I Felt A Strange Stirring
"Online chatter suggests they have now become even cleverer: that drop of 10,000 copies wasn't the full set of orders. Meaning there are more left to qualify for next week's chart as well."
That was me, last week, boldly predicting the future in a quite understated manner.
Sometimes we have those weeks when the fate of the No.1 single is in the balance right up to midweek. When the chart is defined by a close race between two or even three singles of equal appeal. This is so not one of those.
Patient Zero by Taylor Swift spends a third consecutive week at No.1 this week. It does so with what is far and away its highest measured chart sale so far, topping the pile with what is reported to be a comparatively huge 55,413 sales. A long way from being the biggest of the year, but the best performance of any single since peak Rein Me In earlier in the summer. That's over 20,000 more than her nearest challenger, Jamie Miller's Babydoll which slides into second.
But of course that number alone does not tell the full story. As anticipated, we saw another Swift Shift as the full inventory of physical orders were processed to qualify for this week's chart. Of that 55,413, 33,692 are accounted for by sales of good old-fashioned CD singles. Sold to the dedicated, the devoted, the collectors. And almost certainly to many who don't actually have the hardware to play them on. Music to be looked at and not heard in essence.
But they all count, and count they did. More soberingly though without the benefit of those physical sales Patient Zero would have qualified for a chart sale of around 22,000. Only enough for it to chart at No.7. And that means what happens next week will be the source of some fascination. It seems almost taken as read that a particular newly-minted track (whose identity will become clear later) is going to be the runaway contender to be No.1. But just how far is the current incumbent of that position going to dip, new piano and acoustic versions of it notwithstanding? That's a Swift Shift all of its own.
Taylor Swift is almost certainly one of only a tiny handful of acts who can cheerfully command 40,000 physical purchases (even eased out over a couple of weeks). But maybe to illustrate just how times have changed, this week 25 years ago Kylie Minogue was No.1 for a fourth and final week with Can't Get You Out Of My Head. She sold 95,500 (largely) CD singles that week. Down from 306,000 three frames earlier.
Click
It's a good job Taylor gave us this story otherwise this might be barely worth your click. The refreshed and revitalised Top 10 sees a number of hits edge further forward to new peaks. Babydoll as mentioned is now up to No.2, Stop The Wedding from Ashe now cemented at No.3 while below them Adela's Nicole Kidman edges back up to No.5, one place behind the peak it scaled four weeks ago before a certain Swift invasion binned it down to No.9.
As anticipated, Rein Me In (this week's No.9 hit) spends its 42nd consecutive week as a Top 20 single, meaning it now has a clean sweep of all such accolades, holding the record for most consecutive weeks in the Top 10, 20 and 40 respectively. However, we should note that it is actually the joint holder of the Top 20 record and for all we know may end up permanently locked together with it. Man I Need by Olivia Dean, this week at No.12, is also spending its 42nd straight week in the Top 20 (essentially on every single chart published so far this year). The two singles remain in lockstep in terms of continuing streaming popularity and it is only the arrival of the dreaded Christmas records that will finally bring the run to a halt.
There You Go
Speaking of returning golden oldies, the highest new entry of the week is another back catalogue track returning for another go-around. If you've suddenly found Pink's famous hit Just Give Me A Reason rattling through your mind lately it will be entirely because it has become the latest go-to track to soundtrack people's memes and TikToks. Newly ACR reset it fires back onto the chart at No.15, fully 13 years since it first peaked at No.2.
Just Give Me A Reason also credits co-singer Nate Ruess in what is one of only two extra-curricular credits the fun singer has to his name. As lead singer of his group he topped the charts in 2012 with We Are Young. That track too carries a co-credit with actress Janelle Monae given co-billing, even though her sole contribution to the track is to sing the same four-word phrase ("carry me home tonight") four times during the bridge.
What We Can Expect
But you see co-billing is a topical subject. After re-charting last week for the first time since the release of her album, Expectations by Olivia Rodrigo is new to the Top 40 at No.35. This is entirely in anticipation of the release of a new version which adds a co-vocal from Chappell Roan. Almost certain to be No.1 next week, this premature arrival will most likely mean that Ms Roan will go uncredited, just as Jennie did on Dracula earlier this year. Chart rules allow for artist credits to be adjusted mid-run as long as the track in question has not already made the Top 40. Which Expectations now has as a solo single. Doh.
There was at least a tight two-way battle for albums chart supremacy, won by Jamie T and Ghosts (100 Days Of Morning) by the small matter of 500 copies over Chase & Status. The former now has two No.1 albums to his name, his second in a row following 2022's The Theory Of Whatever. He's quite the chart veteran, enjoying his first chart records back in 2006. He hasn't had a Top 40 hit single since 2014 release Zombie, although startlingly he came damn close back in the spring with a vocal credit on the Fred Again… track Lights Burn Dimmer which topped out at No.49.
The Best Of (Last) Year
Once upon a time the list of the biggest singles of the year was a genuine seasonal highpoint, the final exclamation mark on a year in pop. These days however the list is largely meaningless, a consequence of the streaming era ensuring that those records around in January have the longest time to accumulate streams. Meaning that by December they are inevitably some distance ahead of something released in, say, September. But nonetheless we continue to compile it. This week Official Charts released the latest 2026 tally, featuring streams and sales up to the end of the third quarter of the year. What is most notable about the big hits of 2026 is that they are all with just one exception releases from 2025 or even earlier. They are, in order with their year of first release noted:
1. Man I Need (2025)
2. Rein Me In (2025)
3. Ordinary (2025)
4. Where Is My Husband (2025)
5. Raindance (2025)
6. So Easy (To Fall In Love) (2025)
7. Iloveitiloveitiloveit (2026!!!!!)
8. Lush Life (2015)
9. Golden (2025)
10. The Fate Of Ophelia (2025)
Applying a date filter is informative. Bella Kay is the performer of the biggest song released so far this year. And that's perhaps the part worth shouting about.
