Rain On Me (Again)
So it turns out it wasn't sustainable after all.
The huge audience for Harry Styles' Aperture may well have been people checking it out in fascination. But it is either a single that is hard to love or (and you'd be surprised how relevant this point is) of such length that you aren't minded to give it as many multiple plays. Either way, the song has a dramatically smaller Week 2 than anyone truly anticipated. The result is that last week's No.1 takes a nosedive to No.4 after just a single week. With nothing else stepping up to challenge, that in turn means Raindance picks up where it left off, rebounding back to the summit for a second bite at the cherry.
Now, perhaps this is no longer as notable as I like to make it out to be, but you have to bear in mind that I grew up in an era where this literally never happened. But the return of Raindance to No.1 means the streak continues. Every year since 2009 has seen at least one No.1 single enjoy two (or more) spells at the top of the charts.
Don't Imagine You're Too Familiar
Aperture does at least stand out as the only one of this week's Top 7 singles to be less than four months old (although Raindance only just qualifies, this being its 15th week on the chart). And all of them are monsters. For the second week running every one of the Top 5 hits of the week has been No.1 for at least a week. Raye, Djo, Styles and Swift having all taken their turn in the last few months. Indeed, with both Golden and Man I Need also doggedly hanging around (and with the honourable and inevitable exception of the two Christmas-themed chart-toppers from December) every former No.1 single dating back to August last year retains a presence in the Top 20. The streak is only broken by Chappell Roan's The Subway which was last seen on the chart back in December. Enjoyably, the record that it replaced at No.1 - Justin Bieber's Daisies - makes its own chart return this week, albeit at a lowly No.99.
There's a tiny shakeup on the way at least. Both End Of Beginning and The Fate Of Ophelia are set to tumble to ACR next week.
Throwing Sticks
Early sales flashes suggested we might have been in for another surprise record, with one five minute long single replacing another at No.1 for the first time since 1998 and for only the fifth time in chart history. But alas it was not to be. However Britain's fascination with intense male songwriters and their overwrought ballads continues. Just over two years on since he established himself as a hitmaker of note, Stick Season performer Noah Kahan is back with a bang. His brand new track The Great Divide does indeed go on for a bloody long time, but happily this is because it needs that long to tell the story properly. Sam Fender, Alex Warren and Benson Boone may have picked up the gauntlet that he threw down all those months ago, but the OG crooning block of the mid-20s is here to restate his case. The title track from his forthcoming new album (due at the end of April), The Great Divide debuts at No.10 to land him his third Top 10 hit single.
Gong Me
The Grammy Awards took place last weekend in their usual slot, awards season well underway in the United States. The ceremony itself doesn’t have too many eyeballs on it on these shores, but that doesn't stop the acts celebrated therein enjoying some kind of sales bounce. The Cure won the first Grammys of their career, and although the 36-22 leap of the reactivated classic Boys Don't Cry is down to its physical re-release rather than that moment it is still a nice convenient hook.
Meanwhile Kehlani's Folded landed two gongs (including R&B song of the year) and ticks 29-24 while sombr's 12 to 12 eases 33-26 in its highest chart placing of 2026 to date - although note that it has long been stuck on ACR and in theory would be much higher.
But the most startling Grammy bounce of all is that gifted to Wildflower from Billie Eilish. Yes, it did debut on the charts way back in August 2024 and indeed enjoyed most of its chart success in that year. But because it was only officially made a "single" in 2025 it qualified for and indeed won the Song Of The Year award. That's prompted a surge of interest, not only in if we are all now allowed to live in her home, but also in the track itself which is granted a reset and re-debuts at No.32, its highest chart placing since March last year in its final week before first tumbling to ACR status.
Round And Round And Up And Down
However this is not the most unexpected re-entry of the week. That honour surely goes to Just The Way You Are from Italian house outfit Milky, a very famous club track that charted at No.8 in August 2002 - fully 24 years ago. The track was notably samples Streets Of Your Town by the Go-Betweens (itself a single that is now well over 40 years old) and indeed has had people arguing for years over whether the "do-do-do" chorus hook is sung to the tune of Listen To What The Man Said by Wings. Whosampled insists it is, but I don't hear it myself. Why is it back in 2026? Well it is mostly due to a rather rotten sped up remix by Mall Grab which dropped this week. However be warned it is so bad it crossed the line to travesty. Ball Grab more like, amarite?
Boots Working
Now you thought we'd left the C&W mini-revival back in 2024 didn't you? One of the artists who made a low-key debut during that fad was Ella Langley whose single You Look Like You Love Me peaked at No.59. Her new track Choosin' Texas has been sculling around the lower end of the Top 75 since the start of the year but now appears to be properly catching fire - it takes a running jump to No.38 this week and perhaps is choosing to go higher.
The Dean Of All Of Us
An intriguing albums chart battle this week saw another potentially interesting benchmark to be set, the physical release of Lily Allen's West End Girl album meant it was set for an extraordinary 94-1 chart climb. But alas that was not to be either, the damn thing comes to rest instead at No.2. The No.1 album of the week? Foolish child, as if you needed to ask. The newly-annointed Grammy winner Olivia Dean is once more back at the top, The Art Of Loving No.1 for the fourth time and for its sixth week in total. Meanwhile So Easy (To Fall In Love) remains technically her biggest single as it rises to No.6 in its 16th week in the Top 10. That's one place ahead of Reign Me In (yes with Sam Fender, leave me alone) which has also now been a Top 10 hit for 16 weeks in all.
Former No.1 single Man I Need remains stuck outside the 10 with a second straight week at No.11 but as I am forever honour bound to point out this is due to its ACR status. Without this it would have posted over 57,000 chart sales and be comfortably No.1 some 14,000 units ahead of Raindance. You may well continue to ask why it is stuck there, but rules are rules. Man I Need is streaming consistently and almost unchangingly (this is the 23rd straight week it has enjoyed unadjusted chart sales of over 50K which is far and away a record). ACR resets however only come with a significant spike in numbers. And it cannot achieve that.
If her anointment as the biggest star of the moment at the BRITs comes as a surprise, you really haven't been paying attention.
Oh yes, and remember when being created on a reality show meant instant pop success? Simon Cowell's latest venture The Next Act which played out on Netflix has spawned the first chart single for resultant boy band December 10. Run My Way is a sensation this week at No.72. I'll say no more.
