This week's Official UK Singles Chart

Holiday time, so this is something of a reduced service this week, but that isn't to say the chart action takes a rest for a moment. [Yeah, the very definition of phoning it in this one, typed live into the Yahoo! CMS system on the "checking your flight details only" internet PC in the foyer of the Italian hotel I was staying in at the time. I'd even pre-written a generic version of the column just in case I couldn't get online at all. 2009 was still an age before ubiquitous public wi-fi].

I've almost lost count of the frantic rate of turnover at the top of the singles chart. This week we have yet another brand new Number One single, hard on the heels of a string of one week wonders throughout the summer. Taking his due turn at the top of the charts is Dizzee Rascal who flies straight in with appropriately titled new single Holiday. The officially the third single to be taken from his fourth album Tongue N Cheek, it maintains his perfect strike rate of Number One hits with both Dance Wiv Me and Bonkers also having stormed straight to the top. Indeed 'Holiday' has much in common with Dance Wiv Me given that it is produced and co-written by Calvin Harris and features a guest vocal from Chrome.

The top of the album chart is equally as predictable as the Arctic Monkeys storm to the top with their third studio album Humbug. Lead single Crying Lightning may have struggled a little, but as album sellers, they are as hot as ever, even if this new offering has raised a few eyebrows with its darker, more difficult sound. It means the Sheffield boys maintain their own 100% strike rate with every album they have released to date topping the charts with ease in their first week on sale.

Back to the singles chart and there is a big new entry at Number 10 for Biffy Clyro with brand new single That Golden Rule. The group made what most would consider to be a long overdue commercial breakthrough last year with the single non-album single Mountains which stormed to Number 5 to become their biggest hit single ever. This new track hasn't quite hit the same heights but still gives them a second straight Top 10 hit and solidifies their new-found chart appeal. Both Mountains and this new track are set to appear on their new album Only Revolutions which is set for release at the start of November. Heck, that isn't too far away is it?

I may have poured some cold water on their prospects over the past couple of weeks, but there are major chart strides this week for Sean Kingston who moves to Number 12 with Fire Burning and Lily Allen who sits comfortably at Number 14 with the equally slow burning 22. Mention must also be made to of Lady Gaga whose sales steamroller shows no signs of slowing down as her third hit single of the year Lovegame is steadily making its way up the Top 40, sitting pretty at Number 27.

Making a strong debut at Number 23 is Heartbeat which gives Nneka her first ever UK hit single. The Nigerian-German star has been making must for the best part of five years now with little commercial success to show for it, although rave reviews ensued for her 2005 album Victim Of Truth. Heatbeat first appeared a year ago on her second album No Longer At Ease and after a brief period of continental success finally arrives on these shores to hopefully turn her into the household name she has been predicted to become for some time. Obvious parallels have to be drawn between Nneka and MIA who followed a similar career path with some critically acclaimed work that took some time to be acknowledged by the general public

Finally, for this week, get used to me mentioning X Factor because once again I get the feeling it is going to become habit-forming. The TV show has an awful knack of prompting surges of support for songs that have either been performed by the contestants, or in the early stages of the show at present, used as the soundtrack for some of the potted video packages that introduce some of the contenders. Leading the way this week is Dance With My Father from Luther Vandross, a hit first time around in February 2004 when it scaled what was on reflection a rather disappointing Number 21. Now with some TV exposure under its belt, the Richard Marx co-written track gives the late star his first Top 40 hit since 2006 as it sits pretty at Number 38 this week. The long road to the final has only just begun, and make no mistake there are more oddities like this to come.