Charts analysis: Ed Sheeran replaces himself at No.1

With immaculate timing (and as predicted in these pages four weeks ago) a new Ed Sheeran single arrives to neatly fill the void created by his old one entering accelerated decline. We are told Shivers was narrowly edged out as the choice of lead single from his forthcoming Equals album and it proves to be just as popular as its predecessor, entering at No.1 with 59,181 chart sales (43,736 of these from 5.5m streams. It is the 11th No.1 of Ed Sheeran’s career and only the ninth different song to top the charts so far in 2021. Ed Sheeran adds "replacing himself at No.1 on two different occasions" to his ever-growing list of chart firsts, this after Perfect and River (with Eminem) followed each other in January 2018. This week also marks Ed Sheeran's 53rd career week at the top of the singles chart, a total only exceeded by two acts - they naturally being The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Or to put it another way, Ed Sheeran has been No.1 on just shy of 10% of the 535 singles charts compiled since his June 2011 debut. With its streams halved in value by ACR rules, Bad Habits drops to No.3 (35,628 sales) although it remained by some distance the most-streamed track of the week. Despite a strong physical sale by Shivers, it is the older single which would otherwise have remained at No.1 for a 12th straight week. Predictably there is a small rearrangement of Drake's permitted trio of hits. Girls Want Girls (still No.2 with 38,268 sales) and Fair Trade (down to No.6 with 29,212 sales) retain their chart status, but arriving at the expense of last week's No.5 hit Champagne Poetry (now starred-out) is the track that shot Drake back to the Hot 100 in America. Way 2 Sexy (featuring Young Thug and Future) materialises at No.11 (25,691 sales), the track interpolating Right Said Fred's apparently seminal I'm Too Sexy - following in the footsteps of Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do which was itself a transatlantic chart-topper in 2017. After missing out last week, Elton John and Dua Lipa's Cold Heart rockets (man) into the Top 10 at No.4 (32,134 sales). It is Dua's 12th Top 10 hit and Elton's 32nd, his first as the lead artist on a single since Electricity charged to No.4 in June 2005. The second highest-new entry hands British rapper Central Cee, the biggest of the nine singles he has charted in 2021 alone as Obsessed With You arrives at No.5 with 31,474 sales, beating the No.9 peak scaled by Commitment Issues in the spring. The track samples Pinkpantheress' Just For Me, itself a Top 30 hit just three weeks ago. Meanwhile Heat Waves by Glass Animals continues to receive streaming shine and advances still further to a new peak of No.8 (27,350 sales). Poised to become a sensation is Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah), a 2019 recording by Nigerian performer Ckay which has surfaced in several European countries in recent months, buoyed by a gimmick of remixes which add in vocal contributions from native language performers. The track featured heavily in Met Gala coverage during the week, but was also used by the Manchester United social media team in a TikTok video promoting the return of Cristiano Ronaldo to the club. It results in the track charts here for the very first time, a new entry at No.23 with 15,552 sales. Also brand new just inside the Top 30 is 24/5, which lands Mimi Webb her third chart hit of the year as the follow-up to Top 20 singles Good Without and Dumb Love. The new track is No.25 with 15,127 sales. One place behind is Digga D, his No.26 hit 2K17 lands itself 14,690 chart sales to become his 12th chart single, his second of the moment with Wasted still gently motoring down the Top 20 in its fifth week on sale. Meet Me At Our Spot by Anxiety, Willow and Tyler Cole missed being credited with a chart entry last week, so let's correct that by noting its rise to No.35 with 11,466 sales. American online creator Justus Bennetts makes his chart debut at No.44 (9,595 sales) with Bad Day, and also brand new this week at No.68 (6,774 sales) is Lalisa, the debut solo single from Thai singer Lisa, better known as one quarter of Blackpink. As one half of sisterly duo Chloe x Halle, Chloe Bailey has never enjoyed a British chart hit but breaks her duck this week with her first solo single Have Mercy which sneaks in at No.72 (6,240 sales). The parade of newcomers is rounded off by Scots dance producer Ewan McVicar, No.73 (6,130 sales) with Tell Me Something Good. Singles sales are off by 1.56% to 22,236,769 with paid-for sales holding steady, down just 0.8% to 390,671. Subscribers can access all the latest charts here.

