Be Blonde Baby
This week, just as last, the race to top the Official UK Singles chart was a tale of two Sabrina Carpenter singles. And this week, just as last, the midweek updates suggested that it was in fact the older and prior No.1 single Espresso which had the sales edge over the incumbent chart-topping follow-up.
But this week there is a crucial difference. The eventual chart sales gap between the two tracks was close once more - "only" 962 - but this time around it is Espresso which survives to the end of the week intact, deposing Please Please Please from the No.1 position to return to the top of the charts after five weeks away.
Now we should be clear that as extraordinary as this situation is, it isn't completely unknown. Because of the tiny handful of acts who have replaced themselves at No.1, there are indeed others who have replaced themselves with the single that was previously at the top of the charts.
We'll ignore the string of re-released Elvis Presley singles that took turns at the top of the charts in early 2005 because that muddies the waters slightly - all of them after all were re-released No.1 hits. But as far as singles still on their first chart run are concerned we have several other examples. Ariana Grande (the only other woman to have replaced herself at No.1) saw her own 7 Rings knocked off the top by Break Up With Your Girlfriend I'm Bored only for the former to return to No.1 a week later in the early months of 2019. Similarly in December 2021 Ed Sheeran and Elton John deposed themselves at the summit when their on Merry Christmas was replaced by the Ladbaby reworking (on which they both also appeared) Sausage Rolls For Everyone, only for the original to return to the top a week later.
What makes Espresso so unique however is that not only were there two No.1 singles in between its run at the top, but it has been no less than five weeks since it was last at the top of the charts. That, incidentally, is also the longest gap between spells at No.1 by the same single since George Ezra's Shotgun also returned for a second bite of the cherry after a five week gap. Back in 2010 when Bruno Mars' Just The Way You Are (Amazing) returned to the top after three weeks away I speculated that it was probably very likely that the all-time record of seven weeks (set by The Beatles in 1963) would fall in the new digital era. 14 years later we are still waiting.
Espresso is the second track this year to have two separate spells at No.1, hard on the heels of Beyonce's Texas Hold 'Em back in the spring. And overseas acts have now exclusively occupied the top of the British charts for 28 weeks in a row. And it almost feels like a footnote to note that Sabrina is the first woman to hold down the Top 2 positions for four consecutive weeks. Only Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber have ever pulled off the same trick.
For The Birds
The rest of the Top 5 features Shaboozey locked in place at No.3 with current American No.1 single A Bar Song (Tipsy), this now the single's third week in a row in third place and its sixth in total. Meanwhile Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan continue to duke it out, swapping places to occupy rungs 4 and 5 respectively. That also means Birds Of A Feather returns to its chart peak after a fortnight away, the unusually breezy track may have been the smallest of the three charting hits from Eilish's album but it has not only turned out to be the most enduring but is also now up there as one of her longest-running hit singles to date. Seven weeks in the Top 5 matches the run of What Was I Made For, with only Bad Guy (11 weeks in total in the Top 5) able to better it.
In another quiet week the only 'new' arrival in the Top 10 is Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us. Having fallen as far as No.21 the single has rebounded in recent weeks thanks to remixes and now a long overdue video. Originally a No.6 single back in May the dis track returns to the Top 10 at No.9 after an eight week absence.
You're The One
So now to football. I am writing these words on Friday evening a little over 48 hours before the England side either march to their greatest triumph since 1966 or prove themselves to be bottlers for the second time in as many European championships. All options are possible. As football fever grips the nation once more this is inevitably reflected in its music streaming habits. No.73 last week, the ubiquitous 3 Lions by Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds roars back to No.20 to match the peak it last scaled in December 2022 on the occasion of the last World Cup. But there is also room for the England supporters' adopted anthem Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond which re-enters at No.55 in a further echo of the side's 2021 Euros run which saw it also reach No.20. And there's also a slot for Vindaloo by Fat Les which knits one pearls one at No.90, its first chart appearance since it peaked at No.28 during - yes - the Euros in July 2021. Originally a No.2 hit coinciding with the 1998 World Cup the raucous terrace anthem has also made digital era chart returns in 2010 (No.32), 2014 (No.55) and 2018 (No.41). Meanwhile the group's contribution to the 2002 World Cup hype Who Invented Fish And Chips remains perpetually unloved, a solitary week at No.86 its only chart showing. This despite featuring a tyro Lilly Allen (daughter of performer Keith) on co-vocals.
New Boys
Oh but fret not, we've a couple of newer arrivals to tantalise you with. Ahead of the arrival of his apparently rather well received Death Of Slim Shady album Eminem has slid out one final teaser track. After a midweek release last week which saw it creep to No.78 on a few days sales, Tobey advances forward to sit this week at No.29, joining former No.1 Houdini which retains a place in the Top 10. The new single is a three-way dance between Slim, Big Sean and BabyTron. It is the fourth track on which Eminem and Big Sean have collaborated, but only the second to chart. The first was Sean's own No Favors which crept to No.56 as an album cut in February 2017.
But the best is perhaps kept until last. Serial collaborator Quavo hasn't been seen on the singles chart since he appeared on Justin Bieber's Intentions in 2020 but he is new this week at No.32 with Tough, a track made all the more compelling by the presence of Lana Del Rey on co-vocals. Believe it or not it is only the second time Quavo has charted as the primary artist on a track - Drake collaboration Flip The Switch his only other, that track making No.55 in October 2018.
