Cast Your Wind To The F...
No, wait. We've done this one already haven't we?
As hinted last week, the pendulum of chart fate swings back in Taylor Swift's direction. Golden and The Fate Of Ophelia swap places, propelling the latter back to No.1 after a fortnight away for what is now its fourth week in total at the top of the charts. And equally as predictably, following the release of acoustic versions of a handful of its tracks, counterpart album The Life Of A Showgirl smoothly rises back to the summit for what is now it's own fourth week of glory. Almost like she planned this all along.
It seems only fitting to note what an extraordinary year this has now been. In 2025 no fewer than five different singles have all had multiple spells at the top of the charts - That's So True, Ordinary, Manchild, Golden and now The Fate Of Ophelia. It is a spell of repeating history that is without precedent in chart er, history. The only question now is whether there is a further twist in the tail - Ophelia's surge of popularity may well be transitory. The story of the Demon Hunters is quite possibly still not yet done. But if there's one thing predictable about the UK charts it is their lack of predictability. Except at Christmas of course.
See The Dean
I was naturally talking nonsense last week when speculating about the prospect of Olivia Dean's Man I Need falling to ACR - it is of course already on that status. But the sweet soul classic still remains in such demand it is holding its own in the Top 5. The former No.1 even moves back up a place to No.4 this week, posting an adjusted chart sale of 29,529 which if unadjusted would have meant it could well have even bested The Fate Of Ophelia to be No.1 once more. If only the label could engineer the circumstances for a reset.
The domination of the Top 10 by a small handful of artists continues apace as we race towards the end of the year. Taylor Swift and Olivia Dean both have 3 hits, while Huntr/X have two for themselves. Meaning the only other acts with Top 10 hits this week are RAYE (No.3) and Dave/Tems (No.7). Conspicuous by its absence is Michael Jackson's Thriller. But that was of course a one-off spike of interest for Halloween. Perhaps it will be back next year.
It is still entirely possible Olivia Dean will end up with four again as her newly eligible A Couple Of Minutes is racing up the charts in its own right, rising to a new peak of No.15. But it also has to contend with a hit from another exciting new female talent as Sienna Spiro's particularly awesome Die On This Hill reverses its sagging of last week and rockets up to No.13. If there's one sign of an act on the rise and becoming talked about, it is the way their previously overlooked material awakens too - and that applies to Ms Spiro too. Maybe, her year old track that first peaked at No.75 almost exactly a year ago is on the rise itself, rocketing to a new peak of No.45 in a manner which suggests it may sneak a Top 40 run before the Christmas hits overcome us all.
But also from the hot new star pile comes EssDeeKid who is playing true to the two hits at once rule as well. His collaboration with Rico Ace on Phantom now lifts to No.17 with his more recent release Century hard on its heels at No.21.
Also new to the Top 20 after what has been a quite extraordinary chart run which so far has seen it spend six straight weeks stranded between 23 and 26 - Folded by Kehlani which now reaches a brand new peak of No.20.
So superstar domination at the summit aside, there is actually a great deal of new music from breakout stars to be excited about as you scan the singles chart. But for the benefit of newcomers it seems important to note: everything we are seeing right now merely informs us as to what the singles market may well look like in the early weeks of January. Most of these mid-table hits are destined to be snuffed out and rendered invisible for a short while not due to lack of continuing popularity, but because it is Christmas back catalogue season. With each passing year I derive less and less joy from that, can you tell?
Chequered Flag
For the highest new entry of the week we have to look as low as No.22. Talk Of The Town is the first Top 40 single for Fred Again since July's No.4 hit Victory Lap. That fact alone is perhaps something of a surprise, given the producer and DJ has spent the past couple of months drip-releasing new additions to his 2024 online mixtape USB. Until this one came along none of these regular drops have made enough of an impact to get anywhere near the upper end of the charts.
Speaking of prolific, the artist formerly known as Digga D was until a few weeks ago a guest of His Majesty (not for the first time in his life either) following his conviction back in January for supplying. Released on licence midway through a 3 year sentence, the terms of his release clearly don't preclude him from making music. So here he is again, now without the identifying letter and branded just "Digga", he charts at No.31 with DPMO which duly becomes his first Top 40 hit as a lead artist since 2023 No.15 hit Energy - although he was also a guest of 163Margs on Hide And Seek which crept to No.38 later that same year.
All together now: "what do you mean you had forgotten?"
Run Along Sonny
After three weeks hovering on the edge, Think About Us from Sonny Fodera makes the breakthrough and hovers into view at No.33. Featuring D O D and marking the chart debut of 24 year old singer songwriter Poppy Baskcomb it is everything you would expect from a Sonny Fodera track. Which sounds like damning with faint praise, but it really isn't intended that way. It is the producer's second Top 40 hit of the year and it may well match or beat the No.23 peak of Tell Me from back in the spring. But whether it does it now or in January is anyone's guess.
Chart history of a kind is made on the album chart as Rosalia's Lux enters at No.4, becoming the highest charting album to date by a solo Spanish female singer. It charts its permitted three cuts this week, but the biggest of all is the already-released Berghain which jumps 51-36. The full orchestrated operatic cut would turn heads in its own right but is perhaps just as notable for its guest performance by a co-credited Bjork - making this the Icelandic superstar's first Top 40 hit since Triumph Of A Heart reached No.31 in March 2005.
I Don't Think They Understand
There's a full rant about catalogue hits clogging up the back end of the singles chart to come when there's more space to do so, but as part of that weird wave it seems only appropriate to note Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls rounds off its year-long residency at the (mostly) lower end of the Top 100 with a rise to No.39, the first time it has made the Top 40 since June 2013 at the tail end of a Britain's Got Talent-inspired chart run which had seen it reach No.12. First charting in 1998, and only a proper hit single briefly the following year, the enduring classic's best chart run came in October 2011 when it reached an X-Factor prompted No.3. This week is its 192nd week as a Top 100 hit, but only the 14th as a Top 40 single.
The Yule Log is still stuck at 2, which is perhaps rather curious given we had hit 5 this time last year. But nonetheless both All I Want For Christmas Is You and Last Christmas are making due progress, sitting at 51 and 50 respectively and almost inevitably making their way into the Top 40 next time around.
AIIIIII
But we should finish on something a little out of the ordinary, noting a track that is not on the charts at all. Midweek sales flashes all noted the startling rise of a club track called I Run, credited to Haven and which was last week's No.56 single. Based on early data it would not have been a surprise to see the single on the cusp of the Top 10. But instead it is excluded completely. The reason is due to legal issues which have seen takedown notices issued to DSPs (although the track can still be easily found on YouTube). Most people had convinced themselves that the uncredited singer was Jorja Smith, or was very least sampled from her. But it rather appears that the voice had been entirely AI-generated - and, speculating here of course, it is entirely possible that this was the legally problematic part.
Official Charts gave Music Week a statement on the matter, which I reproduce here: "It is against Official Charts Company policy to include within our charts any repertoire which is believed to potentially be infringing. We have received notification that a series of takedown notices have been issued to DSPs in relation to the track I Run by Haven. Our understanding is that these takedown notices have been or are in the process of being implemented. As a consequence, this track is suspended today from the Official Singles Charts.”
Parts of the music industry are (not unreasonably) shitting themselves over the prospect of AI-generated music becoming a thing, although the major label signing recently of Xania Monet (who does not exist and is an AI avatar for a poet who doesn't herself sing) proves that others are ready to embrace it. AI-generated music that is a implicit knock-off of an established name though? Perhaps that is a little too close to the knuckle.
