This week's Official UK Singles Chart
This week's Official UK Albums Chart
One week after oozing his way past the existing record, Drake effectively smashes it out of sight. One Dance marks its fourth week at Number One on the Official UK Singles chart with an extraordinary streaming total of 8.95m plays, far and away the most achieved by any track in the short history of the format. That adds a whopping 89,000 chart 'sales' to the 52,000 downloads the single clocked up. That combined total of 141,000 is enough to ensure the single has the highest total of any Number One single so far this year. For a track in its fourth week at the top that is nothing short of extraordinary.
It may not be insignificant that even five weeks after release the track still does not have an official video viewable on YouTube. Anyone who wants to hear the track has to head for streaming services and thus have their plays counted towards the charts. I've yet to see a formal study of just how much video plays cannibalise the market for audio plays - but this is as good an example as you will find right now.
This is all to the detriment of what was easily the biggest new single release of last week, This Is What You Came For which reunites the historically dynamite pairing of Calvin Harris and Rihanna. The track actually won the sales race by some considerable margin but despite a heroic level of streaming which saw it debut at Number 2 on that particular chart, its combined total of well over 100,000 copies (this also far more than any other single so far in 2016) was only enough to see the single enter at Number 2. Assuming it fails to progress any further (it won't) this will go down as Harris' second Number 2 hit in a row, the follow-up to "How Deep Is Your Love" which spent a fortnight in the silver medal position in August last year.
Oh yes, and This Is What You Came For doesn't yet have a proper video either. A few years ago this would be unthinkable.
This single aside, the week easily belonged to Drake. His album Views landed a 78,000 copies sale of its own last week, a total second only to David Bowie's Blackstar in 2016. After five previous Top 10 albums this is now his first ever Number One and he duly becomes the first artist to top both singles and albums charts simultaneously since Sam Smith pulled off the trick a little over a year ago. As superstar releases are wont to do at the present time, the album also sprays its contents all over the singles chart. The already released Pop Style reverses its decline to reappear in the Top 40 at Number 34 whilst tracks from Views also occupy places 41, 46, 56, 58, 69, 73, 77, 81, 83, 87, 92, 93, 94 and 97.
Not that Beyonce is showing any sign of relinquishing her grip on the charts either. The most popular track from "Lemonade" remains Hold Up but platform-exclusive nature of its streaming release has cost it dearly and the single struggles 17-11 this week. The singer once again can boast six singles on the Top 40 chart this week although Freedom dips 40-45, replaced instead by Daddy Lessons which moves 44-40.
Beyonce has 11 tracks in total on the Top 100 this week whilst Drake can actually command a total of 17 when one takes into account older tracks and collaborations. Between them the two acts account for 28% of the 100 biggest singles in Britain at the moment. You kind of feel for Rihanna here. She can only manage 5 simultaneous hits at present.
This moment will pass, but for now it leaves the rest of the market rather struggling for attention. Galantis are the biggest winners amongst the also-rans this week as No Money moves 12-8 to give the Swedish duo their third Top 10 single in almost exactly a year. DJ Snake's Middle also creeps up some more rising 18-12 whilst Panda by Desiigner lifts 25-15.
For those wondering, the posthumous Prince tracks have vanished as quickly as they arrived, the sole survivor on the published charts being Purple Rain which drops to Number 88 after being as high as Number 6 last week. Radiohead made something of a stir of their own during the week with the surprise unveiling of comeback track Burn The Witch but its Wednesday appearance meant it stood little chance of making a proper chart impact and it eases in at Number 85.
Next week should be an interesting race to say the least, all thanks to the arrival today (Friday) of that Justin Timberlake single. A nailed on hit record, it means the battle at the top of the British charts will be a genuine case of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.