Going Back?
Silly season on the Official UK Singles chart may almost be over, but there's still time for one more extraordinary event to take place. Something that nobody who had read any of the midweek updates could possibly have anticipated. But if you are going to start the year, why not start it with something extraordinary?
Your No.1 single this week is not Where Is My Husband! Nor is it once again The Fate Of Ophelia as early sales flashes indicated would be the result of its physical release. Instead, a singles chart defined in so many ways this week by fever for a TV show just so happens to be performed by one of its cast members. End Of Beginning by DJO is now part of chart history.
It is yet another track from this wild west streaming era that has taken its sweet time to ascend to its ultimate destiny, perhaps giving hope to everyone who has released a record that either vanished without trace or failed to deliver on its true promise first time around. Joe Keery's ballad first surfaced online as a track from his second independently-released DJO album Decide in September 2022. It did not become a "single" as such until early 2024 when a viral trend for using it to soundtrack travel videos (inspired by the "When I'm back in Chicago" line) saw it charge up charts worldwide. And charge it did, in Britain moving 100-11-5-4 where it peaked in March of that year during a seven-week run in the Top 10.
So what on earth has brought it back now? Stranger Things, naturally. It doesn't form part of the soundtrack to the TV series, by Joe Keery's portrayal of Steve Harrington means his singing alter ego is somehow inextricably linked to the demand for anything related to the show. Whether or not this new 2026 surge is quite as organic as people would like you to think it is. And of course Lily Allen recently had both hit singles and an album entirely devoted to a member of the Stranger Things cast. Even if it didn’t paint him in the best of lights.
End Of Beginning is merely the latest in a number of tracks that have taken a leisurely journey to the top, not least as it succeeds the RAYE hit that dives to No.3 this week. But DJO had to be even more patient that her, taking three years and three months from release to hit No.1. That's impressive, but not quite a record for a single released this decade, that still held by Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club which reached the summit in March last year, almost five years on from its original release.
Regular reader David messaged on Twitter to ask about DJO/Keery's status as a No.1 performer perhaps better known as an actor, although that is a distinction that is muddier than ever given the large number of artists who now straddle both disciplines with ease. When the likes of Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter turned teen acting fame into music stardom and are happy to pivot back when required, who are we to define who is a singer or who is an actor? Joe Keery's use of a pseudonym to sing suggests he's happy to straddle both camps as well. But he nonetheless joins such 70s legends as Telly Savalas and David Soul who also had No.1 chart hits while being arguably more famous for TV roles.
Take Me Back
End Of Beginning is (if you will pardon the pun) actually just the beginning of a chart story linked to Stranger Things. As the series finally reaches its climax online, the story of a new year chart that traditionally would be about the brand new singles pouring into it is instead all about a startling number of catalogue hits - all lifted from the soundtrack - that compete with more modern offerings for our ears.
So let's deal with them in turn. The highest "new" entry of the week following an ACR reset is Purple Rain by Prince and The Revolution, originally a No.8 hit in 1984 but whose last chart return came in the wake of the singer's 2016 death when it reached No.6, rightly so as his signature hit. That's followed by the apparently evergreen Running Up That Hill from Kate Bush, now back up to No.14 a chart position she last scaled in August 2022 shortly after the song charged to No.1 and forced a small rewrite of the chart rules in the process.
Then at No.17 we have another former No.1, Every Breath You Take by The Police which surges to No.17 following an ACR reset. It is back in the Top 40 for the first time since its four weeks at the top in June 1983 although it was also extensively sampled in I'll Be Missing You by Puff Daddy in 1997, another No.1 hit we have to childishly pretend no longer exists.
The most extraordinary arrival is the No.20 brand new entry for Landslide by Fleetwood Mac, a song that first appeared on their self-titled album from 1975. Never a single in its original form (however a live rendition made No.51 on the Hot 100 in 1997) and so never before having reason to chart here, it is now a UK Top 20 hit. Oddly enough this is the second Fleetwood Mac track to chart for the first time ever in recent months, hard on the heels of The Chain (taken from Rumours) which arrived for a belated wander in the lower reaches at the end of last year. The Mac are no stranger to viral revivals of course, and the likes of Dreams and Everywhere remain Spotify perennials.
I Want More
You want more? I got plenty more. Upside Down by Diana Ross (No.2 in 1980), back at No.26, just a place above the already charting I Think We're Alone Now from Tiffany. Oh, and there's also Should I Stay Or Should I Go by The Clash, back in the Top 40 at No.40 for the first time since a Levis Jeans commercial propelled it belatedly to No.1 in 1991.
