It’s the post-Eurovision chart, and for once, there’s a real impact in the top ten. But first…

1. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

…this gets a fairly comfortable sixth week at number one. Still another two weeks to go before it matches “One Kiss” as Calvin Harris’s longest running number 1.

2. Loreen – “Tattoo”

Embedding doesn’t seem to be working right now, so I’ll just do links. You know how to open in a new window, after all.

It’s not unusual for tracks from Eurovision to show up in the top 40 in the following week, but their sales and streams tend to be frontloaded in the days after the contest. This year, four songs make the chart, but they all had actual sustained success and wind up in the top 10 – they’re legitimate hits. Part of that may be because the viewing figures were high this year, possibly because it was held in the UK (subbing for last year’s winner Ukraine). Part of it may be that the standard was unusually high.

(more…)

Well, Ed Sheeran has a new album out, and we all know what that means.

Oh, hold on.

1. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

That’s a total of five weeks, albeit with a one-week interruption by Lewis Capaldi in the middle. That overtakes “Love Me Like You Do” to be Ellie Goulding’s longest running number one. (Calvin Harris’s record is eight weeks, with “One Kiss”.) The midweeks have it holding on for a sixth week.

9. The Krown Jewelz – “Scrap the Monarchy”

(more…)

To celebrate His Majesty’s coronation, virtually nothing is happening on the singles chart this week.

1. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

That’s a total of four weeks. It matches 2015’s “Love Me Like You Do” as Ellie Goulding’s longest running number one. (Calvin Harris’s record is eight weeks, with “One Kiss” in 2018.) If you’re wondering, the number one single on the day of Elizabeth II’s coronation was Frankie Laine’s “I Believe”.

10. Nines – “Tony Soprano 2”
19. Nines – “Calendar”
34. Nines featuring J Styles – “Favela”

The maximum three tracks from his album “Crop Circle 2”, which enters the album chart at number 1. He reached number 1 with his previous album, “Crabs in a Bucket” – the first “Crop Circle” was a 2018 mixtape that number 5.

(more…)

1. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

Well, I told you that Lewis Capaldi’s “Wish You The Best” only got to number 1 on the strength of first-week sales of the pre-ordered CD single. And as predicted, he doesn’t manage a second week at number one, so “Miracle” returns for its third. Not that “Wish You The Best” collapses – it’s at a very respectable number 3, with “Forget Me” also still in the top 10. And “Miracle” is very lucky to get that third week – it beats David Kushner’s “Daylight” by the equivalent of 267 sales, which is coin-toss territory.

11. Nines – “Tony Soprano 2”

Nines has previously been one of those rappers who does much better on the album chart. His two previous top 40 singles were “I See You Shining” (number 37 in 2018) and “Airplane Mode” (number 25 in 2020). But his last three albums all made the top 5, and the most recent was a number 1. This is the lead single from his next album. Nicely shot video.

(more…)

I’ll get to this week’s annotations in a couple of days. In the meantime, I still haven’t done last week’s chart post, so…

1. Lewis Capaldi – “Wish You The Best”

This is Lewis Capaldi’s fifth number one – the others are “Someone You Loved”, “Before You Go”, “Forget Me” and “Pointless”. He’s in heart-rending mode, and it’s getting a bit formulaic to my mind. The main reason why it’s number one is first-week sales of the CD single, which would have been pre-ordered by the fanbase. That CD single accounts for roughly a third of the song’s sales points; without them, it would have been on course for a respectable position lower down the top 10.

(more…)

So apparently Ellie Goulding is still a thing.

1. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

That’s two weeks, which is way outperforming expectations. Ellie Goulding’s longest running number one was “Love Me Like You Do”, which had four weeks back in 2015. But her album “Higher Than Heaven” also enters the album chart at number one… despite it not including “Miracle” and having no hit singles of its own. That shouldn’t surprise me too much – four of Ellie Goulding’s five albums have now reached number one, and the fifth (2015’s “Delirium”) was just unlucky – it got to number 3 and actually had higher first week sales than the other four.

