Here Because Of Them
It isn't all that often that the No.1 album becomes the most notable story of the week (we are in the middle of one of those periods where a new record takes over at the top every seven days and then sinks out of sight), but this week's chart-toppers are worth noting.
The multi-award-winning jazz group Ezra Collective land this week's No.1 album with Here Because Of Hope, their fourth full-length studio release. In the process they become the first ever British jazz group to top the Official UK Albums Chart with an original studio release. Throughout the long history of the charts, jazz has always struggled to gain much of a toehold. It is a genre that has its adherents but still remains often frustratingly niche. It is not that there haven't been jazz albums that have poked their head above water to cross over commercially, but they have been either novelties, compilations or far too pop-leaning to count.
Kenny Ball, Chris Barber and Acker Bilk are responsible for the "studio release" specifier above. The trio's album The Best Of Ball, Barber and Bilk had two short spells at the top in September 1962, but as the title suggests it was a compilation of previous recordings (effectively the first Greatest Hits collection in chart history to make it to the summit). No other groups of any kind have had a look-in since. Norah Jones broke a long interregnum in 2003 when her famous Come Away With Me album hit the summit - although purists will insist she is jazz-soul and doesn't count. Which is also why nobody pretends Michael Buble sits in that pocket either. Caro Emerald was arguably the last jazz star of any kind to top the albums charts - but even then The Shocking Miss Emerald is just a bit too "pop" for people to be comfortable with. And don't even start on just where Olivia Dean is crossing over from.
There is arguably only one true jazz track to have topped the singles charts: You're Driving Me Crazy by The Temperance Seven (who were themselves an unabashed novelty throwback act) enjoying a week of glory at the top in May 1961 as notably the first ever No.1 single produced by George Martin. Doop by Doop from 1994 might possibly count too, but it has both feet firmly planted in the electro swing genre.
Managing Expectation
There's some small degree of stability on the Official UK Singles chart. A non-moving Top 4 means a welcome second week at No.1 for Sienna Spiro and Great Expectation. Sales, however, remain alarmingly low. Her chart sale of just over 27,000 means we remain firmly in 2007/2008 levels of No.1 sales which would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Even if the undead Rein Me In were still on SCR, it would be No.1 itself but with a sale of only 37,000 or so. There for the taking if only anyone were prepared to step up.
The singles market as a whole seems to be suffering from some kind of seasonal malaise. After reaching record highs of 34 million earlier in the summer the market total has for the past few weeks been hovering around the 29 million mark. Not entirely dissimilar to where they were this time last year, meaning 2026 is the first year for some time the market has not been trending upwards. Plenty of people were consuming music of all kinds in May and June. Just where have they gone now?
Low sales mean everyone is clustered at the top. This was another of those weeks where the lead of the chart race changed hands with each update. Although Great Expectation has a lead over the rest of the market of more than 3,000 units, just 592 sales separate Ella Langley at No.2 and Stella Lefty at No.4. It will be fascinating to see how things look next time out, especially as the song in the middle - Movin' To The Sun - seems set to crash to ACR next week.
Seasons Change
So what is coming up on the rails to replace it? Only a two year old hit, that's what. Dua Lipa's Training Season moves up to No.5, just one place below its peak from first time around. Viral resurfacings are no one week wonder these days. And she's not the only artist seeing her back catalogue do some renewed heavy lifting this week.
Patience, we will get there shortly. Keeping up the momentum all the way into the Top 10 is Stop The Wedding from Ashe, a track which stands out due to being neither an oldie nor one which has been around for weeks. This is just the latest stop on a 5-week journey which has taken her from the depths to now challenging to become one of the autumn's breakout stars. Which is entirely appropriate given it is quite phenomenally good, even if it does remind you of five different old songs all at once - that's the Mamma Mia chord sequence running through the chorus for a start.
Edging towards its own first anniversary on the charts, Sienna Spiro's Die On This Hill is now firmly established as a halo hit to her No.1 record. This week it returns to the Top 10 for the first time since February, its No.10 placing one place below its original peak which it scaled either side of Christmas. In terms of its production, emotion and sheer arresting nature it is technically five times the song that Great Expectation is - so let's hope that doesn't get too awkward. Then again, given her other hit single The Visitor is also magnificent in its own way it is very hard to pick favourites.
Doubling Up
Ms Spiro isn't the only star with two hit singles to contend with. Adela's Ain't In LA may have rocketed up the listings in the last few weeks, but it is technically not her "current" single release. That honour goes to Nicole Kidman which debuted at No.50 last week with the release of her album and which now makes some significant chart waves of its own. It sits at No.15, two places below its predecessor which slips back slightly this week. Suggesting the newcomer may actually win the race to become her first ever Top 10 hit single.
We should here take time out to note the impressive consistency of the current single by group that Adela was nearly a part of. Having hammered home the point of how much of a set of one week wonders Katseye have been up to now, it seems only appropriate to note how their current hit has broken out of that template. This week Animal is No.18 for the second week running, now into the eighth week of a chart run which has seen it rest at 16, 17 or 18 every time - save for its fourth week out which saw it peak at No.12.
Old But Gold
Now this is where it gets decidedly odd. The three biggest chart entries of the week are not new hits in any sense of the word. Catalogue oldies all. The charge is led by TLC's 1999 No.3 hit No Scrubs which takes the three-piece girl group back into the Top 40 for the first time in 22 years. Its revival is largely due to its use on the soundtrack of the Prime Video series The Last Sunrise, thus prompting online virality and the ACR reset which now takes it back into the charts. No Scrubs was the biggest of 12 chart singles for the group although the late Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes did enjoy a No.1 hit as the credited guest of Melanie C on Never Be The Same Again in April 2000.
Oasis returns are these days as frequent as bowel movements, the announcement of another set of live dates next year prompting Don't Look Back In Anger back to No.30. Why that song and not the others is best left to your imagination. This marks the third year running that the 1996 No.1 hit has returned to the Top 40 and its fourth visit in the last ten years.
Just missing the Top 40, but notable for two very impressive reasons, Tove Lo's Talking Body returns to our lives at No.41 to break an 11 year absence. A No.17 hit in May 2015 it was the third hit single for the Swedish electropop star. Its return now appears to be down to little more than - you guessed it - some renewed online virality. Possibly much of thanks to the discovery by a new generation that her live performances of the track at the time involved the exposure of more of her own (talking) body than festival-goers generally expected.
Isn't It?
So the sole track that is new-new to the Top 40 is Babydoll from Jamie Miller, a somewhat long overdue first ever hit single for the man who first came to public attention on the 2017 series of The Voice UK in which he came third. Although credited to the Welshman solo, its commercial success is largely down to a just-released new version which adds in guest vocals from Off Campus star Antonio Cipriano. No.46 last week, No.24 this time around. And one listen helps you understand why.
Finally, was all the cynicism over the chart performance of Miley Cyrus's Bass Persuades justified? Quite possibly. Last week's No.31 hit plunges all the way to No.66 this time around, casting severe doubt on the strength of this campaign. Her new album arrives this week, and seeing how that performs will be quite fascinating to watch.
