This week's Official UK Singles Chart
This week's Official UK Albums Chart
A victory in both streaming and sales stakes means another comfortable week at Number One for OMI and Cheerleader, the single now clocking up a fourth week at the top of the Official UK Singles chart. Its nearest challenger was once more the ever-popular See You Again which regains second place this week at the expense of Lunchmoney Lewis' Bills whose sales slip slightly despite its streaming tally finally picking up the pace, thus relegating last week's hot new single to the Number 3 slot.
The highest new entry of the week in the UK is Taylor Swift's Bad Blood which debuts at Number 4, this despite the single being top of the iTunes listings and most other live download charts for most of the week and which is officially the second biggest selling song of the week. Swift's notorious absence from streaming services is what has cost her of course, thus depressing the potential chart position of the track. Bad Blood is officially the fourth single to be lifted from the singer's smash hit 1989 album although it arrives on the chart in remixed form with a new guest vocal from Kendrick Lamar and its popularity this week has almost certainly been helped by the debut of its star-studded video which features a dizzying array of female stars including Jessica Alba, Martha Hunt and our own Ellie Goulding. Number 4 matches (for now) the peak of the album's second single Blank Space at the tail end of 2014 and it is the singer's 8th Top 10 hit in this country.
Also anticipating a strong debut this week but undermined in the end by her sales being rather front-loaded towards the start of the week is Ella Eyre who has to content herself with a Number 12 entry for her new single Together. Frustratingly then she is still awaiting her first Top 10 hit on her own terms, this track matching the peak scaled by her last single Comeback in October last year. Her only major chart smash thus, for now, remains her soft landing debut, the guest vocal on Rudimental's Waiting All Night which saw the British singer top the charts in April 2013.
Hozier demonstrated that he was the king of the slow-burning smash hit with his debut single Take Me To Church which peaked at Number 2 back in February after a 24-week climb. His second hit Someone New is making rather more rapid progress than that but is still edging its way up the chart one rung at a time, a five-place climb to a new peak of Number 19 this week marking its fifth week around.
The third highest new entry on the singles chart this week is a genuinely fascinating single and one which not only grants a chart debut to a truly remarkable new talent but also threatens to upset a superstar apple cart in the process. Seattle resident Andie Case is one of a great many talented singers who has used YouTube to gain a following and exposure for her work. Although she performs her own material, much of the attention has focused on a series of clever medley covers, joining two otherwise unrelated songs together to a rather great effect. She also makes great use of the medium of the car video, singing the song in the passenger seat of a vehicle in motion, accompanied by collaborators Ajay Marshall and Naphtali Smith on guitar and harmony vocals.
Why is this all relevant to today's chart? Because to widespread joy, the unsigned singer makes a chart debut this week at Number 24 with her medley of Jason Derulo's Want To Want Me and a 1980s hit originally performed by Cheap Trick I Want You To Want Me. Significantly, however, she has in the process beaten Derulo himself into the British market with his own song. The current Billboard #6 hit was last week only available as a pre-order, leaving the way clear for Case to effectively take ownership of the song. Note that this is not a cash-in copycat cover version, but an inspired cover by a star in the making and indeed the effect of this surprise hit has been to force the hand of Derulo's label, the "original" version of Want To Want Me set to make a proper chart debut next weekend - even if this may well alas be to the detriment of the Andie Case version which actually has superior levels of charm and appeal.
A new Number One on the Official UK Album chart sees Killers frontman Brandon Flowers make his solo debut with The Desired Effect, just edging out veteran performer Paul Weller who lands a Number 2 album with Saturns Pattern. Both albums have forced their way into the best sellers without the benefit of an accompanying hit single of any note. If you are an established name this it seems is just no longer necessary.
