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There was a close battle for the number one single this week between the two songs that have topped the chart for thirteen of the last fifteen weeks - Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia and Golden by HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast. In Monday’s update Swift was ahead by just over 100 copies. By Wednesday she had extended her lead to around 1,000 chart sales. By the end of the week Taylor Swift was still in front, so The Fate Of Ophelia returns to the top after two weeks behind Golden. That song slips back to number two. Haven is an example of how acts can become successful while there is still very little known about him. The British producer, born Harrison Walker, has nearly four million listeners on Spotify, but the site has no biographical information for him. However, his single I Run has become popular enough for it to have been riding high in the chart in Wednesday's update. However, it is nowhere to be seen in the final top 100 chart published on Friday. It has to be assumed that it has been disqualified for some reason. Spanish singer Rosalia has a strong following in her home country, but has yet to have a major hit in the UK. That may be about to change with the arrival of the rather wonderful Berghain in the top forty at number 36. It features the very distinctive vocals of Bjorl, who makes her first top forty appearance for twenty years, as well as a brief vocal contribution from Yves Tumor who makes his UK chart debut. The string section hasn’t been granted a credit. Fred Again gets his second top forty hit of the year with Talk Of The Town at number 22. While it is not as good as the Pretenders song of the same name, it is still decent enough. It features Sammy Virji who had a chart hit earlier this year with Cops And Robbers. Sonny Fodera had one top forty hit in 2023 and then two in 2024. Unless he has a surprise Christmas song ready for release, he is unlikely to make it three in 2025. At least the arrival of Think About Us at number 33 means he hasn’t slipped back to one top forty hit in a calendar year. The song features D.O.D and the splendidly-named Poppy Baskcomb. The quality of this week’s new entries is relatively high, but there is an exception. Digga D’s DPMO, a new entry at number 31 is that exception. When Goo Goo Dolls released Iris as a single in 1998 it was only a minor hit, missing the top forty. A year later, it did reach the top forty, but only for one week. It returned to the lower reaches of the chart several times, but only became a major hit in 2011 when it was featured on a talent show and it went to number three. It continues to notch up further weeks in the top 100 and has now become one of those songs which is almost always in the chart until the Christmas songs arrive. This week it returns to the top forty at number 39. There are three other re-entries. Panic not, there aren’t any Christmas songs among them. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club is at number 35. Sabrina Carpenter=s Manchild is back at number 38 and Ravyn Lenae’s Love Me Not returns at number 40. On 31 October 1975 Queen released Bohemian Rhapsody as a single. The general consensus was that they were mad. It was too long and, with its frequent changes of style, confusing. One prominent radio DJ believed in it. Kenny Everett, who had more say on what was played on his Capital Radio weekend show than weekday daytime DJs, loved it and played it, in full, regularly. Most people at the time would have thought that Bohemian Rhapsody would do well to spend one week at number nine. In fact, it spent nine weeks at number one and sold a million copies. After Freddie Mercury died in 1991, a reissue spent another five weeks at the top of the chart, again selling a million copies. It is the only single to sell one million copies with two separate releases. In the half-a-century since it was released Bohemian Rhapsody has continued to sound unlike almost anything else. To mark its 50th anniversary, a new physical edition of the song has been released - yes, singles can get anniversary editions as well. It was number one last week in the singles sales chart, the physical singles chart and the vinyl singles chart. As well as returning to the top of the singles chart, Taylor Swift does the same in the albums chart with Life Of A Showgirl. It may be the first time that an artist has had two separate runs with a chart double with the same pairing of song and album. Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving climbs back up to number two. Lily Allen’s West End Girl falls one place to number three while Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend is at number five. As well as getting her second top forty single, Rosalia also has a big hit album on her hands. Lux is a new entry at number five which means that all of the top five albums are by female solo artists. Lux is the highest-charting album by a female Spanish singer. To accompany a book about Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings, the man himself has overseen the compilation of a new Best Of album, simply titled Wings. Inevitably it includes Mull Of Kintyre, but it also includes far better songs such as Band On The Run, Bond theme Live And Let Die and Jet. It enters at number twelve. Last weekend I was thinking about what to say about the new White Lies album. I was preparing for a disappointing chart position which I thought I might need to attribute to it sounding “just like any other White Lies album”. Then I listened to it, and was relieved to hear that it had far more variety than I was expecting. Unfortunately, the other part of my prediction was all too accurate. In Monday’s update Night Light was just outside the top ten. That made it certain that it would be the band’s lowest charting album by the time Friday’s chart was published. Thankfully, it did at least hold on to a top forty place and it ends the week at number 29. Paramore singer Hayley Williams is at number ten with her third solo album Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party. I have in the past been critical of artists who have released a deluxe version of an album shortly after the original release. For consistency, I can’t exclude acts I like, so Jaker Bugg needs to spend some time on the naughty step. The new edition of his 2024 album A Modern Day Distraction is at number 37.

