Welcome to James Masterton's Chart Watch UK – your essential weekly deep dive into the Official UK Charts!
As the longest-running British music column online, we bring you the ultimate guide to this week's Top 40, unraveling the stories behind the biggest new singles and chart-topping hits. Plus, explore our extensive archives, a treasure trove of nearly 1800 articles documenting three and a half decades of popular music history and expert analysis.
Never in the history of chart commentary have so many superlatives been flung at a record that has received such a lukewarm reaction. But that's The Life Of A Showgirl. Taylor Swift's commercial triumph that bizarrely appears to be anything but. All the numbers - and more - are inside.
Britain has a new Queen of (neo) soul. Olivia Dean steps forward to take her crown, with her first-ever No.1 single and album all at the same time. Which, believe it or not, makes her quite unique.
Warning: Lewis Capaldi has released his song again. Except that this time he hasn't, doing something to change the formula up a little. Does this mean he makes it to No.1? Spoiler: no. And neither does RAYE either.
Well hello there tiny Ed Sheeran. What's that Ed? You have a new album out? And it sold in large numbers? But far fewer people care about you than before? Hell, that's showbiz. And look on the bright side, you still matter more than the first Little Mix solo album. What were they thinking?
