Welcome to James Masterton's Chart Watch UK – your essential weekly deep dive into the Official UK Charts!
As the longest-running British music column online, we bring you the ultimate guide to this week's Top 40, unraveling the stories behind the biggest new singles and chart-topping hits. Plus, explore our extensive archives, a treasure trove of nearly 1800 articles documenting three and a half decades of popular music history and expert analysis.
A week for dilemmas. The two biggest albums chart arrivals this week are both records marking their 20th anniversary. And the highest-charting singles new entry is a song from two years ago coming back for another go-around. Are we celebrating classics at the expense of new sounds?
It's gotta be, gotta be him. Jamie Miller becomes only the second Voice UK contestant in the history of the show to have a No.1 hit single. And he does it with one of the most joyous pop records of the year. But is it the solo or duet version that you prefer? Meanwhile, what else failed to live up to Expectations?
Another Swift Shift means a vast surge in sales for the lady you see here. A third week at No.1 is in the bag. But just what will happen next time around now those physical stock are exhausted? Meanwhile Olivia Rodrigo clears her throat...
Watch out all, there's a Storm on the way. A viral VMAs performance sends what may well be the most talked-of track of the autumn skywards. But the big story is another Swift Shift. A timely physical singles drop giving Taylor Swift a No.1 edge she would almost certainly otherwise have lacked.
