Suedehead2

This week's commentary can be found from the Blogs section or the Home Page of the Forums section.

Alex Warren’s Ordinary stays at the top of the singles chart for a seventh week. It is the longest continuous run at the top by a male solo artist since Noah Kahan’s Stick Season at the beginning of last year. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club is at number two for a fifth successive week, and a sixth in total. WizTheMC, along with Bees And Honey, continues to climb. Show Me Love is now at number three. Ed Sheeran slips to number four with Azizam. Ravyn lenae climbs four places to number five with Love Me Not. After last week’s miserable one new entry, this week there is a positive glut of them. There was a time when five new entries would be considered very low, but it now counts as a reasonably healthy number. Lorde started her career with the number one hit Royals in 2013. Sadly for her, she has yet to get a second top ten single. She has come close this week as What Was That enters at number eleven. Will she enjoy better luck next week? Benson Boone gets his fifth top forty single with Mystical Magical at number seventeen. It is only the second chart hit with those two words in the title, following the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour EP in 1967. Sleep Token, or more likely their record company, must be congratulating themselves on their decision to release several singles from their new album before the release of the album itself. Most rock bands struggle to get any hit singles from one album. Sleep Token have now had three from Even In Arcadia which is released next week (9 May). Damocles is the third of those songs; it is at number 25 this week. I wasn’t too impressed with Caramel, but this is a good deal better. Charli XCX made her chart debut as the featured artist on Icona Pop’s number one single I Love It in 2013. She continued to be a fairly regular visitor to the charts for the next few years. However, after 2018 she didn’t have a top forty hit as the lead artist until Beg For You in 2022. Since then she has resumed her regular visits to the chart and she has a new entry this week at number 34 with Party 4 U. The new entry most likely to make older people think “What on Earth is this? Do people call this music?” is probably Skye Newman’s Hairdresser at number 35. Its unusual instrumentation and strained vocals make it stand out, although not necessarily in a good way. It is, not surprisingly, the first chart hit to have the word hairdresser in its title. Teddy Swims’ Lose Control is at number 40 for the third time in four weeks. That will be the cause of dismay for some Radio 1 Chart Show listeners as they always play the song at number 40 unless it is something unbroadcastable. There was a battle between two new albums this week for the top of the albums chart between veteran Welsh band Stereophionics and Swedish rock band Ghost. When Monday’s update showed Stereophonics with a healthy lead, they appeared to have number one in the bag. After all, neither band would be expecting to add substantial sales from streams. Almost all of their sales would be actual sales of downloads or physical copies. However, Wednesday’s update showed that Stereophonics' lead had narrowed, suggesting that Ghost had a real chance of getting their first number one album. Eventually, though, Stereophonics held on and Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘En Cry, Make ‘Em Wait becomes their ninth number one album. Ghost have been achieving steadily higher positions with each new album. Most recently, Prequelle reached number three in 2018 (becoming their second top ten album) and Impera got to number two in 2022. They haven’t quite managed to complete that progression as Skeleta also gets to number two. If it is any consolation for their fans, it is at number one on the vinyl albums chart. Former talent show winner James Arthur gets his sixth top three album in six release with Pisces at number three. There are no prizes for guessing what his star sign is. Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet makes another of its occasional visits to a position other than numbertwo. It is at number four this week. Rebecca Taylor, recording as Self Esteem, gets her first top ten album with A Complicated Woman at number five. The remaining two new entries are both by Scottish bands, one of which has been around for nine years and one that was probably formed before any members of the younger band were born. The newer of the two bands are folk pop band Tide Lines. Their last two albums have fallen just short of the top ten. Now they have done it again, but have come even closer to making it into the upper tier. Glasgow Love Story is a new entry at number eleven. Simple Minds released their first album in 1979 but didn’t score a major hit until their fifth release New Gold Dream in 1982 which peaked at number three. The next four albums, including a live compilation, all topped the chart. This week they have another live album in the chart. Live In The City Of Diamonds, recorded in Amsterdam last year, is at number twenty.

The Supplementary Vote system was silly, AV would have been a lot better. I'm not convinced the change made much difference, assuming people would have used their first preference in the same way .It is likely that Reform would have picked up very few second preferences and all the second preference votes going to Tories, Lib Dems and Greens would have been wasted. One of the problems with the mix of First Past The Post and all-up elections is that a party can go form having no councillors to having overall control overnight. There will now be six councils run by people with no experience whatsoever. The one hope is that they are visibly a disaster, thereby dissuading people from making the same mistake in a general election.

The record of the parties that preceded Reform is not good, The BNP and UKIP both won council seats. Almost all of those councillors lost their seats four years later because they proved themselves to be clueless loons. Unfortunately for some people, Reform might get the chance to show their incompetence by running councils or holding mayoralties.

If that happens, I expect the broadcasters to devote roughly 23 seconds to Lib Dem gains and the whole of the rest of the programme to Farage's fascists.

At the start of the year Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre looked like becoming PM with a healthy majority. Now it looks like he has lost his seat.

