This week's Official UK Singles Chart
This week's Official UK Albums Chart
It was going to take a very special record to knock Bang Bang off the top of the Official UK Singles chart after just a week. Needless to say, there was one already waiting in the wings and which having set a brand new chart benchmark last week by making the Top 40 on streaming points alone this week ascends majestically to the very top of the charts.
All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor hardly requires an introduction from me. The current Hot 100 Number One and a smash hit in just about every territory in the world, its rise to the top of the British charts merely adds the final exclamation point to what must be the most successful artist launch of the decade so far. Meghan Trainor's single is that rare beast in pop music, a deceptively simple record which has depth, playability and appeal all but oozing from every note. All About That Bass carries the same underlying message about body image and the rejection of the search for artificial perfection that Lily Allen aspired to last year with Hard Out Here except that it delivers it with the kind of charm and humour that the British singer could only aspire to. The availability of further Meghan Trainor tracks via her EP Title (at present unavailable here in Britain) indicates that the single is no one-off either, her other material continuing the doo-wop revival theme demonstrated on her Number One hit single, and making the prospect of her future material a very exciting one indeed.
Onto the stats, and thanks to its streaming arrival last week All About That Bass registers a 33-1 climb to Number One, equalling the third highest climb to the top from within the Top 40 in chart history. She sits alongside Captain Sensible who also managed a 32 place climb (at the time the all-time record) with Happy Talk in 1982, but higher Top 40 jumps have been made by the Sugababes (35-1 with About You Now in 2007) and Pink (38-1 with So What in 2008). According to Official Charts Company figures, All About That Bass registers a chart tally of 144,000 copies (of which around 9% are accounted for by streams), the second highest weekly 'sale' of the year. Clean Bandit's Rather Be topped the charts with a 163,000 sale back in February, all of which were paid for downloaded copies of course.
The highest new entry of the week is at Number 7, a track called Sunlight by The Magician. The alias of Belgian producer Stephen Fasano, he has created what in the nicest possible way is a Guetta-esque club track, one which possibly deserved airplay during the months of sunshine rather than at the precise moment that autumn moves it, but no matter. Vocals on the track are supplied by Olly Alexander who normally performs as part of Years And Years, hence the chart credit for his group rather than the singer himself.
This week is a particularly special week for George Ezra. His current single Blame It On Me rises to a new peak of Number 6 and is spectacularly rejoined in the Top 10 by its predecessor Budapest which climbs 12-10 to register its highest chart placing for six weeks. These climbs all coincide with the triumphant rise to Number One of Ezra's album Wanted On Voyage on its 14th week on the charts.
There is still a slew of other new singles to account for too. Leading the way is a returning Labrinth who arrives at Number 11 with new single Let It Be, his first chart single as a lead artist since the triumph of Number One single Beneath Your Beautiful at the end of 2012, although he has, of course, charted since alongside Tinie Tempah on A Lover Not A Fighter which reached Number 16 back in February. The new single is taken from the singer/songwriter' forthcoming second album.
Once place behind at Number 12 is Ella Eyre with the aptly named Comeback, a single which charts just a fortnight after the Sigma track Changing on which she has a writers credit debuted at Number One. Her third solo hit single, the track not only beats the Number 16 peak of its predecessor If I Go but is actually her best work to date, an intoxicating pop-dance single which was everything that Jess Glynne's last single wasn't. To call Ella Eyre a star in the making is to ignore her chart achievements to date, but it is clear that her best moments are still enthusiastically in front of her.
Gorgon City have landed themselves two Top 10 hit singles already this year with Ready For Your Love and Here For You but fall slightly shorter with third hit Unmissable which creeps in at Number 19. Meanwhile, there is better news for Londoner Jessie Ware whose career has been waiting over two years to get properly started. After a string of near-misses, she finally reached the Top 40 for the first time back in August with the single Tough Love and this week improves on that Number 34 placing with a Number 22 entry for Say You Love Me which takes her into the Top 30 at the fifth time of asking.
The highest entry on the Official UK Album chart was very nearly a golden oldie itself, a new special edition of Oasis' What's The Story (Morning Glory) leading them to chart at Number 7. Instead, three places higher lies Jamie T whose latest album Carry On The Grudge makes a strong opening week gambit, something which is to the benefit of its lead single Zombie which moves 48-36 to make the Top 40 for the first time since it was released back in August. It becomes his first Top 40 single since the Chaka Demus EP reached Number 23 in September 2009.
Never one to do things by halves, Prince this week released no less than two different albums, both of which make their chart debut this week. Leading the way is his solo project Art Official Age which charts at Number 8, three places higher than Plectrumelectrum which sees him perform alongside and give a co-credit to the all-female backing group 3rdeyegirl with whom he performed his celebrated series of unannounced London dates earlier this year.
