Top 20

"Wolves" climbs back to #1, 8 Swift Songs remain & Christmas comes early!

Last week was an anomaly and it is going to take a few more weeks for the charts to restore back to their usual form. However, Selena Gomez & Marshmello were able to overcome the chart ruler, Taylor Swift as "Wolves" climbed back to #1. Gomez's performance at the American Music Awards got everybody talking - blonde hair? lip-sycining? quirky idea? - which made up for the somewhat underwhelming music video. This is Gomez's 46th week on the chart and her 25th at #1. If 2017 belongs to anybody, it is Selena Gomez. Marshmello is also benefiting, it's his debut track on the chart and it has spent 4 weeks at the top! Will "Wolves" continue to run at the top all the way into the new year? 

Last week's chart-topper, "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" slips one place to #2. The song still remains Swift's strongest performer from "reputation" (not including the singles/buzz tracks). Swift earns herself 2 more top 5 hits this week as "I Did Something Bad" and "Dress" climb 2 and 5 places respectively. Each song reaches a new peak: "I Did Something Bad" at #4 and "Dress" at #5. This is promising and suggests these are early breakout hits from the album. They certainly have staying power. "End Game" featuring Ed Sheeran and Future remains in the top half of the chart, dropping 2 spots to #6. Swift's biggest hit of 2017, "Look What You Made Me Do" has now spent 13 weeks in the top 10, slipping 3 paces to #10. This may be its last week in the top 10 but it has certainly been a long run for Swift. "New Year's Day" drops 5 places to #14 and "King of My Heart" slides 6 spots to #20. However, the biggest faller on the entire chart is "Delicate" which drops a whopping 16 places to #19. "Delicate" started strong last week, debuting at #3, but has not demonstrated any staying power. Out of the 15 tracks on "reputation", 8 still remain in the top 20; 8 songs from the same artist in the same chart is still rather impressive. 

The biggest surprise sits at #3 - Imagine Dragons return to the chart with "Thunder" reaching a new peak. The song spent 3 weeks earlier in the year charting, the highest point it reached was #10. Imagine Dragons now have a top 3 hit. This is likely down to an impressive performance at the American Music Awards where they performed a mashup of "Thunder" and Khalid's "Young Dumb & Broke". Speaking of that song, "Young Dumb & Broke" debuts at #12 this week. Khalid's first ever chart entry. 

The highest new entry this week comes from Luis Fonsi and Demi Lovato - "Echame La Culpa" starts at #7. This is Demi's 12th chart entry and 8th top 10 this year. Demi has also spent a very impressive 32 weeks on the chart in 2017. This is Luis Fonsi's second top 10 after the summer hit "Despacito". Will "Echame Le Culpa" be able to surpass "Despacito"? [probably not]. Lizzo's "Good as Hell" returns to the chart, reaching a new peak this week- #9. This is the song's second week charting and Lizzo's first top 10. Bizarrely, "Feels" by Calvin Harris, Katy Perry, Big Sean and Pharrell returns to the chart this week at #15- the song peaked at #3 back in June and hasn't made a chart appearance since August. This is the 7th week it has spent charting. Another re-entry comes from Charlie Puth with "How Long"- the song suffered a shorter than expected chart run thanks to Swift's domination but "How Long" is back at #16 during its 6th charting week. 

Elsewhere on the chart, Selena Gomez's "Bad Liar" is this week's biggest climber, shooting up 11 places to #8. "Bad Liar" returns to the top 10 once again and has now knotched up 28 weeks on the chart. Rita Ora remains relatively stable with "Anywhere" as it drops just one spot to #18- another song that suffered due to Swift. 

This week's chart also sees 3 new entries that are Christmas songs. Sia's festive album "Everyday is Christmas" delivers 2 top 20 hits- "Ho Ho Ho" starts at #13 and "Santa's Coming for Us" debuts at #17. An old favourite, Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" debuts at #11. With Christmas fast approaching, expect to see more festive favourites pop into the chart...and possibly reach the chart's summit.