Now, here is the interesting part. We sneer (with good reason) at the way the Christmas songs all mysteriously line up in much the same order they appear on curated playlists from the big DSPs. Spotify do indeed have an official "Stranger Things" playlist which collects together all the hits from the various soundtracks. But the order songs appear on that playlist does not correlate to the way the hits from the TV soundtrack line up on the chart this week. Suggesting there is indeed an element of free selection going on. Food for thought for sure.
Are There Any New Acts?
Yes child, there are indeed new entries from more modern day artists, I'm glad you asked. That particular charge is led by a man who has already enjoyed a No.1 album so far in his career but who only now makes his Top 40 singles chart debut. 28 year-old Swiss-born Briton James Marriott has parlayed a strong YouTube following into a healthy music career. His album Don't Tell The Dog flew straight to the top of the charts in June last year, and this week he lands a new entry at No.22 with single California Rain. It is a crunching indie-rock track, entirely in line with the sound of acts such as Foals and The Strokes whom he has stated he idolises. What is fascinating to me is that we are well used to band emerging and paying tribute to similar acts who inspired them in the past. But whereas once upon a time a James Marriott who loved Foals would have formed his own band to emulate them, the 2026 version has no need to do so. He's a one man rock act. Because (and this is the sad truth), nobody wants or even needs to form a group any more.
Katsy
Taking a 180 degree turn musically, here come K-Pop wonders Katseye who seem forever on the verge of a huge commercial breakthrough. But just not yet it seems. They charted twice in 2025 - once with the not quite as viral as it was intended to be Gnarly (No.52) and them with the more mainstream but still understated Gabriela (No.38). This week they land their biggest hit to date with startling Hyperpop track Internet Girl, the first studio appearance of a track that has featured heavily in most of their live promo sets to date. I'm still not completely convinced there is enough commercial potential here to make it more than a one week wonder. But if I'm wrong, its No.24 entry point could well be the start of something bigger.
Could Be?
We round the chart off with one more vintage hit that enters the Top 40. Marking the tenth anniversary of his sad passing, and yes OK because it plays out in full at the end of Stranger Things' climactic episode, David Bowie's classic Heroes makes a chart return at No.34. Defining what Bowie's best track is ranks as at least a five pint argument, but in terms of quality of performance few come closer in his lifetime to this one. Originally a No.24 hit in 1977, it reached a new peak ten years ago this week when it charted at No.12.
Yes, it is silly season, one that happily is set to come to a crashing halt next week with the grand return of one notable foreign superstar. But in the meantime the singles chart this week is nothing short of startling. Including Zara Larsson's Lush Life (up a place to No.8) there are no fewer than 10 songs in this week's Top 40 that are at least three years beyond their first release - and in some cases much older than that. Exactly what to do about back catalogue hits and in particular the "long tail" of streaming favourites, and the way they annoyingly loiter around the charts taking up places ordinarily occupied by the latest and greatest hits, is a question that is being asked in ever louder voices. Other charts in other nations have already addressed the issue - ARIA in Australia for example dumping older songs out to their own catalogue chart.
But should the UK charts follow suit? Yes, it becomes tedious tracking the endless charting of hits such as Mr Brightside (No.57), Iris (No.55) and Dreams (No.53) and the world would not end if they were relegated to their own enclave. But at the same time this week hits such as Purple Rain and Running Up That Hill and, yes even End Of Beginning, are back in the charts for very good reasons and as a result of surges of genuine popular interest. As is Ellie Goulding's 2010 hit Starry Eyed which is No.51 this week following its own burst of viral interest. And that's also without mentioning the phenomenon of I Thought I Saw Your Face Today (dating from 2008) which is heading chartwards as we speak. As awkward as it may feel, there are legitimate grounds for them to be there. If you are wondering just why the "back catalogue" question hasn't yet been properly answered - this should be your clue as to why.
Weekly Olivia
It is now a rule that we cannot finish a weekly column without an Olivia Dean reference. But remember, your life is automatically better with Olivia Dean in it, that's the new rule. The Art Of Loving is still No.1 on the albums chart and she occupies positions 5,6,7 and 16 on the singles chart. And yes, Man I Need, the third of these, would indeed still be No.1. But it is still stranded on ACR. In here we speculate just what will happen when she inevitably hoovers up an armful of BRITs next month.
