This week's Official UK Singles Chart
This week's Official UK Albums Chart
For the group The 1975 it has been quite the rollercoaster ride, once voted "worst act in the world" by NME readers but now more or less guaranteed cover stars. This week on the Official UK Albums chart they land a second Number One album in a row as hard on the heels of their 2013 self-titled debut their sophomore effort sweeps Adele aside with consummate ease to maintain their 100% record so far.
The most remarkable thing about the album is its title, which in full reads: I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It. At 56 letters it is the longest titled Number One album for almost 47 years, second only to the all-time record holder. That honour goes to a double-pack reissue of two older albums by the then Tyrannosaurus Rex as fronted by Marc Bolan. In 1972 the group topped the album chart with a package entitled Prophets, Seers and Sages and the Angels Of The Ages/My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair… But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows. Try asking for that one over the counter.
On the Official UK Singles Chart Lukas Graham remain immovable, 7 Years spending a fourth week at Number One although its sales and streams now appear to be in a steady decline. Nonetheless this lunar month at the top makes it the longest running chart-topper for an act from the European continent since Germany's Basshunter lasted five weeks at the summit with When You're Gone back in 2008.
7 Years actually surrendered its streaming crown to Work from Rihanna and Drake this week but with paid for sales of the single by the Barbadian/Canadian duo they are reduced to a second week locked in place at Number 2. Meanwhile just behind them Mike Posner lands his biggest ever hit single almost six years on from his debut as the remixed I Took A Pill In Ibiza vaults 11-3.
Also new to the Top 10 as widely expected is When We Were Young from Adele which moves 13-9 in the wake of what was once more a show-stealing Brit Awards performance. It is her seventh Top 10 single all told, all three of her studio albums to date having spawned a pair - the 'spare' seventh being her 2012 James Bond theme Skyfall.
Newcastle based DJ and producer Henry Smithson has been releasing records under his alias of Riton for almost 15 years now but until now has never once come close to reaching the singles charts. He breaks that duck this week with some style with Rinse And Repeat making its Top 75 debut at Number 13, a week after the track reached Number 78 based on streams alone. A monster club smash and a single which is picking up a great deal of airplay too, its future status as a Top 10 hit seems more or less assured.
Also brand new this week at Number 15 is Tinie Tempah with Girls Like, his first chart single as lead artist since Not Letting Go from July last year. The British star has a lot to live up to as he is technically coming off a run of four straight Number One hits, taking in DVBBS and Borgeous' Tsunami/Jump, Cheryl's Crazy Stupid Love, the aforementioned Not Letting Go which featured Jess Glynne on guest vocals and most recently KDA's Turn The Music Louder (Rumble) which hit the top in October last year. Guest star on the new single is none other than Zara Larsson who thus lands herself a second Top 20 hit to match Lush Life which rises to Number 4 this week. By a strange coincidence this week saw the belated release of a new mix of her own single which features a guest contribution from none other than Tinie Tempah although sales of this new version are too small to have had a direct impact on the chart performance of the track.
The short lived American incarnation of X Factor may not have produced much in the way of bankable stars, but the one act it did spawn prove that their initial run of success a year was no one-off. Girl group Fifth Harmony enter this week at Number 23 with Work From Home, their third chart single although for now the smallest to date. Their last hit single was Worth It which reached Number 3 in July last year.
Finally this week to turn back to the albums briefly, we should take time out to credit the success of veteran thrash metal act Anthrax who land at Number 21 with new album For All Kings. The eleventh studio album of their career it immediately becomes their highest charting for almost 23 years, their last Top 20 album coming with Sound Of White Noise which charted at Number 14 in May 1993.