So, this week there are a massive NINE new entries. Six of these come from Ariana Grande’s chart-topping album “Thank U, Next”. The highest peaking track of the six comes in at #7. “Fake Smile” may be the one that sticks around out of all the tracks from the album. Maybe it’s an age thing but, for me, pre-Sweetener, Ariana’s output was more often than not ear candy. Since she’s shot up into the stratosphere, the releases have left a bit of an “is that it?” kind of aftertaste. Once the curiosity plays have come and gone and, the star wanes a tad, maybe Ariana can get back to being more Ariana, less Beyoncé.

Five new entries from Ariana can’t stop the original American Idol herself from returning to number 1 for a third week. Kelly Clarkson’s “Heat” made way to Jax Jones for a week, but he has dipped three places already with the Purple Disco Machine remix of “Play”.

Released just 2 days before the chart cut-off date, Avril Lavigne has not had a clean sweep of hits since she burst onto the scene in 2002 as a brat. My personal highlights include “Girlfriend”, “Sk8er Boi” and “What the Hell”, but with the moral blacklisting of Dr Luke, she needed a new producer for her 6th album “Head Above Water”. So far the title track has hit the top 5 on the chart back in the Autumn and is followed up by an even bigger song, a duet with rent-a-rapper Nicki Minaj. Expect “Dumb Blonde” to hang around the top 10 end for a while yet.

Further down the chart are 2 artists who are old enough to be even MY father, though I doubt the one act would have that to worry about anyway. The other act though, is a father of EIGHT that he knows of. Talk about Italian Stallion. Francis Rossi is the last remaining member of the classic Status Quo line-up and he releases a duets album and autobiography- both titled “I Talk Too Much” in March. Francis follows this up with a tour of theatres where, rather than performing a typical concert, he’ll be talking about the high/low lights of his 60-year career…see what he did there?

COMING SOON:

Dido releases her next album in 2 weeks

Rihanna is due to drop any time soon

The home video release of Bohemian Rhapsody should see one or two re-entries from the soundtrack in the coming weeks.