This week's Official UK Singles Chart

This week's Official UK Albums Chart

Naturally it will have to come to an end eventually, but whilst it continues the UK Number One reign of Carly Rae Jepsen continues to be nothing short of extraordinary. After three straight weeks of 100,000+ sales she finally dips under three figures in her fourth week at the top - but only just. Call Me Maybe last week sold another 99,000 copies to take its total to close on 440,000 - enough to ensure it is now the seventh biggest seller of the year to date and with the half a million mark well within its sights next week.

Jepsen's continuing success is all the more impressive when you consider for much of the week she trailed the big new release which ultimately settles for being Number 2. Let's Go is the brand new single from the prolific Calvin Harris, the first track to be lifted from his forthcoming third album [or so it was promoted at the time. The album 18 Months would subsequently appear with both his 2011 hits referenced below as well as Rihanna's We Found Love as part of the tracklisting]. As Dizzee Rascal and Rihanna will cheerfully testify, pretty much everything he puts his name to winds up as a guaranteed commercial smash, although with his own work he has a frustrating knack of falling at the final hurdle. Presuming it climbs no further, Let's Go will rank as his third consecutive Number 2 hit, following on from 2011 releases Bounce and Feels So Close. His only chart-topper as a lead artist remains 2009s I'm Not Alone. As you might expect, this new track is a barnstorming and invigorating club hit, enlivened by a guest vocal from Ne-Yo who is charting for the first time since his star turn on Pitbull's Number One single Give Me Everything last year. Intriguingly this will be the first time Ne-Yo has ever seen a single peak at Number 2, every single one of his four Top 3 hits to date have all gone on to top the charts.

In an otherwise quiet week for new releases, the Harris single is the only brand new hit to make any kind of chart impact, although that doesn't stop some existing chart singles reaching new highs. Chief amongst them is Alex Clare with Too Close, as currently heard on the TV commercials for Internet Explorer of all things. The single rises a further ten places to Number 6 after a three weeks climb and caps a remarkable comeback for the London-based singer-songwriter. His album The Lateness Of The Hour was released back in 2011 but despite widespread critical acclaim failed to make any kind of sales impact. Too Close was originally its second single release but failed to chart first time around - along with the other tracks he made available last year. The biggest irony? His UK label Island records actually dropped him at the tail end of last year, feeling they had done all they could to break him. Here's hoping he buys his family at least 20 copies of Office 2010 each with his next royalty cheque.

Another Top 10 climber is Drive By from Train which rises 14-10 and in the process matches the peak of their only other hit charting single to date Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me) which ascended into the Top 10 in August 2001. You read that correctly, it has been an astonishing 3,914 days between Top 10 appearances by the band, which although impressive is actually only the 110th longest gaps between Top 10 hits. In a strange coincidence this new single has until now been charting contemporaneously with its 2001 predecessor which had re-charted thanks to performances on The Voice UK, the track this week dipping to Number 48.

Indeed it is The Voice UK which contributes once again to a smattering of older hits in the lower regions of the singles chart, the song choices of the contestants having a noticeable impact on catalogue sales of past recordings. Most prominent of all is the 2005 Number One hit Dakota from the Stereophonics which reappears at Number 29 for the first time since its original chart run seven years ago. Dakota was one of the last Number One singles to hit the top based on physical sales alone, the inclusion of downloaded data coming just four weeks after its release.

After rather dismal album sales last week which saw Adele top the charts with the lowest weekly tally for 17 years, things bounce back to normal this time around as Jack White storms to the top with his first ever post-White Stripes solo album Blunderbuss. In all it is the third time he has topped the UK charts with an album, having hit the top with his old group on Elephant in 2004 and Icky Thump in 2007. Also making a strong debut this week is Out Of The Game by Rufus Wainwright which sees the composer and musician team up with Mark Ronson for what is essentially his most beats-driven release to date. It charts at Number 5, just a little way behind the Number 2 peak of his 2007 album Release The Stars.