This week's Official UK Singles Chart

This week's Official UK Albums Chart

Does the word have the same connotations in America that it does in Britain? If not then poor Robin Thicke must wonder why his name prompts so many barely suppressed sniggers whenever it is mentioned. At least now the R&B singer-songwriter has reason to be able to rise above it.

Previously only known for his 2007 Number 11 hit Lost Without U and to a lesser extent as one of the writers of Jordan Knight's 1999 Top 10 hit Give It To You, Mr T finds himself this week the owner of his first ever Number One hit single on the Official UK Singles chart as Blurred Lines, easily the most talked about music track on the planet right now, charges straight to Number One in quite blistering style.

Given the sheer brilliance of Blurred Lines, with everything from its refreshingly minimalistic production through to the censor-baiting uncut version of the video combining to make it one of the most exquisitely crafted musical moments of 2013 to date, its progress to the top of the charts was probably assured from the start - yet the track's journey to Number One featured something that is a genuine chart first.

With the UK release of the single coming rather later than in other nearby territories, it was at risk from the usual blizzard of copycat cover versions invading the lower end of the chart. To counter this, Thicke's label made the single available on iTunes for pre-order, not only preventing any soundalikes from gaining sales traction but also ensuring the track registered a presence on the internal iTunes chart - increasing its visibility and exposure even before it was properly available. These pre-release sales also counted towards the single's first week total and it did not take a business genius to predict that Blurred Lines was set to debut with one of the highest totals of the year to date. In fact, the single sold 195,000 copies last week, far and away the biggest single week sale of any kind this year. Applying the "yeahbut" rule, this is the highest non-X Factor, non-charity, non-Christmas one week sale since Cheryl Cole sold 292,000 copies of Fight For This Love back in October 2009.

As for the guest stars on the track, rapper TI finally lands himself an appearance on a Number One single, almost eight years after he first made his chart debut as a guest on the Destiny's Child single Soldier. His previous chart bests were a brace of Number 2 hits, firstly on Justin Timberlake's My Love in 2006 and alongside Rihanna on his own Live Your Life two years later. As producer of Blurred Lines, Pharrell Williams lands himself not only a spot in the video (thankfully clothed) but a co-performers credit on the single, thus returning to the top of the UK charts after just a single week away.

For the second week running the Number 2 single also sells well over six figures, although this time it is the turn of Naughty Boy's La La La to break through the barrier. Down below Get Lucky slips below a 100,000 sale for the first time since it became fully available at the start of a chart week.

With her second annual appearance as a judge on The Voice UK well underway, it seemed an appropriate time for Jessie J to make a long overdue chart reappearance with her first brand new material since the release of her debut album Who You Are over two years ago. With that in mind, the appearance of her new single Wild at Number 5 should come as little surprise. The first single from an as yet untitled second album, the track features guest raps from both Big Sean and Dizzee Rascal and musically has more in common with her first chart single Do It Like A Dude than some of the more accessible pop-oriented songs which have brought her some of her biggest chart successes. The single has so far charted without the benefit of a performance of the song on the TV series on which she serves - that moment scheduled to be on the episode set to air this coming Friday. It remains to be seen just what impact that has on its chart prospects.

With both The Voice UK and Britain's Got Talent airing their live shows we are well and truly into the spring talent show season, and inevitably the songs and performances featured on the shows large chart waves. Leading the charge (in a manner which I half-jokingly predicted some months ago) is Little Talks by Of Monsters And Men which has found its true calling as a favourite for both auditionees and final performers. Following use of the song on both shows, the single by the Icelandic group has rocketed back into the charts and sits at Number 13 this week, extraordinarily just one place behind the Number 12 peak it originally scaled during an extended chart run in summer 2012.

Having captured her fair share of headlines with a gusset-waving performance which had newspapers spinning their wheels of outrage on a Britain's Got Talent results show midweek, Jennifer Lopez is rewarded with a Number 17 new entry for her new single Live It Up. The track duly becomes her third single in the past two years to feature a guest slot for Pitbull, hard on the heels of Dance Again and her 2011 Number One hit On The Floor.

Another oldie of sorts back on the Top 40 is Red by Daniel Merriweather, originally a single which spent four straight weeks at Number 5 back in 2009 but which now reappears at Number 29, this thanks to its use in a sing-off on The Voice UK the weekend before last. Finally, there is Ellie Goulding, another results show performer on Britain's Got Talent who performed a medley of her last two singles Anything Can Happen and Explosions and is rewarded with both making chart reappearances at 39 and 42 respectively.

You will probably have read elsewhere that the rather embarrassing failure of last year's first series of The Voice UK to turn its ultimate winner into a star continues. Having failed to land any hit single thus far, Leanne Mitchell this week sees her debut album chart at a lowly Number 134, some considerable way behind Daft Punk who continue their album chart reign in style.