There was another close battle at the top of the singles chart. In Wednesday's update Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia had a lead of under 300 over Golden by HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast. This week they were joined by Raye’s Where Is My Husband. That was a few thousand behind, but the song had a physical release this week. It was unclear how many of those physical sales had been included in the update. By Friday, the top three were in the same order as on Wednesday. Therefore, Taylor Swift’s The Fate Of Ophelia gets a fifth non-consecutive week at number one. If it holds on next week it will equal Anti-Hero as her longest-running chart-topper. Golden spends another week at number two while Raye is still searching for her husband at number three. Olivia Dean still has two songs in the top five, but they have swapped places. So Easy (To Fall In Love) is now at number four with Man I Need one place below. As well as the KPop Demon Hunters, we now have a second set of songs by an animated band, albeit only one of them in the top forty. Hazbin Hotel is an animated comedy musical show aimed at an adult audience, it says here. The first series didn’t provide any top forty entries but this week we have one from the second series. Just like the KPop stuff, these songs come with a long credit, albeit shorter than the upcoming cast list on Wizzard’s perennial hit. The cheerful Love In A Bottle, by Keith David, Lilli Cooper, Kimiko Glenn, Krystina Alabado, Sam Haft & Andrew Underberg is at number 29. In the week that news came that there is to be a film based around Charli XCX’s Brat album, Ms XCX herself has a new entry with Chains Of Love at number 26, comfortably one of her best chart hits. It is the second top forty hit with that title following one by Erasure in 1988. Other charting chains include Diana Ross’s Chain Reaction and Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue) by W.A.S.P. That leads, rather unfortunately, to the title of Lewis Capaldi’s fourteenth top forty hit, The Day That I Die. Sorry. His previous single, Almost, didn’t quite make the top forty. This one is at number 27. I’ve been delaying it for as long as possible, but the time has now come to announce that the same old Christmas songs have started to enter the top forty. Leading the way, as for the last few years are Mariah Carey and Wham. Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You is at number 22. It now has notched up 102 weeks in the top forty, so will reach the two-year mark at the beginning of December. Wham’s Last Christmas, back at number nineteen, has been in the top forty for 90 weeks. That is on target to get to 100 weeks in December next year. There is one more festive song to mention. Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree is at number 38. At 80 (she will be 81 next month), Lee is the oldest person in this week’s chart. Here in Brighton on Wednesday we had a little over 5 seconds of winter when it snowed briefly. That coincided with the first week on sale for Australian band 5 Seconds Of Summer’s sixth studio album Everyone’s A Star! Their first three albums all reached number one but the next two fell just short, both peaking at number two. Their new album gives them a fourth number one. The summer theme continues at number thirteen in the shape of Summer Walker’s Finally Over It. It follows Over It and Still Over It. Maybe the next one will be called Really, Really Over It, Honestly. Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving is at number two. Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl falls two places to number three. The enduring popularity of D Block Europe continues to baffle many people. Their new album PTSD 2 is at number four. Readers can make their own jokes about the appropriateness of the title. Time for a second mention of Brighton this week. Celeste spent her childhood in a village on the outskirts of the city and was educated at a school where I used to work. She is at number twelve with Woman Of Faces. When a company launches a new brand with the intention of selling it worldwide, they generally go to great lengths to avoid a name that might cause difficulties in certain countries. Nathan Feuerstein clearly didn’t do his homework before dividing to use his initials as his stage name. He is at number fourteen with Fear. That leads me nicely into the next new entry as the excellent There Goes The Fear, one of the highlights of their live shows, is one of the tracks on a new Doves compilation, So Here We Are: Best Of Doves. I still find it puzzling that Greatest Hits sets are still a thing, but they are so here we are. It is at number seventeen. There are two anniversary editions in this week’s new entries. Songs From The Big Chair was Tears For Fears’ second album, released in February 1985. Several months late, there is now a fortieth anniversary edition. The album, which includes Shout and Everybody Wants To Rule The World, originally reached number two. The reissue is at number twenty. The Rolling Stones reissue is several months early. Black And Blue, the band’s thirteenth studio album, was released in April 1976 but the fiftieth anniversary edition is here already. Like Songs From The Big Chair, this album also peaked at number two. The new edition is at number 40.