I would define my philosophy broadly as "My freedom ends where your nose begins". Therefore, I consider the right of the majority of people not to have to listen to someone else's choice of music, or whatever, on public transport to be more important than the right of someone to inflict their choices on others. I only wish it wasn't necessary for any party to have to consider having to legislate to encourage good manners.

Saturday 26th April Chelsea 2-0 Everton (12:30) Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 West Ham United Newcastle United 3-0 Ipswich Town Southampton 0-2 Fulham Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Leicester City Sunday 27th April AFC Bournemouth 2-0 Manchester United (14:00) Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur (16:30)

If you're too young to remember the last government, you shouldn't be here. We have a minimum age of 13.

Almost all the councils won't start counting until Friday morning. Therefore, if Farage's mob do win Runcorn, that will be the headline for hours. The Lib Dems should do well in the South East in particular. However, if it is anything like the coverage of the general election results, those gains might be mentioned once or twice at most.

This week's commentary can be found in the Blogs section or from the index page in the Forums section.

Alex Warren spends a sixth week at the top of the singles chart with ordinary. The last song to get at least six weeks at number one was Sabrina Carpenter's Taste which had a run of nine weeks from the end of August last year. The last song with exactly six weeks at the summit was Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero which went to number one in October 2022. Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s Miracle had a six-week run starting in April 2023 but that came after a previous two-week run. Once again, the top three remains unchanged. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club is still reading at number two. Ed Sheeran’s Azizam is still at number three. Then comes the exciting bit of the top five with some actual movement. WizTheMC with Bees & Honey climb to number four with Show Me Love while Doechii falls one place to number five with Anxiety. There is a dearth of new entries in both the singles and albums charts this week. The singles chart lives up to its name by having just a single one. In the week of Easter Monday it comes from Addison Rae Easterling. She had a top ten hit last year with Diet Pepsi (a title the BBC felt unable to mention in full) and now gets a second top forty hit with Headphones On at number 24. Thankfully for Auntie Beeb, the song doesn’t mention a particular brand of headphones. In my opinion, this new one is the better of her two hits. Once again, there are more re-entries than new entries, something that should really only happen around Christmas and New Year. Two new entries are by Teddy Swims - Lose Control is back at number 40 and The Door is at number 37. Lose Control has now spent 63 weeks in the top forty. Just nine songs have spent longer there. Thanks to Jim Watts at Buzzjack for that information. Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra has magiced its way back in at number 36. Anniversary editions of albums have become a regular presence in the charts for some time. However, the time between the original release and the new edition has generally been long enough to be able to say that it is aimed at new buyers. The same cannot be said of this week’s example. Taylor Swift released The Tortured Poets Department just a year ago. It went to number one and spent two weeks there. A combination of new versions on vinyl, cassette, shellac and a version where all the instruments have been replaced by kazoos (I may have made some of these up) and quiet release weeks saw it append a total of ten weeks at the top by the end of the year. Now her people have decided that this is a suitable time for an anniversary edition with some new signed copies. The album is back at number one. It almost seems superfluous to say that Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet is ast number two. Ed Sheeran’s Tour Collection is at number three. Another compilation album is at number four. Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years Don’t Stop collection was released in November 2018 and reached number five the following May. This week, its 336th in the chart, it hits a new high of number four. This is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the chart rules which favour a Greatest Hits set with a number of very popular songs rather than a few songs which are streamed far more than the rest. Yet another compilation, The Weeknd’s Highlights,is at number five. The arrival of 5ive in the albums chart may have been a cause of excitement for some and dismay for others. However, it is not a new album by the boyband although that may yet happen. It is the arrival of an album of that name by David Akeleke, known simply as Davido, at number six After a headlining set at the Coachella Festival, Lady Gaga is back at number 36 with her debut album The Fame. Fontaines DC are back at number 24 with Romance following the release of a deluxe edition featuring new tracks. The final new entry isn’t exactly new. Doechii released her debut album Alligator Bites Never Heal was released at the end of August last year. Thanks to the success of Anxiety and a vinyl release, it now makes its top forty debut at number 40.

If anyone still doesn't realise that the country is actually run by the Daily Mail, not whoever happens to have a Commons majority, Starmer's response should dispel any doubt.

According to the ruling, a trans man remains a woman. Therefore, a woman can have a penis.

I started my current spell at my Catholic school in January 2022, shortly after former Pope Benedict had died. A student asked if there could be a minute's silence. For Pele. As Francis was the current Pope rather than a retired one, I assume it will be marked a little more. After all, none of our students were alive the last time a sitting Pope died. Even some of the staff are too young to remember it.

Supporters of Sunderland and Middlesbrough have far too much of a sense of entitlement, despite the fact that they have won nothing for decades. I would prefer to see someone else go up.

As an atheist working in a Catholic school, I had been wondering what I should do if this news came through when I was in a classroom. If it had happened 24 hours later, I would have had that decision to make. Francis has been a far more progressive Pop[-e than his predecessors, so I had a lot of respect for him. He made a number of important statements on the environment and was far more understanding of sexual minorities. I hope his successor continues in the same direction.

