flowers’ solo albums have performed well from the start. Both Flamingo (2010) and The Desired Effect (2015) topped the chart, adding to Flowers’ seven number ones from seven Killers studio albums. However, Heaton has the last laugh as he stops Flowers from getting a Perfect Ten. Thrasher is at number three.

Rock band Westside Cowboy were formed in Manchester although I suspect at least two of the members (Aoife O’Connell and Paddy Murphy) may possibly have some Irish roots. According to their Wikipedia page (interpret that as you will). Westside Cowboys were people riding horses in front of early American trains to prevent people being hit by this new-fangled mode of transport.

Two Westside Cowboy EPs failed to trouble the charts, as did a string of singles led by I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You). That somewhat lengthy title does not appear on the album, although it does close with You Could Have Died There On The Dancefloor. The album It Goes On, which could describe some of their song titles, is at number five.

The Essential Michael Jackson is at number two. Ilivia Rodrigo is at number four with You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love.

Of the albums released last week that I listened to, the most disappointing has to be that from Australian band DMA’s. That has nothing to do with the fact that they still haven’t dropped the grammatically incorrect apostrophe. They have even compounded the error by calling the album DMA’s as well. It is because it just isn’t very good. I have enjoyed their previous releases, but I didn’t make it to the end of this one. Their previous four albums have peaked at progressively higher positions. That ends this week as this set enters at number nine.

It has been a relatively disappointing week for The Smiths. Sam Smith, the third vocalist with a distinctive voice to release an album last week can only reach number 21 with Hazel Eyes. All of their previous albums hit the top two. After three top ten albums Jorja Smith is at number seventeen with her latest release What Are The Odds.

Antony Szmierek makes his top forty debut with Decoding Birdsong at number 30. Back in the 1970s, it was possible to buy albums of bird songs.

I’ll sign off this week with some words from Dolly Parton - “If you see someone without a smile  today, give them yours”.