Charts analysis: Drake lands fourth No.1 album

This week’s No.1 album is the one you probably could have predicted even if it did have to come from behind at the death. Drake's sixth studio album proper Certified Lover Boy becomes his fourth No.1 record, his second in a row following the chart-topping success of Dark Lane Demo Tapes in 2020. A digital-only release streamed in his usual colossal numbers, the album landed 45,651 chart sales of which a mere 2,028 were paid downloads. Commiserations, then, for Iron Maiden, who right to the last moment seemed set for a sixth No.1 with their 17th studio album Senjutsu. Their first brand new release in six years, its sales were inevitably heavily front-loaded, the album clocking up 25,000 sales from pre-orders on its first day on release alone. Walk-up sales helped it advance to a final total of 44,473, a drop from the opening week sale of 60,249 of its predecessor The Book Of Souls, but this is the biggest sale for a No.2 album since Little Mix's Confetti opened with 49,887 sales in November last year. The heavy metal act now have 26 Top 10 albums to their name, more than any other group save for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Queen. Last week's No.1 record, Donda by Kanye West, doesn't suffer quite the second week drop-off some had expected and holds on at No.3, adding a further 11,084 sales. It is a huge week for Little Simz, whose fourth album finally gives her a long overdue commercial breakthrough. Sometimes I Might Be Introvert becomes the British rapper's first chart record of any kind as it smashes its way to No.4 with 10,151 sales. Her previous album Grey Area missed the published charts when it came out in March 2019 but is her biggest seller to date, having accumulated 28,871 sales since release. Their new album is a few weeks away but the big ABBA comeback has already given their back catalogue a boost. Gold – Greatest Hit is No.5 (8,623 sales), this its first Top 5 appearance since August 2008. The album actually appears twice on the chart, the separately listed Gold - Anniversary Edition sneaking in at No.72 with 1,444 sales. Meanwhile many of their studio albums are also boosted, most notably 1979's Voulez-Vous which charts at No.58 (1,653 sales) for its first appearance since March 1980. Mercury - Act 1 is the fifth album from Imagine Dragons and duly follows the previous four into the Top 10 as it debuts strongly at No.7 with 6,925 sales. With its production a deliberate throwback to their 1990s commercial peak of PHUQ., The Wildhearts' new album 21st Century Love Songs duly becomes their highest charting record since. Their 10th studio release in all, it is brand new at No.9 (5,842 sales), only their second ever Top 10 record. Home to the Top 50 singles Come Over and Be The One, Rudimental's fourth album Ground Control enters at No.16 with 3,439 sales although that sadly brings to an end their 100% run of Top 10 entries. A new special edition of Tom Grennan's Evering Road album propels it back onto the chart at No.20 with a further 3,052 sales. Rings Around The World was the fifth album from Super Furry Animals and their major label debut to boot, reaching No.3 when first released in August 2001. Handed the 20th anniversary reissue treatment, it neatly arrives back on the chart for the first time in exactly two decades, adding 1,850 sales at No.46 to take its own lifetime total to 117,214. Lady Gaga's Dawn Of Chromatica remix album - her first such project in ten years - limps into view at No.56 (1,672 sales), its performance possibly inhibited by the fact it is for the moment digital-only, the physical versions scheduled for later in Q4. It means that this week it is outsold by the original, Chromatica itself winking back into life at No.34 (2,184 sales), its first chart run since October last year. Embrace return with their first chart album since 2018's Love Is A Basic Need. A recording of the livestream gig they performed back in February from their own Bradford studio, Best Of Live From The Cellar Of Dreams was available exclusively through their website and perhaps for that reason becomes the lowest charting album of their career to date, arriving at No.59 (1,652 sales). The sad death of Sarah Harding last weekend prompts Girls Aloud's hits collection Ten to reappear at No.61 (1,586 sales) and there's a fully posthumous album at No.73 as Rest In Blue by Gerry Rafferty, assembled by the late star's daughter from previously unheard demos, charts with 1,427 sales. Albums sales are up 3.36% to 1,787,875. The physical sector leaps 1.3% to 310,454 for a 17.36% market share. Subscribers can access all the latest charts here.

Charts analysis: Ed Sheeran holds on at singles summit for 11th week at No.1

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