I keep having to remind myself of May's statement as so many people now act as if it never happened, including almost all Tories.

No votes for Long Haired Lover From Liverpool then?

For the last few years, people have been trying to catch out politicians (mostly Labour politicians) by asking whether a woman can have a penis. Despite their triumphalism over the Supreme Court verdict, the answer to that question is now Yes. A post-surgery trans man has a penis yet, according to the ruling, is still a woman. As far back as the 1970s, trans women were accepted for who they were. Wendy (formerly Walter) Carlos was one of the pioneers of electronic music in that decade and her gender reassignment was just accepted. She was probably more accepted for who she was than gay men were at the time. This verdict is a massive step backwards.

Brentford 1-2 Brighton & Hove Albion Crystal Palace 1-2 AFC Bournemouth Everton 0-2 Manchester City West Ham United 2-0 Southampton Aston Villa 2-2 Newcastle United Fulham 0-2 Chelsea Ipswich Town 0-3 Arsenal Manchester United 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers Leicester City 0-3 Liverpool Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Nottingham Forest Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa Arsenal 3-0 Crystal Palace

This week's musings on chart matters can be found from the Blogs section or from the Forums main page.

Alex Warren remains well clear of the opposition at the top of the singles chart. Ordinary’s fifth week at the summit makes it the longest-running number one single of the year so far. The last five-week number one was Gracie Abrams’ That’s So True in November and December of last year. This means that this year’s Easter number one matches the song that was replaced by last year’s Christmas number one. Ordinary heads an unchanged top four. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club remains at number two. Ed Sheeran’s Azizam is at number three for a second week with Doechii’s Anxiety at number four. Therefore, we still have an X, three Ys and two Zs in the titles of the top four singles. There is just one E and no Ss. Tate McRae drives her Sports Car up to number five. Many charting singles from films aimed at children have been of a particularly low quality. Think of Let It Go for example. Some of them do at least have the virtue of being short. Such is the case with Jack Black’s Steve’s Lava Chicken from the Minecraft film. Yes, it’s diabolically bad, but at least it is only 34 seconds long. It is a new entry at number 21 and so becomes the shortest song ever to enter the UK singles chart. Listening to Lana Del Rey’s new single Henry, Come On is a much more pleasant experience than listening to that chicken thing. Del Rey first entered the chart with the sublime Video Games in 2011. Her chart performance since then has been a little patchy. Henry, Come On is her 38th top 100 hit, but only the 13th to make the top forty, a strike rate of only one in three. As a new entry at number 30, it is only her second top forty single as the lead artist since 2017. She has, however, had no fewer than three number 87 hits in that time which is three more than Ed Sheeran has had in his entire career. Ghanaian singer-songwriter Moliy made her UK chart debut in November 2021 as the featured artist on Amaarae’s Sad Girlz Luv Money. Perhaps as punishment for crimes against spelling (not that Slade ever suffered), she has had to wait almost three-and-a-half years to get another hit. Her drought ends this week as Shake It To The Max (Fly), which features someone called Silent Addy who we haven’t heard from before, enters at number 35. The battle for supremacy in the albums chart was between Welsh band Those Damn Crows and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short ‘n’ Sweet. Those Damn Crows were ahead in the midweek up[dates but their lead on Wednesday was a fairly slender one. In the event, they did hold on and God Shaped Hole, their fourth album, becomes their first number one. It completes a run of higher peaks for each album after starting with an album that didn’t make the charts at all. Sabrina Carpenter, therefore continues her residency at number two. Last Friday (11 April) was the latest Record Store Day which meant another long list of special releases, available only in independent record shops. Some of the releases are limited to so few copies that they have no chance of entering the chart while others are simply a new edition of an album that is already widely available. One such this time round is Oasis’s Time Flies compilation, originally released in 2010. The album was at number seventeen last week. This week, thanks to the new edition, it climbs to number three. One of the brand new releases for Record Store Day was a six-track EP from Sam Fender, Me And The Dog. Two of the tracks are new releases and there is also a live version of the title track from his latest album People Watching. It is at number fourteen. Two other Record Store Day releases also enter the top forty. Liam Gallagher has an Acoustic Sessions collection at number 33 and CVharli XCX is at number 37 with Number 1 Angel. Record Store Day has also had an impact on the singles chart. A vinyl edition of Taylor Swift’s Fortnight was also among the items on sale and the song returns to the chart at number 29 just under a year since its one week at number one. It is now nearly twenty years since Justin Vernon formed his band Bon Iver. In that time they have generally enjoyed more success with the critics than with the wider public. Their latest album, Sable Fable, is at number four. Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour collection is at number five.

Another hard right government resurrects Thatcher's Section 28.

I've seen both 147s now. The first one was particularly good. It must be quite dispiriting to make such an excellent break in front of just a handful off spectators.