Truth Bombs
The chart commentary pieces I wrote for Music Week were strictly 800 words in length, just enough to fit into the printed (and later virtual) page and no more. Before I developed the knack, some weeks involved some quite brutal self-editing to get under the limit with entire descriptive paragraphs discarded.
I only share that to marvel at whether I'll even make it to 800 words this week, but let's see what takes place.
There is at least one fascinating story to tell on the Official UK Singles chart, as for the second week in a row we have a brand new No.1 single. Two weeks ago Gracie Abrams' That's So True was a footnote, a companion hit to the rather better established I Love You I'm Sorry. This week it overtakes its predecessor to lodge firmly and happily at No.1 to turn the American singer-songwriter into what is presumably the final breakout star of the year.
The semi-acoustic single is perhaps startlingly her fifth chart entry of the year, Gracie having opened her account back in May with the No.67 hit Risk. Her third even enjoyed a sprinkling of superstar magic with Taylor Swift on co-vocals for Us. which spent two weeks at No.37 in July. No, I didn't notice it either. It seems an appropriate pairing, That's So True marking Gracie Abrams out as the bizarro Tay-Tay, her No.1 single easily mistaken for the American superstar if you squint a little.She also pulls off the comparatively unusual trick of topping the charts with a single taken from an album which topped the charts several months ago. The Secret Of Us hit the top when first released back in July - although That's So True is a later addition to its tracklisting.
Abrams is the sixth female performer to have a No.1 single in 2024 and indeed the third in a unique sequence of American female artists topping the British charts. The last time three international solo females topped the charts one after the other was at the end of 1988 when Whitney Houston (American), Enya (Irish) and Robin Beck (American) all hit No.1 one after the other - this shortly after that same year opened with Americans Belinda Carlisle and Tiffany giving way to the very Australian Kylie Minogue. Female artists of any kind have now been No.1 for 28 of the 45 weeks so far in 2024.
As for Gigi Perez, for now she reverses to No.2 with Sailor Song. Possibly joining Charli XCX's GUESS as the only one-week wonders of the year.
On Its Hinges
While ACR abruptly halts the career of another long-running Top 10 single (Somedays by Sonny Fodera and friends reverses 5-30), the remaining singles in the Top 10 include many hits that are deep into their chart life and show no sign of fading out just yet. Chappell Roan's Hot To Go hits a new peak of No.5 after 25 weeks around, Teddy Swims' The Door finally breaks into the Top 10 at No.8 in its 29th week on the Top 100 while Adam Port's Move is the hit that now refuses to die, returning to its No.10 peak after three weeks away on what is now its 19th week on the chart.
And we can once more acknowledge the elephant as Sabrina Carpenter's Taste actually returns to the Top 10 at No.9 in its second week on ACR although weirdly this time out the single isn't a de-facto No.1 and would have surrendered its crown to the Gracie Abrams single anyway. That said it does have much in common with many ACR-ed singles still hanging around like bad smells. Die With A Smile, Good Luck Babe, Birds Of A Feather and Espresso all improve on their chart positions inside the Top 20. It is quite jaw-dropping just how keen Britain still is on the hits of the summer. But then again there hasn't been much come along to replace them in people's affections. Official Charts call it "accelerated decline". But these are hits that are just won't behave and are refusing to decline.
Back to Teddy Swims though, and although I've repeatedly mocked Bad Dreams for lagging behind a single that predated it for many months, the newer track from the soul man is well on its way to establishing itself as a smash for both the pre- and post-Christmas charts. The hit is up to No.15, and I'll note here for the record that the first new No.1 single of 2025 is more than likely to be drawn from something that is floating around the charts right at this moment. And people love Teddy Swims to bits - Lose Control starts its second year as a chart single with another ACR-suppressed rise to No.26. It is No.13 on the unfiltered streaming chart.
Saturday, Sunday What
New hits are, to say the least, thin on the ground. For any casual readers I'll repeat the point I've made before. The imminent arrival of Christmas hits and the resultant chart invisibility of all but the biggest contemporary pop hits has meant that promoting new material from mid-November onwards is a wild blind swing, trusting that you can establish a track in the market not so much with an eye on December, but with a view to being part of the conversation in January. I fully empathise with any plugger, any A&R department who just doesn't want to take the risk. But pop music is still supposed to thrive on the new. Without it we atrophy, which I fear is what is starting to take place. People like Sabrina Carpenter dominate all with three hits at once because they are popular, but also because there's little effective competition to stop them.
Let us then welcome this week's highest new entry as The Weeknd grabs a third hit in a matter of a couple of months as Sao Paolo debuts at No.22, once place behind the slowly settling Timeless. The third single from his forthcoming album the challengingly different track features Brazilian singer Anitta who joins the ever-growing list of the Canadian's collaborative partners. Sao Paolo is refreshingly different and develops in a way you don't at first expect, so is worth three and a half minutes of your time.
Yule Log Update
Despite a curiously slow start festive hits are now ramping up nicely on schedule. We hit 2 - Mariah at 58 and Wham at 61 - the fourth year in a row both have charted in parallel exactly this many weeks before the end of the year. Although last year both debuted immediately inside the Top 40. All eyes on next week - will we beat the 2023 total of 10?
