Official Singles Chart Top 40 on 25/5/2018

Jess Glynne might nab this week's number one.

Hoping Anne-Marie's "2002" can at least hit #1 in Ireland.

There's a new single by Lenny Kravitz - 'Low'. A slice of cool dance pop! The chorus has a strong Michael Jackson vibe. Check it out, chart fans. :)

The best songs on the chart are all by Arctic Monkeys Now they ARE music

95% of the charts sound exactly the same....groups with stupid names, it's getting boring, the only reason I come here is to read Pirans chart info

My thoughts & observations on the UK charts as always…

- ‘One Kiss’ by Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa leads the singles chart for a sixth consecutive week. It now matches his longest #1 single, ‘We Found Love’, back in 2011. It’s the first song by a Scottish act to spend at least six weeks at #1 since ‘Love Is All Around’ by Wet Wet Wet 24 years ago (it actually spent 15 consecutive weeks at the top in 1994).

- ‘No Tears Left To Cry’ by Ariana Grande remains at #1 on the airplay chart for a third consecutive week.

- It wasn’t a very busy week for new music, as we only have three new entries, but the highest of them is ‘Solo’ by Clean Bandit ft Demi Lovato, debuting at #12 today. As some you may know, I’m really happy Clean Bandit have brought classical-dance to the charts, although they have enlisted many pop singers in their songs, including: Zara Larsson, Jess Glynne, Anne-Marie, Julia Michaels & more, as well as rappers like Stylo G & Sean Paul, however they’ve gone for the former in this case & I clearly enjoyed it a lot given the number of times I’ve been coming back to stream this since last Friday! Here’s the thing, even with that, I still wouldn’t put in my Top 5 favourite songs from Clean Bandit nor Demi Lovato, but the collaboration comes together well regardless. There might be a bit too many vocal effects added here & it’s a weird listen hearing them open the song, but it’s all worth it for how catchy the hook is! It’s not as distinctly Clean Bandit as their previous singles, but the soaring strings post chorus really lift the mood for this & it also helps that Demi Lovato is bringing her usual power to this. I think it’s more than likely going to have to grow on you other than you liking it at first listen (at least, that’s what happened for me), but after a few listens, yeah, I approve of this.

- Thanks to appearing on the new Sony Bravia advert, ‘Leave A Light On’ by Tom Walker leaps 68-35 in the new chart, becoming his debut Top 40 appearance. I saw lots of fellow chart-watchers recommending this to me when it first came out & it’s a way bigger hit on the European charts right now, which I also follow, so I was very curious to check this out! Honestly, while I don’t deny that I enjoy this style of music, I wish I could like this a little bit more than I do. I’m really mixed about the instrumentation on this; I’ll praise the producers for that heavy & hard-hitting acoustic sound, along with acoustic piano, although the skittering drums & pitched up synths just knock this back in terms of enjoyment for me. The weirder thing is that after the suspenseful crescendo, the hook becomes very unusual, as it even has elements of trap music in it & it’s a surprise that just doesn’t work for me! Tom Walker himself is putting on a nice performance vocally, as both the gravelly vocals in the verses & raw shouts in the hook shows how emotional this plea to his friend is. So yeah, I’m happy for Tom Walker finally breaking into the charts, but this just doesn’t leave the same impression on me as I’d have liked it to.

- The last new entry of the week is ‘Family Tree’ by Ramz, which becomes his second Top 40 hit as it rises 42-40 on its fifth week in the chart. You know, for as much as last hit ‘Barking’ grew on me, I don’t think anybody expected it to get as high as it did. I mean, it was the highest charting rap song by a UK act in more than three years & it was even a big contender for #1 at one point! Anyway, does his follow-up ‘Family Tree’ have the same potential? Um… not really, although I can definitely understand why this has become a minor hit. I certainly like the lyrics to this, which discusses the good side of London’s youth & close-knit communities, especially when you hear that he mentioned that he made this to cheer up his neighbourhood after all the problems they’ve faced over the past year & that they can come together as a family. I also think that the optimism that he shows come across in his gleeful singing voice, even if I think his flow in the rapping in the verses will have to grow on me a little. The production is decent, although it hardly differs from that of ‘Barking’ & if we see more of him on the charts in the future, I hope he doesn’t keep playing it too safe. As it is, it’s still a fine enough listen, although I’d to see a bit of diversity from him soon.

- On the albums chart, ‘The Greatest Showman’ moves back up to #1 for a 16th non-consecutive week. It breaks the record for being the country’s fastest selling digital download movie ever, selling 348,497 copies in 23 days!

- The rest of the Top 5 is: ‘Wild Love’ by James Bay (debuts at #2), ‘Beerbongs & Bentleys’ by Post Malone (stationary at #3), ‘Tranquillity Base Hotel + Casino’ by Arctic Monkeys (1-4) & ‘Staying At Tamara’s’ by George Ezra (stationary at #5).

- Looking ahead to next week, these songs could be entering the Top 40 for the first time: ‘Allez Allez Allez’ by Jamie Webster, ‘Girlfriend’ by Christine & The Queens ft Dam-Funk, ‘High Five’ by Sigrid, 'Nevermind' by Dennis Lloyd, ‘Nervous’ by Shawn Mendes & maybe even more.

- Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you all have a good weekend. :)

- My latest Crown Note chart: http://crownnote.com/charts/piran-delves/pirans-top-40-77