After three weeks topping the singles and albums charts, Taylor Swift has been toppled from the summit of both of them. Her successor in the singles chart is not exactly new. It is the song toppled by Olivia Dean the week before Swift took over. The third run at the top for Golden by HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI & KPop Demon Hunters Cast brings its total up to nine weeks at the top. Taylor Swift's The Fate Of Ophelia slips to number two, one place ahead of Raye’s Where Is My Husband. Raye had her car stolen last year. This week it was found, complete with the songbooks left in it. The loss of those songbooks had led to the postponement of her second album. She is now in a much better position to work on that project. Swift is also at number four with Opalite. There are three new entries from each of two new albums this week, so it makes sense to talk about both charts together for a while. The multihyphenate is back! The Official Charts Company used the term to describe Dave in their write-up of Wednesday’s midweek update. As per normal, they are being a little generous. He is a rapper who has done a bit of acting. Alternatively, he is a part-time actor who is also a very successful rapper. After modest success with an EP, Dave’s first two full-length albums topped the chart - Psychodrama in 2019 and We’re All Alone In This Together in 2021. Now, after a four-year absence, he has completed a hat-trick with The Boy Who Played The Harp. For the record, there is a harpist on three of the tracks, but she is a woman. The highest of the three tracks from the album in the singles chart is Raindance, which features Tems, at number five. History, featuring James Blake, is at nine giving Blake a first top ten single credit fifteen years after his only other top forty single. Chapter 16, with added Kano, is at number eleven. Albums whose songs are largely influenced by the break-up of a relationship are not exactly unusual. However, the lyrics are generally relatively subtle. Lily Allen has chosen to eschew that approach with her new album West End Girl, her first for over seven years. The lyrics are full of outright contempt for her former husband. Oh, hang on. I don’t want to be sued. She doesn’t name anyone, but the assumption is that it is about her former spouse who I won’t name - not that I’d heard of him until this album was released. Lily Allen does depart from the central theme on one track. At least I assume that Pussy Palace is about a luxury home for stray cats (not to be confused with Brian Seltzer’s band). That song is at number twelve in the singles chart. The title track is at number seventeen and Madeline is at number nineteen. She has now had sixteen top twenty singles. The album itself is at number four. It doesn’t yet have a physical release - the album was written and recorded very quickly, not leaving enough time for CDs and vinyls to be pressed. A physical release is likely to give it a new lease of life, perhaps taking it to number one if it happens in a quiet week. It should certainly beat the one week in the top forty managed by its immediate predecessor. After my comments on the charting tracks from Taylor Swift’s album a few weeks ago, it is worth acknowledging that only one of the tracks from each of Dave and Lily Allen’s releases are among the three opening tracks. Returning to the singles chart, there is one more new entry to report. Skye Newman gets her third top forty hit of the year at number eighteen with FU & UF, which I think stands for Fed Up and Under Fire. She made her chart debut earlier this year with Hairdresser and followed it up with the number five hit Family Matters which has returned at number 25.. Today is Hallowe’en which means that people have been streaming songs associated with the supernatural. Today’s streams will, of course, count towards next week’s chart which may mean some of them are in that chart. In this week’s top forty we have Michael Jackson’s classic song Thriller at number 33. Alex Warren’s Ordinary remains in the top twenty for a 38th successive week. It breaks the record set way back in 1962 by Mr ‘Acker’ Bilk’s Stranger On The Shore. That song does still hold the record for an instrumental. Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl slips to number three in the albums chart. Olivia Dean is at number five with The Art Of Loving. Bon Jovi last week joined the list of acts shameless enough to release a deluxe edition of an album only a year or so after the original release. Forever reached number three when it was released in June last year. It now gets a second week in the top forty, at number two. Last week’s commentary contained an oblique reference to a 1970s Elton John album, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player.. This week’s has a rather more direct reference to another 1970s Elton John album. It is a sign of his longevity that it is now half-a-century since he released his ninth studio album Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy. By stalling at number two it brought an end to a run of three successive number one albums, beginning with the aforementioned Don’t Shoot Me. In 2005, to mark the 30th anniversary of the album, Elton John played most of the album live in a series of concerts in the US. Some of those performances are included on this new edition, along with a number of demos. The 50th anniversary edition is at number 24. Elton John had a number one album earlier this year in collaboration with Brandi Carlile. She gets her first top forty solo album at number 30 with Returning To Myself. Bruce Springsteen recorded his sixth studio album Nebraska in a bedroom at home. The intention was to add backing from the E Street band as usual, but that didn’t happen. He released the original recordings in September 1981 and the album spent two weeks in the top ten. The follow-up, Born In The USA, was his first really big hit album in the UK. Earlier this month, a film based on the recording of the album, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, was released. Naturally his record company has seized the opportunity to release a new edition of the album, complete with “the Electric Nebraska recordings” and a live performance of the album in full. This release is at number fourteen. This still isn’t the end of the anniversary editions. Pulp released their fifth studio album Different Class in October 1995. Only one of their four previous albums had charted at all. Different Class went to number one and spent 23 of its first 25 chart weeks in the top ten. It won the Mercury Prize and is considered to be one of the defining albums of the Britpop era. Its third track, Common People, was the song that took them from being moderately successful to one of the biggest bands of the day. That and Jarvis Cocker’s overblown charisma. The reissue is at number 38. Birmingham based The Clause make their chart debut at number nineteen with Victim Of A Casual Thing. It really is the epitome of a curate’s egg album for me. Some of the tracks are really good while others are decidedly mediocre. It is at number one in the Independent Albums Chart. Sigrid is at number twelve with There’s Always More That I Could Say. Skye Newman’s EP SE9 Part 1 is at number nineteen. Twenty-one-year-old Guildfordian Henry Moodie makes his chart debut at number 31 with Mood Swings.