2020’s “Brightest Blue” did get to number one, and couldn’t get any singles into the top 75 either. None of the singles from “Higher Than Heaven” have actually made the top 100. This was the lead single from the album, which you’ve almost certainly never heard before. It came out nine months ago. To be fair, it was a moderate hit in some European countries. It reached number 11 in Finland.

5.  Drake – “Search & Rescue”

Yes, that’s the whole video.

(more…)

Ah. This wasn’t in the script.

1. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

So, last week, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus was finally knocked off number 1 after ten weeks by Ed Sheeran’s new single “Eyes Closed”. I did flag that it had only made it to number one thanks to the boost from first-week pre-orders of the CD single, which is very much a fanbase product, but as it turns out, it drops to number three this week. Threading their way to the top instead are Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding, with a single that’s been out for four weeks.

This is Calvin Harris’s eleventh number one single, counting guest appearances. The others are Dizzee Rascal’s “Dance Wiv Me” (2008), “I’m Not Alone” (2009), Rihanna’s “We Found Love” (2011), “Sweet Nothing” (2012), “Under Control” (2013), “Summer” (2014), “Blame” (2017), “Feels” (2017), “One Kiss” (2018) and “Promises” (2018). So it’s been five years, and he now has number 1s spanning a period of 15 years.

(more…)

Nothing if not predictable…

1. Ed Sheeran – “Eyes Closed”

This is the lead single from his next album, predictably entitled “-” (or “Subtract”, if you must insist on saying it out loud). It’s an Ed Sheeran ballad single in the fairly well established mould. It is worth saying that it only reached number 1 thanks to first-week sales of the fan-marketed CD single, which is obviously a one-off – but that doesn’t mean it won’t gain in actual streaming next time round. Sheeran tracks tend to have staying power.

It’s his fourteenth number one single, which is the joint third highest total for any artist – the Beatles had 17, and Elvis Presley had 21. Sheeran is now tied with, um, Cliff Richard and Westlife. It seems inevitable that he’ll beat them, and I’d give him a strong chance of overtaking the Beatles.

“Flowers” by Miley Cyrus drops to number 2 after ten straight weeks at number 1, and most of the top 10 is uneventful. However…

(more…)

Well, there’s still not much going on at the top end of the chart.

1. Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”

That’s ten weeks, which matches the run of Harry Styles’ “As It Was” last year. The next target is Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits”, which lasted eleven weeks in 2021. But since Sheeran has his own single out this week, I don’t fancy Miley’s chances there.

10. Metro Boomin with the Weeknd & 21 Savage – “Creepin'”

This isn’t technically a new entry – the track has been around since December, it’s already had five weeks in the top 10, and it’s climbing from number 33. The reason for the climb is the remix with P Diddy, but since it’s not the lead version of the track, he doesn’t get a chart credit. Hence, it remains the case that he hasn’t had a hit single since 2011. Diddy was also on Mario Winans’ “I Don’t Wanna Know”, which “Creepin'” is essentially a cover of.

(more…)

So, this was to be expected.

1. Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”

That’s nine weeks. More to the point, the parent album “Endless Summer Vacation” is out this week, and enters the album chart at number 1. It’s her second number one album, but the other one was 2013’s “Bangerz”; that was followed by a 2017 album that missed the top 5, and a 2019 album that only just made the top 20. 2020’s “Plastic Hearts” was a big improvement, getting to number 4, and Miley seems to have hit on what works for her at this point in her career. The sales on the album itself are nothing out of the ordinary, but that’s hardly a concern.

Nine weeks at number 1 on the singles chart beats LF System’s “Afraid To Feel”, but she still needs one more week in order to match Harry Styles’ “As It Was” from last year. Tracks can become subject to the downweighting rule in their tenth week, but only if they’re several weeks past their peak – since streams went up this week, that won’t happen to “Flowers” for a few weeks yet, and so she has a good chance of lasting to week ten. (Week eleven will be more of a challenge, because Ed Sheeran will have a new track out.)

3. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – “Miracle”

Very much a 90s trance throwback, this. Ellie Goulding has released two previous top ten singles with Calvin Harris, but that was in 2013 and 2014. Number 3 makes this Calvin Harris’ biggest hit since “Giant” in 2019.

(more…)