Birmingham City's hopes of moving to within three points of third placed Manchester United were crushed by two well-taken goals from Charlton skipper, Matt Holland.
It was a major upset in as much that it was Birmingham's first home defeat in 12 games since last February.
There was no fluke about Charlton's well-deserved win. The Addicks, who have collected more away points than at The Valley, were generally sharper than Birmingham.
Birmingham attempted a second-half revival and Christophe Dugarry rewarded his fans with his first goal of the season when he headed home a Stan Lazaridis corner a couple minutes after Charlton had gone two goals up.
Birmingham never really recovered from an early shock after Charlton steamed ahead after only 11 minutes when Holland opened the Londoners' account with a glancing header from a left-wing corner floated to the near post by Claus Jensen.
The goal was something of a milestone in several respects. It was the first scored by Holland for the London club and it was the first of the season conceded by Birmingham with Maik Taylor, Kenny Cunningham and Matt Upson in the side.
It was also the first goal Birmingham had leaked in four games and only a timely save by Taylor prevented Charlton increasing their lead in the 31st minute.
Birmingham's defence was caught wrong-footed by a left-wing cross from Hermann Hreidarsson that found the unmarked Jonatan Johansson but the Finn was effectively closed down by Taylor who deflected the Charlton striker's shot wide for a corner.
There was an anxious moment late in the first half when Stephen Clemence and Hreidarsson both had to leave the field for attention following a clash of heads.
It was another Jensen corner that lead to Charlton's second goal when Graham Stuart's powerful cross-shot from the left was breasted into the net by Holland after 58 minutes.
Birmingham's response was Dugarry's first goal of the season two minutes later when the Frenchman headed home a left-wing corner from Lazaridis.
The vital moment of the game occurred three minutes later when Dean Kiely brilliantly turned another Dugarry effort over the bar.