This week's Official UK Singles Chart
This week's Official UK Albums Chart
I Will Never Let You Down sings Rita Ora on her brand new single release, and it seems never more apt than to note that she is perfectly correct. The single flies with consummate ease to the top of the Official UK Singles charts to give the Kosovan-born British star a fourth Number One hit single. You may remember that she opened her career with a brace of Number One singles, all of them in one glorious six month period in 2012. First, there was the DJ Fresh track Hot Right Now followed by her own hits RIP and How We Do (Party). Now two years on from that hot opening streak she proves that the appetite for her material remains undimmed amongst the British public. What helps, of course, is her romantic and professional relationship with Calvin Harris [well that all quickly went to shit didn't it?], the Scotsman having written and produced this new single to make it naturally one of his own singles in all but name.
Passing away did wonders for Michael Jackson's commercial value as everyone involved in music at the time of his death remembers all too well. Now five years on from those tragic events he proves just as big a draw as ever as Xscape, the collection of reworked tracks based on unreleased songs of his dating back several decades storms to the top of the Official UK Albums chart. The release of the album and the extra attention paid to its tracks has inevitably had a hugely beneficial effect on its lead single, the Timbaland-hosted reworking of 1983 track Love Never Felt So Good which finally takes off after two chart weeks languishing outside the Top 20, soaring 24-8 to become the highest charting 'new' Michael Jackson single since One More Chance reached Number 5 in December 2003. Although credited to 'Michael Jackson' solo, the bulk of the sales are actually from the special edition version of the track which works rather well as a duet with Justin Timberlake.
The annual Eurovision Song Contest took place the week before last and with a full seven days of sales now available since the event itself, the full impact of the competition on the singles chart becomes apparent, the 2014 crop of entries proving to be some of the most popular since the download era began. The surprise winners are actually the second place act Dutch pairing Common Linnetts storming to Number 9 with Calm After The Storm, one of the best ever chart performances by a non-victorious foreign entry. Lower down Austrian winning entry Rise Like A Phoenix as sung by Thomas Neuwirth in his Conchita Wurst guise makes a strong appearance at Number 17 whilst the Eurovision 2014 Top 3 is completed with the Number 40 entry of Undo by Sanna Neilsen. British entrant Molly languishes lower down the table, much as she did in Copenhagen, limping 33-23 with Children Of The Universe.
Given that their last single She Looks So Perfect was an instant Number One hit, it may come as something of a shock to see the latest 5 Seconds Of Summer release Good Girls limp to Number 19, but this was a midweek release for a track available as an instant gratification download with pre-orders of their debut album which is due out at the end of June. Place your bets now on whether the single manages to remain a consistent seller between now and then. Meanwhile the big unchartable single of the moment, Coldplay's A Sky Full Of Stars continues to shine (so to speak) and would almost certainly continue to merit a Top 10 placing were it not disqualified, a prohibition which you will note comes to an end this week as the group's Ghost Stories album finally hits the shops.
Also with a new album out shortly is Ed Sheeran, the promotional activity for sophomore release X having now started in earnest. However much to the disgust of his British fans, the album's lead single Sing has not been released here for download despite becoming his highest charting American hit ever. Instead, the only track of his free to chart at the moment is One, available as an instant grat purchase as well as a standalone download and which lands on the chart at Number 20 this week. Yes, it is a new Ed Sheeran single but crazily not the one you will have heard on the radio and which everyone is talking about in reverential tones. Utter madness really.