(Back) Up Up Up
This week marks one of those rare moments when the UK and US charts are in synchronicity. Golden by Huntr/X climbed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 last week, making them effectively the first all-female group to top the American charts since Destiny's Child way back in 2001. It really has been that long.
In Britain the gender of the group (be they the voice performers or their fictional counterparts) is less notable given we have been spoiled in the last 20 years by the presence of the likes of Sugababes, Girls Aloud and Little Mix in our lives. And while they were never formal "groups" as such, we have also sent all-female multi-artist collaborations such as Christina Aguilera/Mya/Pink/Lil' Kim (Lady Marmalade, 2001) and Jesse J/Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj (Bang Bang, 2014) to the top of the charts in the meantime.
But yes, it is what you are thinking. Chappell Roan's sojourn at No.1 lasted just as week as the cartoon demon slayers triumphantly reclaim their crown to land a second spell at the top of the Official UK Singles chart. Golden is perhaps extraordinarily the third single this year to rebound to the top of the charts, hard on the heels of Ordinary and Manchild both twice swapping places back in June. It also means we continue what is by modern standards a quite extraordinary run of volatility at the top of the charts. In an era when extended residencies thanks to embedded streaming popularity have become the norm the No.1 crown has now changed hands for nine of the last ten weeks, the only interruption to a run of one week wonders being the comparatively glacial fortnight that MK and Chrystal's Dior spent at the top a month ago. That is notably the longest period of volatility since 2014 when for 23 weeks out of 24 there was also a different single at the top of the charts each week. It is not insignificant that this coincided with the start of the streaming era itself.
Demons
One day I'll start consistently referring to the movie by its correct title, but the phenomenon of the Kpop Demon Hunters feature continues to grow. Now comfortably Netflix's biggest hit of all time, there are plans to screen it in cinemas for special singalong events, merchandise is flooding into the shops and the songs themselves continue to define the charts of the summer of 2025. And if you - somehow - haven't watched the film yet, then you are genuinely denying yourself a full understanding of just how huge this is. Back on the charts the Saja Boys creep a little closer to their rivals this week, Soda Pop remains fixed in place at No.6 but Your Idol edges up one to now sit at No.7. And as noted last week, real-life Korean girl band's own version of Takedown is now itself a Top 40 single as it climbs to No.35.
It seems appropriate to recap here the specific chart rules that are applied to Kpop Demon Hunters songs. Because circumstances mean it does get a little complicated. The soundtrack album for the film is ineligible for the main artist albums chart (where it would in actual fact be No.1 for the very first time this week were this not the case). This is thanks to a 2020 rule change which relegated Official Soundtracks to the multi-artist compilations chart. This however means that for the purposes of calculating the "primary artist" and applying chart rule 5.1d (no more than three tracks per artist can chart at any one time) the soundtrack itself is considered the "artist". That's why there is only one Huntr/X and two Saja Boys songs currently permitted to chart. They are considered the same performing act for the purposes of rule 5.1d. Were this not the case you may be interested to note that Huntr/X's How It's Done would also be a Top 10 hit this week.
However this only applies to those songs that are exclusive to the soundtrack album. The two Twice singles on the chart (Strategy at No.45 and the aforementioned Takedown) have also been released on Twice's own albums and EPs which means the group take priority as the primary artist. Meaning they - perhaps anomalously - get to chart of their own accord. Entertainingly this will also be having a knock-on effect of the chart sales allocated to the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack album. As a result of that 2020 rule change, soundtracks are the only records on the Compilations chart whose track streams count towards their calculated chart positions - as long as the track itself is exclusive to that soundtrack and does not appear on any other artist album. The Twice tracks though are not exclusive, so their streams are directed towards their own albums. Clear as mud I hope.
Signs Of Life
A couple of ACR ejections (notably Manchild and Blessings) means room for the Top 10 to breathe a little although the two singles that replace them are ones of equal vintage, Alex Warren's still doggedly evergreen Ordinary back up to No.8 (and No.2 if it were not on ACR) and Benson Boone's Beautiful Things at No.10 for what is now its 34th week in total as a Top 10 single. This should be the last as it will slip back to ACR next week, although of course we have been here before.
Meanwhile Disco Lines' No Broke Boys rises further to No.3, now comfortably the biggest chart hit to date for Tinashe whose remixed song the hit single is.
Justin Bieber maintains a Top 5 presence with former No.1 single Daisies but it could well be joined next week by the suddenly popular Yukon. Benefitting from a newly made video the album cut has been making strides as a hit single on its own merits in the last few weeks and now rises to a new peak of No.12, five weeks into its chart life.
Teddy Floats
New Ed Sheeran singles are commonly the highest new entry of the week, although it is rather more unusual to see that debut point being as low as No.18. Needless to say A Little More is another pre-album teaser, now the fourth track to be released from his still unheard album Play following on from Azizam (bless you), Old Phone and Sapphire. In this context No.18 means very little. He is for sure not the chart force he was a decade ago, but you know the album itself will be huge when it finally arrives in a month's time.
Such slow burn album promotions appear to be a growing trend. It appears the tactic by superstars of going "SURPRISE" to the world and releasing an album with no buildup is old hat, and we are back to the old fashioned way of building up anticipation (and pre orders). Even Taylor Swift is in on the act, spending this week promoting a new record which only as an aside she mentioned is to come out in October.
Not Your Imagination
It seems entirely appropriate that in the week of the 30th anniversary of the famous Battle Of Britpop (about which you can read more elsewhere on this site) Oasis are once more at the top of the albums chart, there more or less by default as none of the week's new releases were able to overhaul the streaming power of their Time Flies 1994-2009 hits collection. As is generally the case, each week their parade of favourites rearrange themselves on the charts and with some now falling to ACR it clears the way for Cigarettes And Alcohol to make its own chart return at No.34, the 1994 No.7 hit back in the Top 40 for the first time since November 1996 and sitting on its highest rung since the third week of its first chart run, almost 31 years ago.
Summer 2025 may be Golden at the top of the charts, but the dearth of outstanding new product appears to be continuing. Perhaps we do need Taylor Swift to rescue us after all.
