I Was A Ghost
Just wow. When Golden was evicted from the No.1 position after just a single week at the top back in the summer, I genuinely thought that was it. I'd overhyped the song and the movie, its success and popularity being just a passing fad. But now here we are deep in autumn, much water has flown under the bridge, and even after a couple of hiatuses, Golden is still the No.1 single.
The Kpop Demon Hunters are thus top of the Official UK Singles chart for a tenth week in total, this made up of chart runs of 1, 7 and 2 in turn. Golden is the second single this calendar year to have a No.1 run that stretches into double figures, hard on the heels of Alex Warren's 13 week total with Ordinary back in the spring. It is only the third time in chart history this has happened, inevitably all of them being in the streaming era. In 2017 Ed Sheeran's Shape Of You had 14 weeks at the top, with Luis Fonsi's Despacito landing 11 later that summer. And two years ago in 2023 Miley Cyrus' Flowers and Dave and Central Cee's Sprinter both had 10 week No.1 runs. How much longer does it physically have? Well, this week marks its ACR clock ticking once. But we've been here before.
Cast Your Wind To The Fate
But Taylor Swift is by no means done yet. The Fate Of Ophelia clings doggedly on at No.2 for a second week and indeed is a mere 1,500 chart sales behind. It has also been at least five minutes so it is also time for a new edition of her album, hence the release this week of acoustic versions of several of the songs from The Life Of A Showgirl. That means there is a very good chance tracks such as The Fate Of Ophelia have an upcoming boost in their consumption. Don't rule out that she's due for another charge at the summit.
Meanwhile RAYE's Where Is My Husband also remains in the mix, holding firm at No.3 in its seventh week around. Is this destined to repeat her triumph of three years ago and do great things in the new year? Something here has to. And that's not to ignore either Taylor Swift's Opalite which we've kind of overlooked despite it (and its companion Elizabeth Taylor) having also maintained permanent Top 10 berths since the album was released. The former is still No.4 while the latter dips to No.10.
And while I'm rattling through the singles at the very top of the charts, we still have to mention Olivia Dean. Man I Need, is still doing enough numbers to rank as the No.5 single of the week, one place above So Easy (To Fall In Love) which jumps back to its previous No.6 peak. It is however farewell to the already ACR-ed Nice To Each Other which vanishes from sight this week, replaced (albeit only by a matter of 1,500 sales or so) as her third hit of the moment by A Couple Minutes, the eleventh track on her The Art Of Loving album and which now makes a belated chart bow at No.22. Man I Need may well also vanish from view shortly with its own ACR clock now having ticked three times.
It's Not Fair
Lily Allen's three hits from last week prove to be no one-week wonders and all make their own individual chart progress. The biggest attention remains focused on Pussy Palace (she thought it was a dojo, dojo, dojo) which jumps 12-8 and returns the British star to the Top 10 for the first time in almost 12 years. The MIA-aping Air Balloon was her last such hit to climb this high, reaching No.7 in March 2014. Meanwhile West End Girl edges up two places to No.15 and Madeline is on the climb to No.16.
Something that has been in my notes to mention for a few weeks now is the continuing EXTRA-ordinary chart run of Alex Warren's Ordinary. Yes, it spent a galactic era at No.1 earlier this year, but it still refuses to die on playlists and in popularity. This week it marks 20 weeks on ACR, during which time it has either hovered around the lower end of the Top 10 or drifted just outside it. Last week it dipped to No.16 in what was the lowest chart position of its career, but now it rises back to No.14. Destined to remain inside the Top 20 until the Christmas hits finally snuff it out. Without the restrictions it would still be the No.4 hit of the week.
Something Strange
I noted last week that the calendar was a little unkind to Halloween themed hits this year, October 31st itself being the first day of the current chart survey and thus the apex of the annual surge of interest in that particular catalogue niche. But Official Charts have helped matters along by arranging for an ACR reset for all such hits, meaning they make more of an impact even from that single day of consumption than might have otherwise been the case. None make quite the impact the early sales flashes falsely suggested, but there are plenty littering what might have otherwise been a rather moribund Top 40.
Just as it was last week, Michael Jackson's Thriller is the biggest of them all. The title track from his most famous album first reached No.10 in November 1983 and returned to No.12 in the wake of the singer's death in 2009. But now in 2025 it reaches a brand new peak, soaring up the charts to land this week at No.9. The song itself, written by his then prolific collaborator Englishman Rod Temperton, isn't actually all that substantial and is perhaps less memorable than some of the other hits from the smash album after who it was named. But it is most famous for its video - actually a 15 minute mini-movie directed by John Landis which was screened in cinemas and perhaps did more than any other production at the time to further elevate the music video into a full artform. He told you he's not like other guys.
But then here come the other spooky hits. Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jnr, the theme to the 1984 movie of the same name, is back on the chart at No.17, its highest chart placing since it first peaked at No.2 fully 41 years ago. Also from 1984 is Somebody's Watching Me (coincidentally with an uncredited Michael Jackson on backing vocals) which charts at No.19, again a modern day peak following its No.6 placing upon first release.
Just behind at No.20 is the more vintage Monster Mash from Bobby 'Boris' Pickett (the Crypt Kickers now largely forgotten it seems). An American No.1 in 1962, it failed to chart here first time around following a BBC airplay ban, belatedly becoming a British hit in 1973 when it peaked at No.3. Today's placing is once again the highest it has charted in the digital era. Also creeping (no pun intended) into the Top 40 are two lesser starred hits which are back once again thanks to the power of Spotify playlists. Andrew Gold's Spooky Scary Skeletons is No.30 with Danny Elfman's This Is Halloween at No.31. Still no love for Things That Go Bump In The Night by the Allstars though, something I lament every year. One day the Scooby Doo movie will rise again, you watch.
Yes Kid
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? A new entry for a brand new contemporary hit? Spoiled we are, spoiled. Sneaking in at No.40 is Century, the second Top 40 hit in the space of just over a month for EsDeeKid. His first is Phantom which has edged its way up to a peak so far of No.25 although this week it is No.28 for the second week running. Good luck to both of them, but as we edge further into November we all know the window for modern day songs to properly establish themselves visibly is closing. Century is only 110 seconds long though, so you get to play it several times before you get bored of it. That's the idea anyway.
Jingle Jangle
And that is all because the Yule Log is officially up and rolling. Bang on cue, appearing as they do every week this year the first of the seasonal classics make their way into the Top 40. All I Want For Christmas Is You leads the charge at No.82, while Last Christmas begins what it is not unreasonable to assume is an inexorable charge back to the top of the charts at No.96. Mind you, neither are the most notable former Christmas favourite to re-chart this week. New in at No.72 following the release of some special edition vinyl to mark the 50th anniversary of its release is the 1975 and 1991 Christmas No.1 Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Interesting times we live in.
